{"id":87,"date":"2022-03-04T10:13:45","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T10:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/?p=87"},"modified":"2022-04-05T12:47:27","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T11:47:27","slug":"authenticity-isnt-a-trick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/2022\/03\/04\/authenticity-isnt-a-trick\/","title":{"rendered":"Authenticity isn\u2019t a trick"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why taking the time to identify with your subject matter is never a waste of time<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Lego
Authenticity in copywriting isn't a trick - it just requires you to meet the reader halfway.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Talking the talk<\/h2>\n

A recent sprint spent editing and rewriting postgraduate recruitment emails has got me thinking about the emails we all receive from organisations and companies, and specifically about the differences between those that keep our attention and those that rapidly fail to.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I figured, initially, that the emails that succeed in keeping me reading would all share a personal touch, a bit of disarming informality and humour. And it\u2019s true that some certainly do.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve noticed that a good number of the emails that fail to get me on side also employ personalisation and informality but without the appeal. To put it another way, they say the right words but there\u2019s something missing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, a significant proportion of the emails that work best in winning me over don\u2019t rely on familiarity or humour at all. So, what\u2019s the key element that the most effective emails all seem to share?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The longer I strive to write persuasive copy, the more I\u2019m convinced that it\u2019s something utterly invisible \u2013 but eminently achievable; something that stands apart from design and tone of voice, but which supports both: authenticity.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walking the walk<\/h2>\n

Think about it. A company may say it wants to make my life better with product X and may well go to great lengths to bullet-point away my reluctance, but if the person telling me all of this doesn\u2019t believe in product X\u2019s benefits on some level, then subtly, inevitably, that will come through and the promises will sound hollow.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Likewise, if an organisation - a university, say - reaches out and invites me to study there, it really matters that the copywriter that penned it believes in the university and its mission. Without that foundation in authenticity, the words \u2013 however well-crafted or personable \u2013 are just that; inert and so much less effective.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s a subtle thing, and no, I\u2019m not pretending that you\u2019ll always believe passionately in every product\/service\/doohickey you\u2019re called on to write about. But I really do believe that, if you want to engage your audience in an email, campaign or even blog post, it\u2019s essential to find and identify <\/span>with<\/span><\/i> the reason you\u2019re asking someone to spend a bit of their valuable time with you.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Time well spent<\/h2>\n

Happily, there\u2019s always <\/span>something<\/span><\/i>, some element or truth in what you\u2019re tasked to write copy for that will resonate with you. For example, you may personally have zero plans to do an online master\u2019s any time soon, but I bet you know what it feels like to have to try and fit something that you\u2019re passionate about around your existing obligations. An authentic connection to your subject matter like this is everything.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, before you start typing, it\u2019s never wasted time to think about the user story and find the element within it that chimes for you on a personal level.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not fake and it\u2019s not a trick. It\u2019s coming to the conversation between writer and reader and being human. And while the reader may not join you for the whole journey this time around, they will on some level recognise that you\u2019ve met them halfway and, I believe, they will remember that.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why taking the time to identify with your subject matter is never a waste of time.\u00a0 Talking the talk A recent sprint spent editing and rewriting postgraduate recruitment emails has got me thinking about the emails we all receive from...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1613,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[25,26,24],"class_list":["post-87","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-copywriting","tag-content","tag-content-writing","tag-copywriting"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1613"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/digital-content-and-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}