I just wrote an online marketing plan for a client. Five years ago, half of the plan’s elements didn’t exist in any real marketing sense. And not only have the media channels changed, my client’s goals have too.
With consumers facing a constant barrage of marketing messages — and marketers struggling to make even a wisp of an impression — we’re witnessing the birth of some pretty extreme interrupt marketing techniques (including the two-second radio “shock” commercial as chronicled by Michael Stelzner).
Escalating the “shock” value of a message offers a temporary refuge, but the contact often acquires an adversarial taint. It’s little wonder marketers are looking for alternatives.
Which is where you step in. You’re the engagement copywriter.
The Rise of Engagement Marketing
Look hard at the emerging marketing arsenal: blogs, social networking sites, wikis, texting & interactive mobile, etc.
All are effective marketing tools. And all are exceptional vehicles for engagement — the loyalty-building tactic where a brand connects with customers via shared values and passions.
The key is two-way communication; not only do customers receive messages, but they respond to them (in fact, that’s kinda the point). In some cases, they generate their own brand-related content and network with other “brand fans.”
It’s an active (and welcome) alternative to traditional media channels, where customers are expected to sit idly while messages are shoved down the pipeline. Engagement isn’t a replacement for traditional interrupt marketing, but it’s an interesting (and growing) discipline that binds customers to brands.
It also expands a customer’s “acceptance bandwidth” (the amount of time they’ll invest in your message), and creates the brand loyalty so many “membership” programs strive for but don’t achieve.
The good news? You won’t have to rebuild your copywriter’s toolkit — the techniques are similar. But engagement copywriting does have its own set of rules.
The Rules of Writing For Engagement
The engagement copywriter combines the snap of the direct marketer, the charm of an entertainer, and the passion of a poet. More often than not, you’re writing a blog, e-newsletter, social network or other similar media channel (long-term gigs). So how do you do it? What are the rules of engagement?
- You’re engaging the reader around shared passions and values (which often excludes flogging product features)
- The conversation is typically “chunked” into small bites and dispensed over time
- You must be authentic — or the passion-drive partisans will sniff you out and hang your brand in effigy
- Invite your readers into the conversation; let them define the direction
Where Do Copywriters Go Wrong?
Where most businesses (and writers) go wrong with engagement is the product copy — or rather, the utter lack of it. Some of the better engagement blogs talk about anything but the products in question, and why not? If the goal is to bind the reader to the brand, then a demonstration of shared values or passions is the strongest adhesive known to the marketing world.
After all, product superiority is fleeting; whatever advantage your product enjoys today can disappear tomorrow. Engagement typically binds customers to a brand more than a product, a reality which elevates the conversation far beyond features and bullet points.
The second most common mistake? It’s not inviting participation. I’m writing an article for an online magazine about a pair of business blogs that appear to be publishing the right content, but fail badly in the “ask for a response” department.
It’s yet another way the engagement copywriter practices the same craft as the direct response writer; in both cases, you need to ask for the response you want.
In fact, the central tenets of copywriting apply to writing for engagement: be clear, be intriguing, be captivating, and be dramatic (no writer bores a reader into submission).
The Future of Engagement Copywriting
It’s tempting to declare traditional copywriting “dead” and announce the ascension of engagement writing in its stead.
Of course, it’s bullshit. A good “interrupt” copywriter will be a good “engagement” copywriter — provided you recognize the different goals and techniques.
[tags]copywriting, writing, marketing, [/tags]
Comments 9
Like what you have said, traditional copywriting will not die.
“In fact, the central tenets of copywriting apply to writing for engagement: be clear, be intriguing, be captivating, and be dramatic (no writer bores a reader into submission).”
Indeed.
Posted 06 Jul 2007 at 5:22 pm ¶Hey Tom;
Great article!
I like the word engage so much I used it in the subtitle of my book.
Keep up these types of articles.
Mike
Posted 06 Jul 2007 at 9:46 pm ¶I think its the crafty copywriter who can bring both direct response and engagement elements to bear, pushing one forward when necessary and vice versa. Now the challenge is getting our clients to come along with us.
Lots of good food for thought here, Tom!
Posted 07 Jul 2007 at 6:03 am ¶Indeed “product superiority is fleeting; whatever advantage your product enjoys today can disappear tomorrow.”. What’s superior today will be a commodity tomorrow since people learn how to “model” so well these day. That’s why Apple and McDonald don’t sell products, they sell lifestyle. They engaged their target audience with their brands.
Posted 08 Jul 2007 at 6:01 pm ¶Thanks everyone. Once you recognize the goals are different, then everything else follows.
Vivienne: Apple certainly is connecting with its customer in the spaces “around” their products, but I’m not sure McDonalds qualifies.
My take on their approach is that it’s more Proctor & Gamble than engagement. I’d love to hear more about your thoughts on that one.
Posted 09 Jul 2007 at 6:37 am ¶Hi Tom,
Good point. The way I see it is similar to reading one of those choose your own adventure books. You have to get the reader to take the route you want them to take and if not let them take another road that works for them. But the thing is all the roads lead to the same place, a sale. You’re letting your reader feel in control of where they are going, but ultimately, if done right, they’ll go where you want and the ending is always the same.
The best example of this is writing website copy. The links have to be there for every visitor to go where they want and get the information they need to make a purchase. For example some may want to see testimonials to assure them that your product is reliable. So give them a link to that page and once they get there give them a link to a product page and so on until they’ve got something in their cart and ready to order. But don’t stop there, remember to follow up with personalized confirmations and thank yous to keep them coming back.
Thanks for the insight!
Posted 09 Jul 2007 at 1:33 pm ¶Katie
I think engagement could be the evolution of one of first copywriting rules I learnt - your copy has to communicate to readers ‘what’s in it for them’. It’s no longer just a case of converting features into benefits, but persuading readers why they should trust you - the best way of achieving this is surely through engaging two way and as transparently as you can.
Posted 10 Jul 2007 at 7:05 am ¶Katie & Matt: The best short definition I’ve seen of engagement marketing is when a company connects with a customer in the areas surrounding the product or brand.
Apple engages with iPod customers around the love of music; Patagonia engages with customers around their love of the outdoors and environmental concerns.
Both involve two-way communication (between brand and customer, or customer and customer), and I tend to use the shorthand of “connecting with the values and passions of customers” because it seems like the strongest way to bind a customer to a brand.
I don’t know if “what’s in it for me” is as accurate as “why should I buy your product instead of your competitor’s?”
The answer might be as simple as “You buy our stuff (instead of someone else’s similar stuff) because our brand best reflects your attitudes and approach to life, and we invite you to discuss those things while those other slugs can’t do any better than beat you over the head with headlines.”
Simplistic, but effective, especially given the rise of affordable, two-way media channels.
Posted 10 Jul 2007 at 7:32 am ¶Thanks Tom,
Posted 10 Jul 2007 at 7:44 am ¶That was a great summary. It made me think of a company having a UVP in their competitive arena with the added value of speaking to their target market and using that for branding. Engagement marketing seems to be a combination of these chief marketing techniques.
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[...] Here, engagement does not mean that thing that happens before the marriage, it means engaging your readers: your customers and clients and getting them involved with your thought process by encouraging them to converse with you. This is a long-term marketing strategy and this can prove beneficial both for conventional websites and blogs. Tom discusses this form of copywriting in a post titled The Rules of Engagement: Copywriting?s New Discipline. [...]
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