Marketers: Seek to Communicate, not Impress
Last night my son came to dinner, and he brought along a little “throw away” newspaper/magazine. You know the kind you get to browse through while you’re waiting for your lunch at a diner.
It had a few good articles and he always chuckles over the personals page, but this time it had a guest commentary that he had to show me because it was so pompous.
He said he was still trying to decide which side of what issue the guy was on, because it shifted positions and subject matter several times throughout the 1,000 or so words of copy.
But just as damaging to its clarity was the fact that it was written in “Academic-speak.” Here are a few lines from the copy:
“Disabuse ourselves of the delusion that U.S. civilization is immune to the maladies that have eviscerated other civilizations. Whether it be from ethno-centrism, ignorance of history or denial, this ahistorical thinking is the first paroxysm of dying civilizations.” (Notice – first sentence lacks a subject.)
It turns out the writer was a “U.S. Presidential Scholar Distinguished Teacher” at a local high school. I pity his students if he spends all his teaching time trying to impress with big words rather than trying to convey a clear message.
However, I don’t think a teacher’s one-sided political views belong in the classroom, so it’s fine with me if they don’t have a clue what he’s trying to say.
One of the first things anyone learns when studying how to become a copywriter is to write like people speak. One of the rules is “Never use a $100 word if a $5 word will fit.”
In other words, good copy conveys a clear message and draws no attention to itself. No one should ever read your message and go away thinking “I wonder what that word meant?” And no one should read your message and think “Boy that was good writing,” unless they are looking at it to see why it prompted them to take action.
Readers should go away thinking about the message – or in the case of sales copy, they should be on their way to the order page!
To heck with trying to impress anyone with how many words you know!
Posted: January 12th, 2010 under advertising, clarity, copywriting, marketing, Uncategorized.
Tags: clear communication, copywriting, verbal clarity, verbal pomposity, verbosity