What Men in Speedos Can Teach Your Copy
Style Sheet Dept.
I’m not much of a sports fan. I’ll get up early to watch the Tour and Giro (I love riding bikes, after all) but that’s about it. (Well, that and the gritty and epic Texas football TV drama Friday Night Lights. But in that case, I swear it’s the writing. Seriously fantastic, even if they pulled some punches in the second season.) But I digress.
So here’s the thing you won’t guess about me: I enjoy watching mixed martial arts.
For those not familiar with MMA, two fully-grown, consenting adults step into an octagon ring surrounded by chain link fencing, each with the hopes of punching the other guy into a stupor or cutting off his air supply.
In other words, it's totally gross.
And completely engrossing.
Which got me thinking about why I find MMA worth watching. Of course, it’s no coincidence that these same principles will keep attention on your copy, too. So, without further ado:
1. Fans want to see some blood. UFC fans may as well be watching lions hunt criminals at the Roman Colosseum back in the day. They’re hungry. So are your ideal clients, who are starving for authenticity. So drop the bland language of the professional and let ‘em see you sweat, reflect, play. It gives them a sense of the real you.
2. Theater is part of business. The fights aren’t two guys just duking it out in a ring. There are weigh-ins, bikini-clad women, cameras following the fighters as they walk to the ring, and these crazy hyperbolic pre-game statements (which I love love LOVE! It’s fun to see how different people brag). Your marketing, if it’s going to grab & keep attention, benefits from a little theater, too.
3. Those guys get out there and fight. It's not just two guys hanging out in the gym or locker room, talking about what they’re gonna do. It's not a bunch of fellas at the local watering hole exercising their jaws about how their guy is the [insert favorite superlative here] in between beers. Same goes for writing awesome copy. If you’re going to grow your mailing list, attract your ideal clients, and make more money, you’ve got to put your butt on the line. And by that, I mean actually put yourself out there and fight for an expanded experience. And not just talk about it. Whether you DIY or get a copywriter, doesn’t matter. Just keep your eyes open as you’re swinging, and give it all you got.
The Rule of 3
Tricks of the Trade Dept.
Here’s the deal:
You can figure how to do most things. It just takes focus.
Alright, maybe not surgery. But just about anything else. Car repair. Salsa dancing. Composting. Raising kids. Table manners. Copywriting is no exception.
And now for the good news. The Neighbors have a gazillion things on their to-do lists, and sitting down to read this post isn’t one of them. Which means advantage: you.
This month’s trick is handy when you have to write something that describes your product or service. (Not that you ever have to do that, I know…)
If your palms are already breaking out in a sweat at the thought, here’s the thing: it’s a whole lot easier than you think.
See, our minds are built to like things in threes. Tricycles. Triangles. The holes in a bowling ball.
That said, one of the easiest ways to craft simple, straightforward copy is to list your top 3 benefits. (Remember, as I’ve written before, there’s a difference between the features of your offering and the benefits it gives to your clients and customers. Huge. Don’t forget that for a second.)
Think of the top three benefits of your service or product. Fast, easy, cheap. Free, simple, friendly. 24/7, safe, clean. Shorter words tend to work best, and repeating them can help reinforce what you mean to say.
When in doubt, return to easy. People like easy. Sometimes, I like the word “simple” as a stand-in. Because it means the same thing. But it’s more refined, less cheap.
Once you notice the Rule of 3, you’ll start to see it everywhere. Billboards. Taglines. Website headers. TV commercials. Magazine ads. And when you start using it yourself, watch how people respond. If they light up, you know you’re on the right track. Let me know how it goes.
On Vacation: Why Time Off Makes You Smarter
Hitchhiking to Jackson, Wyoming.
Little Neck, Massachusetts
5:17 pm
This just in:
Going on vacation can actually help your business grow.
(Ridiculous, I know, but hear me out here. This one's gonna make some of you downright itchy!)
As a recovering perfectionist and pure-bred workhorse, I know all about the idea that doing “a little more” work each day gets me further ahead. (Ahead of what, I’m still a little foggy on. But surely, it’s something completely and totally awesome...)
That said, guess what I did after I had more business than I knew what to do with in June…
I took a big, fat, hairy five-week vacation.
To be totally honest, it was an experiment. Could I possibly leave work that I love behind, and sneak off to ride bikes through Yellowstone National Park, visit loved ones in Montana and Massachusetts, and go on walkabout? I did it when I was someone else’s employee…
…but was that even possible when you’re your own boss?
(Insert disembodied, booming, divine-sounding voice here. With bright beaming stage lights, too, if you’ve got ‘em handy:)
Yes!
Not only is it possible, it’s necessary.
Here’s the fear: that if I leave my business, all my clients, prospects, and projects will shrivel up and die on the vine.
And here’s the truth:
Get over yourself, darling!
Let’s not beat around the bush here. Vacation makes us better, smarter, more attractive people. Here are 3 reasons why:
1. You’ve got to leave your “familiar” to stay on your toes.
Stephen Covey in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People says something awesome about making time to “sharpen the saw” of your mind and expertise every week. Vacation does this on a deeper level. If you do the same things, talk to the same people, and solve the same problems day after day, eventually you’ll run dry. Fact. Getting out of your routine puts you on the path of new learning, new ideas, and new directions.
And if those things don’t grow your business, honey, nothing will.
(For instance: In my "civilian life," I know that hitchhiking is a horrible, dangerous, do-you-have-a-death-wish? idea. But when you're on a bicycle in Yellowstone National Park and need to get somewhere fast, you don't have a lot of choices.
The photo above is of my friend Elizabeth, who's a psychologist in her civilian life, and me, in the minivan of 3 kiddos from Omaha, en route 77 miles to Walmart in Wyoming because little Arla managed to lose both her left shoes camping. I learned plenty about her 8-year-old brother's take on technology during the ride. And had to leave my familiar to do it.)
2. Good ideas find you more easily.
As small business owners and entrepreneurs, we tend to dwell in “transmission” mode. Broadcasting, communicating, and connecting. But vacation can move us into “receiver” mode. Where we relax enough to listen to those “still, small voices” within us.
Which is where grace, serendipity, and insight live.
Case in point: talking with my dad, a Human Resources professional, about how he helped one of his neighbors who was looking for work this summer.
They were working on the fellow’s resume, and my dad said something awesome about using words that show you are a thoughtful person who knows your line of work... but also that you're a person who uses language that's "just a bit more interesting" than the tired, overused language that everyone else uses. ("He's a salesman who listens. How many salespeople know that their skill involves more than just talking?")
“Sparklewords,” he called them. This hit me like a lightning bolt: this is what good copywriting is all about! (And why hadn’t I come up with that?!) I never would have met that idea had I stayed at home, working. I had to get out, into the larger field of life.
3. You’re better looking.
Sunday’s Boston Globe just had an article about “the next chapter in civil rights,” which they termed the “beauty bias.” Apparently, people want to work with people who are attractive. Shocker!
But if that’s the case, then it’s just one MORE reason to take a vacation.
Relaxation, leisure, and joy have the strongest anti-aging effects known to humankind (though we still keep talking about botox and surgery as if they were the real secrets to staying young that nobody talked about).
If you’re looking to attract your ideal clients—whether it’s through your website, networking, content marketing or any other campaign—your happiness, calm, and satisfaction are very real ingredients in your success.
So whether you’re working on building a smarter website or growing your business, I wish you an inspired, restorative and fabulous vacation. Let me know how it goes. But only after you’re back in the office.
