By Dale S. Laszig
DSL Direct LLC
Jennifer Egan had me from the title, "Facts Still Exist," published Dec. 24, 2018, in Time Magazine. The Pulitzer Prize winning author, and former president of P.E.N. America, asserted that social media platforms are oversimplified, sensationalistic and loaded with inaccuracies. "We need to write now, write well – tell the truth in all its messy complexity," Egan wrote.
Egan's headline pulled me in because it was relatable. It reassured me, a trade journalist who chases statistics and data, that I can still do my job. Here are some thoughts on writing and selling the payments industry's big, messy story.
Good strong headlines get more sales and click-throughs, according to Jim Edwards, author of Copywriting Secrets, published by Author Academy Elite in 2018. He explained that headlines begin the sales process by stopping people in their tracks and getting their attention. A great headline with mediocre copy will outperform excellent copy with a weak headline, he added.
"If your headline sucks, nobody reads your sales letter, nobody reads your ad, and nobody watches your video," he wrote, noting that the purpose of a headline is to stop people from what they're doing and get them to start reading or watching what you've put in front of them.
Good headlines, he added, attract your ideal audience by appealing to fears or desires and making an emotional connection. In fact, as he learned from personal experience, a great headline can catapult a project from obscurity to profitability. "Just by changing a headline," he wrote, "I saved an entire project (and skyrocketed my business)."
Writing sales pitches requires a different focus and skill set than writing educational articles, and I agree with Edwards that having a clear objective can help shape a story. The Green Sheet for example, publishes educational articles and copywriting and has markedly different guidelines for each. Contributing writers cover a range of topics in a non-promotional way; advertisers produce content designed to spark interest and attract new sales partners.
"If you create content and your intention is to get somebody to click a link, to go to a specific page, to request information, to fill out a form, to opt-in, to request a phone call, or to make a phone call, then all these things are copywriting," Edwards wrote, noting that copywriting is all about getting to yes.
Know why people buy, he noted, while sharing the top 10 reasons he identified: to make money, save money, save time, avoid effort, escape pain, obtain comfort, achieve greater results, gain praise, feel more loved, and increase popularity or status. He suggested crafting questions around these motivations such as, How will you save time with this solution? What tasks would this product or service eliminate? Then think of as many answers as you can to get a sense of your target audience and their needs, he added.
Edwards advised resisting the urge to sound authoritative when you write promotional content, because no one wants to be lectured. Try instead, he stated, to make your prospects and audience feel smart by making their challenges and opportunities the focal point of your presentation.
"Making it all about them means you avoid being cute, using sarcasm, inside jokes, or using anything that could be misconstrued," he wrote. "You avoid trying to prove how smart you are by using big words, industry jargon, or acronyms you don't explain. All that does is confuse people and turn them off."
Someone who is confused will be unlikely to buy anything, Edwards noted, underscoring the need to be crystal clear when communicating with people who may feel scared, self-conscious or afraid of making the wrong decision. Improve your odds by communicating in simple, understandable terms, and keep your thoughts well organized and sequential, he added.
How can brands stand out in a crowded digital marketplace? Edwards proposed that most people hardly pay attention to what they see or read and could use a good jolt. "Your job is to shock them, so they stop what they're doing and pay attention to you," he wrote. "You do this with a shocking statement or image."
I can't help but wonder about the cumulative effect of all these provocative statements and images. To Egan's point, have we become desensitized to internet shock jocks and sensationalism? Do payments industry professionals really have to be loud to get attention? After all, some of us work with financial institutions and government agencies where understatements tend to outperform hyperbole.
Ben Jura, an independent design and creative strategy consultant, advised brands to consider how customers receive and process information. His post, "Communications Strategies for Brands Competing for Attention," published June 16, 2020, by the American Marketing Association, recommended being mindful of what you say and how you say it.
"Today, our attention span is spread so thin, and the competition for that attention is fierce," he wrote. "Marketers are trying to get people to process incredible amounts of information as quickly as possible, so as to not risk losing their attention before the message is fully communicated."
It has been said that salespeople are the easiest people to sell, because they usually say yes to a perfectly crafted pitch. The same can be said for writers; we know good stuff when we see it and will usually read on, even if we don't learn anything new. A well-crafted pitch or story will make us want to take that ride.
I enjoyed reading Alex Rolfe's April 5, 2024, post in Payments Cards & Mobile, "How safe is crypto versus traditional payment methods?" Rolfe, managing director and editor in chief at PaymentsCM, had an inviting, down-to-earth style.
Acknowledging that comparing crypto and fiat currency security is complicated, Rolfe offered no definitive answers. "Each approach presents its own set of trade-offs, requiring users to consider factors such as risk tolerance, storage practices, and the reputation of service providers," he wrote.
I'm thankful for the many talented writers whose educational articles and sponsored content have graced The Green Sheet's pages for over 40 years. It's been a blast writing our industry's story with you, in all its messy complexity. 
Dale S. Laszig, senior staff writer at The Green Sheet and founder and CEO at DSL Direct LLC, is a payments industry journalist and content strategist. Connect via email dale@dsldirectllc.com, LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/dalelaszig/ and Twitter https://twitter.com/DSLdirect.
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