Remember Elaine on Seinfeld? She was a fictional copywriter for the J. Peterman clothing catalog. The Peterman product descriptions served up adventure, bridging the gap from urbania to 12,000 feet. Analog catalog, e-commerce, daily deal sites…whatever the medium, great copy still distills imagination into sales.
Woot (.com) depends entirely on copy to move its 24-hour specials. The writing is personal, direct, and positions each product as integral to your life. It’s the kind of content Elaine created with the “urban sombrero”: “It combines the spirit of old Mexico with a little big city panache.”
Channeling Urgency
What if your content had only 24 hours to hit home and, after that, it would be useless? Would it be written differently? Writing that doesn’t seize us, compel us, move us right now is too sure of its own longevity. It’s a page on the dusty rack in the dark corner of the store – the moldy book someone occasionally pulls down for reference from a barely noticed shelf, like some genealogy of the kings of England.
Arresting Readers
Might we bump into a pole while reading your content? If not, why not?
We’re not looking to get you sued, but effective copy is arresting. From Woot, on Samsung monitors: “The monitor is like the door to your house. It doesn’t seem important until you don’t have one.” It’s evocative, provocative, impertinent. Ever seen someone run into something while reading a magazine or their phone? Make your content enthralling.
Getting Them to Linger
What can you say in six seconds to make us stay for more? It’s great to have ‘evergreen’ content that continues to convert people, routinely, but the voice needs to be effective in the moment. Look at a page on your website, or in your internal company publications. Is it a snoozer or an eye opener? Is a hand reaching off the page, or is it waving us on to something more interesting? You have only this moment to grab us. The average page gets a six second chance to score our attention. Your page is today’s deal. So make it zing like one.
And if you can’t do that for yourself? Call MarketSmiths. We’ll be happy to make the arrest.
