Why Can’t We Just Tell The Truth?

 

I’ve been in this business (radio copywriting) for a long time now – let’s just say more than 20 years and leave it at that. 

 

In that time I’ve undergone a lot of changes in my writing style.  Many of those changes have come the hard way – by trying things, only to realize it did not work. 

 

And I’ve said it a lot of times lately, I’m actually glad that when I started in this business we used typewriters and not computers. 

 

You see the great thing about a typewriter is that it does not save your work to anything that can be recalled years later for inspection.  Because I would suspect that if I could look back at my earliest work, hilarious laughter would follow as well as some serious head-shaking -- when I realized just how amateur the writing really was!

 

However, one of the bigger changes that I have undergone is the deep rooted hate that I have developed for “ad-speak” and love that I have for just telling things like they are.

 

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I am still far too often forced into writing cliché-ridden ads filled with dribble like “for a limited time”, “but wait there’s more” and so on and so on. (Fill in your favourite cliché and I’ve likely been compelled to use it in an ad sometime in the past year. Although there is one I will never use without being drugged – and that’s the phrase “for your whatever needs”.)

 

 If you work in a radio station – and you’re not the owner –  you’ve likely been made to use these word combo’s yourself recently. 

 

But I should get back to the point here.  The point was supposed to be about telling the truth in your ads.  I wish more business owners had the intelligence and let’s be honest here, the balls to just do that. 

 

Over the years I’ve found that the rare few who had the wisdom and the strength to just talk to people and tell them the truth about their product or service, their passions and unabashed love for the business they are in. Without all the hype and catch phrases.  And I can honestly say that every time I’ve had that great fortune, the client has had tremendous success.  Why does this happen?  Because we all have an internal “bullshit” meter – and it rings loud and true – and the second it goes off, we stop paying attention. 

 

The best way that I have found to silence that bell, is to tell the truth.  To speak honestly and forcefully about how your business can help a listener.  Do this, in plain english, and you will blast through all the hyperbole that litters the airwaves and your message will ring loud and true. 

 

Do you have the courage to dig deep, and speak the truth and nothing but the truth about your business?  I know I’d like to write for and work with more business owners who want to do just this in their ads.  And I’d really like to hear more of it on the radio on all the other stations that I don’t work for.  What do you say – let’s give it a try!