“Where’s My Brochure?”

As a writer, have you ever been asked to “make stuff up”?

When I worked in behavioral health, our company opened new treatment centers every year.

Even before the directors had furniture in their buildings, they would ask me (the executive editor in marketing) the same question…

“Where’s my brochure?”

You might think it’s funny. (It is funny.) I would say, “I can make something up, but I don’t think you’ll like it.” Once upon a time, there was a beautiful treatment center…

They were under pressure to market themselves in the community prior to opening; they wanted collateral. So I get it.

BUT… that didn’t mean I could create their program out of thin air.

Eventually, we developed a system for extracting this information from each director or CEO, and then I was able to develop marketing materials (even if the chairs were late in coming).

I like to joke that my English degree was a degree in Making Things Up. That’s because when you study English, you learn how to build an argument for just about anything — plus, you actually learn how to write literary fiction.

But fiction shouldn’t have a place in copywriting.

Copywriting is not about making things up… it’s about showcasing the real value that products and services already have.

If I write a marketing brochure that overpromises and underdelivers, it can easily damage or break customer trust. That destroys brands.

If you focus on value, you don’t need to add bells and whistles. You don’t need to drum up enthusiasm or make everything seem bigger or better than it is.

Instead, your goal is to make the real value as tangible as possible so customers can take hold of it.

If you inflate the truth, misrepresenting a product or service, what’s the point? Who cares if you make one sale if you’ve lost a customer for life?

(Plus, as a person of faith, I place a premium on honesty.)

The point of copywriting is to connect with customers and build brands — which sells products — not to cheat your way to transactions.

Have you ever been asked to “make stuff up”?

Your friendly neighborhood copywriter,

Anna @ CreativeDemand

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