Morris Creative Group

Effective copywriting is effective for specific reasons. I’ll be demystifying copywriting and discussing some of these elements in upcoming posts.

Copywriting often sets aside stylistic considerations in favor of clear, effective communication or marketing objectives—distinguishing a company from its competitors, communicating that company’s values, providing insight into its culture, or exhibiting a personality.

That being said, many of elements of good prose style apply to effective copywriting as well.

Verbs

1) Use the active voice whenever possible.

My high school had an excellent English program, and my teachers, especially Ms. Tracey and Ms. Smith, hammered this lesson into us, year after year.

Passive voice verbs have their place, but most of the time, they are weak and wordy. For example, take the following sentence: “My resume is being considered by Morris Creative Group, a marketing firm in Knoxville, Tennessee.” Now, compare that sentence to this one: “Morris Creative Group, a marketing firm in Knoxville, Tennessee, is considering my resume.” By switching to active voice, I cut out two words. 

“Who cares?” you might be thinking. “It’s only two words.” Take those two words and multiply by the number of sentences on your page. Fluff accumulates into whole paragraphs you could have used to say something meaningful. If your content is superfluous words, you are actually saying less, not more. You have limited space in all of your marketing materials. You are marketing to people with limited attention spans.

Remedy: Cut out the fat. Rearrange your sentence, replace weak passive verbs with vivid action verbs, and use the space you create to pack more valuable information into your copy.

2) Search for stronger verbs rather than -ly adverbs.

In his book On Writing, Stephen King compares -ly adverbs to dandelions. After the first one pops up in your yard, it’s only a matter of time before they pop up everywhere. 

Give them a chance, and they’ll clutter your content with clunky words.

Which is more interesting to read? “The old man walked slowly down the sidewalk” or “The old man inched down the sidewalk.” “Inched” is more precise—incremental movement forward—and thus creates a more potent image in the reader’s mind.

Also consider the following: “The man spoke softly and tenderly to his sick wife.” What about “The man soothed his sick wife.” Digging deeper for a stronger verb to carry all the meanings of a weaker verb and accompanying adverbs takes time, but results in more engaging writing. You can sometimes cut four or five words out of a sentence by using vivid action verbs.

Remedy: Cut out the fat. Pluck out those dandelions. Plant vivid action verbs instead to create potent images.

Economical Language

Cutting out superfluous content buys you more room for substantive information.

A word saved is a word earned. 

At Morris Creative, we believe that effective marketing involves delivering the right message to the right people at the right time. That message will almost always involve words. Whether a penny or a Ben Franklin, every word costs you money.

Cut out the fat. Add more meat.

Powerful copywriting is economical language—economical in the sense that less is more and in the sense that you can save money by investing in copywriting. Investing in copywriting will enable you to squeeze the most value out of every word, every dollar, every aspect of your marketing strategy.