The problem with good copywriting is that the intensity and
effectiveness of it is usually based on the intensity and
effectiveness of the emotions you’re able to get out of
your readers. And in fact, this doesn’t just apply to
copywriting, it applies to any kind of writing.
But reality is, you just can’t express nearly as much
emotion in print, as you can in person. Even for those
people who have a hard time expressing emotion in person,
and who prefer communicating in print (which is probably
most writers — present company excluded), your passion
gets diluted somewhat, by the time it hits your readers.
Which means your enthusiasm is muted twice. Once,
in-between the time the thought crosses your mind and the
time it hits the paper — simply because of the medium’s
limitations, and second, when your prospect is trying to
take it all in.
That’s why, if you want to make a meaningful connection, you
need to SCREAM to be heard even a little bit. If you want
to make your prospect feel empathy in print, you have to
create an emotional connection using the same lingering
intensity the last goodbye between lovers might have. If
you want to make someone smile, you have to darn-near curl
their toes.
Selling in print leaves you badly handicapped, without the
use of your non-verbal communication aides like vocal
inflection, tone of your voice, hand-gesturing, and that
“indefinable” quality your print prospects can’t “see” –
sincerity, which is most important.
This is why many people, when writing ads, feel the need to
make outrageous claims. They foolishly believe this is the
way to be heard: “Make MILLIONS!” Or, “Run a marathon
within 25 days after you start this new training program.”
But this simply isn’t the way to go. The right thing to do,
is to research your marketplace to the point where you
understand your client’s burning desires as if you were one
of them. You have to share their most annoying and
lingering pains as if you too, have lived them.
And then you sell the acquisition of these desires, and the
elimination of that pain. Like…
“Get the freedom you want, live as YOU choose,” not “Make
MILLIONS!”
See, one is an end benefit, and the other is an unspecific
general feature, and an unrealistic one at that. Or…
“Measurable and dramatic progress beyond your current
sticking points.” Not, “run a marathon in 25 days.”
When it comes to copywriting, speak to your prospect’s
emotions, not to their wallets. Because whether you know
it or not, speaking to their heart… really is… the
fastest route… to making a sale, anyway.
