As marketers, we’re all doing two things:
-Writing with the intent to sell something. Maybe it’s a product description in an e-commerce store, maybe it’s a landing page trying to generate a lead, or maybe it’s a blog post (like this one!) that’s trying to sell you an idea.
- Writing phrases and clichés that turn off our audience.
The point of copywriting to make somebody feel something, which causes action. You’ve likely seen tons of examples of emotion at work in copywriting:
- Fear – fear of missing out (FOMO) is a common motivator for companies marketing to Millennials.
- Pity – Look no further than the success of the ASPCA commercial featuring Sarah McLachlan. Or don’t.
- Hope – Nothing gets somebody to open their wallet faster than the hope of fixing his problem.
These are just a few examples. Making our audience feel something by using emotional triggers in our copy helps us sell. But what you don’t want your audience to feel is annoyance, or worse, outright anger, that you wasted their time.
The marketing industry is producing more online content than ever, and there will be more tomorrow! If you want to stand out, do your audience a favor by respecting their time and intelligence by banishing the following clichés and filler phrases from your copy....
Keep your readers engaged and convert web visitors by eliminating these tired phrases from your copywriting.