Ever wonder why that is?

Sure, it’s easy to make vague references to practice making perfect and the development of one’s writing “chops,” but what are we really talking about here? What is it about writing every day that makes the words come faster and better? What really happens between the ears of an experienced writer that makes the fingers fly?

I stumbled across a fascinating article by CUNY Writing Fellow Carlos Penaloza that offers some possible answers. Penaloza refers to several scholarly studies indicating that habitual activities actually rewire the brain, creating new biochemical pathways that make the activity progressively easier with repetition. The brain literally remodels itself based on what we do and how often we do it.

Why can that pole vaulter sail over the bar every time? Well, because he’s talented. But aside from that, he’s done it a zillion times more than you or I have. He’s trained his brain to issue the precise instructions his body needs to perform the vault at top efficiency. So it goes with writing — or any other occupation.

What’s more, it seems that habitual everyday writing makes it easier for us to finish a writing project once we start. I’ve rescued countless clients who set out to write their own marketing copy, only to get hopelessly stuck at some point in the proceedings. They knew what they meant to say, they certainly had the intelligence and eloquence to say it well, but they hadn’t sailed through choppy writing waters often enough to do much more than lash themselves to the mast and hope things work themselves out — a good way to end up in the middle of nowhere.

So when you hire a professional writer who bangs the keys every day, you’re employing the most efficient possible solution to your writing needs. A couple hours of a professional’s time will yield better results and cost you less than losing ten or twenty hours of expensive downtime to rusty writing neurons. The practiced writer’s brain is a high-speed writing machine that delivers quality work on a deadline. And best of all, it’s available for rental.

You can get inside this writer’s head by visiting www.reynoldswriting.com.

Do you wonder why more people don’t respond to your e-newsletters? I can’t give you a definite answer without actually taking a look for myself, and even then you’re getting my opinion, not your target audience’s. I can, however, tell you what turns me off. I get plenty of e-newsletters each month. I don’t read many of them. It’s not the medium — it’s the content.

Many of the people who send me e-newsletters have apparently mastered the art of ensuring that I won’t read them. For the rest of you on the borderline, here are a few things you can do to guarantee that I will NOT want to read your e-newsletter:

Don’t ask me if I want it. After all, we chatted at an industry event six months ago, right? Okay, we didn’t chat, but we met. Okay we didn’t actually meet, but we traded business cards. Okay, we didn’t trade cards but we were physically in the same room….None of this automatically means that I’m dying to receive regular emails from you. Ask me first.

Don’t allow me to opt out. Assuming I agreed to receive the e-newsletter, I still might want the option to remove myself from the email list at some point. If I don’t see that option, then I’ll have to opt YOU out instead — by sending all your emails to the spam bin.

Send massive amounts of content that I have no time to read. Most of us check our email on the fly in the midst of a busy workday. If that in-depth white paper or industry study looks like it’s going to seriously derail my forward momentum, I’ll put it aside — and it’ll never get read.

Send the same info over and over again. Tweaking 10 percent of your e-newsletter content each issue does not create a new experience for me.

Send me something every freaking (day/2 days/week/choose your own irritating interval). Even if it’s great stuff, send it too frequently and the signal turns to noise. I tune noise out. How frequently is “too frequently?” Ask your readers.

Send at irregular intervals. Are you publishing quarterly? Monthly? Randomly? Create a regular schedule and stick to it, because that’s what professionals do.

Ask me for money. Just — don’t.

For more about me, my writing services and current package deals, check out my website at www.reynoldswriting.com.

WR: How has your experience as a document management specialist helped you as a graphic designer?

JD: Document management involves the most efficient movement of information through a company. My knowledge of document management strategies has given me an edge when it comes to seeing the pieces I create and understanding what role they play in the company’s organization. I can visualize the documents I create in terms of how they reflect and complement the business’s overall branding and corporate philosophy, and how they will interact with other forms and documents to help make the company’s intended statement about itself.

WR: What’s the collaborative process between a graphic designer and copywriter?

JD: You and I both need the same information when we work on a project. We need to know the purpose of the piece, the target audience and what it needs to accomplish. You have your job and I have mine, but we both have to stay on the same page and make sure each of us knows all the answers to the critical questions. One thing we often find in working together is that the initial spark can start from either end. Your words might inspire a certain visual approach in my work, or I might give you an image and have you write to that image.

WR: What should someone look for when shopping around for a graphic designer?

JD: A portfolio with a varied style, something that shows range. If a designer’s work all conforms to one style, that designer may not have the flexibility to handle a wide range of jobs or clients. Make sure your designer is willing to look at your competitors’ marketing and use the styles that work best within your industry. Look for a designer who will put your needs first. I tend to think of myself as a salesperson first and a designer second. I love the creative side of the work, but it’s never just me trying to express myself on paper. I put my creativity at the service of the client because the priority, to me, is to give the client a final product that represents a high professional standard, makes an impression and affects the way the client is perceived in the marketplace. It’s about making sales, not pretty pictures.

