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Some Definite Don'ts For Newbie Copywriters by Albert Kelly
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Some Definite Don'ts For Newbie Copywriters |
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Education
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This is the fifth of my tips articles for newbie copywriters. Most of my tips are positive, what-to-do articles. But this one's about some things not to do. If you don't come from a marketing or sales background and have maybe had a traditional education, as I did, you may be surprised at how different copy, whether on the web or in direct mail, is from most other forms of writing. Basically, it's more conversational and informal, and is sometimes unconventional and even ungrammatical. If you don't feel comfortable with flexing the old rules to meet the needs of a new environment, then you should maybe think again about whether copywriting is for you That said, copy is written in understandable English and faults in grammar, sentence structure and punctuation are minor. How informal your copy is will in the end depend on the wishes of your client or employer, the image they wish to present and the culture of their business. So let's confront some basic mistakes and misunderstandings about writing copy, indeed any sales and marketing materials. First, just because a word sounds impressive doesn't mean it will convince the reader. This is especially true of abstract words, those ending in -sion and -tion. In fact they put people off because they fear, even wrongly, that they don't know what they mean. Or readers may feel that long words are being used to pull the wool over their eyes, to dress up something ordinary as extraordinary that won't deliver great value. This is particularly true of the unnecessary use of scientific terms. So avoid abstract words and technical terms (unless your product really is technical and you're selling to people in the business). Similarly, think carefully before you use the passive form of verbs. Don't say: My business was being hammered in the recession, but rather, the recession was hammering my business. It may be right to use the passive, but often it sounds flat and lifeless, like the kind of prose used by government bodies. If you catch yourself writing sentences that sound like instructions on how to fill in your tax return, think again and re-write your copy. Officials write the way they do partly because their job is to tell us what to do (it's the law, after all). But we marketers can't command attention and enforce sales. We have to ask, persuade, urge people to buy, and then close the deal. Another tip: before you publish your final version, go through and see how many times you can cut out the words that or which. Instead of using a relative clause, consider putting a full stop and starting a new sentence. Don't write as you write. Write as you talk. It's much more persuasive. There are techniques of layout and formatting that will stop your copy sounding jerky. From the marketing point of view, there is another class of words you should avoid: words that make your product sound complicated to use, difficult to learn, hard to get, controversial to own or expensive to buy. These are the ideas you may need to introduce near the beginning of your copy when you're talking about the problems your readers may have. Negatives should be associated with their present position and contrasted with the benefits they will gain from your product or service. Moral: distance yourself from negatives. Be chary even of reassuring people that your product doesn't do something they don't want. No one has suggested it did. So why put that negative thought into their mind? buy custom learning disability essay
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