Conrad Winter Copywriter

Why I killed backpocket copywriter.
Back when I became backpocket copywriter 15 years ago, it seemed like a natural fit for my clients’ needs. I was doing a lot more 1-off projects. Things were much more wham-bam thank you, adman. Clients appreciated my creativity and quickness. The name, backpocket copywriter fit this arrangement nicely.

Alas, my business has changed.
Quick, one-and-done projects for a long list of companies and categories was a carryover from my agency days. I’ve found that what companies and clients need today isn’t “backpocket” in any way.

What the world needs now.
I find that what clients really need is continuity and accessibility. And that’s what I try to provide. I believe it’s a huge benefit to companies to work with a copywriter who knows their brand, their category and their overall marketing plan. But that’s more of a frontpocket role, than a backpocket one. You see the confusion? When I started asking colleagues and clients about it, I learned that was only the beginning of the mixed messaging.

It’s time to deal with the disconnect.
Talking to people, I found that for many, “backpocket” means “special occasion.” For others, “in a pinch.” And for some, “backburner.” (Gasp) None of these interpretations is an accurate—or desireable—fit. So I had to ask myself, “If backpocket copywriter isn’t reflecting who I am, what I do or what I want to be—why am I using it?”

I’m taking my cue from all that is true.
I think the best brands out there tap into attributes that are authentic and true—or at the very least not disconnected and confusing. So goodbye backpocket, it’s time to start being myself.

No more pocket metaphors.
Say hello to conradwinter.com. And remember, if your brand needs help finding its true expression in writing, I’m here to help.

So you’re 5 miles into the backcountry mountain biking when you blow your rear tire. Once you get to work patching it, you realize your patch kit hasn’t seen the light of day since before your 6-year-old was born and the glue is dryer than trail dust. This would never have happened before you became a parent. But rather than lament in the hot sun, you get to work packing your tire with dried grass. Then once you’ve got it good and firm, you ride on at a lumpy gait, relieved that you’re no longer cougar bait .

I love a good work around. And I hate to sit around and wait. For anything.

And some things are simply too important to wait around for. Case studies are prime examples.

They occupy a critical spot in B2B sales funnels, and I believe it can really hurt you not to have them on hand.

But in the real world, sometimes you don’t have all the information you need to do a proper case study. I mean, it can be kind of hard to twist your client’s arm for a testimonial—and getting information from the people inside of your company can be just as difficult.

So if you want to to complete a case study in a timely manner and be able to publish it while it’s still relevant, you need workarounds that enable you to create an interesting and compelling story with incomplete information.

Here are a couple of common hang-ups and the workarounds I often use.

Problem: You don’t have express permission from your client to mention their name.

Solution: Refer to the client in generic terms. For example say, “an international soft drink manufacturer” rather than Coke. Instead of naming clients, refer to them in terms that could point to any number of clients, e.g., “a mid-sized software company in the Boston area” or “a 500-employee manufacturer in the automotive industry.” The important thing is to use terms readers will relate to; ones that will make them think, “Oh, yeah, that’s an organization I can relate to. I’m a lot like them.”

Problem: Your client has been slow to get back to you with a testimonial quote. Hey, it happens. This writing stuff ain’t easy. For whatever reason—compliance issues, lack of direction—they just don’t seem to be getting back to you. No worries. I have solutions for you.

Solutions: 1) Do without. Hey, they often sound kind of generic anyway. 2) Write one for your client AND give it to them to approve. Couch your request in a “Hey, I was hoping you could write a testimonial that’s something like this. Feel free to edit this one or disregard it altogether. Just trying to help—I know how much of a pain these things can be to write!” 3) Get a quote from someone in your own organization who performed a critical role in your company’s success.

Problem: No ROI yet or no hard and fast data to reference.

Solution: Highlight incomplete results. For example in the case of a recent website launch where you don’t have any real numbers yet, you could say, “3 weeks after the launch and we’re already noticing an increase in traffic.” Or you could reference general accomplishments that aren’t tied to ROI, like, “Now visitors are treated to a brighter, more streamlined appearance that requires less clicks to navigate to what they need.” Lastly, you could opt for soft results by finding a creative way of demonstrating that your client or your client’s clients could not be happier.

