Thoughts on Marketing…

Readability and communication are more important than proper grammar in marketing copy. And yet, amateur marketers still pay too much attention to the rules their High School English teacher taught. The result is dry as a bone, stiff copy. And you know, nobody reads dry words until they’re required to do so. At the same [...]

You want people to read your marketing messages, right? Then let your copy be a conversation… Not a lecture, not a demand, not even a blatant advertisement. Before you sit down to write, think about the people you want to reach. Then narrow that down to just one of them. Picture that person in your [...]

Your goal in writing real estate ads is to “Put the buyer in the home” and cause them to need to see it in person. To do that, you need to paint some word pictures of both the physical and the psychological benefits of the home. That means instead of writing “large kitchen” you should [...]

Copywriting has plenty of rules for you to follow, and maybe even more than one that’s labeled “Rule #1,” but this one is too important to ignore. The rule is: Remember that it isn’t about you. Your marketing, if it’s to be effective, HAS to be about your prospective customers/clients and what they want or [...]

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 [...]

Proof read your copy before submitting. It will help you eliminate the verbal stop signs that make your article lose its flow.

A few years ago a writer had to convince an editor that their words were valid before they went into print. Even then, some of what we read was not good advice. Now that anyone can have a website and/or a blog, there’s not even an editor to convince. Anyone can write anything they please. [...]

When you write marketing copy, you hope to persuade. But as it turns out, some of the more popular words that marketers choose have the opposite effect – they ANNOY. A recent Active Rain post posed the question: “Which words make you disregard a marketing message?” Here are some of the replies: Paradigm shift hard-worker [...]

E-mail is a wonderful way to reach a large number of people for little cost. But it won’t do you any good if it goes straight into the delete file. The first step is to pass the “glance test” and to create a friendly feeling in the minds of your readers. First pay attention to [...]

I often get emails and calls from agents who really are embarrassed to admit that they need a copywriter. I find that embarrassment strange. Some of those same agents have no trouble hiring a professional photographer to help them show their listings in the best light. They have no problem with hiring a stager, either. [...]