5 Reasons Why Long Copy Wins Every Time

I’ve recently completed a draft of a one page flyer for a marketing client of mine.  As is usually the case whenever I create a marketing piece, the amount of text far outweighed amount of pictures by a fairly wide margin.

Very shortly after sending the draft to my client to review, I got the following response, something I’ve actually come to expect from new clients:

“Dude!  No one will ever read that.  It looks like spam at first glance.  Needs to be 90% pictures and 10% text and the text needs to be one or two sentences per caption.”

So, why is that I’ve come to expect this response and why do I insist on including so much copy in my marketing materials?

There’s actually a couple of reasons.

First, most people think marketing needs to be all pictures, logos, or slogans that build a ‘brand’. In fact, 99% of all marketing we see is simply trying to build a company’s brand.

They want us to think of their product or service whenever we have a need that they happen to fulfill so they buy up as much ad space as they can afford to and plaster their company logo or slogan all over, hoping to burn them into your brains.

Sadly, the results are very rarely what any self-respecting marketer is hoping to achieve.

Another reason I’ve come to expect this reaction is because long copy sales materials are very much out of the norm. Again, because most people are used to seeing the one photo with a catchy slogan, or the company name and then a menu of products or services being offered, anytime they see lots of words, it shocks their brain because it’s so unusual.

Well, truth be told, if you’ve written the copy and targeted your market correctly, people will actually read what you’ve written.

Finally, I insist on including lots of copy in my marketing materials because people are starving for quality information to help them make a decision. Especially if it’s a high dollar decision they’re making!

You see, human nature states that we want to make the BEST buying decision possible. Unfortunately, there’s a severe shortage of quality information available to help us make our decisions so in most cases we end up deciding based on price because that’s really the only differentiating factor we have.

Flat out, that’s a HORRIBLE place to be.

When you give your target market the information they need to make a good buying decision, you not only position yourself as ‘The Expert’, but you always convey some goodwill, which in turn motivates your prospect to want to do business with you.

So, as you’re creating your marketing materials, don’t be afraid of a lot of text! Look at your printed marketing materials as tiny little salesmen that you’re sending out to deliver your complete sales message and story.

Do you honestly think you could do that effectively if you include 90% pictures and only 10% text?