Job experience is one of the most important determiners of job success. I say that with just as much certainty as the old adage that “Practice makes perfect”, because it’s true.
Why is that? Because experience teaches us what we should and shouldn’t do if we want to have the best results.
We’re not following someone’s advice, or our best guess, we’ve seen this situation before and so we know what to do.
Does it also follow, then, that copywriters should have a lot of experience in a client’s industry in order to produce blockbuster results? No.
I’m sure it seems counterintuitive, but let me explain.
When you were young, you saw the world in a much simpler way. Everything was new. It was exciting. And it was easy to tell the difference between what you liked and what you didn’t.
Your motivations were pure.
Then things got complex. You grew up. Got educated and entered the workforce, where you eventually narrowed down on a specific industry, company and position.
Now here’s the problem. With all your experience, from inside your business, it’s harder than ever to see what a 5 or 6 year old sees when he looks at your company’s products or services.
You’ve become too informed. The issues have taken on too much complexity. And simply put, you’ve spent too much time planning the day to day operations of your business, making sure the features actually work, and bills actually get paid to see things objectively.
This is where an outsider’s point of view comes in handy.
The forest Gump technique
Whether it’s Dostoyevsky’s The Fool or Tom Hanks playing Forest Gump, ignorance can be a great thing.
Here’s an example. On a recent project I found myself wading hip deep through the complexities of real estate law in Nevada.
Do I have my real estate license? No. Do I live in Nevada? I’ve never been.
But there I was trying to write something that this Title Insurance company could use to promote it’s business in this incredibly technical field.
Solution? Dumb it down.
You see, if I told readers all the ins and outs of Title Law in Nevada, I doubt anyone would take the time to read it.
It would be too boring. It wouldn’t focus on what they wanted to know.
But if I could focus on the things I got excited about, as an outsider, then I could also guarantee that the things I was pointing out would be instantly recognizable benefits to almost anyone else.
We don’t need PHDs in copywriting because we’re more interested in what’s exciting, what’s visceral, and what gets people pumped up. That’s more important than anything else.
By being an outsider, I was able to take that voyage of discovery. I shared the news that Tesla just opened it’s $6b Gigafactory in Reno. I talked about all the jobs it was going to bring to the area, the impact it was going to have on Nevada’s electrical grid and I showed them how their pro-business tax environment would work to further Nevada’s auto and renewable energy industries. These were the things I got excited about.
And I wasn’t alone.
For anyone who is interested in a stronger economy, a new industry with tens of thousands of new jobs and a sustainable future, this news was welcome.
No, I wasn’t talking about Title Insurance, but I was starting a conversation with all those families and businesses who will be effected by this news. And that’s what advertising is really about, after all: starting a conversation about something meaningful and developing a relationship.
Maybe I haven’t worked in your specific field. But I hope you see by now, that’s a good thing. That’s what makes me curious. And that’s what makes it easier me to hit on a ‘big’ idea than an industry guru.
After all, if I can’t understand it, I’m sure a 3 year old won’t understand it. But when you look at effective marketing slogans such as, “I’m lovin’ it”, “Just do it”, “Quality is job 1”, “Get a piece of the rock”… every one of these ideas is so simple that – yes – the same 3 year old can understand them almost instantly. And that’s why they’re so effective.
- Jeremiah