By Steven Wagenheim
This is not a debate on long or short copy. Copy should be like a lady’s skirt. Short enough to be interesting and long enough to cover the essentials. This is a discussion, albeit one sided, on sales copy that rambles on and never seems to get to the point. I am all for telling stories in copy, but the story you tell should have a point. More importantly, it should get to the point…and quickly. If you don’t understand why, keep reading. This article will alert you to some things that you probably should know if you’re going to write successful copy.
The human being is a strange animal. He’ll sit through a three hour movie on Orcs and Trolls if it captures his interest, but he won’t read a sales letter that take him 10 minutes if it doesn’t. In other words, human beings have very little patience. Waste even a minute of their time and they’re already looking at their watch for an escape route. Because of this, copywriters have to get to the point, even if their sales copy is 40 pages long.
Now you’re probably wondering, how can you get to the point with a 40 page sales letter? Isn’t that a little hard to do? Actually, it is very easy to do if you understand what the point is of each part of your sales letter. That is what I mean by getting to the point. It starts with the very beginning of your sales letter, your headline and works its way all the way through to the final PS…each section getting to the point. (more…)