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Knowledge is power.
I know, that statement has been overworked.
But, if you are employing a copywriter to grow your business, it is so relevant to the challenge you are facing. So, stay with me…
For what it’s worth, I believe most copy fails these days, because writers don’t work anywhere near hard enough, to study the product or service they are selling.
To sell anything, a writer has to know everything about it. They have to drown themselves in knowledge.
The first thing they need to understand, is what is better or different about it. Because, THAT is what they are selling.
They need to fully understand the market area, what makes it tick, where the particular product or service fits into it – and the people that might have a propensity to be interested in it.
Who are they? What turns them on and off? Why could this product or service be of interest to them – and what alternatives do they have to consider?
When a writer understands all of that, then – and only then – are they in a position to start writing copy that delivers every reason why someone should buy it – and also positively addresses every reason why they think they shouldn’t.
Here’s a great example. The classic Rolls Royce ad, written by David Ogilvy.
When David won the Rolls Royce account, he got in his car and went to the factory. He stayed there for weeks, finding out everything he could about the car.
It sold thousands of cars.
This is how they do it in the automobile industry today.
This is the BMW X4. Apparently, they launched it on Twitter.
Do you know what the promotional strapline was?
“Don’t chase dreams. Hunt goals”
Makes me despair. They haven’t learned much in over 60 years, have they?
Many years ago, I used to know a fantastic guy called Aubrey Watson. Aubrey was the MD of a leading Sales Promotion Agency based in Golden Square, London, called Watson, Lane and Keene.
They had a superb client list, including British Airways. And it was a direct mail campaign for BA, that brought ‘Aubrey the Strawberry” and myself together for the first time.
Aubrey was an inspirational character, a gentle giant of a man, who used to travel in to London every day on the train, from Gloucestershire.
One day, I had an early meeting with him and met him in his agency’s reception, as he came in from the station. He had an armload of magazines and newspapers.
I was intrigued, as the variety of these magazines was surprising, to say the least. There were men’s mags, women’s mags, specialist mags, children’s mags – you name it, it was there…
I asked him why he had purchased all these different magazines.
His answer was an eye-opener to me. And it stills stays with me to this day. I paraphrase obviously…
“I run a very successful agency” he said. “Our clients are very varied and cover a wide range of markets. I feel that I cannot advise them correctly and produce effective strategic and creative solutions, unless I understand both their marketplace and their prospective customers within it”
“Reading magazines that service each market, gives me an insight and a feel for what’s going on in there. On most occasions, I learn a lot more this way, than I ever can from the market research”
If I recall correctly, he used to spend around £100 per week on all this stuff, which was a lot of money in those days. But the success he and his agency enjoyed, repaid it back in spades.
But, that was then, when our business was populated with committed and enthusiastic professionals.
People who woke up in the morning, swung their legs out of bed (very often not their own) with an enthusiasm to achieve or learn something that day, greater than they did the day before.
Groundbreaking work was everywhere and it was an inspirational time.
How things have changed. Now we are stuck in a cesspit of an industry – if you can even call it an industry anymore – where no one appears to care and very few want to study and get better.
I wonder how many agency bosses, copywriters and creatives these days, would even think of doing what Aubrey did all those years ago?
I will answer that question for you. None. Zero. Zilch. Anyway, what’s this got to with copywriting, you may ask? A hell of a lot. And here’s why…
