Choosing the Right Word for the Right Occasion

     It has been estimated that the English language has over 600,000 non-technical words. Very often a word in English has a meaning very similar to another word, but only one word is the word you want to use for the idea you want to express. In Chinese, the word 國 can be translated as kingdom, country, nation, or state. When writing in English, how do you know which word to use?

     Choosing the right word for the right occasion is a skill that every writer must develop. In this lesson you will learn to use your dictionary and thesaurus “as a team” to develop that skill.

     If English is not your native language, you may begin with your pocket translator. Let’s say your pocket translator tells you that 國 is translated as country. Is that the word you need to use?
     Maybe it is; maybe it isn’t. Go to your thesaurus.

     Your thesaurus will give you the words kingdom, country, nation, and state as synonyms. It may include a few more. Next you turn to your dictionary and look up the words kingdom, country, nation, and state. A kingdom is a state ruled by a king or queen. A state is a geographical area ruled by a sovereign government. A country is a geographical area that is somehow regarded as “different” from the geographical areas around it. A nation is a cultural or ethnic group that sees itself as culturally or ethnically different from other groups. We usually understand nation as being a country that is culturally or ethnically separate from its neighbors.

     Scotland and Wales are separate countries, but they are part of the same state: the United Kingdom. Since the United Kingdom is ruled by a queen, the UK is also a kingdom. Scotland and England are separate nations—the Gaelic and Anglo-Norman peoples—but they are part of the same state or kingdom: the UK. England and France are different states, countries, and nations; but, since France is not a kingdom, we would not say that England and France are separate kingdoms.

     Here’s one other point regarding these words. We would call a country a kingdom only when drawing attention to the fact that it is ruled by a king or queen. We would call it a state only if we are referring specifically to its government. We would call it a nation only if we are drawing attention to its cultural or ethnic distinctiveness.

Writing Your Article from Mind Map to Rough Draft

     The four steps in writing your article—or almost anything else—are these:
1.) Plan your article and gather information, 
2.) Write your rough draft, 
3.) Revise your article, and 
4.) Polish your article. 
     Notice that the first step has two items. You don’t do all your planning before you gather information for it. You do both your planning and your gathering at more or less the same time.

     It’s important that you keep your thoughts organized. Unless you have a system for organizing your material even as you gather it, you will find yourself trying to sort through a mountain of seemingly unrelated information. Perhaps the most effective way of taking notes and organizing your thoughts at the same time is by using a mind map. By using a mind map, you are gathering, sorting, and making sense of information by the same process your brain uses when it gathers, sorts, and makes sense of information; that is, when the brain is learning.

     The first step in planning and gathering for your article is deciding the subject of your article. Choose a topic that interests you, and which you think will interest others. Let’s say you want to write about Charleston, South Carolina. Those three words—Charleston, South Carolina—will be the first thing you write in your mind map. Write it in a rectangle as you see in the illustration below.

Here’s the second step in the process:

Now we’re getting somewhere. Here’s what we do next:

Now let’s go into a little more detail.

     Is that all you want to mention in your article? Well, that’s 22 things you want to say, including the title. The title, in sentence form, will become the topic sentence of the first paragraph of your article. That should be enough for now. You may later want to add more.

     The next thing you do is turn your mind map into a topic outline. Just as the mind map is patterned after the way your brain works when it’s learning things, the outline will form the pattern for your article. You studied outline form last semester, so outlining your article shouldn’t be too difficult. Just don’t forget to use proper outline form as you see below.

"Charleston, South Carolina: a Living Time Capsule"

I. Introduction

II. The Holy City

III. America’s Largest Historical District

     A. Broad and Meeting Streets

     B. Old Slave Market

     C. Rainbow Row

     D. The Battery

IV. Charleston Area Historical Sites

     A. Fort Sumter

     B. Sullivan’s Island

          1. Site of Revolutionary War’s First Major Battle

          2. Setting for Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Gold Bug”

V. Folk Culture

     A. The Gullah People

          1. Origin

          2. Dialect

          3. Basket Weaving

     B. Charleston Ghosts

VI. Famous Gardens and Plantations

     A. Middleton Place

     B. Drayton Hall

     C. Magnolia Gardens and Plantation

VII. Conclusion

     The next step in writing your article is turning your topic outline into a sentence outline. Just ask yourself, “What do I want to say about each of the things I mentioned in the outline?” At this point in your writing, don’t worry about grammar, spelling, or even whether you remember what a particular place is called. After all, you’re writing just to get your ideas on paper; that’s why it’s called a rough draft. The revising and polishing come later. (To tell you the truth, the first time I wrote the sentence outline you see on the following page, it contained some mistakes. I corrected them before I handed out this lesson to students. Since no one but you—and perhaps your teacher—has to see your sentence outline, don’t worry about polishing it just yet.)

