You, only Better
“I want this marketing content to really communicate who I am and how I feel — only in better words.”
I hear that all the time, and it’s a very smart request. Many a crestfallen business owner has to come to grief trying to reconcile colloqueal-sounding speech with written text. As I mentioned in a previous post, written English simply doesn’t work the same way spoken English does, and some of the wittiest, most entertaining speakers I know couldn’t write their way out the proverbial paper bag. Me, I’m the opposite. I’d much rather write than talk. I’m not the worst speaker in the world, but every time I stand in front of an audience and give a presentation I keep wishing I could just email it in. Writing is my comfort zone. I’m weird that way. Fortunately for my career as a copywriter, I’m not in the majority.
If we were to write the same way we express ourselves in everyday speech, the resulting content would stink up the joint. Go ahead, give it a try and see what happens. Expect uncoordinated, stream-of-consciousness banter peppered with pauses, unfinished sentences, “Ums,” “Uhs,” and other literary gems. Trust me, you don’t really want to sound like yourself in your writing. You want to read like yourself instead.
What does that mean? It means that you have to use words and phrases that read as if you were speaking to us, when in fact the text is much more tightly organized, effectively worded, and compellingly presented than something that just flew out of your mouth on the spur of the moment. You have to conjure the illusion of your voice without actually replicating it. The result? The voice that resounds through the page or monitor evokes your personality, humor, concern, humanity, et cetera, only with language that works on the page instead of the stage.
Not sure how to swing this aural illusion? Try reverse-engineering it. Picture that finished web page or brochure in your mind as clearly as you can. Imagine how you would like your words to read. Is the tone professional or homespun? Is the message concise? Does every word contribute to the cumulative impact of the whole? Ask yourself, “How would I say this if I were the world’s greatest marketing writer?”
That’s you — only better.
