Considering the desired outcome of a copywriting project gives clarity and direction to every stage that follows.
NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) gets some very bad press, maybe because of the colourful personalities who've developed and popularised it, or perhaps because of the name. Many people seem to regard NLP as something between a religious cult and an evil brainwashing technique. In fact it's neither. It's simply a way of thinking about yourself and the world that can get useful results, particularly if you've become 'stuck' in a particular way of thinking, acting or reacting. And because it is largely concerned with the way we use language to make sense of the world. it's supremely relevant to copywriting.
One of the most basic principles of NLP is 'know what you want'. This means being conscious of the outcomes you want to achieve, expressed in a positive way. ('Positive' here has a semantic or logical sense, rather than an emotional or moral one.)
For example, wanting to give up smoking is not a 'well-formed' outcome in NLP terms, because it's a negative aim - not to smoke. More useful outcomes in this context are the wish to be healthy, to save money and so on.
The mind finds it hard to focus on a negative
Outcomes need to be expressed positively because the mind finds it hard to focus on, or move towards, a negative. To picture a negative outcome, you first have to think of the thing you don't want, which can end up reinforcing it in your mind. ('What you resist persists'.) Achieving a negative outcome means planning a journey to 'anywhere but here', which is not a useful destination.
At the start of any copywriting project, I find it very helpful to talk about what the client wants to achieve. Even if the aim is obvious - the point of an advertisement is to gain new customers - it's worth restating it explicitly.
Some aims may need recasting it in positive terms. For example, consider these sentiments:
- We don't want the text to be too detailed.
- We don't want to come across as too formal (or informal).
- We don't want too many pages on our website.
- We don't want to confuse people.
In each case, it's important to consider the positive corollary of the statement, and decide whether to adopt it as an aim of the project.
Having defined the main desired outcome, the next step is to consider the smaller outcomes that will deliver it. This means asking and answering questions such as:
- Who do we want to communicate with?
- What message do we want them to hear?
- What do we want them to think or feel when they hear our message?
- What action do we want them to take?
- What are the key points we want them to understand?
- What value or benefits are we offering them?
When the answer emerges, it often seems obvious
Getting a firm grasp of first principles puts subsequent decisions in context, grounding the discussion in desired outcomes. It can also flush out unexpected, latent or secondary desired outcomes, such as the need for an advertisement to make people working within the company feel good as well as selling a product.
Note that every question invites a positive, concrete answer that will feed directly into the writing process. Often, the words and phrases that come up will find a place in the finished copy. Very often, there's no need for the copywriter to be some kind of magician, sprinkling creative sparkle on the problem. The answer is probably near at hand. When the answer emerges, it often seems obvious, overly simple or familiar. That's how you know it's the right one.