Paint Your Copy With Pictures

A strat­egy in copy­writ­ing that’s immensely pow­er­ful is to use words and phrases that help to paint vivid pic­tures in the mind. When peo­ple can visu­al­ize the process of doing what you want them to do, includ­ing the enjoy­ment of the ben­e­fits of your offer, you also drive their actions.

I call them UPWORDS: “Uni­ver­sal Pic­ture Words and Relat­able, Descrip­tive Sen­tences.” In other words, words and phrases that describe ideas the mar­ket can uni­ver­sally appre­ci­ate and relate to.

That is, analo­gies, metaphors, action words, men­tal imagery, exam­ples, tes­ti­mo­ni­als, case stud­ies, com­par­isons, col­lo­qui­alisms, sto­ries, etc.

Why?

Because the brain, accord­ing to “Psycho-​​Cybernetics” by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, is a goal-​​seeking mech­a­nism. If I told you not to think of a white flower, you would still think of one because I directed your mind by giv­ing it a goal. But if I told you to think of a pink one, you would then not think of a white one.

In order to direct your read­ers’ actions, you must also direct their minds. Thus, use men­tal imagery and pic­ture words that invite, entice and incite. Guide the mind and you guide the action.

We think in rel­a­tive terms.

And we are pre­dom­i­nantly visual, too. Our brains have a ten­dency to trans­late mes­sages into their visual equiv­a­lents in order to appre­ci­ate what they are being told. In plain Eng­lish, the mind thinks in pic­tures, and not in words or numbers.

For exam­ple, if I told you to think of a garbage can, you’re not going to think of “G-​​A-​​R-​​B-​​A-​​G-​​E.” You’ll visu­al­ize a garbage can. But here’s the kicker: The more I describe it to you as well as the more senses I engage in my descrip­tion, the more real­is­tic it becomes in your mind, includ­ing its color, smell and texture.

Dur­ing a tele­vised news­cast, a reporter, fly­ing over the scene of a for­est fire in her station’s heli­copter, was asked, “How big is the fire?” In a voice par­tially drowned by the whizzing sounds of heli­copter blades, she said, “It’s over 140 acres of land, which is about 200 foot­ball fields back to back.”

Sim­i­larly, com­pel your read­ers not only with vivid pic­ture words and men­tal imagery but also with sto­ries, exam­ples, analo­gies and metaphors that they can inti­mately under­stand and appre­ci­ate. Help your read­ers to paint the kinds of pic­tures YOU want them to paint.

The more vivid the words paint, the eas­ier it will be for the mind to decode the mes­sage you are con­vey­ing into some­thing your read­ers can under­stand, appre­ci­ate, relate to and, above all, act upon.

Sci­en­tif­i­cally, it’s proven to increase sales. If you sim­ply replace vague words in a cur­rently unpro­duc­tive copy with words that are more vivid, force­ful and vibrant, you will increase sales.

For exam­ple, you’re a finan­cial con­sul­tant. Rather than say­ing some­thing like, “Poor fis­cal man­age­ment may lead to finan­cial woes,” say, “Stop mediocre money man­age­ment from suck­ing cash straight out of your wal­let!” (Peo­ple can visu­al­ize the action of “suck­ing” bet­ter than they can “lead­ing.”) Instead of, “Let me help you main­tain your bal­ance sheet,” say, “Bor­row my eyes to help you keep a steady fin­ger on your finan­cial pulse.”

About the Author

Last 5 Posts By Michel Fortin

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