OK, so I’m not a doctor or a nurse, but she thought I was out and out evil.

It’s an accusation that’s been thrown at the advertising industry by critics since the dawn of time and, incredibly, is still going on today, as this recent Guardian article demanding the banning of all outdoor advertising demonstrates.

It states:

Adverts are not there to inform but to sell one thing: unhappiness. They work because they make us dissatisfied with what we’ve got or what we look like. They make us want the next new thing, until of course the next new thing comes along. They help sow the seeds of mental illness, insecurity, humiliation, debt, brand bullying at school and, through the remorseless use of resources they inspire, they threaten the planet.

It is an attack from the hard left:

A ban would be aesthetically, culturally and environmentally right. But it’s what it says about us that matters too. It would be a sign of collective and democratic power over the market.

Make no mistake, the author is putting across a collectivist, i.e. socialist, argument — evil capitalists are exploiting the workers through advertising, making them unhappy and making them believe the way to happiness is to buy shiny new things.

Let’s leave aside for the moment the fact that repressive and totalitarian socialist regimes also use propaganda to maintain control and dominate their subjects and consider if there’s any truth in the old lie:

Are ad men as bad as the Nazis?

This view has been espoused, jokingly, on Mad Men several times (see Peggy’s boyfriend, or Don’s claim that Sterling Cooper has “more failed artists than the Third Reich”). Don would disagree with The Guardian critic’s view that advertising aims to instill unhappiness. He argues –

“Advertising is based on one thing, happiness. And you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of the road that screams reassurance that whatever you are doing is okay. You are okay.”

Don is a good creative director because he understands the way to people’s wallets is through their hearts — that creating a positive emotional connection between individual and brand is essential to making the sale, something I have written extensively about here.

However a cynic would argue that Don only uses this technique because it works. Advertising is entirely results driven — and if fear worked, he would use it. Consider the way cigarettes are ‘un-sold’ these days: we use fear of lung cancer to promote anti-smoking campaigns.

This echoes what Joseph Goebbels, the Nazis Minister for Propaganda, said:

“Propaganda is good when it leads to success, and is bad which fails to achieve the desired result… it is not propaganda’s task to be intelligent, its task is to lead to success.”

By the way, did you know the Nazis came up with the very first anti-smoking campaign? Clearly, they understood the power of fear — and so do we.

So is advertising evil or amoral?

It’s my view that advertising simply is. Only the product is good or bad.

Advertising is a request for your time, a pitch, a suggestion you are free to ignore. I am bombarded with advertising for women’s pantyliners on the Tube every day and yet I have never felt the need to go out and buy a pack.

In short, if I want or need the product, I will consider your pitch. Otherwise I will simply switch off.

99% of the time, advertising is at its best when it both informs and entertains and creates a connection with the reader. Ad people have other tools (such as fear) at their disposal, but who buys a product out of fear? The rare occasions where fear is used in advertising it is generally used to positive effect: stop smoking… don’t drink and drive… et cetera.

But we’re still not getting to the heart of the matter: rebutting the claim that advertising is simply the propaganda techniques invented and refined by totalitarian states such as the Nazis and USSR and re-purposed for capitalist uses.

Let’s contrast and compare.

Three Nazi Propaganda Techniques Still Used Today

1. “The Big Lie”

Hitler argued that the best lies are ones so colossal that no-one could believe the liar “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” In other words, the bigger the lie, the more it is believed.

We still use this technique. Although the Advertising Standards Agency prevents outright lies, messages such as eternal youth and “turning back the clock” are endemic in the beauty industry. “If you buy this, you will look younger, you will look hotter’ etc. No product has ever actually prevented ageing. Yet in this myth we persist, and we buy cosmetics by the bucketload.

But no-one is forcing us to.

2. “Triumph of the Will” and other TV ads

The Nazis were the first people to understand the power of the moving image for propaganda purposes. Their film “Triumph of the Will” is considered a seminal work because many of the techniques it uses such as musical accompaniment and cutaways are still staples of advertising today.

Similarly, the despicable and outrageous film “The Eternal Jew” paints a false picture of the Jewish people, presenting their living quarters as unhygenic and even interspersing footage of a nest of rats to get the point across. Disgusting, but effective.

In capitalist society, the technique is reversed. Show a picture of the product. Cut away to happy, smiling, perfect people using the product. Of course most modern ads are more subtle than this but the message is clear. If you buy this, it will make you happy. In other words, every ad ultimately makes a promise it can’t promise to keep.

But we know we are being sold something, and we make informed choices.

3. “Propaganda vs culture,” or the relationship between advertising and art.

Goebbels understood that propaganda was more than a mere race to the bottom, was more than catchy slogans and lowest-common-denominator films. It was essential to include all strata of society and to ensnare people who were too smart to believe the ridiculous lies espoused by such films as “The Eternal Jew”.

Think you’re too smart for advertising just because you’ve got a TIVO and skip through the ads, or laugh cynically at billboards and claim they have no effect on you? You’re not.

In addition to celebrity endorsement, catchy slogans, and tabloid journalism, the Nazis appealed to intellectuals in the form of apparently reasoned and rational arguments in the broadsheets and even opera, appropriating the music of Wagner for their cause.

Today, advertising adopts a similar technique by associating itself with things you find “cool” — from underground music (remember Apple’s early iPod campaigns?) to internet memes. Yes, Success Kid is now selling broadband.

But sometimes (see Success Kid), this technique simply doesn’t work.

In conclusion: advertising is the free instrument of a free people in a free state

• Advertising is clearly good “when it works”. Most of the time, it works when it sides with us and makes us feel better about our lives. However, like propaganda, it is also good when it instills fear — such as the best anti-smoking campaigns. Fear can be good.
• While there may be some similarities between the advertising industry of today and the propaganda machines of evil empires past, fortunately, in a capitalist society, it’s incredibly hard to see advertising as a force for evil. Products can be evil, but never ads.
• No, I don’t believe that £30 tub of moisturiser will give me the secret to eternal youth, but I’m not so blind as to believe it will. Advertising presents a point of view to us and asks us to make a choice. It doesn’t tell us what to do. Repressive states tell us what to do. L’Oreal does not.

Adverts are persuasive techniques used in a free society. You are free to ignore them.

They are one side of an argument in a society of free choice.

Propaganda is the instrument of totalitarian repression used by fascist states.

It’s a shame that The Guardian’s critic can’t seem to see the difference. It’s even more of a shame that the girl I met at that party seemed to think I was the ideological inheritor of Joseph Goebbels and the Third Reich.

I hope this article goes some way to proving them both wrong. Accusing advertising of being evil because it makes people buy stuff is like accusing dessert spoons of being evil because they make people fat.

If your conversion rate is 2% but an alternate call to action increases it to 4%, don’t you owe it to yourself to test all possible variations?

But conversion science isn’t simply about design, flow, and, of course, making the buttons bigger and greener (sky blue and burnt orange also work).

It’s about getting your offer right.
It’s about asking yourself, ‘why isn’t my offer working?’

To do that, you have to put yourself in your customer’s shoes.

Joe Customer is not an idiot. To borrow from David Ogilvy, ‘the consumer is not a moron, she is your wife.’

Of course, I’m going to assume you’re smart enough to know this. You’re smart enough to know that customers respond well to being offered a well-informed choice to buy a product, told about its benefits and features, and then allowed to make up their own minds — with no hard sell.

Are you giving your customers the right offer?

Focus groups have shown that horses heads are not a popular free offer.

The page I was working on prominently displayed a ‘buy one, get one free offer’ — dedicating all of its sales before the fold to this single discount.

I wrote in my report: what’s the use of offering them two when you haven’t convinced them to buy one yet?

 
I suggested that the top of the page be dedicated to explaining the benefits of the product and then, once Joe Customer has read about how great it is, then you sting him with the two-for-one.

Will it work? We’ll soon find out when the page is updated. That’s the great thing about conversion rate optimization. It truly is a science — with measurable results.

How to make sure you’re making the right offer:

1. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes.

Why are they in your shop, on your page, looking at your product in the first place? What does that tell you about them? If you were the customer, how would you like to be treated? How well do you respond to gimmicks, tricks, or the hard sell? In short, what would it take to convince you?

