Copy Army // Copywriting Blog

5 Rules for Your '10 Copywriting

2010-01-04T15:06:00.005-05:00

It's a new year, which for a lot of businesses means it's time to re-think your marketing and bust out some fresh ideas. In fact, some of you out there may already be working on your '11 strategies -- we feel for you.

The question is: how will you keep your writing interesting without rehashing the same old stuff from 2009?

Around the office, a few of us have come up a few simple rules. (Follow them at your own discretion.)

1. No more "stimulus." Please, stop using that word. It's so 2008. Sure, for a while, it was a nearly guaranteed way to boost response to any ad campaign. Now, it's just an easy way out. Why not come up with another word that's just as relevant? Be original. Get crazy.

2. More benefits. Have you ever noticed that commercials for (most) cleaning products are some of the most convincing ads on TV? It's because they're chock-full of benefits. They actually show how the product works and how it can make your life simpler. In 2010, try sacrificing some hilarious or cute copy with more benefit-driven text -- and that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice originality.

3. Say less. Show more. It may sound weird for copywriters to suggest less copy -- but we're consumers too. Ads, brochures, and commercials that are heavy with text or voice-overs bore us. Demonstrations, examples, subtlety get our attention.

4. Make more sense. 'Nough said.

5. More research, backed up by credible sources. Nothing is more powerful than plain, hard truth. Statistics. Proof. REAL evidence of something interesting. In 2010, put in the extra effort to obtain compelling data that supports the benefits or points you're already trying to make.

Cute and clever copy? Or off the mark?

2009-08-11T15:13:00.008-04:00

Say you're a bourbon drinker. Or liquor-store owner. You like going to bars and eating out. You're flipping through a magazine and you come across this ad, created by the team at Doe Anderson.

The text at the bottom reads:

Due to the hard work of bars, restaurants, and liquor stores throughout the country, Knob Creek has becoming the #1 Super-Premium bourbon in America. As a result, our entire supply of this fine bourbon is about to be depleted. Instead of compromising quality to meet demand, we've chosen to let the supply run dry. In deference to Booker Noe and his visions for Knob Creek, we'll continue to age all our bourbon the full 9 years. The next batch will be ready this November. Thank you to everyone who helped make Knob Creek so popular (maybe even a bit too popular).

If the headline grabbed you (and it probably would, because it's not bad), what would you think about the rest of the copy? How would you feel about the brand?

Cute and clever ad copy? Or a little of the mark? Does the point get across that Knob Creek cares about quality, and that their bourbon is in high demand? Could there have been a better way to get this point across without the "Thanks for nothing" headline?

And most importantly ... does is make you want to get a batch of Knob Creek in November?

Good copywriting often rides a fine line between "really smart" and "really stupid." Chances are people will have different opinions about this ad. But from a copywriting and conceptual standpoint alone, it's important to remember that this ad could have turned out completely different and still have gotten the exact same message across.

'Try postive thinking' - it really works.

2009-07-22T12:45:00.002-04:00

"Stimulus" is played out.

"Confidence" has lost its meaning.

"Economy" is practically a four-letter word.

Not sure about you, but some of us are a little tired of hearing about how bad things are from companies who are merely trying to sell us the same stuff they always have. Kudos to Volkswagen and DDB London for finally figuring out a way to address the same issue without resorting to doom and gloom. Great use of copy, scriptwriting, choreography and a song originally performed by the British comedy act Morecambe & Wise.

Direct-Response Copywriting Tip #421

2009-07-10T15:26:00.005-04:00

Use an expiration date.

Okay, actually, this tip should probably be in the top 10 for direct-response copywriting, not #421, but who's really counting anyway? An expiration date is incredibly important, absolutely necessary, and crucial for maximum response rates.

Unlike the expiration date on a carton of milk, a fast-approaching expiration date on a promotion actually makes people want to buy your product or respond. (Right now.) It creates a sense of urgency, bordering on anxiety. It says, "act now, before it's too late." It makes your customers think, "If I don't get this great deal now, I may never get it again."

That's the idea, anyway.

Of course, this isn't a new trick, or some top-secret copywriting service strategy. Marketers and copywriting service providers have known the importance of using expiration dates for decades. It's unfortunate then that so many businesses forget this key element when executing their marketing campaigns.

