Articles by Larry Chase - Internet Publisher, Speaker, Author and Consultant

Larry Chase - Internet Marketing Consulting

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Multiple Personality Copywriting

The late, brilliant Gene Scwartz once said a good copywriter is in dialog with his audience. That is precisely true. Of course, different audiences require different voices or stances. A good copywriter is able to change his or her voice, demeanor, and character based on who is being addressed and what needs to be said.

20 years ago I was still freelance writing and reporting for National Public Radio. There, my editorial voice began to mature. When I wanted to make more money, I developed my advertising voice.

Because I can't read regular-sized print, I grew up "reading" most books and magazines by listening to recordings of them. As a result, I developed a penchant for writing what the BBC refers to as "Hear Copy," copy that is heard rather than seen. "See Copy" is copy written to be seen rather than heard. Being able to write "Hear Copy" is a big asset in advertising, where most copy you read is in fact "Hear Copy."

I found TV and radio copy to be very compressed due to time restraints. Writing such copy forces one to boil the story down to its essence. This distillation copy approach is valuable here on the net where everyone wants things lickety-split.

Internet copy is often most effective when it has a fast- forward type of effect, so that the reader feels that she is being moved quickly along so as to get on to the next email or site, and finally off of the burning screen that melts the eyeball by day's end. This "copy-spewing" approach I sometimes refer to as "Machine Gun" copy or "Rat-A-Tat-Tat" copy, as it sprays the reader with the immediate facts in a concentrated, no-nonsense way.

Net copy also naturally tends to walk and talk like Direct Mail copy which is only natural as the Internet is an interactive medium and people unconsciously expect the response channel to be employed. Lack-of-Response copy on the net is a little like an advertiser airing a radio spot on TV whilst a test pattern is on screen: kinda nutty but maybe effective as a one-time novelty.

Add to this whole mix knowing when to employ humor, fear, greed and the other handful of motivating gambits we use in our craft and you've got a copywriter who knows how to do what, where and when.

I've been writing one kind of copy or other for about 23 years. I see that most copy, effective copy, typically tells a story. Words are brush strokes on their way to drawing a picture in people's minds. This is what ad copy and editorial copy have in common. If the words just sit there w/out conjuring up images or feelings then that copy's scaffolding begins to show, much the same way you can imagine what the character treatment must've looked like from a bad movie you're watching.

As I get older, I find I develop still more voices, and the ones I have tend to evolve. My commercial copy (notice I didn't say "ad copy" as I think staid, traditional ad copy is not long for this world...) tends to be more direct in it's approach. My editorial hand employs more "fifty cent" words and "throw-back" words such as "whilst" instead of "while." Talking and writing more like my grandfather in my speeches as well as writings adds to the uniqueness of that voice. In other words, in a day when everyone is adopting "newspeak," I go the other way.

I only occasionally take on copy assignments nowadays, but when I do, I typically ask myself how the client's copy "hits" me as an assumed member of its target audience. If I'm an IT Director, would I believe what this copy is telling me? Today, more and more copy gets written in-house. This can be good because ad agencies often don't understand your product and market as well as you do and that lack of understanding often shows up in the ads they create for you. However, when creating copy in-house you run the distinct risk of being too close to your product. This is when you want an outsider's opinion.

People and firms often don't want that outsider opinion because it may not agree with their own. If that is you, do be bold and get that outside professional opinion, or better yet, bring them in at the strategic or concepting stage. It's better to hear it from that third party, rather than from the indifference of the marketplace where, if you're not in dialog with them, you won't even be a vague memory in the minds of your target audience who, just like you, encounter thousands of commercial messages each and every day.