Once every couple of months, several of us at Dundee Hills Group, the parent company of Redpines, gather to discuss a marketing communications related book or topic that we've read or thought about. I always take a lot of notes, copying down those passages that I want to be able to tell people about later or that I simply thought were well written. Here are my top 10 favorite tips from The Copywriter's Handbook, © 1985, 2005, 2020 by Robert W. Bly.
[Avoid] . . . clever wordplay, puns, and "cute" copy . . . [in a headline]
p. 22
Your headline can perform four different tasks:
Get attention.
Select the audience.
Deliver a complete message.
Draw the reader into the body copy.
p. 23
Grade your performance as a copywriter on sales generated by your copy, not on originality.
p. 24
A classic headline for an ad offering a facial lotion reads: "The $5 Alternative to Costly Plastic Surgery." . . . The headline would not have been as successful if it said "$5 Bottle of Lotion is an Inexpensive Alternative to Costly Plastic Surgery."
p. 27
We are not in the business of being original. We are in the business of reusing things that work.
p. 28
Whenever I'm stuck for a headline, I type "How to" on the page, and what follows those words is always a decent, hardworking headline: good enough to use until something better comes along.
p. 30
Question headlines should always focus on the reader's self-interest, curiosity, and needs, and not on the advertiser's.
p. 31
Numbers attract the reader's eye. They should always be written as numerals.
p. 36
[#1 tip for writing clear copy:] Put the reader first. . . . address the reader directly as "you" in the copy, just as I am writing to you in this book.
p. 45
Tip: If the subject is not saying exactly what you want him to say, use the "So are you saying" technique. Say to the subject, "So are you saying that . . . " followed by the statement you want him to make. If he answers "yes, that's what I am saying," you can attribute your phrasing to the subject.
p. 393
