Marketing Copy Secrets: How To Make “Less” More

Posted by Shakirah Dawud in Marketing & Business

Jamie Lee Wallace is a marketer and blogger I’ve come to admire for the practical, professional quality of her content and her cheerful demeanor. She’s sharing some of the ingredients in the secret sauce of marketing writing today, and how you can implement it yourself, so read on!

If you bring that sentence in for a fitting, I can have it shortened by Wednesday.  ~M*A*S*H, Hawkeye, “The Gun”

Brevity is one of the most powerful tools in any writer’s toolbox, but it’s a critical skill for the marketing writer. Fiction and editorial writers apply the less-is-more rule in pursuit of good flow and pleasing aesthetics. Marketing writers pare down their prose to ensure it gets read and–most importantly–influences the reader to take action. Effective marketing copy needs to be lean and mean.

Concise marketing copy has four primary attributes, each of which delivers tasty benefits that help you achieve your marketing goals. Whittle your words down to their most succinct and pointed form, and you will have copy that is:

Focused: You know how sometimes when you’re having an argument with someone and it feels like you’re going in circles for ever and then suddenly the whole issue becomes crystal clear and you figure out exactly what you have to say to make your point (and, bonus, win the argument)? Well, sometimes creating great marketing copy is a little bit like that.

The truth is that although less is more means you ultimately end up with fewer words on the page, it will typically take you more work to figure out exactly which words those will be. You’ll need to be more diligent about the up-front part of writing–research, strategy, developing a strong creative brief. Put this foundation in place, and you’ll be able to craft precise copy that hits the nail directly on the head the first time (and keeps you from having to make your arguments again and again).

Digestible: Fewer words on the page means that you can give each one more breathing room–both visually (in terms of layout) and metaphorically (in terms of the space in your reader’s head). Everyone is busy. Everyone is suffering from information overload. Huge blocks of dense copy are about the least inviting thing you can put on your web page/brochure/trade show collateral/etc. People want the “nutshell” version. They want you to do the heavy lifting of sorting things out and putting them together so they make sense.

Even if your topic is broad and complex (the proliferation of counterfeit semi-conductor parts in the global marketplace, for instance), there are ways to simplify your presentation. In addition to keeping your writing straightforward and to the point, you can break it into smaller chunks. You can make liberal use of headlines, subheads, and bullet points. Just keep in mind that your goal is to make the content as inviting, readable, and easy to “digest” as possible.

Memorable: Unlike a novel that’s read for pleasure, marketing copy has a job to do. It needs to get its message across clearly (focused), quickly (digestible), and in a way that makes it easy for the reader to remember what he read. Your copy has failed if the reader can’t retain what you’ve written. Concise copy helps improve recall in two ways: it’s shorter, so there’s less to remember; and it’s more focused, which helps minimize reader.

Using stories and examples is a great way to help readers remember what they’ve read. For example, instead of rambling on for 1,200 words about the specifications and features of your product, take 400 words to tell a story about how it saved a customer’s life  (or business, or profits).

Shareable: Finally, whether the conversation is happening around the water cooler or on the web, short copy is easier to share. If your reader is able to fully understand the message, he will be able to pass it on to others. If, on the other hand, your content was difficult to comprehend, your reader won’t risk looking like a fool by trying to explain it to someone else.

The benefits of brevity grow exponentially if your audience is engaged on social media. Many of these sites encourage or even require participants to keep their conversational entries brief. Twitter, for instance, with its 140-character limit, is a great training ground for a writer who wants to learn how to craft short but informative (and, optimally, entertaining) messages. Across almost all social networks, short bits of content are easier to post and pass around. Be intentional about including “sound bite” lines in your copy and you’ll increase your chances of getting shared even more.

So, the next time you’re working on a piece of marketing copy, remember that less is more, but sometimes you have to put in more effort to get to the shorter version. Do the legwork to get your message tight and focused. Serve it up in bite-sized bits of copy that are presented in a layout that’s easy to scan. Avoid reader overwhelm and the corresponding reduction in retention by simplifying to reduce confusion. And, finally, build in some shareable pieces so that your readers can help spread your message.

Remember what Thomas Jefferson said: “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” Aspire to be that talented.

Have you experienced the benefits of less-is-more copy as a reader? Have you experienced the opposite? What helps you remember a message?

Jamie Lee Wallace is a branding and content marketing professional who helps individuals and companies discover their voice, connect with their audience, and find their marketing groove. She is also a mom, a writer, a prolific blogger, and a student of voice and trapeze (not at the same time).  Follow her on Twitter.

Photo credit: Mando Gomez, courtesy of Flickr, CC 2.0.

Enter your email to get random special notes from me about marketing copy, language, and grammar you can put to work as soon as you read them. It’s not a newsletter–it’s your chance to pull me aside for answers to your own questions, too!