Copywriters need their own bible. Each one of us has a model copywriter whom we admire and respect, and to some extend, replicate. They are our guide and guru.

And many of us have several. One of mine is the writer of www.webinknow.com.

He is the author of The New Rules Of Marketing and PR. When I first stumbled on his book, I rolled my eyes and went, “So you want to teach me how to open a Facebook account?”.

The next moment, my eyes are firmly fixated on the pages of the book.

I won’t say whatever the author says in the book is new to me, but I do know this. It is new to many business owners. Yes, to many business owners whom I have had the privilege of copywriting for, many are very resistant to the new rules of marketing and PR. To them, I’d strongly suggest this book. It argues a very strong case for social media and its importance, and I promise you it will be an eye opener even if you’re already quite convinced of its powers.

Certainly a must read for all business owners and marketers.

I had a rather interesting assignment last week. It was commissioned by a boutique, or shall I say, haute boutique, that tailors (pun intended) to men’s professional attire. Now, being a bit of a quasi (More like pseudo, but who dares pick a fight?) metrosexual myself, my interest was piqued. The assignment was to write two letters, one to send out to tailors promoting this revolutionary fabric and the other was to promote their tailoring services.

Now, a letter, as old-fashioned as it sounds, is one of the best mediums to convey whatever message you want to convey. I know letters conjure up images of pigeons and smoke signals, but really, letters are extremely effective.

When you read a letter, you get that certain warmth that brochures or websites cannot give. A letter is immediate- as in, you’re really speaking to your target audience right here, right now. A letter is also direct- you can cut all your sales pitch and just tell them as they are. In a letter, you can call a spade a spade.

I can also think of another important advantage of a letter. It’s personal. You’re really opening up a new level of communication with your customers. You’re talking to them as a friend. Well, of course they know you’re trying to sell them something, but there’s something about letters that gives that confidence. In a world of fast sales pitches, random prospecting, and oh the fast disappearing market segmentizing, letters are truly a rare gem.

A good letter, that is.

A bad letter on the other hand will just plain ruin your customers’ day. Good things earn bad reputations easily. If a brochure is bad, then it’s ‘understandable’ because it’s a brochure! It’s mean to be as annoying as a second hand car sales man. But a bad letter is downright rude.

So, the next time you would like to make an announcement for a new product, or announce a new line, or announce anything at all, do consider letters.

Oh, they’re cheaper than brochures.

I don’t know how much I’m exaggerating if I say that social media is possibly THE biggest thing to happen to marketing. Not ONE OF the biggest thing, but THE biggest thing.

The emergence of social media and its importance is worth another blog post, or many blog posts, but for now, I’d like to draw your attention to this website if you’re already beginning to use social media as an integral part of your marketing. At this point, if Facebook is the school text book you cover your face with while dozing off in class, and Twitter is a bird, to you, then you must read my next blog.

For now, here’s a website for those who already use Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc

http://socialtoo.com/

It’s a neat way of consolidating all your social media tools. Try it.

I stumbled upon this fantastic website. If you do marketing for your company, do you use gobbledygook, jargon, cliches and over-used, hype-filled words? Not sure. This website checks it for you. It even sends you a report. I think it’s fantastic.

Use it before you publish anything, give it a quick check here. Jargons are annoying, cliches are irritating, repetition is tiresome- and many of us use them often (oh that’s one example). See? I’m guilty of it too!

http://gobbledygook.grader.com/

I had a rather interesting assignment last week. It was commissioned by a boutique, or shall I say, haute boutique, that tailors (pun intended) to men’s professional attire. Now, being a bit of a quasi (More like pseudo, but who dares pick a fight?) metrosexual myself, my interest was piqued. The assignment was to write two letters, one to send out to tailors promoting this revolutionary fabric and the other was to promote their tailoring services.

Now, a letter, as old-fashioned as it sounds, is one of the best mediums to convey whatever message you want to convey. I know letters conjure up images of pigeons and smoke signals, but really, letters are extremely effective.

