Recently, one of my newsletter subscribers e-mailed me about a problem he was having with a client
The client kept criticizing his copy because it was ungrammatical. Um, non-grammatical? Disgrammatical?
Doesn't matter - I wrote him that copywriting is very different from other forms of writing, for the following reasons:
1. It must be easily and quickly readable.
2. It must move people along to the next sentence, next paragraph, and the next page.
3. It must be invisible. The reader shouldn't notice the writing at all. You don't want anyone to think "Nice writing." You want them to think, "That sounds like a great product, or a great offer."
To accomplish these three objectives, a copywriter has to take great pains to write the way people talk.
Good grammar is not important; an extensive vocabulary can get in the way; short words and sentences are critical.
For example, according to any book on style, you are never supposed to start a sentence with the word "And." However, copywriters know it is one of the best to start a sentence - because it links with the sentence before it. And it keeps the person reading.
Of course, if the grammar is so bad that people notice it, it's probably not good copy.
But copywriting is an art - not a science. And virtually everyone thinks they're an expert.
One of my favorite quotes is, "The strongest human drive is not love or sex...
..it is one person's desire to change another person's copy"
