Copywriting
Often referred to as “The Father of Advertising,” David Ogilvy preached on the importance of copywriting in his career and in his wildly popular book Ogilvy on Advertising. At Captiva Marketing, we agree with his assessment and that is why the copy that we create often sets the tone for the entire campaign as well as provides our creative team with the direction they need to bring our ideas to life.
We strive to develop copy and messaging that gets people to take some type of action, a process that starts by trying to answer these basic questions.
Why do people buy your product or service? What factors are most important to them in choosing to buy from you?
How is your product different from others selling similar products or even different products that solve their needs?
Once a direction is set, we can proceed with developing copy that entertains, informs, influences, persuades, educates or even sells.
“The secret of all effective advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.”
- Leo Burnett
The Evolution of Copywriting
One must consider that advertising has evolved dramatically since Ogilvy penned his famous book. Ad copy was often limited to headlines and concise messages delivered through print ads, short 30 second spots on TV and radio or billboards.
Today, copywriting extends through extensive and highly informative websites, videos that educate and explain difficult concepts and social media campaigns intended to engage customers and prospects on a much more personal level.
Plus, copy has the added requirement of being read by search engines that rank it partly by how relevant it is to a particular search term.