Copywriting, the most essential skill when selling online. Whether it is writing a sales page for promoting products or convincing someone to take action, copywriting is the foundation of marketing.
Charlie Chaplin was a phenomenon who made the world laughs without saying one word. So what lessons can all copywriters take from him?
Lesson #1: Start Straight to the Point
The biggest mistake copywriters make is not starting straight to the point.
If you ever watched Charlie Chaplin, you know that he always starts straight to the point.
When a potential customer lands on your blog or website, you only have on average 8 seconds to convince them to convert or they go away.
So starting straight to the point with an attention grabbing line will get your potential customer’s attention and urge them to read further.
Lesson #2: Emotion Not Words
Emotions travel faster than words.
Marketing is a part of all humans, we are always marketing; ideas, brands or relationships, but only few are successful. Why?
Because most people are marketing words, and words can be lies, right? Emotions can’t be false, which is why people are attracted to emotions not words. Humans are emotion driven animals.
We connect to emotions quicker than words. If you can connect emotions with your customers than the process of loyalty and trusts between you and your customer is 10 times faster.
People spread emotions. Nobody likes robotic sales pitches that speak words no one can relate to.
Lesson #3: Talk Benefits
In all Charlie Chaplin movies there’s always a moral, a benefit for us.
Always talk about the benefits for the customer. Not the other way around.
Most copywriters talk about how great their product is, but never mention directly how the customer will benefit from it.
People want to know how your product is going to benefit them. Nobody cares how great the product is, people only care how it’s going to solve their problem, improve and benefit them.
Lesson #4: “My Only Enemy Is Time” – Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin’s famous quote, “My only enemy is time” is the story of every marketer.
Since the attention span of an average human is very low, marketers have a limited time to convince and convert each unique visitor.
You need to able to convert with the minimum time required, because once a unique visitor lands on your blog or website and leaves, the chances of that unique visitor coming back are very low.
So you need to make an impressive first impression that counts!
1. Simple design
Make sure your blog or website’s template is clean, simple and visible. The template of your blog or website should not be complex with too many graphics and pictures. It should easily be able to load on all a web browsers.
2. Call to action
Once your unique visitor lands on your blog or website, you must have a visible and straight forward call to action. Something you want your visitor to do before they leave (e.g. subscribe.)
Have a simple and easy call to action and more people will convert.
Lesson #5: Know When to Finish
It’s very easy to “drag” out your content and repeat yourself when it’s not necessary.
Know when to finish. People don’t like to read on and on until they can’t read anymore, therefore write simple and easy to understand. Keep it short and never “drag” out your content.
To Sum it Up….
Mr Charlie Chaplin has shown throughout his career that success is measured by keeping it simple!
Marketing isn’t all stats and figures, effective communications and interactions will change your business. Online users are “real people”, so understand your potential customer’s nature and develop your marketing strategy accordingly.
What lessons have you taken from strong influences like Mr Charlie Chaplin? Tell us in the comments below!
Exactly! Too many beginner web sites are cluttered and some don’t seem to have a focus.
Great tip, Amy! So every article needs to be expedients. Sometimes its also difficult to start the post..
Straight point with emotion is the biggest weapon of copy writing success.
I love reading this. I love how you have incorporated Charlie Chaplin’s significance in blogging. This has helped me with with my homework about Charlie Chaplin. It is a good read.
Yes, I also enjoyed the Charlie Chaplin reference. Getting straight to the point is certainly critical. The attention spans of individuals are shockingly small. Thus, articulating your point immediately and generating call to action are within your best interest. Thank you, Lisa!
So inspiring Lisa is. Keep the inspiration flowing abundantly!
I always liked to make things short and simple. Great tips here.
Love the article and if were to give my opinion on the 2 best points you make are 1. talking about the benefits and sometimes it’s good to even go deeper and talk about the benefits of the benefits. 2. Call to action. People want to know what to do next and if you don’t tell them what they need to do how do you expect them to take the action that you want them to take. Anyway thanks again for a great article.
That sounds like a plan fo’ sho! =)
hi
article is very funny. I agree with you 100percentage about emotions.how it can improve a persons lifestyle and nature , you generally have them ready to open there wallet. how it can improve a persons lifestyle, you generally have them ready to open there wallet
Nice article about copy right and ofcourse charle chaplen as a role model for copy right its funny thing too . its a good informative article thanks for sharing and lesson you got from charle its very intresting
Love the comparison to the genius Charlie Chaplin.
Getting straight to the point, being direct without beating around the bush, is vital in marketing/advertising.
Great post. Thanks !
Hi Lisa
I agree with you 100% about emotions. I’ve been selling for over 20 years and it always seems to amaze me that customers will always buy on the emotions of what benefit this product will provide to the person or his or her family.
After asking so many questions about the product or service, how it can improve a persons lifestyle, you generally have them ready to open there wallet. This is when you go for the jugler( as matter of speaking) and close the sale.
