How NOT to write copy like a zombie

Don’t be a copywriting zombie. Find YOUR voice.

Happy holidays, superstars!

As a special tribute to the end of the year, this article is about zombies.

Copywriting zombies.

You know who they are.

You get their emails.

You go to their sales pages.

You may actually even LIKE the person, and trust that they are doing good work.

But the way they write about that work sounds like the zombies wrote it.

When zombies write copy, they use a rigid formula.

They don’t express real emotion.

They just hunt for brains to manipulate.

Examples of copywriting zombies at work:

“Are you OVERWHELMED by getting your kids out the door each day?”

“Do you STRUGGLE with disciplining your kids?”

This example would be for a parenting coach. But you know what I’m talking about—the copy that makes you feel like an incompetent dope who is in massive danger of losing everything…. unless you buy something.

This kind of copy sounds like it was written by something that ONCE was human.

But now… all that’s left is a creature prowling for buyers at any cost.

Let’s not write copy like that, okay?

Instead, let’s do our sales writing in a way that’s effective AND that feels to our readers like a warm, breathing, real human being is behind it.

Because THAT is another writing secret that will win you great, higher-paying clients.

So, how do I do that, you ask?

Here is a tip to get you started, no matter what line of work you’re in:

Paint a picture of how it is. Remember the old “show, don’t tell” rule from school? It still applies! Instead of writing about STRUGGLE and OVERWHELM, describe what it LOOKS and FEELS like. One of my clients in my Get It Done Writing Brigade is a parenting coach, who used this tip to beef up her “describe the problem” bullet points so it sings to her ideal clients:

• Your kids test your boundaries and ignore your limits – which makes you act in ways that embarrass you and upset your child.
• Mealtimes are stressful, filled with bickering, arguing and the constant need to remind your child to use his fork or put her feet on the floor.
• There is a constant low level of discord in your house and you may even feel your child pulling away, becoming distant, and shutting you out… because the conflict is painful for her too, maybe even so painful that she is less and less willing to be in relationship with you.

When she read this last one out loud, I cringed when I heard it. My heart ached. And I felt a little cry well up within me, empathizing with people who are in that situation (I don’t have kiddos yet).

THAT is how you know you’re onto something in your copy.

I’ve written before about how “touching your reader’s pain” is largely abused advice, but you do need to do it to make a connection, and so that your reader knows what you are talking about.

And can you see—and more importantly, FEEL—what she is writing about here? You get the sense that she’s been there, too… because she can describe the scene so well.

AND you get a sense of her “point of view” too—ever so subtly—because she is speaking on the level of “sensing” with the line: “you may even feel your child pulling away…” That’s an important signal to the smart, savvier parents she wants to attract—she’s not going to just hand you a rule book of quick fixes. She’s going to offer you something that appeals to people who already have that keen level of awareness (even if they don’t know how to shift the situation yet).

Side bar: you can read more about my thoughts on attracting higher caliber clients and repelling people you don’t love working with in your writing here.

So, how can YOU start loosening up in your copy, so that you REALLY make that connection with great clients?

Before you write, take a moment to get into your body and your imagination. Often, you’ve been where your clients are now. What did it look like? What did it FEEL like? Give yourself space to really get into that frame. Then, describe it in loving detail—giving special focus to how it looks, and how it feels. If you have never been in the situation your clients come to you in, then tap into THEIR descriptions of what’s going on.

Remember to go back and edit down what you’ve written for impact—but this simple suggestion will protect you from becoming a copywriting zombie … and “call in” clients you love.

Mighty thanks to wdroops flickr photostream for the zombie