As any professional copywriter knows, writing copy is often the easy part of a project. It’s the editing that’s hard.

After all, who wants to mess with copy once it’s written? It’s agonizing to rip into your own prose. But that’s exactly what it takes to turn good copy into great copy.

Here are 9 ways to polish and energize your copy when you give it that second go-around.

Write long and cut. It’s easier to overwrite and cut than to underwrite and add. Get everything down — no matter how sloppy or rough — then go back to trim and rearrange.

Be ruthless. Don’t fall in love with your own patter. Stay focused on your big idea and the action you want to create. Get rid of everything that doesn’t support response.

Avoid the windup. Often, a writer will spend some time warming up to a topic before getting to the point, especially in letters. When you’ve finished your first draft, see if there’s a better lead buried a few sentences or paragraphs in. If so, that’s where you should start.

Write lean. Small words, short sentences, and short paragraphs are easier to read and understand. With words, the fewer syllables the better. Your average sentence should be about 16 words and express a single thought. Once a sentence exceeds 32 words, it becomes harder to understand. Paragraphs should ideally be 7 lines or shorter.

Forget what you learned in school about sentence structure and paragraph development, advertising must communicate fast for people who are usually not engrossed in your subject.

Minimize the punctuation. Punctuation is meant to help organize copy and divide thoughts so they are easily understood. However, complex sentences with an abundance of commas slow readers down. Opt for simpler sentences with lighter punctuation. Avoid periods on headlines because they stop the reader for a split second. Use semicolons sparingly, since they are not understood as readily as other marks.

Write in the appropriate voice. In addition to knowing your reader, you must also know your writer. The writer of a sales letter, for example, is not you but the person signing it. So you should know how that person thinks and feels. And you should match your voice, tone, style, and mood to fit that writer.

The same holds for brochures, flyers, ads, and other items, though they are usually less personal and are written from the point of view of a company instead of a person. You may occasionally be lucky enough to have an interesting personality to use as the writer. However, in most cases, you will create these qualities as needed for each promotion. Always ask, “Who is talking or writing? Is this the most credible and interesting point of view?”

Justify the price. In any situation where you are asking for money, you must make the price appear to be a bargain, or at least reasonable. This requires you to speak in terms of “value” instead of mere price.

When selling a subscription to a website that provides artists with royalty-free photographs, for example, don’t talk about a $29.95 subscription. Instead, talk about having access to over $300,000.00 worth of photos for just $29.95. This juxtaposition of value and price transforms a transaction into a offer that can’t be refused.

Build credibility by showing a limitation. People expect exaggerated claims and are predisposed to doubt what you say. One way to diffuse this doubt is to admit a limitation along with your promise.

For example, if you’re selling an investment newsletter and are targeting what you consider to be smarter, more conservative investors, you might say, “The Conservative Investor Report can’t predict the future and can’t promise to make you rich overnight. However, it will help you put your hard-earned money in the right places, to keep it safe and make it grow.”

There is a strong promise here, but it is more believable because you have admitted a limitation and therefore sound more reasonable and honest.

Use active verbs. On a self-mailer for health supplements, I listed a series of benefits on the front panel and used active verbs for each:

Boost your energy! Relieve arthritis pain! Fight off cancer! Strengthen your heart! Lose weight fast! Sharpen your memory! Improve your vision!

Consider how much stronger this is than passive constructions, such as “You will boost your energy!” or “You can lose weight fast!” Direct marketing is all about action, so your copy must be active.

Around this time last year, I shared my SPURF method for collecting testimonials.

I’m sure you’ve been spurfing up a storm and have tons of testimonials by now. So let’s look at how to make them work for you.

Select testimonials from customers similar to your prospect. This increases the feeling of identification and relevance. A teacher will believe other teachers. A business owner will believe other business owners.

The more similarity you can show, the more weight your prospect will give to your testimonials. Even seemingly nonsensical similarities, such as where people live, have an effect. “Oh, he’s from Ohio too!”

