Advice to a would-be copywriter

As I’ve barely got time to sneeze at the moment, let alone write blog entries, I’ve been casting around for something quick and easy to post. Here it is, from the email archives: a note I sent to a would-be copywriter from UK Business Forums a couple of years back. Hope it’s useful.

* * *

Hi Grant:

Definitely read Bly and Ogilvy. The problem with a lot of copywriting
books out there is that they’re aimed at writing ads - i.e., they
reflect a pre-internet mentality. Most web copywriting involves
writing longer copy. The Diana Wimbs book I mentioned is good, and do
make a point of reading that Orwell essay if you haven’t already -
it’s available online at:

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

Everytime Orwell uses the word “politics” mentally replace it with “marketing”!

As for what changes to make to this site, you need to identify what’s
wrong. Good copy has three attributes:

1. Clarity

2. Simplicity

3. Orientation around benefits

To elaborate on (3) a bit further: as you’ve probably already grasped
from the stuff you’ve read, people don’t buy features, they buy
benefits. So if you’re flogging a vacuum cleaner you don’t say it
“cleans ten square meters in one minute”. You say “it cleans your home
quickly - leaving more time for relaxation!”. That’s a cheesy example,
but you get the idea.

I just can’t stress enough how important it is to work really hard on
your written English. I’m incredibly self-critical, and I hate making
mistakes - though like everybody else, I do make them. When you’re
dealing with clients or posting in forums or sending email or doing
ANYTHING that shows off your English to the outside world, up to and
including writing a note for the milkman, make sure it’s as perfect as
possible. That’s the ideal, anyway; I don’t live up to it, but it’s
important to aspire to it. Anything that goes to clients should be
spot-on perfect: that means not just the copy but email, invoices, MSN
messages - the lot.

Kill the fancy language - it’s your worst enemy. Remember that Ogilvy
quote about using everyday language. People don’t “invest in” books,
they “buy” them. They don’t talk about an “enterprise” when they mean
a “job”. Also beware of useless adjectives and adverbs: what’s the
point in calling yourself a “complete novice”? “Novice” means someone
who is new to something - so you either are one or you’re not.
“Complete” isn’t needed. OK - I’m being hypercritical and
hypocritical: I’m guilty of sins like that too, but it’s important to
realise that they are sins. From what I’ve seen your use of English is
well above average, but you need to be in the top tenth of the top
percentile of the population to cut it as a copywriter

With enough drive you will probably get there. But I’d suggest that
you need to spend at least a month or so working on your English
skills. Obviously the writing of yours that I’ve seen is probably not
representative of your best stuff, but you make more small errors than
most copywriters I know. Copywriting is often time-critical and you
need to be able to spot mistakes fast. Spelling and grammar checkers
are good, but not to be relied on for perfection. Being a good writer
is like being a good pianist - learn a bit of theory and practise,
practise, practise. Eventually you’ll get better. Like I said, if you
want to be a good writer you MUST read widely. Good style can’t be
taught - it rubs off. Get down to Waterstones!

As for what I mean when I say copywriting is hard, I mean exactly what
I say - it’s hard. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried writing a sonnet:
fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, rhyming something like
ABABCDCDFEFGG. If you haven’t, try it. Writing a hundred words of copy
for a clients’ homepage should cause you just as much strain and
stress and should take just as long.

One of the problems of being a copywriter is that people often think
it’s easy, simply because it involves manipulating the English
language, which we all speak every day and all have at least a GCSE
in, if we’re reasonably bright and we live in the UK. Once again, the
sonnet analogy is a good one: when you’re writing copy you should be
thinking about the implications of word choice, the sound and rhythm
of the individual words and any subtext you may be introducing -
deliberately or otherwise.

Hope that’s useful.

~B