Hungry?

Posted on March 22, 2008
Filed Under Assess, Food |

I haven’t written much about the importance of creativity and ideas (a.k.a Food) in freelancing, yet. But it is one of the four essential elements to true success.

Clear, concise writing is only half of the battle when it comes to writing good copy. I know, I know, there’s a quote going around “if you have to choose between being clear and being clever…choose clarity.” And I agree.

…if.

The problem is, you don’t have to choose. You can be clear AND clever. Clear AND creative. Clear and “grab-’em-by-the-heartstrings(or funny bone)-and-don’t-let-go.” It isn’t an either/or proposition.

You want to impress clients? Get in and out quick, and give ‘em solid copy fast. Want to make money? Take your time, give them solid copy that sings and make them fall in love.

What do I mean?

Well, I had a Realty client that had multiple divisions, one was just your standard real estate sales firm, the other sold new homes build by the company’s residential construction unit. Both had sales that were fairly comparable, since they shared advertising costs.

We decided to split their advertising up. We did a billboard/ad campaign based on sales research for the regular sales unit. The headline was “We sell a home every twelve hours,” which was based on sales statistics compiled form the previous year. It ran for eight months, and the phone rang at consistently high levels for those eight months. Not bad, right?

Problem: the new home division couldn’t use those statistics, as they sold far fewer (but more expensive) homes. So we decided to go for a more emotional approach, based on what a new home means for a buyer’s family. The campaign featured a blurred (fuzzy) background picture of a little girl dressed like a ballerina, dancing in the living room of a home. The headline: “We Have Plans For Your Life.”

That campaign ran for three months. The phone rang at consistently high levels for 12 months…response continued for 8 months AFTER the campaign ended.

People were impressed by the “statistics” ad. But they connected with the “emotional” ad.

Before long, we switched to a more emotional approach for the traditional sales division, too, even though developing a moving concept takes longer than developing a headline based on numbers and logic.

And that’s where you begin to make more money. Increasing not your hourly rate, but the amount of time you’re allowed to spend on a job.

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