Select testimonials that give specifics. Consider these two testimonials for a lawn fertilizer:

“I think Lawn Magic is a wonderful product. My lawn looks great.”

“For 6 years I tried every weed control powder and spray at my local garden store, but nothing could get rid of those darned dandelions. Then I saw your ad for Lawn Magic and decided to give it a try. I got it in the mail last Saturday and immediately tried the Quick Cover method you suggested and WOW! Just a week later, there’s not a single speck of yellow anywhere – except in my neighbor’s yard.”

Which one makes you want to try the product? Specifics turn empty enthusiasm into a powerful and dramatic moment you can almost see. Not only does this add credibility, it also clearly relays a benefit. If you have a potentially good testimonial that lacks specificity, call your customer and clarify the details.

Edit carefully and lightly. Don’t change the meaning. Don’t enhance. And don’t present words and phrases out of context. If a statement is too long, awkwardly punctuated, or otherwise unclear, you are justified in taking a blue pencil to the copy. But keep it light.

If you use the testimonial collection system I suggested last year, you will be typing up many of your testimonials and getting customers to sign off on them. Here especially, you must be careful not to enhance. You’ll lose the special flavor of actual testimonials.

Group testimonials for greater impact. Testimonials are a powerful way to build credibility and prove your claims. And they can work wonders no matter how you use them. But they pack a doubly powerful psychological wallop when you group them because they both prove your claims with objective endorsements and engage the Bandwagon Effect – “Lots of people are doing it. I want to do it, too!” Seeing testimonial after testimonial sends a visual signal that your widget has widespread appeal.

Use many short quotes instead of a few long ones. If you’re going for the Bandwagon Effect, this just makes sense. It’s a matter of showing as many people as you can who approve of the thing you’re selling. Twenty pithy testimonials can be more powerful than 5 big chatty ones. On the other hand…

Don’t be afraid of long testimonials. Sometimes, you get a gem that says it all. It may be a story, an emotional revelation, an authoritative remark from an expert, or just a simple comment that hits the nail on the head. You might want to separate it visually from the others, in a sidebar, for example. If it’s paragraphs long though, don’t use it as a testimonial; use it as a success story.

Include full names, titles, and locations when possible. This makes testimonials more real and relevant and enhances their credibility. I’ve even seen one instance where a seminar marketer included phone numbers and challenged readers to call other attendees. Obviously, you must consider privacy and security issues, but remember that, in general, full names are more believable than initials. Titles show authority, experience, or expertise. Locations, such as cities and states, help prove that people are real.

Feature photographs (maybe). They are further proof that people are real. And they help your reader identify with the testimonial-givers. This can be tricky, though. Sometimes photos can subtract impact if they are of poor quality or show people who – for whatever reason – don’t look right to readers.

One investment mailing I received used blurry black and white photos of an odd assortment of people I instantly perceived as total losers. I certainly did not want to identify with these people, so the testimonials fell flat – they even turned me against the product. Use good photos or use none at all.

Enclose each testimonial in quotation marks. Readership studies show that people are strongly attracted to quoted copy. It draws the eye. It makes reading easier and faster. And the subject matter is usually more relevant and interesting, since people are endlessly fascinated by other people – in what they do and what they say.

So for the sake of identifying a quote as a quote, use standard quotation marks around each statement. Never substitute italics for quotation marks because long lines of italicized text are harder to read.

Use a powerful headline to introduce testimonials. Don’t settle for a lame, do-nothing header, such as “Here’s what people are saying about the Laminator 2000.” Follow standard headline rules and provide a complete message, such as “Over 124,000 small businesses like yours rely on the Laminator 2000 to make their own professional-looking tags, instruction sheets, and signs.”

