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Get Spot Structure Right

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by Michael T. Shishido

There are many ways to write a radio commercial and many ingredients to consider. But when it comes to the basic layout of a spot, there are a few key things you need to remember to make your spot effective.

By “layout” I mean the structure of your commercial. The basic outline. Beginning, middle, and end, plus what goes into each.

To put it simply, get the marketing up front and save the nitty-gritty details for the end.

I see many commercials written the other way around, and it’s just not effective. For example, consider this abbreviated sequence:

Enter now at mybusinesswebsite.com. Imagine yourself living in luxury. Winner of a billion dollars cash! It’s so easy to win.

It’s an extreme example, but what’s important is the form. That opening line is not attention getting at all. And by the time you do get the listeners’ attention, the website address is long gone from their short-term memory, if it was there at all.

So flip the script! Marketing up front, details at the end:

You could win one billion dollars cash! You could be living in luxury. It’s easy to win. Enter now at mybusinesswebsite.com.

Huge difference, right?

Here’s another example of an ineffective spot:

C’mon down to our cool radio remote this Saturday from 1 to 3 pm. We’ll be at SUPER AUTO at the corner of This Street and That Avenue. SUPER AUTO is the best place to buy a car. Everyone can drive away––good credit, bad credit, or no credit. See the brand-new, latest model of the gotta-have SUV. Great comfort and smooth ride. And we’ll be giving away a brand-new car to one lucky person!

Now flip the script. Get the attention early, and put the nitty-gritty details at the end:

You could win a brand-new car this Saturday! 947 KABC, along with SUPER AUTO in Great City, is giving away the brand-new, coolest SUV to one lucky listener! To win you need to be at SUPER AUTO this Saturday. Check out all the latest cars, new and used. SUPER AUTO will prove it; you can buy a car no matter what your credit status is. And you might win that SUV! Saturday from 1 to 3 pm at This Street and That Avenue.

Structure your spots this way, and they’ll be more effective.

 

Instead of “We,” Use Your Brand Name

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by Michael T. Shishido

A lot of advertisers and ad agencies like to use the word “we” in their spots. “We are the premier widget company in hometown, USA.” “We carry all major brands.” “We promise to never break our promises.”

The business owner or person in charge of marketing or the copy writer at the agency will think they’re putting forth their best marketing effort. That’s all fine and good until you give that copy to the radio or TV station to produce, and someone other than the owner voices the commercial.

Here’s why I avoid using the word “we” in spots. Unless Mr. or Ms. Business Owner is going to voice their own commercial, said commercial will be voiced by a radio station DJ or someone at the station who can perform well in front of a microphone. And they are not you or your business. Radio DJs are doing their best to be themselves, carving out a personality on the radio. Some of that may or may not represent your brand as well as you’d like. Unless you’re paying them to personally endorse your product or service, you’d be better off saying “they” instead of “we.”

Another reason why you should not use “we” in your spots is the fact that the listener may not even know who “we” is. Take the opportunity to say the name of your company instead. Trust me: you cannot say the name of your business enough. It’s meaningful to you, but it’s not nearly as meaningful to your audience.

I’ve seen spots written by clients that start out saying “ABC widget company is the best widget company in the known world.” Then they go on to say “we do this, we do that” throughout the next 25 seconds. Then they’ll close with “ABC widget company. Call us at 555-555-555. Or visit online at ABC widgets dot com.” The middle of the commercial is completely devoid of the name of the company. People aren’t listening as closely as you’d like. They’re driving, eating, texting, checking their social media, feeding hungry kids, etc. You get the idea. They’re busy.

It’s better to say the name of your company instead of “we” and get your name out there throughout the 30 or 60 seconds of your commercial. I like to use the name every other time to avoid sounding too repetitious. “ABC Widgets is fantastic. They have the best widgets. ABC widgets makes their widgets to your specs. They don’t make ’em till you order them. Call ABC Widgets at #. Or find them on the web at…”

Leap frog your name like this, and it gets your name out there in an effective yet unobtrusive way.

Don’t use “we.” Get your brand name out there instead.

Use the Brand 2

Consider Your Advertising Medium

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by Michael T. Shishido

I was sitting at the mall one night. It’s an indoor mall with two large monitors that display advertising and announcements. I don’t think I’ve ever seen these monitors used in a sensible way to market any business or service that paid to be there.

That night, the ad that struck me was one for a local private school. They also advertise with the radio station I work at, so I know this school is trying to promote its upcoming open house.

What I saw on the indoor monitors was a collection of TV commercials strung back to back, interspersed with announcements about some activities at the mall. What does that tell you about indoor advertising? No one takes it seriously enough to produce a commercial designed for indoor advertising on a monitor in a shopping mall.

Most indoor advertisers I’ve seen just re-purpose their existing TV ad. Big mistake. Your advertising needs to consider the medium it’s being seen or heard on. That font that looks fine on TV, turns out to be the fine print that no one reads.

