When Copywriting Formulas
Come Up Short
Here’s What To Do …
"It is best to do things systematically, since we are only human,
and disorder is our worst enemy." - Hesiod
"abab cdcd efef gg" is, technically, the right formula for writing an English Sonnet.
But just because you know the formula …
… that doesn’t make you Shakespeare.
Likewise in copywriting.
For instance, you know "AIDA." It stands for "Attention-Interest-Desire-Action."
And it’s the granddaddy of marketing formulas.
Presumably, goes the legend, use it and you’ll get blockbuster advertising time after time.
Yet, all too often, the formulas alone are not quite enough.
What then?
I regularly work with new copywriters, pounding said formulas into their heads. Sometimes, even after they can recite the theory in their sleep, the copy still comes up short. So I recently put together a checklist to help flush out that extra "something" that they seem to miss.
Here’s what it looks like …
___ IS YOUR TIMING ON TARGET? You can write the best, most technically perfect promo piece in the world. If it mails into the wrong market environment, you’re toast. Double check what else is out there. Check, especially, what’s really working well to the mailing lists you’re buying.
___ WHAT’S YOUR UNIQUE ‘TWIST’? Every strong message needs its own unique twist. A hook, they call it. We noticed that it was all too easy for writers to simply say what everyone else was already saying. There’s no shortcut to this except to study what’s already out there and figure out how to bring something new to the table.
___ HAVE YOU BALANCED THE COPY ON ITS ‘AXIS’? Once you find the twist, lean on it. Focus on it. Use it as the steel-tipped point on which the rest of the written piece balances. Strip away the tangents that don’t support it. At the very least, pull them out and turn them – design-wise – into sidebars.
___ IS YOUR COPY WRITTEN AT ‘HIGH VELOCITY’? This means two things. First, find 4-5 key points and put them in order. Then strip away the rest. The leaner and tighter the structure, the faster the end piece. Second, DO write fast. You sustain much more of your original energy if you race through the first draft instead of plodding along line-by-line. (I’ve learned this the hard way!)
___ HAVE YOU CUT THE WARM-UP? One of the biggest culprits for slowing down ‘copy velocity’ is a long and tortuous lead. Almost always, you can start a piece of writing later than you have – look for that "twist" and highlight it. Almost everything that comes before it is a candidate for cutting. Allude to your key point within 7 lines or less from the start of the piece.
___ HAVE YOU RESISTED THE URGE TO BE CLEVER? I love a good joke. I can even stand puns. But humor relies so heavily on the unstated, a single, hard-to-get joke is like the mouse that scares the elephant. It can throw you whole message off balance.
___ DO YOU TAKE YOURSELF TOO SERIOUSLY? Copy that’s written in the third person … that’s bloated with stats … or dripping with lots of Latinate words … is unapproachable. Lighten up and write like you talk.
___ HAVE YOU WRITTEN MOSTLY IN THE PRESENT AND FUTURE? Testimonials are past tense. Track record is past tense. Other than that, it’s best to be forward looking. Or, at least firmly rooted in the present. Past-tense writing is often "set up" or "warm up" for your message. Cut it where you can and write with a more predictive quality. (At the very least, it can force you to think even harder about the product’s most salable benefits.)
And last (for this list) …
___ IS IT SO EASY TO ORDER, EVEN YOUR MOTHER WILL KNOW WHAT TO DO? My mother, an extremely intelligent woman, fears her computer. Enough that she keeps index cards taped to the monitor explaining step-by-step how to make it do what she wants it to do. People like directions that don’t leave anything open to question. Does your sales piece tell the reader EXACTLY how to order? "Tear out this card. Fill out the four lines indicated. Put it in the envelope that’s pre-addressed to me and drop it in the mail."
By no means is this everything.
There are lots of other little ambiguities worth chasing. But over and over, I’ve noticed that running through AT LEAST this list dramatically improves bland, formulaic pieces.
Contributed by John Forde
Guest Contributor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE
John Forde’s 15-year career as a top copywriter started as an understudy of Bill Bonner and Michael Masterson. Since then, he has written countless controls, trained dozens of new copywriters, and has helped generate well over $50 million in sales.
John has taught copywriting in seminars and private training sessions in Paris, London, and Bonn, Chicago, Buenos Aires, Baltimore, and Warsaw. He and his family split the year living and working from Paris, France and locations on the East Coast, U.S.
He worked three years as a financial journalist and has written books on wealth building and health.
John has also written well over 250 articles on copywriting for his popular e-zine, The Copywriter’s Roundtable, which currently has several thousand readers in more than two dozen countries worldwide. You can sign up for the Copywriter’s Roundtable here: JackForde.com
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Comment by Peter Black — April 24, 2008 @ 10:17 am
Thanks, John. I’m copying out this sucker right now and taping it to my computer. I, too, am working hard to break the habit of writing overly conscientiously. Often I have to push myself to dispair before my inner critic just gives up and says, "Do whatever you want. I don’t care!" That’s when the good stuff comes out.
Comment by nita — April 25, 2008 @ 8:06 am
hi,
the advice was great.
I have only one question to ask- is there any formula that gives u that central idea?
sincerel,
nita
Comment by Sarah Clachar, natural health copywriter — April 25, 2008 @ 10:36 am
John,
This is great! So often I get enmeshed in my copy - having a way to pull back and assess it tactically is very welcomed - not to mention that it frees me up to dive deep in the first draft without as many editors sitting on my shoulder for that round.
Other tip that I use - read it to your kids or distracted spouse and see what keeps their attention and what loses it: Tough test.
Sarah Clachar, health copywriter