Creative Ways to Use Testimonials

Testimonials are one of the most flexible techniques in your creative tool kit. No matter what you’re selling or to whom, they can give a powerful boost to virtually any promotion. Here are just a few suggestions based on how I’ve used testimonials in the hundreds of promotions I’ve created:

• Build your entire promotion around one or more testimonials.
• Turn your best testimonial into a powerful, sure-to-be-read headline.
• Use testimonials to boost TV and radio ad response.
• Add sizzle to your website with a separate testimonial page.
• Build confidence in your catalog with product-targeted testimonials.
• Turn testimonials into reader-friendly envelope teasers.
• Use a powerful testimonial to start your letter with a bang.
• Spice up letter body copy by sprinkling in a few choice testimonials.
• Save a special testimonial for the P.S.
• Transform a good testimonial into a great lift letter.
• Feature a dozen or more testimonials in a separate insert.
• Boost your brochure wow factor with benefit-specific testimonial headlines.
• Give a last-minute push by including testimonials on response forms.
• Cement satisfaction and reduce returns with testimonials in your fulfillment.
• Liven up product packaging with short testimonials.

This is not a comprehensive list by a long shot. I’m always thinking of new ways to use testimonials. In fact, I’d love to hear how you’ve used testimonials in your direct mail packages, ads, television and radio spots, and other marketing materials.

One of the worst mistakes copywriters make is to assume their job is about writing. It’s not.

Now I know that sounds a bit odd. After all, the word “writing” is in the word “copywriting.” So it’s understandable why you might misunderstand.

But writing and copywriting are two very different things.

When you write a novel or a poem, readers wants great words. They enjoy the rhythm, the imagery, the wordplay. People expect this kind of writing to deliver a certain art and beauty.

When you write websites, ads, white papers, or other business materials, readers simply want information. They don’t care about the artistry. They aren’t looking for beauty. They just want to find out how to solve a problem or meet a need.

This isn’t to say that copywriting can’t be well-crafted. It should be. But it should be crafted in such a way that the words disappear and the meaning shows through. I like to think of good copywriting as if it’s a toy store window, clean, polished, and invisible, providing a clear view of the wondrous goodies inside.

So when copywriters forget that their job is to convey meaning, to connect with needs, to influence and persuade, they focus on the words alone and create, well … crap. When you do this, it’s not that you’re stupid. It’s just that you’re ignorant.

Ignorant of the purpose of your copy. Ignorant of the meaning of your product or service. And ignorant of the perceptions of your readers. In other words, even beautifully-crafted copy can go bad when you pay too much attention to how you say something and ignore the meaning of what you’re saying.

How do you avoid being ignorant?

You must reach into the world other people live in. For example, if you’re a liberal and you’re writing web copy for a conservative website, you have to abandon your own views and immerse yourself in the world view of people who think differently.

You must empathize with the feelings and beliefs of your readers. They say you can’t understand someone until you walk a mile in their shoes. So become a shoe thief, walk, jog, run in as many shoes as you can. You have to feel what others feel to write copy that connects with them.

You must have an interest in everything … and then some. In a recent conversation, a writer told me that he hates projects about things he has no interest in. How can you be a copywriter if you’re not curious about new things? You should know a little about everything.

You must be a quick study. Copywriting is always on a deadline. You have to inhale information and understand it rapidly. You have to be a pregnant woman in the morning and a retired trucker in the afternoon. A senator on Monday, a heart surgeon on Wednesday, and a champion cyclist on Friday.

You must always do your homework. Read everything. Ask questions. Take notes. And when you think you know it all, keep digging. As Edmund Burke said, “Fact are the mind what food is to the body.” (Edmund Burke? Could I have chosen a more arcane reference?)

You must be willing to change your copy to meet a goal. You can’t be a diva. Yes, you spend hours or days or weeks writing and rewriting. But if the copy doesn’t do the job, you have to let go. Top writers are ruthless editors and heartless revisionists.

You must recover from mistakes and learn from them. We all make them. What separates good writers from great writers is that great writers learn from mistakes and become greater. Other writers make excuses and seek to avoid similar situations.

