What Copywriters Can Teach Politicians

Are you as sick as I am of politicians?

It doesn’t matter who’s in Government, it’s always the same old, same old.

Political programmes are all about point scoring with the usual response to any question being:

“Well we inherited the mess from the previous Government”

It’s all “they did this” and “they did that” when asked about current policies. We all know what they did; we want to know what you’re going to do.

The problem is, regardless of how persistent the interviewer, a straight answer is never given because they are more intent on highlighting how bad the previous lot were.

You’re probably wondering what this has to do with copywriting, well quite a lot actually.

The one thing that should never be in your copy

How do you convince your customers you are the company for them in your marketing materials?

I’m hoping your response is to show them the benefits of using your service or product, the excellent service you provide and that you’re a trustworthy, dependable company to deal with.

But, there are still come companies who opt for the ‘easy’ option.

They think that by putting down their competitors their readers will think: “Wow, they’re right, all those other companies are really bad. Isn’t it great they pointed that out to us.” It’s perceived as being ‘easy’ because they don’t have to think too hard about what they do, or find a way to convey it in words.

But by trash-talking your competitors you’re really saying “we don’t actually have anything positive to say about what we do, so we thought it would be easier to tell you how bad everyone else is to make us look good.”

The problem is it doesn’t make you look good. All it does is show you have nothing to offer.

If you want to gain trust, you must show your company is honest by highlighting what you can do for your customer. Your words must persuade them you are the company they want to deal with. If you just harangue your competitors, they’ll walk away.

Perhaps if our politicians took this advice the country would have more faith in them.

Your takeaway

The dos and don’ts of copy are simple:

• Do write about the benefits
• Do write to your reader
• Do focus on the needs of your reader
• Don’t slag off the competition