Charleston, South Carolina, is a living time capsule.

I. In many respects areas in and around Charleston, South Carolina, are a

     living time capsule.

II. Charleston is sometimes called “the Holy City” because it’s the
     birthplace of three religious denominations: Southern Baptism, Reform
     Judaism, and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, as well as the
     first Catholic church in America.

III. Every one of the 700 buildings south of Broad Street in Charleston was
     built before 1850, making this area America’s largest historical district.

     A. The most photographed intersection in the Charleston historical 

          district is the “Four Corners  of Law,” where Broad and Meeting
          Streets cross one another.

     B. The Old Slave Market, where rural slaves brought their produce for
          sale in the city, has become Charleston’s most popular venue for
          purchasing souvenirs.

     C. From Charleston Harbor, one can see Rainbow Row—so called 

          because the houses on this street facing the harbor display every
          color of the rainbow.

     D. It was from the Charleston Battery that cadets from the Citadel
          fired the first shot of the War Between the States.

IV. Away from Charleston’s famed historical district, visitors can
     experience living history in other spots.

     A. Several times a day, a ferry takes history buffs and casual
          tourists to historic Fort Sumter, the site of the first battle of the
         War Between the States.

     B. Sullivan’s Island, a deceptively sleepy island getaway, has its

          own stories to tell.

          1. At Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan’s Island, you can see where 

              American patriots fought the first major battle of America’s
              War for Independence.

          2. While Edgar Allan Poe was a soldier stationed at Fort Moultrie,

              he fell in love with the island and later made it the setting for his 

              immortal tale “The Gold Bug.”

V. Interwoven with the aristocracy and history of Charleston are the 

     contrasting images of folk culture.

     A. From the coastal island of the South Carolina Lowcountry a
          people called Gullahs come to lilve, work, and hawk their
          traditional handcrafts.

          1. The Gullahs are descended from slaves brought from West
              Africa.

          2. Their distinctive dialect is heard almost as often as the
              Geechie  accent more commonly called the Charleston
              brougue.

          3. Their most popular handcraft is the unique Gullah baskets 

              made from pine straw, sweetgrass, and palm leaves.

VI. The Charleston area’s famous gardens originally were designed

     for the enjoyment of plantation owners.

     A. Middleton Place, founded in 1741 and opened to the public in 

         1872, is America’s oldest public garden.

     B. Framed by a giant Spanish moss-draped oak, Drayton Hall is 

         often mistaken for Tara, the antebellum mansion featured in

         the movie Gone With the Wind.

     C. Magnolia Gardens, founded in 1676, is acclaimed as the 

          oldest and most beautiful garden in America.

VII. Unless you are fortunate enough to spend the night in one of 

      Historic Charleston’s bed-and-breakfast mansions, your time
      travel into an era of elegance and grace too soon comes to
      a close.

     Now what? When you began mind mapping your article, you may have doubted that you would be able to write it. Now you have written 23 sentences. Each sentence will be the topic sentence of a paragraph.

     All you have to do now is look at each sentence and give more details about the topic of that sentence. You may have noticed that some of the sentences in the sentence outline are too long. You may break the overly long sentences into two or more sentences.

     With only a little effort with each topic sentence, you will have written 23 paragraphs. Remember, this is only a rough draft. Write from the heart. Revising will come later.

Congratulations! You have written the first draft of your article.

(Mind maps used in this lesson were emended from mind maps generated via Mind Manager©, a copyrighted computer program.)

How to Use Quotation Marks and Italics

     Names of certain things, such as books, articles, movies, airplanes, and ships, must be placed either in quotation marks or italics. How do you know which to use? All items that require one or the other may be divided into four groups: 
1.) intellectual property that may be copied, 
2.) means of transport, and works of art that are one of a kind, 
3.) nicknames for machines.
4.) words are numbers

     Intellectual property is any printed matter or recording, such as books, movies, and poems. Works of art that are one of a kind include paintings and sculptures.

