How to Avoid Bad Copywriting
Learn what to avoid in your copy to ensure you’re not out of touch.
Copywriting Advice Excess
There is an excessive amount of copywriting advice out there. Mnemonic formulas and pain point equations. Marketers that speak with a tone of infallible authority. It’s hard to keep up with what really works and what doesn’t. And what really works can mean different things to different marketers.
For the purpose of this article and with my experience, what really works for me is code for what really connects with people. When talking about copywriting, I don’t speak to clickbait-oriented manipulation tactics for brands who aren’t mission and people centred.
But when I see ads from Fortune 500 brands that miss every mark, I know that there is still a wide knowledge gap between what works and what not only misses the mark, but quite possibly destroys any chances of missing the target at all.
People-based copy writing vs. product based copywriting
Good copy should always, always, always be people-focused. That means everything is not about you or your product. Copy should not read along the lines of “We’re the best option.” “We’re all-stars” or “We are solving all of your needs.” When you make your copy all about you, it becomes clear that you come first, and you’re likely operating a company that puts your product or services before people.
Marketing and sales should never be completely separate departments in any company, yet they often are. And when you have copy that is product-focused, you’re not doing the sales team any favours. Direct sales doesn’t mean you should be direct. A part of direct sales is connecting and building relationships before selling.
Remember, if you’re talking about your product and service more than your customer and how you serve them, then you may be letting your customer know that yes, you do put sales before your intention to serve people with that product.
So, focus on your customers and what they need and how your product solves their problem. For mission-driven and purpose built companies, providing this focused language should be easy.
Be able to read multiple meanings + 360 degree empathy
In today’s market, you can’t just publish something because it sounds good to you. You have to (or have a professional copywriter) be able to read text and copy from different points of view. Brands have been impacted because their words didn’t sit right. Think the American Eagle “good jeans” ad with Sydney Sweeney. Regardless of how you interpreted what happened, it didn’t serve either her or AE well. And no, any publicity is not always good publicity.
You can’t write copy without empathy and cultural awareness. Whether or not you agree with the various degrees of cancel culture in the past years, it’s important to be keenly aware of your words and how they’ll come across. If empathy and being culturally keen is not your strength, sit out of the copy and brainstorm ads and find someone who is hyper aware of today’s tone and can read from different angles and perspectives. We live in a social-driven culture, it’s important to understand it’s conversations that drive that culture.
It’s not about being woke. You just have to be able to read the room.
Don’t use works that scream copy or unoriginality
There is so much overused copy today, and if you are using it, it can often look like your company is living under a rock, not to mention out of touch. Any derivative of “smarter, not harder” is a not “copywriting that converts.” It’s copywriting that copies. Also, if your company is going jargonize your copy and leverage KPI’s and skyrocket your results, you can likely guarantee you will do the exact opposite for your marketing strategy.
No more synergistic, game-changing, or testosterone-infused words. Your ad (likely) isn’t a 1-800 infomercial, it’s a brand created to solve a problem for people. Here are a few other words I suggest companies avoid using in order not to sound trite, unoriginal, or down right out of touch:
Game-changer
Sky Rocket
Leverage
Turbocharge
Accelerate
Today
You get the idea. You’ve likely seen the words so many times. These once power-filled words are now void of any meaning at all. If anything, they mean to annoy people. This also includes repetitive phrases we’ve heard far too many times: think smarter not harder, work happy, etc.
Don’t choose cleverness over clarity
This is such overused advice, but I see so many Fortune 500 companies ignore it. I try to imagine what happens in boardrooms, someone calls out a random line during a brainstorming session and the boss goes, “Hey, I like that! Let’s do it.” Meanwhile the rest of the room ponders over the line, not brave enough to mention either a) It actually makes little sense and b) it has no apparent meaning or c) it doesn’t really relate to the brand.
It’s a complete waste of time and your marketing budget to choose a catchy phrase or tagline for your ad that doesn’t really mean anything and could pertain to any brand. When choosing what to say, know exactly who you are saying it to, and exactly what it means.
Lack of specificity
Speaking of knowing exactly what you’re saying and to whom, if the visitor to your website, or viewer of your ad doesn’t know what you do or offer within the first 5 seconds of reading, again you’ve quite possibly wasted your money on copy or the ad.
If you’re tagline is work smarter, not harder, I have bad news for you. You and hundreds of other companies help people do the same. What exactly does “smarter” mean? We have no idea. In fact, your copy is interchangeable with hundreds of other companies that have nothing to with what you sell, which means it was likely a waste of paid space.
Don’t let non-copywriters be in charge of copy
I witnessed a big creative firm in town design a building, emblazoned a massive catch phase on its front facade. It is primarily a design firm. This often means copy isn’t the strong suit. Where aestheticism and clarity intersect can often blur. Instead of catching people’s eye, it’s causing people to scratch their heads in bemusement. No one knows what it means. In fact, it doesn’t even allude to what the company does.
One can only guess that perhaps they liked the look and flow of the words, but in no way do they make any sense. (I’d love to share the copy blunder but I’m against public shaming.) If a trained copywriter was in the room, and of course had the final say, they would have kindly pointed out that the line doesn’t work because of a simple copywriting rule:
Copywriting must make sense.
Maybe you’ve read that copy should “sing” or you want it to sound cute or catchy. Okay, fine. Do what suits the voice of your brand. But it must make sense!
Unethical copywriting = Bad copywriting
The obvious: don’t use words that mislead, mis-convey, scare, or exploit people’s emotions. In some cases this goes beyond the unethical and crosses a territory that I don’t call marketing. I call this kind of territory manipulation. This is why I only help purpose-built brands.
But the not-so-obvious tactic that I sometimes see, is implying that you are better than your competitors. This point is up for argument of course, but I don’t believe you have anything to gain by saying the better option in whatever word mashup you choose. The best never needs to declare they are the best. They simply are. Let testimonials and case studies do the talking.
It’s also important not to imply anything negative about potential customers. “Who would every do that??” one might ask? Unfortunately I see it happen. Phrases along the lines of: “for those who know what their doing” or “if you’re wise you’ll choose us.” Unfortunately phrases along these lines actually exist.
Never try to insult someone’s identity by not using your service or product. Don’t be indirectly insulting to your competitors. And never, ever mislead anyone about the results they can achieve. Focus on your customers, and why you created the product or service and how it can help them.
Clear stakes copywriting
You can’t take one copywriting course and expect to know what works. It takes years of practice, but also it takes having a strong intuition and ability to read the room. If you’re a mission-driven brand built to solve a problem for people, you won’t require some elite marketing advice. Focus on your customer, and let your solution do the talking.
Photo credits top to bottom via pexels: Jack Sparrow; Katya Wolf; Walls . io; Luis Kuthe; kaboompics via pexels.