“As soon as you learned to write, you made up stories,” begins the description of the master’s degree program in copywriting at Virginia Commonwealth University. Well, sure. So then anyone can be a copywriter?
Showing posts with label copywriting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label copywriting. Show all posts
Avoid the Hazards of Writing by Committee
“Could Hamlet have been written by a committee, or the Mona Lisa painted by a club?” asked Alfred Whitney Griswold, then president of Yale University, in a 1957 baccalaureate address. His answer: “Creative ideas do not spring from groups. They spring from individuals.”
Is Your Marketing Tugging at the Right Heartstrings?
Your planned-giving marketing materials can be wonderful educational and motivational tools. They can provide potential donors with important tax updates, target specific audiences by life stage, and reflect your unique mission. But are your materials tugging at the right heartstrings?
Copywriting for Planned Giving Direct Marketing: An Art or Science?
by Claudine A. Donikian, JD, MBA, Vice President, Integrated Marketing
Some would say writing is an art. But is that all it is? Volumes have been written on the strategic use of words in marketing communications, and a lot of research and testing has been done to find out what works and what doesn’t in direct marketing. What is compelling? Motivational? Engaging? What increases response? There are so many little rules and best practices that they can be difficult to keep straight. When posing a question in a headline, which is the default? “Do you want to receive income for life?” or “Don’t you want to receive income for life?”
Add generational issues to the mix. We know Baby Boomers are coined as a self-involved generation, the “me” generation—whereas the Silent Generation enjoys a sense of belonging, the “we” generation, so to speak. How then does the single most effective word in direct marketing, “you,” fit in? Can it be used for the Silent Generation? If so, when? How?
Some would say writing is an art. But is that all it is? Volumes have been written on the strategic use of words in marketing communications, and a lot of research and testing has been done to find out what works and what doesn’t in direct marketing. What is compelling? Motivational? Engaging? What increases response? There are so many little rules and best practices that they can be difficult to keep straight. When posing a question in a headline, which is the default? “Do you want to receive income for life?” or “Don’t you want to receive income for life?”
Add generational issues to the mix. We know Baby Boomers are coined as a self-involved generation, the “me” generation—whereas the Silent Generation enjoys a sense of belonging, the “we” generation, so to speak. How then does the single most effective word in direct marketing, “you,” fit in? Can it be used for the Silent Generation? If so, when? How?
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