When you read a letter, you get that certain warmth that brochures or websites cannot give. A letter is immediate- as in, you’re really speaking to your target audience right here, right now. A letter is also direct- you can cut all your sales pitch and just tell them as they are. In a letter, you can call a spade a spade.

I can also think of another important advantage of a letter. It’s personal. You’re really opening up a new level of communication with your customers. You’re talking to them as a friend. Well, of course they know you’re trying to sell them something, but there’s something about letters that gives that confidence. In a world of fast sales pitches, random prospecting, and oh the fast disappearing market segmentizing, letters are truly a rare gem.

A good letter, that is.

A bad letter on the other hand will just plain ruin your customers’ day. Good things earn bad reputations easily. If a brochure is bad, then it’s ‘understandable’ because it’s a brochure! It’s mean to be as annoying as a second hand car sales man. But a bad letter is downright rude.

So, the next time you would like to make an announcement for a new product, or announce a new line, or announce anything at all, do consider letters.

Oh, they’re cheaper than brochures.

How long does the copywriter live? As long as the marketing budget doesn’t run out.

That’s the sad state of copywriting these days. Your relevance will never outrun the money. So long as budget is ‘tight’, you’re the first to go. And budgets are never NOT tight.

But you see, copywriting is the backbone of your marketing. Without the backbone, all the wonderful flesh and fills comes to nothing. They say a picture paints a thousand words- whoever said that was obviously not a copywriter. For me and the entire battalion of honest, hardworking copywriters, it is WORDS that paint a thousand words. Sometimes, just ONE WORD paints a thousand words. Really, it’s the words.

Don’t get me wrong. Pictures and words work hand in hand. It’s the synergistic effect. A case of 1+1=3. Words and pictures are like egg and bacon, like H and O in H2O, like Pitt and Jolie in Brangelina.

BUT…. Words can do things pictures can’t do. Pictures do well eliciting emotion, but words make you TAKE ACTION! If you’re familiar with the AIDA formula (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)- words do extremely well in D and A- desire and action.
Words can elicit grand emotions- like making you buy something you don’t need. It can move you to call a company selling water tanks and give your credit card number to a faceless salesman. Why? Because when you have a strong enough REASON to buy, nothing can stop you.

Well, except maybe a busted credit card.

When did the copywriter die? I’m guessing it’s somewhere between the start of the economic recession and the slashing of the marketing budget.

The copywriter is dead. Long live the copywriter.

Jokes aside- I never fail to be amused by how many people who seem to think they can be copywriters. One main reason would be that they are good in English. In fact, whenever someone says he’s a copywriter, the usual reply would be, “So you must be good in language.”

While having mastery on language is good, even advantageous- language plays but a small part in copywriting. I’d say, if anything, it’s the art of persuasion that you need to master. That includes many other fields like consumer psychology, communication skills, knowledge of the sales cycle, understanding of human needs etc. Really, these are far more important skills you need to master.

So when did the copywriter really die? When business owners begin to think they can be copywriters. When they want to “do my own copywriting”.

No, copywriting is a highly specialized skill. Not many have that gift. Not even many copywriters. It’s the X factor. The elusive X factor found only in a select few.
Don’t do your own copywriting. Leave it to the experts. Your business is far too important for such experimenting.

One thing this global economic crisis has produced is skepticism.

Yes, skepticism. No longer consumers allow themselves to be led blindly by lofty promises and superficial guarantees. People are asking questions; and they are asking tough questions. Questions not about the amazing features and benefits about your products, but questions on your integrity.

You can’t fool people anymore. Information now travels across the globe in a flash. Obama calling Kanya West “a jackass” was picked up on someone’s Twitter and ended up in Newsweek in an hour. Yes, there’s no such thing as privileged information anymore.

That’s why consumers can smell B.S when there is B.S. No more politically correct, SAFE copy-writing. No more insurance. No more card up your sleeve.

Case in point: There was an ad for recruiting real estate agents that went like this:

“Learn How to Make More Money Every Month Selling Real Estate While Working LESS Hours”

That’s ok. It’s a SAFE headline. Watch the sub-headline:

“Inside Is Everything You Need to Know to Finally Start Generating, Working With And Closing All the Prospects You Need — Even In This Challenging Market.”

