A competent copywriter can communicate the message (or brand) that lies at the soul of your startup. A good one can work with you to help develop and improve that message. But no copywriter - no matter how great - can develop your message for you. Your message is your identity. We can’t tell you who you are.
So, if you’re looking for help from a copywriter, look at them just as a communication expert who can help you develop your identity, and present it in the best way possible.
Nothing less, and nothing more.
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The following is from one of my favorite movies, the little-known Joe Versus the Volcano. It says what I’m saying, perfectly. The scene happens between a limo driver, and Tom Hanks (Joe), going out shopping for nice clothes that he’s never had the opportunity to buy before:
Driver: They just hire me to drive the car, sir, I’m not here to tell you who you are
Joe: I didn’t ask you to tell me who I am
Driver: You hintin’ around about clothes. That happens to be a very important topic to me sir… clothes makes the man, I believe that. You say to me that you want to go shopping, that you want to buy clothes, but you don’t know what kind. You leave that hanging in the air, like I’m gonna fill in the blanks. But that to me is like asking who you are, and I don’t know who you are. I don’t want to know. It’s taken me all my life to find out who I am, and I am tired.
by brianlburns on October 31, 2008
in voice
Most copywriters claim to be able to write anything in any voice; they say that they can ghostwrite for anybody in any piece. There is some validity to it, I guess - good writing is about developing a voice, and it’s important to have some conscious control over it. But I do think that writers taking this approach are missing part of the point. Namely, that each piece of writing, whether it be a blog post, a website page, or even a press release, has a soul and voice of its own.
Yep, it sounds kooky, I’ll admit that. But it’s definitely not a new concept. Any artist, I think, whether it be music, painting, ceramics, screen writing, or even copywriting (GASP!), will tell you the best pieces of art create themselves. That is, that the artists do their best work acting not as much as a creator, but as a conduit, through which the art expresses itself.
I’m not sure if I’d go that far, but the concept still stands: each piece has a voice of its own, and a good part of writing it well is finding that voice, not superimposing a new one. That doesn’t mean, of course, that you should forego the work of your own creative process, put a blindfold on, and just start pounding on the keyboard (I think that’s where a lot of modern art goes wrong). But I think it does mean that while you go through your own writing process, you should view it not as all there is, but as one part of a composition.
You can’t completely control a piece of writing, as much as some people would like to think. Or, that is, you can’t completely control it if you want to produce the best stuff. Sound simple? Good. I’m glad. Best of luck. Sound stupid? Let me know in the comments section.
