People have different takes on what it means to be a “copywriter”.
Back when I started, long before the web came along, the definition was pretty simple.
We were the writers who wrote print ads, TV commercials, radio spots, billboards, and point-of-sale materials.
That was pretty much it.
In the online world, things are a little more complicated.
Over the last two or three weeks I’ve been spending a lot of time working on chatbots.
I’ve co-founded a chatbot agency, and I’ve written a number of chatbot scripts.
The more time I spend writing these scripts, the more I see shifts in how I write conversational copy for longer-form channels, like email and web pages.
It’s like the lessons I learn from writing for bots are flowing into everything else I do.
Here are three of the ways chatbot copywriting is shifting the way I write.
Think of yourself as a performer.
You’re performing your craft… writing for yourself or for a client.
You’re a virtuoso with words.
And in common with every other performer, you need to rehearse your work.
Think about it…
“Oh my goodness, the web changed everything!”
“Oh wow, social media changed everything!”
“Yikes, text messaging changed everything!”
All true.
But it’s not just new services that change everything. It’s not just about the software.
It’s also about the devices we use.
Take your pick. I cover the same ground in both the video and the text on this page.
Some people prefer video. Others prefer reading.
Still reading?
OK then. Let’s start with a real-life conversation.
One reason is to place emphasis on what we just said.
The second reason, and the most common one, is that we pause as a signal that it’s the other person’s turn to start talking.
An item of sales literature is printed and sits around in a physical form. It can exist for months, years, or even decades.
The photo above shows a Book Society promotional postcard I found while rummaging through some old papers in my mother’s house.
It had been sitting there for about 50 years.
But a conversation, held between two people, or a group of people, is ephemeral.
A conversation takes place only in the present. In the moment. Now.
On the face of it, you might conclude that when you’re selling stuff, permanence is better than being ephemeral.