The 7 habits of highly effective copywriters: #4 mind stuffing

Peek inside a copywriter’s brain and it’d look a lot like a ‘before’ shot on that TV show, ‘Hoarders’.

Our neural pathways are stacked, floor to ceiling, with tatty boxes marked “Useful?”. Rummage about inside any one of these and you’ll find a mess of odd facts and broken-off bits of ideas.

For example, I recently learned that the Mandarin word for ‘penguin’ literally translates to ‘business goose’. This kind of factoid makes me so happy, I can hardly stand it. I’m not sure how, but it’ll show up in my copy someday.*

See, no matter what you write about, you need to know a little about a lot of things; piles of bits and bobs you can jam together to build something new. 

Speaking of building, plenty have marvelled at the fact we only have 26 letters to work with in the English language. And a marvel it is – just look at what we do with them. Whether our intent is to wound, rally or inspire, we can organise those 26 symbols into just the arrows, beacons or lightbulbs required to effect action or change. Or sell coffee pods. Whatevs.

(I should like to point out that a composer creates entire symphonies using literally half the tools; there are just 8 white and 5 black keys on a piano. But I digress...)

You’ll often see copywriters referred to as ‘wordsmiths’; craftspeople who can turn a phrase as you might a wooden table leg. And naturally, you might view words as the raw material.

Yet, I’d argue that copywriting isn’t an exercise in words at all. They’re merely currency. Indifferent bike couriers, collecting and delivering our most precious (and potentially volatile) cargo: ideas.

And to write really well, as we’ve already established, you’re going to need lots of those.

Which, in a roundabout way, brings us to the 4th habit of highly effective copywriters: mind stuffing.

The first step in any copywriting project is almost always research. That’s one kind of mind stuffing. Those delicious insights about the product or service, the business or brand offering it, the ideal customer… but we already covered all that in my post on ‘curiosity’.

There’s a different kind of mind stuffing that is just as essential; a more general knowledge of the world, of the creatures wandering about in it and how it all intersects.

This could easily block out so much space in your schedule, it would appear you have a second full-time job. But it’s more like a devotion.

Ideas can (and should) come from any number of sources; books, essays, blogs, coffee chats, research reports, podcasts and radio shows, TV and film, interesting historical/scientific facts, interpretive dance, high art, pop culture, the inflammatory comments under online articles, your Twitter feed, song lyrics and (my personal fave) casually eavesdropping on other people’s conversations – sadly, much harder now, with social distancing.

In other words, you must keep your eyes and ears turned up to 11 at all times. You never know what bit of guff will rub up against your synapses and spark your next Big Idea.

Now, after a certain amount of stuffage, even the greediest of brains will push its plate away and plead “no more”. And then what?

Well, as my dad used to advise whenever I stumbled over some creative piece or essay at school, there’s only thing to do: let your brain do the work.

Everyone has a preferred method of switching off. You might go for a walk, clean out the fridge, take a nap, alphabetise your bottle-top collection – just go with whatever mindless activity allows you to get the heck outta your brain’s way so it can do its thing.

That ‘thing’ seems to be a mad ‘choose your own adventure’ game. Your brain is now constructing pathways and bridges at lightning speed and (taking careful note of any dead ends) playing out millions of potential scenarios until it works out which one winds up with you holding the keys to the idea castle.

And if, after all this, you do take a bolt of genius to the left temple, for Pete’s sake, WRITE IT DOWN.

Look, I happen to have been blessed with a crazy good memory and even I have to keep a notebook on hand at all times. Trust me – the best material is extra slippery and falls out your ear while you sleep.

That’s just science.

This cycle of stuffing and letting your brain ‘walk it off’ must be repeated on a regular basis. You’ll never be done and if you stop, you’ll feel it. Keep up the regime, however, and you’ll have more ideas than you know what to do with.

*Of course, I realise, I’ve already used the ‘business goose’ thing here, which is a bit meta. Nah, this doesn’t count.

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