Problem: The project that is the subject of the case study isn’t completely finished yet.

Solution: Some projects are so big and last so long, that it could be over a year for you to publish a case study trumpeting your hard-fought achievement. This can be a common challenge if long, drawn-out projects are the nature of your business. No worries. Do a case study up to a particular milestone, or highlight a particular challenge within the overall project, and then show how you overcame it.

Problem: You have a great story for a case study, but it’s as old as faxes and as dated as VHS.

Solution: Focus on the evergreen messages like the extraordinary lengths your people went to in order to deliver, or the details of your customer’s situation that create drama, and give examples of your company’s insights, understanding and commitment. Portray the results in a relevant way that doesn’t tie them to the past. For example, cite the number of customers it led to or the amount of territory it opened up. And be sure and remove all the references to faxes and Netscape.

Problem: The story you want to feature has confidential stuff in there that you can’t mention.

Solution: Don’t—as in, don’t mention any of the off-limits information. But when it creates a gap in your story, call it out. For example, if a location is sensitive, refer to it as a “secret location.” Rather than ruining a story, it adds intrigue. It also shows that your clients trust you with trade secrets—and that demonstrates your importance to prospects.

It’s important to show your work. So don’t let little setbacks like these prevent you from telling your company’s story. Use these workarounds to complete your compelling case studies or create placeholders until you get the stats, quotes or approvals you need.

Hope these tips help you to keep case-studying, and if you run into a snag or run out of time, remember I’m here to help. Email me anytime.

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In my recent post, “Non-binary copywriting: ready for the shift?” I asked readers to weigh in on their pronoun preference in business writing. It seems like people are ready for an gender neutral pronoun. Over half chose they—and there was even some interest in ze. Check out the results below.

I like “they” and I’m down with this whole non-binary thing. – 52.44%

Give me the certitude of “he or she” and let’s end all this talk of neutrality. – 28.05%

Keep your hands off my gender. God made his and her for a reason. – 14.63%

I’m kind of liking “ze.” It’s fresh, it’s easy on the ears and it has the instant cache of the letter “z.” – 3.66%

I’m in favor alternating strictly between the use of “he” and “she” and keeping an accurate tally of their usage just so we can keep things fair and square. Maybe we should petition Microsoft to make it an auto correct function and punish people with a low gender parity score by making them go to some sort of reconditioning boot camp or a really long webinar or something. – 1.22%

Give “she” a chance. – 0.00%

A recent article, Beyond ‘he’ and ‘she’: the rise of non-binary pronouns, on BBC.com, touched on a topic that’s been on my mind for years now: The use of feminine and masculine pronouns in business writing—you know: he, she, him and her.

I’m convinced we English-speakers need a  gender-neutral—or what some call a non-binary—pronoun of our own.

Let me just start by stating the obvious: using “he” as the default in writing is sexist and wrong. I think most of us know that at this point. But what’s the alternative? Some out there have switched from “he” to “she”, but I don’t think that’s an improvement. It’s still gender-biased, exclusionary and often inaccurate.

He and she don’t work as default pronouns.
Here’s an example. Seth Godin used “she” exclusively in The Icarus Deception. (Great book by the way for anyone striving for a differentiated brand in today’s world.) I know why he did it, and I appreciate his decision, but it was cumbersome for me. It made me think too much and at times, unconsciously, it made me feel like he wasn’t speaking to me. (Now I know how women feel being bombarded with he-speak all the time.) Favoring “she” just came off as forced to me. It felt like a political statement, which is fine, but not when it detracts from the message. A fundamental rule of copywriting is if it detracts from the message, don’t do it.

What’s a girl or boy to do?
So what should Seth have done, and what should we be doing in our communications? Well, I think there has to be an alternative that doesn’t favor either gender. Seth could have inserted “he or she” or “him or her” instead. It would have satisfied the PC police out there, but clunky conventions like these are eyesores and speed bumps to readers. Seth could also have switched back and forth to give equal play to “he” and “she”, but that quickly gets confusing—to both the reader and the writer. No good answer there, I guess.

