Copyrighting is for the masses - right?

Hey spot on and exaclty what i was thinking. Most copywriters in my experience (and maybe it was the niches i was in ) seem to be full of cheesy, hype phrases that made me cringe.

There's no way this would hold any credibiltiy in B2B or to the professional markets.

There are it seems two ways two ways to talk to people:

1) Hype and B*S* to the masses chasing down fads, get rich quick, push button businesses.

2) Factual, to the point, B2B and high end clients.

My 2 cents...

...the way to do it is.

Research your target audience, in great depth (age, demographics, social status, sex, occupations, incomes, likes, dislikes, what do they crave for, what they buy, how they buy it etc, etc etc) - put yourself in their shoes - walk a mile, two or three, read what they read, watch what they watch, eat what they eat (you don't have to do that) - but become your audience for a while.

Then you'll have a good insight in how to write the copy that absolutely resonates with them - bringing you the best results - because you've reached them and persuaded them to buy in their world. Not your world, not somebody else's world - their world.

Just make sure the product/service is outstanding and the offer is irresistible.


Steve

Sigh. How many times do we see this?

"Copyrighting" - The legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work.

"Copywriting" is the act of writing copy (text) for advertising or marketing.

But to answer your question - "Is this a correct assumption?" - No. There's copy and there's copy - different horses for different courses. Of course you wouldn't talk/write to a Fortune 500 CEO in the same style as you would to Joe The Plumber. Patently obvious.

I sell to both markets. You'd be amazed how similar people are across the board.

Check out this post from Troy White.
The difference between B2B and B2C

Never over-estimate the sophistication of a market. As humans we all have the same core emotions to tap into no matter what your occupation.

When people take their clothes off, they are the same underneath...all pink and wrinkly. People have the same basic hopes, dreams, goals and as long as you focus on what THEY want and don't put YOUR values into the equation, then you'll have success.

Are you looking exclusively at direct response copy written for internet marketing clients?

Copywriting is a pretty broad field, and the world of direct-response overlaps with that of brand advertising quite a bit.

David Ogilvy always used to say that brand marketers would eventually need to start using direct response principles in their campaigns, because direct response copy tactics are just so much more powerful than (traditional) brand advertising tactics.

I mean, think of it this way.

You say that direct-response copywriters use cheesy "used car salesman" tactics. But if you look at any respected guide to copwriting, nowhere does it actually tell you "write a bunch of hype-filled garbage full of over the top phrases like 'sale-sucking' and 'profit-pulling'". It's something that copywriters in areas like IM tend to come up with independently, because that's just the culture in IM circles.

A good direct-response copywriter would do what works, which in certain markets might be 'use-car salesman' tactics.

When you think of it that way, it's easy to see that what the direct-response copywriters are doing is better than what a lot of brand marketers are doing. I mean yes, direct-response copy can come on strong. But look at the brand advertising world. A lot of it is built on these lame attempts to use innuendo and almost Freudian style psychological manipulation to influence the buyer subconsciously. Think of that Samsung ad for the GS3 (which was actually a great ad, but most like it aren't).

Maybe some of this stuff works, some of the time, but it's untested for the most part. BY comparison, direct-response copy tactics are much more reliable.

"What Mental Demons Are You Battling?" V.S. "Corns Gone In 5 Days Gaurenteed"
or "Men, Cut your shaving time in half..."
It doesn't matter what walk of life you come from. Basically we are all alike and respond to the same buying urges, and the same emotions that sold customers 20,000 years ago sell them today.

The difference: Some are serious and would write copy because they love to do it, verses those whom just want the $$$ and don't care.

These are some examples of B2B copywriting.

Here are whitepapers:

Whitepapers.org - All The World's White Papers In One Place

Here are some case studies:

Free Case Study Samples for Business Majors

Here is a high quality B2B video:

The Best B2B Viral Video Ever

Part of perfecting you copy-writing is to research your target audience. Once you know who you are talking to, you will better be able to write ad copy to hit their pain buttons. People can be both similar and different "classes" of individuals you speak of, and what works for one thing may not be as effective for the next. It's all about giving people what they want or what they need.

I think you give too much credit to VP's and CEO's. I've known many of them that are half witted and jump on anything that promises them riches for free.

This is why my agency doesn't hire anyone who has formally studied marketing to write copy. Too many bad habits, usually too formal, and a lack of imagination.

I think it comes down to understanding buyer persona. One of the differences between a decent copywriter and great one is the ability to understand who the ideal target audience is. If that's B2B C-suite, then content needs to be adjusted to be high level focused on business results and ROI. If it's a manager, it needs to focus on strategy. If it's a basic employee, it needs to be technical and tactical. Whoever is making the decision to buy your product is who you need to appeal to.

People are not the same regardless if the basic needs are similar. If you want to sell to Joe the plumber the approach will definitely be different with the copywriting method you will use when you sell to Joe the CEO.

Regardless of your target market, copywriting should be done with an acute understanding of what the client really wants.