Abhirupa Purkayastha – Simplifying Life

The story of Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly which struck a chord with the moviegoers in the late 90s continues to entertain us to this day. The movie has romance written all over it undoubtedly. But surprisingly it also offers priceless nuggets of wisdom to content writers. Go through this 2 minute read and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

1)

Joe Fox: We are going to seduce them. We’re going to seduce them with our square footage, and our discounts, and our deep armchairs, and…

Tip 1: That’s exactly your copy should do. Grab the reader’s attention and seduce them with your narration, language, story, and the key information they’re looking for.

2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Fox: It wasn’t… personal.

Kathleen Kelly: What is that supposed to mean? I am so sick of that. All that means is that it wasn’t personal to you. But it was personal to me. It’s *personal* to a lot of people. And what’s so wrong with being personal, anyway?

Joe Fox: Uh, nothing.

Kathleen Kelly: Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.

Tip 2: To connect with the readers add a personal touch to your copy. Chipotle is the best example. Every piece of their website content has an authentic personal touch.

3)

Nanny Maureen: It’s my own fault. Never marry a man who lies.

Tip 3: Don’t lie to your readers. They’re smart. If you’re caught in a lie you’re sunk.

 4)

Tip 4: The average attention span of a human being has dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2013. This is according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. So, tell your story quickly and with impact.

5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Fox: I met a man in an elevator today who knew exactly what he wanted. And I found myself wishing I were as lucky as he.

Tip 5: Do you want downloads, engagement, conversions or branding? Before you start with writing, know exactly what you want from your copy.

6)

Kathleen Kelly: You were spying on me, weren’t you? You probably rented those children.

Tip 6: Well, you don’t have to rent children to spy on your readers. But it definitely pays when you know your readers & your copy’s performance. Check Google Analytics and Hootsuite.

7)

Tip 7: Don’t let that happen to your copy. Jakob Neilson’s study on How Users Read on the Web found out that 79% of users scanned a new page whereas only 16% read word-by-word. Don’t scare off your readers with long and unorganized chunk of text. Write scanable copies to help users find the information they’re looking for as quickly as possible.