Page 41 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

14 KEEP IT SHORT

Copywriters (myself included), direct marketing agencies, and
clients have shown, over and over again, that long copy outpulls
short. So why am I suggesting you keep it short? Well, this idea isn’t
so much about the overall length of your copy as its conciseness.
If you can make a point in eight words, don’t use 15. If you can
make your point in three words, why use eight? A willingness to
be ruthless when editing your copy will tighten it up like a racing
yacht’s rigging, yielding every last drop of performance.

The idea

From Winston Churchill
I used this quote in my first book, Write to Sell, so my apologies if
you’ve seen it before. But it bears repeating (and rereading) because
of its amazing power.
Churchill wrote this telegram on August 10, 1942 to General
Alexander, Commander in Chief in the Middle East:

Your prime and main duty will be to take or destroy at the
earliest opportunity the German-Italian army commanded
by Field Marshal Rommel together with all its supplies and
establishments in Egypt and Libya.
Wow! In just 35 words, he packed in an entire campaign, from target
to objectives and timescale.
When you sit down to write your next piece of copy, remember this.
You may be passionate about the product you’re selling—either

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