I invested in a mutual fund known by financial types as “Couch Potatoes.” This meant all the stocks in the fund had something to do with consumers being couch potatoes, so the fund had Apple, and television makers, and snack food companies, and furniture conglomerates. Which was good for that mutual fund but conflicts a bit with our job as marketers, which is to get them off those sofas and doing what we want them to do.

One way to motivate couch potatoes is by writing killer copy that gets them on the phone or out the door. Here are seven suggestions:

   1)  Emphasise your unique selling proposition (the USP), the one sentence that distinguishes you from all other companies.  This is not easy–think of it as your “universal tweet.” Limit yourself to 140 characters if you like. Wrestle with it.

   2)  Action words: Use action verbs in your copy whenever possible. “Jump,” “leap,” “careening out of control,” avoid “is,” “has been,” and lawyer language.

   3)  Take out filler: Have you ever heard someone who speaks with a lot of “ums,” and like, “you knows.” Can be annoying and they show up in ad copy too in the form of “that” and “which” and “an.” Hint: this is easier to do once you’ve figured out the USP. Because then all you need do is….

   4)  Appeal to senses (or something). Ideally, your couch potato is leaping off the sofa to jump into the car and experience something that you have arranged. What is it? Why will be the consumer feel better after they’ve used your product? Give them an afterglow to bask in. Appeals don’t have to be selfish, they can be social and even universal, like “green” appeal.

   5)  Special rule for b2b. Many companies you’ve never heard of do fine selling to other businesses. Obviously, if you’re in a b2b biz, the only ad copy question that needs answering is “how will purchasing your product help my business?”

   6)  Call to action: it’s still true that many ads and many sales pitches forget to ask for the sale. Offer communication. “Pick up the phone..” “Log onto to our Website…”

   7) Way to follow up: Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Web address. Ideally, the ad will ask the consumer to do something on the Website, type in a code, for example. As in “Type in ‘no VAT and we’ll pay the VAT on your order.”