Intellectual Property

     If it’s “big,” you put the name in italics; if it’s “small,” you put the name in quotation marks. Here are some examples:

Big 

The Swiss Family Robinson (book) 

Small

“Return to the Wreck” (chapter)

Big

Selected Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan :Poe (book) 

Small

“The Gold Bug” (short story)

Big

The Odyssey (epic poem) 

Small

“If” (poem)

Big

Roy Orbison’s Greatest Hits (record album) 

Small

“Only the Lonely” (song)

Big

Three’s Company (television series) 

Small

“Jack’s Bistro” (episode from the TV series)

Big

Taipei Times (newspaper)

 Small

“Photographer freed” (newspaper article)

     (Note: Movies that are part of a series of movies (for example, Star Wars II: The Empire Strikes Back), and short films, such as It’s Grits, must be in italics. Segments from a television miniseries—that is, a made-for-television movie that is shown in two or more parts—must be placed in quotation marks. The name of the television miniseries itself, however, must be italicized.)

Transport and Works of Art

     Regarding one-of-a-kind works of art and means of transport, it doesn’t matter whether it is big or small. It’s always italicized. Here are a few examples:

Spruce Goose ( huge airplane) Gossamer II (small plane)

Titanic (ship) Minnow (boat)

David (statue) Wolf Running (figurine, or statuette)

Last Supper (mural, or large painting) Golden Retriever (miniature painting)

Other Items or Objects

     Brand names, such as Ford or BMW are not italicized or placed in quotation marks. Personal names for things that are not ordinarily named require neither quotation marks nor italics. Some examples are personally-owned guns, such as Davy Crockett’s famous rifle Old Betsy. Common nicknames for mass produced items such as Henry Ford’s Model T Ford (called the “Tin Lizzie”) require quotation marks.

     Landmarks, even if they are considered works of art, are neither italicized nor placed in quotation marks. Three examples are the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and the Colossus of Rhodes.

Words, Letters, and Numbers
     When you use a word, a letter, or a number, not for its meaning or value, but simply as a word, letter, or number, you italicize it.  Here are some examples:
     "When you write  the letter z, try not to make it look like a 2."  (The speaker is talking about the letter z and the number 2.  He's not referring to z as having a meaning or 2 as having a value, as in "two oranges.")
     "People sometimes misspell the word misspell."  (The first time the word is used, the speaker is talking about misspelling something.  The second time it's used, the speaker is talking about the word itself.)
     You also italicize foreign words and phrases.  Here are some examples:
     "Audrey Hepburn had a certain je ne sais quoi." 
     "My favorite Chinese dish is tsongtze."

How to Use Prepositions

Location

At, by, in, on, near, past, up with, below, above, among, beneath across, around, beside, inside, before, between, against, beyond, behind, over under, with, without, within, in front of, along.

Direction

By, to, from, down, off, through, up, out, past, about, along, after, between, against, behind, over, under, into, upon, throughout, out of, by way of.

Relationship

In, from, of, with, for, about, above, beneath, against, before, over, under

Process

By, on, to, from, through, along, throughout, by means of, by way of

Example

For, like, as

Condition

But, but for, under, through, throughout, with, without, upon, on, from, because of, as to, beyond, over and above, according to, on account of, aside from

Relative to Time

At, by, in, on, almost, though, throughout, of, about, after, beyond, over, under, upon, over, within, in, subsequent to, prior to.

Sample phrases

Location

At the well. near the house. He lives past the traffic light. It is located along the coast. Place it in the box [see Direction].

Direction

He passed by the market. He is coming from Canada [See Relationship]. Put it into the box [See Location] He was walking about the park.

Relationship

He is from Canada [See Direction]. Without friends

Process

By way of analogy, along those lines, from what you say

Example

For example, love is like a rose.

Condition

He rose above his humble beginnings. Within this context, He thought about her.

Relative to Time

Within two weeks, beyond the year 2010, prior to 1968, about three o’clock

Allegories, Fables, and Other Types of Tales

Allegory: (n) a story that uses figurative language to comment on a political, religious, social, or other matters. Many of the elements in an allegory represent lessons to be learned.

Fable: (n) a story that gives human characteristics to non-human characters and teaches a moral lesson.

Fairy tale: (n) a story of adventures in which fantastic forces and beings (such as wizards, goblins, elves, etc.)

Quest story: (n) a story in which the main characters must make a journey in order to achieve an important goal.

Episodic: (adj) made up of a number of individual stories that don’t have to be told in the same order that you find them in the book.

Figure 1.

Parallels in Five Fantasy Stories

Figure 2.

Parallels in Five Novels involving Quartets of Main Characters

*Structurally, the main protagonist of Journey to the West was Tang San-jiang; but, from a literary perspective, the main protagonist was Sun Wu Kong.

