My guest blogger Marcia Yudkin shares how to spark creative thinking when faced with writing about the boring, the mundane and the tedious.
Spruce Up Boring Product/Service Descriptions With Variety, Voice and Verve
by Marcia Yudkin
Sigh. You have another 17 product descriptions to go for your web site or catalog. You realize the reader was yawning long ago, and you’re going to scream for not knowing how to avoid making every widget sound the same.
To the rescue! Here’s a quick checklist to help you inject variety and freshness into your copy:
Now look at your list of answers and choose one or more ideas that provide an appealing angle. Add the practical facts like how big and how much, and you’re done.
No matter how prosaic the item, no matter how similar it is to other items, ingenuity can make it stand up and wave “Buy me!” to a shopper.
Marcia Yudkin, author of Persuading on Paper and 10 other books, specializes in compelling, yet hype-free copywriting. This article is adapted from her report, 73 Ways to Describe a Widget: Never Be Brain Dead Again When Having to Write Catalog Copy or Sales Material.
No CommentsI recently read an article in Columbus C.E.O. magazine called “Youth Ministry” about what Columbus, Ohio is doing to lure young professionals to live and work in the city.
One of the sources in the story was quoted as saying Columbus could be a more inviting place for young professionals if it would:
Hmm.
Good for Columbus, sure.
But it’s also a four-part strategy for getting great copy.
No CommentsOn the TLC television show, “What Not to Wear” (WNTW), fashion experts Stacey London and Clinton Kelly employ style rules to make over real-life fashion disasters.
The dynamic duo teaches an unwitting fashion victim how to express his or her personal style with clothes and accessories that flatter their shape and size. Of course, London and Kelly help ensure that the style rules are followed precisely and the resulting makeover is always a rousing success.
Style rules also have their place in revamping something else — copy that’s lacking substance and style.
So here are my “3 Rules to Transform Calamitous Copy into Tantalizing Text.”
Agree? Disagree? Have your own tried-and-true style rule? Please share your comments.
2 CommentsI’m feeling a bit snarky today so rather than fight it, I’m just going to embrace it.
I get snarky when the sun doesn’t shine enough, when people say one thing and do another, and whenever I hear someone whine.
Especially when I hear the whine.
Like the little girl in the post office the other day who kept demanding things unreasonably and disrespectfully of her mother who, of all things, gave in each and every time. Like the customer service person who talks about “them” in the order entry department as if they’re from another world instead of the same company. Like the grocery store clerk who goes on and on about how he has to work a whole four-hour shift and whine, blah, blah, blah, whine, without so much as a hello to, ahem, the customer.
See. Told you I was snarky.
What makes me even snarkier is when I hear four famous little words … “It’s not our fault.”
Oh, you don’t even have to hear those words verbatim to “hear” them, if you know what I mean. Plenty of companies imply it in their copy (ah, finally, the copy connection).
Here are some of the words, phrases and practices that scream “It’s not our fault …”
Playing the blame game in any way does nothing to create relationship, dialogue or loyalty with your audience.
Instead, take a customer service cue from online shoe seller Zappos.com who happily refunds your purchase price and ships to and from for free. Or from online cosmetics giant Sephora.com who cheerfully and promptly replaces or refunds merchandise — no questions asked.
Good customer service words, phrases and practices include:
That kind of service — and copy — says it all.
No CommentsThis post was was inspired by two things …
Read on … I promise you’ll learn something new or at least be reminded of something important.
I always wanted a mentor. I never had one.
Even now, when I hear someone say, “My mentor …” I get a little wistful.
Sure, there were people in my career path who could’ve mentored me, but 20 years ago, it was the age of being a climber. Sorry to say, but the career women in my life were tight-lipped about their success.
In fact, I remember accompanying an editor of mine to a fancy BPW meeting. I was so excited to have been asked to go and it was clear that I was an ankle-biter in a sea of well-coiffed, impeccably dressed (replete with fancy floppy scarf ties) seniors. As I was standing there soaking it all in, a topic came up about finding a young, aspiring writer for a project. My editor-boss she said she didn’t know one.
Hello?!
I was standing right there.
Other people even commented that I might perhaps be a fit and they looked at me with sad eyes that said, “Sorry, she’s being an idiot.”
The editor-boss poo-pooed the idea. (BTW, she’s now a highly acclaimed editor at her state’s largest newspaper.)
So, instead of being bitter (wistful’s not the same as bitter), I’ve decided to give what I couldn’t get. I’ve signed up to be a mentor on www.thecreativecareer.com.
If you’re in the marketing communications field, I urge you to sign up to be a mentor, too. If you’re not, be a mentor anyway. It’ll do you and the world some good.
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