We all know it’s faster and easier to get across the country in a jet than a bus, and faster in a bus than on a bicycle. In marketing copy, verbs (action words) are the modes of transportation that transfer your ideas into your clients’ and potential clients’ minds. Depending on which ones you use, that process can be painstaking and inefficient or exciting and fun.
Here are some tips on composing turbo-charged prose that will leave your readers dazzled and itching to buy.
Avoid “To Be” Verbs When Possible
One of the weakest (and most common) verbs in English is “to be”—as in be, am, is, are, was, were, being, and been. If any of these verbs appear in a sentence, there’s a good chance you could make it stronger. For example:
Weak: This product is helpful for people who are too busy to cook for themselves.
Stronger: This product helps people who work through dinner and beyond.
By eliminating the “to be” verbs, you let the product and the people assume active roles in the sentence. Active, interesting verbs paint a more vivid mental picture than passive ones do.
Use Creative Verbs and Cut Adverbs
If you use the right verb, you won’t need adverbs to modify it. Watch this:
Weak: This product will completely change the way you do business.
Stronger: This product will transform the way you do business.
“Change” could mean a number of things, but “transform” implies complete change. The leaner your marketing copy, the more efficiently readers can absorb it.
Use the Thesaurus…Sparingly
When you first begin adding more interesting verbs to your web copy, don’t be shy about using a thesaurus. But remember to use it wisely: select only words that mean exactly what you want them to—otherwise, your writing will confuse your readers.
For example, watch what synonyms can do for this sentence.
He ate his dinner.
Thesaurus.com lists these synonyms for “eat:” attack, devour, feast upon, gobble up, inhale, nibble, pick at, scarf, and swallow. Depending on how this dinner went down, each of these verbs can tell a lot more about the scene. For example: “He devoured his dinner” communicates a very different situation than “He picked at his dinner,” which differs in tone from “He gobbled up his dinner.”
Aim for Clarity in Marketing Copy
Like anything else, building sentences with strong verbs takes practice. To avoid overkill, start small and find a proofreader to make sure you aren’t going overboard. Ultimately, your goal with any marketing copy is to communicate clearly—and sometimes that requires using a weak verb or an adverb.
And remember: if you really can’t stomach the thought of spending more time on compiling your marketing copy, you can always hire a professional.
What challenges have you faced in creating interest-piquing marketing copy?
