Forum Moderators: not2easy
[directmag.com...]
I particularly liked the "gardener's hat" variations. Such a small difference, such a big impact!
The lessons and example might have been good, but my brain couldn't get pass the fifth paragraph. Perhaps this guru should re-read his own writing before trying to show people how to write.
No disrespect to any of you who enjoy his/her work.
He could have written that whole thing in about one third the number of words. I forced myself to read the whole thing even though I recognized it as bull poo right away. How painful it was! Ack!
The piece is aptly named. "Blah, blah, blah" is exactly what I was thinking while reading the darned thing!
Ten paragraphs about the article "the"?!? Didn't anyone tell him the value of being clear and consise? Brevity is the soul of wit? Something!
Of course he prefaces all this crap with "Everybody reading this is a professional." So if I think he's full of it, I must not be professional enough. Right?
This guy has delusions of grandeur to be sure!
He could have written that whole thing in about one third the number of words. I forced myself to read the whole thing even though I recognized it as bull poo right away. How painful it was! Ack!
The piece is aptly named. "Blah, blah, blah" is exactly what I was thinking while reading the darned thing!
Ten paragraphs about the article "the"?!? Didn't anyone tell him the value of being clear and consise? Brevity is the soul of wit? Something!
Of course he prefaces all this crap with "Everybody reading this is a professional." So if I think he's full of it, I must not be professional enough. Right?
This guy has delusions of grandeur to be sure!
(We need the qualifier “helps” because we don't want the FDA breathing down our necks.). I see that, contary to rumour, the "truth in marketing" campaign is still alive :s
I mean, yes it sounds silly that one or two words in a thirty - fifty word peice of copy could make that much difference, but it does. I have seen things here at the company I work for that you would not believe. I carried a lot of that into adwords copy (where you have like 10 - 15 words or less) and have seen it work there too.
The power of a single word or even the layout of a picture can make or break sales on an item. I once saw an entire catalog lose a lot of money simply because the cover of the catalog was too "posh" for the audience.
Catalogs pay big bucks for these guys to write their copy. Trust me, if it was garbage, they would have figured it out and wouldn't waste their time. Say what you like about direct marketers, but the one thing they know is testing and they will test anything, copy included, to death.
Call it garbage, call it phony. But I have seen it work time and time again.
The examples I could read were not bad, but their presentation suck. Noticing his form instead of his message is a warning that something's wrong.
He's not supposed to convince fellow copy writers like you. He's supposed to convince regular guys like me.
While he makes some valid (if not exactly surprising) points, his desperate attempts to be witty result in a horrible reading experience.
Amen, bird! This is exactly my point! I'm still having nightmares...
I have saved it though.
Compare his "painful" writing to the easy style of Roald Dahl or JK Rowling for example.
No wonder people need to read and re-read his articles...
He's not supposed to convince fellow copy writers like you. He's supposed to convince regular guys like me.
Actually, HGL writes for DM pros, e.g., copy writers, editors, and people like catalog managers who have ultimate responsibility for copy.
The direct marketing world is remarkably subtle. Before the web, it was the only kind of marketing where you could get great statistics and test different copy, different offers, etc. with a high degree of accuracy. One rather surprising test showed that placing the stamp (on a direct mail letter) at a weird angle improved response rate by fifteen percent. (Presumably, this was a reproducible result, but of limited use since the effect would be lost if the practice became common.)
As a veteran of many split-run tests, I've learned that common sense and marketing savvy often point you in the right direction, but you can't argue with the numbers - sometimes, specific approaches work better for unexpected reasons, or even for reasons you can't explain. Really savvy DM pros develop a pretty good sense about what works, but even they test and retest.
This is the world that HGL comes from, and he knows that very subtle differences in copy can indeed make a big difference in response/conversion rates. He does have a curmudgeonly approach to commentary, but that's part of his charm. :)
What's the subject? Is it: Blah words damaging your response? Or might it be: Match your rhetoric to your target individual? Or is it the use of "the"? Or just a slapdash list of copyrighting foibles?
He's ignored one Copywriting 101 imperative: Focus.
