Engaging Elements Sell
“Nobody ever sold anybody anything by boring them to death.”
— David Ogilvy, advertising genius
Ogilvy was right.
If you want someone to buy what you’re selling — whether you’re pitching products and services or positions and ideas — you must first engage them. And nothing engages readers quite as well as creative material.
Creative elements grab attention, communicate more clearly and enhance credibility. They paint pictures in your audience members’ minds so they understand your points faster, enjoy your information more and remember it longer.
Creative Components Are Crucial
Creative material is essential — not a luxury. Alas, it’s a necessity that many writers forget. After I presented a workshop on “Making Your Copy More Creative,” one attendee pulled me aside and said:
“The speeches I write are just 20 minutes long. I can’t afford to make room for anecdotes, metaphors and human-interest illustrations.”
I told him he couldn’t afford not to include creative elements — that those were the only parts of his speech his audience listened to!
When Should You Be Creative?
That conversation reminded me of an old joke among professional speakers.
“When should you use humor in a speech?” a young speaker asks an experienced orator.
“Only when you want to get paid,” the veteran answers.
The same thing is true for writers.
When should you use creative material in your copy?
Only when you want your audience to pay attention.
Want more tips for writing copy that gets attention? If so, please join me at PRSA’s on-site seminar, “Writing That Sells — Products, Services and Ideas: Reach Reluctant Readers,” on May 29 in Atlanta, GA. You’ll learn how to get through to today’s tired, busy, distracted readers.
Source: Ann Wylie, “Creative material is essential,” RevUpReadership.com
By Ann Wylie, president, Wylie Communications. Ann works with communicators who want to reach more readers and with organizations that want to get the word out. She travels from Hollywood to Helsinki, helping communicators at such organizations as NASA, AT&T and H&R Block polish their skills and find new inspiration for their work. For PRSA, she presents programs like “Writing That Sells — Products, Services and Ideas” in on-site sessions across the country. Ann is the author of more than a dozen learning tools, including RevUpReadership.com, a toolbox for writers. In addition to writing and editing, Ann helps organizations launch or revitalize their Web sites and publications. She has served as a public relations professional in an agency, corporate communicator for Hallmark Cards, editor of an executive magazine and consultant in her own firm. Her work has earned more than 60 communication awards, including two IABC Gold Quills.
Join Ann for her teleseminars, “Anatomy of a News Release, Pitch and E-Mailed Release: Write Releases That Get Posted on Portals, Help Google Find Your Site, Reach Readers Online and More,” “Go Beyond the Inverted Pyramid: Increase Readership With Feature-style Writing“ and her seminar, “Writing That Sells — Products, Ideas, and Services: Reach Reluctant Readers,” on Friday, March 5 in New York, NY!
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