Transcriber: Niky Bao Reviewer: Denise RQ
Every day I am awestruck by the incredible writing in this world:
books, movies, even television;
everywhere you look you can read or see something extraordinary.
Everywhere except for business writing.
(Laughter)
So I ask you---what on earth is going on with that?
My name is Jean Tang. I am a copywriter.
I own a copywriter's collective based in New York City.
I have spent my entire life preparing for what I do,
and yet I've never taken a copywriting class,
never worked for an ad agency or gone to an advertising school.
Instead, I have a varied and nomadic path that began right here at the piano.
Then fast-forward many years, I had a short stint as a lawyer;
not quite sure what I was thinking with that one.
(Laughter)
Then I finally landed in what I thought would by my final career
as a freelance travel journalist writing for these publications.
By the time I fell into copywriting, there were things that I knew how to do.
I knew how to conduct an interview
and make the subject come alive on the page.
I knew how to build a solid case out of words that sang.
I knew how to leverage a musician's sense of rhythm and timing.
And with my pen, I could tumble a reader out of her chair
and onto a tundra in Africa in two seconds flat.
I felt ready.
When I tackled my first copy assignment, I immediately saw this huge divide
between the vivid editorial features that I was used to writing and reading
and on the other side, what I saw
as jargon-filled, cookie-cutter commercial content.
So I started to think about this, and I started to wonder.
Among the things I wondered I said to myself,
"Why are corporate buyers so boring
when people's lives are invariably interesting?
Why do businesses build these beautiful web sites
only to then fill them with undifferentiated corporate cliches?
Why is it that I have yet to see an employee manual
that is directed at a real live employee
as opposed to a bunch of lawyers?
You see, here is the world of copywriting as I see it.
I look at this, and it's like looking at smog
through a pair of filthy contact lenses with a veil over your eyes
and maybe through a dirty window.
It's hazy. It's indistinct. And it's ugly.
This is a standard Web site.
I didn't want to put the spotlight on anyone's real website,
but to me, this is pretty typical.
As you can see, this company cannot stop talking about itself,
its products, its services, its offerings, its qualifications.
It goes on and on and on.
Perhaps the women in this audience may be able to relate,
but to me, it's like being on a bad date
with a guy who can't stop going on about his accomplishments.
(Laughter)
We get that he's trying to impress us, but it's just not the right way.
It's not that there isn't inspired copywriting in this world.
There is, but it's not the norm.
I don't think it's that people don't know how to write.
I believe that the problem runs deeper than that.
You see, somewhere along the way, businesses seem to have lost track
of the cardinal rule of captivating literature.
And here it is.
Show don't tell.
They either thought that this didn't apply to them, or they decided to just get lazy.
Now picture that world again, all dull and gray,
but imagine if we poured just a tiny bit of color into that world.
What happens when you become a splash of something interesting
against an otherwise dull environment?
Meet my friend Mr. Word.
Isn't he handsome?
His color and his expression are designed to illustrate the fact
that if you do take some thought and get strategic behind your copy,
then you can stand out.
You can be relatable, and you can hopefully be unforgettable.
When I started my company, I found
that businesses were starving for meaningful and engaging content.
I knew that on my own, I couldn't make a dent
so I joined forces with other writers, and together, we decided to declare war.
This is Mr Word on our frontline.
Our mission is to terminate boring, bland, stale, and ineffective copy
around the world, no less.
So what is copy?
Well, it's a set of words.
But good copy is a set of words that tunnel their way into your brain,
then make a sharp beeline somewhere lower inside your body.
Good copy comes to a screeching stop in one major place,
and it's right here at my microphone.
(Laughter)
Copy is a story that punches you in the belly
then swells up like a three-second pregnancy.
Copy is a bath in ice water
that grabs your attention and leaves a lasting impact.
Every business makes its first impression with words.
Sometimes the words are so captivating that you can't help it
but you're going to go home and get online and buy that thing.
Then you're going to tell absolutely everyone in the world you know about it.
Other times, you turn your back, and the minute you do,
you forget about the company and what it's selling.
So what makes the difference?
Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that there is no salesperson,
there are no images, and there's no video.
I have to show you an image for this,
but all it is is words alone and naked on a page.
What's going to get him to motivate your readers?
How do you make sure that he isn't going to screw it up?
Well, I'll tell you.
I have developed a system for myself
and I leave it out there as an option for all of you.
My system has six steps,
and in the interest of time, I will go over three of them,
but I will tell you about all six.
The first one is to define.
Here's where you identify your format and your objective.
Step number two is to explore.
This may sound silly.
I want you to interview yourself as if you're about to go on Letterman.
Yes, I suggest talking to yourself,
preferably with a tape recorder, or some other device, or notepad.
Some of the questions you might want to ask include:
who is my target audience?
Who do I want them to be? Who do I want to see more of?
What makes me good at what I do?
What makes me spectacular?
When I talk to people I do find
that some people already know the answers to these questions
and the thing is that they are saying it out there in the field,
they are telling people,
but a lot of times, they are not committing it to paper.
I don't know why.
I also find that other people may not actually know,
they may never have exploited it before,
so I invite you to do that.
Step number three is to challenge.
The hardest thing about writing about yourself for your own company
is the fact that you're too close to it to have any perspective.
I experience this all the time.
To counteract that what you want to do is that you want to challenge.
