Creative & Copywriting: Personality-Plus

As budgets have become tighter and schedules more intense, the selling tool of catalogs and Web sites that’s suffered most has been the copy. It’s essential to maintain vigilance to write interesting, compelling copy.

Customers have few expectations about what they’ll read in a catalog or Web site. That’s why interesting copy and outstanding headlines are such a surprise and delight to them, and why it’s worth the time, effort and expense to write copy that really sings.

You need access to enthusiasts when you write copy, and being an enthusiast yourself is certainly helpful, although working on catalogs tends to create enthusiasts. You know how they say “salesmen are the biggest suckers”? That applies to direct marketing copywriters, too.

Effective Intimacy
The intimacy writers reveal when they’re truly engaged in selling a product sometimes shows up as wacky or offbeat copy — even over the most mundane products. It’s one thing to write outrageous copy for The Highlander (a catalog I worked on some years ago that was based on a TV show about immortals and adventure), and another to write offbeat lines about everyday items like T-shirts or flowers. But if written appropriately, this voice makes your Web site or catalog something people read and remember — and tell their friends about.

Which leads me to some of the best advice I ever received about selling. During my college years, I worked for Singer selling sewing machines, teaching sewing, making samples for displays and so on. My sales manager shared with me the two most important things a salesperson can do to make a sale: First, listen. Second, share the information you have about the product in a personal manner, like you’re telling a good friend. I wouldn’t shout at customers, but I’d speak with enthusiasm and tell them with candor how I’d used the products myself. I’d invite them to try it (risk free) and then invite them to take it home. That advice is applicable in copywriting, too.

With that in mind, I thought I’d share some of my favorite little bits of copy that show personality-plus, revealing the heart and soul of a catalog or Web site to make it the one customers will remember and return to.

Annie’s Annuals & Perennials. She writes in her section of Mediterranean wildflowers: “Blue Honeywort” — “The perfect plant for those who say they kill everything!” Another one from Annie’s for her Drama Queen poppy: “Let us all bow down to the flower gods for giving us this ‘only in our dreams’ Poppy!”

Think Geek. These people always give me a laugh with their e-mails and the copy on their Web site and catalogs. For the iPod X-Mini Capsule speaker, they write: “Shockingly Huge Sound” — “That MP3 player you got for Christmas is awesome, but when you hit the play button, nothing comes out. Why? It doesn’t have a speaker, that’s why! Manufacturers cram so much into those tiny gadgets, any speaker that would fit in there would, frankly, sound like crap.”

A typical e-mail I might get from them may include what comes across as extemporaneous rambling, such as (referring to a free T-shirt offer), “It’s free with any $20 purchase. While supplies last. And hey, remember, we don’t offer free stuff in jest, we’re good for it! We ain’t joking around here kids, get this shirt free NOW. Don’t be a fool, take advantage of us now! Or the hamster goes back into the PC Habicase.” This is really market-appropriate.

Wine of the Month Club. Owner Paul Kalemkiarian’s e-mails are written with such enthusiasm it sounds like he’s in the room with you. One reads: “BAM! Am I allowed to use that? After all, it was coined by Emeril … I wonder if you can trademark something like that? At the risk of violating Federal law I say BAM! For Sylvester Merlot … BAM! In your face Merlot character that jumps from the glass.”

Sell Through Your Voice
You don’t have to be that wacky to have a clear voice that’s all your own. But you sure won’t get there by picking up copy from manufacturers’ spec sheets. It takes time with your customers to get to know them well, and it takes playing with some of your products.

You can’t do a great job writing copy for a catalog when you’ve only looked at images of the products and never spoken to a customer. Get over those hurdles and you’ll find new life in your old Web site or catalog. And if you’ve done your homework, you’ll find that leads to a longer life with your existing customers and lots of new customers, too.

Carol Worthington-Levy is partner, creative services, for LENSER, a catalog consultancy. You can reach her at (408) 269-6871 or carol.worthington-levy@lenser.com.