Writing for different media

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Unit Purpose and Aims

The purpose of this unit is;

Learners will be able to understand the distinctive nature of copy in different channels and will be asked to create ad copy. They will also be asked to examine stories and how they work.

Learning Outcomes

Learners will;

1. Explore the nature of text, copy, stories and narratives in advertisements

1.1 Analyse  copy, narratives and stories in in advertisements in linear media

1.2 Analyse  copy, narratives and stories in advertisements in  non-linear media

1.3 Analyse copy, narratives and stories in in advertisements in  interactive media

1.4 Analyse  copy, narratives and stories in advertisements on outdoor media

1.5 Compare and contrast one of each of the above bringing out the key features that are distinctive

2. Understand how writers approach writing

2.1 Describe a number of different writing techniques

2.2 Research and report on how a number of writers have used different techniques.

3. Create copy

3.1 Create copy for a given campaign across three different channels

4. Understand stories and narratives

4.1 Understand relevant theories and principles of narrative structure

4.2 Relevant theories relating to the wider cultural impact of stories;

4.3 Describe the characteristics and appeal of different genres of story

4.4 Describe different types of interactive narrative structure

4.5 Understand user perspectives and points of view in relation to narratives

4.6 How to create an appropriate and engaging experience for the target audience

Learning Tools, Resources & Links

Things that will help the learner develop understanding of this unit;

Mentors please add your ideas, examples, case studies, links to articles, videos, etc. here.

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What to do and what not to do

Here is a useful copywriting style guide from the Princeton Spectator, posted by some copywriter bloke called Len Smith.

http://www.copywriting-on-demand.com/copywriting-style-sheet.htm

Most newspapers and journals publish a guide to the style they find acceptable. They are often available on the web. For the layman, they can often be more confusing than helpful.

This Style Guide from the Princeton Spectator is excellent, even allowing for the occasional differences in US/UK culture.

General Style

• Prohibited words: plethora, dearth, cornucopia, hopefully, guru, bevy, diverse, tony, aegis, auspices, titillate, etc.
• Prohibited phrases: “In conclusion,” “All in all,” “I think not,” etc.  Avoid phrases whose frequency outstrips their value.  Avoid cliches, sports analogies, overused quotations, etc. — phrasing should be original.
• Never open or close an article with a quotation or definition, as this is lazy and poor style.
  Adverbs: adverbs should be used sparingly, especially ones that end in “-ly.”
• Passive voice: passive may be used when the actor is not important, and only the action and the object matter
• Numbers that begin sentences and numbers zero through ten should be spelled out, except in dates and addresses. Use Arabic numerals otherwise.
• Do not begin sentences with a year number: “1997 is the year when I was a terrible writer.”  This is offensive to the eye and scares readers and editors alike.
• Be mindful of the distinctions between its and it’s and among their, they’re and there.
  It’s the Street, but it’s also Prospect Avenue.
• Avoid dangling adverbs, which are usually weak substitutes or encapsulate trite ideas.  Avoid: “Ideally, we’ll have a proofreader soon.” (used to mean “It would be ideal if”); “Hopefully, the homeless will get shelter.”  (meaning “I hope”).
• There is no grammatical rule against ending a sentence with a preposition.  However, it should be avoided if it leads to awkwardness.  So too with split infinitives, which are not proscribed by grammar but which may be inelegant.
• Do not use the first or second person, excepting articles that are narratives or editorials.  In those instances, use sparingly.

