Want to Move People? Think Action Words!
When you want to power up your copy, remember verbs are your friends.
When I first started writing copy, like many new copywriters, I relied primarily on adjectives. This makes sense. It’s easy to come up with lists of favorable adjectives: comprehensive, cost-effective, delicious, rugged, economical, amazing. And adjectives are easy to use, even for a relatively inexperienced writer. Just add a handful in front of your nouns and you’re all set.
The problem with relying entirely on adjectives, though, is they’re weak. It takes a lot of them to get the point across, but use too many of them and your writing sounds over-hyped and phony.
Fortunately, as I gained experience with writing copy, I discovered the power of verbs. See, the cool thing about verbs is they get across the same ideas as all those adjectives, but they can do it in fewer words and with less of an impression of hype.
Of course, I still employ adjectives, too — it’s just that I no longer rely on them to do all the heavy lifting.
So, for example, at one time when I was writing about heavy-duty employee time clocks, I might simply have referred to them as “rugged” or “tough.” Now, I might still use those words to describe them, but I would reinforce those adjectives by also mentioning how these workhorses can “muscle through hundreds of print registrations per day.”
Or for a different nuance of meaning, I might instead say the clocks can “breeze through” all those print registrations. Notice how I can evoke an entirely different mood just by changing one verb: “muscle” to “breeze.” With the one, you get the impression these are some impressively hard-working clocks; with the other, you’d think they’re so tough they’re hardly breaking a sweat. Either one works; which I would choose would depend on the overall slant I’d chosen to take with my copy.
The point is: your choice of verbs make a huge difference. With the right verbs, you get your point across with minimal hype and maximum interest. So if you want to motivate action from your readers, I suggest you add some action to your writing.