reynoldswriting.com Blog

If you’ve read about me, you already know that my copywriting background differs from the usual B.A. in Marketing, Business, Journalism, English, Advertising, et cetera. I come from a theatrical background, having earned a Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting, and I’ve learned that this experience gives me an advantage in capturing the drama inherent in any business’s story. That’s right, your business has to tell a story to its prospects and customers — and it had better be an exciting one. I can find and present that exciting story, using my knowledge of dramatic principles to make an emotional impact on your audience.

Those principles have changed surprisingly little over thousands of years. Today’s writers rely on tricks of the trade as outlined by Aristotle in his theatrical treatise, The Poetics. Artistotle’s Six Elements of Drama are:

1. PLOT – The order of events in a dramatic presentation. When you tell someone “what happened next” in a story, you are describing the plot. In copywriting, this is the information about your business, its history, its services, etc.

2. THEME – The central idea or meaning of the play. In your business, it’s the why factor — why you do what you do and why that should matter to the reader.

3. CHARACTER – A person represented in the play. Who are the principal players in your company? More importantly, whose point of view does the reader hear in your written words?

4. DICTION/LANGUAGE/DIALOGUE – The word choices and enunciation patterns used by the characters, selected by the writer to help us understand who these people are and what kind of world they live in. I interpret this more broadly in copywriting as the overall tone of voice in your content.

5. MUSIC/RHYTHM – The rise and fall of human speech, as well as the use in ancient Greek drama of sung or chanted passages. It defines the flow and emotional pace of drama, just as copywriting must vary its flow and pace for maximum impact.

6. SPECTACLE – The visuals of a play. Just as costumes, lighting, and special efffects add a “whiz-bang” factor to a play, copywriting uses words to create visual images and inspire the imagination.

So over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll examine in more detail how of these six elements relate to marketing content. You’ll see how the same techniques that moved Greek audiences over 2,000 years ago can work on your “audience” — that is, your target market — today.

Stay tuned!

Steve Martin used to joke about the most important element in comedy: “And that, of course, is…ti-MING, ti-ti-ime….ming.”

No one’s timing is always perfect — not in comedy, and not in business. But we like to bamboozle ourselves into thinking that there’s one perfect shining moment in which to act, one perfect thing we can do or say that will hit the cosmic jackpot and get customers running to us. We watch and wait for that moment, hoping that we’ll be quick enough to pounce on it when it arrives.

And in the meantime, our business hangs in stasis.

Procrastination is human nature. We want all conditions to be optimal before we commit to starting something. We want to know the temperature in the pool before we even dip a toe into it. A lot non-swimming happens that way.

Writers understand this kind of fear better than just about anybody. Some speculate that the dreaded “writer’s block” is, in part, a simple fear of commitment, an unwillingness to try ideas out and watch them fail. When you insist that everything that comes from your pen has to be gold, you make it impossible for yourself to start. So writers have to get used to the routine of starting somewhere — anywhere — and drafting a big chunks of text that will almost certainly hit the wastebasket. But in the process of crossing things out, we discover the piece we wanted to write among what remains.

Launching a marketing campaign can produce the same kind of fear. What if the timing isn’t just right? What if you make a strategic error along the way? What if your judgement isn’t perfect? Wouldn’t it be more comfortable just to stay where you are?

There’s no bad time to market yourself. I’ve had business owners wave off the prospect of launching some fresh marketing on the grounds that “I’m doing really well at the moment.” It’s those last three words that matter. Don’t let yourself be dazzled by this month’s numbers — they are probably the direct result of the marketing you did last month, last quarter, or even last year. Slack off on marketing now, and you may hear crickets chirping a month of two from now. When things are going badly, marketing can help get you back on top; when things are going well, marketing can help keep you there.

“But I have no ideas.” That’s what marketing consultants and copywriters are for. You may be stunned by how many ideas you have once an experienced professional starts pulling them out of you. I’ve helped clients create entire newsletters, blogging campaigns, and article series out of what appeared to be thin air — only it wasn’t thin air. They had the ideas; I just helped bring them to life. We didn’t wait for the planets to line up just so. We made it happen.

And so can you. Anytime.

The mentor plays an archetypal role in our society’s popular culture. How can we hear the word without conjuring up visions of Obi-Wan Kenobi (or better yet, Yoda) from the Star Wars movies, or perhaps Keye Luke as the blind Master Po from the old Kung Fu TV show? I can even remember watching Saturday morning episodes of Shazam!, featuring Billy Batson touring the U.S. in a van with his mentor, whose name was, well, Mentor. These figures, both imagined and real (parents, teachers, and other various wise elders), lecture, encourage, and generally introduce the wide world to us so we can live in it happily and productively.

Now that we’re all grown up (no wisecracks, please), we sometimes fall into the trap of thinking we have to be self-sufficient and all-knowing, at least when it comes to running our business lives. Nothing could be further from the truth!

