Long Copy Isn’t a Fad
Has anyone ever told you, “Oh, that’s too long. Nobody’s going to read that!”
Or: “Make it brief. Otherwise, people will just throw it in the trash”.
Well, if you’ve heard that before, it might mean you’re on the right track with your copy. How so? Because what the layperson believes about marketing is usually dead wrong.
In fact, it’s usually the opposite of reality. Laypeople casually throw their marketing opinions around as if they actually had weight. But real marketers approach things differently: they test before they offer an opinion. They use the scientific method.
The World’s #1 Marketing Myth
The “fear of long copy” is one of the biggest myths laypeople believe when it comes to marketing. They mistakenly believe the longer a mailing piece (or web page, report, sales letter, etc.) is, the worse it will pull. However, the exact opposite is true. The more you build your argument, offer proof and tell a compelling story, the better your results.
Here’s somebody else’s take on it: Long Copy Blog Post
It’s a great post, but the author doesn’t seem to understand why the direct marketing headline worked better than the limp, vapid “headlines” that said, “Better registration forms. Better results” and “RegOnline is powerful. Yet Easy to Use”. Do you? Go back and look at the direct marketing headline and compare it with the artsy headlines.
Can you see what the difference was?
Well, I’ll tell you: the direct marketing headline contained an important and powerful benefit and the “artsy” headlines didn’t. That benefit? Cutting your workload in half. Tell me: who wouldn’t want the same results with half the work? Everybody wants that. And that, fearless marketing comrade, is why the direct marketing headline pulled better than the artsy ones.
Shocker of all shockers: when I visited the “live” page it still had the artsy headlines – even though the author revealed that the direct marketing headline pulled more than 50% better!
Maybe he doesn’t get it after all.