Trick #1- Buy this book.
The best copywriter in the business is Herschell Gordon Lewis. His book, “On the Art of Writing Copy” is the finest education your money can buy.
I consider myself the third best writer in the business and there are two rules that I follow when writing good advertising copy:
1. Know exactly what you want the reader to do or take away before you start writing.
2. Write like you talk.
Another trick that I use when a writer brings me their first draft to review is to cross out the first (and sometimes the second paragraph) before I even start reading. And the vast majority of the time, the second or third paragraph is the best lead. That’s because when most people write advertising copy, it takes one or two paragraphs before their brain hits its stride.
Cut and paste is your friend!
When you write copy, you usually try to put your thoughts in order before you write. The problem is that your brain doesn’t work that way. Your brain just shoots out a constant flow of unrelated material. If you try to put it in order before you begin to write, you end up sitting in front of your computer with nothing on the screen. Just write it down! Don’t try to arrange it, just let it spew out as it comes along. You can then arrange your random thoughts into --
A logical progression of thought that leads to a specific outcome.
Here’s the next trick. Go back to the previous paragraph you just read, the one that starts with, “Cut and paste is your friend”.
Count how many “you” and “yours” are in that paragraph. Thirteen, there are thirteen freaking you and yours in one paragraph. And that’s great! Because to the reader,
“It’s all about me”
Your reader is not interested in you, your product or your company. They are interested in themselves and what your product and your company can do for them. Everything you write should relate to your reader. Go back through your copy and wherever possible change every I, me, we and our to you and yours.
If you run into a situation where you can’t seem to come up with the right words to use, try this trick. Pretend that you’re sitting in front of your prospect or customer and you are talking to them. What you say is what you should write.
When I’m reviewing copy, I will often write notes on the side, sometimes they’re nice, sometimes not so nice (it often depends on my mood at the moment). I have grown more diplomatic as the years have passed.
On one occasion, I was reviewing a long and poorly written B2B sell letter and after I realized that editing the letter would take too long, I took my red pen and wrote down the side;
“The ranting of someone who desperately wants to write the great American novel and has failed miserably at it”.
Later that afternoon the manuscript reappeared on my desk with the note, “F@*k you”, written under my comment. What was I to do? How was I to teach a promising young writer with a lot of spunk that he should never mess with the Creative Director?
The solution was simple. I mailed the copy, comments and all to his Mom with a note attached that said, “Look at how your son talks to his boss.”
His Mom was waiting for him at the door when he got home.
That young man, I’m very pleased to say, is today an Executive VP Creative for a leading agency and a brilliant writer. I take some credit for his Mom giving him a good whooping and setting him on the right path.
Jon
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