Maybe it’s because I’m on a diet, and the thought of food looms larger and larger as my alloted portion sizes shrink.
Or maybe it’s because, in an effort to shed pounds, I’ve turned to devouring health and fitness magazines instead – with an occasional foodie title thrown in just to test my willpower. (The aim being to reach the stage where I glaze over at the sight of honey-glazed ham with lashings of gravy, potatoes au gratin and cheesecake to finish.)
Whatever the reason, I’m focused on food as I tuck into this article; there’s a case to be argued that comestibles and copy have a lot in common.
Consider. Shouldn’t a great subscription ad make the reader salivate at the prospect of devouring the publication it describes? Wouldn’t a renewal invitation be missing the point if it failed to entice the subscriber to ask for second helpings, or even third?
You take my point. Great copy whets the prospect’s appetite for more of all that good stuff in your magazine. So pull up a chair, pick up your fork and tuck into these tips from the master chefs of subscription copywriting...
* Treat your readers like valued guests. Do you have a favourite restaurant that you visit frequently? If so, I imagine that you are given a warm welcome...ushered to your ‘usual table’...and asked if you would like to have the aperitif you normally order. The maître d' knows you by name, remembers your preferences, and directs you to one or two specials you might find appealing.
When you write to your subscribers, take a tip from that seasoned professional. Address your prospects by name, if possible. Adopt a warm, friendly copy style. (Imagine that you’re having a conversation rather than writing a piece of prose.) Make an effort to match your readers with content tailored to their interests. And sprinkle your body copy liberally with the word ‘you’.
* Give your prospects a smorgasbord of information. If you’ve dined on Danish or supped on Scandinavian, you can easily picture a table groaning with culinary delights. From appetisers to desserts, there’s something to entice every taste bud.
Your prospects respond to the same extensive choice when it comes to your editorial content. So spread all your features out in front of them and let them help themselves to as much, or as little, as they wish.
Your aim is to demonstrate that your future content will satisfy their appetites for useful and interesting information. As long as what you pile on to their plates is relevant and targeted, your promotion simply can’t dish out too much.
* Try the ‘Chinese Menu’ approach. If your promotion doesn’t permit you to write at length, you can still demonstrate the breadth of content covered in your magazine. Take a leaf out of the average Chinese menu, by presenting your reader with a long list of articles that have appeared in recent issues.
Make that selection as extensive as you can, space permitting. Your prospects will scan down to pick out the items that interest them. And it won’t concern them that the articles you’re citing have already appeared in print, as long as you make this clear. After all, you’re simply using past editorial as a guide to the subject matter they can look forward to reading in the future.
* Make your copy sizzle. When I lived in New York, I used to enjoy dining at Benihana, where the Japanese chefs would perform their cooking magic at customers’ tables. Their samurai skill with chopping knives was only surpassed by the enticing aroma of ginger, soy sauce and other mysterious ingredients that wafted through the air and made me keen to take my first bite.
Your promotional copy should aim to create a similar sense of anticipation in your readers. One effective way to do this is to write headlines that focus on benefits – and make the enjoyment of those gains appear easy, imminent, or both.
For example...
You’re just minutes away from...
Now you can own / enjoy / get...
Why wait a moment longer for...
Here’s a quick way to...
To keep this sense of immediacy flowing through your body copy, you should use active verbs over passive ones whenever you can. (For example, “we’ll rush you your first issue” as opposed to “we’ll post your first issue”.)
* Develop a taste for clarity. Have you ever been handed a restaurant menu and found yourself longing for a French-English dictionary even more than your first sip of Pernod? Me, too. Instead of looking forward to the options before me, I go quickly off the boil.
Clarity is king when it comes to effective copywriting. After all, you don’t want to give your reader any excuse to pause while consuming your message. So avoid technical jargon, unless you’re absolutely certain your reader will understand it. Stick to simple words. (For instance, ‘find’ rather than ‘discover’, ‘help’ instead of ‘facilitate’.) And keep your sentences and paragraphs reasonably short.
* Spill the beans. Maybe you wouldn’t ask the chef of a fancy restaurant how he or she managed to produce that perfect quenelle of pike. But you could hardly be blamed for wanting to know.
Your readers share a similar appetite for insider tips and secrets. Knowing ‘how to’, ‘when to’ and ‘where to’ gives them mastery over their lives. So be generous with all those hints, techniques and pointers that fill your magazine.
Here are a few classic headlines that alert the reader to useful information in the forthcoming body copy...
* How to eat your way out of fatigue
* 15 surprising predictions for 2011
* How many of these medical myths do you still subscribe to?
* The Small Business’s Three Worst Enemies
* What Everyone Ought to Know About this Stock and Bond Business
An amuse-bouche for madam or monsieur? While you’re being generous with information in your promotion, what about giving some of it away in the form of an instant free gift – a guide to London’s restaurants, Pilates exercises, on-the-spot cycle repairs... any topic that relates to your magazine and the interests of its readers. These editorial-style ‘tasters’ are relatively inexpensive to produce and, unlike the usual cover-mounted gee-gaw, they add credibility to the promises in your promotion.
* Get the bill right. Even if your new subscriber passes your order form to the finance director, you can be certain it will be closely scrutinised. So make certain it’s accurate in every detail, and covers each aspect of your subscription contract. This includes (but is not limited to): the subscription term, number of issues, cost per term, amount saved (if any), how this saving is calculated (off the bookstall price, say) and the value of any gift item you are offering. (Don’t forget to remind them that you’re giving it to them free.)
It’s not a bad idea to include your guarantee too, as an added reassurance.
Put your copy through a ‘taste test’. When you’ve finished writing your copy, ask someone to read it for sense and logic. Then go over it again yourself, to make certain that you haven’t left anything out. If you’ve peppered your copy with benefits and spiced it up with fascinating, ‘must have’ information, I’ll eat my hat if your promotion doesn’t have those new subscribers queuing around the block!
