Magic and Tragic Words in Copywriting Still Hold True in Digital Era

The world of marketing may have moved on, but it seems human nature can still be influenced by the same forms of language as 15 years ago.

We recently rediscovered some advice on writing direct marketing copy, originally provided by marketing guru

His Magic words included common sense suggestions like:

FREE, EASY, FAST, NEW

Plus also some more interesting suggestions which seem to have held true when one considers how often they are used in the realm of digital marketing, web copy, landing pages and the like:

SOLUTION, DISCOVER, GUARANTEED, BENEFITS, PROVEN, ADVICE

Then there are the Tragic words, which once again still seem to wield negative influence over the reader but do include some terms that, somewhat surprisingly, you can often see in use in direct marketing copy and calls to action, such as:

OBLIGATION, ORDER, SELL, DEAL, DECISION, COST, BUY

Perhaps the modern marketing professional shouldn’t forget the advice of veteran’s like Levinson; after all, 15 years may be a long time in technology terms, but its surely not very long in terms of human psychology.

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