How active is your sales material?

One of the keys to writing great copy is to keep it in the active voice. The energy this gives your sales message will make a huge difference. It will help hold your potential customers’ attention – rather than send them to the land of nod. Here’s an example of the active vs passive voice from Wikipedia:

Passive voice:
Caesar was stabbed by Brutus

Active voice:
Brutus stabbed Caesar

As you can see, the active voice is not only more direct but is often shorter than the passive voice. It gets straight to the point and makes it easier to understand what the writer is saying. So it also helps you say as much as you can as concisely as possible.

Another way to ensure your copy has maximum energy is to use verbs not in the present participle ie shorten words that end in ‘ing’. So imagine for a moment that your tap has developed an annoying leak that you can’t fix yourself. You look up plumbers on the internet. Compare the following is more attractive?

Plumbers
XYZ Plumbing are local plumbers offering services throughout Hornsey. 

 

Your local Hornsey plumber

XYZ Plumbing offers you a fast, local service.

The second example is not only shorter and more direct, it talks directly to you and gets to the point fast. As it sums up the service in fewer words, there’s room for an additional benefit. As a result it sounds more positive and has more energy.  This in turn rubs off on the potential customer and keeps them keen to read on.
 

So make sure your copy actively engages your potential customers. Because the last thing you want is to lose them at the first hurdle.

How honest are you?

If you are in control of the copy on your website, are you aware that this is now subject to regulation by the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority)? Their scope has recently been extended to cover marketing on websites, as well as in other forms of advertising. What this basically means is that what you say about your company and services has to be legal, decent, honest and truthful.

For instance, you can’t say you are the ‘best’ baker or candlestick maker in the world, the country, or even your town - unless you can actually prove it. You can say you are one of the best, compete with the best, strive to be the best… but not that you are the best. Unless you really, truly can show that you are.

The rules apply to the visuals on your site, as well as the words. So take care that what you show and what you say support each other truthfully and build a strong message.

For more information on what you can and can’t say, and for the Advertising Codes, visit the ASA website at www.asa.org.uk

How do you know who to trust?

A little while ago, when Gas Safe workers were known as Corgi registered plumbers, I had a gas leak. The Corgi registered plumbers I called out to investigate couldn’t find the leak, even though it was clearly coming from somewhere in the gas meter cupboard. So they eventually gave up and told me they would either have to remove and replace every single gas pipe in my home, or I should leave my gas turned off permanently. Obviously neither were practical solutions for me, so I went to another company who quickly found the leak and mended it.

I complained to Corgi about the first company, because as a registered plumber of theirs, they should have been able to find the leak and make it safe. Yet Corgi found in their favour. Which is perhaps not so surprising since Corgi was funded by their members. Which begs the question, who can you really trust?

Here’s a funny illustration of how financial funding can create a biased service:

A guy from Uncle Ben’s rice company arranges to visit the Pope. After receiving the papal blessing he whispers, "Your Eminence, we have a deal for you. If you change The Lord's Prayer from 'give us this day our daily bread' to 'give us this day our daily rice' we will donate £500 million to the Church."

The Pope responds, "That is impossible. The Prayer is the Word of the Lord and it must not be changed."

"OK," says the Uncle Ben’s man, "we are prepared to donate £1 billion to the Church if you change the Lord's Prayer from 'give us this day our daily bread' to 'give us this day our daily rice’ ".

Again the Pope replies, "That is impossible. The Prayer is the Word of the Lord and it must not be changed."

Finally, the man from Uncle Ben’s says, "Alright, this is our last offer. We will donate £5 billion to the Church if you change the Lord's Prayer from 'give us this day our daily bread' to 'give us this day our daily rice'. Think about it." And he leaves.

Next day the Pope meets with the College of Cardinals to say that he has good news and bad news. "The good news is that the Church has come into £5 billion. The bad news is that we are losing The Hovis Account."