Posts Tagged ‘ romance ’

Romance 101: How to Use Feminine Words That Sell 18 January 2010 at 7:14 am by admin

image of lipstick kiss

If gender stereotypes make you uncomfortable, there’s a good chance you’re going to hate this post.

Because this post is overflowing with gender stereotypes. It’s all about identifying, valuing, and celebrating the feminine.

Today I’m going to talk about the use of words that are traditionally considered “feminine” to spice up your copy. Why would you want to do that?

Well for one thing, whether you know it or not, you’re probably writing for a female audience.

The economic power of women

Women’s buying power has increased tremendously in recent years. Mothers alone account for $1.3 trillion of sales per year. Women either make or influence buying decisions for all sorts of things, from cars to home furniture, from clothing (for the entire family, not just the gals) to electronics.

Even if you’re marketing to what you think of as a “male” market, it can still pay to have a feminine appeal. That dude reading your copy is very likely to have a girlfriend, wife, or mother who’s going to sign off on making that purchase. If he thinks buying your product will make him look dumb in her eyes, he’s a lot less likely to hand over his credit card.

So listen up. Slaying dragons and pumping the testosterone aren’t the only ways to put feeling and excitement into your copy.

The enduring popularity of romance

Where can you find feminine words? Nothing is as feminine as romance fiction, and numbers show women are continuing to lap it up.

As the economic recession raged, do you think women ditched their romance reading habits? Hardly. Romance fiction made $1.37 billion in sales in 2008 and, in fact, had the largest share of the book market (13.5 percent).

To find feminine words that have been proven to sell to women, I mined the titles of the late Barbara Cartland, whom Vogue magazine called “the Queen of Romance.” And for good reason. Cartland sold more than a billion copies of her books. She certainly knew a thing or two about writing purchase-inducing titles.

10 romantic words that sell

Here are 10 unabashedly feminine words that have also been proven to sell.

Love

As John Lennon sang. “All we need is love,” and this word doesn’t only dominate the titles of romance fiction. It’s commonly used in songs as well. Maybe it’s because love is what we’re all longing for. Yes, guys too. Even if you don’t always admit it.

Heart

Now becoming synonymous to “love” (e.g., “I heart Copyblogger”), this word is increasingly used to soften traditionally tough topics: “business with a heart,” “writing for the heart,” “selling from the heart.”

Secret

As the stereotype would have it, women love to keep, tell and discover secrets. Actually, so does everybody else. This word appears in all the headline swipe files of those (male) copywriting masters.

King, Queen, Princess, Prince (or some other honorable title)

Women are fascinated with royalty. Blame it on fairy tales. But it’s not just women who respond to a market position as the “King,” “Queen,” or “Duke” of your niche.

Temptation and Forbidden

That darned Eve started it all, giving into temptation and making Adam bite the forbidden apple. These are still two irresistible words to make your copy more compelling.

Cloud, Moon, Stars (and other celestial bodies)

These words evoke freedom, creativity, and unlimited possibilities. No wonder women love them.

Heaven, Paradise

We use these words to describe ultimate pleasure, goodness and perfection. “How was the spa?” “It was heaven!”

Kiss

Sweet, mysterious and seductive, a kiss is the ultimate romantic word.

Virgin

Here’s one word that’s sure to make your heart race — whether you’re male or female. And of course, Richard Branson, a masculine guy if ever there was one, built an entire mega-brand around it.

Magic, Enchanted, Bewitched (and other references to the supernatural)

Our fascination with these words is another result of childhoods molded by fairy tales. The idea of having a fairy godmother to make all our dreams come true and get rid of our evil stepmother is simply irresistible.

Take your magic wand and transform your copy

Here’s the real test. How do romantic words hold up in real-world copy? To find out, I decided to give a romantic makeover to the same copy Ali Hale put a heroic twist to.

Here’s what I came up with:

Plain: “Solve Email Problems”
Heroic: “Battle Your Email Overload”
Romantic: “Love Your Email Inbox Again”

Plain: “Stop Procrastinating”
Heroic: “Defeat Procrastination”
Romantic: “Kiss Procrastination Goodbye”

Plain: “Advice to Help You Do Better”
Heroic: “Advice to Help You Win”
Romantic: “Advice to Make You a Star”

Plain: “Ditch Your Bad Habits”
Heroic: “Conquer Your Bad Habits”
Romantic: “Make Your Bad Habits Disappear Like Magic”

Women’s pockets are growing bigger and deeper. Isn’t it time our copywriting and marketing language caught up?

