Copywriting

Good copywriting is good writing.

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Susie Henry copywritingI had lunch with a colleague last week.

Like me, he comes from an ad agency background from way back.

We have the same opinions about a few aspects of advertising and copywriting.

First, we both get hugely irritated by bad advertising. We hate blunt, clumsy ads and blunt, clumsy copywriting.

And we both agree that really good copywriting is also really good writing.

That shared opinion led me to tell him the story I share in my live talks about copywriting. It’s about a series of ads written for an insurance company in the UK back in the 1970s. The company was Commercial Union and the copywriter was Susie Henry.

Reading her ads is a joy. She followed advertising legend Bill Bernbach’s philosophy that “good taste, good art, and good writing can be good selling”.

Her copy style was also conversational…it was “across the kitchen table” copywriting. In that sense she anticipated the more conversational style of writing for the web.

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The fastest way to learn about writing for the web is to have fun… while writing for the web.

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Coffee Detective websiteYou probably remember this from your own time at school.

When you enjoyed the subject, and liked the teacher, you learned faster and did well. And the most enjoyable classes where those in which you were actually doing something rather than just studying a text book, line by line.

Long story short, you always learn more when you’re having fun. And what you learn sticks when you learn by “doing” instead of just reading text books.

The same is true when learning online writing and copywriting.

You can study all you want, but you’ll learn most when you “do it”, and when you’re having a good time.

Which brings me to my own favorite learning tool.

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Curiosity didn’t kill the cat. It fed the cat.

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A curious catI’m a pain in the behind when I first start working with a new company.

I have a zillion questions I want to ask about their business and their marketing. And most of my questions reach out way beyond the scope of the project they want me to work on.

Why do I ask all these questions? Is it part of some cunning plan or process I use?

Nope. I ask them because I’m curious by nature. Business fascinates me. Marketing fascinates me. Business people and entrepreneurs fascinate me.

I read books about business and entrepreneurship.

I invite business people to lunch so I can find out what they are doing and what they are thinking.

It’s not about working smarter. It’s not about prospecting.

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Why writing for the web is like driving a car in traffic.

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Driving in trafficYou’re driving downtown, in three lanes of traffic, during rush hour on a Friday afternoon.

Your foot is jumping between the accelerator and the brake. Your eyes are looking out front, but also frequently checking the rear-view mirror.

And you’re in the middle lane, so you’re watching your wing mirrors and turning your head to check the blind spots.

In short, you’re moving forward, but constantly aware of everything that is happening around you, and adjusting how you drive accordingly.

And then…every now and again you’ll end up behind one of those annoying drivers who does none of these things, other than staring straight ahead. These bad drivers act as if they are completely alone on the road, without any regard to anything that is happening around them, with the exception of what’s right in front of their noses.

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Why strong subject lines are killing your email marketing.

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slick salesmanHigh open rates are not the most important thing about email marketing.

Nor are click-through rates or conversion rates.

These are not the metrics to watch.

There is only one thing you really, really need to watch. And it’s not even a metric.

The thing to watch is your reputation.

Without a solid and positive reputation for delivering high-value, honest and useful information through email, you’re dead in the water.

Not even the best subject line will save you.

Let’s look at how this might play out, in two scenarios.

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To do your best work, you have to like your client’s products.

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dog laughing on monitorThis is true whether you are writing copy or writing content.

The more you like the product you’re writing about, the better the job you will do.

Conversely, if your next gig is on a product, service or topic you don’t like, you’ll find it impossible to do your best work.

In other words, if you think the product is cr*p, you’ll be hard pressed to do a good job promoting it.

Sure, you’ll be professional about it. You’ll put in the hours and apply all your skills the best you can. But I bet your writing won’t shine as brightly as when you are writing about something you think has real value.

If what I say is true – and it is – what does this mean for your work as a freelancer?

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