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Advertising Resource Center |
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The Power of...
You certainly must know that Many Big Marketers consider COPYWRITING to be the most important skill you need to be earning online. There's a lot of good copywriting around. But even in good copywriting there are some manerism that in my opinion don't help to achieve the desired result. No doubt the most over-used in copywriting is the Exclamation Mark. As a result of this over-use it's become a very ineffective means of expression. But nevertheless, it still appears everywhere, often in pairs or big flocks. Conveying practically no longer any real emotions. I don't mean that the feelings that the copywriter expresses are not true - whether it is or not is no the point here. The important thing is that the READER, seeing those expression marks, doesn't feel anything "extra". Nothing over what he/she would feel if there was no exclamation marks. While exclamation marks in a book or a newspaper may be needed for stressing something you are saying, making it more violent, "louder", on the Web you have other options. On a webpage or in HTML email you can for example stress a word using bolder, bigger characters in a different color. And it will generally work much better. Yes, in a plain text emails you can't use colors and bold characters. But there is another unpleasant aspect of too much exclamations: they tend to trigger those bitchy "spam-filters". While failing to arise much excitement in the reader. I'm not saying that exclamation marks are not to be used at all. I simply see much to many of them, and they usually don't achieve the result they were intended for. Not with me in any case, and I doubt if they do with you. OK, that was mostly "against". But I also have got a positive suggestion for you. In fact it will be the main topic of this article... Relatively little used today, which makes it very noticable and powerful. What it is? It's the ellipsis. Three little dots ending a sentence. Or rather - suspending it only, leaving the reader aware that something is to follow, and that something for some reason is letting the reader wait. Arousing that readers curiosity, waking his/hers impatience... Isn't that what most copywriters want most of the time? OK, it's not quite as loved by sentimental shool-girls of the old as the exclamation mark. But let's make a small experiment. What's the title of the present article? It's "The Power of...". Power of what? you say. Somebody who has just seen that title can't possibly know that... Perhaps that title is just awful and could be easily made much better.. How? By using exclamation marks of course! ;-) Seriously - please take a look at each of these suggested versions of the title, one after another: 1. The Power of... 2. The Power of SuperWidget 3. The Power of SuperWidget!!! Sincerely, which of those titles best incites you to read on in order to see what's it all about? I'm sure you will agree that no number of exclamation marks can compete with the psychological trick of the number 1. Let's take a look at another example. This time we want to convey the feeling of suddeness and shock. Which version does this the best? 1. And then KABOOM! It happened! 2. And then... KABOOM! It happened! 3. And then - KABOOM! It happened! My bet is on number 2: softly, slowly... and THEN! (By the way, you can notice here that this is NOT a crusade against exclamation marks.) Elipisis is all suspence, uncertainty, hesitation... Yes, but here I hope to have shown how it can for example enhance the exact opposite - the violent feeling of a sudden KABOOM! An rather interesting thing about elipsis, in realation with the Internet and marketing, is that it can't easily "transcribed" into visual elements, such as: colors, size and shape of the characters etc. In any case, much less easily than exlamation marks. Which is one more reason why you should consider using it more in your copywriting. ========================================
MORE RESOURCES: Student debt snares parents, putting retirement at risk Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Funding your child's college education is on many parents' mind. With college tuition costs rising each year, there's reason for concern. So, before starting a savings plan, make sure to do your homework and pick the investment option that's right for your family. Mitt Romney’s statement that the “very poor” don’t concern him comes as the portion of Americans living in deep poverty is the highest in 35 years Vigorous debate on the value of state backing Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao raised the prospect of contributing to the euro-area’s bailout programs, telling Chancellor Angela Merkel that China may be prepared to assist in resolving its debt crisis. Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn said the monetary authority will cut borrowing costs once it’s confident inflation will keep slowing. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, which accused a fired Singapore trader of manipulating London interbank offered rates, had condoned such behavior and sought scapegoats in an internal probe, the former employee said. Japan Inc. is suffering and the supply chain is bearing the cost. The U.S. labor market recovery is broadening as industries from construction to retail to manufacturing added workers in January and the jobless rate fell to the lowest level in three years. Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Douglas Creutz, analyst at Cowen & Co., and Paul Kedrosky, author of the Infectious Greed Blog and a Bloomberg contributing editor, talk about the relationship between Zynga Inc. and Facebook Inc. They speak with Cory Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg West." (Source: Bloomberg) Advertising campaigns aren't only being designed for TV anymore, the Super Bowl has gone high-tech The day's top ten most important stocks include Estee Lauder, Research in Motion and Zynga Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Steen Jakobsen, chief economist at Saxo Bank A/S, discusses the outlook for Europe's sovereign debt crisis and the U.S. economy. He speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "Asia Edge." (Source: Bloomberg) The social network may be valued at $100 billion, or 100 times profit Buyout funds see profits in turning foreclosed homes into rentals |
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