I just had to laugh! During a recent conversation
about how often you should change your copy, I had one person
tell me “Well, if there were any *good* copywriters
out there, they’d be able to write it once, and it
would work forever!” Oh really? Actually, nothing
could be further from the truth.
It is extremely rare for advertising copy to last for extended
periods of time. Changing your copy is a given, the reason
being that people and events change. Since we, as copywriters,
are reaching our customers on an emotional level, we have
to stay in tune with what’s going on in their lives
and their worlds. Let’s look at an example.
Say you rent mailing lists. Your primary benefit might
be that you have the largest lists available offering a
minimum of 100,000 names per category. Things are going
great, and you’re renting lists like wildfire. But
then – right in the middle of your success –
the postal service increases rates substantially.
All of a sudden, your rentals begin to drop dramatically.
Here you are screaming about the largest lists available
anywhere, and your customer is thinking about how much his
postage expense is going to skyrocket.
The businesses you rent lists to are now very concerned.
What *used* to be your biggest benefit is now your biggest
deterrent. Your customers no longer want to rent lists that
have a minimum of 100,000 names. Instead, they’d love
to be able to rent much smaller lists – in the 5,000
to 10,000 quantity range. Yep! You guessed it. It’s
time to change your copy, USP and all!
Any number of aspects can cause a change in focus for your
target customer, and therefore a need to rewrite your copy.
Here are some of the more common ones for businesses:
- New tax laws
- New mandatory expenses (such as a postage increase)
- Starting a new business
- Closing a business
- Stock price increase
- Stock price decrease
Business to consumer sales can be affected, too. Personal
circumstances that change every day include:
- Buying a new home
- Retiring
- Getting married
- Getting divorced
- Having a baby
- Receiving a tax refund
- Receiving an inheritance
What do I recommend? Twice a year, take a good, long look
at your copy. What has changed in your marketplace? What
laws, regulations, or events have been implemented or have
taken place? Will these things have an impact on your customers?
How will you respond to them?
Take that information and compare it to what your current
copy says. Is your message clear? Are there benefits you
need to update or change? Is your copy still making the
most positive impact on your potential customers that it
can?
If not, don’t hesitate to make changes. After all,
your copy is your key to new customers and repeat customers.
And, as I said in the beginning, hardly any copy will last
forever. Eventually, everybody is due for a copy facelift.
Most buying decisions are emotional. Your ad copy should
be, too! Karon is President & CEO of Marketing Words,
Inc. who offers targeted copywriting, search engine copywriting,
and ezine article writing. Subscribe to Karon's free ezine
at http://www.marketingwords.com/ezine.html or visit her
site at http://www.marketingwords.com. You can also learn
to write you own powerful copy at http://www.copywritingcourse.com.
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