Jun 06
Don’t you love it when people sprinkle the words "honestly" and "frankly" into their conversation? It sounds like rookie car salesman banter.

When written in marketing copy, the effect is even more disturbing. It often shows up in these forms: "in truth," "truthfully," "to be completely frank," and "quite frankly." It’s supposed to sound conversational, but ends up arousing suspicion.

On further examination, these words often point to areas in the text where confidence is lacking. Go back and purge them from your copy and try to figure out what’s bothering you about the promises you’re making.

Cut the conversational salesman speak and just make claims that you know your products and services will back up. It’s easier that way. If you follow my advice, your writing will connect with readers a bit more. If you don’t, well, frankly I don’t give a damn.

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  • http://www.qualitywriter.com/2009/marketing-writing-honesty-writer-frankly/ Frankly, Honesty is the Best Writing Policy

    [...] in every once in a while, even though it’s really annoying. I wrote it about a long time ago (Eliminate Honesty from Your Copy), and it’s covered in-depth in my eBay Marketing book, which is now available on the [...]

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