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LinkedInWhy copywriting is like reality TV
Hmm. I’ve use a lot of analogies over the years to discuss copywriting, but never reality TV.
But Tiffany Markman brings up some good points and gives us all a different perspective as she wades into the swamp of today’s most popular TV genre.
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I say ‘reality TV’.
You think of several good-looking people eating earthworms for money, a family of motorbike manufacturers fighting with each other, a chubby guy baking multi-storey cakes, or a nice family with several adopted kids getting a beautiful new house.
Whatever your impression of reality television – and whether you like it or hate it – have you ever considered how much like copywriting it is? No? Well, I have.
And here’s why…
Information Overload: A copywriter’s worst enemy and 8 ways to avoid it
We live in the information age. And boy do we get blasted with information. It’s dumped on us by the truckload.
Three pounds of stuff in the mailbox a day. 507 TV channels to flip through to find the weather report. 623 email messages selling male enhancement pills.
And that’s only a fraction of the information that bombards us. There are billboards along the highway, news broadcasts on the radio, memos and telephone calls at the office, instruction manuals for office equipment that won’t work, family schedules to remember, bills, books, seminars, random conversations at lunch time, business meetings, it never ends.
I even feel it when I walk into the supermarket cereal aisle and have to choose from about 200 boxes screaming with bright colors and promises of low fat and high fiber, when all I want is lots of sugar and a cool little plastic prize wrapped in cellophane.
It makes my head hurt.
7 easy time management tips for copywriters
Time management isn’t something they teach in school and it’s not something most copy gurus talk about.
So even if you’re the most brilliant copywriter on the planet, you won’t get very far if you’re piddling away all the hours in your workday.
Here are some time management tips specifically for copywriters:
Eliminate distractions. Turn off the radio. Tell friends and family to not call you when you’re working. Turn down the volume on your computer so you can’t hear the *bing bong* chime when email arrives. Even little interruptions can throw you off-track.
Stop goofing around online. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. You turn on your computer and check Facebook, right? Then you visit your favorite news site. Then maybe watch some funny cat videos on YouTube. Before you know it, you’ve burned a couple hours and have nothing to show for it.
Knock it off. Do personal things on personal time and business things on business time.
Freelance Endgame: 5 smart moves for “retirement”
So. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I know that sounds like one of those nightmare job interview questions, but it’s worth asking yourself.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? 20 years? 30 years? What’s the endgame for your freelance career?
To me, freelancing is a little like playing chess. That’s because for both there are three distinct stages: the opening, the middle game, and the endgame.
You see, when I was younger, I studied chess. Yes, I was a nerd and actually “studied” chess. That meant working my way through dense books full of difficult and arcane chess strategy, including how to handle each stage of the game.
Dear Client: A letter from your freelance copywriter
I’ve been pretty lucky to work with mostly good clients over the years. But every now and then, like everyone else, I get one who ends up being a pain in the butt.
Tiffany Markman shows how to share your feelings with those sort of clients. Though I don’t recommend you actually send a letter like this, it’s fun to fantasize about it.
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Dear Client,
You and I have been working for some time on the web copy for your new range of products. We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well. At this stage, I feel a letter might be appropriate, to convey how I feel about my creative collaboration with you.
To begin with, when briefed to create search engine optimised (SEO) web copy, I revel in repeatedly explaining what search engine optimisation is. Even the third, fourth and fifth attempts to illuminate this concept felt fresh and new to me.
How to create a copywriting winner step-by-step
Few people view writing as a competitive activity. However, if you embark on a freelance career and choose to handle direct response projects, such as direct mail, you will eventually face a competitive challenge.
It will probably go something like this:
Client: “Do you handle direct mail?”
You: “Yes I do.”
Client: “Good. We have a direct mail package that has been working for a few years, but it’s starting to get a little tired. So we want to test something new.”
You: “Okay, what did you have in mind?”
Client: “Well, we want you to write something that gets better response. We’ll test your package against our control and see which is the winner. Are you up for it?”
If you’ve never faced this situation, you may break out in a cold sweat. After all, this isn’t just a writing project. You won’t be judged by your style or command of grammar. Your skills will be tested and measured with a calculator. You will win or you will lose.
So what do you do?
How to write “hot button” sales copy in a recession
Writing sales copy can be challenging even when times are good. But when the economy hits the skids, writing copy that actually sells can be downright hard.
No worries. Barry Densa has some advice about this to make things a little easier.
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There are, as you may have heard, 13 human motivators, or “hot buttons” that inevitably drive sales.
Employ any one, or two of them, in your marketing campaigns, with a deft and artistic touch, and you’ll easily deliver your customers to the precipice – the point at which he or she is presented with an all-important and consequential decision:
To buy … or not to buy.
Yet, use more than one, or at the most two hot button motivators in a single marketing campaign … and more than likely, you’ll lose the sale.
Just as a sentence should contain only one thought, lest in confuse and distract the reader, a sales promotion should appeal to one dominant motivator at a time.
So which one, or two motivators will work best in a recession?
4 practical ways to sell without writing a sales pitch
It was a busy Thursday morning. I had just finished answering about 50 emails when one more message landed in my inbox.
It was a from Donnie Bryant, who said he has just finished reading The Art of Zen Copywirting and offered me another take on the subject.
I liked it. And I think you will too.
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Supercharged salespeople and marketers love to make reference to the movie Boiler Room.
You may have heard them use this quote from the film: “A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client some stock or he sells you a reason he can’t. Either way a sale is made, the only question is who is gonna close?”
It sounds good. It’s motivational. And it’s false.
A customer doesn’t have to “close” a salesperson. He doesn’t have to “sell you a reason he can’t” or won’t buy from you. All he has to do is hang up the phone. Leave the store. Click away from the website (even while the autoplay video is still running).
The truth is, you can’t sell anything without selling. But that doesn’t change the fact that people hate to be sold. Copywriters have to be able to take a different approach. How can we sell without appearing to sell? Here are 4 practical ideas.
The Art of Zen Copywriting – Part 2
In part 1 of this post, we considered what many copywriters might think is a radical idea: hard sell copy isn’t always the best option.
Why? Because it’s overused, it can destroy your credibility, and many copywriters just don’t feel comfortable being so aggressive.
We also looked at 4 basic principles behind the idea of a different, less in-your-face approach. Namely that people want to buy from you, you cannot force anyone to do anything they don’t want to do, selling does not require brilliant copy, and you must remove the barriers to buying.
If you’re clear on these preliminaries, let’s now get into the meat of Zen Copywriting and how you can make it work for you.
The Art of Zen Copywriting – Part 1
I originally wrote this 2-part post for Copyblogger. But I thought readers here may enjoy it as well.
If you’re like most copywriters, you truly want to help your clients (or help yourself) sell more products and services.
Your instinct will be to write the sort of hard sell copy you’ve seen so much of, because you will assume that’s what always works. But will it? Maybe. Maybe not. The trouble with hard sell is that it’s overused, it can destroy your credibility, and many copywriters just don’t feel comfortable being so aggressive.
So what do you do?
I’d like to show you a different approach to selling that turns conventional wisdom on its head, replacing hard sell with a less aggressive and more natural way to write copy. We’ll call it Zen Copywriting.
