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Monday, October 15th

New Entry to AP Stylebook - Associated Press Adds Update Today

A new entry has been added to the AP Stylebook:

MRI

Magnetic resonance imaging, a noninvasive diagnostic procedure used to render images of the inside of an object. It is primarily used in medical imaging to demonstrate pathological or other physiological alterations of living tissues. MRI is acceptable on first reference and in all uses.

Susanna on 10.15.07 @ 04:23 PM CDT [link]

Friday, October 12th

AP Stylebook Update

The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook was updated yesterday. Here is the update:

A new entry has been added to the AP Stylebook:

Coed

The preferred term as a noun is female student, but coed is acceptable as an adjective to describe coeducational institutions. No hyphen.

Susanna on 10.12.07 @ 05:50 AM CDT [link]

Thursday, October 11th

Invitation to Women Copywriters - Join New Forum

Attention women copywriters. Ever wish there was a place where you could discuss your unique problems and, well, just talk to other women like you? Here's your chance. I've started a new forum on Facebook that's just for women copywriters.

If you're interested in joining, drop over and let me know you'd like to be part of the group. I just moved the group from AdGrabber as they have a software issue that made posting impossible. So I'm just now starting the group on Facebook. Should be lots of fun. So join us.

Women Copywriters Forum

Susanna on 10.11.07 @ 09:36 AM CDT [link]

Monday, October 8th

How To Get Creative Ideas and Get Your Sales Message Across

You have a new project. You have a deadline. But you have no ideas and a blank screen. What do you do now?

I'm going to address two topics today. Why two? Because they're interrelated. The first is how to get ideas. The second is how to get your ideas (your sales message) across.

I'm not going to get deep into either. But I'm going to discuss the problems and give you some ideas on how to find your own solutions.

When I accept an assignment, I first carefully read and study the creative brief that I have the client fill out. That gives me the demographics of his or her prospects. It tells me about their product or service and the price it sells for or will sell for. In other words, it gives me the basics that I need to understand the client and the product.

That seldom is enough, however.

So I do lots of motivational and competitive research. I sometimes commission depth probing.

Now I get out my Moleskine Weekly Planner/Date book. I schedule each work day. I know exactly what I will accomplish each day on this project --- barring any unforeseen obstacles.

I take no phone calls while on project. I allow no interruptions.

Now, I'm looking at a blank screen. I may or may not have an idea. Let's say for the sake of this article I do not have an idea. What do I do?

Before I write a thing I must know who I'm writing to. No, it's not my client. I do not care about the client at this point. He is not the one who is the prospect. I write to the prospect who will buy my client's product or service. I don't care if the client likes the copy or not. I only care that the copy will sell to his prospect.

I don't write to a group. I write to one person. So who is the average prospect? Is it a man? How educated is he? How old is he. What kind of work does he do?

I need all this information because I can't connect to the prospect if I don't know the answers to these questions.

Different people at different stages of their lives have different wants and needs. People are at different places in life. You have to address that.

A woman in her sixties, for example, wants a car that gets from point A to point B safely. A man in his thirties wants a car that looks sharp and will impress people, make them think he's really somebody and going places. It doesn't matter if he can afford it or not. In other words, he wants to impress people.

Older people, on the other hand, don't generally have the need to impress people. They've already made it if they're going to. And, if they haven't, they usually satisfied and okay with where they are.
At least, they've accepted it.

Older people don't care what people think. And the smart ones spend far less than they have on housing and cars and most everything else. They buy less house and less car than they can afford and often pay cash. They don't like debt.

So you see, to motivate your prospect, you must KNOW your prospect. If you were selling cars and I was a prospect, you won't sell me by telling me how impressive I'll look in that Mercedes. You won't sell me by talking about low monthly payments. I neither care about impressing people nor low payments. I pay cash for my cars.

When I travel I fly company jet or rent a car. I only drive my own car about 3000 miles a year. So I don't need or want much car. So you need to address those needs and forget the monthly payment scheme. I'm a bottom line person and I am not taken in by gimmicks.

You approach different prospects quite differently. So you must know your prospect. If you don't, you won't sell your product no matter how good the copy is or even how good the offer is.

So let's assume that my research has shown me who my main prospect is. Where do I go from here?

First I turn on Latin music. Or, if I'm in another kind of mood with another kind of product, I put on Paul Potts or Maria Callas. I've even been known to put on Reba McIntire. Anything to get the juices going.

Then I come up with a working headline. I can't write without some sort of headline. It may be a stupid headline. But as long as it looks like a headline, it will do for now.

Then, I simply start to write. I may write something off the wall. It may not be good. Doesn't matter. No one will see it but me.

Once I know my prospect, I know what motivates them. I use the trigger words with the hidden persuaders. I know my prospect. So I know what will make him want to buy my product.

You get ideas by knowing your prospect. Then you study up on that sort of person. You learn what interests them, what motivates them. Then you drill into those motivators.

