I had a brief Twitter chat with boxer, physicist and Twitter buddy Ed Latimore last night.
He tweeted about insecurity being a neutral thing, and the action succeeding it being all-important.
Now, that’s an interesting idea. I presume it’s along the lines of “If you see a fit person and you feel insecure, either you’ll act positively (work out) or act negatively (go eat ice cream and feel bad) and so the insecurity can be good or bad.”
I’m not sure I really agree.
It’s an interesting idea though in copywriting terms. It’ll help a lot of copywriters sleep at night.
As a copywriter, you’re selling insecurity and using it to drive a sale. If we’re being diplomatic about it, we’re presenting a solution to a problem. Technically we’re convincing a person that the world we create through our words is better than the world they’re living in right now.
Ethical dilemmas abound, and that’s why being a silver-tongued salesman is a tough business.
Still, Ed gave me another justification for our slippery profession, so if you’re trying to explain to your grandma why you’re not the devil’s right-hand man, you’d better read this article.
Copywriting And Insecurity
It’d be a fantastic world if all us copywriters had to do was say, “Hey fellows! Look at our shiny new product. It does this, this, this and that, and if you want to do this, well by golly it’d be a great purchase!”
For many reasons the above approach doesn’t work. Even if you give the person a perfect world in which your product turns them into a 6’6 billionaire bodybuilder with a harem of unlimited groupies and the ability to solve world peace in a day… it still won’t be as effective as the scientifically proven alternative.
Fear of losing out is the biggest driver in advertising.
Whether it’s convincing old people to dump their pensions in favour of gold (we’re totally going to return to the gold standard after Obama kills the economy guys) or convincing your girls that they’re going to be the only one not wearing Kim K’s make up, and literally all the guys love that and all the girls are like totally going to remember this forever and she’ll never be popular ever again; we have to convince people that not only could their lives be better with our product, but if they don’t buy, their lives will definitely be worse.
Now, you don’t need to do this. Obviously when you do this, you’re better off being subtle. But the fact is that copy that utilises the above nastiness works better than copy that doesn’t.
That means that copywriters have to become adepts in the dark arts… and it’s not pretty. Or is it?
Inaction and Insecurity
I asked Ed how insecurity could be possible if it led to inaction.
Here’s a dirty secret about humankind. When faced with challenges which are life-threatening, most humans will step up to the mark.
Mothers will lift trucks off their children.
Soldiers will fall on a grenade to save their squad-mates.
Bystanders will run into burning buildings to save children and even kittens.
Most recently London saw average unarmed guys fending off attacks from knife wielding terrorists with suicide vests on.
When it comes to tooth and nail, there’s a reason humans are at the top of the food chain.
But that’s obviously not a dirty secret… in fact, it’s pretty beautiful when you think about it.
The dirty secret is that when it comes to insecurity that’s not life and death, humans are pretty terrible at confronting it.
Think about all the people who become obese or Type-II diabetic and still wolf own cakes and cookies.
Or the guys who run up massive gambling debts long after they’ve cleared out their accounts.
Or the girls who get rejected by the super-duper alpha males and then sit in their rooms and cry rather than going out and taking a chance on nicer guys.
The dirty secret about humans is that most insecurities don’t improve our lives or foster action. They cause people to retreat into their shelves and save the problem for another day.
This is the good bit for us copywriters, because we literally go from fork-tongued devils to literal superheroes in a single reframe.
Copywriting and Inaction
Every single sales letter is a call to action. So much so that there’s a whole part of the letter that’s literally called the “call to action.”
Now, when we write any sales material – be it a radio advert, long form sales letter or quick Facebook ad – we’re fighting against our reader’s natural inclination to think, “God damn… another advert trying to get me to buy something.”
Now, if you think, “How do I tap into this person’s fears?” and write your ad along those lines, then you might feel dirty. It feels rough when you tell a housewife that she’s probably going to start sagging in places she doesn’t want in a couple of years, or mentioning to some bloke that his lack of financial awareness is going to have him living in the gutter at sixty.
Obviously, those people won’t rush to put you on their Christmas Card list either.
But think about the above section; inaction is the secret killer of dreams. It’s not us and it’s not the potential downside of wasting £20 on some skin cream or whatever.
Faced with insecurity, it’s not you versus the reader… it’s the reader’s fear and inaction versus their will to fix their life for the better. You’re just the catalyst.
This is a great way to approach a sales letter, and it’s also a great way to sleep at night if you’re a salesman.
Thanks Ed.