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The Copywriting End of Days

by Andrew Fox
19 replies
Are people getting more "visual" every day, ADD laden and impulsive thus the diminishing returns of a finely crafted copy. Is video replacing the good old "kick a$$" money siphoning copy of the world wide web. Do prospects turn a blind eye on beefed up salesmanship in print...or what.
#copywriting #days #dead #death of #end
  • Profile picture of the author imsolutionsgroup
    Copy is still and always be extremely important. But, just like everything else it needs to adapt with where everyone is heading.

    Yes, people may aren't reading copy as much and instead they are scrolling through pages until something catches their eye (thanks social media), but that just means instead of focusing on copy for your paragraphs... spend extra time on creating a compelling headline.
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  • Profile picture of the author danieldesai
    Originally Posted by Andrew Fox View Post

    Are people getting more "visual" every day, ADD laden and impulsive thus the diminishing returns of a finely crafted copy. Is video replacing the good old "kick a$$" money siphoning copy of the world wide web. Do prospects turn a blind eye on beefed up salesmanship in print...or what.
    Definitely not.

    Sure, there are a lot of people who prefer watching a VSL (video sales letter) than reading a sales letter but text-based sales pages still have their place.

    The most obvious example that comes to mind is promoting a product via email follow-up.

    Most people on your list will only watch a VSL from beginning to end a few times (if that much) - there are only so many times someone will watch the same video over and over again.

    On the other hand, if you're continuously sending people to a text sales page, they now have the freedom to skim the page at will, and look for things they might have missed before.

    I'll admit, if I'm sending someone to an offer for the first time, I usually prefer a VSL but all the follow-up is to text sales pages for the reasons I mentioned above.

    Both have their places, and neither are going anywhere.

    Regards,
    Daniel
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Pescetti
    What do you think the words on the videos are?

    Hmmm...

    Maybe copy?
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    • Profile picture of the author sethczerepak
      Originally Posted by Mark Pescetti View Post

      What do you think the words on the videos are?

      Hmmm...

      Maybe copy?
      lol. Right. Baffles me how this stupid: "Copywriting is dying because of VSLs" conversation keeps cropping up...as if the video scripts just pop out of magic holes in the ground.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    Maybe....

    but, you know, these days people just don't read....

    Copywriting

    sorry, couldn't resist...
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Originally Posted by Andrew Fox View Post

    The Copywriting End of Days

    Every time I see someone declaring

    "the death of this"
    or
    "the end of that"

    it makes me wonder why the author feels he/she has the authority or credibility to declare "the end" of whatever it is. Is this another self-proclaimed guru that is trying to draw attention with some contrived shocking headlines?

    Copywriting is not dead, of course, we all know that. In fact, IMO, it's more important and more critical today than ever before. Powerful and engaging copywriting is what sells . . . and it's often what separates the lame offers from the best selling offers.

    Copywriting is the foundation, the very basis of almost every ebook, advertisement, newsletter, sales offer, video, tutorial, audio, email, blog post, seminar, workshop, and even web site.

    Copywriting is here to stay and is at the heart of everything we marketers do.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author not mark
    Remember that copywriting is about abstracting and communicating ideas to make them sell, not just writing words.
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  • Profile picture of the author Regional Warrior
    Like Kay wrote we have that covered in the Copywriting sub forum!
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  • Profile picture of the author affilorama-portal
    Hmm, isn't that every content, regardless of form or medium, is a product of copywriting?
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  • Profile picture of the author Shaun706
    If what you are writing is of interest to the market you're writing for. They WILL read the copy. Whether it's long or short...an email or article.
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  • Profile picture of the author wordwizard
    You know what I find puzzling in the discussion about whether people will read long form copy (or long articles) in this world of ADD and impulsiveness?

    Google (and various experts) recommend that articles be at least 2,000 words long! Personally, I find that hard to believe, but that seems to be the consensus. Even if rarely read those to the end.

    Considering that skilled copywriters put lots of effort goes into making long form copy extra compelling to suck the reader into the flow and keep them reading all the way to the end, wouldn't you think that long copy works at LEAST as well as long articles, if not a lot better?

    What do you think?

    Now about VSLs... Personally, I hate being held hostage by those things, especially if they say it takes 5 minutes, and 45 minutes later, there's still no end in sight. There are very few I will sit through till the end, and only if I REALLY want to find out what's on the other side.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Cohen
      Originally Posted by wordwizard View Post

      .

      Now about VSLs... Personally, I hate being held hostage by those things, especially if they say it takes 5 minutes, and 45 minutes later, there's still no end in sight. There are very few I will sit through till the end, and only if I REALLY want to find out what's on the other side.
      And thus, you have identified the key to writing a high-converting VSL.

      Appeal to your target market's primary emotion and make it interesting. When you do, they'll watch every frame.

      Alex
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  • Profile picture of the author GJHancock
    I don't envisage copywriting ever diminishing. Words are too powerful. More people are watching videos, but only because a headline and/or introductory line of copy has compelled them to do so. Whether your pushing written copy or a VSL, the headline will always be the most important part.
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  • Profile picture of the author Princess Balestra
    Originally Posted by Andrew Fox View Post

    Are people getting more....
    ...sweetsome
    or swatsome
    of flotsam
    an' jetsam
    you feedzum
    like they wanna -

    or are you

    1) A goner
    .
    .
    .
    206) An Ex- "gonna"

    I am happy to be fluid on this point.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeHumphreys
    Originally Posted by Andrew Fox View Post

    Are people getting more "visual" every day, ADD laden and impulsive thus the diminishing returns of a finely crafted copy. Is video replacing the good old "kick a$$" money siphoning copy of the world wide web. Do prospects turn a blind eye on beefed up salesmanship in print...or what.
    Or what.

    All kidding aside, every niche is different on works best. Not every niche contains "ADD laden and impulsive" prospects. There's a reason why advertorials have made a comeback in recent years and that's because they work.

    Instead of asking "is copywriting dead?", the better question to ask is "what's going to work best with my target market?" and then go write it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sneha1989
    Hey guys is it possible to end the copy writing days, since i am looking for copy writers for my blogs blogigot and fudoweb but i have gone through this thread so i got doubt about that. Clarify me if any one know's.
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  • Profile picture of the author [RyanMilligan]
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Andrew Fox View Post

    Are people getting more "visual" every day, ADD laden and impulsive thus the diminishing returns of a finely crafted copy. Is video replacing the good old "kick a$$" money siphoning copy of the world wide web. Do prospects turn a blind eye on beefed up salesmanship in print...or what.

    Visuals are getting more common but for a simple example, what do you think the script for a video sales letter is?

    Sales ad copy written in script form for someone to read.

    There is no way to say that print (text) is less effective than a more visual (graphic) ad without split testing them, same product two different ads.

    Then you only get results for that one product. Nothing will ever be written in stone, things that shouldn't work do occasionally and things that should work sometimes don't.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve The Copywriter
    A visual lets the prospect write the copy in their minds.

    But it may not always be what you want them to think.


    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
    A visual lets the prospect write the copy in their minds.

    But it may not always be what you want them to think.
    So true! A number of times I've looked at before and after pictures from contractors or designers and either wondering what the heck kind of improvement I was supposed to be seeing or feeling that the before picture was much more appealing to me.

    Without commentary and direction from words, images don't always speak clearly.

    Marcia Yudkin
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