Sample Issue - Issue 2, Volume 1

Bold? Emphatically Not!

In my not so humble opinion, the great bulk of today's copywriting efforts are visual abominations; and I'll tell you why. A few years ago, some bright and well-meaning spark suggested that readers would take more notice of the sales points in a stick of copy if those points were picked out in bold. Consequently, writers began picking out salient points in bold type. Time passed and making things bold became a kind of holy quest; so not only were salient points made bold, but also non-salient ones. I think it's fair to say that nowadays, just about every other word in sales letters (and in many ads and websites) is printed in bold.

This is crazy. Don't these people understand that when you emphasise everything, you emphasise nothing?

In my writing career, I have never, ever used bold type for emphasising anything (except for the examples above); and my response rate has been as good as anybody's. And possibly better. Perhaps it won't be long before the bold-makers recognise the error of their ways - and guess what, I shall be back in fashion.

But that's not all. There is now a widespread tendency to not only use bold type, but also italic type, coloured type, underlined type and shadow type for emphasis. This is especially true of many websites; and the copy is practically illegible.
Let's clear the decks. If your copy is as good as you suppose it is, then it should stand on its own two feet. It should do its job without the assistance of ridiculous and unreadable visual devices like these.

Allow me to give you an example of what I'm talking about. This, I promise, is culled directly from the Internet and has received no embellishment from me.
It's a headline promoting resale rights products.

"Discover How To Instantly Pull Massive Profits
And Bank In More Money From Simple Resale Rights Products
Available Everywhere...In As Little As 72 Hours And Even
If You're Starting From Scratch!"

I'll say nothing about the awful syntax and grammar, though I could if I wanted to. But just look at the plethora of idiotic devices employed here: quote marks, italics, colour, underlining and an exclamation mark to boot.

My advice to anyone who is tempted to imitate this kind of visual absurdity is think twice…then think again. Far better, I feel, to offer your message in a clean and uncluttered manner. Like that, you'll gain a bigger readership.

Ain't We Wonderful?

It may come as a surprise to you to discover that customers don't buy your products or services because they feel that you have a right to make a profit. In other words, their motive for doing business with you is not to help you buy the latest Jaguar or put your children through college. You think this is a joke? Recent research shows that something like 60% of businesspeople place more importance on what they will get from a transaction than on what their customers will benefit.

In essence, their profitability is more crucial to them than is customer satisfaction. And it shows.

If you are in any doubt about this, cast your eyes over the myriad of ads, brochures, websites and so on that major on the successfulness of their organisation, as opposed to the benefit their products or services might be to the customer.

Certainly, they pay lip-service to customer satisfaction, but beneath this thin veneer of eye-shine is the belief, probably implanted at birth, that their bottom line takes precedence over everything.

Oddly, advertising agencies are among the worst offenders in this respect. Their promotional material illustrates what great work they have done, and states how many millions they billed in the last financial year, but none (and I mean none) tell you how much product their efforts have helped shift. To put it another way, none bother to demonstrate what benefit their services have been to clients.

The moral is clear. Rather than thinking what your customers can do for you, think what you can do for your customers. With this kind of philosophy, your profits will take care of themselves.

Quote Of The Month

There's only one boss - the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company, from the Chairman down, by spending his money somewhere else.
Sam Walton.

Cuff Note 3

When writing headlines, it is never a good idea to employ a question. If you say something to the effect: Haven't You Always Wanted Your Own Swimming Pool?, around eighty percent of your readers will answer in the negative. Why do they do this? Because the great majority of us are born cynics. Questions beg answers, and questions in headlines invariably get the one you don't want!

Cuff Note 4

It has been scientifically proven that most of us take in only around 40% of what we actually see. Our brains edit out the other 60% of visual information as unimportant. On these grounds, if you have a serious proposition to make in your website, brochure or sales letter, it would be wise to repeat it. And not just once, but several times.

Just because you are deeply immersed in your offer or promise, it doesn't follow that your market will be likewise informed after only one reading. Ads, brochures and websites are the most negligently read materials on the planet. Aside from you, nobody has any real or abiding interest in them. Always remember that you are preaching to the indifferent.

Therefore, if you have something to say - say it often. Everything will bear repetition if it is sufficiently interesting to the audience - just ask any jazz musician!

If you're stuck with copywriting problems, or suffering from writers block or can't quite come up with that elusive headline may I recommend our own sales writers' resource e-book Word Power III?

You'll find ready-made copy such as headlines, tag lines, link lines, calls to action, price defenders, guarantees and more, which you can lift straight from the page and adopt or adapt.

You'll also discover a sales writers' thesaurus in the form of a theme finder, which will cure writers block forever. You can see it at: http://red.jwhco.net/1fcf00

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