The Hooyah of Copywriting

Dear Friends and subscribers,

As I sit here savoring my morning coffee, I reflect on my freedom and the price we as American's paid for this freedom. It's the day after Memorial Day so I guess my thoughts are in sync with the holiday.

Despite the fact that our country's leaders are for the most part a pack of lying, thieving crooks forcing our Nation into the ground is NOT the topic of this message. And by a large margin, America is still a great place to be and still the land of the free and brave!

I know this because yours truly has served in the US Military and I've been in third world countries where just having a dirt floor and couple handfuls of food is a luxury.

All of this rumination got me to thinking about various battle cries . . . for me Hooyah, the battle cry used by the US Navy, being on of them.

For you who may not know, a battle cry is a yell or chant taken up in battle, usually by the members of the same unit. It's a 'warming up' to get pumped up and ready to lay down some serious kick ass upon the enemy.

And by overstating your own Hooyah, sometimes gives you a serious competitive advantage and cause the enemy to flee or run for the hills, so to speak.

Now you may be thinking how in the world does this fit into copywriting? OK, fair question and I'll get to this in a sec or two.

Oftentimes I use the military analogy for all things marketing and copywriting. Your marketing assault or campaign should be well thought out and planned just like any military war campaign—only the outcome for your marketing assault should yield mucho dinero or leads, store traffic or whatever your desired outcome.

For now just start thinking enthusiastically about your marketing attack. Put a little “Hooyah” in your copywriting. In other words, put a little personality into your copy.

This I promise you: Your readers won't stand to be bored one minute while reading your message. They'll drop you like a hot potato and move one. Result: Lost sale.

We're all suffering from ADD these days and the fact even more advertising, messages and stimulus is hitting us in the face minute after minute makes it even more difficult to get though to your prospect.

Enter The Dragon

What? I dunno. This just seemed like a cool thing to write. And hopefully it leads you down through the rest of this article. Or maybe I should write enter the hooyah instead. Yeah, this is better. And you do know what's the best way to add some “hooyah” to your writing?

Simple! Don't bore your readers. Put a little zing in your copy. Put some personality in your writing for crying out loud. With just a little skull sweat you can easily make practically any topic, like deadly dull subjects like accounting interesting.

For example: Instead of writing the same old boring (typical) business letter much like this . . .

Dear Mr. Smith,

It has come to my attention that you're account has become inactive . . . blah, blah, blah.

You could try this:

Hi ya Tom,

I was sitting at my desk, going through some things, and had a sudden thought. So, I called out to my much suffering secretary . . .

“Hey Jill, what in the world happen to Tom?”

As far as we know Tom, you're alive and cooking. But we haven't heard from you in a while!

Hey, give me a call sometime and we'll do lunch or something.

See what I mean? The first example is boring. It's mechanical,impersonal and reads like a Microsoft on line knowledge base article. And it'll get trashed quicker than a New York minute.

We all tend to live lives of 'same old, same old.' So what if, you help break that same ol monotony? What if you are the one thing your prospect or clients are eager to hear from.

Do what my mentor John Carlton suggests . . .

“Here’s the answer: You need a “Starter Personality” at first. The more you write, the more comfortable you’ll get with using personality. You’ll begin to see that people really can like a guy like you, even if your hobby is collecting bottle caps and you haven’t changed your wardrobe or hairstyle since the late ‘70s.
Think about the advertising you see around you, year after year, that features some nutcase or big doughy-faced guy. The best example was the late Dave Thomas of Wendy’s hamburger joints. The ad agency constantly tried to edge him out of the campaigns, and each time they did the ads tanked. Sales spiked when Dave was put back in. Homely guy, monotone delivery, but very much like your favorite uncle. People identified with him, trusted him, and happily ate hamburgers he endorsed.”

So, get busy and work on your starter personality and see your response shoot to the top of the charts.

Hey, get in touch with your own personality. What makes you human? What's unique about YOU? Have you made every mistake possible and rose to the top of your field? We all have special qualities that make us unique, interesting human beings.

Warmly,

Emette E. Massey

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