Copywriting

by Gabay, J. Jonathan

• ISBN13: 9780658012013
• ISBN10: 0658012010
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-01-01
• Publisher: Quercus

Summary

Teach Yourself Copywriting is an indispensable guide for anyone who needs to know how to produce advertising and marketing materials. This revised edition includes chapters on e-mail and Internet marketing and covers new theories and practices in copywriting.

Table of Contents

How to use this book	ix
Introduction	1	(1)
Hello, I am a copywriter. Care to join me?	1	(2)
Introducing ScotsdaleNorth.com and PenPod	3	(2)
What is a copywriter?	5	(12)
The tools of the trade	5	(4)
Your first steps in the copywriting thought process	9	(4)
Targeting your message	13	(4)
The big idea	17	(32)
Unlocking your creative potential	18	(1)
The basic steps towards a new idea	18	(2)
Copywriting and lateral thinking	20	(1)
Should you follow the formulae crowd?	21	(2)
Some classic formulae	23	(2)
Copywriting and its influence on the mind	25	(3)
How brainstorming drives the creative process	28	(2)
Ideas can't develop without facts	30	(3)
Research	33	(2)
The Elvis factor and the G spot	35	(2)
Give your troops brand names	37	(5)
Typical product life cycles	42	(3)
First steps in media selection	45	(4)
How to structure your copy	49	(17)
The creative brief	49	(2)
Types of brief	51	(5)
Immaculate concepts	56	(1)
Defining the USP	57	(2)
Conceptions and perceptions	59	(2)
Social categorization	61	(5)
Getting to grips with your copy	66	(52)
Grammar and copy	66	(6)
Creative persuasion	72	(1)
Punctuation	72	(2)
Check you're spelling	74	(2)
Let's get down to the nitty-gritty	76	(2)
Making the headlines	78	(3)
Grabbing the market share	81	(2)
Using headlines	83	(16)
Understanding bodycopy	99	(2)
Bodycopy structure	101	(3)
Writing for a specific audience	104	(3)
Subheads and captions	107	(1)
Keep your copy chatty	107	(1)
How to close your bodycopy	108	(1)
Straplines, slogans and other pay-offs	109	(3)
Measuring copy effectiveness	112	(2)
Copy fitting	114	(4)
Media and understanding its creative language	118	(47)
The eight steps to effective media planning	126	(3)
Further sources of media statistics	129	(2)
The press up close	131	(6)
Business-to-business press advertising	137	(4)
Conducting research for trade-style copywriting	141	(2)
How to handle falling sales	143	(3)
Corporate-style press advertising	146	(3)
Addressing managers	149	(3)
Off-the-page advertising	152	(4)
The role of incentives	156	(9)
Selling through the letterbox	165	(41)
The loyalty ladder	166	(1)
Direct mail in more detail	167	(3)
Direct mail contents	170	(4)
A step-by-step guide to letters	174	(15)
Twenty-eight creative mailing ideas	189	(13)
A word about catalogues	202	(4)
Direct mail and charity	206	(6)
Kinds of donor	206	(1)
Attitudes towards charities using advertising and direct mail	207	(1)
Types of creative message and specific attitudes	208	(4)
Moving pictures	212	(31)
TV and cinema	212	(1)
What makes people watch TV commercials?	213	(3)
Practical creative approaches	216	(6)
The big star on the small screen	222	(2)
Animation	224	(4)
The last laugh	228	(5)
TV jingles	233	(1)
Get the picture?	234	(3)
Direct response television	237	(1)
I hope that entertained you --- now, here's the bill	238	(5)
Listen to this!	243	(14)
Delve deeper, turn up the creative volume	247	(3)
Time for a commercial break	250	(7)
Further Media to consider	257	(6)
Posters	257	(6)
Yellow Pages and trade directories	263	(4)
Yellow Pages	263	(1)
Other directories	264	(3)
The Internet	267	(14)
The Internet --- its origins	267	(1)
Who's on the Web?	268	(3)
Designing your site	271	(6)
Dotcom words and phrases	277	(2)
Getting closer to your surfer	279	(2)
Press release copy	281	(14)
Public relations	281	(4)
Other types of press release	285	(5)
When bad news is good news	290	(5)
Appendix	295	(25)
Making the jargon make sense	295	(25)
Further reading	320	(1)
Index	321