The Copywriting of Politics ...

by Raydal
5 replies
I don't know how many copywriters have been following
the political conventions in the U. S. but the speeches are
really sale letters open to critiques and analysis.

At least that's the way I analyze them and the news
commentary on each speech is a great lesson as well.

Since we are talking about persuasion it's no surprise that
the speech writers have to consider the same elements
which a copywriter has to include in a sales letter.

One of he most common elements is the "I'm just like
you" element. Each candidate is trying to appear
as much like the electorate as possible. Trying to say
I understand how you feel and I have the solution.

Of course we have a litany of "testimonials" and proof
elements and "calls to action".

Another important skill common to political speeches and
copywriting is the ability to make the complex easy. Take
complex issues and 'put them in a nutshell' so the ordinary
person can understand. (Serves as a headline skill as well.)

The power of the story also comes to light here. If you
have a powerful story (emotional appeal) the facts
become secondary.

Maybe you can add your own lessons without making this
thread political.


-Ray Edwards
#copywriting #politics
  • Profile picture of the author TheSalesBooster
    I was watching Michelle Obama give her speech the other night and I started thinking about who writes her speeches. If he went into sales he would be rich
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert_Rand
    For sure. I love watching all of it from that perspective.

    So far, I think the best written speech - hands down - was Ann Romney's.

    I don't necessarily think it was necessarily the best speech, although she did do a good job delivering it. But the script was flawless. Whoever wrote that, definitely knows what he/she is doing.

    It was written in ordinary language and leveraged the power of the story.

    Very raw. Very direct. Very emotionally driven. Very conversational.

    A couple of notable lines:

    "And if you listen carefully, you'll hear the women sighing a little bit more than the men. It's how it is, isn't it?"

    "You know it's true, don't you?"

    "And let's be honest. If the last four years had been more successful, do we really think there would be this attack on Mitt Romney's success? Of course not."

    Full transcript here: Transcript: Ann Romney's Convention Speech : NPR

    I'm looking forward to watching Obama's. I expect it will be very good.
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  • Profile picture of the author BrianMcLeod
    This COULD be an excellent, educational thread.

    Don't get it nuked by acting like a knucklehead, capiche?

    EDIT: This is a pre-emptive warning, not griping about any comments so far..
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  • Profile picture of the author Don Grace
    Spot on man... What's funny to me is people still think it's coming from the horses mouth but it really comes from the copywriters pen. ( I always wanted to know what those guys make)

    And yeah, lot's of personal story/testimony of regular folk... IE- "And then there's (insert name) who because of my policy now gets even more free money for doing nothing
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      I'll reprint this here from a post I made recently on the Offline Forum
      in regard to resetting the buyer criteria.

      In this case it's the voter criteria.

      Enjoy!
      Ewen

      ---------------------------------------------------------

      Here's how the resetting the buyer criteria won an election.

      This is courtesy of Kendrick Cleveland...

      "What can we learn from studying a former United States
      President about getting a YES and handling objections?

      More then any Traditional NLP or Sales Training...

      The year was 1984 and United States President
      Ronald Reagan was running for reelection against
      Walter Mondale.

      Reagan was already the oldest man elected to the
      office of the Presidency at the age of 69...and at 73
      years old during his reelection campaign, people
      started to question his mental capacity to lead the
      free world...

      Reagan had the mother of all objections to
      overcome, if he wanted a second term in office...

      How to convince the American public that his advanced
      age was a non issue...and make the biggest sale of all
      - reelection to the Presidency of the United States.

      The more Mondale and the press brought up his age,
      the more Reagan's popularity rating sunk like a stone...

      Mondale thought he "Closed" the sale...boxed the
      President into a corner and was going to get the
      "Yes" from the American people...

      Reagan could not deny that he was 73 years old...
      and if he used the strategy that most people take and
      faced the objection head on, he was doomed to fail.

      Instead, Reagan strategically used his language to
      turn the issue into a non-issue with these two sentences
      below...and sealed the deal for his reelection:

      "I want you to know that also I will not make
      age an issue of this campaign. I am not going
      to exploit for political purposes my opponent's
      youth and inexperience"

      In one fell swoop, Reagan reframed his advanced age
      from a negative into a positive and...even reversed his
      opponent's younger age into negative.

      That is some powerful language..."
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