Your Copy Works Best When People Actually Read It

March, 2021 * Volume I, Number3

Dear Busy Reader,

You don’t have time to read email newsletters, that’s for sure. But you’ll probably read this one, because you likely need a smile and a break from the soul-crushing work your boss makes you do all day, and ain’t nobody got time for dat.

That’s what this month’s sparkling edition of Word PLAY is all about!

Joking aside, THANK YOU for reading… for not opting out just yet… and for making Firewords Creative Copy your go-to source for the words that win and the funny that makes money. I am humbled by your support, and seriously grateful for your business.

Meanwhile, in this edition of Word PLAY...

Your Copy Works Best When People Actually Read It

Word PLAY… Playful Monthly Commentary
On Persuasive Copy For YOUR Business

So you’ve hired a professional copywriter (or maybe you IS one), and you’re sending useful stuff to your list of clients and prospects on a regular basis (typically monthly).

Good for you! Keeping yourself in front of your list in a positive, consistent way is just super-crafty marketing.

The good news is that your copy is informative, possibly even exhaustive, and highly accurate. (For instance, when you published those 1,500 words on the latest IRS changes, man, you NAILED it.)

The bad news is that, in all likelihood, very few of your beloved clients and prospects opened your stuff and read it.

Meanwhile, your chief competitor took a different approach.

(What an idiot! Am I right? I mean, where did SHE study?)

She sent her list a mildly-amusing 500 words which made One Big Point about her business, but did it in a way that was both helpful AND entertaining.

If you’re lucky, your email newsletter gets opened – and possibly skimmed – by 20% of the people you send it to.

(Note: If it’s 1,500 words long and stuffed with technical jargon only your grad school professor can appreciate, you will not get 20%. Unless you have five people on your list, and your grad school professor is one of them.)

That zany CPA down the street, though, regularly gets opened and read by at least 50% of her (growing) list.

Now, I’m not a math whiz (though I did teach statistics at the graduate level – maybe I AM your grad school professor! Scary!)… but I figure that’s about TWO AND A HALF TIMES the open-rate you’re getting with your highly informative and technically correct copy.

(In a good month.)

I know a painter who says he gets a new gig just about every time he publishes his amusing email newsletter.

So think about funnying-up your marketing copy! After all, even if it’s just a great way to put a smile on the faces of your clients and prospects every month, maybe it’s worth what you pay for it.

In fact, given the warm-and-fuzzy way your readers will think of you every month, it’s probably worth its weight in gold. Or paint. Or gold paint.

Key Take-Aways From This Edition

More to come in next month’s news-free edition of Word PLAY!

***

Discussion Questions

Send your answers to michael@michaelhume.net... The most creative, inspirational response will be eligible to win a PRIZE! *

(* Prize is at the sole discretion of Michael Hume, his heirs and assigns, and a dissertation committee of graduate statistics professors. Needless to say, entries will be graded on a curve. Must be at least one standard deviation tall to ride the roller coaster. Grand prize is an all-expenses-paid one week vacation in Amarillo, Texas. Last place finisher gets two weeks in Amarillo. Grand prize available only while supplies la- oops, there went the last one. But we’ll come up with something else equally grand for you, if you win, which you can’t do unless your entry is emailed AND postmarked by midnight tonight, or possibly some other time. Boring, lackluster, or unimaginative entries will be sent to your grad professor to be graded during his vacation in Amarillo, and may be placed in your permanent record. Offer void where permitted by law. See details under “latest IRS changes.” Good luck!)

Last Month’s Grand Prize Winner: With her recipe for cucumber pudding, Marilyn R. took home top honors in response to last month’s edition of Word PLAY! Congrats, Marilyn! Claim your prize… then, please, never contact me again.

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I write HUME-orous marketing copy for happy clients who take their professions very seriously… but whose customers like and trust them because they (the clients) don’t take themselves too seriously. Want more info? Get in touch…

Call me: (303) 478-8702
Email me: michael@michaelhume.net
Investigate me: FirewordsMedia.com
Grade my papers: 195 South Rancho Vista Drive, Pueblo West, CO 81007

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Copyright 2021 by Michael D. Hume, M.S. All rights reserved.
Word PLAY would like to thank and excuse Juror Number Five

FireWords Creative Copy, 195 South Rancho Vista Drive , Pueblo West, CO 81007, United States