Here’s the thing with indoor video advertising: if people are watching it, they’re viewing it from 50+ feet away with no sound. It’s less like TV (even though it’s shown on a video monitor), and more like a really small billboard.

In my estimation, what works best is a three- or four-slide presentation. Think Powerpoint or Keynote. And use a huge font. Something that you can read at a distance of 50 feet with no problem. Then it should be a message that is conveyed in three or four slides. In the case of this private school, it would have read like this:

  • Slide #1: SCHOOL NAME
  • Slide #2: BENEFIT, BENEFIT, BENEFIT (in bullet points)
  • Slide #3: COME TO OUR OPEN HOUSE
  • Slide #4: ADDRESS, PHONE, WEBSITE

This is an easy chunk of information to consume. And maybe even memorable, if it’s important to the customer.

This Getty photo was originally posted on huffingtonpost.com 8/1/2013

 

 

How to Do Interviews Part 2

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by Michael T. Shishido

Mic 2 by MatthewThe key to good interviews is preparation. Use the preparation to guide your questions. Unless you’re on Meet The Press, you don’t need to arm yourself with expert-level knowledge. You don’t need to make yourself look smart by rattling off all the info in your head about a given subject. You have the expert right in front of you. Ask them a “softball” question and pull that info out of them.

Here’s an example of a poor question: “I understand Ebola is a virus that’s highly contagious. The virus is passed on by contact with bodily fluids. Is that correct?”

A better question to ask, especially with an Ebola expert in front of you, is: “What is Ebola.”

In the first example, you’re wordy and pretending to be knowledgeable about Ebola. In the second example, you leave it to the expert to fill in the important information. In this case, if you’re looking for an answer the expert doesn’t provide, you can then follow up with another question that addresses that.

You want to put the guest in the spotlight, not steal the spotlight away from them.

Larry King, the famed radio and TV talk show host, had an interesting practice. If he were interviewing an author, he said he would not read the book. He might familiarize himself with the subject matter. But Larry said (paraphrasing), “Why read the book when you have the author right in front of you?”

Similarly, watch Monday Night Football. Host Mike Tirico has been covering sports for more than 25 years. Mike knows sports. But when he’s on MNF, he’s got former player and coach Jon Gruden standing next to him providing football analysis. Mike makes it a habit to ask the “dumb” questions. “Why did they pass on that down?” “Why not go for a field goal here instead of punt?” Mike knows the answer. But he defers to the expert Gruden to provide the answer. And why not? Gruden has coached and won a Super Bowl in the NFL. There’s your expert.

If you want to call it “playing dumb,” so be it. Nothing wrong with a little feigned ignorance when it comes to effective interviewing. You get to ask what’s on everyone’s mind and you leverage the expert in the room.

How to Do Interviews Part 1

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by Michael T. Shishido

In my line of work, I get to listen to a lot of interviews. Some are good, some are better. I’ve done a bunch myself. There are definitely things that go into a good interview. And there are things you should avoid as well.

The first thing you have to do is prepare for the interview. You need to research your subject thoroughly enough to have several questions formulated. Always prepare more questions than you need. It’s much easier to scale back the questions than to come up with new ones in the middle of the interview.

As an interviewer, the first thing you want to do is make your guest feel as comfortable as possible. It starts with the greeting. A smile and friendly handshake set the tone. Throw in some small talk if that’s appropriate. Then review the general format of your interview so they have an idea of what to expect. That has the advantage of giving your subject the feeling that they know what to expect.

Ease into your interview with easily answered questions about their background or the nature of their job, things that will get them talking.

Your preparation for the interview should result in several questions to ask your subject. Order your questions in a logical sequence. If you do that, your meatier, detailed, and hard-hitting questions will come later.

Bags an Hands by Alejandro Escamilla from UnsplashAsk one question at a time. So many times I’ve heard interviewers ask two or three questions at once. Inevitably, the only question that gets answered is the last one in the question. Or the easiest question.

In many interviews, I hear the phrasing of the question in backward form. The interviewer might say, “What’s the reason for the job growth this quarter? I know it’s December and there’s lots of seasonal hiring going on. What’s the real reason?”

In this example, the interviewer may be answering his own question. But if they just flipped the phrasing around, they would still have a viable question. “It’s December and there’s lots of seasonal hiring going on, but what’s the real reason for the job growth this quarter?” That’s a better way to phrase it. The best way to answer the question, however, is to just come out and ask it and not lead the guest into an answer. “What’s the reason for the job growth this quarter?”

How to Write Faster at Work

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ClockAre there times when you need to write something for work but you’re pressed for time or you’re just not in the mood to write? Well, you’re not alone. Many of us are swamped with other things we need to do, but we still need to come up with well-written pieces.

We want to share with you these helpful tips on how to write faster at work. Credit goes to Kivi Leroux-Miller––author, trainer, and adviser to nonprofit marketing. She is also the president of NonprofitMarketingGuide.com. What we’ve posted below is her advice to repurpose content as one of the ways to write faster.

