Welcome to the Escape Blog

I am beginning to understand, more and more, how powerful words can be in marketing and have noticed recently that tone of voice and great copywriting are rightly taking more of the credit for really engaging customers of successful brands.

Now, imagine if you will, the advantages to your business with a more engaged customer base. It’s quite exciting, isn’t it? When someone becomes so engaged with your brand and your company that they have to tell someone else about you.

At The Escape. we are not trained copywriters, we have a roster of partners for that. However, we are currently working on our own branding and especially the tone-of-voice for The Escape and already are beginning to notice a positive difference in customer interaction and relationships.

For instance, last week, we sent out our monthly company e-newsletter - One Lump Or Two? - and had two positive comments on the same day. One person said to me…

There was something different about the newsletter this month, it really made me want to read more and more right to the end.

That level of anticipation is excellent feedback for us. An e-mail also came in, which made us feel very warm and fuzzy. The customer had even changed the title in the reply box (which is set automatically) by adding a ‘not’ on the end - ” This is How I think you could improve your e-newsletter………..NOT!!

I loved your issue this month … I find your style truly brilliant and certainly not stuffy which is so refreshing to see… Thanks for another great newsletter!

Now, I am not writing this to sound like a west end play review for our newsletter. In fact, ignore the messages in this context. My point is that people are obviously bombarded with weak messages every day in a world with some very, very, very crowded market places and through it all, they can still notice the clever stuff - the stuff that engages them. So what can you do to be different?

Passion

Like I said, I am not a copywriter, but, I do love writing. I also love what I do. I am genuinely passionate about my business, my industry and the art of writing. The key word here being “passion”. Yes, I may make the odd gramatical faux pas, but, people are very forgiving if the overall message is good.

Passion in love, in war; even in a football match… it’s what we want to see as an audience. We can relate to that level of passion through empathy and desire. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that passion is very attractive.

For example, seeing Terry Butcher with a split head, bandaged at half time, still going up to header balls against Sweden as we tried to qualify for Italia ‘90 and coming off the pitch covered in blood is a memory that is still vivid for me 18 years later. It shouts ENGERLAND! to me and makes me want to shout GERTCHA COWSON back at the TV!

Now, STOP thinking about that image and clear your mind by looking out of the window or across the room for five seconds.

Now, imagine seeing your newborn child for the first time (if you have one). Those feelings of love that you have never felt before about another human being.

These scenes, not to put too finer point on it… are sellers! Perhaps you even noticed how your own emotions changed when reading those two paragraphs - if they connected to you as a relevant ‘audience’.

Creating Empathy

The key about these examples, and any passionate engagement, is empathy. You need to connect to the person on the receiving end. They need to feel it.

So, it’s not worth talking about Terry Butcher to someone who doesn’t like football. And, a person who has never had a child can’t attach themselves to that feeling… the words become empty, and wasted.

The thing is, as a marketer, you have to be passionate about what you do in the first place. Then, write passionately about it and you will engage your relevant audience.

Yeh, but I sell widgets!

Well, either find something you love selling or, if you are passionate about widgets - get that across. You will not be alone.

‘Geek’ and ‘nerd’ are a derogatory term for clever people because these guys just aren’t cool (apparently). Now look at the ‘geek’ community - it’s huge and worth a hell of a lot because these guys are very passionate about something a lot of people scoff at. There are tech blogs that have more readers than daily newspapers, we have banks called Egg and credit cards called Marbles… use your imagination.

I truly believe you can make anything engaging with a bit of passion. Small Is The New Big has loads of examples. In fact, Seth Godin has been saying this sort of stuff for some time now. I also recommend Funky Business, which talks about tribes and engagement - way ahead of the curve. Also, subscribe to the excellent Copyblogger Blog, about copy writing.

Also, if you find reading some blogs or articles engaging, why not try it on your business? The more you practice, the better you get and the more you see what works and what doesn’t.

Finally, make sure you have a bit of fun with it!