None of us would readily admit to being social chameleons, but if we’re honest, it’s something we’ve all done: adapting our conversational tone of voice to suit the occasion. It might be nothing more duplicitous than dropping a few more aitches at the pub than you would in a client meeting, but we’re all reasonably adept at matching our spoken language to the demands of the situation in hand.

 

So why are so many professional writers unable to do the same in their working roles?

 

It all used to be so simple. Copywriters had one basic tone for mail order (“Why not sit down with a cuppa and take a look at our stunning range of fashions right now, Mrs Personalised?”) and another for financial (“As someone who clearly thinks carefully about your financial future, you may well be interested to learn…”) and anything else fell somewhere in between.

 

But now, as people become more immune to the old tricks of the trade – and less willing to devote time to marketing communications – we’re in danger of developing a monotone approach to advertising copy which comes dangerously close to addressing everyone in the same way.

 

How the honest broker was seduced by the dark side

 

I tend to blame the ‘honest broker’ approach. By this, I mean the tone of voice used successfully by the kind of financial organisations which make a great play of respecting the customer’s ability to make their own judgements, and gives an impression of cutting through the puffery to come straight to the point. You know the ones I mean.

 

In its purest form, this is a wholly good thing. The ‘honest broker’ approach has proved highly effective and has been generally well executed. But in doing so, it has spawned several mutant offspring...

 

Cut it to the bone. Then add bulletpoints.

 

The first and most heinous of these is the tragic case of ‘chuck the baby out with the bathwater’ syndrome. We’ve all come across this sorry affront to customer satisfaction. In an attempt to sound like a breath of fresh air, the communication instead comes across as an icy cold blast. Capable of infecting almost any touchpoint, perhaps the worst manifestations of the syndrome are found in letters to existing customers which consist of twenty or thirty words misguidedly broken up into bullet points…

 

Dear Mr Personalised

 

Your cover is due for renewal

What to do:

Yours sincerely

Jack Frost
Renewals department

 


OK, this is an extreme example. But I’m sure you’ve come across something broadly similar. You
open the letter and ask yourself:

Bulletpoints, of course, certainly have their place and when you’re tasked with conveying a series of straightforward facts, or even benefits, they can be indispensible. But equally, they’re too often just a lazy solution to the old ‘make it punchier’ imperative. Copywriters, agencies and marketing departments who lose sight of this eventually find themselves wondering why the brands they’re working on have no character and customers feel no warmth towards them.


A questionable tone of voice

 

The second great abuse of the honest broker approach is the ‘knowing wink’ abomination. You’ll find this one, well, familiar.


You and I know this one very well, don’t we, Mr Personalised? You’re no fool. You’ve been around. And you don’t take any bull from anyone, do you? So we aren’t about to waste your time (we know how busy you are) on something you won’t find useful. Oh no. Instead, we’re going to patronise the hell out of you. But you and I both know that, don’t we, mate?


I don’t need to say any more. Do I?

 

Perhaps all we really need to do is acknowledge that, in an increasingly sophisticated and crowded marketplace, the old tricks don’t apply any more – but the classic guidelines still do. The simplest and best of these is that to create empathy we need to address our target audiences in appropriately-chosen tone and language. Otherwise we risk simply replacing one set of irrelevant clichés with another.

Hope these ramblings struck a chord. Or maybe you never read a word of them because the copy wasn’t all in bulletpoints.