Copywriting That Respects Customers
I’ve spoken about showing respect for readers in general, but here I’d like to focus on customers who are reading your marketing collateral in particular. The following was on a Post Shredded Wheat Spoon Size Honey Nut cereal box I purchased recently. No need to read the entire thing, but there’s a reason I’m posting almost all of it. An ingredient list that is so good, we have nothing to hide. Wouldn’t it be great if it were easy to understand what is in your...
Read MoreFalse Logic And Salable Products
Bob Bly’s email about false logic in advertising and sales copy made me think. Copywriters–the best of our breed, anyway, and he’s among them–aren’t all adjectives, adverbs, and corny jingles. We apply technique to shade a brand, product or service in the most enticing and relatable light. It’s not always easy, though, and that’s where false logic comes in. False logic makes a fact or attribute more appealing than it would otherwise be–a way to...
Read MoreFriday Marketing Spotlight: Kemya Scott
Kemya Scott of Phisco Marketing is a hard-working marketing strategist I’ve been glad to get to know over the past several months via Twitter and her blog. She knows her stuff and knows how to use it well, so I was excited when she shared one of her early marketing lessons at my invitation here. One of the very first lessons I learned about marketing my business is simple: you never know where your next client will come from. I’ve attended personal affairs where I wouldn’t be thinking...
Read MoreDid You Learn Writing The “Right” Way?
A lot of us learned the “conventional” way: via English teacher, sentence diagrams, vocabulary exercises, and spelling tests. There isn’t much that’s conventional about me, though, and although I endured the usual classes for a few years in elementary, I largely leapfrogged the classic English lessons via gifted and AP English. This meant that for years I couldn’t point out a past participle or label subjunctive clauses in sentences. To the New York State Education...
Read MoreHow To Know Whether Your Copy Is Too Creative
Can your audience spell it? I visit chief wordworker (and she really is a chief!) Nancy Friedman’s blog frequently, mainly to laugh at the gaffes other creative decision-makers have made in naming and marketing their businesses. Because I’ve never made a mistake like that, ever. One of the most frequent elements Nancy calls out is spelling. Is it too much to ask that it not be so korny we don’t remember it’s spelled that way? Deformed syllables that you want to be...
Read More
