Over the years I’ve seen that there is a hidden, secret ingredient behind many of the greatest copywriting breakthroughs…
Courage.
In fact, without courage most of the breakthrough advertising we admire would never have seen the light of day.
Here’s a fact: If you write copy – good copy – you will be critisized. The better the copy, the stronger the resistance. So, if you plan to write breakthrough copy you are going to need a spine of steel to stand up to the forces of doom headed your way.
“That’s too offensive”
“Our customers will hate that”
“No one will read something that long”
“It’s too hypey…”
“That’s off strategy”
“We were hoping for something more clever”
“My wife doesn’t like it”
“That’s too informal”
“That’s not how we speak to our customers”
And against all this, the copywriter must stand his ground and fight for his or her idea. It’s easy to say, but a lot harder in the midst of the battle.
You will begin to doubt and second guess yourself… “Maybe they know their own customers better than I do.” “It hasn’t been done before, maybe it won’t work.” “Dang, if everyone else thinks it won’t work, I might be wrong.” “If I fight for this and it doesn’t work – I’m screwed. I’ll lose the client”.
And guess what. Sometimes those doubts are correct. But sometimes they aren’t. So, you the copywriter have to fight for the breakthrough idea because I’m going to guarantee you no one else will.
I remember a marketing VP making it clear to the company President that he had not authorized me to write a particular piece of writing, that he didn’t approve of it, and if it failed, I was to lose my contract. Did I begin to doubt myself after that? Yea… but somewhere inside me was a belief in the idea. I fought. It rolled. It shattered sales records. I was a legend.
That’s the happy ending you suspected. But there was another time that I fought. It lost. I was out with egg on my face.
That’s where courage comes in. The truth is you don’t know. You’ve got a hunch. A hunch you are willing to bet it all on.
I can’t tell you what you should do the next time you are in this situation. Maybe the client it right, maybe you are right. But what I can tell you is that you’ll never know the joy of creating a serious sales, marketing or copywriting breakthrough without screwing up your courage, taking a deep breath and fighting for your Big Idea.
Yes, you could experience defeat. You will sometimes fail. But trust me, that’s better than living with the nagging sense that you are mediocre and always will be because you didn’t stand and fight for your ideas.
Next time your work is being attacked from all sides, know this: It’s either a breakthrough idea – or it really really sucks. At that moment think about advertising legend George Lois…
A client was rejecting one of his ads. He grabbed his ad proof from the client, jumped into the high-rise window ledge, opened the window and threatened to jump out if the client didn’t accept the ad.
That’s how breakthrough copywriting and advertising is born.
