Category: Copywriting

Three Steps to Better Writing

Posted on by Linda Anger

The real “art” of writing compelling copy—words that matter and draw people into the story—is in knowing what goes where and how to edit for story potency. Here are three steps to get you started:

image of an open book of writing

  1. Your first draft will never be your best draft, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be full of great fodder for the finished piece, whether it is a short story, magazine article, blog post, or the concept for a full-length novel. Your first intention should be only to get words on paper, or on screen, if you prefer. Just get your thoughts down as if you were talking to a friend, and try to do it in ten minutes or less. Then walk away for at least two hours.
  2. Now it’s time to organize and edit. For a 300-word article or post, give yourself no more than 30 minutes. Read it out loud to yourself, note changes needed, then walk away again.  I know some will argue this point, but in my writing, I rarely sit for more than an hour before I need a mental and physical break, and I do edit as I go along.
  3. The final round of the practice is to read your piece out loud to someone you trust to tell you the truth. If you stumble over words or phrases, change them. If your sentences are more than 20 words, break them in half. If you’ve used industry jargon or ten-dollar words, clean things up. If you’ve wasted too much space with unnecessary introductory material—a common error for new or untrained writers—your friend should tell you. Get rid of it. Make it worth your reader’s while.

My very first copy writing instructor drilled in into our heads to look for the parts of what we had written that we really loved—the sentences or phrases to which we were emotionally attached—and cut them out completely. This is the “kill your darlings” process, a challenging exercise in non-attachment and journalistic excellence that, in the end, will make your writing stronger.

Here is a post you may also find helpful.

 

Five Cliches to Avoid in Marketing

Posted on by Linda Anger

We’ve all said it, done it, written it, read it in marketing and elsewhere. We’ve all used the ubiquitous cliché.

The guy in the office you call, “A breed apart.”

Mentioning the “hustle and bustle” of your day.

Things that will “knock your socks off.”

IT’S TIME TO STOP.

Clichés creep into our writing like ants onto an unswept floor. It happens when we let our thoughts wander, or push too hard to get things done in less time than they need.  Think about how often you hear people say, “ya know,” or “I’m, like” in ordinary conversation. Clichés, yes – because we are not as mindful of our words as we should be.

“Clichés were like plaque in the arteries of the imagination,

they clogged the sense of what was possible. “

(Charlie Jane Anders)

Here are five clichés to avoid in marketing, or any form of communication:

  1. At this point in time…  Each second that passes is “this point in time,”  By the time you’ve finished saying or reading the phrase, the point in time has passed. Instead of “At this point in time you may be shopping for a new oven,” just say, “Shopping for a new oven…”
  2. Each and every…  “each” is individual, “every”is collective. Pick one or the other.
  3. In other words… Generally used as a dependent phrase when you think the way you originally phrased something is too complex to be understood. Rather than expressing it twice, work a little harder to simplify what your saying right from the start.
  4. Quite simply… This is a variation of “In other words.”
  5. Due to the fact that… Stop it. Just state the fact. “Tom won’t be at work today, he broke his leg skiing over the weekend.”

What clichés do you think are the most annoying?

flow versus impact in marketing

Posted on by Linda Anger

In his  book, “The Art of Writing Copy,” Marketing wiz H.G. Lewis said:

Tying two statements together with “and” adds flow and subtracts impact.

Here is an Example of what he means:

Which bullet point is stronger?

  1. In  my line of work, every word counts, and I practice what I call “word economy.”
  2. In my line of work, every word counts. I practice what I call “word economy.”

Line one has flow, but the “and” dilutes the strength of both statements.  Line two creates a momentary loss of flow, but retains the impact of the individual statements.

Maybe you’ll guffaw. Maybe you’ll think that a one-word, comma-versus-period change isn’t worth your thought or effort. But I challenge you to give it a try in your next marketing campaign, particularly if you are limited to a specific word count.  Write your first draft, then, as Lewis recommends, “cold-bloodedly” remove the “ands” when they link two thoughts. Then read the statements out loud, considering the intent of the overall campaign.

Which are you after – flow, or impact?

 

The Generic Determination Rule

Posted on by Linda Anger

Sometimes in speech writing and marketing you can change the audience’s perception without changing the facts. One way to do this is by putting psychology to work with The Generic Determination Rule. Detailed by famed Direct Marketing/Copywriting Guru Herschel Gordon Lewis, the rule states:

“The generic determines reaction more than the number.”

This means that when you are indicating time, size, distance, or a number of other factors related to your product or service, the generic⏤months versus days, hours versus minutes, miles versus feet⏤is more important than the number attached to it.

Lewis gives a great example when he asks “What if McDonald’s Quarter Pounder were called McDonald’s Four Ouncer?”

Yes, a quarter pound IS four ounces.

But somehow, a quarter pound sounds significantly larger than four ounces, because pounds are heavier than ounces.

Depending on your intent, you could market the same burger two ways:

  1. For our weight conscious friends, this popular burger is just four ounces. Dressed up with your favorite low-cal toppings, it packs a wallop! OR
  2. Our all-around best selling burger⏤a full quarter pound of choice meat⏤with all your favorite toppings!
  • One month free trial is perceptually longer than a 30-day free trial.
  • One hour feels longer than 60 minutes.

If I were to tell you my office is five thousand, two hundred and eighty feet north of town, you might, for just a moment, think you’d have to pack a lunch to get there. But if I told you instead that I am just one mile north of town, well, that’s an easy trip, isn’t it? Putting the rule and the psychology behind it to use, you could drive a customer or prospect away from a competitor and right to your door.

Think of The Generic Determination Rule as you are creating your next advertisement, menu, or sales pitch. First determine how you want your prospects or customers to perceive the extent, usefulness, or appropriateness of your product or service. Then choose the generic that matches your intent – bigger/smaller, faster/slower, farther/closer, shorter/longer.