WR: Why do you specialize in print marketing design in today’s multimedia world?

JD: Well, 15 years ago when I was starting out as a graphic designer, web design technologies weren’t as user-friendly as they are today. I preferred the real-time rendering and previewing I could get while working on a print piece. Also, I really like the physical nature of the finished product, holding that piece of paper with the full-color design printed on it. But I have strong networking relationships with web specialists and other types of designers, so I’m always happy to help a client who needs design for other media as well.

Well, putting aside mundane physical issues such as carpal tunnel syndrome or eyestrain for the moment, the average freelancer faces all kinds of emotional and financial bumps and bruises in the call of duty. Freelancers who focus on pitching stories or submitting fiction manuscripts have built up many layers of calluses from rejection after rejection — it’s part of the job description, regardless of writing quality. In the marketing world, copywriters seeking new clients may find themselves negotiating hidden booby-traps. Over the years I’ve gotten to the point where I can see some of these potential dangers lurking on the horizon from pretty far away, though once in a while I still get tripped up.

Anyway, here are a few red flags I’ve learned to identify. Hopefully they will help writers steer clear of bad situations while also helping well-intentioned business owners avoid throwing up one of these flags inadvertently.

“We just thought we’d pick your brain on the subject.” This usually means you’re being asked to contribute your expertise for free. You’ll have to decide, on a case-by-case basis, how much information you’re comfortable offering up on a writing project without the meter running. True, the client or prospect can’t use that information as well as a professional writer could, so if they’re smart they’ll hire you to do the actual heavy lifting anyway. But look out for the client who throws out this comment and then hangs on your every word, notepad in hand, and pumps you for an increasing level of detail about exactly what you would do — or you may not end up doing it.

“If this works out for everybody, we have tons of future work for you.” Expect a request for a severely discounted rate or perhaps even a deferred payment, with the “tons of future work” hanging in the air like some great mythical creature that’s certain to appear if you just make the proper sacrifice to it — that sacrifice being an acceptable pay rate. Stick to your guns. If the client truly does have a serious need for your future services, he will understand their value and pay accordingly.

“Write this sample story to show us how you’d write the assignments we’d be sending you.” While some of these requests are no doubt legit, it would be easy for a fly-by-night company to suck in a bunch of free “samples” like a literary Hoover — without actually hiring any of the submitting writers or paying for the articles. Your best bet is with the company that asks for a couple hundred words about your family dog, favorite tree, or some other topic that obviously doesn’t benefit them except as a sample of your style.

Don’t get me wrong, the outstanding majority of my writing experiences have been good ones. But recognizing a few of those red flags when they do pop up sure helps. You don’t have to be paranoid — just keep your eyes open.

Visit my website at www.reynoldswriting.com.

Well, not quite. No matter how much of the creative burden you offload to the writer, you still have an important task to perform — communicating what you need and want to your creative team. If your writer (or graphic artist, or web designer, et cetera) receives wrong or incomplete information about your mission statement, corporate values, target market or the other things that make your business tick, you’ll get marketing content that misses the mark. Effective communication with your writer will help ensure strong, effective copy just as effective communication with an architect helps ensure that your home ends up with the right number of bathrooms. “Hey, the house looks great now that it’s built. By the way, did I mention we’re a family of twelve?” Oops.

Some items you want to make sure you discuss with your writer include:

Priorities. Writers love background information, so by all means pile it on. But at some point before the writing starts, make sure you’ve highlighted the talking points nearest and dearest to you. (A competent writer should ask you for this right off the bat, but make sure it gets stated regardless.) What are the most important things your audience needs to come away with after viewing your marketing content? What must they do? How must they feel? What things about your business set you apart from your competitors? Once you’ve discussed these things with your writer, you can then throw an avalanche of white papers, web links or other data on his/her shoulders, confident that the big points will get the most “ink” in the final product.

Creative scope. Putting your writer on either too long or too short a creative leash will put a noose around your chances for getting the right final product. If you tell the writer, “Hey, you’re the creative guy. Just come up with something,” be prepared not to like what happens. The writing you get may “sparkle” and represent a high professional standard, but it may also cover the wrong topic or emphasize the wrong message. On the other hand, if you’re mapping out every little point and sub-point down to individual phrases, you’re really writing the piece yourself and using the writer as an editor or transcriptionist. That’s okay if it’s the arrangement that you and the writer agreed on, but if you’re paying somebody to create content and then spoon-feeding every single word to that person, you’re wasting time and money.

