Bad copy pulls punches, and sneaks around the point. It tries to sell people without telling them - tires to sell by trickery. And really… it just comes across as weak. On the contrary though, good copy is real, and it’s honest. If it’s sales copy, it asks for sales. If it’s fundraising copy, it asks for money. It backs it up, sure - it tells you why you should give money. But it never shirks from the point. Good copy isn’t ashamed of what it is. It stands on it’s own, self-validated (and more powerful).
Example: I wrote the following for a client the other day: At the Auditory Oral School of New York, we’re doing some amazing things. We’re teaching deaf and hearing-impaired children to listen and speak normally. We’re teaching them to interact normally in the world, and we’re giving them the ability to live normal lives. Lives not hindered by what’s regarded as a tragic anomaly… but lives enriched by sound, and lives open to whatever experiences these children seek.
…However, as you can imagine, doing amazing work is difficult. It takes persistence, energy, and money. We’ve got the first two covered, but we need more money...
I think it’s good. I think it’s to-the-point, and I think it’s powerful. But, the response came back negative - they thought it was too “aw shucks.” Too informal. Translation? It made them uncomfortable, and they didn’t want to make their donors uncomfortable. Translation? They didn’t actually want to ask for money. They just wanted to imply it, and wanted rich people to comply. That’s bullshit. It’s waste of time (for me and for them). If you don’t want to ask for money, don’t hire a writer to do it. If you do, than go ahead and do it. Be comfortable with what you’re doing, then write stuff that backs it up. Don’t write stuff that compromises what you’d like to say… write stuff that enhances it. Have some personal power, and write powerful stuff.
Anything else sucks.
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