2. Have you given them a good enough reason to choose the product?

The fact is most people are on a limited budget. Even millionaires have to choose between buying another luxury car or splashing out on a yacht — most people have to decide on much more mundane things. Do I really need that new hi-fi this month, or should I buy an XBox? Don’t just compare like-for-like, as the customer will compare “similar for similar”, e.g. “this is how much I have to spend on entertainment…” — make sure people have a reason to choose the product you’re selling.

3. Have you given them a good enough reason to choose you over the competition?

The chances are your product isn’t unique. Even if it’s the only product on the market, e.g. a 16 brush walrus polishing kit, the chances are the consumer can find an alternative (old paint brushes, for example). If you’re selling Ray Ban sunglasses, you will be up against another six thousand shops selling exactly the same product. So be aware you don’t just have to convince the customer to buy the product: they are also buying into you.

What are you going to offer them? Get it right, and you’ll make the sale.

“Oh, like a link,” you say.
“Yes, almost exactly like a link, except you have to go through the rigmarole of standing up close to the QR code and taking a picture, et cetera.”
“So why not just have some text that says ‘visit http://allday.cc!’ instead?”
“Precisely.”

Okay, that’s an over-simplification, but you get the idea. QR codes are needlessly complex and have been met with total indifference by the public. Plus, you don’t know where the link takes you until you’ve scanned it, leaving you open to hackers and hijackers.

All in all, QR codes are considered to be a #fail.

That’s not just my opinion, by the way. The last week has seen the viral spread of wicked spoof website “People Scanning QR Codes” (hint: it’s empty) and even The Guardian have got in on the action with their “WTF QR Codes?” tumblr.

QR codes don’t work because they put a barrier between the customer and the call to action. In short, they’re bad conversion science.

• How many people have smartphones? (Not everyone) 
• How many people have the QR code app (very few) 
• How many people are prepared to spend sixty seconds snapping the QR code and processing it, with no guarantee as to where it will take you? (even fewer).

Compare QR codes to the pathway provided by a link, or even a memorable ad campaign or company name.

How many people will “visit allday.cc!” if they see it on a poster (a few). How many people will remember it and visit later (maybe a few more). How many people will remember the phrases “Allday” and “Copywriter” from the poster and search for those terms and find me… or even remember my name when they search for “Copywriter” – perhaps many, many more.

QR codes narrow possibilities and reduce the number of people a campaign reaches.
Exactly the opposite of what a good campaign — and good copy — should do.

Don’t be a QR code. Keep your writing simple.

Good copy should always be written to maximise the number of people who read and act on your message. There is a very simple formula for this.

To get people interested, start with a bold headline. The fact is only 5-10% of people read the body copy of advertisments. Of course, those 10% are more interested in what you’re selling. So the body copy has to make the sale. That’s why you must make the sale as quickly as possible and always choose the path of least resistance.

Set out quickly what you’re selling. Follow up with an immediate reason to buy the product. Then a call to action (preferably not a QR code). It’s really that simple.

Good copywriting isn’t a secret formula. It’s about simplicity.

How to write an ad:

Start with a bold headline.

• Brief words that explain what the product is.
• Short sentence or two that tantalises the reader and explains why they should want it.
• A call to action, to get them in the shops.

A classic ad that follows the formula

If you understand this, you’re well on your way to being a brilliant copywriter. You, too, can write ads.

How to write a creative ad:

• If you want to write creative ads, you just add a memorable story, plotline, or gimmick to the mix.
• Use tone of voice to convey your brand’s sense of style, and witty writing that will keep people entertained.

My favourite ad from the last year has to be Cravendale’s ‘cats with opposable thumbs’.

It uses a creative idea (cats have developed thumbs so they can steal milk) to explain the product (milk),
the reason (it’s Cravendale the cats are after, it’s superior),
and a call to action (the whole ad is an exhortation to buy Cravendale milk).

There’s your basic formula.

The ad also uses a brilliant, unique tone of voice (Tim Curry’s voice, to be precise) and a great catchphrase “jog on, kitties!” to ensure you remember the ad after it’s over (no QR codes required).

Coming up with a great idea like this is much harder than just writing good copy. But it still follows the copywriter’s simple formula.

All good ads do.

What’s struck me as surprising is that every time I have suggested an alternative copywriter to a client, they have hired that writer – once, twice, three times – four times in the last month alone.

Some of those copywriters have had vastly different skillsets and experience to my own, so it’s not even been a like-for-like substitution.

This has led me to a conclusion: when hiring a copywriter (and, likely, when making any other kind of purchasing decision), people value a personal recommendation from a trusted source higher than any other factor – even to the point of trusting that recommendation over trusting their own opinion.

I am not normally a “truster” — even if my doctor prescribes me something I will go away and google it first before I decide whether or not I’m going to take it. I like to think I make informed choices, rather than blindly following “authorities”.

Yet I too seem susceptible to suggestion.

I recently bought a pair of BX5a monitors for home listening and light music production / audio mastering at work. Why did I buy them? The reviews were good. But there were a significant number of bad reviews – some people suggesting as many as one in ten BX5a units were defective. I bought them because I knew two people who had them and swore by them. Once again a personal recommendation trumped “rational” choice.

So I’ve been asking myself what implications this has for the arguments I use when writing copy.

I’ve come to the conclusion: endorsements work.

Not all endorsements, obviously. I wouldn’t buy studio audio gear because it was endorsed by Kim Kardiashian, even if she does have a fantastic pair of tweeters.

Fictional ad-man Don Draper considers celebrity endorsements as lazy (as did real world copywriter David Ogilvy), yet both were working in an era where “professional” rather than celebrity endorsements were commonplace. An era where doctors ‘endorsed’ cigarettes.

I know for a fact when I was a child my mother always bought Colgate brand toothpaste because she believed that dentists endorsed it. When our actual dentist told her that all toothpastes were much the same, she carried on buying Colgate – a testimony to the power of brand loyalty (once I find a product I like that works, I stick to it too).

Is an endorsement the same as a testimonial?

In short, no. I’ve always valued persuasive arguments and dismissed testimonials. If you put a testimonial on your own site I do not believe it. Of course, I might have a quote from Mr X saying what a brilliant copywriter I am. But for all you know I made him up, or simply picked a quote from one satisfied customer out of a hundred angry ones.

An endorsement, then, is a recommendation by an external, unsolicited source. Endorsements that appear to have been paid for are compromised and valued less – that’s why celebrity endrosements really only appeal to people obsessed with celebrity culture. It’s not important to them that Kim Kardashian / Amy Childs / et cetera happens to think that Product X is good – only that they endorse it. The rest of us don’t care.

Getting endorsements right

I think it’s acceptable to make a feature out of endorsements in any sales focused copy, from short print ads to digital long copy. But it should never look as though someone has merely been paid to say a product is good. Or, worse (in the case of testimonials) that the copywriter has been selective. The classic example of this is theatre / movie posters that take a select part of a review and highlight it on a poster. The reviewer may have said “Actor X was absolutely brilliant but everyone else was pants” – this then becomes “Absolutely Brilliant! – A Critic, The News”.

The safest way to know if an endorsement is trustworthy is if it comes from someone you trust – this could be a person you know (word of mouth) or a trusted source (a review in Time Out said) or a person of impeccable reputation (Her Majesty the Queen says…)

So, in conclusion –

• Endorsements definitely sell products.
• The endorsing person should look like an authority in their field.
• The endorsing person should not look as if they profit personally from the endorsement.
• Endorsements are better when they’re personal - in other words, from a trustworthy source.

• Testimonials should not look selective – best leave these to external sources.
• If you sell a product using a celebrity, what you are actually selling is the celebrity.
• Once a person is using a product, brand loyalty takes over and so long as their product “just works” for them it may be hard to use endorsements to convince them to switch brands.

Several tweets later, it was revealed to be a marketing ploy by Snickers: the celebrities tweeted ‘you’re not yourself when you’re hungry’.

The campaign was brilliant. The fact is few people really use social media well. Campaigns are needlessly complicated and convoluted, almost inevitably reflecting the number of people involved in writing them. Social media campaigns work best when they are kept simple.

I wrote some time ago about an offer at Pizza Express that required you to download and install a Facebook app and reserve your table through the app in order to qualify for a discount pizza. A mail-out flyer or coupon would have garnered more business. In the end I ate in a Prezzo which had a ‘buy one get one free’ offer displayed on a board outside.