Pick your alternative to he-speak.
Many alternate pronoun structures have been proposed that skirt the gender issue altogether. Askanonbinary.org lists 55 pronoun sets you could substitute for he/him/his/himself and she/her/her/herself. None of them displays a speck of gender bias, but few seem to have any use outside of being a clever exercise. Of all the options, two seem to have the most potential: they/them/their/themself (if you’re willing to use plural pronouns when singular ones are grammatically correct) and ze/zir/zir/zerself (if you’re feeling kind of space age.)

Linguists and journalists favor “they.”
So what chance does a new, non-gender pronoun have of gaining popularity? Dennis Baron, a linguist at the University of Illinois and Sally McConnell-Ginet, a Cornell University linguistics professor think “they” as used in the pronoun set, they/them/their/themself, has a chance of success.1 

Journalists are recognizing the need for gender-neutral pronouns as well. Just this month, Washington Post copyeditor, Bill Walsh rubber-stamped the use of the “singular they.”2 

And just to show you how mainstream the singular use of “they” could become: Facebook lets you choose your pronoun. Yup, right in your account preferences you can instruct them to refer to you as either he/him, she/her or they/them.

“They” works for me.
It’s conversational to use the “they” pronoun set. If you listen to yourself speak, I think you’ll find you’re already using “they” as a singular pronoun much of the time. So the only thing left is for you to put it in writing! In my own writing, I alternate the use of “they” pronouns (i.e., they/them/their/themself) with specific nouns (e.g., the customer, the buyer, a machinist, a marketer, a shipper, the company, etc.) for variety. It works for me and most clients are onboard with it.

There are clients who accuse me of pronoun confusion.
The grammatical stretch of using “they” as a singular pronoun in place of “he” or “she” can be too much for some. To be frank, I still have my moments of second-guessing. The whole singular-plural issue can cause me to overthink things at times, because admittedly, it is not grammatically correct (yet). I get it. That’s why I don’t press it with clients. When I encounter resistance, I usually default to “he or she.”

Still have your doubts that “they” can replace “he” and “she”?
Stranger things have happened. Take “you” for example. According to the BBC.com article, before the 17th Century, “you” was the plural form of second person—in other words, it was used exclusively to refer to numbers of people. The singular form was thee and thou. So at some point back then, people decided that the plural worked well in singular cases, too—and no one has looked back since. Does that change the way thou feel about making “they” your gender-neutral pronoun of choice?

How to use they/them/their/themself as singular pronouns.
Nothing’s perfect, but “they” works—a lot better than “he” and “she”—or “ze” anyway. Curious what “they” looks like in action? Here are a few examples. (Results may vary, avoid any usage exhibiting signs of weirdness.)
• When we switch a shipping agent’s workstation to the A347, they notice immediate timesavings.
• What’s the most important skill for a new manager? Their decision-making ability.
• In the case of a first-time entrepreneur, we provide them with accountability and control.
• The smart copywriter will ask themself why the prospect cares.

What do readers think?
I asked my readers to weigh in on the following options. See what the survey said here.

1. I like “they” and I’m down with this whole non-binary thing.
2. Give me the certitude of “he or she” and let’s end all this talk of neutrality.
3. Keep your hands off my gender. God made his and her for a reason. –
4. I’m kind of liking “ze.” It’s fresh, it’s easy on the ears and it has the instant cache of the letter “z.”
5. I’m in favor alternating strictly between the use of “he” and “she” and keeping an accurate tally of their usage just so we can keep things fair and square. Maybe we should petition Microsoft to make it an auto correct function and punish people with a low gender parity score by making them go to some sort of reconditioning boot camp or a really long webinar or something.

Need sensational, gender-nuetral copywriting for your upcoming website, email series or ad campaign? Let’s talk. 

I’m not sure I am ready to start using texts as a promotional medium. But Matt Warner of Flocknote included texting in his lineup of outreach vehicles at the Digital Church Conference I attended today. His main reason is that texts are extremely interruptive. He cited a statistic that texts have a 97% open rate. With young adults, 95% of young adults read their texts within 3-5 minutes. That’s powerful stuff.

Texts get read too. “By the time they decide they aren’t interested, they’ve already read your text,” Matt added.