First you want to ask yourself does anything not line up with my objectives?
If it doesn't throw it out.
Next, you want to toss out everything that is weak, obvious, or cliched.
Cliches are big.
An example of a cliche would be, "We deliver exceptional service."
When I look at that, I have no idea what it means.
The question to me that's important is how and why.
Now, if you are finding
that 50% or more of your competitors are likely to say the exact same thing
then, I invite you to take refuge in your ability to go deeper.
This doesn't mean to list the number of years you've had your job
or that you've been in business.
This means to explore the specifics of what you know, how you know it,
and why that matters.
Because knowledge carries conviction.
Experience carries tremendous strength.
The truth is always going to be your friend.
Step number 4 is to percolate.
I leave in here as on optional step
in case you find yourself blocked or stuck.
You will find that you will develop some fresh insights
if you give it some space.
Step number 5 is to humanize.
Up until this point, there has been no writing.
Everything has been strategic and conceptual.
My company creed is that copywriting is for humans.
What that means when the writing begins is that you want to keep in mind
that whether your audience is
a bunch of second graders that are drooling,
or CEOs with private jets, or PhDs sitting around in a lab,
they are all humans, so it doesn't matter.
They all have minds that seek to understand,
they all have hearts that want to believe,
and they all have souls that are yearning to soar.
(Audience) Whee!
(Laughter)
Another thing you want to keep in mind is that everybody is reading your copy,
and they're likely all saying the same thing to themselves:
what does this mean to me?
Why does this matter? Why does this involve me?
Does that mean you write everything for everyone in the exact same way?
No.
It means to support your case to make sure that what you're saying
doesn't sound like it's too good to be true because people will know.
It also means that it's your job to break things --your thoughts and ideas-- down
into digestible bits for your audience.
Complicated is OK.
But complicated without explanation is not OK.
To paraphrase David Ogilve,
talking above people doesn't prove your superior intelligence,
it just makes you sound like a pretentious ass.
(Laughter)
Finally, I don't care what you're selling,
but we as human beings, all of us, love stories
and delight and triumph.
As such, I would like you to leverage as much of that
into your speech as possible.
The last step is to edit.
I'll go over this very quickly
because I'm sure you're dying to see an example.
The one thing I want to say about this is that you shouldn't be afraid
to kill whole pages if need be and start all over again from scratch.
As much as I love Mr. Word,
sometimes, he's in the way, and we just have to kill him.
I don't want any of you to worry
because no actual words were harmed in the making of this slide.
(Laughter)
So we were asked to write a letter
that would be sent to martial arts schools around the country
and help them prospect for new students.
When we first got it, the letter said,
"Sign up for a karate class,
and we'll give you a free pair of handwraps."
I'm no karate expert, and actually don't know what handwraps are,
but to me, that is sort of like going up to a stranger in the street
asking them to reach into their wallet and give you 1,000 bucks.
You just haven't made your case.
Step number one is to define.
The format is a letter, the objective is to sign up for karate.
Steps number 2 and 3, we'll take together. So explore and challenge.
We already talked about those handwraps, we got rid of that.
So we just basically sat down
and we found out more about what this was about
and what the features were, and we decided to evaluate each of them.
The next one was that the teachers are all black belts.
This seemed to me to be quite commonplace in martial arts schools,
and also it didn't seem like, if you were a black belt,
you were necessarily going to be a good teacher.
So we got rid of that one, too.
The next thing we found was that it's a fun workout.
We thought, OK, that could go somewhere. We could play with that one a bit.
But we decided to see what else we would learn.
We found out that it's a great workout.
So we had something, and we decided to explore this one a little bit deeper.
What happens when you sign up for karate?
Well, you train. You train hard.
And depending on your own level of commitment and discipline
and depending on how good your teachers are
and how hard they push you,
you do drill after drill after drill
until it must feel like your body is getting ready to disintegrate.
But no one has yet to die of karate so it doesn't.
You live. You survive, and your body actually gets stronger.
In time, you become a fighter.
As a fighter, your mind is conditioned to be able to handle anything
that life gives you inside the ring or out.
This is the final copy:
"The tension mounts. A flashbulb screams.
Your eyes are firmly on the cage.
But the two men facing off are intensely focused on just one thing:
being the best fighter of the night.
These gladiators are supreme athletes.
They've been conditioned to never surrender.
If this sounds incredible, then you've already got the soul of a warrior.
Developing the body and skills to match is closer than you think."
Great copy breeds emotion.
Emotions support action.
Actions translate into sales.
They did extremely well with this campaign.
I want to add that none of this is about correct grammar, spelling,
punctuation, and the use of pretty language.
To a certain extent it is about being effective in business.
Of course, words are powerful business tools.
Honestly, I wouldn't care about any of this
if I didn't think the act of giving voice to what you do
both deepens and enhances
our understanding of who you are in this world and what you stand for.
To me, that is what it's all about.
In closing, I'd like all of you in here to join me and Mr. Word
in declaring war on the bland.
So raise your hand if you will.
Raise your hand and join me
in declaring war on meaningless corporate content.
Keep it up there to join me
in declaring war on boring corporate bios and websites that say nothing.
(Laughter)
Promise yourself that if you fall back into old habits
that you're going to do something about it
or else call me, and I'll send Mr. Word after you.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)