Gerunds and Infinitives

Verbals

A verbal is a word that looks like a verb, but it’s used as something other than a verb. There are three kinds of verbals:

1. Gerunds

2. Infinitives

3. Participles

A gerund is a verbal that ends with ing or ed and is used as a noun. A gerund is always an activity of some kind. Here are two examples:

1. Fishing is a popular pastime.

2. He likes fishing.

“He is fishing.” (This is a verb—not a verbal. If it’s a verb, it always has a helping verb before it.)

     An infinitive is a verbal that begins with the word to.  It may be used as a noun or as an adverb. Here are two examples: “To know him is to love him.”

“He took a bath to smell better.” (“To smell better tells why he took a bath. It's an adverb.)

Infinitive phrases: A phrase is a group of words that does not have both a subject and verb, and it doesn’t express a complete thought. An infinitive phrase is a phrase that is used as an infinitive.

Example:

“He uses Photoshop to make pictures of his friends look funny.”

“To swim in this pond is against the law.”

When you try to make sense of a sentence, look for the verb. Then answer the question, “Who or what?”That will tell you what the noun is.  Then you can more easily identify the other parts of speech in the sentence.

From Mind Map to Topic Sentences

Each of these topic sentences originally appeared as points of interest in a mind map.  Here, I've turned each point into a topic sentence for a paragraph.  Later, I'll show how each sentence can be used as the topic sentence for a whole paragraph.

The Shih-lin Night Market is one of the most popular night spots in Taipei City.
Many Taiwanese and foreigners enjoy the hustle and bustle and the crowds.
It’s a great shopping area, both for bargains and for the latest styles.
Along its main passageways and alleyways, a wide variety of local foods and drinks may be found.
Video games and games of personal skill draw many teenagers to the night market’s arcade area.
One can easily see why the Shih-lin Night Market is a popular venue.

How Paragraphs are Developed

Types of paragraphs:

By examples:
“The desert is home to many kinds of animals. (Name a few.) (Give summarizing sentence.) Far from being deserted, the desert is teeming with life.”


By size:
(Large to small):
Beneath the vast, blue sky lies a shimmering lake. On the lake, in a boat, sits a fisherman. The fisherman puts the point of his hook into a cricket he’s using for bait.

X
Chiasm:
Beneath the vast, blue sky lies a shimmering lake. On the lake, in a boat, sits a fisherman. The fisherman puts the point of his hook into a cricket he’s using for bait. He looks out across the lake and sees a reflection. It’s the reflection of the vast, blue sky.

Near to far or far to near:
The entrance to the gate is small and covered with flowers. It leads to a winding path with flowers on each side. Beyond it is a beautiful cottage.


By time:
The man looked at his watch and grew impatient. He looked down the street. Finally, the bus was arriving.

By reasons:
I believe that someone hired him to shoot the candidate. He had very little money, but he was using an expensive gun. He could not have bought the gun with so little money; therefore, someone else must have bought the gun for him.

By importance:
I love my friends. I love my family.  I love my country.  I love God.


Homework: Create a mind map for the article you plan to write for the mid-term exam project.

23. Designing TV and Video Advertisements

     Years ago, products were often advertised simply by having someone stand in front of a camera and talking about the product. In those days, watching an advertisement was like listening to a salesman.

     The spokesman would introduce himself. Then he would talk about the product. Sometimes he would demonstrate the product for television viewers.

     As television advertising developed, advertisers would develop little skits to promote their products. Many advertisers continued to do well by having celebrity spokesmen talk directly into the camera.

     Nowadays, fewer advertisements rely on having famous people talk like salesmen. The most effective advertising strategy these days is psychology and entertainment. If an advertisement seems more like entertainment, people will pay more attention to it.

 Affective Filter

     Affective filter is a psychological term. It’s kind of like a guard standing at the gateway to your mind, and it decides what information is going to pass into your brain.

     When you are aware that someone is trying to convince you of something, you’re more “on your guard.” Your unconscious mind decides whether the message is true. If it says, “No,” or, “I doubt it,” the message is not allowed into your brain, except as “someone else’s opinion.”

     But, what if the “guard at the gate” is told that it’s not really a message; that it’s just entertainment? Then the “guard at the gate” lets the message through without questioning it, and it goes straight to your brain. Then you’re more likely to accept it as your own opinion.

     That’s one of the reasons that the most effective advertisements don’t look like advertisements; they look like entertainment. These advertisements are scripted and blocked in the same manner as movies, stage plays, and television programs.

     (When a movie director blocks a scene, this means that he has already decided where everyone and everything in the scene is supposed to be. Whether someone stands in one place or moves is decided by the director. Everything about how the scene is supposed to look is blocked by the director even before it is filmed. We’ll tell you more about blocking later.)

