Gabay's Copywriters' Compendium

Jonathan Gabay

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2006
• eBook ISBN: 9781136401367
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Marketers, creative writers, and individuals for whom copywriting forms part of their job are often required to produce innovative and engaging copy in a short space of time. Creativity is not always to hand, and therefore on some occasions additional help is required to find the right phrase, description or slogan. Gabay's Copywriting Compendium contains a wealth of inspiring tips, ideas and descriptions to aid the writing process, such as advice on spelling and grammar, examples of rhyming words, suggested euphemisms, and odd facts.

1. The creative briefing process

There's a famous quotation that often ‘does the rounds’ at marketing agencies. It comes from Abraham Lincoln, who said, ‘If I had nine hours to chop down a tree I would spend the first three hours sharpening my axe.’

Briefs help you to sort out actual facts from personal opinions (let's face it, everyone who gets involved in writing copy has heard lots of those!).

It is essential that you agree a brief with whoever commissioned you, even down to ‘signing it off’. This is because a brief should be treated with respect, as if it was a written contract.

In fact, even if the only person commissioning anyone is yourself, still write a brief because it helps you to focus completely on the task at hand.

Need more help? www.gabaywords.com

The creative briefing process

Briefs help you to focus. Many argue that they are only useful for external agencies. On the contrary, I believe that briefs really come into their own for small to medium sized businesses juggling lots of tasks.

Overall, briefs help to separate personal opinion from facts. Here are some of the best:

Briefing form for direct mail letter writing

The full letter brief

1	Describe your audience (age, sector, job titles, etc).
2	What is the key benefit that makes your offer distinctive? The Unique Selling Point (POD – Point of Difference).
3	Has the audience heard from you before? If so, when and how often? (provide examples)
4	What is the featured offer, as opposed to the distinctive benefit? For example, are you offering price cuts or tie-in discounts with partner companies?
5	Explain the product's or service's: • weaknesses • opportunities • threats (See SWOT)
6	How do you want people to feel about your brand? (Does research show how they currently feel?)
7	List the three most common customer descriptions that come to mind when people discuss dealing with your company.
8	Is your product or service a daily essential or does the concept need a detailed description?
9	Can you discuss your service's/product's associated benefits? (Rank them from sixth to first place)
10	Name your top three competitors.
11	Provide recent examples of their work.
12	Are you testing elements of the letter? (This could include special offers, geographic distribution tests, response device tests or specific recipient type tests – e.g. job titles).
13	What action (such as dialing a telephone number) do you want the reader to take?
14	Are there any size/length restrictions?
15	When are you going to post your letter and to whom?
16	Are there any...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 The creative briefing process
• 2 Mind your Ps and Qs
• 3 Why use ten words when one will do?
• 4 Is it ‘its’ or ‘it’s’?
• 5 Spell well
• 6 Consonants divided by continents.
• 7 Do you speak marketese?
• 8 Idioms make the heart grow fonder...
• 9 Clichés
• 10 Metaphors
• 11 Similes
• 12 Would you rather be cuddly or plump?
• 13 Portmanteaus
• 14 All together now
• 15 Rhyme time
• 16 Tongue twisters
• 17 Words from the wise
• 18 The business of quotes
• 19 Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a sloganeer
• 20 Today’s the day…
• 21 A world of facts
• 22 Top tips
• 23 So what’s new
• Useful contacts
• Index