If copywriters think like strategists, can strategists write like copywriters?

From my talk for The Sweathead Do-Together in September 2021:

Hello. How are you?

I’m good. I’m just thinking.

We do a lot of that, don’t we? Thinking.

We do a lot of thinking before we do a lot of writing.

Wait, are we thinking about the same things?

I think we are. But in slightly different ways.

I think strategists think about what they can do to solve the audience’s problem. And I think copywriters think about how they can tell the audience their problem will be solved.

Perhaps, more simply: strategists work on solutions and copywriters work on executions.

Horrid words, those – “solutions and executions”. They’re so cold and corporate. It’s like something happens when we walk into work – we think we must leave our personality behind, and look and sound different. Professional and proper.

So we say weird things like “solutions and executions”.

But what happens if we just take a deep breath. And shake off the expectations. And relax. And remind ourselves of who we really are, and how we really talk.

Maybe we’d make things really simple and say: strategists sell the story and copywriters tell the story.

Strategists sell the story to the client and the copywriter. They do the what.

Copywriters tell the story to the consumer. They do the how.

That sounds better, doesn’t it? Less professional and proper. More natural. Easy.

And really, really clear.

You know, when we say something that feels more natural and easy, we make everything easy for the people we’re talking to. They get it. They get us.

And that’s what we want. To be on side, and on the same side as the people we’re talking to. Why dance around clarity to sound professional and proper when we can get straight to the point and take everyone with us on one smooth and easy ride?

You know, I read recently that communicating with clarity is respectful to the information we’re sharing, and the people we’re sharing it with. Communicating with clarity lets us communicate more richly and persuasively too. And that’s what we want, isn’t it?

So, how do we do it? Well, it’s all just a matter of words. I know, I would say that – words are my thing. But it’s true – and words can be your thing too. Words make or break a story, so we must choose and use our words carefully – we must make our words work.

There are hundreds of thousands of words in the world.

Some of them work, some of them don’t.

The words that work are the meaningful ones – the words that bring meaning to a story, and mean something to someone. The words that make someone think. The words that make someone feel. The words that make someone do something like buy our idea or our product.

The words that don’t work – well, they don’t work. They don’t do anything for anyone.

They don’t make them think, feel or do anything.

So what words work?

Real words work. Real words that real people really say.

And you know what? Real words are really easy to find. You know why? Because in real life, we’re real people talking to other real people. And we all use real words all the time. It’s just that when we’re writing a brief or presenting a deck or talking in a meeting, we forget ourselves, and we forget the real words. We use words we think we should say because we think they sound professional and proper.

We use words like “platforms and frameworks and architectures” – we use words we’d never really use when we’re with real people like our friends and family. We’d never say “we’re talking to our sister on a call platform” or “we’re creating a framework for the weekend.” No, we’d say “we’re calling our sister” and “we’re making weekend plans.”

So let’s get rid of words that don’t work, and write words that work. Words that paint a clear picture for our clients, our colleagues and our consumers.

Look at this:

Target audience:

Women

Approx 30 years of age

Average 2 children

Stay-at-home mother for approx 5 years

Principal household purchaser

Content in personal life and recreational activities

Looks familiar, right? A list of insights to tell everyone who we’re talking to. The thing is, those insights aren’t inspiring – they’re informative and interesting, but they aren’t inspiring.

Look at this:

We’re talking to…

Mums.

They’re about 30 years old, and for the past five or so years, they’ve been busy making their home a home for their two lovely kids. They do most of the shopping most of the time. And they’re happy in their world. Really, really happy.

Feels a bit different, doesn’t it? Feels more real. More believable. We’ve painted a picture. We’re telling a story, and we’ve brought a person to life. Now we know her a bit better, and we can imagine her, which helps us know what to say to her, and how to say it.

How have we done that? With words that work. We’ve used real words that real people really say.

There’s no standard strategy speak like “target audience” anymore, and there’s no list of insights that on their own are a just a list of words that don’t really work. Now, we’ve got words we’d really say – words that work.

And you know what? Once we start writing real words that work, we can’t stop. Because we see the benefit in writing like people speak – it makes everything easy. Everyone understands.

So instead of saying things like:

We’re an innovative brand

We’ll say things like:

We were the first to do it

And instead of saying things like:

Immersive 360 degree cinematic audio experience

We’ll say things like:

Sounds like you’re at the cinema

And suddenly everything feels different. Everything feels real and believable, and if everything feels real and believable behind the scenes, copywriters will write words that everyone sees that will feel real and believable too.

I’m not asking you to write copy here. I’m not trying to scare you into thinking you need to get creative and play with words and come up with the headline for an ad, or the slogan for a brand. Copywriters write all that. But you can write too. You can write the words that are insightful for the client, and the words that are inspiring for the copywriter. You can write words that work.

Let me break this down for you with tips you can take away and use in anything and everything you write. These are my three key copywriting principles – but they’re not just for copywriters – they’re for anyone who writes anything, and they are:

Get real

Get personal

Get active

Get real is all about using everyday language – the real words real people really say every day. Swap out the technical jargon, the corporate speak, and the marketing terms. Swap out the boring stuff for the real stuff. It makes everything easy for everyone.

Get personal is all about writing in the first person, because we’re always talking to a person. Say “you” and “we” instead of sticking brand names in everywhere. When we’re in a brand world, we don’t need to say the brand name all the time – our audience knows who we are.

And get active is all about the active voice. When we use the active voice, we make what we say sound like it’s happening now so our audience feels like they can jump right in and join us. The passive voice makes what we say sound like something’s already happened, so our audience feels like they can’t join in, and they wonder why they’re wasting their time with us.

Use those tips together, or on their own. Making your words work is easy. And when your words work, your work works.

It’s worth thinking about.

More on how to write right here