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The latest copywriting articles and advice from Copyblogger. For an introduction to copywriting, check out Copywriting 101.
Laurel and Hardy. Batman and Robin. Superman.
Which of these doesn’t quite fit?
Yup, it’s the guy who can’t handle Kryptonite. If Superman is in trouble, there’s almost no one to rescue him. But Hardy or Batman can get into all kinds of crazy trouble, and they’ll always have a nice partner there, ready to back them up.
The same applies to what I call the “Double-Whammy Headline.” It’s just like the usual compelling headline that draws in your reader … but it’s got backup.
My 8 year-old daughter came to me recently with an urgent request …
“Dad,” she said, “I need an iPad mini.”
While I would usually dismiss this request as the cravings of a child who watches too much TV (see: is exposed to too much advertising), my interest was piqued and I asked her to explain.
She made a case for the myriad educational applications available to her on this magical device.
She argued for the convenience that would allow her to learn at all times of the day, and at different locations.
But it was her closing argument that tipped my decision in her favor.
“Dad,” she coyly stated, “don’t you want me to be a good student?”
What do you really know about your prospect?
Their age range perhaps? Where they live? What they do for a living?
Useful definitely, but not enough to create copy that rouses emotion and compels action.
For that we need to take a journey much deeper into the dark recesses of our customers’ minds …
Want to join me?
Today’s article is inspired by someone who understood that in writing, how well you knew your ‘characters’ made the difference between captivating an audience, or boring them.
Even as a seasoned writer, I’m not immune to making simple but stupid mistakes. Take the word “jive” for instance …
Ever since I was kicking the slats out of my crib, I thought it meant “to agree with, to be in harmony.” But nnnnnnnnoooooo.
Jive is a language immortalized by the movie Airplane. The word that I should have been using was “jibe.”
Here’s the thing, the English language is full of pitfalls — simple errors that can alienate readers, turn off subscribers, and annoy buyers.
Bill was a struggling copywriter with a big idea.
He’d spend hours and days laboring over headlines, landing pages, ads, and emails for his few clients, but the results of his work were often not worthy of comment.
He’d had enough.
One warm Friday night, he decided he would build a machine — a copywriting machine — that could be fed raw data on one end, and would spit out highly converting copy on the other.
If he got it right, the business world would beat a path to his desk.
In 1962, Time magazine called David Ogilvy “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry.”
In his years as an advertising executive and copywriter, Ogilvy created some of the world’s most successful and iconic marketing campaigns, including the legendary Man in the Hathaway Shirt, plus notable efforts for Schwepps, Rolls Royce, and the island of Puerto Rico among many others.
