Marketing Writing 101
Chicago, IL
Tuesday, May 5
8:00 am
-
8:30 am
Registration and Hot Breakfast
We’ll kick off the day with breakfast. You’ll also get lunch and breaks throughout the day.
8:30 am
-
4:30 pm
Getting Ready to Write
- How today’s readers scan
- Key writing skills and how to integrate them
- How to link writing’s core phases:
- Planning
- Drafting
- Editing
- Proofreading
Reviewing Broad Range of Marketing Writing
Discuss several marketing writing types. As a group, you will pick 2-3 from the following for your writing exercises.
- Ad copy
- Emails
- Press releases
- Presentations
- Elevator pitches
- White papers/e-articles
- Video scripts/YouTube
- Blogs
Refreshing Your Writing Toolkit
- Improving your drafting
- Initial tips
- Hooking scanners with headlines/titles/subject lines
- Engaging readers with dynamic openings
- First few words: do they reach (or miss) the reader?
- Main point: is it super concise and focused?
- What’s in It For the Reader (WIFR) and WIFR sandwich
- Body: sharing details in easy bites
- Closings and calls to action (CTA)
- Improving your marriage of words and images
- Improving your planning
- Brainstorming: Picturing audience needs, fears, triggers
- SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis
- Personas and reader/audience analysis
- Formal and informal
- Identifying key reader characteristics
Wednesday, May 6
8:00 am
-
8:30 am
Hot Breakfast
Breakfast will be waiting for you when you arrive for day two. Lunch and breaks will be provided throughout the day.
8:30 am
-
4:30 pm
Refreshing Your Writing Toolkit (Continued)
- Major writing exercise: crafting and discussing two linked marketing pieces
- Improving your editing
- Shorter is better
- Ease of reading
- Better branding
- Better word choices: two templates
- Better sentences
- Punctuation/grammar
- Improving your proofreading
- Why is proofreading well so difficult?
- Using a tailored approach
- Creating an action plan for continued improvement
- Taking a snapshot of reference materials