What can a puppet teach you about copy?

>> Why it pays to be a ventriloquist and an impressionist. 

Here's one way you can differentiate between very average copy and very good copy.

It is the ability to adapt.

May I explain?

In real life you do not speak to everyone in the same way - and nor do they to you.

For example if you're a lawyer addressing a judge and jury you do not speak in the same way you would ask the fishmonger for a lobster.

Your doctor does not speak in the same way as a mechanic in your local garage.

You adapt.

And if you want your copy to sell you must be convincing and believable - so you adapt.

You speak in a way that most fits the situation, who you are supposed to be and your audience.

If you look at most copy today, especially on social media it's all in the same tone of breathless (and hard to believe) enthusiasm.

So when you are writing or reviewing copy, ask yourself who the signatory supposed to be and who that copy is going to.

Many many years ago I had the opportunity to speak to the top bananas at American Express in New York.

A very wise man, our client at American Express gave me some advice 

- Speak as though you are a professor. Not as if you're there to sell something.

So I began by playing some Mozart, which flattered the audience by assuming they were cultured, which were and others wanted to be. 

The talk went well.

So today's suggestion is - don't be the same to everyone in every situation.

Use your intelligence and imagination. Write and act as the signatory would - not like an insanely enthusiastic copywriter.

There are many ways my colleagues and I try to do better than our competitors - after all, we all have competitors.

One is that we do things they don't do.

We can do things they don't because of something that has cost me a great deal of pain over the years - my mistakes.

There have been many and no doubt will be more.

But you will benefit.

For my job today is to ensure my colleagues and I don't repeat those mistakes at your expense.

And when you've made as many as me that means we get you better results than other people.

Look, I won't bore you again by listing all the clients we've worked for around the world... or all the products and services we've sold... or all the results we've got - except to say we guarantee we'll do better for than just about anyone.

If you want results - and by God you'll need them as the world climbs out of this recession - just drop me a line. 

Best,

Drayton

P.S. Know anyone who'd appreciate my Bird Droppings? Tell them to sign up to my mailing list here.