Yes, yes, yes. Getting you to install an app is a great way to mine personal data, for now. It’s only a matter of time, once things like seeing increased prices once you’ve ‘liked’ something online, before the backlash starts — and people refuse to engage at all. But advertising has never been about complexity – nor has it been about treating the customer like an idiot. In the famous words of David Ogilvy, “The customer is not a moron, she is your wife.” Good campaigns are simple, direct, and most importantly of all — they speak at the same level as their audience.

Snickers’ social media campaign fulfilled all three criteria for a good campaign, social media or otherwise. Ultimately the best campaigns get people talking, and that’s exactly what Snickers managed to do.

So why are they being investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority? Of course, it could be a little bit of cheeky on-the-side marketing (getting reported to the ASA is a great way of getting even more press for your campaign), but you have to wonder where-next-for-social-media (and celebrity) if a simple bait-and-switch campaign is declared illegal.

Send a few fake tongue-in-cheek tweets. Then tell everyone it was a joke, associate the joke with the brand.

A formula so simple a child could have created it. Yet they didn’t. It was the work of a fiendishly clever advertising brain. It takes a true genius to create a campaign so simple.

At no point did the campaign talk down to its audience. Any ‘deception’ was light hearted and extremely unlikely to cause offence.

Best of all, it wasn’t a transparent attempt at data mining, demanding ‘engagement’ with an app or a page without giving a great deal in return. It was simply good old fashioned word of mouth.

Here’s hoping to see many more campaigns like it in the future.

• Is it better to go to the client with just one idea?
• Is it better to go to the client with two or three of the best?
• …or does your client want to pick and choose from a hundred different options?

The answer depends on the client — and on how well you can read them.

Some clients want to be told what to do. They’re paying you, the expert, to tell them what will work best. Other clients will reject your first idea out of hand, even if it’s good, simply to show that they’re in charge.

Other clients need to be led to a decision, but feel like they’re part of the creative process. (A favourite technique of mine is to supply three options, with two of them being absolute stinkers).

Then you get that last, most difficult client. The one who wants every option you can think of — and then more. So what do you do?

Ad agency McCann Erickson tackle a tricky client.

Do you carry on writing until your dog-eared thesaurus finally falls apart? Or do you insist on a direction?

I’ve been sharing some of my work-in-progress with other creatives over on fiftytwonetwork.com – including a document of over 50 straplines separated into five distinct tones of voice. That’s a heck of a lot, said fellow copywriter Reed Words. But not necessarily if it’s a work in progress.

In fact, the multiple options were going to the account manager on the job, who could then use the document to try to get a feel for what direction they felt the client would plump for.

But for me, this brought up another, bigger question.

How many ideas do you have to discard before you find one that works?

I prefer to take my time over creative projects. To go away for a week, to think about the options, and to come back with two or three really storming ideas. The client or agency is presented with a branding report explaining my research and my thought process, along with three concepts or copy samples.

I’m often blunt about it. I tell the client: sometimes, you’ll be paying me to play golf. Or to throw darts at a board. Or to have a night out drinking overpriced cocktails. Or whatever. The point is, you’re paying for whatever it takes to put me in the right frame of mind to have a creative, original idea. And yes, you’re also paying me to improve my backswing.

As Don Draper puts it in Series 3 of Mad Men,

“Part of working with creative people is giving them the freedom to be unproductive until they are.”

It’s an absolutely essential part of the creative process — throwing away bad ideas until you find a good one. Tossing ideas back and forth with people you’ve just met in the pub, on the driving range (or, if you live a virtual life, on Twitter and Facebook!).

The trouble is, while good ideas take time, you don’t always have that time. Agencies, studios, and their clients have deadlines. Creative or not, it’s your job to get the work done on time.

When I’m in a rush, I tend to adopt a scattergun approach to copywriting. Think of it as automatic writing — literally writing the first thing that comes into mind without thinking why. I might write 100 straplines in a morning. At least 50 of these will never see the light of day. But the rest will be categorised (“this emphasises the product’s ease of use…” “these appeal more to techie types…”) and refined.

It’s a little like prospecting for oil. You dig a hundred holes. But you only need to find one spurt to know you’re rich.

Personally, I prefer to take my time — but I’ve found that for clients in a hurry, the scattergun approach to copywriting works too. Naturally, it’s more stressful (most every copywriter charges more for a “rush” job), and my brain is fried for a couple of days after it.

But I’ve found that both methods work. So is it a case of six and two threes, or is one method better than the other?

In short, I think it’s all about finding a method you’re comfortable with.

In the fairy tale of the Tortoise and the Hare, it’s the slow and steady tortoise that wins the race.

But one wonders if he’d cut it in advertising. If the client is truly demanding, sometimes more is more — and less isn’t enough.

When you’ve had a hundred ideas, you have a hundred starts to work from.

Sometimes wordplay is subtle. Sometimes it’s not. The pun, that most maligned staple of Englsh language humour, can be both.

More importantly sometimes it works in copywriting and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes a pun can liven up a dull sentence and keep your client’s message in their customers’ heads for hours, or even days. It can also lose your audience’s respect and ruin your pitch.

The trick to a good pun is knowing when, and how, to use it.

In an early episode of Mad Men, Account Manager Ken Cosgrove gets a short story published. Copywriter Paul Kinsey asks him why he doesn’t become a creative. “I don’t like puns,” Ken replies, then adds: “Admiral! The TV set that won’t go down the tubes.” and laughs mockingly.

This is an example of a bad pun. It’s a pun that draws attention to itself and not the product. It isn’t funny. And it gets even less funny over time.

The golden rule:

The pun is not an aim in itself.
You’re not writing comedy. Your’e not trying to be clever.

You’re not trying to write a memorable pun.
You’re trying to make the reader remember the client’s product..

A good pun is noticeable at first, but becomes less obtrusive over time — in other words, it makes you think about the product more than the joke.

With that in mind, here’s my list of my top five favourite puns in advertising.

5. House of Fraser: “Temptation on Every Level”

This simple pun works for House of Fraser. As a department store, we’re used to having to check the layout on arrival to find out which floor we’re looking for. So this subtle message reminds us that the whole store is full of tempting things. Suggesting the things themselves are tempting the customer, rather than merely being commodities there to be bought, is a nice touch to encourage impulse buying.

4. Toyota: “The Car in Front is a Toyota”

Personally, I’m a Mercedes fan. And their use of Janis Joplin’s “Lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz” was genius. But they can’t top this brilliant bit of punning by Toyota. The double meaning is compounded by the fact that for a few years all Toyotas came with this slogan as a sticker on the rear window. Brilliant situational advertising. Special mention should also go to Land Rover for their “The best 4 by 4 by far” strapline.

3. Skint: “You’re broke. We’ll fix it.”

Sorry. You knew it was coming. I had to put one of my own lines in here. A few years back this online loan company came to us looking for a website. I suggested “You’re broke, we’ll fix it” as a strapline and I still get a mild chuckle out of it even now. Sadly, the line was replaced when the owner decided he preferred “It’s no fun with no money”. I explained that two uses of the incredibly negative “no” wouldn’t work in a strapline when people are already worried about cash. The web design was replaced by an “SEO consultant” too. Unsurprisingly, the company couldn’t prove a match for Wonga.com — but I got paid, which is what really counts.

2. Nokia: “Connecting people.”

Don’t think it’s a great slogan? Think again. In 2011, we’re tired of hearing social media gurus (t)witter on about engagement factors, conversations, ROI, and “connections”. But back when this strapline was coined the mobile revolution was just starting and this simple two word slogan struck a chord. Nokia connect people. Yes, but they also connect people. The double meaning is as simple as the intonation. A simple, unobtrusive way to explain how great technology brings people together. Simplicity in its greatest form — and, importantly, it translates into multiple languages.

1. “Absolut ______”

No, it might not seem like a pun at first. But as a witty  play on words, Absolut definitely qualifies. Absolut’s marketing has been the same since time immemorial – append a word to the brand name. “Absolut magic.” “Absolut chaos” “Absolut spring”. In this way, they can associate their brand name with absolutely anything making it one of the most successful — and simplest — marketing campaigns of all time. Absolut genius.

What are your favourite puns in advertising? Do you think puns are over-used? Or do they liven up dull ads?

What do you think?

‘You’re a good writer,’ he said. ‘But your stuff won’t be great until it has a through line.’

It’s the best writing advice anyone ever gave me. And it’s advice I’m still using as a freelance copywriter today.

Whose through line is it anyway?