The older I get, the more painfully aware I become of the vast universe of things I don’t know. Chances are that you’ve felt that same disconcerting feeling from time to time. The answer? Consult a mentor! Many of us have examples of success stories in our chosen field, people we look up to and whose advice we eagerly accept. As a copywriter, I learned a great deal from super-copywriter Robert Bly’s book Getting Started as a Freelance Writer. Bly has authored tons of books on the subject of copywriting, including the classic Secrets of a Freelance Writer. I still follow his latest words of wisdom through his blog at www.bly.com. Another favorite of mine, and definitely a mentor in the sense of valuable information imparted and put to good use, is Peter Bowerman. Bowerman’s books The Well-Fed Writer and The Well-Fed Writer: Back For Seconds helped me immensely in growing and refining my copywriting business.

I’m sure you know who the gurus are in your own field of endeavor. Read their books! Follow their blogs! Learn everything you can from these people, because they undoubtedly made every mistake there is to make on their way to the top. Following their advice could save you years of painful, expensive goofs. For everyday first-hand guidance, consult a business coach who can point out precisely what you’re doing right and what you could do better. Sometimes a little objective advice or constructive criticism can make all the difference in the world.

By the same token, once you become good at something, it’s very rewarding to give back by mentoring someone else. I’m always happy to answer questions from beginning copywriters, especially freelancers who face a whole world of challenges beyond the writing itself. I’m also a mentor for new members of my BNI chapter who need help learning how to give and receive business referrals. Givers gain, as they say.

So don’t be disappointed if your next mentor doesn’t look like an ancient Kung Fu master or a wizened green Muppet. And don’t discount yourself as a mentor to others simply because you lack a grey beard and an English accent. Anyone with valuable knowledge and experience to share can potentially change lives for the better, be it through books, coaching sessions, or just by example. The world’s wisdom is out there. Grab it!

I enjoy practically all the Coen Brothers’ films, but one of my favorites is a rather neglected item called The Hudsucker Proxy. This fantasy-comedy valentine to the filmmaking style of Preston Sturges and Frank Capra bombed at the box office and is rarely mentioned with the reverence of tone reserved for other entries in the Coens’ body of work, but I’ve always found it to have a special charm of its own. The story involves a hapless graduate of the Muncie School of Business Administration named Norville Barnes, whose first days in the Big Apple find him propelled from the basement mail room to the top executive floor of Hudsucker Industries — a floor from which the founder of the company has just plunged to his death. The Board of Directors, concerned that Old Man Hudsucker’s stock shares are up for public sale, decide to depress the stock’s value temporarily so they can buy it all up themselves and then return it to its former value. How will they accomplish this? By appointing as their new president the biggest idiot they can find, of course.

Poor Barnes. He accepts his new fame and (dwindling) fortune completely innocent of the political machinations behind it all. He’s determined to bring new vitality to Hudsucker Industries through his own unique invention — which appears, from the drawing he shows everyone, to be nothing but a circle. Barnes enlightens his befuddled audiences with the cryptic phrase, “You know — for kids!” Convinced that this latest demonstration of stupidity can only depress the company stock further, the Board greenlights this mysterious project, branding it the the Hula Hoop. (Obviously, the movie plays fast and loose with history.) Surely no one will want to buy such a ridiculous product…

Of course, it’s easy for us to laugh at the Board’s shortsightedness, knowing what we know about the Hula Hoop as a pop culture phenomenon. But at first the Hula Hoop does seem like a flop — the toy stores can’t even give it away. It’s only when one kid starts playing with the Hula Hoop and demonstrating various tricks with it that people start buying every Hula Hoop they can get their hands on. Hudsucker Industries is saved. (Sorry, Board.)

Barnes has clearly learned a valuable lesson. The final scene shows him introducing a new toy called the Frisbee to a puzzled Board. This time, though, he’s ready with a demonstration, flinging the Frisbee out the window to show exactly what it does and why it’s cool.

So the lesson here is simple: All the charts and specs in the world, all the features lists, even the lists of benefits we’re all told to emphasize in our marketing, pale before the picture of the product (or service) in action. I don’t care about the technical specifications of a Frisbee’s aerodynamic capacity. I don’t care about how it’s good exercise for me to chase after the thing. I want to see it fly!

Make your audience imagine the scene. Paint the picture for them in words. Give them the feeling of watching that Frisbee climb, bank, curve, do all the things you can make it do. Convey the FUN of it!

You know — for kids!

Does your brain need a break?

We all feel a trifle burnt out from time to time. Many busy folks are finding great relief from meditation, exercise, a change of climate, or just a few days of well-earned vacation. Speaking of which, did you know there are “brain spas” aimed at pampering your gray matter while you’re vacationing? This article from Intelligent Travel Blog reveals a few different places you and your brain can go to enjoy some R&R.