This post Lisa is an excellent idea of using the lifestyle of a world famous actor to convey your ideas. Something I may consider in my writing. Great post.
Nice Post Hassan, I love how you relate Charlie Chaplin to Copywriting.
Am a fan of charlie.
That true that our main competitor is TIME. Every marketer is lack of time. They do need to focus too much thing in a short time.
I think i did a mistake which i never straight to the points while i always start with introduce my company 1st then only go for promotion of products and services.
Sometimes its also difficult to start the post..
Great analogy with Charlie Cahplin. I also like the part of keeping your site clean. It sometimes is disturbing when a site is cluttered with images. Less is more really does work, just keep also in mind not to leave out bits of pieces of information that supports your content just because we cant to keep an article short. That is formatting your article would be crucial in case a reader wants to browse through to find what he came for and not miss it.
I agree with the comparison (being and old fart) but I wonder how many young people today have ever even heard of Chaplin. Your take about writing copy directed to the benefits the reader gets is dead on! All of us could care less about what some amazing product can do…only what that product will do for us.
Nice comparison Lisa, there are other tricks that I had learned for copywriting.
1) Use Personal History to build rapport.
2) Words we use can sometimes have a great impact such as “proven”, “scientific”, “revealed”.
I like the phrase that “success is measured by keeping it simple” and thanks to Lisa for the article.
Yes, probably the strongest influence on me and lessons learned about not giving up have been from Christ. Not giving up on your dreams I think is the best advice we can have. You in this article have been an influence on me for posting as well. And Lisa for her outstanding writing on here as well. Thanks.
More great information. It’s amazing how many times I’ve happened upon Lisa’s work just surfing the Web. What a wonderful job of spreading the message.
I agree time waits for no one. So every article needs to be expedients.
This is an awesome post Lisa, in getting anyone’s creativity to start flowing, when it comes to creative copywriting. Thanks so much for keeping everyone inspired! =)
http://www.DrewryMedia.com
now a days people are not interested in reading long posts ,they need the content they are looking for in a transparent way
less is more – agreed in some cases. as far as my blogging is concerned however, the more i provide the more i benefit in all respects whether seo (long tails), comprehensiveness, reader interaction, value delivered. one must know when to utilize what approach, i think that is a key factor that distinguishes the successful marketers online
Approach is what matters! Marketers usually fail at convincing because of how they approach prospects…
I think what lacks in our marketing strategy is how we approach one another.
Cheers!
Charlie Chaplin…you can’t knock the classics. =)
In his movies, he also made us laugh at the foolishness that our very human follies would lead us into. But Charlie was always light, the better to show what happens when we take ourselves too seriously.
Another lesson from Charlie: remember to keep laughing at yourself. Don’t take yourself too seriously!
What a unique angle on drawing comparisons with Charlie Chaplin! Love it!
Anyway, one trick I learned on how to write for the customer and describe all the benefits your product or service provides is to:
1. List your feature
2. Ask “so what?”
3. Then ask “so what?” again to that answer
4. And so on until you literally cannot drill down any further.
You will then have lots of great copy to communicate exactly how you can help your customers.
Maybe this is real basic stuff, and you probably know it already, but I’d just thought I’d put it out there. 🙂
Great tip, Amy!
I agree, an excellent tip right there Amy!
Cheers,
Hasan
copywriting is the most difficult part of internet,You have made a good comparison with charlie
I love your comparison with Charlie Chaplin. It stands out and the points you make are easy to remember. That is another good selling point about copywriting. As for me, I am going to revisit my home page and see if I can clarify my message more and clearly define the benefits of my site and products for my visitors. Thanks Hasan!
Hey Ann,
I’m glad it brought a fresh perspective to the table for copywriters, since copywriting is truly the foundation of marketing!
Cheers,
Hasan
This is an interesting comparison. I would have never thought of looking to Charlie Chaplin as a guide on Copywriting. These ponts are very valid. Too many beginner web sites are cluttered and some don’t seem to have a focus. I’ve also seen articles that have a 100-word introduction without the reader even knowing what the article is about. The most professional sites are to the point and distraction-free. Very nice article.
Hey Jane,
Exactly! Keeping it clean and simple is the way to go!
I agree with the fact that to many websites on the web are cluttered with distractions, which kills the main focus of the website.
The best way to fix this problem is to “clean up” all the distractions and then define your goals with a direct call to action for the visitors. 🙂
Hasan
Hey Dave,
Exactly, this latest trend “less is more” is so popular among humans is because people are busy, they have problems to worry about, nobody has the time to pay attention to someone else unless it directly benefits them.
So especially as a marketer, we need to be able to deliver directly to the point with the minimum amount of time 🙂
Regards,
Hasan
The latest trend appears to be “less is more” so your article is right on track!
And, writing informative articles always helps to create endless streams of organic web traffic!
http://www.DrewryMedia.com