Copywriters Are Always Plain-Janes

The title of this blog probably needs a bit of explanation before I am ‘virtually’ pelted with stones by the world’s copywriting population.

I don’t mean to infer that every freelance copywriter (or in-house copywriter) is aesthetically challenged. But rather that they understand the value of plain talking.

More often than not, as people grow and mature, they like to try to sound clever by using big words; words that make them feel intelligent. That’s all well and good and our school teachers were always pushing us to extend our vocabularies, but when it comes to copywriting you should resist the temptation.

In sales writing you are trying to connect with your reader therefore a great place to start is using basic, simple and clear language.

Here is a list of 10 words that you might be tempted to use and their simplistic counterparts:

Disseminate                            Spread

Residence                               House

Procrastinate                           Delay

Grandiose                                Showy

Innumerable                            Lots

Investigate                              Look at

Prevent                                    Stop

Construct                                 Make

Implement                               Carry out

Obtain                                     Get

This should be applied to any sales writing, whatever tone or voice you are using. Even the most powerful business people on earth are human and would much rather read something simple than waste their time having to look up the meaning of every second word.