Sunday, October 30, 2005
Start a second career: Become a copywriter.
I’m back. Sorry for the long gap in posting. Annual reports are heating up, and I’ve been traveling here and there. One of the places I stopped at was Bettendorf, Iowa, where I gave a presentation to the Ad Fed group there on copywriting. Out of that presentation, came “Robert’s Rules of Copy.” They are mostly focused on advertising, but if you write at all, I thought they might prove useful to you.
Robert's Rules of Copy
--Learn to feel the rhythm in everything you read.
--Create a sense of movement in what you write.
--Always read your copy aloud.
--Don’t restate the visual in the headline.
--Don’t restate the headline in the body copy.
--But do pay off the headline in the body copy.
--Make the intro as short as possible.
--Use the power of three, i.e. “Today. Tomorrow. And for all time."
--Match the voice to the audience.
--Less is more.