We writers often have trouble turning our brains off. I can’t tell you how many writing books and teachers emphasize keeping a notepad on the night table, ready to take dictation on that great 3-a.m. idea. I’d had those moments, of course; we all have. “Eureka! That’s brilliant! I’ll remember it tomorrow morning for sure!” And then the next day kicking myself for having no remaining whiff of brilliance anywhere in my noggin.

So I tried the notepad thing once, and I did indeed have a golden opportunity to capture a moment of sheer genius in the middle of the night. Next morning, here’s what I found my pen had preserved for all eternity: “reerwkqpx ifc wns djxammdie lsnz dkfn fmnlfk fmf d;[[ mxnajd./” Or something like that.

Maybe sleep-working works for you, and that’s great. I decided that when I’m sleeping, I need to be sleeping, not writing.

Sometimes we think we’re “multitasking” by constantly thinking about our work during other activities. What a time saver, right? Only I found it to be as fatiquing as actually working. I was supplementing my writing with a part-time night job at the time. It was a very simple, repetitive office job, so I figured I had the perfect opportunity to keep planning business details, dreaming up rough drafts, and generally working my writing business in my head. I had to force myself to stop the brain drain and use the simple, repetitive night job to rest and recover from my writing day. My ongoing feeling of fatigue lifted within a day, and my performance as a writer improved. Ever since then, I’ve set aside specific blocks of time to write, interspersed with specific blocks of less brain-intensive work (or play). Sometimes a little less ambition can actually get you further!

And now it’s time for me to go stare at the wall while my brain takes a nap.

Many years ago I wrote a website for a client in one of the technical fields. The products and services were rather complex in nature, and the owners understood that their own technical backgrounds put them a bit out of touch with their non-technical target market. They asked me to write a set of marketing pieces that would work as a selling tool by sidestepping all the jargon and making the ideas accessible and attractive.

I’m usually a good choice for these “jargon-specific” jobs precisely because of my lack of technical, medical, or legal background. I come to the project as Joe Q. Public. If I can put the concepts into words that I can not only understand but respond to positively, I know I’m on the right track toward attracting that mainstream audience. Ignorance may not be bliss, but it can be highly practical in selective applications.

So I got to work and crafted some clear, simple (but not mindless) copy that stressed the bottom-line benefits of the products, appealing to readers’ desire for ease, convenience, and value. A sensible approach, right?

But the owners were uncomfortable with what I’d done and took it around the offices (this was one of those “decision by committee” things) and each decision maker added his share of comments and notes for the rewrite. Not surprisingly, there were practically no requested cuts — only additions: “Let’s talk more about the specs of this product line.” “We need to be really clear about exactly what this does.” And so on. I was still fairly new in the writing game at this point, so I didn’t feel I had the gravitas to speak with authority against these suggestions (and truthfully, I was just grateful to have a lucrative gig, so I would’ve gone along with anything). So I employed every single “improvement” the client requested.

The client was delighted with the final result. But to this day, I’ve never displayed it in my portfolio, and I never will. It’s a bloated mass of over-explanation that would put a ferret on amphetamines to sleep. I can’t imagine the intended audience responded as the client had hoped; I don’t even know for sure if the company is still in business. If it is, those marketing pieces weren’t the deciding factor, I can guarantee that much.

So what went wrong, other than Yours Truly lacking the backbone to to correct his benefactors’ corrections? Quite simply, the business owners abandoned their initial goals, and they ended up with writing that they liked, instead of what their audience would respond to.

It’s one of the trickiest problems in copywriting, yet also one of the most critical axioms to understands: You don’t necessarily want writing that appeals to you; you want writing that appeals to your target market. If you are NOT your target market, you may need to be prepared for copy that might underwhelm an engineer or an attorney or a neurosurgeon but gives your potential customers just what they need to inspire them to take action.

Let’s face it — if the marketing tool is drawing web traffic to your site or burning up your phone lines with queries or bringing new business through your doors, does it really matter whether you like it or not?

Money is a favorite topic among freelancers — partly because we don’t always receive it when we’re supposed to.

I’ve been pretty lucky. In 12-plus years as a freelance copywriter, I’ve only been jilted a handful of times. But those few times gnawed away at me like you wouldn’t believe, far more so than the dollar amounts should have merited. They not only put me in a financial pinch, they assaulted my self-confidence, not just as a writer but as a business owner. “What, you can’t even get paid for work performed? How do you expect to keep this business going? Oh, and by the way, the rent’s due next week, Captain Successful.” Et cetera.

About three years ago, this problem went away. I willed it away, by making one very simple but powerful change to my freelancing business.

I began insisting on full payment in advance.

