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    Toxic Words in Copy.

    Steve Poppe -
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    Be fresh.

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    copywriting

    Tossing Copy Poems.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    I was just listening to a radio commercial for lawn mulch.  The main idea the commercial was that a person got a delivery containing nails and other foreign thingies. A start. 

    But then two copywriting issues.  One was the line “all bark no bite” which seemed to play to the aforementioned purity point. And another tagline sounding ditty: “You can see the difference.” Or something to that effect.

    First, I have no idea who the company was, so the commercial failed immediately. No brand or name recognition. As mentioned, the heart of the ad was the offer of clean mulch — a problem I didn’t know existed. But at least it’s a believable problem. As for “all bark no bite” it sounds fun and tips its hat to the strategy, yet what does bite refer to? And lastly, the idea of mulch for which “you can see the difference” is silly. A waste of words. All mulch looks the same. Colors may differ but that’s it.

    This is an example of a copywriter without any sales skill. Perhaps a radio station copywriter doing spots by the pound. Tossing out copy poems.

    Ask yourself what’s the idea?  Build a story around the idea. Prove the story claim. Then get credit for the idea by repeating your name a few times. And a few more times.

    Peace.

     

     

    Copywriting? Creative Writing? Or Writing?

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Writing is a core competence in marketing. And copywriting an even higher-level competence. A most powerful one. (Albeit there’s no Pulitzer Prize awarded. Hee hee.) Yet, one of the flaws of copywriting — and it’s a big flaw — is writers are often not well-informed about the products under their care. They may know a handful of key selling points but have few, if any, backstories or history about the product. What results is nicely written prose but very little of substantive value. 

    It’s almost writing by numbers.

    There’s an old axiom in advertising “If you don’t have something to say, sing it.” And that is what most copywriting is today. Sing songy assemblages of words that do little to convince. And they don’t convince because most ads aren’t built using a brand claim, or a cascade of proof to build a case for purchase. An ethnographer would say today copywriters live in copy bullpens, never setting foot in the product or consumer room.

    Copywriters aren’t given enough time to adequately understand their products and services. They’re on the clock and unprepared. It’s not their fault they lack product training and understanding, that’s the fault of brand managers. 

    Creative writing is what they do. Without proper product understanding it can’t even be considered creative.

    Peace.  

    PS.  There are a hundred of so brilliant copywriters out there, don’t get me wrong. But thousands and thousands of songsters.

     

     

    Think Before You Type. People Are Listening.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Any copywriter will tell you words are important.  Of course, they will.  But how many will dig deeply enough to find the right words that connect with the target. That demonstrate to a target they understand, sympathize, empathize and gets the reader?  Words can be found in a dictionary.  AI copy is not that far away, if it is not here already. Auto AdWords anyone? Good copy is personal.

    I heard something on NPR this morning that struck me as a great example of words versus copy.  The story was about the shooting of Jayland Walker, a black man, in Akron, OH and this was the lede: “One in one thousand black men in America can expect to be shot by a police officer.” It’s a real smack in the face line of copy — but it must have been written by a white person because it is utterly untrue. I’d say nearly all black men in America worry about being shot by a police officer. Not one in a thousand. Parse the sentence and it may have been accurate — statistically one in one thousand black men may be shot by police. But that’s not what a black man is likely to hear.

    We have to listen to our words. We have to try to contextualize our words.  That shit isn’t woke. It’s listening and thinking. Think before you type.

    Rest In Peace Jayland Walker.

     

    Toxic Words in Copy.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    toxic

    If you were to do a Google search of all the copy written by professional copywriters, freelancers, content marketing peeps and business owners – and I mean all the copy, from websites to brochures, to press releases, etc. – I bet there would be about 40 benefit/feature words that would make up 10% of the entire count. Words like “innovative,” “best,” “superior service,” “new” and “% off.” These words as toxic. Overused and over promised, they tend to fall on deaf consumer ears. They inure consumers to other important copy that actually tell a story; the good words that convey a sense of identity and differentiation.

    Play copy editor for a moment. Read you work, circle the words that sounds like copy — that sound like common promise – and remove them.  See what you have. Toxic words when used in a story are more palatable. But in copy or selling – they shut down our brains. This is why storytelling or, as Co:Collective’s Ty Montague puts it, “story doing” is the haps these days.

    Just as playing a favorite song too many times or eating too much strawberry shortcake in one sitting can burn a person out, use of toxic copy words must be carefully watched. Peace.

     

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