     As for celebrity spokesmen, they can hardly be called “spokesmen” anymore, because they usually don’t speak. Advertisers still use the technique of transference, but without making the advertisement look as much like an advertisement. Instead, the celebrity “spokesman” is seen using the product. Since that doesn’t look as much like a message, the “guard at the gate” is more likely to let the message go straight through to the brain.

     Transference is the subtle art of taking the viewer’s feelings about one thing and transferring it to something else. Take, for example, a typical political advertisement in Taiwan. When an unknown person is running for public office (we’ll call him Ou-yang), you often see pictures of him standing next to a popular politician (we’ll call him Su). They hope that your good feelings about Su will be transferred to Ou-yang and that you’ll vote for Ou-yang as a result.

     Sometimes, in your college life, you’ll see a person with low self esteem associating with a popular person in hopes that some of that popularity will “rub off” on the insecure person.

     Let us give you an example of the use of a storyboard to block a scene. In the scene below, the Little Mermaid is talking with the sea hag. The director has decided that the scene would open with the two of them in the same frame. Then the camera cuts to show only the mermaid, then the sea hag, and so on. The scene ends with the mermaid and the sea hag in the same frame.

     If you were filming live actors, that would be a great deal of trouble. Each time you changed the scene, you’d have to move the camera, the lights, the actors, and everything else. It’s much more convenient to film it the way you see it below.

     Both scenes with the mermaid and the sea hag in the same frame are filmed. Then all the scenes with just the sea hag are filmed. Then all the scenes with just the mermaid are filmed. Later, the film editor cuts and splices the film to produce a scene in the order that the audience will see (as above.)

Now it’s your turn!

     You and your team, now design a television or video advertisement for your product or service.

22. Blocking Your Advertising Images

What exactly is blocking?

     In advertising, blocking is the arrangement of words and images in print or television advertising. In television advertising, it also refers to deciding the direction in which a person or animal will move.

     For example, if you see someone sitting still in the middle of the screen, someone has decided that he should sit in that place in that manner. If he rises from his seat and walks to a certain spot, stops, and turns to look at the camera, every movement he has made is because someone has decided the moves he will make.

     You want to arrange the words and images so that they’ll be most appealing to the reader or viewer.

     Mentally divide the image into six parts, like the image below:

     The image you see here is poorly blocked. As you can see, it’s perfectly balanced, and the viewer can tell that the photographer mentally balanced it as he took the picture. The land runs precisely along the center of the picture. The two skyscrapers are almost equal distances from the center of the photograph.

     Your picture should look balanced, but it should appear naturally balanced. Your photograph shouldn’t draw attention to anything the photographer did.

The Six Elements of Art

     Professional ad men don’t just “eyeball” a picture to decide whether it looks good. They also have certain standards for deciding whether it’s good and how good it is. Their standards include the same standards used by art critics:

1. Color: What colors and color combinations “say” what you want to say about your product?

2. Light: Shades of light and shadow help to set the mood.

3. Form: Do you want your images to look 3-D, like solid images, or should they appear more like line drawings?

4. Perspective: Do you want to create a feeling of distance or depth, or does flatness strike the proper mood?

5. Proportion: The way the size of some things relate to the size of other things in the picture.

6. Motion: Rapid movement creates excitement. No movement can indicate rest.

Color:

     What colors and color combinations “say” what you want to say about your product? The use of green in this image fits the image of a “natural” product. You can see the word natural on the product label. If you could see the above photo in color, you would see that the blue of the water matches the green in the background. It also provides a space for the advertising copy.

Light:

     Shades of light and shadow help to set the mood. In black and white, what mood does this image strike?

Form:

     Do you want your images to look 3-D, like solid images, or should they appear more like line drawings? Notice that the top of the bottle in the picture hides part of the shoreline. The unconscious mind wants to think of the shoreline as one continuous line; but the image of the product breaking up the shoreline suggests that the bottle is a solid object.

     By contrast, take a look at the image below. The form may fit some products, but certainly not a health-food product.

Perspective:

     Do you want to create a feeling of distance or depth, or does flatness strike the proper mood? In most of the advertising images in this lesson, distance and depth are used because they fit the image of health better than a flat line drawing would.

Proportion:

     The way the size of some things relate to the size of other things in the picture. We recall seeing a billboard advertising an insurance company. The billboard covered most of a multi-story building. The building in the picture appeared to be normal sized, but the gorilla in the picture was gigantic. A casual viewer would think that it looked as though the King Kong-sized gorilla were tearing down the multi-story building. This image was intended to suggest the emotional effect of problems that are too much for us to handle. The insurance company is suggesting that they are able to handle it for us. By this means, they are offering us a feeling of security.