If your writing is bland, sprinkle a little romance into it. You don’t always have to resort to pumped up, violent imagery to put more zing in your copy. A little romance may be just the flavor your readers are craving.

About the Author: Lexi Rodrigo is a copywriter and online marketing consultant who used the words “love,” “heart,” and “passion” on her home page long before researching for this post.

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Romance 101: How to Use Feminine Words That Sell

+ The Quentin Tarantino Guide to Creating Killer Content By admin 03 November 2009 at 5:58 am and have No Comments

image from the film Reservoir Dogs

In a recent Copyblogger post discussing how the king of content is being slowly usurped by the Crown Prince of Context, author Larry Brooks referenced the remarkable opening scene of Quentin Tarantino’s new movie Inglorious Basterds.

There are few writers like Tarantino, and though his verbal carpet bombs and kinetic escalation of violence aren’t for everyone, there is no doubt that the dude follows his muse. Those who love him will eagerly wait in lines wrapped around the block to show their support.

In short, Tarantino sells it every time. And by it, I mean an ironclad belief in the worlds he’s created.

On Larry’s post, a great conversation continued downstairs in the comments, where a second Tarantino clip was referenced, the “Sicilian Scene” from True Romance. Though I love both movies, I was inspired to write this post by a scene from Tarantino’s earliest feature, Reservoir Dogs.

Selling it

In Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino assembles a marvelous scene, on the surface about gaining the confidence of the men the protagonist plans to double cross. Closer inspection reveals the scene for what it really is, a seven-and-a-half-minute love letter to the art of storytelling.

The film itself is about a bank robbery gone bad, though Tarantino manages to turn the adage, “show not tell” upside down by showing only a few seconds of the robbery, while his characters sit around for the rest of the film swapping one slice of story at a time.

Spoiler alert: The hero of the tale is Mr. Orange, an undercover cop, played by the superb Tim Roth, masquerading as a fellow bank-robbing miscreant. The success of his cover hinges on convincing the other criminals of his authenticity. He does this, in part, by reciting “The Commode Story,” a fictitious anecdote that is not only amusing, but also easy to sell to the other delinquents because it deals with a dicey encounter with the law.

It is in the Commode Story where Tarantino becomes the teacher.

It’s all in the details

“An undercover cop’s gotta be Marlon Brando . . . . you gotta be naturalistic as hell — ’cause if you ain’t a good actor — you a bad actor, and bad actors is bullshit in this job.”

It’s the details that sell your story, according to Officer Holdaway, played by Randy Brooks, delivering lines obviously written for a Sam Jackson Tarantino could not yet afford.

Holdaway instructs Mr. Orange on the finer details of selling the story.

“You’ve got to memorize what’s important so you can make the rest your own.”

He then continues to expand his point with something Copyblogger has frequently preached:

“Remember, this story’s about you and how you perceive the events that went down.”

He wraps up with a version of the same sage writing advice Brian’s been posting for years:

“The only way to do that is to keep saying it and saying it and saying it and saying it.”

As the scene unfolds, we watch as Mr. Orange rehearses the story in his room with slowly mounting confidence until he owns the narrative enough to deliver it without flinching in a smoky bar populated by criminals, any one of whom could end him in an instant.

Eventually, we find ourselves breathlessly watching as the Commode Story unfolds via flashback and Mr. Orange’s voiceover.

We watch as a man packing massive amounts of marijuana finds himself entering a bathroom containing not one, not two, but four police officers and a K-9 unit. As the camera pans the officer’s narrowed eyes, the dog’s fervent attention, and follows Mr. Orange as he tries to casually go about his business without getting busted, the narration adds to the palpable sense of danger.

We feel the tension even though we know Mr. Orange has manufactured every word and was never actually in danger of being busted.

Why?

Because Mr. Orange owns the story.

Own your story

The more you write about a particular topic or in a specific genre, the tighter your work will naturally become. Your expertise will grow. Better words will come to you, and they’ll show up more quickly.

If you write about widgets, write the hell out of your widget copy.

Loving your widget is a great start, but you also have to know your widget inside out and upside down. You must know every surface, every detail. Knowledge and passion will shine through the copy and accentuate the differences between you and everyone else writing about widgets.

If you want to be a great writer, you’ve got to own the story. Fiction or sales copy, know your story like nobody else and you will write words that no one else can touch.

About the Author: Sean Platt is a direct response copywriter and independent publisher. Follow him on Twitter.

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The Quentin Tarantino Guide to Creating Killer Content