To help myself with this, I use a copywriting cheat sheet, a series of questions to help me start to understand who a client is, what they’re selling, and the people they’re selling to. Depending on your area of specialty, you might want to adapt this sheet to your own needs, adding or deleting questions.

If you’re a copywriter, you’re probably pretty smart. What you have to watch out for is being ignorant.

The J. Peterman Company has long been hailed as the reigning king of catalog copy. And I’ve been a fan ever since I bought one of their “anti-gravity” shirts.

But they have some serious competition from the Duluth Trading Co., which you might describe as J. Peterman for the working class.

Here’s an example of their masterful copy from the April 2011 catalog, which I received just last week:

WE DARE YOU TO WEAR ‘EM OUT
TOUGHEST WORK PANTS EVER OR YOUR MONEY BACK

FIRE HOSE: America’s most heroic fabric. So durable, so surprisingly comfortable, you’ll wonder why we were the first to use it in clothing. It’s the same great 100% cotton canvas that once wrapped rubber fire hoses, responding to call after call, dragged up and down stairs, pulled through windows, yanked around sharp corners. We located a supplier for that cotton canvas and specially washed it to make it soft and comfortable. Then, we treated it to resist stains and water. Supreme toughness and supreme softness in one fabric. Now that’s something to get fired up about!

I don’t care if you live in Thermopolis, Wyoming or in the heart of New York City, after reading that copy, you want those pants.

Duluth Trading knows that they’re really not selling necessities. They’re selling fantasy. Whether it’s Fire Hose pants or a one-handed pocketknife, a jolly good safety razor or Dr. Klick’s set of dental tools, they romance every product.

Take this travel bag, for example:

AWOL Bag -
In original Leather or Fire Hose and Leather

It’s nearly identical to the one Dad carried when the army shipped him overseas in 1943. Servicemen jokingly called it their “AWOL bag” and kept it packaged for sudden deployments and weekend liberties. …

It’s just a bag. But the copy transforms it into a piece of American history, full of character, memories, and meaning. And if you buy it, it transforms you into someone with places to go and adventures to have.

Maybe my favorite example of Duluth Trading’s skillful catalog copy is this description of a t-shirt:

Solution to Plumber’s Butt — 2 for $10 ea.

The problem began many moons ago — about the time pants and plumbing were invented. The notorious “Plumber’s Butt” syndrome came into being, and both plumbers and their clients were tormented. That’s why in 2002, we introduced a solution — the Longtail T — in the cause of modesty and good taste. …

You can probably find longtail t-shirts just about anywhere, but they won’t have the same charm and humor.

Admittedly, not all catalogs can use copy this fanciful. But if you want to learn how to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, get a copy of the Duluth Trading catalog and read it stem to stern.

Do you know of other catalog companies with standout copy?

It seems like people in direct marketing are crazy about formulas.

I suppose that’s because we are focused on what works, rather than what’s cool or pretty. And a good formula gets us to where we want to go a lot faster.

In the world of copywriting, there are plenty of arcane formulas. Some are useful. Some are absurd. But all of them are interesting.

I’ve collected copywriting formulas over the years and would like to share 15 of the very best.

The first you’ll recognize because it’s the most famous. But I’m guessing many of the others are new to you. I’ve even thrown in one of my own for good measure.

I’ll admit that I don’t put a lot of faith in rigid formulas, since they are often of little use in actually writing copy. But they are quite good at analyzing copy after it is written.

So here are 15 of my favorite copywriting formulas:

AIDA — This is the best-known copywriting formula of all time. It stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Every successful promotional message must attract Attention, arouse Interest, stimulate Desire, and present a compelling call for Action.

ACCA — Awareness, Comprehension, Conviction, Action. This is similar to AIDA, but “Comprehension” stresses the importance of clarity and understanding, which is vital for any persuasive message. Also, “Conviction” is much stronger than “Desire.” It suggests certainty.