Repurposing is taking original content and making a few changes to it, then publishing it again. It’s an essential part of being a fast writer and creating a manageable communications plan. It allows you to get more mileage out of your writing, while reinforcing your key messages with your readers.

Here are seven easy ways to repurpose your content. Think about these as you write your original content and it will make repurposing that content even faster!

  • Make short pieces longer. If you started with a 200 word blog post or even a quick tweet or Facebook update, flesh that out into a newsletter article by adding some examples. Add more descriptive details, get quotes from people, or share opposing points of view. 
  • Make long pieces shorter. Pull the headline and use it as a status update. Reduce your paragraphs to bullet points. Publish a teaser and link back to the longer piece. 
  • Change the lead. Simply start the article in a whole new way. Move something that was lower down in the article to the top. If you didn’t use a quote in the first paragraph before, use one now. Open with a trend or other big-picture explanation. 
  • Round it up. Group several like items together into a new piece with a theme that you can use in a new headline and lead paragraph. This is great way to use “left over” content like quotes from an interview that didn’t make it into the main article you wrote about the person you interviewed. 
  • Integrate the comments. This works great on content that was originally posted in social way, such as a blog post or Facebook update, where people could add comments. As you repurpose the article, fully integrate some of what you heard in the comments into the newer version.
  • Add your opinion. Much of what you publish is likely “just the facts, ma’am.” Repurpose a newsy article by adding your commentary to it, or opinions or reactions from others.
  • Recast it. Take something completely unrelated and tie it into your content. Tabloid magazines are great inspiration for this method. Can you tie the latest hot superstar, scandal, or headline to your content in some unexpected way that gives you a fresh new lead paragraph or more interesting headline? 

Embrace content repurposing, and you’ll save time and energy while still sharing content that your readers will enjoy and appreciate.

 

7 Tips to Help You Write Conversationally

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orange-speech-bubbles-mdThere are times when formal writing is called for, but there are also times when conversational writing is the better option. We found this article that may help you write in a conversational manner, especially if you’re writing copy for radio or TV.

One of the 7 tips in this article by Kasey Steinbrinck is also mentioned in our earlier post entitled “Common Mistakes in Copy Writing Part 3.”

 

Common Mistakes in Copywriting Part 3

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by Michael T. Shishido

Eraser by PublicDomainPictures form Pixabay.comPeople often write commercials using phrasing that’s more appropriate for a written medium. That’s far from the best and can lead to weird, stilted copy that’s hard to perform (for the voice talent) and difficult to understand (for the listener).

Write your broadcast copy for the listener. Make it conversational. Write it the way you would say it to a friend who’s standing right in front of you. That’s a good place to start.

What you’ll end up with is copy that utilizes short sentences that are easier to understand. You’ll have phrases instead of complete sentences. You’ll find you won’t have many commas or parenthetical thoughts.

If you have to put it into a snappy phrase, this rule is called “Just Talk to Me.” Say it out loud. Say it to a real person and have them listen and try to understand what you’re saying.

Common Mistakes in Copywriting Part 2

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by Michael T. Shishido

Why do people insist on putting their children in their commercials? Yeah, it’s cute. Yeah, it’s different. But in the end, does it help your cause?

The first question you need to ask before you commit to putting the child voice on your commercial is, “What do we expect to achieve by putting the kid’s voice in our commercial?” I would also ask, “Is a child’s voice germane to your business?”

It might make sense to find a precocious child to voice your commercial if you run a family entertainment center similar to Chuck E. Cheese’s. Places like Chuck E. Cheese’s and Wet N Wild water park are natural businesses for a kid’s voice to appear. Kids are the primary clientele for these businesses.

But if you run a solar company or an air conditioning business or you’re a political candidate, you might want to think twice. Children aren’t natural components or facets of these entities. So it’s a bit of a stretch to think a child can pull off the marketing and convincing that an adult voice can.

If you do use a child in your marketing, make sure that child is outgoing enough to read the commercial copy with energy and enthusiasm. You don’t want to spend an inordinate amount of time coaxing a great performance out of kid who’s shy and demure. It’s a waste of everyone’s time. Find that ham who’s always acting up in front of people. And please do not force your own kids to be a part of the commercial just because you want them to. If your kids aren’t the natural, precocious, outgoing type, you’ll end up forcing them to do something they’re really not cut out for.

Kids in commercials aren’t always bad ideas. Sometimes they work. But for the most part, the kids you hear or see in commercials are in there because their parents dragged them into it and thought it would be cute. It’s not about the kids. It’s about the marketing objective you’re trying to achieve.

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5 Tips for Writing an Effective Slogan

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Choosing the right slogan for your business, organization, or campaign can be tricky. Here are 5 tips to help you craft that perfect message. Whatever it ends up to be, make sure your slogan is audience-focused.

http://www.inc.com/ss/5-tips-for-writing-an-effective-slogan#0

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