A through line is a single message, or set of messages, that’s repeated throughout your copy. Whether you’re writing an article for a newspaper or a magazine, copywriting, or working on that novel you’ve been writing for the last ten years, your through line is the point you’re trying to make.

The purpose of The Great Gatsby is to criticise the American Dream. And the purpose of a Polly Toynbee column in The Guardian is to criticise the undeserving rich, as well as to break a few more windows in the glass house she apparently lives in.

Even when you’re not speaking directly about a subject, a strong throughline will still convey your message. Toynbee is an excellent example of a journalist who does just that which is, presumably, why she gets paid such an obscene amount.

Fitzgerald never once uses the phrase “American Dream” in his writing. He doesn’t need to. He gets his point across.

The purpose of a through line in any good piece of copywriting is to get across your client’s message…
…even when you’re not talking about it directly.

The through line is a merger of style, tone, and content to create a single, unified purpose in your writing.

“To fly, to serve, to be blunt.”

BA’s much maligned strapline is an example of strapline as throughline — they’ve even made the point by launching a campaign showing the strapline written through a stick of rock — demonstrating how the words are written through their very core.

“To fly, to serve” is written right through BA’s essence. It’s consistent. It is what the company lives and breathes. It is, ultimately, the sharp end of the point they want to get across.

If you don’t know what the through line is, you don’t have a point.

I’m not going to get further into the debate about whether “To Fly. To Serve” is a good strapline. Because I don’t believe that it is. My personal feeling is that it’s arrogant and condescending — the concept of “service” is being used to suggest a sense of superiority, kind of like a snooty English butler Americans imagine everyone in Britain has. But who knows. Maybe the line will appeal to the American market.

The point is, as far as through lines go, it isn’t very subtle. It’s a classic example of “show, not tell” not being implemented.

In other words, instead of letting you discover what BA stands for by giving clear signals that leads you, the reader, to make to a conclusion (a classic way of persuading people — make them think the conclusion they’ve made is their own), it bluntly tells you what to think instead.

Sometimes it works. But imagine if every other airline’s strapline was their throughline.

Virgin Atlantic: We’re cool!
Easyjet: We’re cheap!
Ryanair: We’re crap!

I’m a fan of the say-what-you-mean school of copywriting. In other words: “here is the product, here are the features“. As consumers become more and more aware of the persuasive techniques we employ in the advertising industry, this “does what it says on the tin approach” resonates with consumers more and more.

However, much like the game of seduction, sometimes the consumer actively wants a little persuasion. They want to feel like they’re being wooed, like their needs are being accounted for. The consumer doesn’t want to be told. They want to be asked.

Would you care to dance?

It’s hard to strike the right balance between being overly formal and overly friendly — you want to be conversational and persuasive, but anyone who’s ever been assailed by a random drunk knows it’s no fun when a stranger tries to be your “friend”.

Tom Albrighton suggests that “wackywriting” (zany copy that tries to talk to consumers like they’re children) doesn’t work, because it’s actually patronising and authoritarian. I agree. But to me, BA’s approach is a step in the wrong direction too. They’ve dropped the wackywriting, but kept the authoritarian. The result is a strapline (and a throughline) that simply sounds cold.

Finding the throughline

Finding the througline isn’t easy. For starters, it might not always be something you can say out loud. Your client’s message might be “We’re cheap!” But how many places can get away with saying that without losing business? It might, in the case of BA, be “we’re better”. But how do you say that without sounding snooty?

The trick is to use subtlety. To use a tone of voice that’s conversational, an argumentative style that’s persuasive, not confrontational, and above all else, to show not tell.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.
You can lead your readers to a conclusion…
…but ulitimately they’re the ones who make the decision to buy.

A subtle, persuasive through line will enable them to think they’re making choices for themselves, rather than being told what to think.

Twelve years ago, I never could have predicted I’d have a successful career using the same techniques I learned while writing teenage ramblings for my friends. Yet here I am.

I guess I’ve always been an early adopter. Yet it never ceases to amaze me that there are people out there who still don’t understand the value of digital.

The ad industry is changing, whether you like it or not.

I read this fascinating piece on the future of advertising after it was tweeted by Tom Albrighton and it helped to clarify a lot of things in my mind. I knew the ad industry was changing. What I didn’t know, until very recently, was that people like me were at the very forefront of it.

Part of me thinks “copywriter” is a misleading term for what I do. A “copywriter” at a traditional (read: old-fashioned) ad agency sits around with an art director and spends weeks coming up with “the big idea”, a few storyboards, and maybe a couple of hundred words. When I graduated from university, I wanted to be that sort of copywriter.

It’s only as I’ve grown up and improved my trade by actually working at it, I’ve learned that the days of “big idea” copywriters are numbered. Here’s why:

Digital media spend outstripped traditional spend in 2009. In other words – digital is king.

“Big ideas” don’t sell products any more. Websites do.

Sure, not every product is bought and sold online. But most company’s reputations are influenced,
if not outright determined, by what they do online.

What makes a “digital” copywriter? And why are digital copywriters the future?

When I say I’m a copywriter I mean I produce content as well as ideas. That can be anything from a few headlines to a site of ten thousand words. To help me produce content, I’ll have a broad understanding of:

• Conversion rate optimization
• User experience (UX) testing
• Metrics (stats like bounce rates, etc)
• Web design and development
• Content marketing
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Social media integration

Applying these skills to my work makes me a digital copywriter. These are the skills that make me competent to produce content for the web.

Being able to write and being able to think conceptually is important. But if you don’t understand the bigger picture of how your words fit into a web design, or understand how your users browse the web, your words are useless. Sure, you’re still a copywriter. But you’d better stick to writing catchy jingles for the wireless, because you’re living in the past.

Ad agencies don’t understand digital, either. They’re still in love with the “big idea”.

I still laugh when I see “respected” ad agencies with websites that use Flash. Sometimes, I have to spend several minutes looking for the information I need. Haven’t you ever heard of an information architect, guys? What about user experience testing?

I don’t care if it looks pretty. Does it work?

That’s digital in a nutshell. A good digital campaign delivers in seconds, not minutes. Sure, your site looks pretty (if you like waiting five minutes for it to load). But by then, I’ve closed your window and I’m already getting the information I need from the competition.

The days of the big idea have been replaced by the quick sale. You don’t need a copywriter and art director to spend weeks working on a “big idea” when you can find a digital copywriter who’ll tell you adding “now” to your call to action could increase your conversion rate by 4%. Now.

Digital copywriters use scientific conversion rate optimization strategies to provide instantly verifiable ROI. A “big idea” campaign can’t.

“Big ideas” are hit and miss – digital is scientific.

It’s hit and miss whether a “big idea” sticks. And there’s no guarantee your idea is driving sales. Sure, we all remember the Cadbury’s Gorilla adverts — probably the most famous “big idea” ad produced by the UK in the last 10 years. But I can confidently say it never made me buy a single extra bar of Dairy Milk.

In fact, short term sales of Cadbury’s only rose by 5%, a figure that most commentators (scroll down) found disappointing — and given the high cost of saturation TV placements, hardly a great (or even long term) ROI.

But what about brand identity?

Sure, you say. 5% is average. But the Gorilla ad didn’t just increase sales. It increased brand awareness and brand loyalty. Ok, maybe. Prove it. You can’t. Digital agencies provide real metrics — hard stats that show you whether your campaigns are working.

Besides, for every successful “big idea” there are hundreds of failures. Did you know that the Cadbury’s Gorilla was only part of a much wider campaign? Can you remember any of the other ads that were part of that campaign? Didn’t think so.

Most “big ideas” fail. Agencies only carry on because they, and their clients, are addicted to spending vast sums in the hope of hitting the jackpot.

I hate to break it to you guys, but 99% of your ideas suck.

The digital way to build brand loyalty is cheaper and more effective.

I recommend a really simple solution to clients looking to build a brand identity:

1. Use your blog.

Don’t just write press releases. Engage with your customers and their lifestyles. If you’re a baker, give away some recipes for cookies. If you’re a vintage fashion store, blog about the latest trends — not just the things you sell. Be an active participant in the lifestyles of your customers.

2. Use social media.

Whether you prefer Facebook, Twitter, or, like me, Tumblr (also preferred by fashion brands), it’s a great way of getting out there and meeting your customers and talking to them one-on-one. A girl I know wears nothing but American Apparel. Not because she was swayed by their advertising, but because she started following them on Twitter after they started tweeting out discount codes.