Direction. Many business owners and marketing directors bring a new writer onboard when they intend to make a drastic change in the direction of their marketing. But what if you just want to continue what you’ve already started? That’s great too. Like a session musician sitting in for an established member of the band, a skilled writer can mimic a wide range of tones and styles. while the presence of that new player adds the jolt of fresh energy you seek. Just make it very clear to the writer that it ain’t broke and you don’t want it fixed. Not a problem.

Speak to your writer, and you’ll get writing that speaks to your customers. And that’s the most important communication of all.

Check out my website at reynoldswriting.com.

I hear that all the time, and it’s a very smart request. Many a crestfallen business owner has to come to grief trying to reconcile colloqueal-sounding speech with written text. As I mentioned in a previous post, written English simply doesn’t work the same way spoken English does, and some of the wittiest, most entertaining speakers I know couldn’t write their way out the proverbial paper bag. Me, I’m the opposite. I’d much rather write than talk. I’m not the worst speaker in the world, but every time I stand in front of an audience and give a presentation I keep wishing I could just email it in. Writing is my comfort zone. I’m weird that way. Fortunately for my career as a copywriter, I’m not in the majority.

If we were to write the same way we express ourselves in everyday speech, the resulting content would stink up the joint. Go ahead, give it a try and see what happens. Expect uncoordinated, stream-of-consciousness banter peppered with pauses, unfinished sentences, “Ums,” “Uhs,” and other literary gems. Trust me, you don’t really want to sound like yourself in your writing. You want to read like yourself instead.

What does that mean? It means that you have to use words and phrases that read as if you were speaking to us, when in fact the text is much more tightly organized, effectively worded, and compellingly presented than something that just flew out of your mouth on the spur of the moment. You have to conjure the illusion of your voice without actually replicating it. The result? The voice that resounds through the page or monitor evokes your personality, humor, concern, humanity, et cetera, only with language that works on the page instead of the stage.

Not sure how to swing this aural illusion? Try reverse-engineering it. Picture that finished web page or brochure in your mind as clearly as you can. Imagine how you would like your words to read. Is the tone professional or homespun? Is the message concise? Does every word contribute to the cumulative impact of the whole? Ask yourself, “How would I say this if I were the world’s greatest marketing writer?”

That’s you — only better.

No, this isn’t a transcript from a nuthouse. I have this kind of conversation with clients all the time. It’s actually a very sensible and important conversation, too, because we’re discussing what kind of “person” works best for which situations.

By “person,” I mean grammatical person, in the sense of first-person, second-person, or third-person pronouns. We use these pronouns a zillion times a day in everyday writing and speech, usually without giving them a second thought, and yet these simple little words contain tremendous power.

Pronouns shift perception. You can make me, your reader, see you as an individual, as a team, or as a large, impersonal corporation by merely swapping out a word. You can address me directly or have me see things through your eyes. Powerful gadgets, pronouns. But with great power comes great responsibility, and all pronouns are not created equal depending on the task you want them to perform in your marketing content. That’s when I get into mind-bending conversations with my clients about “we,” “I,” and “they.” So which person makes the strongest impact? It depends:

First person singular: First person allows you to present yourself as an individual. If you’re a sole proprietor serving as a trusted advisor for your clients, talking them directly as “I” can build trust and open an imaginary (and later, hopefully, real) dialogue between you and your reader. Many small businesses live or die by their owner’s image and personality, using “I” as a powerful tool for getting that image across.

First person plural: A.k.a. the “Royal We.” If you’re speaking for a team, “we” presents a collective image of that team. Companies of any size can use “we” to give the impression of a unified group effort dedicated to fulfilling the customer’s needs. Even sole proprietors sometimes describe themselves as “we” or “us” to puff themselves up a bit, because in some professions being the only guy at the helm makes you look non-competitive or unsuccessful. Small businesses may shift between “I” and “we” to speak as the boss occasionally while still giving the impression of teamwork.

Second person: “You.” Employing the reader’s perspective shows that you understand their feelings and needs — and remember, from their point of view it’s all about them anyway. “You” enables the reader to imagine about how the product or service impacts their quality of life. “You can have it all! Change your life today!” Et cetera.

Third person: In some cases a larger company, or a small company that wants to appear large, can opt for more formality by referring to the company employees as “they,” with formal bio blurbs describing individuals in terms of “he” or “she.” This works well for a bio or mission statement in a fancy-pants panel program, business plan, and so on. It also lends gravitas to a person in a relatively sober-minded profession such as medicine or law. But occasionally I’ll warn a client against third person, because it also puts up a kind of wall between writer and reader instead of creating the comforting bond some businesses need to establish.

So, which person does the job for you? They all can, depending on the emotional impression you want to make on your reader. Once you’ve know what impression you want to make, you can attach the right person to the right job.

My playwriting teacher knew where to find me, of course. “They like the play,” he said. “The only thing you need is a new curtain line.”

“New curtain line?”

“Yes. The closing line of the act isn’t strong enough. You need to put something else there that will really resonate with the audience on the way out, something that will draw them back for Act Two.”