I see far too many copywriters writing sales copy to everyone. That's not good. Everyone is a prospect. When you really know who your prospect is, the writing should come easily.

A good copywriter knows how to sell by using the right words in the right way. The right words will come when you know and understand your prospect. If they don't come, you may be in the wrong profession.

I'm going to stop now because there are two rules for success: 1.) Don't tell all you know.

Susanna on 10.08.07 @ 07:38 AM CDT [link]

Thursday, October 4th

AP Stylebook Update

Received from the AP Stylebook today:

An AP Stylebook entry has been updated:

Editor's Note: This updates and tightens the polls and surveys entry throughout to expand guidance on online polling and likely voter samples, and change style to allow rounding of sampling error to the first decimal place.

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polls and surveys

Stories based on public opinion polls must include basic information for an intelligent evaluation of the results. Carefully word such stories to avoid exaggerating the meaning of poll results.
Every story based on a poll should include answers to these questions:

1. Who did the poll and who paid for it? Start with the polling firm, media outlet or other organization that conducted the poll. Be wary of polls paid for by candidates or interest groups; their release of poll results may be done selectively and is often a campaign tactic or publicity ploy. Any reporting of such polls must highlight the poll\'s sponsor, so readers can be aware of potential bias from such sponsorship.

2. How many people were interviewed? How were they selected? Only a poll based on a scientific, random sample of a population -- in which every member of the population has a known probability of inclusion -- can be considered a valid and reliable measure of that population\'s opinions. Among surveys that do not meet this criterion:

- Samples drawn from panels of people who volunteer for online polls. These cannot be considered representative of larger populations because panel members are self-selected -- often including \"professional respondents\" who sign up for numerous surveys to earn money or win prizes -- and exclude people without Internet access. (Online panels recruited randomly from the entire population, with Internet access provided to those who don\'t already have it, are valid.)

• Balloting via Web sites, cell phone text messaging or calls to 900 numbers. These too are self-selected samples, and results are subject to manipulation via Web log and e-mail campaigns and other methods. If such unscientific pseudo-polls are reported for entertainment value, they must never be portrayed as accurately reflecting public opinion and their failings must be highlighted.

3. Who was interviewed? A valid poll reflects only the opinions of the population that was sampled. A poll conducted only in urban areas of a country cannot be considered nationally representative; people in rural areas often have different opinions from those in cities. Many political polls are based on interviews with registered voters, since registration is usually required for voting. Polls may be based on \"likely voters\" closer to an election; if so, ask the pollster how that group was identified and what percentage of the voting population it totaled. Are there far more \"likely voters\" in the poll than turnout in comparable past elections would suggest?

4. How was the poll conducted -- by telephone or some other way? Avoid polls in which computers conduct telephone interviews using a recorded voice. Among the problems of these surveys are that they do not randomly select respondents within a household, and they cannot exclude children from adult samples

5. When was the poll taken? Opinion can change quickly, especially in response to events.

6. What are the sampling error margins for the poll and for subgroups mentioned in the story? The polling organization should provide sampling error margins, which are expressed as \"plus or minus X percentage points,\" not \"percent.\" The margin varies inversely with sample size: the fewer people interviewed, the larger the sampling error. If the opinions of a subgroup -- women, for example -- are important to the story, the sampling error for that subgroup should be noted. (Some pollsters release survey results to the first decimal place, which implies a greater degree of precision than is possible from a sampling. Round poll results to whole numbers. However, the sampling error margin -- a statistical calculation -- may be reported to the first decimal place.)

Also consider the wording and order of the questions asked in the poll. Small differences in question wording can cause big differences in results, and the results for one question may be affected by preceding questions. The exact question wording need not be in every poll story unless it is crucial or controversial.

When writing and editing poll stories, here are areas for close attention:

--Do not exaggerate poll results. In particular, with pre-election polls, these are the rules for deciding when to write that the poll finds one candidate is leading another:

- If the difference between the candidates is more than twice the sampling error margin, then the poll says one candidate is leading.

- If the difference is less than the sampling error margin, the poll says that the race is close, that the candidates are \"about even.\" (Do not use the term \"statistical dead heat,\" which is inaccurate if there is any difference between the candidates; if the poll finds the candidates are tied, say they\'re tied.)

- If the difference is at least equal to the sampling error but no more than twice the sampling error, then one candidate can be said to be \"apparently leading\" or \"slightly ahead\" in the race.

--Comparisons with other polls are often newsworthy. Earlier poll results can show changes in public opinion. Be careful comparing polls from different polling organizations. Different poll techniques can cause differing results.

--Sampling error is not the only source of error in a poll, but it is one that can be quantified. Question wording and order, interviewer skill and refusal to participate by respondents randomly selected for a sample are among potential sources of error in surveys.

--No matter how good the poll, no matter how wide the margin, the poll does not say one candidate will win an election. Polls can be wrong and the voters can change their minds before they cast their ballots.
Susanna on 10.04.07 @ 04:20 PM CDT [link]