Dirty, filthy, disgusting windows

Don’t you just hate hype?

I can’t stand reading copy that’s crammed with vacuous promises, empty phrases and so many exclamation points!!!

I’m especially sensitive to this because of my background as a software developer.

Engineers break out in hives at the faintest whiff of copywriter-speak or jargon.

Fire a few hype-y emails at a list full of programmers and they’ll break out the torches and pitchforks. (Ask me how I know.)

And yet some marketers insist that the only way to sell is to pump your copy full of hype and light a fire under your prospect’s somnambulant backside.

So who’s right?

Well, both. Copywriting maestro Eugene Schwartz explains why:

Your sales copy—emails, sales pages, postcards, whatever—is like a storefront window. And your customers have to look through the glass to see what you’re selling.

If there are handprints all over the glass… If the glass is caked with mud from passing cars… If the neighborhood birds have been using the window for target practice…

People will pay more attention to the revolting filth than they pay to your beautiful display.

A good storefront window is perfectly transparent so it’s not a distraction.

So it goes with hype.

Hype can be powerful—until the reader notices it. When his focus shifts to your language or your word choice…

Well, then you’re dead in the water.

Look to match your tone to your prospect’s expectations.

Then your message can flow straight from the screen into your prospect’s mind without interruption.

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