Punctuation and Capitalization

• Semicolons are intermediate in strength between commas and periods, and usually link two independent clauses that could stand alone as sentences but are related enough to warrant inclusion in the same sentence.  They can also be used in place of commas in a series following a comma that is particularly complicated or lengthy.
• Hyphens are used between two words that are used attributively (as an adjective preceding a noun) and are considered together.  The practice is to hyphenate such compound modifiers when preceding a noun, but not after verbs: “he was an up-to-date student,” but “the student was up to date.”  When the first word of the compound modifer is an adverb, no hyphen is used.
• Quotation marks: always smart quotes, or curled (like small 66 99); colons and semicolons go outside, all other creatures of punctuation within. Question marks that do not appear in the original are also placed outside quotation marks.
• Punctuation: exclamation points may only be used after the word “Zing!”  This is to avoid attempts to lend gravity to statements that are not interesting on their own.
• Em-dash: “—” used to join two thoughts in a sentence; use a space before and after.
• Apostrophes: not used after decades (the ’70s, the 1800s). Also, when placing an apostrophe before a number as above, it must face that direction — it should not look like ‘.  So too with acronyms and initialisms: “the ABCs of history.”
• Apostrophes: Always used an “’s” after words ending in “s” unless the word is a plural noun. “The eighth grade science class’s project focused on the biological classes’ characteristics.”
• Contractions: dreaded in news and national articles; acceptable in Bullyrag, editorial and humor writing.
• No comma after the penultimate element in a series joined by “and” or “or.” The only exception to this rule is for lists with multiple-word items that may create confusion: “The texts were written by Malkiel, Baumol and Blinder, and Rosen.”
• Abbreviations: Formerly known as (“f/k/a”), also known as (“a/k/a”), television (“t.v.”), and for women who may or may not be married, no period (“Ms”).
• Capitalization: President when referring to a specific president (“the President denied all charges”; “a president may be impeached by the House”); University when used to mean Princeton University or a specific school (“the University raised tuition”; “universities generally cost too much”); never capitalize an entire word for emphasis — use italics.
• Two spaces between sentences.

Layout and Typography

• Editorials: italics used exclusively for emphasis, not for titles; reasonable use of first person plural to indicate the paper’s opinion.
• Headlines: only secondary headlines must be complete sentences; all headlines should be entirely in italics or roman, despite the presence of titles that usually require italicization — place titles in ‘single quotes’ in headlines. No periods in titles.
• Subtitles are always two lines, and end with periods or question marks.
• Four spaces are involved in an ellipsis: before, between and after (shown by underscores here): “He was_._._._my father!”
• Boldface and underlining: not used in text.
• The symbol “%”: not used. Write “percent” instead.
• Italics: used for the names of stand-alone works. “The Spectator” is not italicized in our own pages.  In editorials, used only for emphasis; titles are left in roman type.

Frequent Confusables

• Use “number” and “fewer” with countable quantities, “less” and “amount” for quantities that can’t be counted. Write: “Fewer grains of sand,” but “Less sand on the beach.” “The number of people on financial aid is proportional to the amount of money available for grants.”
• Do not disgrace The Spectator: “e.g.,” — for example, “i.e.,” — that is. Italicize neither those nor “viz.,” nor “et al.” as they are common in English.  “Ibidem,” “scilicet,” “infra,” and such like should be italicized if they are used, which is deprecated.
• Use “that” for dependent or restrictive clauses, which do not require commas. Use “which” for independent clauses, which must be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. “The winning entry, which was submitted by an extraterrestrial, was the one that The Spectator printed.”
• “Farther” deals with distance, “further” with extent or detail: “To further his inquiry into Latin America, he travelled farther than Mexico.”

Is WEB Copy ruining your Design?

An article by Rick Sloboda.

Integrating web copy and design can be a difficult feat when the designer and copywriter aren’t on the same page. Failure and disappointment often follow.

To ensure that web copy and design collectively attain optimal results, the designer and writer must have a shared understanding in at least four areas:

Website’s purpose

Website’s audience

Brand’s characteristics

Web requirements and constraints

Define the Website’s Purpose

Every website and web page should have a purpose. Amongst the most important questions a designer can ask a client is: “What is the objective of your website, and how does it support your business goals?” Surprisingly, many business owners aren’t sure.

With a bit of prodding, the designer can establish the website’s objective, which might entail, but not be limited to:

Selling products online

Producing leads

Creating awareness

Building a brand

Attracting subscribers

Establishing a community

Generating feedback

What’s more, defining a website’s main objective helps shape the site’s primary call to action, which might be to get the visitor to subscribe to a newsletter, call or email, request a quote, download a demo, and so on. And when the design and copywriting is collectively geared toward getting users to take that action, the website will produce higher conversion rates and overall success.

Energy management company Energex makes it easy for their website visitors to complete tasks, thanks to clearly defined calls to action.

Determine the Website’s Audience

Websites should target a specific audience. Typically, there will be one primary audience, and one or two secondary audiences. Each audience has its own attitudes, concerns, biases, needs and desires. Good website design and website copy accommodates the unique characteristics of each audience.

If the designer and the copywriter are not clear who they’re targeting, chances are the website will miss the mark completely. For instance, our copywriting firm was hired to write content for a dental implant specialist, and the designer indicated we were to target the general public. By asking the client a few questions, one of our copywriters discovered they actually wanted to focus almost exclusively on referring dentists, which made a world of difference on what needed to be designed and communicated.