3. Engage with the community (and pay if you have to)

I learned about Drakes of London because a fashion blog I read, A Suitable Wardrobe, is sponsored by them. Not only do they run banner ads, the author also writes about how much he loves them in his blog. I still trust the author, because his blog has proven time and time again he’s a man of taste and refinement. Paid blog posts are a much better way of advertising than a television or a banner ad — because it’s an endorsement from someone your customer trusts.

Plus, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper and more permanent than a television ad. Your TV ad is gone in 30 seconds and forgotten in weeks. A blog post will remind customers of your company for years to come.

Why digital agencies are the future:

Digital agencies are the future because they’re small and agile and are able to offer proven ROI using scientific methods to increase conversion rates, often at a fraction of the cost of hit-and-miss “big idea” agencies still living in the 90s.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Big agencies are buying their way into digital.

Terrified of being left behind, a lot of bigger old-school agencies are acquiring smaller digital agencies with ready-made in house teams. Leo Burnett UK recently acquiring successful digital agency Holler is a great example. not least because Leo Burnett only allows you to read the blog entry about their acquisition in… PDF or JPG format. Nice acquisition, guys. Holler – your first task will be to teach the peeps at Leo Burnett how to use WordPress.

Digital. It’s the future, and it’s already here.

I’m 100% convinced the work I do is cutting edge. As a digital copywriter, my skills are increasingly in demand — because I can offer proven results at lower costs.

But there’s a certain type of copywiter who spits on the pavement and crosses the road when I tell him what I do because I’m about results, metrics, and conversion rates, not “big ideas”.

I don’t sit in an egg-like chair for several weeks thinking up the next Cadbury’s Gorilla ad. I don’t give my clients big ideas. I give them fast, effective, proven ways to reduce their costs and make more money.

Next time you’re in the market for an agency, or a copywriter, don’t ask them how creative their portfolio is. Ask them if their methods work. Creativity is important — but it has to be backed up by a knowledge of what people want.

And if you’re a traditional agency currently looking to hire a digital strategist, content marketer and copywriter who understands where the industry is heading, well, make me an offer. A starting salary of 50k and a girlfriend who looks like January Jones would be nice, but not a deal-breaker.

Who are your favourite digital agencies? I think Pirata London, Work Club and Brilliant are nice.

Comments welcome.

Of course really smart businessmen hire marketing professionals — because they realise they’re good at making money, not at selling things.

They don’t think hey, I can manage a million dollar business so I can write a strapline, they think — hey, I’m smart enough to manage a million dollar business, which means I can afford to pay a professional to write my strapline.

KFC, in the UK at least, is changing its strapline. You know, “Finger lickin’ good.” What are they changing it to? “So good”.

I say: so what?

Says Martin Shuker, chief executive of KFC UK: ‘”Finger lickin’ good” is very good but it’s very food centric.’

I say: surely selling food is what you do.

Says Martin: ‘”So Good” is still about the food but it also allows us to more effectively communicate the breadth of different things about the brand, such as our people and our community’.

I say: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Martin Shuker is probably the kind of suit who would rebrand KFC as “Fried Chicken Solution” if he could. Actually, he wouldn’t. That’s too specific. “KFC Solutions” would be better. Why go out of your way to tell people what you actually do in your company name when a 3 letter initial and the word “solution” will do?

Maybe I’m being harsh here, but I just can’t understand why you’d want to change an original, timeless slogan that reminds you constantly about how good the food is. You know, selling fast food being your main, entire, whole, revenue stream.

“So good” says nothing about your product and it says nothing about your company. It’s bland, generic, and invites the question — “so what?”

A good strapline explains the value of the product.

McDonalds’ “I’m lovin’ it” slogan is actually pretty clever, even if it does sound a bit like a single by DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies. It’s a bold statement that aims to put food in your mouth by putting the words in first. “You’re gonna love this,” it says, boldly switching to the use of the first person as if to proclaim “there’s no way you possibly couldn’t love our food.”

“So Good,” we’re ambitiously told, will remind people about their campaign to stop the destruction of the Indonesian and Malaysian rainforests. But really. What’s the better strapline to encourage an eight year old child (or a drunk at kicking-out time, the mental age is about the same) to come in and buy a bucket of KFC?

“Finger Lickin’ Good.”
“So good.”

Side by side, there’s no competition.

I was recently lucky enough to be invited to offer a large telecommunications company some branding advice. At the meeting, I expressed concern that their existing marketing didn’t explain what their product did. Once the company managed to explain to me what their product was, I thought it was brilliant. But, I told them, you’ll never sell any if you don’t explain to people what it is, and how it adds value to them.

That’s the secret to a good strapline. Tell people what you’re selling. Then tell them why they want to buy it. “Finger lickin’ good” does both. “So good” does not.

Smart companies, like the telecomms company who called me, call in marketing experts to help them say what they want to say quickly. They’re in the business of making products, not selling them. KFC should stick to what it does best. Making fast food that’s finger lickin’ good.

Why change something that’s timeless and popular with your customers? After all, we don’t have to look too far in our past for a senseless rebrand that went down with all hands on deck, do we, Gap?

Who the hell is David Ogilvy?

Well, first things first, let’s be clear. David Ogilvy is not Don Draper. In Mad Men, Don prides himself on his creativity, his appeal to the emotions and, above all else, the fact that he’s “never written anything that’s longer than 250 words.” In many ways, Don represents the advertising world as it’s become: an emphasis on short copy, striking design and appeals to the senses, rather than to the rational consumer: don’t make them think they want it, make them feel it.

A classic "Ogilvy Formula" print ad

Ogilvy’s old school. He emphasises the importance of research, as well as tried and tested formulae — his book Ogilvy on Advertising devotes a considerable amount of time to telling the reader why they should never set white type on a black background, as well as why a 6,450 word ad in the New York Times was one of the most successful of all time.

I’m inclined to believe in short copy, particularly on the web. I tell my clients “stick to 300 words per page, preferably less, or people won’t read it.” Blog articles are the only exception to the rule. Even then, never use more words than is absolutely necessary to get your message across.

Ogilvy suggests a simple formula for print ads:

• A large photograph taking approx. 3/4 of the page.
• A headline of up to 9 words.
• 240 words of “editorial” style copy.

Ogilvy’s ads look a little dated and slightly corny now. But that’s only because they worked so well, everybody copied them — and they became overused.

Adapting Ogilvy’s technique for the web

When I launched my site, the front page consisted of three “sliders” with a little over four sentences on each. It looked beautiful. Designers praised it. But it didn’t convert.

I asked myself why and came up with an answer: it told people what I did, and what I believed in (“simple” copy). But it didn’t give them a reason to choose me.

So I decided to be more combative. My first page is as it always was: a picture of me and a description of what I do. I agree with Ogilvy: it helps to show a picture of the product. You’re buying my time — you’re not buying a typewriter. So my page features pictures of me, not copywriting cliches like clipart typewriters, pens, bottles of whisky, etc. My second page I changed to an argument, directly adressing the reader: telling them “their copy sucks” and I could do better. My conversion rate doubled.

But it’s still far from what Ogilvy suggests.

Ogilvy suggests the following “magic formula” for generating sales:

• A long headline (10 words) that offers helpful information or news
• This inspires up to 75% more people to read the copy, copy that should
  also explain the benefit to the customer
• A clear indication of price, as well as the suggestion of any discount.
  How many people would walk into a shop without price tags?

This is combined with his golden rule: advertising is never about guesswork, it’s always about research.

Using Google analytics, I noticed the following:

• Twice as many people (39%) viewed the “three sliders” as viewed the next nearest page, “about” (18%).
• At least half, and maybe more of the people who viewed this page, were web designers or digital agencies who’d come to look at the site’s design.

I’d previously written off most of these visitors as unconvertable — they’re not here to view the merchandise, they just like the design of the shop. Yet designers and agencies need copywriters — in fact, every one of these people is a potential sale.

It wasn’t a huge leap of faith to assume that my site wasn’t converting because it wasn’t speaking directly to its target audience. Using the techniques suggested in Ogilvy’s book, I came up with this:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

The changes I made (and the changes you should make, too):

• Targeting each type of visitor and selling to them directly
• Being specific, open and up-front about price (even making it a feature)
• Providing information under headlines that promise it.
• Using print techniques like bold and underlining to highlight the message
• Eschewing “fancy” design — letting the words speak for themselves.

