Copywriting Tips And Tricks

If you live in the USA it’s hard to avoid the election virus even if you have escaped the terrible flu virus this year. Even if you live outside the US the global village we live in, made possible by satellite and internet technology, sweeps you right into the stew as well.

My wife loves a great speech. At least that has been her excuse for the countless hours she spends watching the latest election updates and all the back and forth that’s transpiring between the candidates.

My excuse for the few hours I spend is that I see so many similarities between political campaigning and copywriting. And if you think that I’m stretching my imagination a bit keep in mind it was a direct marketer, Karl Rove, who was responsible for placing George W. Bush in office. So don’t underestimate the power of direct marketing.

Here are a few of the striking similarities that I see:

1. A politician of necessity must over simplify his message. Just like a copywriter must aim for a Grade 7-9 level of reading when writing copy. Messages such as, “Ready on day one”, “fired up and ready to go”, “change” and “I will create 10 million news jobs and ensure 150 million more people” are all very simplified messages.

Of necessity, if a political candidate were to lay out the details of her economic plan this will be too complicated for the ‘masses’ to understand. Who would want to read all those statistics anyway? Very few people.

2. Politicians listen to the polls and try to tap into the needs and emotions of popular opinion. As the candidates debate in different states their messages change to fit the needs and polls. To do otherwise will be to commit political suicide. Whether the big topics are health insurance, the economy, veterans needs to the war in Iraq-they have to try and scratch where it is itching.

As a copywriter, I have to listen to what the target markets are saying, then tune into that frequency in order to reach them. When you think about it, that’s what I’m doing right now by using the political climate as a backdrop for this article.

3. Small blunders can result in big results. As in copywriting, every word counts so politicians and their campaigners have to be very careful that their words cannot be misconstrued to mean what they never intended. It’s all about accuracy and specificity of the language.

Of course politicians try to evade the issues and speak in generalities at times when they don’t want to commit but they must avoid some emotionally heavy words. One wrong word can inject the issue of race, prejudice and other sensitive issues and isolate a whole demographics of the voting population.

4. People vote with their votes, not their mouths. Opinion polls have led to some surprises in this election so far. Projected winners turned out to be losers. And it’s the same with copywriting as well. Many clients of mine often ask friends to read the copy and give their opinions, the only problems is that these are NOT customers-just pollsters. It’s not what people SAY about the copy, the question is, DO they buy?-that is the ultimate test.

5. A candidate has to look “presidential” to get people’s serious consideration. As much as this present race talks about experience and lack thereof, appearance has a huge influence on people’s decision. This is the same about a sales letter as well. That is why formatting is so important. If a letter looks difficult to read then most people wouldn’t even bother to start reading it.

Of course the book cannot be judged by the cover but we all still break this rule in practice.

6. We need ‘heroes’ who are still human enough to show emotions. The news media keep harping on the fact that Hillary Clinton has multiple images and she needs to settle on one. But she must appear tough to be the Commander-in-chief and soft at the same time to appeal to women. Any sales letter that tries to depend on hard logic and ignore the emotional appeal of the message will fail. People buy from emotions and then justify with logic.

7. The ‘new” always have a certain appeal. The ‘star’ of this campaign whether he get the democratic nomination or not will be Barack Obama. I’ve seen different newscasters try to explain his great appeal but one factor for sure is that he promises change and embodies change himself. Another word for change is ‘new’. Whatever is new has a mystique that gets attention, and attention leads to more sales.

If you can create a new angle on an old product you may be able to resurrect that product as ‘new’ or even ‘new and improved’.

The 2008 presidential campaign has a lot more excitement than four years ago and it’s the best marketers who will win the White House again.

Oh, the power of great copywriting and marketing!

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Filed under: Online Copywriting