Using Your Best Guess to Make Decisions

I was working on an email campaign for one of my clients recently, and the topic of email subject lines came up during a discussion. Having worked in the business for several years now, I always assume to know the most proven/best practices when it comes to copywriting.

I went to work, developing dozens of various email subject lines, plugging them into an email subject line analyzer (this one is my favorite), all to test the results and use a data-driven approach to creativity. All of this before I even had my morning coffee. 

The client made one, basic subject line using cringe-worthy email practices such as multiple exclamation marks, cliche phrases and too much copy. 

But when it came down to the A/B test, guess what happened? Well, my subject line still won out, but not by very much. It won by a measly 1% point. 

What did those results tell me? Well, for starters:

1. I may not be as smart as I think
2. I'll NEVER NOT need coffee, and
3. Sometimes things just don't make any sense

That's not to say that you shouldn't use data, or analyzation tools to drive decisions; in fact, that's exactly what you should be doing. But with that should come the expectation that even your most "educated guess" may not work out as well in real life as it does on paper. And that's okay. If it doesn't work, digging deeper to find out why not is part of the battle. 

Nothing is for certain-even in industries like science, where people much smarter than me test theories for a living. And that's especially true in marketing/copywriting, where not only is the industry ever changing, but the methodologies evolve almost as fast as the technology. A well executed, insightful ad campaign however, like the recent marketing push behind the movie "IT", are almost impervious to failure (provided the movie ends up not being a Rotten Tomato).

Ultimately though-it's about having confidence in your best, most educated guess. You can't know until you try something, and sometimes just trying (and failing) is the path to a better outcome. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go back and relearn everything I thought I knew about email subject lines. 

When Being a "Writer" Doesn't Mean What You Think it Means

So true story: In the middle of working on content to write this article, I attended a free class at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle (a school for creatives which I can't possibly recommend more), and the lecture was about portfolios, resumes, and interview success. A copywriter friend and I sat in a panel of recruiters in the creative industry, talking about what it takes to land a dream job. 

However, as the class went on, my friend and I looked at each other because we suddenly felt very out of place. 

She wrote on my notepad "I feel like this lecture is VERY designer centric." She underlined very quite a few times. 

I nodded my head in agreement, but rather than embarrassingly walking out of a crowded room, we sat and listened. And it dawned on us perhaps at the same time: While some of the specific strategies were design focused, the basic principles for good design and good copywriting are universal not only in execution, but how they are applied to the workplace. 

There was once a time where simply being a writer was good enough. For you millenials out there, we used to have this thing called a typewriter where you actually typed on these metal keys that would stamp ink onto actual sheets of paper. There weren't even emoticons to express what we felt. Instead, we had to use real words.  

It was a weird time for everybody. 

But along came the processor chip and our lives changed forever. Nowadays, being a writer means more than just typing words, it means thinking about the overall visual presentation. You are a creative, an idea person, and a better designer than you probably think you are. You know what looks nice and what doesn't, right? 

This probably sounds like common sense to you, but check out this stat that I definitely did not Google or look up for fact checking:

The average user spends less than 5 seconds on a website/link before they get bored and look elsewhere. 

What does this all mean for writers? This means that we as writers have to think visually, in order to truly put great ideas on the table. 

It will benefit you as a copywriter to learn a thing or two about good design. This doesn't mean you have to spend your life savings taking a design class at the Art Institute, it just means knowing what the difference between serif and sans-serif is. Knowing how to properly apply white space. Knowing your color wheel. Knowing the difference between a well designed page, and a page that is simply doing too much. 

What's more, think about the fact that you will probably be working very closely with graphic designers, illustrators, UX designers, AD's, etc. and you will likely have to learn to speak their language.

And in case that's not enough to convince you, just know that the hiring manager at a creative agency or enterprise will likely be an art director with a background in visual design, so it would benefit you to be on their same page (man, I probably should've just started with that). 

If you are a copywriter, marketer, content writer or pretty much anyone whose job it is to write words, and you aren't thinking about visual design; the chances are that you are behind the eight ball. 

Building Your Portfolio by Giving Back

As a creative just starting out in the business, you're faced with the same challenge and paradoxical contradiction that pretty much everyone has faced in their life. Here's how that conversation typically goes:

1st job

You: "Hello, I would like to apply for X job please."

Employer: "Great. You seem smart and you knew the difference betwen "Your" and "You're" on the application. But we need someone with at least 5 years of experience."

You: "Well, I don't have 5 years. But I killed my college classes, I'm probably smarter than half your current employees, and I never eat other people's food in the refrigerator."

Employer: "Sorry, we're looking for someone that's worked a meaningless job for 5 years. But thanks for stopping by, and by the way, we don't validate."

2nd job

You: "Hello, I would like X job please."

Employer: "Great, we need someone that does everything you can do, but with 3 years of experience."

You: "That's what the last guy said. Look, I need a job to get experience. If you give me this job, I will have 3 years of experience working here. That's a pretty good proposition don't you think?"

Employer: "Well you don't have the experience needed for this job. But I like your style. We'll give you a job licking envelopes, and maybe grab us coffee once in a while. And then after 3 years maybe we'll see if you can handle sending needless emails and attending random meetings."

You: "Sounds great." (Because you literally have no other options)

And round and round we go. It's the same thing in the creative world, except the only difference is that you just replace "Years of experience" with "Portfolio" and there you have it. You need a great portfolio to land an awesome job. But to have a great portfolio, you need work! Oh what to do?