Motion:

Rapid movement creates excitement. Lack of movement can indicate rest. In this advertisement, a more peaceful mood is required. Only the gentle movement of the water is seen.

Now it’s your turn!

Decide what kind of images best fit your product. Work on images for your advertising.

21. Designing Radio Advertisements

     This is a fairly brief lesson, but it covers a great deal of decision making for advertisers. You and your team can use the items in this lesson as a checklist for designing a radio advertising campaign for your product or service.

Why would you choose radio for your advertising?

1. It fits your target consumer.

2. It fits your target area.

3. It fits your product or service.

4. It has other advantages over other media.

How might radio fit your target consumer?

Your target consumer might be someone who…

1. Listens to the car radio while driving (truck driver, commuter, etc.)

2. Works in a place that has the radio playing all day (a laborer who plays it to keep his mind occupied, for example)

3. Listens to the radio only at certain times (after school and before bedtime, while driving to or from work)

4. Manages a store and plays the radio to provide atmosphere for his customers

5. Happens to hear the radio where he or she is shopping

6. Plays the radio while doing housework (housewife, cook, maid, etc.)

Who is your target consumer?

Each of these people listens to the radio at different times.

1. Listens to the car radio while driving (truck driver (all hours), delivery worker (9:00 AM-6:00 PM), etc.)

2. Works in a place that has the radio playing all day (a laborer who plays it to keep his mind occupied (9:00-5:00), night watchman (evening or night), etc.)

3. Listens to the radio only at certain times (after school and before bedtime (5:00-10:00), while driving to or from work 8:00-9:00, 5:00-6:00))

4. Manages a store and plays the radio to provide atmosphere for his customers (Radio station may vary according to type of store or time of day.)

5. Happens to hear the radio where he or she is shopping (variable)

6. Plays the radio while doing housework (housewife, cook, maid, etc. (Radio station may vary according to age of person or time of day.))

Choice of radio stations depend on target consumer.

1. Listens to the car radio while driving (truck driver (country music), delivery worker (pop music), etc.)

2. Works in a place that has the radio playing all day (a laborer who plays it to keep his mind occupied (variable), night watchman (something light), etc.)

3. Listens to the radio only at certain times (after school and before bedtime (pop, rock, or hip-hop), while driving to or from work (depends on type of person))

4. Manages a store and plays the radio to provide atmosphere for his customers (Radio station may vary according to type of store or the store’s target customer.)

5. Happens to hear the radio where he or she is shopping (variable)

6. Plays the radio while doing housework (housewife, cook, maid, etc. (Radio station may vary according to age of person or time of day. This person probably will be a woman.))

How might radio advertising fit your target area?

Your target area might be…

1. Just the city and surrounding county (small radio station, low-cost advertising)

2. A mid-sized state, province, or island (medium-sized radio station, somewhat higher cost for advertising)

3. An area covering thousands of square kilometers (more listeners, higher overall cost; it may, however, cost less per listener.)

How might radio advertising fit your product or service?

Your product or service might…

1. Appeal to reason as much as it does to the eye (for example, help in making a decision)

2. Appeal to the imagination as much as it does to the eye (for example, concepts such as relaxation or confidence)

3. Be difficult to portray in more visual media (for example, medicine)

4. Be more suitable to radio due to other reasons.

Now it’s your turn!

     Decide how your product or service may benefit from radio advertising. Design a radio advertising campaign that will fit your product or service and your target consumer. Using real radio stations in your area as a model, decide on which radio stations you will place your advertisements and at what times. Be prepared to support your decisions based on the criteria mentioned in this lesson.

20. Mistakes to Avoid in Writing Copy

     “Rumble, rumble, rumble! A horse-drawn carriage carries you along a cobblestone street. On the edge of a harbor, you see a charmingly quaint city from an earlier day. Each house and building is over 160 years old. A chill hits you in the face. Where are you? You’re in ‘America’s Most Charming City,’ Charleston, South Carolina! 100,000 people live there.”

Don’t talk down to people.

     “Rumble, rumble, rumble!” “Where are you?” (You might try something more grown up.)

Don’t say anything negative about your product or service.

     “A chill hits you in the face.” Doesn’t that sound unpleasant?

Don’t begin a sentence with a digit; begin it with a word.

     “100,000 people live there.”

