BAD Writers! No Addy!

Okay, I admit it. I'm a really cynical person.

I hate being sold to. I get irritated with people who try to box me in on sales OR marketing pushes. I look at most ads and scoff, thinking, "Yeah right, like that's going to actually work for me." I've been known to look store salespeople in the face and say, "Why are you trying to sell me something I don't need OR want?"

You might think this would make me a bad copywriter. "Chris, if you don't like the sales & marketing process so much, how can you write sales & marketing materials?"

Simple. I can do better.

The materials people use nowadays for their marketing, on the whole, STINK. Cheap tricks, corny slogans, ridiculous claims, biased & incomplete information, and most of all, pure features! Witness the popularity and posting frenzy of Seth Godin's Liars Blog, as previously mentioned...there's a ton of false promises and outright-dirty tricks used in today's marketing.

I think being this cynical and unforgiving makes me a better copywriter. Why do I think that? When I write a brochure or a website for a company, I'm not going to use a bunch of corny one-liners or text that sounds like it was spewed directly from the mouth of a windbag so large he has to inhale to walk through doors.

I'm going to give that company lots of benefits-driven, down-to-earth copy that speaks directly to their customers and respects their intelligence. Customers who feel respected by the company they're investigating buy from them, it's as simple as that. I don't even mind paying a little more to purchase a product or service from a company that treats me like a thoughtful individual who uses their own brain.

Take a look at your own marketing materials. Throw out all your company inside-info. Think of this as Average Joe Customer meets Snazzy Brochure. Read through it. How does it make you feel? Are you thinking about it?

Most importantly, would YOU buy from you?

If not, call me. I may be cynical, but I'm respectful.

And that is what customers want.