How to Write Copy that Doesn’t Suck

I get cornered all the time by folks desperate to learn the secret of writing perturbingly powerful prose. And while writing damned good copy could (and has) filled volumes, the best advice I can give anyone who wants to pump up their writing is this: Write like you talk.

Yes, I know you feel like you’ve got your fifth grade English teacher standing over your shoulder ready to slam your wrists to hell for splitting infinitives or starting a sentence with “and.”

But if you want to sell to people, you’ve got to sound like a real life human being.

So here’s your copywriting trick of the day: Next time you need to write an email, a brochure, a sales letter or even a laundry list, do it out out loud.

You can whisper if you have to (or if you’re afraid that Jenny from accounting–you know, the one with the hips–will think you’ve gone nuts). Or you can put on your phone headset and pretend you’re on a very important call.

But just start talking. And type down exactly what you say, complete with weird pauses, strange sentence starts and off-color colon use. In the end you’ll have done your part to fight back against the epidemic of “corp speak” and will have a piece about 15 thousand times more likely to get a response.

Stay chilly.

c

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