By Michael McCormick, Creative Director, Mason Geller Direct Marketing
Some DM copywriters don’t want to write about the companies that pay them. They’d rather write about whoever’s in the target audience, and when they get away with it the results can be great.
The two kinds of copy – about the company and about the prospect – couldn’t be more different. One is writing to yourself and the other is writing to people who might eventually send you money.
In McGraw Hill’s classic “Man in the chair” B2B ad that first appeared in 1958, a grumpy old dude stares at the reader and “says”:
•I don't know who you are.
•I don't know your company.
•I don't know your company's products.
•I don't know your company's customers.
•I don't know your company's record.
•I don't know your company's reputation.
•I don't know what your company stands for.
Now…What was it that you wanted to sell me?
You can see it here. http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/aboutus/advertising.shtml
There’s almost nothing in it about McGraw-Hill, the company that paid for the ad.
Here’s a consumer “mail order” ad from 1925
The whole thing is about the prospect and the client’s not even mentioned until the 524th word of the body copy! This ad ran for almost 50 years.
When writers have to toe the line, their copy is about the company or its product. The problem is that prospects don’t care about the company or the product. They care about one thing: what’s in it for me? We’ve got maybe a heartbeat to give them the answer.
And the answer is never about how great the company is. It is always about prospects and what the company can do for them. It doesn’t matter what medium you’re working in.
Samuel Johnson might or might not have written “He who would earn his bread writing books direct marketing copy must have the assurance of a duke, the wit of a courtier, and the guts of a burglar.”
