The KISS Principal Applies to Not Only What You Write – But Also How!   

This is especially true when trying to write ads.  I don’t know how many times over my tenure as a copywriter I’ve actually said “your ad should be about one thing – and one thing only”.  In fact, there are times I’m convinced that if I had a nickel (maybe a quarter with inflation) for every time that I’ve said those words, that I would not need to be an ad writer anymore. 

However, as I recently discovered and will explain further, it’s not only advice that I should be giving to others, but it’s something I should remind myself of as well when I’m trying to construct an ad.

See, just like I would like to tell most advertisers and business owners, that they really know too much about their product to be objective when it comes time to decide what to write – I should also remind myself that I know a lot about the craft of writing radio ads, and that I need to keep it simple too!

As you may or may not know, I am a graduate of the Wizard of Ads – which simply means that I spent about 4 mind-blowing days in Austin Texas learning a lot about advertising, human nature, physics, and how to deconstruct the creativity of art, music, photography and poetry and use those techniques to write more effectively from Roy Williams.  And if you know about Roy, then you likely know about his weekly blog post called the Monday Morning Memo. 

Like many others, those who’ve been to Texas, and many who have not – I read his Memo every Monday.  In a recent Memo I was reminded about the basic lesson of the KISS principle as it relates to writing an ad.  If you go to the website (www.mondaymorningmemo.com) and look through the archives you’ll find the whole Memo called “Japanese Summer”.  I suggest you read it.

He does an extremely good job of explaining how important it is to keep it simple and how valuable hiring or having a good ad copywriter is to creating effective ads.  But here is the nugget that I dug out of the ground, dusted off and am trying desperately to put to use.

It’s nice to have a fancy ad – well crafted and filled with information.  But the average person just doesn’t care.  They don’t care how knowledgeable you are about your product.  All they really want to know is what will your product or service do to make my life better.  And when you tell me about it – keep it simple, cause I don’t have a lot of time and I don’t want to be challenged trying to figure out just what it is you’re trying to tell me. 

I realized when I read this Memo that I have often been guilty of being too cute, or too complicated – when all I needed to do was say it simply – say it plainly.  Then get the hell out of the way. See after more than 20 years, I’m still learning too.

It’s All About Me – But Should It Be?

Remember the 60’s and 70's? The “Me” generation.  It was all about expressing yourself, finding out who you were.  And then celebrating it. Who cares if it doesn’t “jive” with what someone thinks…”I’m just being me, baby”!  And people love me when I’m me.

Well, I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but the 60’s are over!  In fact, the whole me generation thing is now over and another phase is -- the We Generation -- is taking hold.

Funny thing is, I’m not sure that a lot of small businesses know it.  Want proof? Listen to their radio ads.  They spend all of their time talking about themselves.  We do this and my business has that, and we offer something else and have been in business since 19 – blah-blah-blah. Sorry to be blunt – but who cares? 

This is what Roy Williams – The Wizard Of Ads, refers to as “we-we” advertising.  Actually he’s a bit more graphic when he asks; are you “we-weing” all over yourself?  Well are you?

I know what you’re thinking.  They’re my ads!  I’m paying for them – and I want people to know about me and the wonderful business that I’ve built.  I’m proud of it.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be proud of it – and hey if that is the only message you want to get out to people – then feel free to shout from every radio station in the country.  Oh, but don’t be surprised if no-one ever comes through your doors,

Here’s the hard lesson for you when it comes to your radio advertising.  Potential customers just don’t care!  They may not tell you that to your face, most of them are too polite or just can’t be bothered to do it.  No, instead they tell you with their dollars.

See here’s the thing – they too are self-centred, and they only care about themselves.  Their problems, their perceived wants and desires. 

And they give their hard-earned bucks to the businesses and services who can solve their problems. Real or perceived.  Wanna be that business?   Then stop “we-weing” on and on about yourself and your business -- and start talking about their problems and how your solution fits it and fixes that problem like the proverbial glove. 

Lose the insider talk, ditch the hype or gimmicks and please stop we-weing -- just have a conversation, a truthful simple conversation with them about how you can solve their problem and don’t be surprised if they don’t just reward you with their business.   

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!  

 

 

So why am I doing this? 

That’s the question I asked myself before I set out to write articles to inform others how to write better radio copy.  My answer to the question ended up being multi-faceted.

First and foremost, I love radio.  I think that started when I was a kid.  I talked a lot – and many, many people told me I should put that voice to work for me.   I heard them, but in those days I always wanted to play sports.  I wanted to play professional hockey (I was a huge Ken Dryden fan).  But what you should also know about me is that this was truly the impossible dream.  You see I’ve had rheumatoid arthritis since I was an infant. And I was significantly disabled from the age of 4. Over the years a lot of what’s happened in my life has been dictated to some part by that simple fact.

Sometimes Love Is Not All You Need – sorry John.

When I finally realized that there are no professional hockey players, playing in a wheelchair, the seed that was planted all those years before must have taken firm root.  Because somewhere around age 15 or 16, I finally decided I wanted to have the kind of fun working, that I imagined those I listened to on the radio were having. They always say you should “do what you love!”

Well now, many years in radio later – almost 25 to be exact – I still love radio.  But I don’t love what I’m hearing so much anymore.  Especially all those saying, “radio is dead”.  And I decided I wanted to do something to try to change that.

Write What You Know Best 

Since what I know best is radio copywriting – that’s what I wanted to focus on.  And because I also wanted to have an avenue to take all that I have learned (so far), and simply write it down, this seemed like the best way to do it.

Secondly, I wanted to take advantage of this remarkable time in which we live, and try to give something back by helping those people who are just starting out, as well as those who’ve hit the wall and are looking for ways to improve their writing.  Because as I researched this topic, I really could not find that many people actually writing about writing for radio ads.

Also along the way, I hope to achieve number 3, by continuing to learn myself, using these posts as a venue to open discussion on this and probably many other topics related to radio, but most specifically writing as it applies to radio and marketing. 

Will I succeed in achieving all of my goals?

 I guess to use a cliché “only time will tell”.  The first one is easy.  As long as I continue to compose and post blog content, I’ve got number one covered. 

Number 2 actually depends on others reading these posts and taking some of my suggestions to heart. 

Numbers 3, well that one is sort of out of my control.  It relies on someone else (like you) reading these posts, offering their thoughts and getting the discussion going.  I’ve always been of the belief there is no need to re-invent the wheel if someone else has already done it.  My honest opinion is that as much as I think I have learned over the years, both through practical experience and by researching and learning from the best in the business – there is still so much that I have left to learn. 

So if you have some thoughts and ideas related to the topic of radio copywriting and marketing – let’s talk.

I think it could prove to be really interesting and educational! 

And if you just want to pick up some tips on how to write some gooder ads (that’s for all the grammar cops out there), or you’re a business owner who’s looking to delve into the world of radio marketing, and just want to know a bit more about it -- then come back over the next little while and check out my blog. I have no idea exactly where this journey is going to lead – but I hope it’s a fun and educational ride for everyone who hops on board!

By the way, I can’t promise every post will be about the very limiting topic of writing radio ads – but my goal is to make sure that the majority of what I write about focuses on radio and marketing.  I also intend to point you to some of the great thought leaders in this industry that I frequently follow in my effort to improve.