For anyone who’s ever had the ambition to be a writer, there is one essential truth: writing is rewriting, and rewriting, and rewriting, and – you get the picture. Whether you’re writing science fiction, romance, a coming-of-age drama, or – as I did a few years ago – a murder mystery, you should never be satisfied with your first draft. The same goes for the second and third and, in some cases, even your final story draft. You should always want to make improvements. This doesn’t just apply to stories.
Copywriting, like mystery writing, needs a strong, compelling narrative that evokes emotion in the audience. The initial goal is always the same, to get people’s attention. But in order to do that, the messaging needs to be clear. Just like in any form of writing, editing is key.
Just Because Something is Clever, Doesn’t Mean It Belongs in the Story
When I was writing my first book, After Mask: A Mr. En Mystery, I had a plethora of ideas I wanted to include, but not everything I came up with served the narrative. This included a great deal of the dialogue. Since I was cutting the main character from the same cloth as Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, it seemed like a natural fit for him to expound on his observations and conclusions throughout the story. But when I took it to my editor (who also happens to be my wife) to review, one of her main criticisms was the number of times Mr. En went on and on without letting anyone get a word in edgewise. I explained that that is who he is, defending my narrative choices. Without missing a beat, she pointed out how that was obvious from the first chapter and how having him do the same thing through the length of the novel was not only repetitive but made him a far less sympathetic character. In the end, I capitulated.
Of course, she was 100% right. There was no need to have my protagonist demonstrate his deductive prowess interminably throughout the story. I only needed it at crucial moments. Worse, having him constantly showing off wasn’t just about helping him look clever, but making me look clever. It didn’t stop at the dialogue either. I wrote several witty, intelligent moments and shared ideas that I felt the need to express. But just because I needed to articulate these thoughts, that didn’t mean my audience needed to read them. And the audience should always be the main focus, whether we’re telling a story for entertainment purposes, or because we’re trying to get them interested in a product.
Copywriting Requires Great Storytelling, and Even Greater Editing
In his incredibly useful guide, The Copywriter’s Handbook, author Robert W. Bly makes it clear that the audience always comes first and criticizes the current trend of making advertisements clever. He maintains that, while ads need to get the audience’s attention, they still need to be effective at selling the product. This resonated with me after watching the Superbowl this year. Never mind that the game was a blowout and blowouts in any sport are boring, nearly half the country was tuning in for the commercials anyway. Unfortunately, what we got was a bit of a mess.
For the past several years, the commercials that have run during the Superbowl have tended to focus on being clever at the expense of effective messaging. They may be entertaining, for the most part, but they’re not likely to move the needle when it comes to making the sale. What’s more, some ads were just disturbing images without plot or context. (I’m looking at you, Seal. At least I think I’m looking at Seal. Seriously, what IS that thing?) While this approach made the ads memorable, I can’t honestly remember what more than half of them were for. Worse, almost none of the Superbowl spots fulfilled their most important purpose.
Persuasion isn’t Just a Novel by Jane Austen, It’s the Number One Goal of Copywriting
If there’s one thing an advertisement – whether it’s a blog, YouTube video, print ad, or TV commercial – is meant to do, it’s sell the product. Yet some companies seem to have forgotten this hard and fast rule in favor of grabbing the public’s attention. They’re hoping today’s ad will be tomorrow’s hot topic on the morning news shows, at virtual meetings, or at the water cooler. (Ask your parents about that last one.) But this is only temporary buzz and their products are often completely forgotten. The ads that ran during the Superbowl got attention, and in rare cases drew my attention to the product, but the vast majority of them failed to persuade me to buy, or even take a second look at what they were offering.
I can think of only two persuasive, memorable ads from this year’s big game that stood out to me. The first was a handful of short ads for Homes.com. You know the ones. Dan Levy and Heidi Gardner highlight the benefits of the site for home buyers using ridiculous and extreme scenarios. This year they went with a much simpler approach and brought in celebrated actor Morgan Freeman to drive home a simple point about their site being “the best.”
The other ad that worked that night was for the travel website Booking.com, starring the Muppets. Is it surprising that an ad featuring the Muppets caught my attention? No, it isn’t. I am, after all, a die-hard Muppet fan. Yet, while there may be some bias on my part for the Booking.com ad, it was actually the sparing use of my favorite felt and fuzzy characters that helped make the ad so effective. The Muppets showed up for some examples of different accommodations you can book, made their little jokes, and left the rest to the voice over artist to explain the benefits of the service.
These weren’t the flashiest ads of the night. They weren’t outlandish, or funny for the sake of being funny. (They were pretty funny, though.) They didn’t even rely on epic or sentimental storytelling. They just got my attention, made me laugh, and made their point. They were simple, smart, and effective while losing none of their entertainment value, and I guarantee you from a creator’s POV, these ads likely didn’t start out so simple. They probably went through several drafts, storyboards, and cuts before settling on what we saw on Superbowl Sunday, and in more abbreviated versions since.
If only the other ads from that night had been as effective, then maybe I’d better remember what they were selling. More to the point, maybe I’d feel more persuaded to take a closer look at the products they were meant to sell. I think a few more passes over the drafts and storyboards would’ve been helpful. Whenever I start writing anything, it’s easier to get words on the page when I know I’ll be rewriting most of what I put down later. It just makes good sense. No matter what you’re writing about, you’re always going to make edits until, hopefully, you’ve written just what your audience wants: good, persuasive storytelling that puts their needs up front.
mathewscheerwordsmith.com 
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