“No need to be clever. Just relevant.” – Drayton Bird
This quote takes away some of the pressure!
Drayton is widely considered to be one of the UK’s finest copywriters.
I have a copy of his book of treasure: “How to Write Sales Letters That Sell.”
It’s a second edition, published in 2002. The book focuses on direct (snail) mail and letter writing, so excludes a lot of the current media trends.
However, Drayton’s advice is timeless to those of us writing any form of thought-provoking promotional material. His advice to us is relevant for all written media – no matter whether it’s email, web copy, blog posts or social media posts.
Drayton states that any letter which talks to the right person about the right subject at the right time; and appeals to that person’s self-interest, will succeed and it does not have to be clever to do so.
Of course, if it is also ingenious it might succeed even more. But that touch of originality is far less important than being relevant to the reader.
What usually works best is not ingenuity but news of benefits.
“Media differ. Principles don’t. No matter what you write — letters, emails, ads, landing pages, TV commercials — you need the same skills and must follow the same principles.”
Many years ago, Irving Wunderman defined our challenge with this question: “To whom are you offering what ultimate benefit?”
Quote source: https://www.verygoodcopy.com
Amazing how so few words, if applied, can focus the mind so strongly!
Thank you for reading.
