Sit down and write
One of my all-time favourite adages advises that “when you want a job done well in a hurry, ask a busy man”.
Aside from the questionable accuracy of the statement I find it very provocative. I believe it must have been inspired by the usual Pandora’s Box of excuses and alibis people offer as the reason they haven’t finished their assigned tasks.
The field of Commercial Writing is often a deadline business so excuses for running late don’t wash. If you miss the deadline for the daily newspaper or the new product launch, bad luck! No amount of argument is going to turn back the clock.
Even when there is no fixed deadline involved, you can’t afford to be waiting around. When you need to have the writing done to complete your website or update the wording on the telephone On Hold program, time is of the essence.
Problems usually arise when people get “out of their depth”. Commercial Writing requires training and experience. A certain amount of innate ability will also help.
If the assignment involves writing commercials for TV or radio the author needs to familiar with the production requirements of that particular medium.
For example, the spoken component for a 15-second radio commercial can run the full 15”. However, with a 15 second TV spot the voice over is only 14 seconds long.
It’s a hangover from the pre-digital days when commercials were released on 16mm film and so required 1.5 secs mute at the start. This was needed to allow for the gap from the start of the picture to the beginning of the audio track.
On-time first time
Over the years I’ve witnessed countless voice over artists struggle to read a 30-second script in less than 35 seconds. That directly reflects on poor copywriting.
Copywriting mostly requires an economy of words. While I don’t aspire to the idea that less is more when it comes to getting a message across in 30 seconds, and still include an element of emotion, the job needs an experienced wordsmith.
As you decide who is going to create the script for your next project make sure the job will be undertaken by a writer who will complete the task with aplomb, accuracy, and an appreciation of the deadline.
It’s important that you don’t go losing time going back and forth to have the job re-written again and again.
Media Group, the business audio specialists, have an exceptional team of writers capable of giving you exactly what your brief requires on time, first time.
Get busy. www.mediagroup.com.au
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