Lots of copywriters love fluff. They gravitate toward it instinctively because it sounds good.
Check out this sentence:
“At Acme Pet Supplies, we offer superior customer service to match our outstanding products.”
You might be thinking, “Oooh – that sounds so good! Everyone wants to see that a company has ‘superior customer service.’ Anyone who reads that Acme has ‘outstanding products’ will be persuaded to shop at Acme Pet Supplies, right?” Wrong.
Though it sounds appealing on the surface, that statement is weak. First of all, that sentence could be describing almost any business in any industry. It’s a fluffy generality that could be describing an auto repair shop or a deli.
Secondly, “superior customer service” and “outstanding products” are unsubstantiated claims. Consumers are bombarded by statements like these all the time and tune them out. Instead of padding your copy with fluffy phrases, use solid details to sell your products.
Take another stab at that first sentence:
“Recognized for outstanding customer service by the American Pet Supply Organization, Acme Pet Supply stocks everything pet owners need – from canary food to chew toys.”
No more fluff. Readers are left with a verifiable fact about Acme Pet Supply that proves Acme excels in customer service. Plus, this new version tells readers the most important thing they need to know: they can get all their pet supplies at Acme.
The next time you’re tempted to use an empty phrase, remember that your copy will be stronger if you shave away the fluff and leave only the facts.
Being a writer is NOT easy. You know that. Whether you are a freelancer or a Pulitzer-prize winning novelist, an immense amount of work goes into each word you put on paper. And even the most renowned writers have to work at it. Sure, every writer has his own personal tricks to keep the content flowing and the copy crisp, but since I haven’t the time or the energy to track down really famous authors for their advice, I’ll share with you my own tidbits. Chew on them, savor them, but please, don’t spit them out.
Write every day. Let me preface this by saying, you don’t have to wake up every day at 5 am yearning to write for the next twelve hours. As stated earlier, writing is hard, but as with everything, it takes practice. Think of it this way. Michael Jordan certainly didn’t become the greatest basketball player of all time by only playing when he felt like it. And the same goes for you. Pick a time everyday to sit down and practice your craft. You can blog, journal, work on a freelance article, write your name over and over and over. The important thing is to get your brain in the habit of working daily.
Make the most of your time. There will be days that you will sit down at your computer, and the creativity will flow like manna from heaven allowing you to capitalize on this copy catharsis. But if you’re anything like me, these days are few and far between. So what do you do the other 364 days a year? Read the rest of my blogs, of course. But seriously, keep your day’s writing goal in mind, and make the decision ahead of time to push through. Bounce your ideas, or lack thereof, off of other writers you know, and you may just find another route to the end of your project.
Realize you are your own worst critic (most of the time). In my experience, my most praised works have been the ones I personally thought were the worst. Unfortunately, this just isn’t the case all the time. Like I’ve said before, as writers, we get do-overs. And even when we feel as if our writing talent has chosen to take a hiatus right before deadline, the best copy can come from embracing the desperation. Think of it as a personal challenge. Get it all down on paper, and refuse to judge it until someone else has given their opinion. If you get good feedback, give yourself a pat on the back. Get negative feedback? Grit your teeth, rewrite it, and then thank God that writers get drafts.
I find that most writers approach proofreading as a dreaded afterthought. Once they finish the actual writing, the idea of poring over their copy one last time to discover tiny errors seems…loathsome.
Trust me, proofreading is infinitely important. Nothing looks sloppier than using “your” when you should have used “you’re.” Or misspelling the name of the company you’re writing about. Little errors can drown out your message, but clean error-free copy strengthens it. Check out these simple ways to pack more punch into your proofreading:
Print out your work. Reading on the computer screen strains your eyes. You’ll be surprised how many extra errors you’ll catch by printing out your copy and reading it out loud.
Vary your sentence structure. Copy that consists of simple subject verb object structures over and over is boring. Pay attention to your sentences so that one sentence starts with a prepositional phrase and the next one begins with a gerund.
Alter the lengths of your sentences. Too many long sentences make your copy cumbersome; too many short ones make it feel choppy. For interesting and vibrant copy, some sentences should be long and some should be short. Like this one.
Check for consistency. Make sure that if you hyphenate a word once, that you hyphenate it throughout your work. Also, take a look at your bullets. They should all start with the same type of word: subject, gerund, action verb, etc.
Whether you look forward to proofing your work or loath the thought of doing it, remember that it has to be done. Put in a little extra time and your copy will be cleaner. For added security against typos, have someone – anyone – take a look at your work for you. A new set of eyes will find many of the tiny mistakes you’ve been too close to see.
