Author View (Cybelle Clevenger)

Cell phone novels--they’re all the rage in Japan right now. And considering a majority of people spend a good chunk of their time text messaging, I can see why the concept works. Most of the novels have surface plot lines, use simple language, and tell a story in bite-sized, easily digestible nuggets--but they are hugely popular regardless. This of course, got me to thinking about marketing copy. Fair enough. When we are spinning our tales of sales, we are not creating Pulitzer-Prize winning literature. We are, however, writing to an audience who ... Is never without a cell phone Is always on the more...

Ernest Hemingway, George Bernard Shaw, John Marquand and Stephen Vincent all tried their hands at it and gave up. And even Aldous Huxley said it was easier to write a decent sonnet than an effective ad. Writing good marketing copy is no easy, breezy walk in the park. And there are plenty of people who have tried to spin great marketing tales and failed miserably. Oh sure, there are plenty of people who call themselves copywriters, but that doesn’t mean they are any good at it. Marketing writing is a specialized skill. One that requires the talent to stop prospects dead in their more...

Make no mistake: Insert a bunch of clichés in your marketing piece--and you can kiss your prospects goodbye. Walk the talk, more bang for your buck, put your money where your mouth is, clichés like these scream laziness on the writer’s part. Easier said than done to avoid falling back on overused expressions, right? Well of course it’s not easy. Whoever said writing was easy? But it’s creative brainwork that you must do if you want your marketing message to be read from start to finish. So what exactly makes a cliché harder to digest than sour milk? First of all, more...

Why do I love a good tabloid headline? Ahhhh. Let me count the sleazy, tawdry ways. First of all: they rarely fail to get my attention. In fact, I can still remember this one while living and working in Washington, DC during the Bill Clinton cigar, beret-wearing scandal: Picture: Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky  Headline: The Big Old Pervert Told Me To Lie! When it comes to marketing, make no mistake: Headlines are the most important part of your ad--whether it’s email marketing, a banner ad or, a print piece. During my days as a tabloid writer, we had writers who focused solely with more...

One of the biggest obstacles of writing a sales letter is perfectionism. Too many people feel they have to write flawless marketing copy in order to make the phone ring. They get frustrated because they can’t think of a clever enough headline, a slick enough opening, or they don’t feel inspired. This sort of thinking can stop you dead in your tracks and is more often than not, a waste of emotional energy. Because the truth of the matter is--some of the most effective sales letters on the planet are the ones that are not perfect and read like everyday speech more...

A Good Sales Letter Isn’t About You Look around and you will see just about every kind of sales letter imaginable. Some are long. Some are short and punchy. Some are formal and some are casual. But all of them are about you. It’s important to remember to set aside your ego when writing a sales letter. People don’t want a random letter about how a product or service changed your life for the better. Who are you? Why should they care? People want to know how it will change their lives for the better. Always tell your prospect what’s in more...