Websites. Direct mail. Radio ads. TV commercials. If they're designed to get an immediate response, these marketing efforts must have an expiration date.

Think about it. If you got a postcard in the mail offering "50% OFF Telephone Service," you might save the card, maybe push it aside, plan to call later and eventually forget about it completely. But what if that postcard said, "Ends Friday!" Or, "3 Days Only!" Chances are, if you were interested in the promotion, you'd respond that day.

A sense of loss can be very powerful in marketing. And that's exactly what an expiration date hangs over your customers' heads.

Where a copywriting service could have helped.

2009-07-06T20:28:00.004-04:00

Many of you might have seen the commercial below for Glidden paint in recent weeks. It was a massive promotion: free quart of paint for anyone who wanted it, June 25 through July 2.

Too bad the commercial was ruined by a boring voiceover and an overused tune from Earth, Wind & Fire.

Click to play in new window:

Now, we understand that Glidden is all about preserving their 130+ year-old brand. From the advertising they've produced over the past few decades, there's no doubt that they're goal is to present themselves as a forward-thinking company with a premium-quality paint product.

Glidden's new commercial tries to reinforce that image, but unfortunately the strength of their promotion gets lost in the process.

Sure, the imagery is great, thanks to the brains at DDB New York and ETCETERA Amsterdam: nuns recreating the famous Beatles Abbey Road walk, dogs, bikers, pregnant women, the whole world reaping the benefits of this awesome promo with Glidden paint in hand!

But, is there really anything about this commercial that's different from the majority of ads on TV?

Perhaps it would have caught more attention if it had simply placed some on-screen text throughout the entire commercial? "Free quart of paint, June 25 - July 4."

Would the copy have had more impact if the music wasn't competing with it?

Would more people have known about the promo if the commercial had actually focused on it?

A lot of great ideas probably got lost in the making of this ad, which is unfortunate, because a few of us here probably would have tried Glidden paint for the first time last week if only we had noticed the commercial when it was actually on TV.

Lance knows good copy.

2009-07-01T17:01:00.002-04:00

Very powerful TV copy from the creative folks at Wieden + Kennedy Portland for Nike & Livestrong.

Check it out, if you haven't seen it:

Coming soon to a website near you: giant ads!

2009-06-30T15:57:00.002-04:00

Interesting news from MediaPost today. There are some pretty giant banner ads about to hit the Internet, and chances are, you're bound to start seeing them everywhere.

37 members of the Online Publishers Association (sites like CNN, NYTimes, and ESPN, who collectively reach about 132 million visitors -- or roughly 68% of the total U.S. Internet population) have signed on to implement three jumbo-sized ad units for their sites.

The three ad units (quoted from MediaPost) are:

-- The Fixed Panel (336 wide x 700 tall), which remains in view as a user scrolls up or down the page.
-- The XXL Box (468 x 648), the extra wide side-of-page ad that expands to 936 x 648 and includes page-turn and video capability.
-- The Pushdown (970 x 418), which opens big to display the ad, and then after seven seconds rolls up to the top of the page (collapsing to 970 x 66).

Now, keep in mind that these ads are designed for branding purposes as much as they are for response. We're not huge fans of giant ads that take up our entire screens and stop us from reaching the real content we want to see. But occasionally, we stumble across sites that are done really well, branded from top to bottom, and are integrated seamlessly with the site's primary content. Sometimes, it just looks cool.

We're hoping advertisers who choose to use these ads will implement them just as well by attracting our attention, rather than stealing it.

Click here to read the full article from MediaPost, or the press release from OPA.

When no copy = great copy

2009-06-26T19:38:00.004-04:00

We tweeted yesterday about a new Pepsi commercial that is extremely powerful (in both branding and direct response), even though it has very little copy.

The ad was created by BBDO Moscow and Yessian Music. For those of you who haven't seen it, enjoy:

Now, we did say that there was very little copy. Just a few lines of on-screen text at the very end, right? But in reality, there is plenty of copy that went into the making of this ad. Someone wrote the scenes, one by one. Someone penned, "Woman's jacket being upzipped. Basketball shoelaces being tied. Coin flipping. Car racing. Man screaming," and so on.

Behind the scenes, some really smart copy made this one of the most powerful no-copy ads we've seen in a while. Props to the people at BBDO and Yessian!

