The Organ Grinder’s Monkey

A while back, I posted an article on the battle between long and short copy. The long and the short of it was that neither was inherently right or wrong - different advertising formats, products and marketing strategies call for copy of different lengths. I also noted that, while everyone professes to hate long copy, it has a history of being very, very effective.

Copywriting master Clayton Makepeace recently did a short piece on this topic for an e-newsletter I receive, and he has this to say about it:

My philosophy: Write about the benefits of your product until you run out of things to talk about. Then go back and make your copy as tight as a drum.

Now that’s 20 lbs worth of advice in a 5 lbs bag right there, folks.

But what really got my attention was where he notes that in a side-by-side test he did with some direct mail packages (snail mail sales letters/packages designed to sell a product or service), the 24-page long copy outperformed the 8-page short copy by a whopping 50-70%.

Now, I have no idea what product or service he was pitching - I’m guessing investments or something like that. But regardless of what he’s selling, you have to admit that’s a ginormous gap.

Like I said in my own article, the more information, persuasion and risk evasion you can create for the client, the better your chances of selling your product or service. Assuming, that is, that your copy also tells a compelling story and hits all the right emotional buttons, and that your product/service is truly worth it. (No amount of copy will make a sow’s ear into a silk purse, and crappy copy can tank even the best product launch or marketing strategy.)

So, yeah, what he said. Your copy should be exactly as long as it needs to be to do the job well, and not a jot more. How long that is depends on a lot of things, none of which has anything to do with how you feel about long copy.

If you want to read the entire piece (although it’s pretty short and I’ve already covered the gist of it), you can find it here. Unfortunately, I can’t link directly to the article - just scroll down until you get to “Long copy vs short copy.”

advertising, Clayton Makepeace, copy, long copy, marketing, sales, short copy

Tags: Copywriting //