Granted, you are talking about an owner’s manual where the purchase is already history, but humor in sales copy doesn’t work all that much. Certain markets and media provide for it, but written copy, not so much.

I think people are just too busy to read the amount of copy one needs to work it. Plus, other media sources involving other human senses can pull it off so much better.

Thanks for your thoughts Scott.

The point to remember, we’re coming at this as entrepreneurs, as business people trying to reach our clients or customers, right?

That is the blog forum we’re in here.

I know nothing about writing a novel. I’ve read many, so from that perspective I know some, yes, but not the intricacies and detail.

I sure can understand the frustration of buying a book and finding out you already read it and someone felt they needed to change the title or dumb it down for a particular audience. Actually, that is kind of insulting when you think of it. I’m with you there!

From a business standpoint, I suppose they felt that was an innovative way to reimagine their work. It’s not a successful plan if it is going to hack off your readership though, is it?

If one wanted to write a British book with that cultural setting? Then American readers best learn what a boot, torch, trolley, or tea really mean. Isn’t that part of the British experience in a cultural read?

If one was writing about an LA gang, a writer wouldn’t say, “Okay, I’m going back to my place to relax.”

I’d imagine they’d say something like, “Bro, “I’m chillin’ at the crib.”

Again, if someone wants to read a British or LA gang book, they’ve made that choice ahead of time and expect the tone to reflect it.

And… that segues right into our respect concern. No, absolutely, we don’t want to disrespect a reader.

Wouldn’t it be just as disrespectful though to write an over professional sounding piece to a young casual audience?

As I noted, who you are writing to dictates how casual or technical the tone is styled.

The headset ad sample I used was obviously for a younger crowd. There aren’t too many older folks riding around with their mom or booming bass rattling fenders off the car.

At the end of the day, one writes in a way that works, and I’m sorry if the more casual approach is offensive to some. The internet and digital devices have a lot to do with that.

The digital age has shown the marketing industry, more than ever before, that people respond to a conversational tone more than corporate speak or over professional tone. The fact is we speak much differently than we write in proper grammar. Well, I should say, the average person does. It might be different at a Harvard mixer.

The whole idea might seem wrong, but if one wants to sell a product, you write what is effective. Unfortunately, that sometimes offends the English grammarians and some elements of English writing rules.

There is a whole philosophical debate out there on the trashing of English due to blogs and digital writing, which I’m not going to get into here.

And, I’m not saying to toss English books in the trash either.

I’m not saying it is right, but I am saying it works. So one can either write proper with fewer results, or more like people talk at the water cooler and experience more sales.

That is just what the buying public has dictated to us.

No, we aren’t going to write a, “Yo dude, check out this new investment, its flamin’ awesome!”

But who knows, one day it might come to that. It depends on who is buying investments most.

But then we aren’t going to write…

“Last year’s investments rendered, on average a mere 3.1% return. We at Acme Investment feel we can stop the outpouring of funds, and improve on that return for you.”

We’d write something like…

“Tired of your returns only getting 3.1%? Each second that goes by without changing your investment strategy means you’re feeling someone else’s hand in your pocket.

Acme Investment has the winning strategy to cut-off the pickpockets in your life, and get you back to funding the lifestyle you’ve enjoyed and worked so hard for all your life.”

Again, these are generalizations. I can sum up the goal of market writing in one word…

Emotion.

Emotions sells, casual, but yes respective tone, is what sells. Plain and simple.

I’m not inventing anything new here.

Check out books like Content Rules or look at some of American Writer’s and Artist Inc. material.

There are lots of marketing resources which touch on this topic.

It’s all about getting your audience, no matter who it is, to identify with you, to touch an emotion in a positive way, so they trust you and see what you have to offer as the solution to their problem.

Hope that helps.

Hey, dude, no way, you should write as if you are a pro, not just someone off the street, using all that poor grammar, vocab and stuff.

Now, I ask you, which style is more appealing? Beth