[Book Review] An A to Z Guide to the Craft of “Marketing with Words”

Supply:  Kogan Web page

Writing has been an integral a part of my work all through my skilled profession. I can not start to calculate what number of phrases or pages I’ve written over the previous four-plus a long time.

However even now, I repeatedly have questions on grammar, or model, or another facet of writing that I am unsure methods to reply. Through the years, I’ve assembled a small library of reference books to assist me reply these questions.

I nonetheless have the Harbrace School Handbook I utilized in my undergraduate English course, and I often flip to Strunk and White’s The Parts of Model. And, a few years in the past, I added Ann Handley’s nice ebook Everyone Writes to my assortment of go-to reference books.

I now plan so as to add Alan Barker’s new ebook, The Complete Copywriter:  The Definitive Guide to Marketing with Words (Kogan Web page, 2025), to my library of writing sources. The Full Copywriter is an in-depth information to writing advertising content material, and it ought to be required studying for anybody new to the craft.

Alan Barker is Managing Director of Kairos Training Limited, a UK-based consulting agency targeted on creating creativity and communication abilities. He additionally runs the copywriting masterclass provided by The Chartered Institute of Marketing, one of many UK’s premier advertising skilled associations.

What’s Within the E book

The Full Copywriter covers a variety of topics referring to writing advertising content material. The ebook is structured in six components.

• In Half 1 (Chapters 1-2), Barker discusses the attributes, abilities, and habits wanted to be a great author, and he explains how copy (written content material) works.

• Half 2 (Chapters 3-6) describes the three steps important to planning any type of copy – understanding and profiling the reader, articulating the argument or proposition the copy will specific, and figuring out what voice the copy will use.

• In Half 3 (Chapters 7-9), Barker explains methods to construction copy for shopping readers and looking out readers, and he devotes a chapter to the usage of narratives (tales) in written content material.

• Half 4 (Chapters 10-1) introduces the reader to the basic ideas and guidelines of syntax and grammar.

• In Half 5 (Chapters 12-17), Barker describes methods to develop a content material technique, and he explains methods to create efficient copy for a number of content material codecs, together with web sites, e-mail, newsletters, press releases, and longer-form content material corresponding to white papers, weblog posts, and thought management items. 

• In Half 6 (Chapters 18-19), Barker identifies the talents you should be a profitable copywriter, and he concludes the ebook with an in depth record of extra sources about copywriting and writing on the whole.

My Take

The Full Copywriter shall be a useful useful resource for each starting and skilled advertising writers.

For freshmen, the ebook gives a radical introduction to the craft of “advertising with phrases.” Alan Barker writes clearly, and he makes the fabric within the ebook accessible to readers who haven’t got prior copywriting coaching or expertise. He additionally consists of quite a few workout routines all through the ebook that ought to be notably useful for starting copywriters.

The Full Copywriter can also be well-suited for starting copywriters as a result of it takes a broad strategy to the topic. Within the ebook’s Introduction, Barker noticed that the majority books about copywriting focus nearly solely on promoting or gross sales copy, whereas advertising writers at the moment are anticipated to supply a number of different varieties of content material. This ebook focuses first on methods to be a great author after which discusses a number of particular content material codecs.

For knowledgeable advertising writers, The Full Copywriter shall be a superb reference ebook. Barker’s therapy of content material technique and particular content material codecs is pretty primary, however I’ve discovered the chapters on syntax, grammar, and content material construction to be helpful.

So, whether or not you are a starting or skilled advertising author, The Full Copywriter shall be a helpful useful resource.