Is Ogilvy right about competing on price whenever possible?

With the exception of a couple of introductory offers, I haven’t raised or changed my prices in over two years. I’m now charging approximately 25% less per day than the average copywriter. Meanwhile inflation is running rampant at 4.8% and the price of petrol is almost double what it was in 2008. I have my own central London office that’s about 200 yards from the Thames. These things aren’t cheap.

So I figured there were two ways to make money: either start charging more, or find a way to increase my conversion rate. I’ve always agreed with Ogilvy on one thing: the price is always a selling point. It’s why I’m amazed more copywriters don’t even give ballpark figures on their websites, let alone a simple, transparent rate.

Again, I’m using research: more people find my site via Google through price related keywords like “rates” “copywriting rates” “price per word” etc than any other way.

So I’ve made my prices a major selling point — as well as explaining why this actually enables me to offer a better standard of service to my customers. If Ogilvy comes through for me and my conversion rate increases, I’ll be able to keep my prices low. If not, I guess I’ll have to raise them for the first time since August, 2009.

It’s a gamble. Will it pay off? Like Ben Locker, I’m putting my money where my mouth is and testing whether Ogilvy’s techniques still work. Watch this space.

A year ago I suggested that snooker had an image problem and that bringing back a ‘game show’ format like Big Break could rejuvenate interest in the sport and allow the players to show off their personalities. The launch of Power Snooker at London’s O2 Arena seems to have taken a similar direction, taking its cue from 20/20 cricket making games faster but also making things noisier, more interactive and — almost inevitably — adding a lot more alcohol to the mix. In fact, the only people who weren’t drunk appeared to be the players themselves.

Does it work? Purists hate it. Most people think there’s a place for it — alongside traditional snooker — as the format adds welcome variety into the mix. It’s loud, it’s boisterous, it’s a bit silly — but most importantly, it’s different.

Finding a gap in the market – the secret to a successful product launch.

It can be very hard to launch a product when there’s already a company servicing the same demands. Recently I’ve been asked to give advice on several launches, including sites that do an incredibly similar job to the successful bandcamp and mailchimp services. But the fact is, when you have a company that’s producing a product that most people are happy with, you have to offer them something more — not just a re-hashing of a competitor’s ideas.

The growth of Apple’s OS X in the face of Microsoft’s almost total dominance has been because the company has promised extra, in the form of software that’s more stable and user friendly. People use it, they love it, they tell their friends, the company grows. If OS X was just “Apple Windows,” people wouldn’t buy it. The OS offers a qualitative benefit over the more established market leader.

Apple’s slogan is “think different” for a reason.

It’s not enough to see a great idea and say  “me too!”

I could list half a dozen sites that do pretty much the same thing as youtube, but I can’t really list anything they do better. Sure, there are other sites, and they each do different things (wider selection of movies, higher definition, bigger file size uploads, etc) but if a start up company came to me today with a team of four people and maybe $50,000 in capital saying “we’ve got a site that we think’s going to make us the new youtube,” I’d have to be brutally honest with them. They’d have to have something really revolutionary to make headway in such established waters. Minor interface tweaks, slightly better resolution… slight improvements on an existing idea just won’t cut it.

Three Simple Words: U.S.P.

A good copywriter can always find a unique selling point — even if it’s something as small as being cheaper, better quality or more local than your competitor. But the bigger the USP, the more likely it is that you’ll succeed. Power Snooker is a great example of that, because they’ve not tried to make minor changes to the format — they’ve literally turned it on its head, creating a product that’s entirely new and different to existing offerings. To put it in context, Power Snooker is the equivalent of giving everyone at Wimbledon free extra-strength lager and replacing the tennis ball with a grenade. Not to everyone’s taste but boy, it’s going to get noticed.

So what can new start ups and entrepreneurs learn from Power Snooker?

You have to do things differently. You have to make sure you get that idea across to your customers. “Hi, we’re here, we’re new, we’re different, we’re better.”

Minor improvements and changes on an existing idea will attract minimal attention, especially when your more established competitors have a much bigger marketing budget.

There’s already a mailchimp.com, so don’t try to be mailbaboon.com. Offer something new.

Marketing can only do so much if your product stinks. Customers will write bad reviews, eventually, the word will get out. And if your product’s just “okay” don’t expect it to make any inroads against your more established competitors, unless you offer significant discounts on price.

Spend as much time and money as you can improving and perfecting your product before you bring it to market. Make sure it’s different and unique. Then hire the best marketing team you can to make sure your customers think the same way…

…but make sure the product’s as good as it can be first.

It’s impossible to avoid being bombarded with advertising in London. As a copywriter working in London, it’s even harder to not stop and take notice. Like a surgeon holding his knife like a scalpel and listlessly cutting into his Sunday roast, it’s hard for a copywriter to avoid dissecting other people’s work.

I see thousands of posters every morning. Sometimes the copy is good, sometimes it’s very bad. Sometimes it’s short and sometimes it’s long. Sometimes, I’m only looking at an idea, three words, and a very good design. Whatever the ad, I judge it by the simplest and most obvious criterion: how memorable is it?

Is being memorable the sign of good advertising?

Take this advert for example: it’s a simple, almost simplistic poster ad advertising boohoo.com, an online clothes store:

I think it’s effective. Why? Because it’s simple, memorable and innovative.

Whether or not you agree the use of ‘OMG’ should ever cross over from the internet, whether or not you like the kooky smile on the face of the model, whether or not you like the poster’s basic design… it’s memorable.

So I’ve always imagined it’s a good advert. But I was on my way out with two girls in their early 20s last night and on seeing the poster they struck up a conversation. They both hated the ad. They thought it looked cheap and tacky and made the clothes look rubbish. They both claimed they ‘wouldn’t be seen dead in anything like that.’

‘Maybe you’re not the target market,’ I suggested. ‘Perhaps you’d be happier in a boutique or shopping at Selfridge’s.’

‘But we are,’ they both argued: they both bought clothes online. So was the ad a failure?

I waited five minutes until the conversation moved on a little. ‘That ad,’ I said. ‘Can either of you remember what it was for?’

‘Boohoo.com!’ they both said in unison. Then one of them added ‘boohoo I bought those awful clothes!’ They both laughed.

But by my standard judgement — is it memorable? the advert was clearly effective.

Conversion or conversation? Which is the better metric?

It’s easier to judge effectiveness once you’re on the web. You can see exactly how many people visit your site, you can work out how many of them buy your products — in short, you can see how many people your site is converting. You can do the same thing in real life with sales figures, but let’s stick to the web for a moment.

It’s said that social media is all about conversation. Well, I just gave you an example of a real life conversation that didn’t involve Twitter or a Facebook Wall — conversation the old fashioned way. Yet it didn’t apparently result in a conversion. So what’s the benefit?

Well, clearly the two girls remembered the name of the site. That may make them more likely to visit it anyway, even if they don’t like the ad campaign. Moreover, the old maxim — there’s no such thing as bad publicity generally holds true. Getting people talking about your brand, increasing brand awareness, is almost always a good thing. The more people talking about you, the more advertising you’re getting for free.

Conclusion: conversation can be measured.

It’s a bit of a buzz-word, but ‘buzz monitoring’ is much more possible now in the era of social media. Whereas before companies had to guess how effective their word of mouth campaigns were being, now you can see online who’s talking about you on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. The important thing to remember is that conversations don’t necessarily have a direct or rapid impact on your conversion rate. The fact that people are talking about you is (unless your ad is disastrously bad) almost always good. And even then, it can be-so-bad-it’s-good. The point is it gets people talking. The boohoo.com ad sticks in people’s minds and gets them talking, therefore by my definition, it’s a good ad.

It’s a rule of thumb that holds true 90% of the time: the bigger the brand, the more it sells. Creating conversation, therefore, is always valuable.

The London Long Copy challenge is underway. For those of you who haven’t seen the ads yet, it’s a competition for copywriters and creatives based in London to design London Underground posters led by copy of between 50-200 words. Which isn’t much for a sales brochure, but it’s a hell of a lot for a great big print ad.

Who reads sales brochures anyway?

There are two schools of thought in copywriting. One: you get a little information in quickly. It’s better than trying to get it all in and not being memorable at all. Two: the more copy you have, the more likely you are to get some or all of your argument across. I don’t need to tell you which style is more in vogue at the minute.

