 Why the world still needs human copywritersHave you heard the one about the chocolate record player? It sounds pretty sweet.
Ah, the dad joke. The bedrock of human comedic interaction. And, as yet, largely beyond the capacity of artificial intelligence. But you’d be forgiven for wondering why on earth that matters, given the fact that we’re clearly in the middle of a content-writing revolution of sorts, and making full use of the humble pun is not necessarily the top priority when it comes to crafting the words that connect you to your ideal customers. Do dad jokes make sales? Well, no. Not necessarily. (Except where they do, of course, which is where brand voice comes into its own.) But this isn’t about the dad joke, not at its heart. This is about the limits of what AI can do. And why, as a copywriter, I’m not worried about being automated out of existence. Quite the contrary, in fact.
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 Why your word choice might be costing you salesOne thing you will never find me doing is making blanket statements about the passive voice. In addition to copywriting, I’m a published novelist, and I know perfectly well that the passive voice is a respectable, functional and necessary element of the English language. There are some sentences that simply don’t work as intended in the active voice (“She was elected by over 50% of voters,” for example, transposes inelegantly from the passive), and I have little time for the kind of advice that suggests this particular construction should be avoided (see what I did there?) at all costs.
However. Copywriting is not like novel writing. There are crossover points, for sure – both involve telling a story, both strive to activate the reader’s imagination, and both involve evoking the reader’s senses in the service of an overall goal. But the key difference is that the goal of copywriting is to sell: an item, a service, a company, an idea. That’s where the passive voice makes things more complicated. Here’s why.  Tips and statistics to make sure your mailing list is working for youIt’s often said that a key skill in copywriting is brevity. So, with that in mind, the simple answer is yes. Yes, you do need to send out regular newsletters. You absolutely do.
And I know. Believe me, I know. Whether your target schedule is daily, weekly or monthly communications, newsletter time always comes around sooner than it’s supposed to and you’d very much be forgiven for thinking something along the lines of, “I swear I just sent out the last one! How bad would it be to skip it just this once…?” If that sounds familiar – and I’m prepared to bet that it does – you might well be wondering what’s the worst that could happen if you let things slide on occasion. After all, as lovely as it would be to think so, it’s not actually that likely that your mailing list is frantically scanning their inbox for their weekly missive, feverishly hitting refresh and wondering why you’ve forsaken them. But that still doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to let communications go patchy. Here’s why.  Five key things to avoid when writing product descriptions that convert“If you build it, they will come,” might be true of baseball pitches and long-dead sporting legends, but this far into the twenty-first century it certainly doesn’t apply to websites. And even when you’ve got your potential customers as far as your sales page, you’ve got a tiny window to shift them from “potential” to “actual.” When it comes to online retail, your sales page needs to be working hard if you’re going to make it convert, and a poorly thought out product description can actively harm your bottom line – according to Nielson Norman Group, a massive 20% of lost sales are down to lack of product information.
If you’re doing any of the following, it’s probably costing you money. Here’s why. |
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