Copywriting Rule: Write like you speak
Published: 2020-07-06 06:51:05

We’ve established that boring is bad. So how can you write brilliant copy that’s as engaging as it is effective? One of the best ways I’ve found is to talk to your reader as if they’re sitting in front of you. In other words, have a conversation. And that means thinking of them as real, live, human beings.

The idea that a conversational approach to persuasion yields the best results isn’t exactly new. Queen Victoria complained that Gladstone talked to her as if he were addressing a public meeting. She preferred Disraeli, who spoke in a less pompous, hectoring tone. My advice is that you follow Disraeli’s example, even if your audience is far from regal.

Stories and conversations walk hand in hand down the path of persuasion. Take a look at the websites of a few established copywriters and you’ll soon come across phrases like ‘corporate storytelling’ and ‘the power of stories to inspire action’. I think it’s easy to overdo this angle but there’s no denying that true stories offer tangible proof of abstract claims and work brilliantly as persuaders, particularly when it comes to selling ideas. That’s because ideas often need images in the form of stories to make them feel real. Without these images, an idea – even a really good one – can appear hopelessly abstract. The question becomes, how can you relate your idea to something the audience already understands? And the easiest way is, you guessed it, with a story.

Presenting information in story form also helps make it personal as our minds automatically try to make sense of what we’re hearing and apply it to our own lives. These stories can be surprisingly short – it’s not the volume of information that stirs the soul; it’s interest and relevance. Nor do they need much in the way of context – if the story is embedded within another body of text in a way that doesn’t draw attention to itself then it’s likely to be even more effective (something Jesus understood). And don’t worry too much about detail – the audience will happily fill in the blanks without realizing they’re doing it. 

One word of advice – in order to work, a story needs a bit of bite. Typically it must resolve some antagonism. It’s often said that ‘conflict is the essence of drama’, and it’s much the same with corporate stories. Dig deep into your client’s world and you might be surprised what comes up.

Stories dovetail nicely with the idea of copywriting as a kind of conversation with the reader. That means adopting some of the strategies of spoken, rather than written, English. In practice, that means don’t write anything you wouldn’t say in person. I’m not suggesting you throw all formality to the wind, simply that the warmth and casualness characteristic of conversations has a much wider application than you might think. 

Stories really come into their own when you’re trying to illustrate a company’s values in action. Here the best approach is to tell your readers a micro-story that makes your point and then let them draw their own conclusions. I recently wrote a piece for a major retailer that illustrated their value of ‘can do’ with a story about how branch staff heroically beat back severe flooding to stay open when all around them shut up shop. Another way to put this is ‘don’t claim, demonstrate’. Stories are a great way to bring this rather abstract piece of advice down to earth. And remember, an organization can have multiple micro-stories – you can tell the story of the need they fulfill (in other words, their market story), how they fulfill it (their product or service story), and what’s so special about that particular organization (probably a people story).

Admittedly we’re not always expert conversationalists – as Henry Miller said, ‘We don’t talk, we bludgeon one another with facts and theories gleaned from cursory readings of newspapers and magazines’ (and for copywriters, he could have added websites, last year’s annual report, brochures, factory visits, interviews and so on). Nevertheless, it’s an effort worth making, for the more interesting the conversation, the more likely your the audience is to engage and the more successful the outcome is likely to be.

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So a big part of brilliant copywriting is writing as if you’re having an informal, informative conversation with your reader. Tell them the basics, anticipate their questions then give them something extra. Most of all, make it real and make it interesting. Good conversations invite listening, and interest is a key part of that process. Conversation allows you to talk about a product or whatever in a way that overcomes resistance because people are predisposed to listen (providing the conversation’s any good, of course). And if that happens you’re well on your way to a sale.