Smug Alert! Don’t bare your soul – stick to the brief

Write what they want to read, not what you want to write.

Powerful things, words. There’s so much to say. So much to impart. Such a temptation to expand on the brief. If you can write well, you reason, it doesn’t matter what you write about. People will read it, won’t they?

And then it begins – the temptation to expand, to expound, to editorialise becomes too strong. Before you know it your main point is lost, you come across as smug and you’ve lost the reader.

Any copywriter worth his salt will have the ability to write words that drive actions in the reader. The key is driving the right actions. If you notice the voice of the writer then the voice is too loud.
Good copywriters put words in the mouths of the people who commission them. But the words should sound like they come from the commissioner, not the copywriter.
That’s just one of the (many) differences between professional copywriting and merely ‘having a go’.

On any website, for example, the copywriter’s success should manifest itself in numerous positive ways. Google Analytics will show that the number of pages viewed on the site has increased. It will note the time spent on each page has similarly increased – because there’s good content there that people want to read.
Crucially, conversions should increase. And that’s the copywriter’s job:

• Increase time on the site through inspiration, curiosity or compulsion.
• Increase conversions.

Key to that role is writing compelling copy whilst keeping it brief. To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, no one ever reached the end of a piece of copy and wished it were a little longer.
Write more than is necessary and the reader’s mind will wander. And there’s no surer way of achieving that than by sharing your thoughts and feelings.

Here’s the thing: readers don’t care.

They may agree with you, but they won’t care. They may disagree with you. They still won’t care and, as an added bonus, you’ll have annoyed them.
That’s because whenever someone looks at a website you’ve written they want to read about that site, not about your thoughts on it. If they really want to see what you think they can visit your blog or articles (like this one).

Avoid smugness. Avoid editorialising. Stick to the brief and be ruthless in your editing. If it’s about the company or the product, fine. If it’s merely your pontificating then hit delete.

Put the right words in the mouths of those for whom you write and make sure you stay in the background.

When it comes to copywriting, anonymity works. Use it.

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