Very Good Copy: 207 Micro-Lessons on Thinking and Writing Like a Copywriter
write about my life because it’s what I know. And over the years, I’ve found that people tend to connect with my work because they see themselves in it. They don’t see me, my experiences, my family. They see their partners and their children and their circumstances in my stories.
Eddie Shleyner • Very Good Copy: 207 Micro-Lessons on Thinking and Writing Like a Copywriter
Seth Godin said, “Crafting a story that tricks people into making short-term decisions they regret in the long run is the worst kind of marketing sin.” Ads make promises. Promises bring people hope. Don’t mess with a person’s hope.
Eddie Shleyner • Very Good Copy: 207 Micro-Lessons on Thinking and Writing Like a Copywriter
AI can help writers and copywriters establish the dots to help us start writing (which is often the hardest part). But it cannot connect the dots like we can. It can’t be personal like us, human like us.
Eddie Shleyner • Very Good Copy: 207 Micro-Lessons on Thinking and Writing Like a Copywriter
But do you want to? This is the question. Do you want to write about yourself, who you are? Terrifying as it is, will you be a writer who does this? Because then we’re fascinated—we’re in.
Eddie Shleyner • Very Good Copy: 207 Micro-Lessons on Thinking and Writing Like a Copywriter
Creativity boils down to putting old things together in new ways, which is a two-step process: One, get knowledge and experience. Two, make unexpected connections.
Eddie Shleyner • Very Good Copy: 207 Micro-Lessons on Thinking and Writing Like a Copywriter
Twenty percent of your advertising depends on the strength of your creative, which is a combination of three things: copy, design, and format.
Eddie Shleyner • Very Good Copy: 207 Micro-Lessons on Thinking and Writing Like a Copywriter
Art is self-indulgent: you can’t make art with someone else in mind. Copywriting is the opposite: you can’t make an ad without someone else in mind.
Eddie Shleyner • Very Good Copy: 207 Micro-Lessons on Thinking and Writing Like a Copywriter
Time illuminates the details. Details give way to connections. And connections are the basis of creativity, a cornerstone of copywriting.
Eddie Shleyner • Very Good Copy: 207 Micro-Lessons on Thinking and Writing Like a Copywriter
Brand positioning boils down to one thing: Differentiation. And one way to be different is by aligning with a unique set of values. AND1 did this, aligning with the values of streetball: attitude and creativity. Nike, meanwhile, aligned with elitism and rigidity.
Eddie Shleyner • Very Good Copy: 207 Micro-Lessons on Thinking and Writing Like a Copywriter
the research you put into it,” Kim went on. “Getting to know the market, their biggest pain points and frustrations and hopes. And what are the alternatives they’ve seen? And what hasn’t worked for them? And why will this work now? And why should they believe that? All that work you do with research makes up the bulk of the copy.”