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/how-to-write-a-good-love-letter/ http://allday.cc/blog/how-to-write-a-good-love-letter/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:30:50 +0000 al http://allday.cc/?p=625 What with email, chat and social networking, who sends letters any more? Arguably, the long-letter format is a dying art. At most, we can expect the occasional postcard from family members abroad. But there’s one day of the year when you might want to say something a little more personal than ‘wish you were here’.

Love it or loathe it, Valentines Day is the mandated time of the year when we’re supposed to make a pitch for our lover’s heart. Some say it with flowers, with a special breakfast… or even a special ring to surprise their loved ones. But…

Keep it simple

It’s not Shakespeare. Nobody wants Shakespeare, either. He’s old and nobody understands him. But I guess if you’re writing copy for a living rather than plays about kings and murder, you’ve figured that out already.

But what you might not have worked out is that simplicity isn’t just about using common words. That’s just patronizing — and audiences hate that. Sure, you want to go easy on the thesaurus, but simplicity comes from using a minimal number of words in a short sentence, without redundancies. Treat your reader like a savvy, time-poor client. Pitch to him quickly in easy to understand language.

If you can say it in a sentence, don’t use a paragraph. Because people won’t read it.

Break up your text

Like I’ve just done. If all the reader sees is the two sentences above in italics, and not the preceding paragraph, they’ll have got my message.

Nothing is harder on the eyes than blocks of identical, lengthy paragraphs.

That’s doubly true on the web. But even on printed copy, if you’re working with material of any kind of length, break up the text. I’ve been working on a 5000 word brochure. I’ve already got it down to 3000 words. That’s practically an essay. But I can’t take out any more text without the client getting unhappy.

So instead I’m going to break up the text with

headings

italics
bold
and of course

• bullet points.

Avoid bad words

There’s definitely a list of words you should never use. “Fresh” is one of them. Nothing described as “fresh” ever sounds fresh. It sounds like a marketing consultant with a clip on pony tail muttering things like “fresh and funky” whilst stroking his goatee beard. “Funky” also means “smells bad,” folks. So if your text is funky, it sure as hell isn’t fresh.

I could go on for hours. Apparently, the world’s most hated word (if you’re a woman) is moist. I’m not sure why. Perhaps we’re all living in a pornographic cliche. But it’s a reminder: know your audience.

My pet hate is the word “basically”. You know. “What I’m basically trying to say is…”

Stop. When you say “basically” you’re saying to someone ‘hey, I’m smarter than you, and I’m simplifying for you, because I don’t think you’d understand.’

If you have to simplify, use the word “essentially”. That way your reader knows you’re leaving stuff out because he’s busy and you’re just presenting him with the main facts. Not that you think he’s an idiot.

Last but not least… avoid cliche.

Think about it. Where did that idea for a great blog post come from? If it came from “that guy you read last week” don’t bother, unless it’s a direct reply. You’re just rehashing other people’s material. I post once or twice a week. Because, honestly, that’s about how much I have to say.

It’s also acceptable to use irregular punctuation when you’re speaking in a conversational style. If you’re writing formally, don’t dare. You’ll just look uneducated. But if you’re trying to build up a rapport with your audience, use punctuation as you’d use breathing marks if you were reading out loud. Your reader will love you.

Sure, I’m a freelancer. I can (and do) spend quite a bit of time writing at home, in the garden, in my shorts. But it’s tough out there at the minute. If the work’s not there, the work’s not there.

On quiet days when I have nothing to do I don’t laze around sunbathing or watching TV. I get back to doing what I was trained to do — to write creatively.

I had a free afternoon today so I popped down to the cafe, set up shop, and knocked out a couple of thousand words of fiction. It felt good.

I won’t bore you with the details (there’s nothing worse than writers writing about writing), but copyblogger has it right. I may not be a poet (I never could make things rhyme) but I am a creative. Writing pure fiction stretches muscles that other forms of writing just can’t reach.

They’re muscles that need exercising from time to time. After all, I use the same set of skills that I use to write fiction to create quality copy — my imagination, my vocabulary, my sense of style.

Copyblogger thinks that the best copywriters are creative writers. I agree. It’s one thing being proficient, competent, clean. But good writing has soul — a good writer will breathe life into his words, whoever his audience may be. Too much copy these days is bland and lifeless and feels like it could’ve been written by a machine. The best copy will always be the copy that establishes a dialogue with your clients. Good conversation is good communication.

