Previous Comments
Andrew Denny said on November 6, 2003 at 12:59 PM
Peter Stone writes: “Some of your readers will bristle and leave no matter how you sell. They aren’t buyers. In my opinion, they aren’t nice people either. Otherwise, they would stand by your decision to make some dough off all your hard work.”
Well, as someone who personally finds long copy very irritating, pardon me for breathing!
I didn’t realise that readers who get bored of long sales copy were somehow insulting the copywriter. I always thought it was his job to try to get me interested. I never realised it was my job to justify and pay for his existence!
As a PR writer myself, I consider that if I haven’t engaged with the reader, it’s me that’s failed, not him.
David Locke said on November 8, 2003 at 07:41 AM
I agree with Denny’s notion that it is the writer’s responsibility to communicate.
I would go further to say that I am a technical writer, and I certainly do not expect my readers to read from a screen. I know that I can’t. It has nothing to do with me. It has to do with the constraints of the media. I would go further to say that there isn’t anything that I can’t write shorter.
I can’t remember the last time copy sold me either short or long.
If I come to buy, then point me at it, and then point me at the register. I remember the last time I bought a truck. I went to one dealer, and because the rep didn’t ask me the correct question, I spent all day looking and ended up at a nother dealer for the same brand. This time they re asked me what I wanted. I told him. He had it. It took ten minutes to do the test drive. It was exactly what I wanted.
When I come to buy, my mind is made up. I am going to buy what I came for. In a lot of ways text on the internet is like the day I spent looking for a truck that the first dealer invariably would have had in stock. It is an obstacle. It is the result of a lack of clear communications.
I am also reminded of my advertising class. The professor was pushing Olgalvy’s long copy is better notion. But, it seemed dated. I was a Trout and Ries guy. My copy was the best in class. It wasn’t long. I have read “Adeos Struck and White,” which decries the entire write short paradigm. That’s fine the paradigm has changed. The afforcances and efficency, online, have not.
I can’t wait for the day when a display is more like paper. Apparently there are some reflectived light-based displays hitting the market. Once I have one, I’ll be able to read on the screen. It may be a few years, but I can’t wait.
But, you are correct, people are buying. I would only ask that you prove to me that it was your copy, long or short, that made them buy. It probably wasn’t, if we are talking about ecommerce. Maybe you forced them to scroll down to find the button.
Peter Stone said on November 8, 2003 at 11:18 PM
What I wrote previously: “Some of your readers will bristle and leave no matter how you sell. They aren’t buyers. In my opinion, they aren’t nice people either. Otherwise, they would stand by your decision to make some dough off all your hard work.”
The above might be understood more accurately if it were read in full context. It was part of a personal email to Ms. Weil in support of her decision to sell more assertively and with focused effort.
As presented it seems that I was saying that non-buyers are not nice people. That’s not what I said, so I’ll repeat that the people who make negative comments and treat one of the harder working individuals on the Web as a second class citizen because she chooses to sell something, suck, in my opinion. And, in my opinion, aren’t buyers, either.
So that my main point doesn’t get lost, if you have been a friend to Ms. Weil in the past, you damn well should stand by her as a friend in her future, too.
As far as proof of copy selling goods and services goes, prove to me that medicine works, first. Prove to me that any clerical couldn’t do your job as well as you. Of course, I’m being ridiculous. Equally ridiculous.
Peter Stone
Peter Stone said on November 9, 2003 at 12:54 AM
In retrospect, I really don’t think there’s a need for animosity on either side of this coin.
Some individuals experience offence when they see long sales copy. I accept that reality. You don’t need me to tell you that you are entitled to your opinions and feelings. I believe you. You are offended.
My initial message to Ms. Weil was more about friendship than it was about (pro) sales copy. It is about how one friend decides to stand by another friend.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others”.
by: Marianne Williamson, 1992 (Sometimes attributed to Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural speech).
As a grown man, I’m uncomfortable about saying this, but Debbie; you go girl!
Peter Stone
Jonathon said on December 9, 2003 at 07:11 PM
Prove that it works?
Am I the only one that does split testing with ad copy?
Saposnik Andrea said on January 21, 2004 at 03:13 AM
All sentences that seem true should be questioned.
Ahn Calvin said on June 30, 2004 at 08:43 AM
Just because there’s a pattern doesn’t mean there’s a purpose.
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