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The vast
majority of business owners are absolutely unqualified to write
effective broadcast scripts. But once they realize their account
executive is no more knowledgeable about the creative process than
they are, they wind up telling us what needs to be in the copy. The
salesperson dutifully writes down what the client tells him and
hands it in to the production director. The over-worked production
staff does the best they can with the garbage we give them and we
wind up casting bad bait to our sea of listeners or viewers. Then
when the client realizes that the campaign isn’t working they
cancel, blaming not the bad bait but the lake they’re fishing on,
which happens to be your station.
Bad creative is
one of the biggest reasons local clients cancel and it is high time
for the broadcast community take back the driver’s seat in this
critical area.
Local direct
clients are under siege from national competitors and they
desperately need our help in breaking through commercial clutter
without having to compromise price. As a broadcast seller or
manager, the onus is on you to become an expert in the difference
between good and bad advertising. Once you learn the simple rules
for good advertising, the client will see that your “prescription”
for his success is better than his own. At that point the client
will surrender and let you drive the creative
bus.
The object in
effective script writing is simple. To help your client identify and
solve a listener’s or viewer’s problem in as easy a way as possible.
To do this, simply remember these four rules to good creative.
- Help the client come up with an identifiable difference or
I.D. In other words, what makes your client’s business different
from his competitors, in language your audience would absolutely
understand. For a restaurant it could be that they’re open 24
hours a day, 7 days a week. An Austin, Texas deli called Katz’s
uses this I.D. “Katz’s never Kloses.”
- Come up with an emotional headline that will reach deeply into
the hearts and minds of your audience. We know now that people
respond emotionally from the heart way before they respond to
facts and figures banged at the head. Effective emotions vary.
Sometimes fear is the best motivator. Maybe disgust. A gym used
this headline: “Imagine your mother or father in a Speedo. Because
that’s where you’re heading.”
- Solve a viewer or listener's problem.Talk benefits and results
without cliches. Cliches, overused phrases or expressions that
mean nothing like, “family owned and operated” or, “best service
in town,” eat up valuable air time. Use the “Best Friend Test” as
you read the copy out loud. If you wouldn’t say those exact same
words to your best friend then your copy is probably cliché.
Identify and solve listener or viewer problems in easy to
understand language with no cliches.
- Make sure the call to action is crystal clear. The call to
action, what you want the listener or viewer to do, should be the
very last line in the script. Don’t obscure your call to action
with some trite slogan. Burn it in so that people remember your
client’s location or phone number or web address. Don’t use more
than one call to action if you can possibly help it. Make it easy
for your audience to do business with your
client.
If you follow
these simple rules you have a great spot. If you don’t follow the
rules, you’ll wind up with a spot that looks like and sounds like
the other thousands upon thousands of other spots that don’t
work. |
