The secret to stopping (just) to read you
This February, I decided to write on the Pássaro Amarelo blog about copywriting: rather, about that perfect copy that will make your audience want to read everything you have to say about your client’s product or service.
But what is copywriting anyway? According to Rockcontent ‘Copywriting is the strategy of producing texts that seek to convince the reader to take a specific action, such as buying a product’.
What’s the point of writing today, anyway?
Today we don’t just use writing to write books. In fact, we’re a long way from that. In a society that demands quick and effective results, writing is and can be a powerful tool for transforming lives and businesses. But you have to know how to use it wisely and intelligently.
We mustn’t forget that today writing competes with television and audiovisuals. And if we don’t have a strategy behind it, it will lose out.
Let’s start with an example.
Is it true or not that when we go to bed at the end of the day, the first thing we do is scroll through YouTube and Facebook videos?
Come on, admit it.
Don’t tell me you’re going to read a book.
Every second counts!
Each of those videos you watch in the evening is only a few seconds long and can’t be any longer: that’s all the time you have available to capture a person’s attention.
When we want to sell a product or service, we act more like information and entertainment gluttons than well-behaved readers who only read one book at a time.
Nobody cares about well-behaved readers any more.
And nobody cares anymore about the testament you wrote on a sales page to list the fifty features of your fantastic turbo hoover called Junqueiro (I’m making this up).
But people are also increasingly reluctant to believe messianic words like:
‘My turbo hoover will change your life”: will it? How can a hoover change your life? How nice it would be to change your life with a hoover!
‘This hoover will make you happy cleaning your house for the first time”: will it? But who likes hoovering on a Sunday?
Keep these writing secrets: the perfect copy
Well, let’s get to the bottom of it.
You have to convince, but sound honest. Please try.
You have to attract attention, without falling back on the same commonplaces. Please practise.
You have to be creative, without copying your neighbour. Please go for a walk to get ideas.
Also, by the way, your copy must also have these ingredients that are ‘simple-complicated’, because they seem simple but are difficult to put into practice.
- Use simple, clear language;
- and, short paragraphs;
- and, adjectives strategically placed in a sentence;
- Speak to a ‘you’
- Tell stories
So I’d add another suggestion to this list: get used to rewriting everything you write. The more you rewrite, the better you’ll be able to communicate, assertively, with focus, with emotion and with a lot of pleasure!
“Let’s not rush, but let’s not waste time’ (Saramago)
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