Writing marketing copy in chunks is the way to go

Sometimes you have a lot of information to get across in your marketing communications, but quite rightly want to avoid long copy that runs the risk of boring readers.

 

The answer could be to ‘chunk’ your copy into lots of small sections, each of them easy to read and creating an overall suite of information perfect for the way that people scan read.

 

Let’s take an example . . .

 

If you are creating a product brochure or website you will probably have lots of information to cover about each product. There’s a temptation to just have a few bullet points if you are worried about using long copy. But when you chunk your content that worry can pretty much go away.

 

Here are just a few possible chunks of content to consider for each product (every time you read ‘product’ it also applies to services):

 

Summary

It might take you an hour or more of careful editing, but if you can brilliantly summarise the product/service in 50-100 words you are off to a great start.

 

Product description

Use as many words as necessary to describe the product but watch out for simply recycling the text supplied by manufacturers: sometimes it’s not as helpful as it should be and if all your competitors also do this you won’t be differentiating yourself from them.

 

‘What our customers say’

It’s almost becoming the norm to include a handful of genuine quotes from customers. There’s also great search engine optimisation value in including user reviews on your website.

 

In the news 

A couple of examples of any news coverage that the product - or even similar products - has generated could help to build credibility.

 

Meaningful data

Product dimensions needn’t be small print. If you list sizes or capacities try also to say what that means to customers. Tell me the PC you are selling has a 250GB hard drive and I scratch my head; tell me it can hold a million photos or 80,000 mp3 songs and I get the picture.

 

‘How to’ content

Can you get your brochure or website to give some valuable information? If you are selling leather jackets how about a quick guide to keeping them in top condition for longer? Why not include tips for safe cycling next to details of a bicycle you are selling? If you are promoting a particular type of legal service can you include a quick guide to the most important legislation?

 

The personal touch

You can attribute just about any type of content to named individuals in your organisation. Names and photos of individuals can create a personal feel and help to build relationships with readers.

 

Remember that people read by scanning pages. If you include 1,000 words in a single item at least use lots of subheadings to break up the text. Better still, arrange it in separate but related chunks and the readability will increase dramatically.

 

Another advantage of having chunks of various types of information like this is that you create an incentive for people to look inside the brochure or website. The front cover or home page can advertise the fact that there are user reviews, free mini-guides and so on.

 

So with all your chunks of content written, what next?

 

I like to spend some time creating dummy designs, rearranging the chunks again and again until I get something that makes best use of the available space. I do this in Word, and then ask the graphic or web designers to take my favourite dummy design further using their tools and skills.

 

The end result is all the content people will need, presented in a way that looks anything but overwhelming or tedious.

 

To see this technique in action just take a look at Amazon. They are a great example of chunking information: they typically include descriptions, lists of features, specifications, reviews, discussion forums and so on. Often there are hundreds or even thousands of words related to a product but through excellent chunking it’s all accessible and user-friendly.