Write. This time with feeling.
Caution. This article requires patience.
How long do you think it should take to write copy for a website? Correction, how long do you think it should take to write an effective piece of copy for a website?. How many hours of grappling and grasping,, virtual rubbings out, start again, grrr, that’s not right, nope that sounds wrong, edit, edit, edit.? That’s not to say there aren’t short cuts. You could hire a copywriter, or, you could just cut and paste the same language that everyone else uses? Eliminates the fear that someone won’t like your stye? Better to run with the popular kids than craft a path to your own very special audience?. I’m not judging.
Assuming you do take the painstaking route (or, as Mark Twain suggests, ‘Apply the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair’) can I just say, I’m with you every comma and colon of the way. I’m right by your side as you tilt your anglepoise and settle into the darker side of the day and here’s why.
I’ve got a presentation to a switched on group of business people coming up. The subject is rather generic; how to write. My wakefulness is coming from the weight of responsibility to inspire and not just bash out the same old platitudes. I buy that people don’t read copy anymore. I know why. To oil the wheels, I’ve been dusting off a few bibles, including; Ogilvy on Advertising. The great grandpa of words that sell, who wisely said, “Don't address your readers as though they were gathered together in a stadium. When people read your copy, they are alone. I’ve also been revisiting John Simmons, Dark Angels, Lynne Truss, Eat, Shoots & Leaves and Will Self is by my side for random and rule breaking-ly brilliant good measure. And boy am I buoyed by how powerfully entertaining and stealthily persuasive copy can be. (Marry it to a good cause and it can be a mighty catalyst for change, but that’s a conversation for another day.) However, I’ve hit a rock. A horrible toe-throbbing rock. I need to bring the theory alive, with current examples.
I was hoping it would be a bit like when you’re on the beach looking for pebbles with holes in them. Suddenly, after an initial blindspot, you have a guilty pocket full. Sadly, it seems, I really am alone in the desert.
But not for long. As serendipity would have it (doesn’t it often?) words from the good father of modern advertising, Sir John Hegarty, land in my inbox. In an interview with Little Black Book, his frustration chimes, “I’m hard pushed put to name a campaign I’ve liked over the last two or three years….words have enormous power, and being able to write and write brilliantly requires an enormous amount of skill, and an enormous amount of editing. Sadly, those skills seem to be lost, as we’ve disregarded the skill of the writer…. We lose them at our peril.” So there we have it, from someone truly tuned in. writing takes an ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF EDITING. See. Patience.
But let’s not this on a flat and uphill struggle kind of note.. That wasn’t the intention. No, I can’t help feel that Isn’t there something deliciously opportunistic about all this? I mean what a calling for the brave new entrepreneurs, to gain a competitive edge by taking time to really look at the copy they present to the world. Surely there’s never been a better time to stand out since Jack Daniels first started his famous liquid languishing, way back when.?
So do pick up that pen / head to the keyboard. Go gently. Play.. Take time. Words are for savouring. Trust your gut instinct. Always read what you’ve written out loud, and sense check that it will matter to the audience you have in mind. Stick with it, there’s gold in them words. And yes, it is getting late, but please do mind your language.
Read more about Sir John Hegarty’s view on the Future of Talent in the advertising industry
Ogilvy on Advertising the original Adman.
John Simmons. A Masterclass in writing for business.
Grammar matters Lynne Truss
Know the rules, break the rules Will Self in conversation.