I liken my writing business to a vending machine. Money goes in, writing comes out. Or I use the retail store example. Try saying to a supermarket cashier, “I know this candy bar costs a dollar, but I’ll give you 50 cents now, and if I enjoy the candy I’ll come back and give you the other 50 cents after I’m done eating.”

Many freelancers still follow the traditional process of requesting an initial deposit upfront with the remainder due “on completion.” And many of them are sorely tried by the clients’ definition of “completion,” especially if weeks or even months elapse between draft submittal and response — and this does happen, especially when dealing with bigger companies. Of course, if you’re writing for a humongous Fortune 500 client, you’re at the mercy of a massive accounting department with its own rules for paying contractors, so you may have to play the game in those instances. But even small business owners can get too bogged down in their own work to give a timely response. In a few rare cases, they may decide to pull a powder once they have a usable first draft. Where’s your “completion” money then?

I even made the mistake once — ONCE — of writing “on spec” for a client who agreed to pay for several small jobs in one lump sum at the end of the project. I sent all the drafts. I asked for feedback. None came. Finally I had no choice but to ask for payment — and then, of course, I heard back from him right away, protesting that I still had second drafts to write and so forth. I agreed to meet with him and discuss the changes he wanted. He no-showed the meeting. Guess whether or not I ever saw a dime for my many hours of work.

I complained about this to my friend and colleague Tweed Scott, a noted author and motivational speaker, who gave me the best advice I could have received under the circumstances: “Go home and write down all the things you’d do differently now, based on what you’ve learned, and consider the lost money an education fee.”

Well, that’s exactly what I did; no more spec assignments. But I still found some frustration with the payment-installment model. The initial payment would always make its appearance on schedule, but then waiting for the final payment felt about as effective as fishing in an empty lake. Sometimes when the money finally arrived I would scowl at it and say “Where were you when I needed you?”

That’s one of the problems with allowing multiple payments — you can’t budget effectively if you don’t know how much money is due in any given month. Accounting becomes a nightmare. Also, you don’t have time to play bill collector. If you’re like me, your billable time is hugely valuable to you, and you must spend it on income-generating activities. Chasing down money you’ve already earned does not, and cannot, bring you any new clients, jobs, or money, so don’t waste precious time on it.

But what about really large jobs that have to be multi-staged? Well, that’s fine — batch the job out. Accept the portion of the total fee that covers a particular chunk of work, get paid, and then do that chunk of work. Lather, rinse, repeat, until the entire project is finished. If at any point the project gets scrapped, you’ve still gotten paid for work performed, and the client hasn’t paid for any writing not done. Everybody wins.

But for small to mid-sized jobs, I feel that any client sane enough to budget for marketing should be ready to spend the full amount when it’s time to start the project, even if that means delaying the start date in question. If the client doesn’t have the funding firmly in place, how good an idea is it for you to start writing — or, for that matter, for the client to start spending? Both parties are better served by waiting until the timing is right.

Just a little advice to help you ensure that your writing business isn’t all writing and no business.

When you’re developing your marketing strategy and tools, obviously you have to consider your target audience — that specific person or company who will go absolutely ape over what you’ve got to offer. So, who is that ideal customer? You probably have a good idea, right?

Actually, I hear all the time from business owners who don’t.

A red flag goes up for me whenever I hear a businessperson describe his or her ideal customer as “Anyone who…” or “Everybody who might need…” or some other impossibly broad, faceless non-image. That red flag is telling me that this business has not isolated its target market. it’s playing to a crowd instead of an individual.

“But I don’t want to reduce my potential sales by narrowing my audience.” Trust me, if you don’t narrow your audience you can’t get sales, except through dumb luck. A finely honed marketing piece is optimized to reach out and touch one ideal prospective buyer, so you want to develop a clear mental image of that individual. If you were hunting, you wouldn’t just fire random blasts into the bushes (well, maybe you would, but your fellow hunters might take you aside for a little chat). You have to know what you’re aiming at before you can hit it.

Can’t picture your ideal customer? Try asking yourself this question: Who are you?

What unique mix of qualities — traits, strengths, weaknesses, experiences, and passions — do you possess? And out of that huge, faceless throng who might buy from you, which individuals would be most drawn to that particular mix? If you’re the owner/operator of your company, you can’t help but imprint your personality onto your business. Even if you regard your business is a totally separate entity, you’ll still find, if you apply these questions to your brand, that it has a distinctive personality to project to the world. Once you have a clear image of your corporate “face,” then it becomes simpler to imagine the faces of those individual prospects who will be most drawn to you. Best of all, once you can explain to your colleagues and business friends exactly who your target customer is, they’re much better prepared to recognize and refer Mr. or Ms. Perfect to you.

Ever read a marketing piece and exclaim, “Wow, they’re talking directly to me?” Remember that feeling, because that’s the feeling you want inspire. Talk to someone, not “everyone.”