See… people smell B.S when they smell B.S. “Challenging market” means the market is BAD- there is a BIG PROBLEM. No one is buying or selling houses. The market conditions are tough! But the company chose to use the phrase “challenging market”. When someone says “the job is tough”- it means you won’t last a week here. It’s just a really lame way to say, “This job sucks, and you’re a sucker who got hired”.

Or when someone says, “Would you like to take up this challenge?”, it means, “No one wants this job because it’s likely to fail, but someone has to take it. That someone is you”.

I remember when I was fresh out of university and I went to an interview at this company called C**ra Group. After a long lofty rant about their business, I gather they do marketing for their clients who need someone to sell their product.

Oh, but it’s not just any type of marketing. They believe that we, the employees, promote our products in a very radical and unique way. We are the walking advertisement- we, read this carefully- communicate the key message with our body.

Sounds weird? Not quite. It turns out to be a direct sales company; and my first product was an internet line package sold somewhere in some industrial area of Balakong. Yup, direct sales. Going around knocking on doors asking people to sign up for the internet line. But what was I told? Oh, we are walking advertisement- we communicate the key message with our body.  Smart way to say, carry this heavy bag, walk under the sun, sweat like a pig, get 10 subscriptions before sun down.

Just one of the many examples of copy-writing (copy-writing is not just words that written) that seriously lack integrity.

Really, don’t say “Business Opportunity Presentation” when you mean “recruitment”. Don’t say “financial planner” when you mean “insurance salesman”. When you do that:

1. Smart people will see through you- and run away. You’re losing smart prospects.
2. Stupid people will believe you- and join you. Your company will be made up of people like these.

Do justice to your business. As I said earlier, this global economic crisis has produced one very important element in our society: skepticism.

Too little of it makes us naïve. Too much is a good thing.

Hire a Copy-writer right away!

The problem with saving money on copy-writing is that you’re not saving money at all. You’re WASTING money.

Bad copy-writing can a lot of damage to you. First, it’ll do you financial damage. Your product won’t sell- who’d buy something where the instruction doesn’t make sense or is confusing? Second, your key messages won’t come across well. Why, of course- if you’re not using words to express your key messages, what else could you use? In the debate between words versus pictures- words win hands down. Trust me on this.

But worst of it all, is the damage on your reputation. That’s intangible- the damage goes much deeper than empty tables or a full shelve with no one buying. It goes deeper. It invites mockery, disdain, repulsion. But you know what is worse than mockery, disdain and repulsion?

Laughter. It’s better if your customers hate your product than laugh at it. You see, when customers hate your product, they can still change their mind. Laughing at your product is much more than that. It’s a decision that they are making deep down in their hearts that they will have nothing to do with your product or your company forever and ever.

And that, dear business owners, rings the death knell to your product or business. Don’t take chances my friends.

There is nothing new that I could possibly contribute to writing headlines. Everything from techniques and formula to templates has been written.

So if you think this is a rehash of a same difference, you’re quite right. However, there is one point I’d like to particularly stress. It’s the believability.

Yes, headlines can be outrageous, spunky, hilarious, insert whatever adjectives you like. But there is one big pointer we should all remember when writing headlines. It’s the believability. For instance, if you say, “This product with solve every problem you have”- it does sound bit of a stretch by any imagination. Every single one? What do you mean by ‘solve’? Do you mean to banish it forever? To ensure it’ll never come back? To temporarily put aside?

However, there’s a little trick copywriters use whenever we find our headlines to be bordering unbelievable. It’s this little word that you can use whenever you need to prop up some credibility.
I’m talking about the word ‘almost’.

It indemnifies you against any claims that you’re exaggerating. It helps you make a powerful statement, yet soften it enough to avoid a dent on your integrity. It enables you to say ‘almost’ anything, while keeping a wild card in your sleeve.

See the difference it makes? “This product will solve almost every problem you have”. Who can argue with that?

I am reminded of a quote from Richard Dawkins, the famous atheist who declared, “There almost certainly is no God”.

When you use the word almost, what you’re doing is really buying insurance.