Attention-Interest-Description-Persuasion-Proof-Close — This is another AIDA variation by Robert Collier. Intended for sales letters, it outlines what he thought was the correct sales sequence.

Interest-Desire-Conviction-Action — Yet another AIDA variation, this one from Earle A. Buckley.

AAPPA — The eminent Victor O. Schwab suggested this commonsense and clear formula. Get Attention. Show people an Advantage. Prove it. Persuade people to grasp this advantage. Ask for action.

AIU — This is my own formula for envelopes. It stands for Attention, Interest, Urgency. Something about an envelope must get your Attention, whether it’s teaser copy, graphics, or just blank paper. This should lead to Interest in the contests and Urgency to open the envelope immediately.

PPPP — This is a formula by Henry Hoke, Sr. It stands for Picture, Promise, Prove, Push. In many ways, it’s easier to implement than AIDA because it shows you four specific tasks you must perform to make a sale. Picture: Get attention early and create a desire. Promise: Make a meaningful promise, describe benefits and what the item will do. Prove: Demonstrate the value and support your promise with testimonials. Push: Ask for the order.

Star-Chain-Hook — This is Frank Dignan’s charming and surprisingly fresh way to approach an advertising message. Hitch your wagon to a Star with an attention-getting opening that is positive and upbeat. Create a Chain of convincing facts, benefits, and reasons and transform attention into interest and interest into desire. Then, Hook them with a powerful call to action, making it easy to respond.

ABC Checklist — William Steinhardt’s formula is more detailed than most and very practical. Attain Attention, Bang out Benefits, Create verbal pictures, Describe success incidents, Endorse with testimonials, Feature special details, Gild with values, Honor claims with guarantees, Inject action in reader, Jell with postscript.

The String of Pearls — This is a particular method of writing copy. The idea is that you assemble details and string them together in a long line, one after another. Each “pearl” is complete in some way, but when you string them together, their persuasive power becomes overwhelming.

The Cluster of Diamonds — Similar to the String of Pearls, this formula suggests assembling a group of details under an umbrella concept. For example, an ad might have the headline “7 Reasons Why You’ll Save Money With XYZ.” The copy would then list these 7 reasons. Each detail is like a “diamond” in a gold setting.

The Fan Dancer — The analogy here is perfect, though a bit racy. The idea is to tantalize with specific details that never reveal any actual information. It’s like teaser copy or what one influential writer called “fascinations.” For example, let’s say you’re selling a book on reducing your taxes. Part of your copy might read: “The one secret way to pay zero taxes and get away with it — page 32. How the IRS uses your mailing label against you — page 122. Three clever ways to turn a vacation into a business tax deduction even if you don’t own a business — page 158.” As with a fan dancer, you’re left wanting more.

The Five-Point Formula – Jack Lacy offers this guideline often used for sales letters:
1. What will you do for me if I listen to your story?
2. How are you going to do this?
3. Who is responsible for the promises you make?
4. Who have you done this for?
5. What will it cost me?

The Nine-Point Formula — A detailed sales letter formula from Frank Egner:
1. Start with a headline (or first paragraph) to get attention and arouse desire.
2. Follow with an inspirational lead.
3. Give a clear definition of the product.
4. Tell a success story about the product.
5. Include testimonials and endorsements.
6. List special features.
7. Present a statement of value to the prospect.
8. Use specific and urgent action copy.
9. End with a postscript.

The Seven-Step Formula — This gem from Bob Stone is primarily for sales letters:
1. Promise your most important benefit in your headline or first paragraph.
2. Immediately enlarge upon your most important benefit.
3. Tell the reader specifically what he or she is going to get.
4. Back up your statements with proof and endorsements.
5. Tell the reader what might be lost if he or she doesn’t act.
6. Rephrase your prominent benefits in your closing.
7. Incite immediate action.

Do you have any other copywriting formulas that you’ve found interesting or helpful?

This is an excerpt from my just published free report, 12 Astonishingly Simple Ways to Dazzle Your Clients & Double Your Income.