“Uh…okay.” I wouldn’t have minded having this conversation sometime before the midpoint of opening night, but sometimes you really can’t tell what’s working in a script until you put it on its feet in front of an audience. So after the show I went home, thought up a new line for the leading character to end the first act with, and the next night the whole scene — in fact, the whole show — worked noticeably better.

Copywriting has its own version of the “curtain line.” It’s known as the call to action.

The call to action consists of that final compelling statement in which you force the readers to react to what they’ve just absorbed in a specific way. Maybe it’s time for them to pick up the phone and place their order. Maybe it’s time for them to fill out the request form for more details. Maybe it’s time for them to whip out their credit card and make that payment. The point is — it’s time. You’ve delivered a compelling message to them; now it’s time for them to respond appropriately.

A good piece of copywriting has a shape to it, much as a well-written act in a play has a clear structure. An effective act grabs the audience from the beginning, ratchets that interest level higher and higher, then leaves them in the most powerful, congruent emotional state possible — the precise emotional state you want them to experience. Copywriting builds in a similar manner, ending with such an emotional punch that the reader feels compelled to take the next step.

So when you write that marketing piece, save the best for last. Rally the troops — your readers — with a rousing call to action. Challenge them to act on that feeling you’ve just planted in them. Turn those prospects into customers, and customers into repeat customers. Get what you want the easy way — by asking for it.

Curtain!

In the course of the film, alongside a series of bizarre, surrealistic events that I wouldn’t think of spoiling for you, Barton takes it on himself to bring a little “common man” nobility to the wrestling-picture genre, crafting a literate, sensitive story of the wrestler’s inner struggle — a man “wrestling with his soul.” He delivers the finished script to the studio as the finest thing he’s ever done.

And of course Lipnick hates it. “It’s a wrestling picture. The audience wants to see WRESTLING, and lots of it!” He all but fires Barton, keeping him on the payroll on the odd chance he can be molded into the kind of writer the studio can use — one that makes the product he’s asked to make.

And you know what? Lipnick is right. He’s right because he understands that his audience is right.

We have to give audiences what they want, not what we think they need — or what we think is profound or brilliant or funny. Playwright George S. Kaufman once recalled being furious with an audience for never laughing at a “hilarious” line, until it finally dawned on him that maybe it would be easier to fix the line than to fix the audience. He ended up doing all right for himself.

If the writing gets the desired result, then it’s right. If it doesn’t, then it’s wrong. This simple rule holds true for playwriting, for screenwriting — and for copywriting.

Heck, it’s even true for wrestling. They use writers too, you know.

Sure, I watch Star Trek. Writers spend a lot of time cooped up at home, and yes, most of us are okay with that. I enjoy cruising through the galaxy at warp speed with the Star Trek gang, mainly because it allows me to pretend that I’m getting out of the house occasionally. But even if I couldn’t care less about the franchise, there’s no denying that it has developed into a formidable chunk of pop culture over the past half-century. So even those of us who don’t know about it kinda-sorta do.

Anyway, Nimoy’s announcement got me thinking about the show, and about Mr. Spock’s home planet, Vulcan. You see, Vulcans have this ability to “mind meld” with people. They grab your head and perform a kind of telepathy on you, reading your thoughts and feeling your emotions (which must stink on ice for Vulcans who mind-meld with humans, since they really aren’t into the whole emotion thing). For a moment, the Vulcan sees the meld-ee’s point of view in perfect clarity, “becoming” that person long enough to achieve a deep level of empathy.

Vulcan must have fantastic marketing departments. Want to know your target audience? Invite a representative of that demographic into your office, plant a hand on the subject’s noggin and blam, instant market research.

We poor humans have no such skills, at least not readily on tap, as far as we can measure. Yet we who market ourselves must perform this very task — we must get inside the heads of our audience, as best we can, and see through their eyes. We must feel their pain or frustration, recognize the things that make them smile, or look at that product or service as if we’ve never seen it before and have no idea what it could do for us.

It’s an acting technique of sorts. Actors train long and hard to learn to inhabit another person’s skin, to make that fictional character move and talk and feel as a flesh-and-blood person by first asking, “How would I feel, what would I do, if I were this character, with this background, education, physical condition, mental state, et cetera?” Writers have to go into this mode as well. When we write fiction, we have to understand our characters so clearly that we can empathize with them from cover to cover — even if we don’t like them. We also have to understand our readers and know what’s most likely to make the right impact on them. And marketing writing requires no less.

So my challenge to you, when you’re planning that email blast or brochure or website, is to try to read the mind of your ideal prospect. Picture that person in your mind as completely as you can. Try to “become” that person long enough to get a crystal-clear idea of what that person wants, fears or needs. Then write your marketing piece to that person.

Live long and prosper.