This is much better:

     “Your horse-drawn carriage rumbles along a cobblestone street. . On the edge of a harbor, you see a charmingly quaint city from an earlier day. Each house and building is over 160 years old. A brisk wind brushes across your face. Welcome to “America’s Most Charming City,” Charleston, South Carolina!  Some 100,000 people live there.”

     Rather than go over the article point by point, we’ll just point out the areas that need improvement.

     “The way of a carriage running on cobblestone streets is the same as the car.”

Try this instead:

     “Carriages and cars may be seen moving along Charleston’s cobblestone streets.” (If the reader has to read it twice to understand it, he’ll quickly lose interest. Improve it.)

     In most of the paragraphs in the article, the name of the city was hardly mentioned. Some paragraphs didn’t mention the city's name at all. You should take every reasonable opportunity to mention the name of your product. In a 30-second advertisement, your product should be mentioned by name at least three times.

     From the top of one of these hills, you can see St. Michael's Church It is the most striking building of the Charleston skyline. It rises impressively above Broad and Market Streets in the heart of Charleston's historical district.

Don’t tell people what to do; suggest it.

     Don’t say, “When you’re in Charleston, visit the Battery.” It’s more effective to say, “When you’re in Charleston, you have an excellent opportunity to visit the Battery.”

Use verbs that show action.

     Instead of saying that the food is “at many seafood restaurants,” you may say that the food “is served at many seafood restaurants.”

Avoid words that can be taken as positive or negative.

Don’t say that the food is “special.” It could be especially bad. You might say that the food is succulent or mouthwatering. There are plenty of words you can use that would encourage people to eat it.

     Don’t tell people to “relax” at a certain spot. By doing so, you’re not only telling people what to do; but you’re also suggesting that a vacation in Charleston is tiring or hectic.

Try this instead:

     “After your tour of Fort Sumter, you may want to enjoy a change of pace afforded by the night life south of Broad Street.”

Look at all the mistakes in this paragraph!

     By now, your feet must be tired. Rest in one of Charleston’s 1,500 hotel rooms! As you relax, think of all the different things in store for you tomorrow. There’s still plenty to do in Charleston.

For crying out loud! Is a vacation in Charleston that much torture?

That’s like saying, “If you go to Charleston, you’ll get sore feet. I’m ordering you to take a rest. If you think today was torture, wait until tomorrow.” (Are all the hotel rooms in one area, or are they conveniently located? The paragraph doesn’t say.)

Try this instead:

     At the close of the day, you can rest in one of the 1,500 hotel rooms throughout Charleston. As you rest, you can anticipate all the exciting and romantic experiences you will have tomorrow. There’s much more to enjoy in the charming city of Charleston.

     I’ve removed the exclamation point. Exclamation points are for excitement, not for rest and relaxation. The word throughout tells the target consumer that the hotels are conveniently located. All 1,500 aren’t in just one place. Anticipate suggests that you’re not just “thinking about” it; you’re actually looking forward to it. In the closing sentence, the target consumer doesn’t just “see” things in Charleston; he “enjoys” and “experiences” them. Make the vacation sound like a positive experience.

19. Writing Advertising Copy

     Your teachers may have told you that there’s no such thing as a stupid question. That may be true in the classroom, but in the advertising business, it’s different. Don’t ask your target consumer stupid questions.

     For starters, don’t give your target consumer an excuse to say, “No,” or, “I’m not sure.”

      Here are a few foolish questions you should avoid asking your target consumer:

     1. “Do you like _______?” (You must make statements that assume that they like your product.)

     2. “Are you interested in __________?” (If they’re not already interested, your job is to arouse their interest. If they are already interested, they’re probably buying the product from someone else.)

    3. “Have you thought about ________?” (If they’ve thought about it, they’ve already done something about it. Besides, since you want your target consumer to think that your product is new, of course they haven’t thought about it.)

     By asking these foolish questions, you’re making five big mistakes:

1. You’re giving them a reason to say, “No,” or, “I’m not sure.” (You should speak of your product or services as though they can’t live without it.)

2. You’re suggesting that they may not be interested in your product. (You should present your product as interesting.)

3. You’re suggesting that there’s nothing new about your product; so why should they switch to your product?

4. You’re drawing attention to your target consumer’s doubts. (You should draw his attention to the benefits of having and using your product.)

5. You don’t sound sure that they should buy your product. (If you’re not sure of your product, why should they want to buy it?)

Don’t say anything bad about your product!

