Ask a Writer
By Brian O'Grady
"Fear and Loathing in Marcom: why good writing projects go bad " - cont'd
Q: I start every promotional writing task thinking we'll create something really fresh. But the results always sound like every other piece of collateral I've seen. What's going wrong?
A: Assuming you know your audience and have produced a strong first draft, two things are going wrong later in the process: fear and design by committee. The latter is easier to overcome than the former so let's look at that first:
Design by Committee
This problem is especially prevalent in soft skill professions in which anyone can offer an opinion: writing, public relations, advertising etc. The important thing to keep in mind here is that they're just that: opinions. Some are good and some are bad but if you try to include them all in a piece of writing, I'll guarantee you a lousy, generic-sounding result.
So, when you send your edgy, fresh first draft for review, be sure the ultimate authority for the piece remains close to the person who knows why and how it was created in its current format. That person decides what edits to include, what to ignore, and is prepared to take on anyone who says "But I changed the word 'pancake' to 'flapjack'." If you can't defend your position, you've bigger problems than crummy collateral.
Fear
This is the reason for many, many bad decisions. With writing, as soon as decision-makers see the cost of producing your piece, they get anxious. When they read your fresh, edgy copy, they get nervous about offending someone or not speaking to the entire market - so they replace edgy material with generic. Then, they often visit competitor web sites to see how they did it. There, they likely find more generic-sounding writing and actually begin to feel scared. Despite the fact that they're now being managed by the competition, that's when the rest of your creativity gets removed.
Ironically, because of fear, an industry full of people who are paid to make their product or service stand out from the crowd - marketers - usually produce material that looks and sounds very much like that of everyone else!
This problem is not easy to fix because most people would rather be associated with a mediocre project than one that took a risk and failed. However, if you really know your audience, and you really can defend your choices, you minimize your risk and are likely to create something that's both creative and on target. And each time one of your projects succeeds, the next one becomes a little bit easier because the trust you've earned combats the fear of doing something wrong.
Have a question for Brian? Send him an email.
Brian O'Grady is a senior writer with Pens 4 Hire, a professional writing firm with a unique appreciation for audience. Between writing tasks in high-tech, real estate, health and non-profit, Brian works on the perfect cup of coffee and ignoring a mild caffeine addiction.
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