Writing in Another Voice

[Jack Bastide]

Hey Guys.

In some of my Most Successful copy I have
written in another Voice

It allowed me to "Brag" a bit more without
seeming like a braggart

For example one piece of copy was for a Human
Resources consultant

Rather than have the copy being the HR Consultant
telling how great she was it was the voice of a Manager
of a company that the HR Consultant had helped

(I interviewed her customers to know what to say)

It allowed me to brag a bit more about the HR consultant
because it wasn't her talking

The copy did very well

But I think it depends on the audience

The Prospects for the HR consultant were people she didn't
know. So I wrote it as "One of them" (a company manager)

Now here's another situation ...

Lets say you are writing copy for a list owner.

The prospects are the subscribers. people that think
of the list owner as a trusted advisor

In that case it would probably be better writing as
the list owner because they already Know, Like and
trust her

Would you agree?

Jack

[HeySal]

Jack - writing in another voice can be considered fraud in the business world...false advertising. There are some laws being worked on that could tear you to shreads for faking a testimonial. At the very least, if customers get wind of that they aren't going to trust you at all.

Rather than "change of voice" as it was innocently termed - change the tone. Tell people WHY it works, and how you know it does. Let them decide you are awesome by presenting real copy rather than fraudulent fiction.

[Jack Bastide]

======
Jack - writing in another voice can be considered fraud in the business world...false advertising. There are some laws being worked on that could tear you to shreds for faking a testimonial. At the very least, if customers get wind of that they aren't going to trust you at all.
======

Actually nothing was False. I interviewed her customers
and used what THEY told me about her

the Copy was written from the perspective of her
customers talking about her


Jack

[ksmike]

Hey heysal,

I respectfully disagree. There's nothing fraudulent about telling a story or speaking from the perspective of what you have learned through research.

If every ad campaign follows your strict view, advertising would be very boring... and our prisons would be overloaded with ad execs. Most all advertising pushes the limits, wouldn't you agree? That's what money-back-guarantees are for. If you've gone too far, your customers let you know.

A copywriter has to push the limits to get a winner. Just ask Carlton when he fought tooth and nail over his copy with Rodale and others.

Just my two cents. --Mike

[DougHughes]

I don't think Jack is advocating faked testimonials. As I understand it he is merely taking testimonials from others and combining them within the comments of one fictitious character.

There are definitely some laws that need to be looked out for, and ethics are always in question.

I have to say though, having made my living for the past few years writing in several other voices that from a creative standpoint, it is very rewarding stepping into someone else's shoes for a spell.

I think it is fine to tell a story in someone else's voice, as long as the information is truthful. Having a pen name is really no different. I have written hundreds of pieces as other people.

I don't know if you are aware of this but a lot of big name fiction writers are franchised and their work farmed out to ghost writers pretending to be the Robert Ludlums and Dick Francises of the world.

A classic example of someone writing in another voice is Amantine Aurore Lucile Dupin but more commonly known as George Sand - a woman pretending to be a man.

Another fantastic "change of voice" example was the beautiful story by Leo Tolstoy of Anna Karenina. Liturature students have marvelled at Tolstoy's ability to see the world from a women's point of view.

As far as writing in the list owner's voice, why not? The list owner is your client right? He/she is telling you what they want you to say, and you are interpreting that information and transforming it to the benefit of both your clients clients and your client. Seems perfectly fine.

But, what do I know...opinions are like (you know what).

[lisag]

In my opinion, if a trusted relationship already exists between the reader and the "voice", use the voice the readers already trust.