3 Places Where Your Copywriting Should NOT Get Creative

Copywriting sometimes means keeping things simple and remembering clarity beats persuasion any day of the week.

Image by Laura Adai on Unsplash.

Did you ever hear the advice:

“When you introduce yourself, don’t say I’m a life coach,” or “I’m a massage therapist,” or, “I do aromatherapy.: Say, “I help business executives deal with stress.”

The idea is, people are interested in solving problems. They don’t care about the specifics.”

That’s half true. People do want to solve problems. But they DO care about specifics. For one thing, not every solution works for all people. For another, not every solution appeals to all people. Some love massage; some can’t stand the idea.

Additionally, psychologists know that people think in categories. When they see a new food product at the supermarket, they want to know if it’s a dessert or an entree. They want to know if it’s an ice cream or a yogurt.

Creating a new category can be challenging. It’s why books that mix genres often fail to reach success. I’ve seen books claiming to be part memoir and part self-help. People looking for a memoir get annoyed at the self-help parts and vice versa. You narrow your target to readers who want both.

Categorization is one of the ways the brain works.

We keep hearing that we process narratives; we should also remember that we categorize. It’s an efficient way of organizing information. Used wrongly, it leads to stereotypes. Used appropriately, it saves time and economizes on effort.

The problem comes when the entrepreneur’s urge to be creative meets the brain’s determination to categorize.

Here are 3 ways you can incorporate the sorting mechanism into your online marketing.

(1) Identify yourself with a familiar category.

Your title helps the sorting process. You may resist categorization but consider starting with something new.

For instance, if you’re an “inspiration coach,” start by identifying yourself as a life coach or business coach. “I’m a life…