London Long Copy contest or not, the fact is most copy is short. It’s sharp. The only place for 200 words these days is in a blog or SEO led copy. That doesn’t mean sales brochures don’t have their purpose. They’re just usually given out to people who are at least half way sold on your services. A quick fire advertisment gets them to call. Then you send them the long copy brochure.

Long Copy is at the heart of copywriting history

On a quiet afternoon last week I visited the Museum of Brands in London’s Notting Hill and I remembered something I’d forgotten since history textbooks and school. Remember all those old products? The Bryllcream and the bear’s wax and the powdered eggs and all those other funny old brands? Take another look at the packaging. You’ll find more words on the front than tattoos on a hipster’s arm.

Minimalism – It’s just a fashion

As the years go by, copy gets shorter and design, packaging and other forms of marketing become more important. Why? Partly because it’s assumed that attention spans are shorter, partly because it’s assumed that people are idiots (remember keep it simple, stupid? well, now the emphasis is firmly on the stupid). But it’s also because design — and the role of the designer have become more important. Copywriters like me are usually relegated to the role of idea generation, creative direction and branding strategy if we’re smart, and a lifetime of report writing and coaching sales pitches if we’re not. Luckily I’m smart. But for all those copywriters who aren’t, it must look like we’re practically out of a job. And why? All because designers assume people don’t read any more.

Long copy still works.

Don’t just take my word for it. Here’s what some of the pioneers have to say:

“The longer your copy can hold the interest of the greatest number of readers, the likelier you are to induce more of them to act.”
- Victor Schwab

““Remember that long copy works better than short copy. Of all the things people dislike about marketing, “lack of information” comes in second. ["Feeling deceived" is first.]”
- Jay Conrad Levinson

Okay, so you know about ‘keep it simple, stupid’ but what about ‘garbage in, garbage out?’ A three or four word headline can be forgotten as quickly as it’s read. But if you can catch someone’s attention and keep them reading, it’s like reeling in a fish. Instead of four or five trite, pun-laden words and a generic smiling face (or whatever other design cliche you care to mention), you’ve got your audience’s undivided attention for maybe up to 30 seconds. A week may be a long time in politics, but 30 seconds is a lifetime in advertising.

Think how long your average TV advert lasts. How many words it probably contains. Long copy still has the power to reach further and deeper than other short-copy-and-design led ad campaigns.

The law of diminishing returns: in other words, don’t waffle.

Of course, it’s not always true that ‘the longer the copy, the more information you get across.’ The golden rule is this: use only as many words you need to get the message to your reader. If your sales brochure can be spoken in 1000 words, don’t use 4000 just because it fills up the available space. Don’t waffle.

Ironic as it may sound, long copy is at its best when it’s kept short.

Minimalism isn’t the art of using three or four words. It’s simply the art of using the fewest words needed to get the job done – whether that’s ten or ten thousand.

And if you don’t think long copy still has a place, ask yourself this. How many 25 word blog posts have you read lately?

Long copy works.

When you’re dealing with SMEs and start-ups, companies that don’t have much of an image yet, companies with products you probably haven’t heard of, the temptation is probably to keep things simple and do at least two things with the copy:

1. Promote a sense of trust (as people are less likely to naturally trust companies they haven’t heard of)
2. Make the company look bigger than it  is.

1 and 2 are interlinked. Unfortunately, 1 is fine — but 2 sometimes isn’t. Now, I know some people will tell you that copywriting — that the advertising industry in general — is all about telling lies. When I hear this I usually joke, “telling lies only really takes up about 50% of my time. The rest of the time I’m doing invoices or going for haircuts.” But the fact is that when you’re trying to promote a sense of trust in a company, telling porkies isn’t always the best option.

Many SMEs have small budgets. They want you to make a big impact for not a lot of money, and as a copywriter that almost instils a sense inside you that I must make this company sound bigger, more professional, than they actually are. Sometimes, that’s a good call. Especially if it’s what the client wants. But there are occasions where it’s worth arguing with your clients. And I think in certain cases trying to make SMEs and start-ups sound bigger than they are is a big mistake.

Being the underdog isn’t a bad thing.

Maybe it’s a British thing, but I’ve always had a soft spot for the scrappy underdog. The new kid on the block. The guy who’s gonna fight tooth and nail to stay in the business because he’s just laid out a deposit on an office for 12 months and he’ll be damned if he’s going to lose that by going bust in six months. And sometimes I think pitching yourself as the underdog really works. I do it.

My services are about 1/3rd cheaper than an agency and I make sure everybody knows it. I also make sure everybody knows I’m good. I haven’t been in the business for decades because two decades ago I was still looking forward to the bike I’d been promised for my tenth birthday. The point is, I’m the scrappy underdog — and I’ve fought my way from piecemeal two or three hundred pound jobs to bringing in accounts worth thousands of pounds — and I’ve done that by being better than the competition.

I want you to know that I’m a fighter, because that’s the kind of copywriter you want. If you’re an SME, a start up, or an entrepreneur who’s just had a brilliant idea, you don’t need to tell the world you’ve been doing this for years, you’ve got a staff of twenty million, or a fancy office in Central London. You just need to believe in what you’re doing, and have copy to match.

“You haven’t seen this before. Take a look.” – Who can resist the temptation?

When it comes to promoting a sense of trust, I think it’s easier to tell the truth to your clients. You just have to make sure the truth is portrayed positively. Being new or being small isn’t a disadvantage. It’s an opportunity to re-brand yourself.

Simple Sales Copy

A brief description, followed by a call to action. That’s as much as most sales copy projects require. Simplicity works by speaking to the customer directly and quickly. Ads bother most people, they look away once they see they’re being sold something. The best advertising campaigns can sell to a customer in a single sentence. That’s why headlines, straplines and taglines are so important.

But things get a little more tricky once you’re trying to sum up a product in just a few words. After all, there’s only so many words in the dictionary, and most of them are obscure or have a meaning that’s slightly inappropriate for the context. Sure, a good copywriter will be reaching for his thesaurus from time to time, but the fact is, simplicity sells.

That’s why there’s so much overlap in contemporary campaigns. At least four gastro-pubs in my area boldly make the promise of “good, honest food” on their menus. But then again so does every tin of Britain’s leading manufacturer of dog food, Pedigree Chum.

And even that’s not original. Check out Bateman’s Ale. They’ve been promising “good honest ales” for decades.

How about Sainsbury’s? Their latest advertising campaign exhorts shoppers to “try something new today” — it’s pretty unlikely no-one’s tried that strapline before.

What makes a good strapline?

I’ve posted about what makes a good headline / strapline. Evidently, simplicity isn’t always the key to writing an original strapline, but that doesn’t mean an idea that’s been done before isn’t good. The fact is there are only so many ways to describe a product in three or four words, and every copywriter has to make the choice between originality and immediacy. Of course, true genius in headline writing occurs when a copywriter comes up with a genuinely original idea — but that was something that was much easier to do in the 60s than it is today, as content proliferates and more and more ideas have been done before.

The solution seems to be to create headlines based on lateral thinking. The Western Union “Ignore It” campaign inverts expectations — daring the customer to ignore the advert, then quickly and simply explaining why they can’t ignore a telegram. That’s easy to do on a poster, but it’s much harder when you’re coming up with a tag-line that’s linked directly to your brand name. Of course, some have become iconic. Nike’s ‘just do it’ springs to mind. But the fact is that most simple tag-lines are repetitions of earlier ideas with maybe just a little variety thrown in for good measure.

The simplicity rule holds good. Ultimately, if you can’t be original, be simple. There aren’t many ways of saying “good honest food” in three words or less. The fact is, unless they’ve got a dog, and they’re very observant, most of your customers won’t spend enough time thinking about it to ever know.

Mad Men is a pretty extraordinary show, not just because of the quality of the acting or the writing, but because it’s caused a seismic shift in the way we do business. People don’t just want some guy in a t-shirt any more — they want a silver tongued marketing genius who’s totally, 100% confident that his ideas are right.

Confidence has always been attractive.

Think about it — how many girls did you get when you were growing up and you were still afraid around women? (Yes, Mad Men has made it cool to be ever so slightly sexist again) Girls like older men because they’re more confident. They know what they like — they’re not afraid to say it. Clients are like girls, to a certain extent. They like to be told what to do. Or at least that’s what Neil Strauss says about the dating game.

And sometimes it pays to argue with your clients because they want reassurance that you truly believe in your ideas — and are willing to fight for them.

