You think you’re having an open conversation with someone.
There’s some back and forth.
You have your say, and then he has his.
And then – dangit – you suddenly realize it’s one of THOSE conversations.
The other person isn’t really listening to you at all. He’s just waiting for the right moment to jump back in to push his own opinion.
While you’re talking, he’s essentially tuned out, marking time, and waiting for you to stop talking. He’s completely deaf to your side of the “conversation”.
Back in the 1980s, I worked for an ad agency where we did a lot of work with pharmaceutical companies.
A significant part of our clients’ budgets went into the creation of the print materials their salespeople used when visiting doctors.
And the key focus of those materials was on how to overcome objections. Overcoming objections was core to the way these salespeople were trained. Identify the objections… take out the relevant products sheets or brochure… and then use that information to change the doctor’s mind.
The approach was essentially adversarial. The salespeople had to “overcome” objections. They had to fight for the sale. They had to close the sale.
There’s something happening in the world of online copywriting.
I’m seeing more and more companies push the boundaries when it comes to honesty and transparency in marketing.
And I know many copywriters – some very experienced, and others just starting out – who feel very uncomfortable with being asked to mislead their readers with half-truths.
What’s happening here? Are we suddenly becoming more and more dishonest?
I don’t think so. But I do believe copywriters are finding themselves put on the spot by the rise of automation and analytics.
This morning I received an email with this subject line:
“I woke up with this insane idea…”
It seems today is the final day for some killer deal being offered by that company.
Not a solo business. A medium-sized company. A big campaign.
And this morning’s email wasn’t a quick, personal note, dashed off at the last moment. It was a long promotional email, with tons of details and formatting, and a carefully constructed final offer.
For decades we’ve used military jargon as part and parcel of how we talk about our craft as copywriters.
Consider some of the language we use with our colleagues and clients.
Target audience. Overcoming resistance. Finding the right triggers. Killing the competition. Guerilla marketing.
Language matters. It makes a difference to how we think about our work. It makes a difference to how we think about the consumers we “target” with our writing.
There’s a them and us mentality. It’s still there. Copywriters on one side and consumers on the other.
If I sometimes give the impression conversational copywriting is ONLY about taking the hype out of sales copy, that’s my bad.
Yes, cutting back on high-pressure sales copy is a big part of it. But that isn’t the only way conversational copywriting can improve results across all business communications.
Let’s look at the 4 top reasons, starting with hype…