Work’s been picking up a bit lately. I don’t have as much free time as I used to. And, of course, clients have to come first. But I’m going to keep setting aside a couple of hours a day to write for pure pleasure. After all, if I didn’t get any pleasure out of writing, I’d be in the wrong game, wouldn’t I?

Some days I just love what I do.

There are plenty of exceptions to this of course. Sometimes I love nothing more than grabbing a cup of coffee and writing while I watch the world go by — the busier the cafe the better. I’ve even been known to take my laptop out to the woods and work sitting on an old felled tree. You never know when or where inspiration might strike. Changing your surroundings really can change your frame of mind.

But one thing I find very hard to deal with is a cluttered desktop. No, I’m not talking about the usual six or seven cups of writer-fuel (that’s coffee, folks, not whisky) that pile up around my desk over any given day. I mean my Windows desktop.

I’m actually a Mac user — I have been for years. But when they brought out dual-booting, I started using a clean install of Windows with Word on it and nothing else because it reduced clutter. Moreover it kept the temptation of my music and videos at bay. But Word itself is still pretty cluttered.

In the past when I’ve felt the need for simplicity I’ve booted up my old Sharp FW word-processor — no internet, no graphics, no music, no colour. Just a monochrome screen and a keyboard. And it’s worked.

But it’s hardly convenient. The thing’s an unmoveable brick. This weekend I discovered Q10. And suddenly everything changed.

Q10 is a basic word processing interface for Windows that mimics an old-style word processor, only with a few modern twists. It’s fully customisable — you can change the font size, the colour of the background, the colour of the text and so on…

But the point is, it’s totally minimalist. It is a fullscreen interface for you and your words. No windows, no start bar, no pesky Microsoft Messenger bugging you every ten seconds. Back to basics.

I’ll not ramble on when a screenshot tells you everything you need to know:

As you can see I wrote this blog post using Q10. But since it’s the weekend I’ve mostly been using it to batter out a bit of fiction and I absolutely love it. Everything flows brilliantly. I feel more in touch with my words than I have in years.

As a writer, it’s absolutely vital that nothing gets in the way of my words. No mess, no distractions. Q10 has doubled my productivity overnight.

If you’re a writer — casual or professional — and you’re suffering from desktop overload, you should check this program out. Mac users needn’t fret, either. There’s a similar program called Write Room here.

A hearty thanks to Q10. It might sound like hyperbole, but this incredibly simple program really has changed my life. But don’t take my word for it. Try it out for yourself.

Yet times are changing. Already it’s being argued that Facebook is killing SEO. Essentially, ‘linkbait’ is what’s going to drive hits to your website in the future. It’s another one of those fancy buzzwords, but it’s nothing new. It’s just a modern form of a technique that has worked for generations — in fact, forever. It’s a personal recommendation.

Yes, there are a myriad of tricks a writer can use to draw more visitors to your site. But at the end of the day, it’s the quality of the content that keeps people coming back, quality that people will tell their friends about. Online and offline, it’s all about the brand image.

If you’re trying to sell people something, they’re still going to be looking at two things: the quality of the product offered, and the right price. Keep them happy and they will tell their friends they’re happy. It’s hardly brain science, or rocket surgery. With the ludicrously high turnover of buzzwords on the web, it’s easy to start believing the hype.

SEO, like twitter, was very much a buzzword of last year. We mustn’t diminish its importance, but it’s also vital to remember the fundamentals. Writing for the web is very much like writing anywhere else. It’s a one-on-one conversation between you and your client, and you need to build up a rapport. The fundamentals of writing for the web should still be good copy. SEO is the icing on the cake.

It’s easy to get bowled over by buzzwords. SEO is vital now but with ‘linkbait’ strategies becoming more important, the basics of good writing remain. Incidentally, my father called me last week. He runs a very successful business, had a laptop when they were big as briefcases, and bought his first mobile phone in the eighties. These days he’s never more than thirty seconds away by BlackBerry. He said to me, ‘I’ve seen your latest blog post. What the hell is twitter?’

I was proud of him. It’s precisely the attitude a company director should take. If you need any further proof that fools rush in, take a look at how Habitat made fools out of themselves twittering this week. Or Jordan.

‘Nuff said.