     Of course, no one deliberately says anything bad about his product, but it’s surprising how often amateurs come up with slogans that insult their product. About a year ago, the staff members of a school were trying to come up with a slogan to attract students to their school. They somehow convinced themselves that the first part of the slogan should be, “It’s small, but it’s….”

     I did everything I could to dissuade them from using the word but as part of their slogan. The word but always suggests something negative. It’s like saying, “Our school is bad, but it has its good qualities.”

     If your target consumer is going to notice the apparently negative characteristic of your product anyway and there’s no way to avoid it, what do you do? You present it as something positive. Let’s suppose you were marketing a small car, and let’s call the car the Toyota Smarts.

     Here’s the wrong way to promote the Toyota Smarts: “The Toyota Smarts is small, but it has plenty of leg room.” When you say something like this, you sound as though you’re trying to defend your product instead of praising it.

     Try this instead: “The Toyota Smarts handles easily in traffic, fits conveniently into parking spaces, and it offers you all the leg room you need for your traveling comfort.” In this copy, smallness is presented as a benefit, and the word small is not used at all.

The “Holy Trinity” of Advertising:

NEW!

YOU!

FREE!

NEW!

     You’re offering (Don’t say selling; that only draws attention to the money they’re giving up to buy your product.) a benefit/advantage/opportunity (That’s right: Sell the benefit, not the product or service.) that no one else has ever offered before. If someone else has offered it, they’re satisfied with buying it from someone else. They won’t buy it from you. That’s why they have to think that it’s new.

YOU!

Notice how many times the word you, or something like it, is used in this copy: “The Toyota Smarts handles easily in traffic, fits conveniently into parking spaces, and it offers you all the leg room you need for your traveling comfort.”

The words you and your are used a total of three times, but it’s suggested two more times. After all, who is handling the car in traffic? You are. Who has to fit the car into parking spaces? You do.

FREE!

Of course, nothing is free, but there are ways of suggesting it. Here are a few of them: 

1. Make a “special offer” such as, “Buy one, get one free!” That sounds much better than, “It’s now half price, but you have to buy two of them.”

2. Make the bottle (or other container) 20% larger than your nearest competitor’s but charge the same price. You can claim that extra amount in your bottle is “free.” You can raise the price later, and it will seem reasonable since your bottle holds more product.

3. Offer discount coupons or some other discount. If you raise your prices by 10% before offering a 20% discount, it will look as though it’s a bigger bargain than it really is.

Avoid using the word buy.

     When you use such words as buy and purchase, you’re drawing their attention to the money they’ll have to give up in order to get your product. Instead, of focusing on the cost, you should continue to draw their attention to the benefits of having and using your product.

     Many advertisers use the word invest, as though buying their product is an “investment in the future.” Look for other positive-sounding words you can use.

Give your target consumers a reason to buy now.

     The longer your target consumer waits to decide whether to buy your product or service, the less likely he is to buy it. Give him a reason to buy now rather than later. Here are two approaches you can use:

1. “Supplies are limited, so get yours today!

2. “We’re offering this amazingly low price for a limited time only, so get yours before the offer ends!”

     Notice how the pitchman is using the word yours. Actually, the product won’t belong to the customer until he has paid for it. Most people are afraid of losing something that belongs to them, but they don’t really mind not getting something that doesn’t belong to them. That’s why the pitchman is speaking of the product as if it actually belongs to the target consumer. It’s a clever way of saying that if they don’t buy it now, someone will take it away from them.

     In this respect, the advertising approach is no different from the person-to-person salesman. People involved in direct sales know that, if he can get the target consumer to hold the product in his hands, he’s less likely to give it back to the salesman. Of course, a television announcer can’t place a product into the hands of a person who is watching him on television, so he does the next best thing: He suggests that the product already belongs to the target consumer.

Now, here are two really, really, REALLY stupid approaches:

1. "Our unique Da-ge-da phones are cheaper than any other brand."  The problem here is, you're offering a high-end product by means of a low-end strategy.  If your product is high end and unique, you should want people to think that it's also high quality. 

2. "We'll pay you to buy our product."  Nobody actually uses those words in selling a product, especially if it's a high end product, but lots of students have said something like them.  Just remember that no matter how cheap your product is, it's still cheaper for the consumer not to buy it at all.  In fact, the consumer is the only stakeholder who isn't trying to make money from the product.  The consumer is the only stakeholder who is giving up money for the product.    You can't bribe someone to take your product.

Now it’s your turn!

     What does your team want to tell others about your product or service? Remember to sell the benefit! Remember, when you create a slogan, you’re stating the benefit in just a few words. Everything else in your ad copy should, in some way, support that one basic idea.