Famous copywriter #3 : John Caples
John Caples (1900 – 1990) wrote what’s probably the world’s most famous headline: “They laughed When I Sat at the Piano, But when I started to Play!”
In his book ‘Tested Advertising Methods’ (1932) Caples shares a lot of advice on writing headlines, but here, I’d like to share a more important quote about a more fundamental mistake that many still make today:
“The most frequent reason for unsuccessful advertising is advertisers who are so full of their own accomplishments (the world’s best seed!) that they forget to tell us why we should buy (the world’s best lawn!)”
As designers, it’s easy to get enthusiastic about our course or service. After all we’ve worked hard to hone our skills so we can deliver a better product. We’ve slaved away late at night to polish our training product. So, we’d like to share our enthusiasm about how good it is.
But learners don’t want to know how hard we’ve worked. They aren’t even interested in our company. They want to know what’s in it for them.
To let people, understand why a course matters to them, ask yourself:
So What?
For instance:
- My new coaching course includes 32 short videos… each video is under 11 minutes.
So what? You can dip into the course even if you have only 15 minutes. So what? Even if you’re crazy busy, you can still learn how to improve your coaching technique.
- The course also includes 31 activities to test your newly acquired knowledge and help you fine-tune your correctional skills. So what? You help people improve their performance.
So what? You become more confident in addressing people’s performance issues.
People buy-in to your courses on emotions, and justify their buy-in with facts. So good writing balances features with benefits. The features explain specific facts about your course content, and the benefits point out how you make your learner’s life a little better… that’s how you connect emotionally.
Famous copywriter #4: Victor O Schwab
Victor Schwab (1898-1980) was called “the greatest mail order copywriter of all time” by Advertising Age.
His book ‘How to Write a Good Advertisement’ (1942) still appears on most copywriter’s book shelves, and here’s one tip that’s still useful today:
“Now, to get action, you’ve got to ask for it” – Victor O Schwab.
It’s kind of obvious, isn’t it?
Still many training narratives peter out because there’s no clear call to action at the end.
If you want learners to buy-in to your advice, the proof is how they will take it into their workplace or their lives.
If you clearly tell learners how they can apply your learning, it’s more likely they’ll follow your advice.
Famous copywriter #5: David Ogilvy
David Ogilvy (1911 – 1990) is often quoted as the father of British advertising. He started his career selling cooking stoves, and in 1938 he wrote an instruction manual for selling stoves for his colleagues.
That instructional manual is still a useful guide on the principles of selling.
I’d like to rewrite one of Ogilvy’s most famous quotes. The original is: “The consumer isn’t a moron. She is your wife.” – David Ogilvy
My Version: “The learner isn’t a moron. The learner’s your best friend.”
What’s important is to write for one person, for a person you respect. Too often learning designers copy fails because it’s written for a crowd and it sounds robotic, or, even worse, the copy sounds condescending… as if your learner is a moron because they haven’t bought into your advice.
Here is the link to David Ogilvy’s instructional manual: https://www.lannigan.org/the_theory%20and_practice_of_selling_the_aga_cooker_training_manual.htm