Keeping It Real: The Only Copywriting Trick That Works
Much of today's accepted copywriting wisdom comes from old
books written for a different, quieter world.
For most of the twentieth century, widely promoting a successful
message was expensive and difficult, requiring control of
significant resources and substantial time commitments. Though
the general public was more trusting and open to suggestion,
more effort was required to reach them. Until the mid-nineties,
marketing was generally a money game: whoever could afford the
loudest message often sold the most product.
The information age - and the Internet in particular - changed
all that.
Today, your competitors aren't the other businesses providing
similar services: they are the millions of voices screaming at
the top of their lungs, desperate for attention. They are the
vast seas of noise - the four billion websites that are of no
interest to your prospects, the commercials that don't relate to
them, the telemarketing calls that still interrupt their dinner
despite new laws. Your competitors are everyone and everything
that pushes the general public into apathy, desensitized by
information overload.
Creative and pushy techniques don't work when a million other
people are doing the same thing. The battle today is not to make
people listen, but to convince them that you are worth listening
to. While authenticity has always been a good strategy, now it
is the entire game.
To write truly effective marketing copy, you must go beyond the
buzzwords, slogans and pitches, to get to the secrets that make
your business unique and credible:
Challenge your own assumptions about your clients and their
needs. It is easy to fall into the trap of limiting your
market with faulty assumptions. Take a hard look at your current
marketing efforts - who do you think your clients are, and why
do you think that? Gather as much information about your clients
as possible and challenge any beliefs you hold that are not
based on solid evidence. Never assume that common wisdom is
actually true - it often isn't.
Question the quality and value of your own services.
People do not buy things; they buy values. Take a fresh look at
the value of what you offer, and what makes that value
attractive to prospects and clients. Question it: explore new
areas where your services would be useful, and new ways that you
can improve their relevance. Dig deep to learn what you are
really selling and what it truly means.
Embrace your flaws as well as your strengths. None of us
are perfect, but most attempt to disguise or deny their flaws by
overcompensating in marketing. Flaws are relative things, and
weakness in one area is often the result of strength in another.
Don't disguise your flaws - simply present them positively.
Brainstorm ways to turn your weaknesses to your advantage.
Ask yourself - is your marketing driving you to higher
standards, or disguising lower ones? Effective marketing is
never about the status quo; it is either a growth vehicle or a
means of damage control. Which are you doing? Are you promoting
yourself based on valid strengths, or are you trying to cover up
apparent weaknesses? If your marketing does not inspire you to
serve your clients better, it won't inspire prospects to become
new ones.
In a world of noise and manipulations, your prospects crave
simplicity and integrity. Honestly approaching these issues will
result in a wealth of unique material for your advertising
efforts, as well as new insights into your own business.
Retire the tricks and gimmicks - they don't work anymore and
probably never will again. If you want to attract and keep
clients, use the only copywriting trick worth learning: reality.