His point tracks with what I’ve seen. I almost always open my texts immediately. There’s just something about a text that just makes me feel like it’s important and I need to read it now. As it becomes more and more difficult to break through to people via email, texting has me thinking about the possibilities. Image texts? Audio texts? Video texts? Combine this with a 97% open rate and the mind reels.

Even still, I’m not sure I’m ready to start texting my own promotional messages or counsel my B-to-B clients to do it either. I guess I just have this belief that texts are personal and if someone has trusted you with their mobile number, you better darn well respect it—and that means not being too aggressive or salesy.

Nevertheless, when I’ve been on the receiving end of promotional texts, I have to say, they certainly got my attention. To date, none of them I’ve received (except for ones from blatant spammers) has annoyed me enough for me to block them. So from my own perspective, the tactic works well. I guess I’ll leave it at that; I agree that texting prospects has huge potential.

Whether I’m comfortable with it though, is another matter. I think I’ll stick to other means of reaching out and leave the nuclear option of texting off the table for now.

Let me begin by saying print ads used to be the industry standard—“Going to advertise? Great, let’s run a print ad!” But it occurred to me the other day while I was explaining my creative approach to a client, that emails have become the new print ad.

Don’t get me wrong, I love coming up with concepts and campaigns for print, but I’ve found that email marketing offers just as much opportunity for brazen creativity as print, while providing a whole bunch of advantages that print couldn’t touch with a 10-foot QRC code.

It’s time to give email marketing its due.

I have to ask, are you putting the creative firepower behind your email marketing that you should be? I know there are a lot of sexy social options dominating your attention these days, and I know video is red hot this year, but maybe it’s time you started seeing email as your new print ad, too:

• Email is 40-times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook and Twitter combined, according to McKinsey & Company.
• Businesses sending over 100,000 emails per month enjoy a 94% return on investment while those sending under 100,000 per month see a 139% return, according to MarketingSherpa.

More than a mainstay, email deserves the main stage.

Whether your purpose is lead generation, nurturing, announcing or informing—email offers advertisers priceless advantages, starting with incomparable targeting and ending with the benefits of being able to add links and interactive features. The best part is you turn a call-to-action into an action in email.

The smart companies put their money on email marketing.

Today’s creative standards in this medium are high, and it’s not just the big brands that are doing what it takes to stand out. Clients are spending a lot of money on production for original (un-stock) photography and illustrations. They’re incorporating video links. And they’re using animated gifs—some of the coolest things I’ve seen lately. It’s a testament to the fact that clients value the medium—and more importantly, they value the people on their mailing list.

Email vs. print from a creative perspective.

I use the same approach to come up with great concepts for emails that I use for print ads and the goal is always the same: to look for a great idea based on a simple, single-minded truth. The big difference is that in addition to the concept, headline, text and tagline, there are certain details with email that require careful consideration, and often creativity.

Email details worth paying attention to.

The best email marketing out there treats every element of the email with care and importance, realizing its function as well as its role in the overall impression it’s making in the context of your brand. Important email details include the subject line, preheader text, alt line, links, CTA (Call-to-Action) and from-line.

Make the most of your emails.

Your emails give you the ability to directly address prospects that you can be pretty darn certain are considering doing business with you or have done business with you in the recent past. Not only is that cool—that’s an opportunity you always want to capitalize on by doing interesting, creative work.

Ready for a new approach to your email marketing?

Contact me to talk your upcoming lead generation email, nurturing campaign or promotional blast.

The best email marketing out there treats every element of the email with care and importance, realizing its function as well as its role in the overall impression it’s making in the context of your brand. Below you’ll find a little pre-blast checklist of some things to consider before you launch your next lead generation email, nurturing campaign or promotional eblast.

From-line. Simple, right? You just put in your company name. Well, It’s not always that easy. First and foremost, it has to be clear who the email is from, so beware of abbreviations or from-lines that leave off an important part like what division of the company or product line you represent. Yes, it’s important to make it short and tidy, but make sure it’s clear so you don’t have to use the precious characters of your subject line to explain who you are. That way you can use your subject line to give recipients an irresistible reason to open your email. Also, as a branding note: keep your from-line consistent from email to email. You don’t want to be treated (deleted) as a stranger. Besides, it helps recipients who want to search for your email later on;)

Subject line: There has been lots said about how to write a compelling subject line and how many words it should be and just how much information you should impart. Let’s just say this: it should be honest, in that it doesn’t make people feel as though you tricked them to open it. If you have a great offer, give it up. If you have a compelling benefit, highlight it. Put the meat up front because a long subject line can get cut off depending on how people are viewing it; mobile is especially brutal. And avoid those salesy, spammy words and techniques, too.

