Do marketers pay enough attention to copy?

When layout and design on the computer became a popular way of doing things (way back in the last century), copywriting very nearly became the forgotten creative. This was an exciting new technology for graphic design.  “Designers” multiplied exponentially by virtue of desk-top-publishing systems. Throw away the X-ACTO Knife and rubber cement! Forget about RC paper and Rubylith!

Now, anyone can design with keyboard strokes,
and your work is perfectly rendered on the 64-color screen!

Anyone with a computer could instantly become a designer, and the techno-frenzy began. The only thing that mattered, it seemed, was how good that advertisement or brochure looked. Marketers weren’t so concerned with how well it worked.

Copywriting got dissed big time

Designers” were called in to create ads while copywriters were often an after-thought. I can’t tell you how many times marketing managers would say to me: “Just give us some verbiage for this page, no one reads this stuff anyway.” Designers (well, desk-top-publishers), were marketing’s techno-gods of the age. Yes, some pictures may be worth a thousand words, but try to sell a product, or generate a lead, or engage the intellect with graphics alone.

Marketers have been slowly relearning the truth -- that good writing is an important component of good marketing -- but the 21st century has its own legion of techno-gods. Their marketing genius is preoccupied with abstract terminology like “client centered dynamics”, or “CRM”, or all the various shadings of “branding theology”. Few marketing professionals ever talk about the value of good copy, or persuasive storytelling. Look in your mix of industry publications. So-called marketing articles will spell out the finer points of e-mail design, search engine optimization, using legacy data wisely, and the latest in “business intelligence software”; but very few of them ever talk about the importance of good marketing writing. I see troubled times for those who think that technology is still the answer to everything.

I happen to have a branding theory myself. But mine's a little simpler. I think branding has a lot to do with storytelling, and storytelling has a lot to do with writing. You can use all the technology in the world, speak all the buzzwords you can muster, but the bottom line is a good company has a story to tell -- a message to deliver -- and it nearly always takes a good writer to make a message that matters.

Comments

[Laura Pritchard]

Here here, Lloyd! You're right on target!