I encourage you to download it now and share it with your friends.

***

Before I write a single word for any direct marketing project, I ask a lot of questions. A LOT of questions.

In fact, I use a checklist to gather basic information. And I recommend you do the same.

However, even if you’ve asked lots of questions, there is no substitute for digging deeper and learning about your client’s company, products, customers, and competitors.

Clients can’t be fully objective, so you can often discover facts and ideas that your client can’t see or doesn’t think are important.

Spend time poring over company literature, past ads and promotions, testimonials, and testing data.

Pull ideas from your past projects that may apply. Talk to your fellow copywriters or other clients. Put feelers out on your LinkedIn network or Twitter followers.

Perhaps the best research tool you have today is Google. You can find nearly anything with a few keystrokes if you know how to search effectively.

Google Search Hacks
Type: investment newsletter / Google searches for: “investment” and “newsletter”

Type: investment OR newsletter / Google searches for:“investment” or “newsletter”

Type: “investment newsletter” / Google searches for:exact phrase “investment newsletter”

Type:  investment -newsletter / Google searches for:“investment” but not “newsletter”

Type: ~investment / Google searches for:“investment” plus synonyms

Type: define:investment / Google searches for:definitions of the word “investment”

Type: allintitle: investment newsletter / Google searches for:keywords in page titles

Type:  inurl: investment newsletter / Google searches for:keywords in page URLs

Bonus Google Search Tools
Go to Google and click on “more,” then click on “even more” to reveal a full page of search tools, including:

• Blog Search – search for blogs on specific topics
• Books – search the full text of books
• Directory – search by topic or category
• Earth – explore the world
• Finance – search business info, news, and charts
• Images – search for images
• Maps – view maps, directions, terrain and satellite images
• News – search thousands of news stories
• Patent Search – search the full text of US Patents
• Scholar – search for scholarly papers
• Videos – search for videos

This is just one of 12 simple ways to dazzle your clients and double your income. I’ve prepared a 26-page report that reveals 11 other ways.

It’s free. I’m not selling anything. No strings attached. No affiliate links. This report is simply a learning tool for fellow freelance copywriters who want to build their freelance business.

In fact, not only do I want you to download this report. I encourage you to share it with others. Email it to your friends. Post it to your blog. Package it with products you’re selling. Distribute it freely any way you like.

All I ask is that you keep it intact, unedited, unaltered, and deliverable just as it is, a PDF document. And if you use excerpts, just include a link back to Pro Copy Tips, my blog for writers and freelancers: http://www.procopytips.com. Fair enough?

Click here to download the report. And tell me what you think.

It’s hard enough to write good copy in one language. Writing copy that works in two languages is at least twice as hard.

Here are some mistakes you should avoid if you’re creating bilingual copy for the first time.

Mistake #1: Doing a simple translation.

Let’s say you have a direct mail package that works for an English-speaking audience. Now you want to break into the Hispanic market with a bilingual package. So you figure all you have to do is hire a translator. Right? Not quite.

The “words” may translate, more or less, but the meaning may not. Try this experiment: take a simple phrase and use an online translator to go from English to German then back to English.

English: He’s mellowing out and getting his grove on.

Translates to German: Er ist aus Gärung und immer sein Hain auf.

Translates back to English: He is on from fermentation and always be Hain.

Huh?

Mistake #2: Always writing in English first.

This will be your first instinct if English is your native language. But sometimes it’s a good idea to start with the other language.

For example, some languages are more verbose. So if you start with 2,000 words in English, the version in the other language might be 2,500 or more words. It can be hard to cram that much extra copy into the same layout. By going in the other direction, you may end up with a more workable result.

Mistake #3: Making the same sales pitch in both languages.

Never assume that everyone’s hot buttons are the same. Price might be the main motivator for people of one culture, while social status might be the main motivator in another. Once again, bilingual marketing isn’t about translation as much as it is about appealing to the sensibilities of two different audiences.

