I was pumped to get my hands on the popular book The Copywriters Handbook. As a marketer who’s now creating content, improving in this area is a priority.
One of the key concepts that remains top of my mind is Kaizen. It’s a Japanese philosophy meaning continuous improvement. I strive for a consistent 1% improvement on every new project. And I was hoping this book would help with this in my writing.
Early in the book, I came across the section “False Logic” and it ruined the book. I ended up putting it down.
Building trust may be the most important area for long-term success. So the book lost me there.
The concept is spread over a couple of pages, so there’s not one juicy quote to point my finger at (likely by design). But I’ll do my best to provide the gist.
False logic is intentionally lying for better “sales” copy while “morally” letting yourself off the hook on a technicality. “I have thousands of customers come to my website,” but “I didn’t say they were MY customers!” I made this one up, but that’s pretty much the idea. The author then goes on to compare marketers to lawyers. Are we here for what’s right or are we here to win?
You’ve got Seth Godin talking about “changing the culture” and “make things better by making better things.” And, Rand Fishkin giving a painfully honest account of his shortcomings and professional challenges to shed light on false narratives of perfection from successful individuals. He aims to help those who come next. And Ann Handley with a fantastic book with no ethical conflicts called Everybody Writes.
You can’t make promises and then not deliver. What will that do to your reputation? You’d lose all credibility.
Is this a book you read? Is the rest of the book even worth reading?
If not, what would you recommend?