But what happens when the relationship starts to break down? Continuing the analogy, it’s okay to have a blazing row with your girlfriend. Arguments can be passionate. Unfortunately, they can also be destructive. Sometimes, you kiss and make up. And sometimes you go too far and years of hard work spent building your relationship are obliterated overnight.

I’ve got more business in the last year by fighting to get my foot in the door than I have in any other way. When a client enquiry appears in my inbox, I take a look at the lead’s marketing, business model and way of working, and I suggest to them how I could help them do things better. When I argue with them, it’s only so I can show them how I can help.

I can get pretty passionate about what I do. I’m a strong INTJ on the Myers Briggs Personality Scale and that means I’m often convinced that I’m right, even when I’m working purely on intuition — because I’m a true believer in what I do. But there’s an invisible line it’s impossible to cross, no matter how right you think you are. After all, “the customer is always right” — they’ll argue with you to a point, but the truth is, they know their business better than you do. They’ve been working on the same projects for years and years and if you’re too combative, you run the risk of chasing your clients away.

Don Draper is an excellent example of how to argue well — he takes risks and he believes passionately in what he does. Take a look at how he talks these clients into becoming “true believers” — by presenting them with a revolutionary idea.

Here’s the Don Draper secret to success:

New ways of thinking are always worth arguing for.

That’s the secret to presenting a case to your clients.

You’re not arguing with them. You’re not arguing against their way of doing business.

You’re arguing for something new – something better.

Ultimately, when you argue your case to a client, when you make a pitch for a new account, you should be arguing that your way of business brings something new to the table. That’s what clients really want. And if your arguments are good enough, you can probably show up to future meetings in jeans and t-shirt as well. After all, style is only substance up to a point. By all means, learn how to argue. But never forget when you’re in front of a client — you’re here to help.

It’s more important to sound natural than to be clever.

F Scott Fitzgerald famously started out in advertising and came up with the slogan “we keep you clean in Muscatine” for an Iowa based laundry service. While he may have been the greatest writer of the 20th century, he wouldn’t have made it very far in the advertising world. Headlines like this are far too glib. Soon, they begin to grate. It’s possible to be “too” clever.

Good straplines find a great balance between being clever and being helpful, positive, and eye-catching.
They should stand out by being sharp, with carefully understated wordplay.

My favourite strapline out there at the moment belongs to the House of Fraser:

Yes, it’s a pun. But it’s a good one. A good pun doesn’t get tired the more you hear it, and every time I shop here, I look at that strapline and go “yup, that’s good.” It amuses, it explains, it entices but most of all — it’s positive.

Negativity never works.

A while ago I was asked to create a strapline for Skint.com, a website offering short term loans. Their existing headline, “it’s no fun with no money” simply didn’t work. Why? The use of the negative, twice. Why depress people by telling them something’s no fun — even if your site promises to fix that problem. Be positive. Look to the future, not the past.

Here’s the slogan I came up with for them.

You may have noticed it already in my portfolio. But it’s one of my favourites, and I thought it deserved a little explanation.

It’s positive. It’s proactive. It feels natural.

Most importantly of all, it paraphrases the three most important words in copywriting: we can help.

A copywriter’s job is to introduce his client to their customers in such a way as the customers know that the client is able to help them. They want to feel able to come to the client and know their needs will be satisfied, their demands will be met.

That’s also why ‘Temptation on every level’ works well. It tantalizes, it promises… there’s an aura of mystique with the feeling of a promise soon to be fulfilled.

Still think any old strapline will do? Think again. If your budget is limited, you’re better off paying a copywriter a day’s work to come up with one simple sentence that sums up your business than producing five or six hundred words of sales text.

Good headline writers are hard to find. That’s because good headline writing is the hardest skill a copywriter will ever have to master.

A good copywriter writes sales-focused copy.

What does that mean? Well, here’s an example. Client A comes to me with Product A, and it’s the best product ever (so he thinks). He’s already come up with a great description of Product A to use on his website. But nobody’s buying.

Let’s call Product A Product Awesome. I’ll let you make up your own mind what Client “A” stands for. Client A says something to me like this. “Product Awesome is the most awesome thing at what it does ever, it’s like an iPhone and an iPad and a can opener all in one and it can also walk your dog. Everyone should want one!”

To which I reply, “Great. So why isn’t your copy telling people why they need this product.”

I’m usually met with blank stares from my client or the simple, weak reply. “Because it’s awesome?” they ask.

Great sales copy has to convince people they need your product.
Just because you think it’s obvious why your product is great,
doesn’t mean everyone else does.

So that’s lesson 1. A good copywriter’s job is to convince, not merely to explain.

Here’s lesson 2. It’s the exception to lesson 1.

A good copywriter knows when to back off. When to stop with the hard sell.

Client “A” comes back to me with his revisions. Based on what I’ve told him, every other line in his copy is now “buy my product! buy my product! buy my product!” — Client A has failed again.

Calls to action are worthless unless you give your customer a reason to call.

I like to use what I call the Jay McInerney approach. One of my favourite books, Bright Lights, Big City, employs a second person narrator. In other words, “you.” Take a look at the opening paragraph –

“You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, but the details are fuzzy. You are at a nightclub talking to a girl with a shaved head. The club is either Heartbreak or the Lizard Lounge… All might come clear if you could just slip into the bathroom and do a little more Bolivian Marching Powder. Then again, might not.”

And so it goes on. But wow! What an opening paragraph! Instantly, the narrator puts you in his shoes. And that’s the second secret to sales focused copy.

You need to put yourself in your customer’s shoes.
And you need to make your customer imagine himself using your product.

In fact, using the second-person is one of the strongest sales copywriting techniques. “It’s three am. You’re getting tired. You need a can of Red Bull” etc…

Empathizing with your reader and showing you understand his needs is a better tactic than the hard sell. When Client A comes back to me with copy that reads “buy this product! buy this product! buy this product!” he’s getting it wrong. You is a meeting of “I and He”. It is a merger of writer and reader. It’s the best way of selling subtly. In short, you’re showing your reader why your product is awesome, not telling him.

The third secret to successful copy really separates the men from the boys. Or, more accurately, the professionals from the amateurs. It’s knowing when to break the rules.

In some circumstances, describing a product will sell it better than trying to convince the reader to buy it. Sometimes, trying to empathize with the reader will seem cloying and sickly. Between one in ten times and one in a hundred, you’ll actively repel a reader using the above techniques.

A good copywriter writes copy for a large number of different products and services. You may think you know your audience, but without the experience of knowing what works and what doesn’t, reading the best “rulebook” in the world will still leave you selling short.

Experience is the only way to get better at writing good copy. It can take years before you write instinctively, rather than writing to the rules. That’s why great copywriters can command large sums of money for doing what you think you can do — write simple words in plain English.

You’ve got two choices. Either take a couple of years to learn how to write persuasively, or pay someone else to do it this week. Faced with this choice, most clients choose to pay someone to do it for them. But that’s not the best way to good copy, either.

Don’t employ. Collaborate.

I’ve found I work best with clients who write well, who know their product and their audience, but who need a second opinion. I love working collaboratively. That’s the very last secret to writing good copy. Don’t employ a copywriter and then expect him to know everything about your business. He knows nothing except how to sell. Write well about your own business and then give it to a copywriter to turn into sales-focused copy.

When you hire a freelance copywriter, you’re not really employing a writer. You’re employing a translator. You’re asking a professional to translate what you know (“my product is awesome”) into something your audience can understand (“his product is awesome, and here’s why. Can’t you just see yourself using it around the house now?”).

A good copywriter takes what you want to say and finds a way to say it better.

]]> http://allday.cc/blog/how-to-write-sales-focused-copy/feed/ 2 http://allday.cc/blog/turning-your-weakness-into-strength/ http://allday.cc/blog/turning-your-weakness-into-strength/#comments Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:22:00 +0000 al http://allday.cc/?p=746 So, it’s April Fool’s Day. And along with the usual plethora of tech-related pranks (well documented by TechCrunch) this spoof by The Guardian really caught my eye. In my last post, I talked about negative campaigning in politics, and how only a campaign based on hard fact is good enough to go on the attack.

But how do you counter-attack a negative campaign?

The Guardian’s April Fools joke may point us in the right direction.

OK, so it’s an obvious spoof. But the article contains some real wisdom:

Brown aides had worried that his reputation for volatility might …