There"s No Should in Copywriting
You may recall (whether willingly or with a cringe) an early 1990s movie called "A League of Their Own," which featured Tom Hanks screaming that there's no crying in baseball. And really, I'm inclined to agree with him. I mean, why not? I'm not going to argue with Forrest Gump.
And guess what? There's no "should" in copywriting, either. Allow me to explain.
An excessive amount of really crappy copy, especially on the web, is written quite well. I mean, the participles don't dangle, the infinitives don't split, and everything looks just fine -- on the surface. Except, of course, it doesn't work. That is: it's not connecting with prospects, it's not establishing a relationship with them, it's not providing them with quality information, it's not helping them confirm that they're in the right place at the right time (or on the right website belonging to the right company, I should say), and all of that good stuff that copywriting is supposed to do when it works.
So really, if you ask me -- and I'd really like you to, since I would if I were you -- I wouldn't call it copywriting at all. If anything, I'd call it wrapping paper; pretty and pleasant on the outside, but really nothing more than a shell.
So why is this copy so bad? Why does it not do what copy is supposed to do? Ah, good question. Here's why: because it has a bunch of "shoulds" in it.
This will take some explaining. Bear with me.
First of all, I'm not being literal; the copy might not have the actual word "should" anywhere; and that's fine. But implied beneath the copy are many "should's" -- chiefly the following, which is, by far, the most destructive and disturbing should of them all. So what I'm saying here, is that if Should was a country, this particular should that I'm about to mention would be the President of that country. Ready for it? Here we go...
The most copy-destroying should in the marketing universe is the one that bizarrely proclaims: I KNOW WHAT MY PROSPECTS SHOULD WANT.
The pathology of this disease is blatant, but I will gladly babble about if you'll let me -- you don't have to be glad (but why not? Life is short.)
YES, you may have a very good "handle" on your prospects. You may understand their motivations, their desires, their expectations, their needs, their wants, and a bunch of other things. You may know where they like to go on vacation, what kind of car they want to drive, and on and on. All of that is fine. I'm not suggesting you should ignore this kind of information. But....when you start to impose upon your prospects instead of respond to them, you are entering SHOULD country -- and that's not friendly territory.
You see, it's not your job to tell your customers what they should want. Rather, it's your job to find out what your customers ACTUALLY want -- consciously and subconsciously; explicit and implicit; overt and subtle -- and then position yourself to deliver. In other words, as mentioned above: you respond. You don't impose.
And the "why" of this is even more blatantly obvious than the "why not" of this: because it's your prospects, and not you, who determine reality in this equation. Yes, you may be 100 times more intelligent than them about what you're offering -- in fact, let's hope that you are, especially if you sell flights or cruises or neurosurgery or something like that -- but, ultimately, it's prospects who call the shots; your task is to respond, fill and solve their needs. And your copy must do that. That is, your copy must identify, respect and then adjust to prospect reality.
When you fail to do this, what you get is words on a screen (or a page, or an ad, or whatever). It's NOT copy. Copy is not words. Copy is building relationships, and connecting people through words. Copy is a bridge. And for copy to function as a bridge, it has to be grounded in reality (just like you want the bridge beneath your car to be grounded in reality...).
So the moral of this cautionary story/rant is simple: do your homework, identify your prospects' needs, hopes, expectations, desires, and all of the other things that comprise their world-view -- and then make sure that your copy responds to that.
In other words: don't tell your prospects what they should want. Find out what they REALLY want on every level -- functional, emotional, psychological -- and then through your copy and other marketing, tell them, in a compelling, clear, authentic, attractive, creative and inspired way that you're going to give it to them.
And leave the should's to your competitors, who will wonder why you keep getting more of their former customers. (It'll just be our little secret.)
And guess what? There's no "should" in copywriting, either. Allow me to explain.
An excessive amount of really crappy copy, especially on the web, is written quite well. I mean, the participles don't dangle, the infinitives don't split, and everything looks just fine -- on the surface. Except, of course, it doesn't work. That is: it's not connecting with prospects, it's not establishing a relationship with them, it's not providing them with quality information, it's not helping them confirm that they're in the right place at the right time (or on the right website belonging to the right company, I should say), and all of that good stuff that copywriting is supposed to do when it works.
So really, if you ask me -- and I'd really like you to, since I would if I were you -- I wouldn't call it copywriting at all. If anything, I'd call it wrapping paper; pretty and pleasant on the outside, but really nothing more than a shell.
So why is this copy so bad? Why does it not do what copy is supposed to do? Ah, good question. Here's why: because it has a bunch of "shoulds" in it.
This will take some explaining. Bear with me.
First of all, I'm not being literal; the copy might not have the actual word "should" anywhere; and that's fine. But implied beneath the copy are many "should's" -- chiefly the following, which is, by far, the most destructive and disturbing should of them all. So what I'm saying here, is that if Should was a country, this particular should that I'm about to mention would be the President of that country. Ready for it? Here we go...
The most copy-destroying should in the marketing universe is the one that bizarrely proclaims: I KNOW WHAT MY PROSPECTS SHOULD WANT.
The pathology of this disease is blatant, but I will gladly babble about if you'll let me -- you don't have to be glad (but why not? Life is short.)
YES, you may have a very good "handle" on your prospects. You may understand their motivations, their desires, their expectations, their needs, their wants, and a bunch of other things. You may know where they like to go on vacation, what kind of car they want to drive, and on and on. All of that is fine. I'm not suggesting you should ignore this kind of information. But....when you start to impose upon your prospects instead of respond to them, you are entering SHOULD country -- and that's not friendly territory.
You see, it's not your job to tell your customers what they should want. Rather, it's your job to find out what your customers ACTUALLY want -- consciously and subconsciously; explicit and implicit; overt and subtle -- and then position yourself to deliver. In other words, as mentioned above: you respond. You don't impose.
And the "why" of this is even more blatantly obvious than the "why not" of this: because it's your prospects, and not you, who determine reality in this equation. Yes, you may be 100 times more intelligent than them about what you're offering -- in fact, let's hope that you are, especially if you sell flights or cruises or neurosurgery or something like that -- but, ultimately, it's prospects who call the shots; your task is to respond, fill and solve their needs. And your copy must do that. That is, your copy must identify, respect and then adjust to prospect reality.
When you fail to do this, what you get is words on a screen (or a page, or an ad, or whatever). It's NOT copy. Copy is not words. Copy is building relationships, and connecting people through words. Copy is a bridge. And for copy to function as a bridge, it has to be grounded in reality (just like you want the bridge beneath your car to be grounded in reality...).
So the moral of this cautionary story/rant is simple: do your homework, identify your prospects' needs, hopes, expectations, desires, and all of the other things that comprise their world-view -- and then make sure that your copy responds to that.
In other words: don't tell your prospects what they should want. Find out what they REALLY want on every level -- functional, emotional, psychological -- and then through your copy and other marketing, tell them, in a compelling, clear, authentic, attractive, creative and inspired way that you're going to give it to them.
And leave the should's to your competitors, who will wonder why you keep getting more of their former customers. (It'll just be our little secret.)