Mistake #4: Using culturally-based phrases and ideas.

The advertising world is full of horror stories about how copy can go haywire in translation. Pepsi’s upbeat slogan, “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” translated poorly in China, where it meant “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave.”

The Parker Pen company goofed when it tried to sell a ballpoint pen in Mexico with ads bragging, “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you.” Unfortunately, the translation proclaimed, “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.”

Mistake #5: Going it alone.

There’s just no way to market in another language if you’re not fluent in the language and don’t understand the culture. If you’re serious about bilingual marketing, you have to bring in people who understand both languages and cultures and have experience selling to each.

There are no shortcuts.

If you’ve done any bilingual advertising copy, tell me about your experiences.

Click to see a larger version of this ad.

The long copy vs. short copy debate has been raging for decades.

And it rages on today.

On one side are the traditional direct marketing people who look at history and at testing to support their notion that long copy is proven to engage readers and sell products.

On the other side are, well, everyone else, who claim that long copy is outdated and that people today are overloaded with information and don’t have the patience to read lots of words.

Who is right?

To answer that, let’s look at a classic print advertisement from Ogilvy & Mather. The ad pictured here is one of many from O&M that ran in The Wall Street Journal back in the 1960s or 1970s.

The ad itself is a clinic in long copy. Targeting industrial advertisers, it provides 13 principles for how to create advertising that sells, backed up by statistical research, examples, and case studies.

Yep, that’s a lot of copy. And the ad writer knew it.

That’s why in the lower left corner, the ad addresses the issue of long vs. short copy, which inspired heated debate even then. Here’s what it says about long copy:

Ogilvy & Mather has prepared many industrial advertisements with very long copy. Yet readership research shows that the vast majority of the readers of any advertisement never get beyond the headline.

Since so few people read the copy at all, why does Ogilvy & Mather recommend long copy so often?

The answer is that those relatively few people who read the copy are prospects for your product or your service.

If you aren’t in the market for a product you are unlikely to read an advertisement for it, no matter how long or short the copy. (Most readers of The Wall Street Journal have little interest in industrial advertising — or Ogilvy & Mather. Chances are they haven’t read this far.)

But real prospects — especially industrial prospects responsible for spending large sums — are hungry for information. Research shows that industrial advertisements with really long copy actually tend to get read more thoroughly than advertisements with shorter copy.

You might be able to sell a candy bar with very short copy. But you could never make a case for buying a Cessna Citation in a handful of words.

So there’s your answer.

While it’s true that most people won’t read long copy, it’s also true that most people won’t read short copy either. That’s because most people aren’t interested in your products, and you shouldn’t be interested in most people.

You should be interested in that part of the market who are interested in your products. These are the people seeking information and who will read your copy, even very long copy.

Just think about this for a moment. When you’re in the market for something, especially something expensive, do you buy with only a little information, or do you inhale all the information you can get?

I’ll bet it’s the latter. Why? Because you want to justify the purchase. You want to make sure you’re making a good decision. You don’t want any surprises. Short copy can’t do that. Long copy can.

So if your competitors share only a little information and you share a lot of information, what choice do you suppose potential buyers will make?

I’m not saying you should use long copy all the time. I’m saying use all the copy you need to make the sale. As the O&M ad says, you might sell a candy bar with short copy, but not a Cessna.

I recently received an email from a young copywriter who informed me that the word “free” was now dead.

“It’s a cliche. No one uses this anymore and no one pays attention to headlines that say free. Who believes that anymore? You have to be more subtle now.”

Well golly, thanks for sharing your 6 months of experience. I’ll inform the entire marketing world that “free” should officially be dropped from the selling lexicon because … um … why did you say we can’t use “free” any longer?

Oh, it’s a cliche. Well, let’s think about that before we take any drastic action. What is a cliche?