Using the 4U technique in subject lines

2009-06-22T15:00:00.006-04:00

One of the first things you learn as a new copywriter is how to use the "4U" technique. There's some debate about where this neat little copy trick originated, but most point to Michael Masterson, who described it in his Accelerated Program for 6-Figure Copywriting as "the four critical parts that can supercharge any direct mail bullet, any subhead and any headline."

Sounds pretty good, but what the heck are the Four U's?

As Masterson describes it, the Four U's represent the elements you must include to make your headline more powerful:

Urgency
Usefulness
Uniqueness
Ultra-specificity

So, for example, here two versions of a direct-response headline, one using the 4U technique and one without:

Without 4U: Increase Your Bottom Line By Installing a Miscrosoft Server
With 4U: Save $12,00+ Per Year With A Microsoft Server That Streamlines Your Business And Lets You Work On The Go

See the difference? The 4U copywriting technique certainly says more and makes you want to keep reading.

But now, years after this Four-U copywriting trick first appeared, there seems to be some debate about it, namely in regard to email subject lines.

Many marketers and copywriting services now say that the 4U technique is also critical to getting more email "opens" from your subject lines. But in our experience, this isn't always true. In fact, with email subjects, less is (almost always) more.

Let's take a look at 2 different email subject lines, but for the same email.

Which would you open?

1) Subject: How's your grammar today?
2) Subject: This week only: Free English course improves your grammar by 300%

Chances are, #1 would get more opens, simply because of the curiosity factory. And to us, that curiosity factor nearly always outweighs the 4U system in subject lines. Now, this doesn't mean that the curiosity factor works for every type of email. But in our experience, if you can get your email to stand out and look original -- without saying too much -- more people will open it to see what it's about.

Of course, another thing to consider here is the conversion rate. Let's say that only 1% of recipients open email #2. But if 100% of those people actually click and buy, then the 4U version just might be more appropriate after all in this case.

The trick is finding a way to make that subject line intriguing and relevant to the content inside, without giving everything away. (If the messages are too dissimilar, recipients will be surprised by the the content of the email and likely ignore it. If the subject is too specific, people will immediately think "Oh, I don't need that," and delete the email before every seeing your great sales copy inside.)

If you're not sure what kinds of subject lines will work best for what you're offering, the best way to find out is to test, test, test. Run A-B tests on your subject lines, and be sure to look at your conversion rates in addition to your opens.

Introducing the new Copy Army

2009-06-06T16:04:00.007-04:00

And just like that, Copy Army is born.

About a year in the making (about 11 months too long, if you ask some of us), our new company website was launched today. And although we've "officially" been bringing our (awesome) copywriting services to businesses since September 2008, today's launch really marks the start of a new beginning for us.

So, what do you think?

A lot of thought went into the design and functionality of this site. Sure, it may look like any other website -- homepage, list of services, and a contact us page. But in designing the site, we had to ask ourselves a lot of questions (kinda like we do whenever we begin copywriting for a client) ...

- Who's going to be visiting the site? Businesses? Agencies?
- What will they be expecting before the page loads?
- How do we present our image and what we do on in a matter of seconds?
- Do we go for fun and playful? Sleek and professional?
- "Why not put a tank?!?"

Our new website represents the answers to these questions and so many more. We did our best to get across our fun, creative energy, along with our professional, knowledgeable expertise and determination to make our clients' marketing more profitable, unique, memorable and powerful.

Yeah, it's a work in progress.

But this is just the beginning of things to come. We have a lot of exciting updates planned for the site, as well as helpful copywriting tips and critiques that you'll find here, in our copywriting blog. And believe it not, we're already starting plans on the next design of the website, tentatively scheduled to go live in late 2010.

So, take a look around. Get to know us. Let us know what you think. If everything goes according to plan, you'll soon see we're so much more than a copywriting service.

Just a few more days!

2009-05-27T16:45:00.002-04:00

New website coming VERY soon.
Be sure to add us to your favorite sites below!

New website being launched soon!

2009-05-22T14:58:00.002-04:00

After a year of development (about 11 months too long), we're finally gearing up to launch the new Copy Army website! (Who knew a copywriting service could be so exciting?)

Stay tuned, folks.

We're not your everyday copywriting service.

2008-08-20T11:05:00.002-04:00

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