Spam of the Day

Some of the best modern fiction today is being co-opted by spammers. My regular dose of “C i a l i s” and “v1agro” spam came in this morning, but at the bottom of the frame one of them had this:

“you, Mr. Bourne. And care for you.
Jason looked at her in the shadows, grateful for the darkness; she
could not clearly see his eyes. Then be reasonable and use your head,
he said coldly, suddenly feeling so old, too old for such a
transparently false lack of feeling. We know Carlos is in Moscow and
Krupkin isnt far behind him. Dimitris flying us there in the morning, ”

Which is, of course, from one of the “Bourne Identity” books. You see? Spammers aren’t evil. They’re spreading good literature to the world!

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I blame the sunshine.

Am I the only one having a terribly hard time focusing on work (or on blogging) the last few days? It’s gorgeous out here. Terribly gorgeous. The type of gorgeous that ruins economies. Even now, typing this little tiny post and getting ready to go teach a Biznik class, my eyes keep drifting off toward the window. I want to go to the park. I want to play frisbee.

I wonder if anyone’s ever done studies on worker productivity and sunshine. Are sunnier places less productive than the dark and dreary? Or do the dark and dreary places see a giant drop in productivity when the sun comes out while shiny places like LA stay about the same all year long?

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HWW #15 – Why Copywriting is just the third most important part of your campaign.

Hey, guys.

HWW #15 has been posted to the archive. Go dig in. It’s a good one.

http://haddadink.com/newsletter/2006-04-01/

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HWW #15 – Now with even more protein!

Hey, guys

HWW #15 has just been sent out to the clamoring masses.

It’s a good one. It features a funny/embarrassing story about me. What more can you ask for? What, I say?

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Sometimes you get what you need. . . .

This is sort of a behind the music post–a look into the world of a hardworking copywriter and the decisions I have to face most days of the week.

Possibly this is a little more than I should let on in a public forum, but heck, what’s a blog for if not for getting yourself in trouble?

Here we go:

—-

The customer is always right . . . except when he isn’t.

This morning I got comments back on a project I’m doing for a tech company.

And the comments came back in the form of the big red document of doom.

Now, having worked for tech companies in the past (I’m in Seattle, so the big M is nearby), the big red document of doom is no stranger to me.

What, you may ask, is the big red document of doom?

It’s when a client goes nuts with MS word’s track changes feature and rewrites massive amounts of copy.

Which is fine. I’ve seen it before, and I find the best thing to do when a client feels to need to go all Big red on me is to let them do it, read what they do, and then figure out what they actually mean on my own so I can do my second draft.

But the real issue here is that the client wants to go in a direction that is the fundamental opposite of what they should be doing and that rubs all my copywriting instincts the wrong way.

The client:

-Is uncomfortable using “I” and “you” in the copy or talking directly to the reader.
-Wants to use “Stronger” language like “initiate” and “solutions” (personally, I think 5 dollar words like that are weaker, not stronger.)
-Wants to have “edge” while maintaining “professionalism” and “following industry standards.”

Which, when put up next to what they said they wanted before I got to work on the project, really all comes down to them not really knowing what they want.

Now, it’s a B2B company. I’ve written a fair share of B2B in the past, and in my experience the B2B copy that works is the B2B copy that realizes that even high powered CEOs are just people like you and me. Yes, you respect them, yes you talk about their “business needs” but no, you shouldn’t use the same old meaningless jargon everybody else does just because you want to sound “professional.”

So here’s my big challenge:

How do I give my client good, hard-working copy, when my client thinks that bad copy is good and that good copy is bad? How do I do what I do best–help them make money–when they’re asking me to write like a generic also ran?

Do I give them what they want or do I fight for what they need?

I’d love to hear your comments.

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The Honest Brand

Thanks to web dev badass Daniel Talsky for pointing out This article for me.

I haven’t dug through the decisive flow folks blog in the past, but I think they hit a core concept of modern branding right and swift on the head. That being that honesty and inclusiveness are a lot more powerful today–and especially online–than hype and dazzle. Building a small business today is about establishing a good mix of old fashioned feet on the street marketing and new fashioned relalationship building.

Anyway, check out the article.

Posted from: The Victrola Coffee Shop
While listening to: That song that says “She fell in love with the drummer” over and over again.

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And we’re back

Hey, folks.

Sorry for the radio silence there. I was buried to my nose in work and theatre stuff and then got hit by the cold to end all colds. 30 or so hours of sleep later and more ibuprofen than I can count and I’m back to my normal writer-monkey self.

I’ve also been busily posting on the Biznik Blog so if you just can’t wait for that Haddonic goodness, shoot on over there.

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Website Basics: 5 Things Every Biznik Needs to Know About the Web (and few more we just think are cool)

Presented by web word merc Chris Haddad and roving web dev Daniel Talsky.

Stumped by the web? Wondering what you really need a website for anyway? Still think frames, flash and splash pages are a good idea? Join us on April 17th, 7PM (Location TBA) for a frank look the whacky world of the web and what it means to small business today.

This class has space for up to 20 members – rsvp required to into@biznik.com. Location TBA.

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Copy isn’t King . . .

It’s a dictator. And a cigar chomping one at that. Copy strides confidently through its fortified villa, cagily avoiding the Wile E. Coyote-like assasination attempts of naysayers and flash programmers. Viva la copy!

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Survey Says!

HWW #14 has shot like a rocket out there into the world. Want to read it NOW? Well, you’d best go subscribe. Otherwise you’ll have to wait until next week when it appears in the archive.

So what are you waiting for? Go subscribe. I’ll still be here when you finish.

Have you gone yet?

If you answer, I know you’re lying.

It’s a good one. I promise.

Ok, fine, I’m done.

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