Marketing Copy Should Persuade – Not Annoy
Copywriters are always on a search for words that will persuade the readers.
Just yesterday I spent nearly an hour on the phone with a client who was trying to decide on the best word to describe an offer he was making.
It can be a long process, pondering each word and trying to decide how it might affect a reader’s perception of the offer.
Most copywriters and marketers go through this same process… and sometimes they come up with words that are just plain annoying.
At least, they annoy me. Once I see them in copy I am stuck with the feeling that the person is “All hype and no substance.”
The problem, of course, is that the words that annoy me might not be the same ones that annoy you.
But for what it’s worth, I’ll share two of the words/phrases that turn me away…
Both of these are used by marketers who are promoting their expertise and asking you to buy their program or listen to an audio or video – which you know will only promote what they have to sell.
One is “drill down.” They say “We’re going to drill down and …”
The other is “grill.” Just yesterday I got a promotion for a teleseminar, “In which XX will grill me until he discovers my secret for…”
Yeah sure. Delete.
Before you send your promotion out to the world, check to see if any of the words you use make you sound like “All hype and no substance.”
If they do, choose better words.
Posted: November 30th, 2011 under advertising, copywriting, marketing, marketing mistakes.
Tags: advertising, copywriting, effective marketing, hype, marketing copy