Page 214 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

I began working as an independent copywriter, I lived in a chi-chi
enclave of West London. Our neighbors all had high-flying jobs in
finance, the media, and the law. (The irony of the fact that we all
lived in refurbished brewery workers’ cottages did not escape us.)
It gave me plenty of insights that I was able to use in my b2b work,
but represented a very narrow cross-section of society. Now I live in
Salisbury and rub shoulders with all sorts of people doing all sorts
of jobs. Much easier.
However you do it, you need to develop an ear for the way people
talk. Especially if you write for b2b markets, where there seems to
be a common assumption that businesspeople spend their lives
talking about significantly upgraded emoluments when they mean
a big pay rise.

In practice

• Be curious about people. They should be your life’s work. Every

time you start writing a piece of copy, there’s going to be a human
being at the other end. Not a target market, audience segment,
or demographic. A person.

• Read widely. Tabloid as well as broadsheet newspapers. Business

magazines as well as glossies. Literature and poetry as well as
business books. And listen to the way people speak. Develop an
ear for the rhythms and inflections of everyday speech.

100 GREAT COPYWRITING IDEAS • 205