Perfect Words

I am sure many of you have experienced the same despair in searching for the perfect gift until the last minute as I did on numerous occasions. My advice for you: do not be afraid to use words. The perfect word at the perfect time can save you. Here is how.

This is an email sent to Alain de Botton, aka a Swiss novelist, essay writer and journalist, author of Essays in Love, The Consolations of Philosophy, How Proust can change your Life. I decided to be discreet on the name of the main character. Enjoy your reading!

Dear Mr. de Botton,

You will read a message which resisted writing because it had to be to the point, interesting and persuasive. One of my hobbies is to make people happy by giving them what they are afraid to even wish sometimes. This time I would like to offer a friend’s mother a special autograph from you. And just this time it would be extraordinary if you could help me in this endeavour.

Mrs. V is a 46-year old piano teacher who was surprised to find part of her life philosophy in Essays in Love. The enthusiasm of discovering you and your writings manifested itself in recommending your books to everybody and in giving them as presents to her closest friends. She is not the desperate type of reader who is whimsically interested in a writer because of his aristocratic name or of the title of his books. No way – she is a woman who had her share of living, reading and grasping reality and was simply amazed that you write just as she would like to if she ever took to writing.

Her birthday is next week. That is why I was hoping to surprise her with an email from you wishing her happy birthday and the like. Of course, I can understand if neither you nor your staff has the time to go along with my idea. Still, it would be great to surprise this wonderful lady. I guess you already know by now that you never can tell what part you may play in someone’s life. Be the Happy Birthday how-Botton-can-change-your-life while giving more than just the consolations of philosophy and helping Mrs. V improve her architecture of happiness.

Thank you so much.

Sincerely yours,

Oana Cuzub

P.S. To my great delight, Mr. Alain de Botton was more than prompt in granting this birthday wish and sent an e-mail to the lady in question on her birthday!

Freelance copywriter versus advertising agency. Who to choose? How to choose?

If these questions have never occurred to you, you probably were in the dark about the existence of an alternative to advertising agencies: freelance copywriters. Their main advantage consists in lower fees compared to the high fees charged by ad agencies which are prohibitive to small and mid-size companies. However, if you need nation-wide campaigns or a wide array of advertising and marketing services, then the ad agency must be your choice thanks to its generous budget and large range of services.

A freelance copywriter will be happy for each and every client, be it, small, big or medium. This attitude translates into practice by paying maximum attention to your project and utmost care to the final product. An ad agency will favour big clients over small clients due to obvious reasons. Projects for big clients require a lot of creativity which is a lot more satisfactory professionally. Let’s also include here awards to various festivals won for these creations. Small clients want small-scale works which are not as demanding and rewarding as the others.

Before choosing between a freelance copywriter and an agency, you should become familiar with their writing styles. As a rule, the freelancer is more flexible adjusting his style to the client’s style, whereas the agency will impose its specific style, irrespective whether it is appropriate or not to the target audience of the client. On the other hand, agency copywriters have worked on extremely diverse copy for different types of clients which makes them more experienced than freelance copywriters.

Since you are reading this article on the web page of a freelance copywriter, you might easily think that I only support my cause and the cause of fellow copywriters. My sole intention was to list the existing options coupled with your advertising and marketing needs and with the existing budget. It is important you use the solution which is right for you at the right time, being fully aware of all matters involved.

We write copy every day, from holiday greetings to wedding invitations, from the description of the company we work for to writing our resume.

- Ok, you will say now, I write texts, not copy.

The answer is: yes, sometimes you write texts, other times you write copy. The difference between the two concepts lies in the purpose behind the writing. Here is why.

Copywriting implies using words in order to promote a person, a company, a product, an opinion or an idea. And now I ask you: aren’t you promoting yourself when you write an excellent text for your CV? In this case, we deal with copywriting. However, if CV writing means only filling out a form with your personal and professional information, then you are just writing. Agree?

We have seen so far that we could all be copywriters, provided we write high quality copy aiming at promoting various ideas, people or companies. However, not anyone can be a professional copywriter. Why?

A professional copywriter is more than a creative person who can write easily. He is a specialist. First, he understands the objectives of the client. Then, his creativity serves a clearly targeted purpose. Creativity for the sake of creativity is forbidden. Creativity for the sake of feeding consumers’ expectations is highly appreciated. He masters language, showing deep respect for grammar rules. His copy is simple and concise. The professional copywriter is not generous with words: he leaves out any unnecessary words.

Being a copywriter requires a lot of hard work and practice. Having a passion for writing cannot be mistaken for being a good copywriter. This passion is but the foundation on which layers of business, linguistics, psychology, marketing and advertising knowledge are placed.

Copywriting refers to writing a wide array of texts: flyers and brochures which fight over dominating our mail box, be it real or electronic, radio and TV commercials which create famous expressions we all use in our everyday speech, websites, newspaper articles, company profiles, presentations, speeches, and examples may fill another ten pages. Copywriting is everywhere.

Advertising is the main tool of marketing, whereas copywriting is the main tool of advertising. Or, if advertising does not exist, nothing exists. Therefore, a world without copywriting would be impossible to imagine.