We are thrilled to present a tutorial written by our very own Gloria Williams – popularly known as RedHeadsRule. This is her debut on 123Greetings Studio Blog and we hope there are many more to come. As a quick introduction we’d like to share why we chose her for this particular tute. Over a period of time we’ve tracked her portfolio to understand what works best for her. It has become evident that her forte lies in writing card copy. The audience connects with her messages that are both meaningful and personal. Her style is simple yet effective and beautifully lays down the key message.
This is what Gloria has to share with us. “When Ashton first came to me and asked me to write a tutorial on ‘How to Write the Perfect Card Message’ I was very much taken aback. However, his persistence won out, and here I am sharing my style of writing. Some of this will be for the new visualizers we have, who may not yet know the basics, and I will close out with a technique I personally use when writing copy which may prove beneficial to even some of you seasoned artists.
1. Determine who your target audience is:
This is important because your language style may be different when writing a card for a coworker than it would be when writing for a sweetheart.
2. The “Me To You” message:
There is an excellent article regarding this very important rule on 123Greetings’ Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/studio-by-123greetings/me-to-you-message/529556923754795. The gist of it is that when you write your message try to write what the sender would want to say to the receiver. It should be personal enough that the sender feels like it was written just for them and says something that they themselves didn’t know how to put into words, but should be generic enough to pertain to as many people as possible.
3. The message shouldn’t be too “wordy”:
Remember that you are writing a card message and not a letter. You want your message to be sentimental, but not too wordy. You want to say what the sender may be feeling or thinking in as few words as possible, but without losing the heart of the message. So make your sentences short, yet effective. It is also important to have a connect between your sentences. So the first sentence should lead up to the second and so on while finally delivering the key message. My above ecard from the “Madly in Love” section illustrates these points.
4. Keep a notebook or word doc of phrases or quotes that you see and would like to incorporate into a card:
Now here’s where we come to the part that is just a personal technique that you may, or may not find helpful. I keep a Word doc (or you can use a notebook that you write in) where I keep record of phrases that I either think of, or come across on the internet that I think sound nice for a certain occasion. I have one of these documents for each holiday and for birthdays and anniversaries, etc. When I decide I want to make a card, I open up the document associated with the type of e-card I am going to make and I read through the different phrases and sentences. I combine different ones, shorten certain ones and re-word them until they are uniquely mine, but with inspiration taken from several different places. Remember to not just COPY someone else’s message from the internet; that’s plagiarism! You have to make it uniquely your own while keeping in mind rules #1-3; Your audience, me-to-you message and it can’t be too wordy.
I hope you all picked up a few tricks and enjoyed reading the blog!”
Author of the post: Gloria Williams, 123Greetings Studio Visualizer