Preheader text: If you use Gmail or Outlook you’ll notice the emails in your inbox have text following the subject line. This is preheader text, an additional opportunity to entice readers to open. When a recipient opens your email on their desktop, the preheader text shows up by default at the top of your email. Use it to deliver a perfect distillation of your offer or message. That way, even if they decide not to read your email, you’ll still have the chance to make your pitch.

Alt text: Most email programs don’t automatically download the images of your email. So what you get is an ugly empty box. You have to click the “download images” button to actually see the email in all its glory. It is the bane of every designer’s effort, but it doesn’t have to be a wasted opportunity. You still have the chance to insert a written message. Use it.

CTA: I.e., the call-to-action. Make it clear, make it distinctive, make it easy to find—but no matter what you do, make sure you get people to click and do something. Because that right there is the beautiful advantage to the print ad of today.

The most important email detail of all.

Great copy, of course. Remember you’re only a guest in your recipient’s inbox. So be interesting, for heaven’s sake, and they’ll invite you back.

I’m here to help.

Need a hand with that last detail, as well as the other little ones before, after and in-between? Email me, or call me at 917-664-1768.

It used to drive me crazy when clients would tell me, “I showed your ideas to my spouse, and…” Or “Let me get back to you, I just want to show the ideas around and see what people think.”

I’ve kind of come to grips with the fact that a lot of clients are going to show the work around and there’s nothing I can do about it. Truth is, having recently been in the position of being a client on my new website, I empathize with clients’ need to get 2nd, 3rd and even 10th opinions.

But copywriting, designs and creative work in general are fragile matter. When you bend deas to compromise to the crowd, they can lose their edge and become less effective. And conversely, when you skew it to satisfy an extreme opinion, it can end up missing the mark.

That said, I believe that there have to be some ground rules, or guidelines for showing the work around and reviewing the feedback—for the sake of the work, and everyone’s sanity. Here’s what I’ve learned from being on both sides of the fence:

Ask strategically.
Try to ask people in your market, or who at least understand your market. I mean, most of my friends would have a hard time telling the difference between a good ad for a productivity software or business service and a bad one. So make sure the people you ask know who you’re speaking to in the ad and what the ad is meant to accomplish.

Know when to say when.
Go on and get lots of opinions, but set an internal deadline for when you’ll put the pencil down. And try and define expectations by letting people know you’re asking lots of people. Do what my wife and I did when we were deciding on a name for our daughter: Say, “Yes, we’d love to hear all your suggestions, and we’ll carefully consider them with all the rest we collect, but you know, no promises.”

Discuss everything, and address every criticism.
When you have a bunch of conflicting opinions, you have to take the time to address them. Decide whether or not they’re worthy of concern. Then determine the most relevant.  Trouble comes from treating all criticisms equally or assuming the truth of an opinion based on the source.

A word to clients who are being ripped asunder by conflicting opinions.
When you show a bunch of different people creative ideas, you’re going to get a range of reactions. People have a natural inclination to be useful, so you can count on many of them having (overly) strong opinions. What can I say? People like to be heard. The long and short of it is you’re going to agonize. What can you do:
1) Collect your comments, and sit on them a day or two. Try not to be swayed by latest opinion you just heard. You’ll go crazy.
2) Talk the reactions over with your creative partners. Give them a chance to respond to the points individually.
3) Then, give the most weight to the comments from the people who are in your market or understand the problem best.

A word to the creative people.
Like I’ve said, I’ve mellowed over the course of many projects. I’ve had the most success by listening. I try to remind myself that I am there to help clients find the truth. Most of them are able to weed the relevant and useful comments from the extraneous and extreme. You can help them get there by listening and offering your honest opinion when asked. You want to stay in the loop, so you can respond and gain useful insights. So be a team player.

If you want to know what I think.
I’m here to help. Call or email me to discuss your copywriting project or get a quote anytime.