Archive for the ‘The Basics’ Category

A common error that most letters share, aside from the usual structure problems, is the “voice”. The voice of a letter refers to how the entire message is being put across and not so much about what the letter says. The voice of any sales letter is just as important as the rest of the elements – the big idea, the promise, the proof, the testimonial, the false close and so on. Paying close attention to the voice of your letter covers a totally different realm in your readers – something that is deeper down inside. Having an effective “voice” in your letter is very crucial in eliciting the proper response from your reader. It can either make him or her at feel ease or uncomfortable, trusting or skeptical. Read the rest of this entry »

Anybody in the field of production advertisements (including copywriters) should be familiar at the very least, with the following rules that every advertising material should have in mind.

1. Headlines should be set in bold, Sans Serif font, starting from the upper left corner of the page. Headlines that are set in all capital letters will be significantly less effective as compared to those written in lower case. Read the rest of this entry »

That’s given. When we talk about verbs, they are the action words. They create action and they make sense to a sentence. Run, eat, jump, write and a lot more of the same kind fall into this category.  When you want to improve your sentence, remember to use verbs in their strongest form, simple present and past forms.

The use of active verbs in a sentence helps in the development of the story idea. In this case, it makes the story achieve an ascending scale. This means that the story becomes more interesting as it progress.

A person named George Orwell who wrote of verbs once said, “Never use the passive when you can use the active.” This statement would actually explain the difference between a passive verb and an active one. The former has the tendency to not give up the message right away while the latter gives the direct message. If you want concise yet clear message then use the active voice. If you want your reader to get across the message easily then use the active type.

Using the active voice is considered as one of the writer’s reliable tools. This is because it gives the meaning directly. No beating around the bush. It states information direct to the point which avoids too much wording that clutters the whole idea.

It can be noted though that words can be used by people in their language games. There seems to be a difference in how people construct words. In a bad note, politicians use it to provide a soft clash on allegations against them. For example, instead of saying, “”I read the report, and I admit I made a mistake.” They would say, in trying to deny responsibility of their actions, “”It must be admitted after the report is reviewed that mistakes were made.” Try to compare and see the differences.

But as you may have observed, news writers used the active voice because it goes straight to the point; they have to provide readers with concise reports that would catch their attention and would not bore them or whatsoever. It presents to readers the urgency of experience as if you were exactly there when the incident happened. It’s the effect when you use the active voice.

There are also some verb qualifiers that attach themselves to standard prose such as sort of, tend to, kind of, must have, seemed to, could have and used to. Be careful when doing this because they might mislead you. Be sure to use strong verbs that would provide efficiency to understanding your sentence.

In writing sentences, if your goal is to be understood right away by your readers, you should know the branch to the right technique. This happens when you begin writing sentences with the subject and the verb, letting the subordinate elements follow.

The purpose of this is for the subject and the verb to provide meaning to the sentence right away before getting the readers confused. This happens in cases when a long sentence is written and it gets the whole words mixed up. So as not to puzzle your readers, try to start every sentence with subject and verb giving meaning to it because even in cases when the writer gives a long sentence, its meaning can still be powerful and understood when the subject and verb makes sense.

How do exactly apply the branch to the right technique?

Typically in English, sentence development is from left to right. The subject and the verb of the main clause are joined on the left while other elements are joined to the right. The scholar calls it as the “right-branching sentence.”

Here is an example of a “right branching sentence” which is a lead sentence of the news story in The New York Times written by Lydia Polgreen. 

Rebels seized control of Cap Haitien, Haiti’s second largest city, on Sunday, meeting little

resistance as hundreds of residents cheered, burned the police station, plundered food from

port warehouses and looted the airport, which was quickly closed. Police officers and armed

supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled.

As you have noticed, it’s a long sentence and you might actually be discouraged of reading it. Notice the first part of the sentence (Rebel seized control of Cap Haiten) started with the subject and the verb combined to create meaning while the words that follow were just supporting details of the main stating clause.

The sentence is lengthy that it’s so vulnerable to have its meaning distorted. However the writer was able to control the meaning by using the Branch to the Right technique. The main clause carries the meaning that is just emphasized by the supporting details in the sentence.

This kind of technique in writing is even used by expert writers like John Steinback in “Cannery Row”. Steinback places the subject and verb at the beginning which results to clearness of idea. The passage now provides a narrative approach as one sentence build upon another.

However, this is not a universal rule. In other articles, the writer describes the subject first before giving the main verb. In this case, the writer wants to build tension and make the readers wonder so the verb is saved in the end.

Before you write anything down, there are two things that you should do first – do research; and get inside your customer’s head.
For a headline to be effective, it should be backed up by a well researched attack. The main goal of your research is to find out what the customers want and what frustrates them. You should be able to find out and identify what are the things that they find annoying and what are the things that please them.

Never be afraid to ask. Just ask, ask and ask.

In your research, here is a guideline of questions that you can ask your customers:
1. What are your frustrations about – ?
2. What frustrates you about – ?
3. What would a perfect world look like? Explain.

When you ask these type of questions, it is a given that the person you are talking to already knows about the product or service that you are trying to sell. But in case they don’t, you will need to enlighten them. However, educating your customers need not be as in-depth. Introducing them to the concept of your product or service will suffice. Then after, you can ask them the questions above. But these questions are not definitive. You will still have to observe and to listen carefully to what the customers have to say. You have to pay close attention to what they really want.

Getting into your customer’s head is the next step, and one way that you can do this is by creating a synopsis of some sort. To do that, you can try asking yourself mentally the following:

1. Who is the customer?
2. What do they want?
3. What do they say they want?
4. Why do they want it?

Asking these things would give you a clear idea about the profile of your customer. The more you know what they are like and how they see things, the better you will be able to understand them and give them just what they want.
There are three main psychological reasons why headlines have such powerful effect on us.

1. Question-based vs. Statement-based Headlines
Presenting a question right at the beginning of a story always work in catching any reader’s attention. Questions irritate the brain, and its very existence drives the brain nuts into finding out more.

2. Problem-based vs. Solution-based Headlines
Now that you know how powerful questions are, problem-based headlines make things even more exciting. When you are presented with a problem, you identify with it and will feel obliged to solve it. And with the brain naturally wired to solve problems as a survival mechanism, you have no escape.

3. Curious vs. Non-Curious Headlines
A skilled communicator knows that the way to move a reader into reading more is to awaken the curiosity factor within. Headlines with curiosity always work because the brain, is by nature a curious machine. Creating a curiosity factor is just like switching on every single light inside your customer’s brain.