Ok, I’ll admit it. I am a huge Neil Diamond fan. Seriously, I’ve been to 4 concerts in the last 10 years, have probably a dozen of his CD’s, sang his songs to my daughter every night at bedtime, have owned various T-shirts commemorating Neil, have an album cover as art in my office….the list goes on. It’s borderline obsessive. And, believe it or not, it helps with my copywriting.
In fact, just the other night I was watching concert footage of Neil singing ‘Sweet Caroline’ and could not get over the emotional impact that song had on every single audience member. The smiles, the swaying, the singing along, the tears of joy (mine actually) was all so natural. It was an inspiration. Here is a man who 30 years ago wrote an amazing, yet simple song that has stood the test of time for decades.
So why am I telling you this? How in the world does ‘Sweet Caroline’ apply to copywriting? On the surface, not at all, the two couldn’t be further apart in fact…but underneath both is that key element that makes them both work….the emotional impact. THE binding element that make songs like Sweet Caroline (and so many more Diamond songs) and good offers, considered a hit.
I know that if the offer I’ve written doesn’t hit me inside, that there’s nothing in the copy that makes me want to react, to respond, get my feet, to clap along, and to yell ‘ba ba ba’…. then it isn’t going to strike the ‘Sweet Caroline’ chord with customers. That’s my gauge. I think it works.
Now not everyone is a Neil fan, but certainly everyone in that audience was, in the same way that everyone on your mailing list should be a ‘fan’ of your product. (if they’re not, you might want to talk to our List and DPS teams about fixing that). The people you are mailing to should be WAITING for your ‘Sweet Caroline’ to hit them. Ready to react… you just better make sure you deliver. Hit them with that emotion spurring piece that makes them want to jump and scream and yell for more. And how do they do this? By responding of course.
The great thing is, just like Neil, not every piece has to deliver the ‘Sweet Caroline’ level of impact. Just make sure you at least have a couple of those in your arsenal to pull out at just the right time. Your fans will wait through pieces of mediocrity, you’ll get a decent response (a smattering of applause if you will), and then jump up and down and respond in full force if you have some ‘hits’ you can pull out just when the time is right. The key is not necessarily to figure out which those pieces are… that will be pretty obvious from testing….but rather when to pull them out. Neil knows how to do it, but only through years and years of performances and ‘testing’ new combinations. The same way you will need to find your ‘Sweet Caroline’ and test when it’s best to sing it (excuse me, send it) to your customers.
In looking at copy and how we use it, we could all take a lesson or two from Neil….now excuse me while I go turn up the volume…
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