The document provides tips and lessons for effective writing from a presentation by Bart Butler. Some key points include: listen to your audience, keep messages concise and clear, and make them compelling using techniques like quotes from real people. Well-known copywriters like Leo Burnett and David Ogilvy emphasized the importance of simplicity, memorability, and writing in a way that people can relate to. The document also includes an exercise to come up with headlines targeting different audiences.

1. Beyond
Blah, Blah, Blah
… writing people respond to
Bart Butler
Bart Butler Communications
Email:
bart.butler01@yahoo.com
Twitter:
@bartbutler

2. Today’s Session
1. Our common challenges
2. Approaching a writing assignment
– one principle
3. Advertising: Lessons from master
copywriters… and from you
4. Writing tips & resources
5. Exercise: A headline for your
product or service

3. Our Common Challenges
Getting people’s attention
Getting them to read/listen
Getting them to understand &
believe
Getting them to take action
Earning their trust & loyalty, long-
term

4. The 8 “Cs” of
Captivating
Customer
Communication

5. The 8 “Cs”
Getting people’s attention
E
E CATCHY & CREATIVE
Getting them to read/listen
TV
TIIV
CONCISE
LA
LA
Getting them to understand &
MU
believe
MU
CLEAR & CREDIBLE
CU
CU
Getting them to take action
COMPELLING
Earning their trust & loyalty
CHARISMATIC

6. Approaching a Writing
Assignment
Listening is more
important than
writing!
Listen to everyone
involved

7. Approaching a Writing
Assignment
Help Desk &
Customer Service
Google is your
audience, too

8. Lessons from Master
Ad Copywriters
“If you can’t turn yourself into
your customer, you probably
shouldn’t be in the ad writing
business at all.”
Leo Burnett

9. Lessons from Master
Ad Copywriters

10. Lessons from Master
Ad Copywriters
“You can say the right thing
about a product, and nobody
will listen. You’ve got to say
it in such a way that people
will feel it in their gut.
Because if they don’t feel it,
nothing will happen”
Bill Bernbach, DDB

12. Phyllis Robinson

13. Lessons from Master
Ad Copywriters
“If nobody notices your ad,
everything else is ‘freaking’
academic!”
Bill Bernbach, DDB

14. Lessons from Master
Ad Copywriters
“If you don’t get noticed, you
don’t have anything. You just
have to get noticed, but the
art is in getting noticed
naturally, without
screaming.”
Leo Burnett

15. Leo Burnett

16. Copywriting with
staying power
You’re in Good Hands with Allstate
Fly the Friendly Skies
The Best to You Each Morning

17. Lessons from Master
Ad Copywriters
“Advertising is the ability to
sense, interpret, to put the
very heart throbs of a
business into type, paper
and ink.”
Leo Burnett

18. Lessons from Master
Ad Copywriters
“Make it simple. Make it
memorable. Make it inviting
to look at. Make it fun to
read.”
Leo Burnett

19. David Ogilvy
American Express
Shell
Sears
Maxwell House
Rolls Royce
Dove

20. The Man in the Hathaway Shirt

21. Schweppes Tonic Water

22. Rolls Royce Ad Copy
At 60 miles an hour, the
loudest noise in the new
Rolls Royce comes from the
electric clock.

23. Dove Soap
Only Dove is ¼ moisturizing
cream.

24. Lessons from Master
Ad Copywriters
“Every advertisement is part
of the long-term investment
in the personality of the
brand.”
David Ogilvy,
Ogilvy & Mather

25. Lessons from Master
Ad Copywriters
“…the best ads come from
personal experience. Some of
the good ones I’ve done have
come out of the real experience
of my life, and somehow this
has come over as true and valid
and persuasive”
David Ogilvy,

26. Lessons from Master
Ad Copywriters
“On the average, five times
as many people will read the
headline as read the body
copy. When you’ve written
your headline, you have
spent eighty cents out of
your dollar.”
David Ogilvy

27. Ad Effectiveness: Your Take

28. Ad Effectiveness: Your Take

29. Ad Effectiveness: Your Take

30. Ad Effectiveness: Your Take

31. Ad Effectiveness: Your Take

32. Ad Effectiveness: Your Take

33. Ad Effectiveness: Your Take

34. Ad Effectiveness: Your Take

35. Writing Tips
& Resources
1. Know your purpose

36. Writing Tips
& Resources
2. Get right to the point

37. Writing Tips
& Resources
3. Tell people what you
want them to do

38. Writing Tips
& Resources
4. Keep it simple
--Write like you talk

39. Writing Tips
& Resources
“If you’re trying to persuade
people to do something, or buy
something, it seems to me you
should use their language, the
language they use every day,
the language in which they
think.”
David Ogilvy,

40. Writing Tips
& Resources
“If it sounds like writing, I
rewrite it.”
Elmore Leonard, Author

41. Writing Tips
& Resources
4. Keep it simple
--Write like you talk
--Read it aloud
--Write like other
people talk

42. Writing Tips
& Resources
5. Use Quotes

43. Writing Tips
& Resources
5. Use Quotes
“We were as nervous
as whores in church.”

44. Writing Tips
& Resources
5. Use Quotes
“Now I don’t have to go
around playing
‘Nancy Drew…”

45. Writing Tips
& Resources
5. Use Quotes
Only REAL quotes from
REAL people

46. Writing Tips
& Resources
6. Be Brief
6a. Use Active v. Passive
Voice
6b. Minimize Prepositional
Phrases

47. Writing Tips
& Resources
7. Eliminate/explain
company jargon &
weird acronyms
…people don’t get it.

48. Writing Tips
& Resources
8. Avoid Clichés
Let your ideas
percolate ‘til you’ve
got something new
See @TheOnion on
Twitter

49. Writing Tips
& Resources
9. Edit…rewrite…re-
edit…repeat as
needed

50. Writing Tips
& Resources
10. Proofread
everything before
hitting the send
button!
--Get proofing help if you
need it

51. Writing Tips
& Resources
Bonus Tip: It’s not all
about the words.
--Collaborate with
graphics, video &
web specialists

52. Writing Resources
Basic Tools:
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Style/Usage Guide
Spell/Grammar
check

53. Writing Resources
Grammar Classes:
Community College
University Life-Long
Learning Programs

54. The 8 “Cs”
Getting people’s attention
CATCHY & CREATIVE
Getting them to read/listen
CONCISE
Getting them to understand &
believe
CLEAR & CREDIBLE
Getting them to take action
COMPELLING
Earning their trust & loyalty
CHARISMATIC & CUMULATIVE

55. Approaching a Writing
Assignment
Listening is more
important than
writing!

56. Lessons from Master
Ad Copywriters
“Make it simple. Make it
memorable. Make it inviting
to look at. Make it fun to
read.”
Leo Burnett

57. Beyond
Blah, Blah, Blah
… writing people respond to
Bart Butler
Bart Butler Communications
Email:
bart.butler01@yahoo.com
Twitter: @bartbutler

58. Headline Writing
Exercise
A. B. C. D. E.
Age From Occupation Fearful of Hopeful for
15 NYC Small Biz Poverty Wealth
25 Dubuque Nurse Loneliness Fitness
35 Guadalajara Landscaper Sickness Self
Improvem’t
45 New Delhi Policeman Rejection Fame
65 plus Scottsdale Tea Party Irrelevance Job
Activist Success
Seattle Designer Immigrants Invent
Something

59. Beyond
Blah, Blah, Blah
… writing people respond to
Bart Butler
Bart Butler Communications
Email:
bart.butler01@yahoo.com
Twitter: @bartbutler