Avoid This CRINGE-Y Writing Habit Like The Plague!

I took a creative writing class when I was at Cal State San Marcos. Aside from it being a requirement, I wanted to improve my writing skills

We learned many writing styles, including poetry, surrealism, character dialogues, and descriptions, etc.

For the most part, we wrote about anything we wanted, so long as it aligned with the assignment.

One of the ONLY things my professor was firmly against...

...was the use of cliches.

Why?

Because they were “an easy way out” of thinking creatively, he would say. He was right, too. Cliches are what you use when you’re lazy. They require very little effort to come up with.

Think about it: everyone has said them before at some point in their writing. They’re unoriginal. It's true that cliches make it easier to get your point across at times. But it dramatically lowers the quality of your writing…

Unfortunately, the same rule applies to sales copy.

Cliches Are The Worst Than Grammatical Errors… (In My Opinion)

What’s the first thing you hear in your mind when you think of a “get-rich-quick scheme?”

I'm sure you've heard these before:

“I made a BAJILLION dollars in Just 3 Days!”

“You can do this STRICTLY PART-TIME!”

“All you have to do is find three new people!”

“Fire YOUR boss!”

“Just follow these 3 simple steps!”

“With just a push of a button, you can make $______________________ (‘cuz that’s usually how big the number is) a month – INSTANTLY!”

“Buy this system and make money on AUTOPILOT!”

“This isn’t some ‘get-rich-quick-scheme’!”

Don’t some of these just make your skin crawl? Well if they do, it’s because:

1. These quotes are completely misleading
2. They’re ingenuine
3. THEY’RE SUPER CLICHE!

So if the cliches above make you want to vomit, imagine if you put them in your sales copy…

They would categorize your valiant attempt at persuasion with scammy, fraudulent activity!

All because you threw in some cliches!

Talk about “being in a pickle!” (LOL #clichecity)

Which brings me to my next point:

You know it’s a cliche when you’re reader complete the phrase before they finish reading it.

One Tip To Avoid Cliches – ACTUALLY Be Creative

Avoiding the usage of cliches is actually much easier than you think.

In class, we replaced our cliches with vivid descriptions.

Instead of cliches we described character appearances, their thoughts, and feelings.

In other words, we had to use words to get our message across…go figure.

I won’t lie, it was challenging in the creative class. But when you’re writing sales copy, it’s much easier!

All you have to do is describe in detail the benefits, fears, and desires of your target audience. And you have to do it in a way in which THEY will understand.

So if you’re writing to men who are looking to attract women, you wouldn’t write something like:

“Show her who’s ‘daddy’ with this special technique!”

(ugh…this is bad, especially from me! LOL).

You could write something like:

“This simple attraction-hack will make her uncontrollably lust after you!”

(much better!)

Putting a little effort not only makes for a clearer picture, but it also makes it easier to read. If you’ve ever read anything cringe-worthy, you know how difficult it is to get through it all. The last thing you want is your copy to make people cringe from cliches.

Speaking of which, I know I’ve written about how puns can make you cringe too. But puns can also be creatively placed, unlike cliches.

Another way to rid puns from your copy is to replace adjectives. Instead of saying, “a cool, new way to ask girls out,” you can say something like “a weirdly effective way,” or “a much better way” etc.

And of course, just try new words and phrases that you’ve never heard used before.

To Use Cliches Is A Cliche Within Itself

In conclusion, just don’t use cliches in your writing. You’ll end up suffering for your laziness in the long-run. When in doubt, stick to vivid descriptions of benefits, desires, fears, and the most desirable things your prospects are looking for.

For more copywriting tips and strategies, click here.