Freelance Copywriting and Editing

Posted on by Linda Anger
Image of Ali Luke, AliVentures, Copywriting Interview
Ali Luke of AliVentures

 

Wondering what it takes to start and sustain a copywriting and editing business?  I’ve been at it for 15 years and blogging about it for 7 years. I’ve worked hard to make it work for me. Can you do the same?

Ali Luke of AliVentures in Cambridge, England, (that’s her at left) interviewed me on this topic, and posted it in her private Writer’s Huddle group. She’s allowed me to share it with you.

Click to listen to the 45-minute interview on SoundCloud.

Click to download a PDF transcript of the interview.

Click to download a PDF of the accompanying WORKSHEET.

Thanks, Ali! You are an amazing woman, and a gift to the freelance writing community around the world!

 

That “Completely Unique” Thing

Posted on by Linda Anger

I couldn’t help but cringe while reading  a blog post about creating an elevator pitch.

The article itself was useful and interesting. The problem came in the “Tips for Creating the Perfect Pitch” section at the end. Tip #1, “Describe your product in one sentence” – we all know that one, even if we haven’t quite gotten it down yet. The cringing came with the explanation of Tip #2, “Give people a point of reference.” I agree with this statement, but not with the explanation in the article, which states:

Even if your product is completely unique, it pays off to give your listener a point of reference.  Mention other products or services that are similar to yours so your listener can refer to something he or she knows about and move on to discover how your product is better.

At issue here is using the term “completely unique,” and then going on to recommend mentioning “similar” products or services as a point of reference.

There is no such thing as “completely unique.”

Merriam-Webster defines “unique” as 1) being the only one, and 2) being without a like or equal. Thus, modifiers such as “completely” or “totally” are inappropriate and cringe-worthy.

For the sake of those who argue that modifiers are in common usage and therefore acceptable, let’s pretend the first sentence is OK.  Now we have to deal with the problem of the second statement, which suggests that we “mention products similar to yours.”

If you truly have a “completely unique” product or service, it has no equal and there is nothing similar anywhere on the planet. And if there were, your “completely unique” statement would go right out the window, leaving you caught in a lie and a ridiculous circle game that is simply not worth you time or energy.

“Give people a point of reference” is a good tip in terms of creating a great elevator pitch. Going after a similar thing to something that is “completely unique”  – well, that’s just bad grammar.

 

Four Tips for Effective Copywriting

Posted on by Linda Anger

1.  Don’t waste money on internet copy writing courses. Find the writers whose work resonates with you and follow them.

2.  Don’t waste a reader’s time with 6-page long letters full of highlighted text and screamingly large headlines.

3.  Do follow the advice of Joseph Pulitzer, one of the greatest journalists of all time. He said: “Put it before them briefly, so they will read it, clearly, so they will appreciate it, picturesquely, so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.”

4.  Learn to be a ruthless editor, and don’t stop until every unnecessary word is eliminated.

 

How to Write More in Less Time

Posted on by Linda Anger

The real “art” of writing compelling copy—words that matter and draw people into the story—is in knowing what goes where and how to edit for story potency.

A hint from Copywriting 101: Your first draft will never be your best draft, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be full of great fodder for the finished piece, whether it is a short story or a magazine article, blog post, or the concept for a full-length novel. Your first intention should be only to get words on paper, or on screen, if you prefer. Just get your thoughts down as if you were talking to a friend, and try to do it in ten minutes or less. Then walk away for at least two hours.

When you come back, it’s time to organize and edit. For a 300-word article or post, give yourself no more than 30 minutes. Read it out loud to yourself, note changes needed, then walk away again.  I know some will argue this point, but in my writing, I rarely sit for more than an hour before I need a mental and physical break, and I do edit as I go along.

The final round of the practice is to read your piece out loud to someone you trust to tell you the truth. If you stumble over words or phrases, change them. If your sentences are too long, break them in half. If you’ve used industry jargon or ten-dollar words, clean things up. If you’ve wasted too much space with unnecessary introductory material—a common error for new or untrained writers—your friend should tell you. Get rid of it. Make it worth your reader’s while.

My very first copy writing instructor drilled in into our heads to look for the parts of what we had written that we really loved—the sentences or phrases to which we were emotionally attached—and cut them out completely. This is the “kill your darlings” process, a challenging exercise in non-attachment and journalistic excellence that, in the end, will make your writing stronger.

 

What She Really Meant to Say

Posted on by Linda Anger

What do you suppose Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay, really meant when she said she was “encouraged by the fundamentals that underlie usage growth on the net”?

A)  She believes eBay is more popular than ever
B)  She’s glad Internet technology is growing
C)  She’s happy more people are using the net

In keeping with Ms. Whitman’s language choices, I have to say that I am discouraged by the fundamentals that underlie usage of obscure communications in business. That is, I’m sad that so many business people are more concerned with sounding intellectual than they are with communicating clearly.

Simplicity is the name of the game in getting your message across, and in the end, it’s not what you say that matters. What your client or prospect hears is the critical factor.

Five Guidelines for Clear Messaging:

  1. Avoid words that require a dictionary for interpretation. Few people will bother to look them up.
  2. Use short sentences. Try to keep each sentence under 20 words. Break longer thoughts into multiple sentences.
  3. Make your message relevant. If what you say doesn’t matter to your intended audience, you will not be heard.
  4. Find a clear, concise message and stick with it.
  5. Do not assume your reader thinks and believes as you do.

In the end, language is a tool used to inform and enlighten. The simple choice between one word and another really does make a difference in how your message is understood.

As Dr. Frank Luntz says in his book Words that Work, we need to make people the center of our communication, not the target.