Well I have a solution (not THE solution. Just A solution.). You can do what I did and start working pro-bono for non profit organizations. Now some creatives ho-hum at this. They don't believe in working for free. And that's a legit opinion. But for me, i like doing it, and am continuing to do it. 

It's really a win-win. Here are just some of the benefits of working pro-bono for an NPO:

• You look really cool in front of your friends (Okay, I guess giving back to the community helps too)
• You get a chance to work with other creatives on a project. As a copywriter, you need to meet and work with as many designers, directors or other copywriters as much as possible. This provides a great way to do that. 
• You might be able to write it off come tax return season? I honestly don't know. I'm allergic to numbers.
• You can add work to your portfolio. Which is what we've been talking about this whole time. 

Okay now that I've sold you on working pro-bono (just go with it), you might be wondering how to do it exactly. 

My personal favorite is a site called Catchafire.org. What I like about Catchafire is not only the way they list their projects, but the organizations they are affiliated with do really great stuff. I have worked for 2 non-profits recently, and in both cases, they were very easy to work with and we came up with some great ideas. 

Catchafire offers opportunities for almost all specialties, from IT, to Branding, to Copywriting, Design, Marketing, Photography and more (just go to their site). Their timelines are pretty reasonable too, so you can definitely work on your own projects and add one of theirs to your schedule as well. 

So get out there, give back, and volunteer your skills. The planet will thank you. 

Giant rats and telling the truth

I'm not really a fan of talking about work with people I just met. I feel like it's so contrived. I like to talk about things like why do we need a Full House reunion show, or how bad I want a pet Capybara (if you don't know what that is, google it. I promise you won't be disappointed). But when the job question ultimately comes up, and I tell people that I'm in advertising, their first reaction is "Ohhhh". And then "Okay". And then "That's coool." 

But not in the "cool" as in impressed, but cool as in, "Oh you're one of those slimy douchebags that convince people to buy shit they don't want or need like cigarettes and high deductible insurance policies." 

I think that used to be true about advertising back in the day but I don't believe it's true anymore. Advertising isn't about lying or making false claims about a product. In fact, ever since I've studied advertising, there is one constant theme that I've seen repeated throughout all of my mentors and advisors: Tell the truth. 

You see, despite the fact that reality TV and social media have slowly eroded our brain cells, we as a people still have an unbelievably effective bullshit meter. We can spot BS from a mile away. So in reality, the truth is more powerful than any other resource that you have at your disposal as a copywriter/designer. The truth is what sets you apart from your competitors. Perhaps your truth isn't as "sexy" as your competition, and that is where advertising can really make a difference. 

Take this classic ad from Avis (which has been seen by every copywriter in the universe):

Ahhhh! We're number 2?! The truth hurts so good. Avis' ad campaign positioned themselves as the number 2 in car rental companies. It doesn't get any "truer" than that. And customers love it. It means that Avis tries harder....a campaign that they still adopt to this day. 

I'm a big fan of stand up comedy. Some of my favorites include Louis CK, Dave Chapelle, Hannibal Burress, Demetri Martin, and Larry David. One thing that they all have in common is that they're really good at finding things that are true in life. Social interactions, the state of race in America, dating. Just as in advertising, comedy is based on quintessential truths that we can all identify with as a person living within this society. 

So if there's one thing to take away from this blog post it's this: You should look into owning a capybara. If there's a second thing though, it's that if you can find the truth about your business, you've found your best advertising strategy. 

Writing Copy for the Tech Crowd

You’ve just been given a copywriting project. The goal is to write copy that will get people talking about a new technical product or service. In other words, your objective is to build hype. Maybe you know exactly what it does, or what it’s supposed to do. But it’s likely that if you were quizzed about the more technical features of the product, you’d probably fail.

So now you do your research. You look at similar products on the market and it finally starts to click. You’re beginning to understand the product and the people who might buy it, so now all you have to do is make a start on the writing.

You think about your audience. They’re smart, knowledgeable about tech, and well connected – mid-level professionals who are busy and may need this product to improve their productivity and save time. So you start typing, and maybe you’ve got it figured out. But if you find yourself thinking “I’ve got to sound smart, and technical….”, you need to slow down and re-think.

Before you start going down the path of making yourself needlessly erudite and tech-savvy it’s important to remember that good copy isn’t about sounding smart – it’s about selling a product. Here are three rules-of-thumb you need to keep in mind when writing copy for a tech product:

1. Avoid jargon. SEO, ISP, DNS. I know what these mean, and I’m not that technical. You probably know what it means. But that doesn’t mean your customers do. Just spell it out, at least once. There may be a portion of your audience that will thank you for it, and that means more sales.
2. Be clear and sell the benefit. This is the whole “not trying to sound too smart” thing. Stop brainstorming ways to sound smart, focus on the benefits of what you are selling. Streamlined optimization? Try “It’s twice as fast as our previous version.” That, I will buy. And speaking of optimization…
3. Avoid words that aren’t really words. Optimization, actionable, bandwidth. These are fancy words, but do nothing but fill customers heads with complexity and pixie dust. Try: Faster, more efficient, effective, time saving……it won’t make you sound dumb, it will make your audience feel smart.

You might be thinking: this sounds great, but its not realistic. Technical people want to know that you speak their lingo, right? Or what about the clients that like this sort of speak? But wait – technical people still speak plain ol’ English. And so do clients. Avoid big, smart, and technical terms, and instead aim for simple English with a dash of quirkiness. Technology, at its core, should be easy. At the end of the day, isn’t technology about making our lives easier? Why should the content we write about it be any different? So don’t write it as complex as the technology itself. Streamline….errr, I mean make it easy.