Copywriting 101: The Good Parts Version

April 1, 2005 9:44 AM

Looking for a copywriting workshop that doesn't suck. My jargon-addicted boss wants to leverage some capital to grow her marketing proficiencies; I'm trying to steer her in the right direction.

I'm searching for a one or two day seminar, preferably in the eastern United States, that's informative, practical, and taught by an experienced industry professional. Something that's better than a 2 hour AMA workshop, but not a LET US TEACH YOU HOW TO MAKE $$$$$$ WITH COPYWRITING scam. Ideally it would be a course designed for marketing/business pros looking to amp up skills, not an intro to advertising. Bonus points if this class will teach my boss to lay off the buzzwords.

posted by junkbox to Work & Money (3 answers total)

I don't have a good, specific answer for you, but one thing I would try is avoiding the term "copywriting" when searching for a class. What your boss needs is MarComm or Marketing Communications writing.

Copywriting has a very specific, very advertising-based meaning, at least to the people that teach and those classes are going to try to teach idea generation and being snarky, not clear communication.

The problem with teaching writing is that, well, anything good can't be taught in a two day seminar. Anything that doesn't require, well, a lot of writing on the student's part is pretty useless.

But I'm biased. I teach graduate-level copywriting at an art school.
posted by Gucky at 2:29 PM on April 1, 2005

You may want to visit MediaBistro. I haven't taken any classes from them, but I know they offer all sorts of clinics -- both land-based and online -- on topics such as this one.
posted by herc at 8:27 AM on April 2, 2005

Just popping in to back up Gucky's main point--I have worked as an advertising copywriter and as an editor, and copywriting is more about catchy taglines and persuasive supporting copy. What you want your boss to learn is clear communication, or "plain English." There is a whole movement behind plain English, and they have managed to get the SEC, among others, to adopt rules requiring reports to be available in plain English.

A little Googling and I found this site, which has some fairly cheap materials available. Of course, it's UK-based, so there are some small differences, and I haven't seen the materials, but it might be at least an introduction to non-jargony writing.
posted by lackutrol at 11:41 AM on April 2, 2005