Welcome to the July 2005 issue of Compositions, James DeKoven's column about strategic copywriting. This time around:
-- My New Site
-- Lower the Risk
-- Soothing the Cynic
-- Sensation Transference
-- Album of the Month

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My New Site
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Finally, after months of driving myself insane over the copy, I've launched my new site. A fresh look, updated content, same copywriter. Take a tour at www.thecomposer.com.

Special thanks to a couple of outstanding creative professionals.

Thanks to Heidi Yarger, who developed my new identity. Thanks to David Kerr, who designed the site.

You can read more about them on my Connections page at http://www.thecomposer.com/connections/index.html


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Lower the Risk
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You always hear know-it-all copywriters like me talking about "benefits". Focus on how you help companies save time and increase revenue, how you help people improve their lives and gain peace of mind.

But there's a benefit I forget to mention. You want to be perceived as a low risk choice.

Think about it. When you decide to hire a new housekeeper, or order a sweater online, or book a weekend at that cozy bed and breakfast in Big Sur, you're accepting a certain level of risk.

Will the housekeeper's work match your expectations? Will the sweater be a good fit? Will the cabin in Big Sur really be as comfortable as it looks in the picture?

Whatever the purchase, you grapple with the potential risks of the decision. And so do your prospects when they're considering you for the job.

Of course, copy can't eliminate ALL risk. The goal is to LOWER the risk in the prospect's mind as much as possible. You need to chip away at the perceived risks, so instead of having a good size boulder that stands in their way, they only have to walk across a layer of scattered pebbles.

Risk is the cost of the prospect making a poor choice. She's worried about spending half of her company's IT budget on a network that doesn't scale. Or paying an HR consultant for bad advice. Or paying a graphic designer who can't quite come up with the right look. Or paying a copywriter who doesn't deliver on time.

But it's more than being worried about wasted time or money, or not meeting a critical deadline, or not getting the product launched on schedule.

There are emotional ramifications. She could damage her reputation. She might endure 6 consecutive weeks of stress and bad hair days. She could lose her job.

Cost is always a consideration, but it's not the overall determining factor. Value is important as well, but value gets erased if there's a perceived high risk.

Lower the perceived risk by writing from the customer's perspective. Speak to their potential objections. As part of your copy outline, list every potential concern or perceived risk, and address each one in your finished piece.
Emphasize that you offer trial periods and money-back guarantees, which lessens the fear of people being dissatisfied.
Announce that you offer staggered billing and/or multiple payment options, which eases concerns about affordability.
Provide a short case study showing how you did what three consultants couldn't, which lowers doubt about your claims of expertise.
These are just examples, but I'm sure you get the point. By addressing concerns upfront, you lower the risk, increase confidence, and improve the prospect/customer ratio.
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Sensation Transference
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A lot of you probably read Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. His new one could be better. In Blink, he analyzes how people make and justify their decisions, a process that lies at the root of all marketing.

One particular gem was his mention of "Sensation Transference", a term coined by marketing pioneer Louis Cheskin. As Gladwell puts it: "Cheskin was convinced that when people give an assessment of something they might buy, without realizing it, they transfer sensations or impressions that they have about the packaging of the product to the product itself."

This is how some people "tasted" more lime flavor in a soft drink, when the only difference was that the manufacturer added more green color to the can's design. The initial impression shaped the experience.

This is nothing new to us consumers. We understand how packaging manipulates us into perceiving a product as "gourmet" or "old fashioned" or "hip".

Yet we must also understand that copy has an equally manipulative "package". For example, when you read about a company's services, you don't just get information. On the subconscious level, the copy creates a positive or negative impression of what it would be like to work with them.

Like Cheskin said, "without realizing it" you transfer impressions about the packaging (copy) to the product (company). So some questions for the day are:

What kind of impression does your copy create? Does this impression create the desired company perception? Does this perception increase interest and sales leads?
Do a test. Ask five people to read your site. Find out what perception they got. Don't ask friends or spouses or relatives. Ask people who will give you honest opinions. Then compare their perceptions with your DESIRED perception. Then adjust messages, copy, and tone of voice as necessary.
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Soothing the Cynic
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George Carlin was once asked in an interview why he was so cynical. "I'm not a cynic", he answered, "I'm a disappointed optimist".

George's attitude may have been a matter of semantics. But when it comes to the general public's view of marketing, it's anything but spin. Study after study shows that people are increasingly annoyed with the entire concept of marketing. And how can you blame them/us?

We live in a giant marketing machine that spits out a constant stream of hype and exaggerated claims. So this is what it's come to: not only can we spot those exaggerated claims - we're LOOKING for them.
As marketers, we're guilty before being proven innocent. The average consumer isn't deciding what to believe. He wants to know WHY he should believe you in the first place.

A friend recently said to me, "I've never seen an 'exciting offer' that was actually exciting." Neither have I. No wonder why consumers are so cynical: because companies constantly insult their intelligence.

A writer's job isn't to force the reader to get "excited". A writer must mine the exciting nuggets that exist and place them in an easily seen display case. Show, don't tell.
Include as much believable and credible evidence as possible while avoiding hype. Most of all, speak to readers as if you were talking to them in person.

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Album of the Month
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Throughout the 1960s, the Jazz Crusaders put out a series of incredible live recordings. The Live at the Lighthouse albums smoke from start to finish, a blend of driving hard bop with a funky, melodic groove. "The Festival Album", which just got reissued, is right up there with the Lighthouse recordings. As I said to a friend, "If this music doesn't move you, you must be dead."


Until next time,

James