Squiggle pens blistering letter of complaint to Australian Chamber Orchestra.
Too much NFP copy is bollocks – turgid, self-referential, overly long and purposeless. If you write copy – annual reports, appeal letters, member communications, website and e-newsletter copy, speeches, media releases, letters to editors – Copy Savvy 101 is for you.
STOP PRESS: Hootville announces repeat Copy Savvy 101 via webinar for Thursday October 20 at 12.30pm.
Trainer Brett de Hoedt has written for celebrity profiles for New Idea, tabloid scuttlebutt for Truth, hard hitting editorials for Sydney Morning Herald and other pieces besides for the Melbourne and Sydney Weeklies.
Brett’s also written copy for appeal letters, radio commercials, Cheap Eats reviews, game show questions, on-hold messages, campaign t-shirt and angry anti-development flyers.
Someone got paid to write this dross.
Brett feels its important for copywriters to not think of themselves as copywriters. Instead try this less kudos-laden term: marketer. Ouch. Frankly though, if you ain’t marketing something via the copy you write you shouldn’t be spending your time writing anything at all. Marketing doesn’t mean selling – it means persuading, cajoling, exciting, convincing. Is your current copy doing this? Oh dear.
We won’t cover spelling or grammar but we will cover:
- establishing your purpose;
- identifying and getting to know your audiences;
- developing key messages that cut through;
- writing in the active voice;
- shrinking copy to maximise impact;
- writing with passion in order to persuade:
- writing for best search engine results;
- writing better media releases;
- writing better letters to editors;
- writing better appeal letters;
- tricks of the trade – calls to action, ‘or elses’, headlines.
Birth canal reference = attention grabbed.
Lots of practical exercises, including pre-workshop homework for the truly committed. That’s you, yeah?