When a web designer and copywriter are in sync, the visual and written messages are much more likely to resonate with the intended audience. For example, per the image below, the computer repair specialists at Macinhome connect with Mac fans by featuring heavily Apple-influenced web design and copy. So when the Mac enthusiasts land on their website, they feel right at home.

Also, by clearly defining intended audiences, designers and writers avoid designing and writing for themselves or their clients, which often leads to self-aggrandizing drivel. For more on targeting the right audience, check out Web Writing: The Good, Bad and Ugly.

Understand the Brand’s Characteristics

Brands have their own personalities, and both website design and copywriting need to reflect the characteristics of the brand. Having a fun and wacky design is no good if the writing emphasizes safety and reliability. Similarly, lyrical writing isn’t effective if the brand is simple and direct.

Case in point: our copywriters assisted a pheromones manufacturer last year, whose website originally featured formal, scientific-themed visuals, along with web copy that stated, “For guys who want to get laid.” Definitely a brand disconnect there.

Designers and copywriters form a personality and set a tone. Therefore, they must help the client develop a consistent identity, signifying what the company stands for and promises to deliver.

Thrillworks offers an example of how design and web copy can harmoniously merge to convey a clear message, and create certain expectations.

Adhere to Web Requirements and Constraints

Internet users are constantly bombarded — and often overwhelmed — by piles of disjointed information and technologies. Through exploration and constructive discussions, designers, developers and copywriters can plan and align the right technologies, information architecture, SEO tactics, and other important website elements.

Failing to have a unified plan of attack can cause delays, grief and missed opportunities. For instance, a conventional copywriter with limited or no knowledge of online navigation, link strategies, or basic rules of SEO can hurt search engine presence, usability, conversions and a website’s overall success. In such cases, delegating certain tasks to another teammate or bringing in a specialist can save the day — and the project.

How to Achieve a Shared Understanding

While it’s easy to see that web designers and copywriters should operate from a shared understanding of purpose, audience and brand, it’s more difficult to reach this shared understanding in practice. Fortunately, there are strategies that designers and writers can employ to get on the same page.

Work from the Client’s Own Documentation

One of the easiest methods is to work from the client’s own documentation. If the client has an up-to-date, written marketing strategy and communications plan, then the website’s purpose and audience will likely be obvious. A documented brand analysis signals necessary design and copy characteristics.

Pull the Information Out of the Client

If the client doesn’t have documentation, then the writer and designer may need to pull this information out of the client. If the client has formulated plans that haven’t been documented, then the designer and writer can interview relevant managers, compile their findings, and report back to the client.

Another approach is to provide the client with a questionnaire that prompts them to note their marketing objectives and goals. By having the client respond in writing to questions surrounding purpose, audience and brand, the designer and writer can be certain that they are on the same page as the client.

Step Back From the Project

In the event the client is unable to clearly define their marketing strategy or the purpose and audience of the website, the designer and writer may need to temporarily step back from the project. Until the client can provide clear direction, the client is unlikely to be happy with the website and may make continuous requests for changes — a scenario where no one wins.

How to Deal with Crappy Copy

Designers often find themselves creating designs for old web copy. In some cases, the client may have taken copy directly from existing print material, or assigned the writing to an employee who’s an inexperienced writer. Consequently, the web copy may miss the mark for purpose, audience, brand and web requirements.

While there’s an increasing awareness surrounding web writing, many businesses continue to fail to recognize what professionally written web copy can bring to a website and the company’s bottom line. A well-versed web copywriter can help a business with everything from attaining traffic via search engines, to differentiating a business from the competition, to defining and persuasively communicating key benefits.

So, when a designer is faced with a client that insists on using weak copy, it helps to point out that professionally written web content can:

Generate presence and attract traffic via search engines.

Bolster their brand, to help gain trust and credibility.

Improve conversions, which means more leads and sales.

Provide a higher ROI on their online marketing investment.

Eliminate stress, save time, and help avoid delays.

Summary

To attain an effective website, design and copy need to reinforce each other. The web designer and web copywriter must support the same objectives, address the same audience, and project the same brand characteristics. When in tune with each other, designers and copywriters can create more robust websites that gain credibility and trust, and achieve desired objectives, goals and conversion rates.

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A manifesto for the simple scribe – my 25 commandments for journalists

Former Guardian science editor, letters editor, arts editor and literary editor Tim Radford has condensed his journalistic experience into a handy set of rules for aspiring hacks. Read here.