FAQ: Marketing Copy – The Long And The Short Of It
#6: They work well from different angles…
Summary: "FAQ: Marketing Copy – The Long And The Short Of It"
“How much text should I write for my web page or marketing piece? Surely, my photos are enough to sell my work for me.” These are interesting questions that raise the idea of which is better, long or short copy?
Another photographer asked me an interesting question the other day: “How much text should I write for my web page or marketing piece? Surely, my photos are enough to sell my work for me.” After some discussion, I felt this might make for an interesting post.
What Is “Copy” Anyway?
The term “copy” is simply marketing-speak for the text we use to convey our message, be it the wording of a sales letter, an offer on a postcard, or the text on our photography website. Copywriting is actually a specialized form of writing, requiring skill, detailed knowledge of the intended readership, and a varied vocabulary. For the purposes of this article, I’ll be talking mostly about website copy, but these principles are just as applicable to sales letters, postcards and any other form of written marketing.
Long Copy vs. Short Copy
I’m sure there’s hardly a day goes by without somebody, somewhere, getting into a heated debate on which is better; long copy or short copy. Will the reader actually read all this, or would they prefer the short version? Will less text be capable of conveying the message we want in just the right way? Do we really need all these words to persuade and convince the prospect to contact us? Surely, our photos (worth at least 1000 words each by all accounts) will say enough about what we do?
That last argument, that our photography just about sells itself, is probably the weakest of them all, and the easiest to break down. While our photographs are, hopefully, worth a client investing a significant amount of money for us to create them, do they actually “speak” to the viewer in the ways we imagine they do?
Are those “1000 words”, pictorially represented, transmitted and correctly understood by whoever sees them? How sure can we be that the message the viewer receives is ever the same as the one we meant for them to get?
While the general web site visitor might appreciate the beauty of our images enough to want to learn more, I believe it’s somewhat naïve of us to expect the photograph to do all the sales work for us.
After all, the prospect is looking to hire a photographer, a real person they can relate to, and looking at photographs alone provides insufficient information for them to make a properly informed decision.
This is where our words come into play, and where we decide just how many words we’re going to need to communicate our message effectively and efficiently.
It’s also the point at which the “artist”, “copywriter” and “designer” can get into a brawl if we aren’t careful.
Design vs. Utility
I’m going to preface this section with a short disclaimer: I am in no way biased against web designers, and this shouldn’t be taken as an attack on anyone in that respected field. The “designer” I refer to in the following paragraphs is the one that lives inside our own heads – I know you recognize them, since they’re the one with that nagging voice that says things like, “no one is going to read that… Nobody scrolls anymore… If you’re going to put that below the fold, no one will ever see it…” and so on.
When we sit down to design a web page, one of the first problems we encounter is the dreaded specter of “the fold”. We view the bottom of our screen as though anything below it is doomed to oblivion, never to be scrolled into view, or read.
Nothing could be further from the truth… I’m sure you probably had to scroll down to read this far (either that, or you have a VERY tiny font on your screen). Rather than me go into depth on the pros and cons of writing below the fold, take a look at this interesting and illuminating piece by Paddy Donnelly called “Life, Below 600px”.
Long Copy Wins Over Short Copy
Having hopefully banished the demon of extending our web page below the bottom of the screen, and made friends with our scroll wheel, it’s time now to turn our attention to the copy itself; specifically, how much do we really need?
How can we write something persuasive and compelling for our prospects while still being economical in our use of words? It’s actually quite a challenge, and it’s tempting to think that we need to keep the verbiage to an absolute minimum in order to hold the reader’s attention. However, we run the risk of losing relevance and meaning, as well as coming across as being superficial.
The answer to this lies in the fact that we want to establish and nurture a relationship with the reader. They need to get to know us and like us before they can move into the critical phase of trusting us to provide the type and level of service they’re looking for.
Think for a moment about your favorite author. Don’t you feel, when you read their novels, that you’re being transported into the story? As you read, your mind conjures up images of the world you’re reading about, and the stories we love the most are those where we can almost imagine we are there. Some authors are more adept at this than others, but there’s no denying it when we become sucked into a gripping or enthralling narrative.
We need to achieve the same thing with our website!
When someone lands on our site, we must immediately grab their attention with a compelling headline and encourage them to read the “story” we’ve laid out for them. Sub-headings (the same as you can see here in this article), are there for the convenience of those who like to skim the page for interesting content, while the bulk of the text is carefully crafted to create a relationship, convey emotion, build rapport, educate, persuade, and generate trust.
As to how much copy we need, I would suggest using as much as necessary without becoming repetitive or belaboring the point. There’s no hard and fast rule here, and it’s always a good idea to have several others “test” read it for you and then ask them for their opinion and feedback.
Short copy, on the other hand, written purely for the sake of being short, cannot possibly hope to achieve these goals. A call to action (“sign up for my email newsletter”, “contact me for more information” etc.) is worthless without the proper support of compelling and persuasive copy.
Thoughts and Comments?
How do you feel about what you’ve read here? Do you agree or disagree? I’m always grateful to receive any comments my readers would like to share, and I very much appreciate the time people invest in reading this blog and then sitting down to reply via a comment. Remember, too, to think about sharing what you read here, through Digg, Facebook, Twitter etc.
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