Mastering the art of copywriting

Course aim
This interactive two-day course looks at the art of persuasive writing and how it differs from informative writing such as press releases and briefing documents. Focusing on objective, readership, message and call to action, Mastering the Art of Copywriting provides you with skills and techniques to make your copy relevant, memorable and effective.

Who should attend?
All PR and Comms practitioners wanting to sharpen their copywriting skills. It’s particularly suitable for people who produce copy for news stories, blog posts, features, articles, internal comms, emailers, social media posts, advertorials, advertising copy and other promotional materials.

What to expect

• you’ll be doing a lot of writing on paper to reduce procrastination and improve flow
• you’ll complete an exercise between day one and day two for feedback on day two
• a highly participative course with individual feedback

Course objectives
Participation on the course will provide you with the knowledge to:

• write copy for different platforms and purposes, including sales and marketing materials, websites, social media, emailers and other PR documents outside traditional press releases
• use the '7-stage' technique to write clear, succinct copy that interests and engages the reader from start to finish
• use the 'princess, dragon and hero' technique to focus on benefits rather than features and make your copy more relevant to your target audience
• select the right template, such as the Inverted Pyramid and AIDA, to get started quickly and structure your copy effectively
• make your headlines and sub-headings work harder for you
• turn 500 words of waffle into 50 words of magic
• recognise and use Plain English to its best effect.