Here’s how Dictionary.com defines the word cliche:

1. a trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common thought or idea, that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse, as sadder but wiser, or strong as an ox.
2. (in art, literature, drama, etc.) a trite or hackneyed plot, character development, use of color, musical expression, etc.
3. anything that has become trite or commonplace through overuse.

So if the word “free” is a cliche, that means it’s a common idea, it has lost its originality, and it no longer has impact. Is that true?

Okay, “free” is a common idea. No argument there. You frequently see the word used in ads and everyone understands it instantly.

It has also lost its originality. Advertisers have used it for as long as I can remember. A quick search in the Online Etymology Dictionary suggests that it was first used in the 1580s to mean “free of cost.”

But has it lost its impact? That’s the crux of it. Who cares if a word is common or unoriginal? All that matters in marketing is “does it work?”

After all, there are quite a few things that are common and unoriginal that work. Announcing a “sale” nearly always boosts revenue, for example. Neither the business owner nor the customers care whether the concept is original.

I’d say that “free,” while common and unoriginal, still works. When I created a radio ad offering a “FREE Better Sex Kit” for one of my clients, it got people’s attention and generated phone calls. When The Teaching Company offered me a “free” audio course, I downloaded it. When my wife saw an in-store offer for “buy one get one free” in the makeup section of Macy’s, she immediately took advantage of it. (As if she needed any encouragement to buy something at Macy’s.)

In fact, I use “free” all the time. In direct mail. In online sales pages. In radio and emails and videos and, well, pretty much everywhere. And so do thousands of other businesses. Free offers don’t always work, but that’s not because the word “free” is defunct.

Some years ago, I wrote and designed a self-mailer with the word “free” in big, honkin’ 300 pt. type and got 700% more response than the control mailer which used more subtle language to talk about stuff at no cost.

So, with all due respect for the vast experience of the 22-year old copywriter with over a half year of experience, I beg to differ.

“FREE” is not a cliche. It’s common. It’s unoriginal. But it still has impact. You know why? Because the idea of getting something without cost is a basic human motivation. It does not go out of style any more than the promise of sex goes out of style. People have always wanted free stuff and they always will.

And what’s the simplest, clearest way to say that? FREE!

A few months ago on my Pro Copy Tips blog, I published a short list of copywriting blogs that offer sound and often entertaining advice.

That post got a fair number of comments and tweets, so I thought it would be worthwhile to re-post it here.

A few people emailed me and wondered why I didn’t include this or that blog. One or two people were insulted. But I assure you, this isn’t meant to be a list of the only copywriting blogs, just a list of some of my favorites which I think are worth reading.

So if you don’t see your blog of choice, don’t get your panties in a twist. This isn’t a contest. If there’s a particular blog you like, leave a comment and a link. Okay?

I have no-so-humbly added Pro Copy Tips just in case you copy or bookmark this list. I didn’t want to get left out.

Dean Rieck’s Pro Copy Tips
Kristen King’s Inkthinker
Bob Bly’s Bly.com Blog
Brian Clark’s copyblogger
Peter Stone’s Blog
Dianna Huff’s B2B MarCom Writer Blog
Charles Brown’s Dynamic Copywriting
Michael Stelzner’s Writing White Papers
Nick Usborne’s Excess Voice
Thomas Chandler’s Copywriter Underground
Matt Ambrose’s The Copywriter’s Crucible
David Garfinkel’s World Copywriting Blog
Nicky Jameson On Copywriting, Marketing, Tech and Social Media
Copywrite, Ink.
Written Expressions
Men with Pens
The Copywriting Maven
Freelance Writing Business Blog
Copy Break
Maximum Results Copywriting
Helpinthecity’s Copywriting Blog
Freelance Copywriters Blog
Turner Ink Copywriting Blog
NLP Language Patterns for Advertising
Miguel Alvarez’s Copywriting.com
Marketing Words Copywriting Blog (on SEO Copywriting)
Stephen Dean’s Copywriting Blog
Divine Write
American Copywriter
Copywriting That Sells High Tech Blog