Starbucks is a huge name, some say it’s better known than any car company in the US and one that is known and trusted in the UK.

But does the Starbucks brand image goes against everything it stands for? If Starbucks want to be the local coffee shop and not an overused high street cliché, then the billions of dollars building the Starbucks empire has gone slightly off-track.

To tap into the ‘local’ market, Starbucks have just opened a remodelled coffee shop called ’15th Avenue Coffee & Tea’ in Seattle. No green logo, no motif on cups, just a nice, modern, friendly, local coffee shop. They will be open throughout the night and provide tailor-made drinks and atmosphere. After covertly researching other local coffee houses, they realised that there is a massive untapped market of independent coffee drinkers who aren’t interested in going corporate.

Few others seem to understand this move, but having been brought into business almost entirely through social networking, it makes sense to see someone trying the small business approach. How will it work? Watch this space.

The lesson to learn here isn’t actually that branding can work against you, it’s about making the branding reflect the image you want to give out. Virgin has always been the rebel brand, ‘Ryan air’ the budget, pay only for what you want brand. Would Ryan Air now be able to offer a full first class service like BA? Absolutely not, consumers would be confused at the apparent price-hike and Ryan Air’s branding would go kaput.

McDonalds, like Starbucks has built it’s own niche empire, they keep trying to dip in to the local market, but they will forever be known as a fast food chain with little or no personality in it’s stores. A McDonalds in Venice is identical to one in North London. If McDonalds wanted to launch a proper cuisine and expensive exotic menu, they would fail. It makes perfect sense therefore for Starbucks to introduce a new concept to differentiate itself from the brand and give it a little flair. You’ll never see a chain of ’15th Avenue Coffee & Tea’s, but that’s the point, that’s the brand. The strength of Starbucks and the personality of an independent, such a beautiful combination. We know Starbuck’s underlying ethics, we know the quality, but now we get the personality.

A brand doesn’t have to be attached to a logo, especially if that’s exactly what you don’t want. Branding is much much deeper than a swanky logo and colour scheme. It’s everything.

For your sales writing to have an impact on your reader, it has to be interesting. The best way to do that is to speak directly to your reader and don’t lecture them – and keep your writing active. Not sure what I mean? Read on and all will become clear.

What do I mean by keeping your copywriting active? Well, I don’t mean filling it with adjectives which simply increases your word count without actually adding any value.

Still not sure?

Think back to the best years of your life – your school days (well, apparently they were the best years of your life, although I’m not entirely sure that applies to every single year of my academic youth). What did your English teacher constantly bang on about?

“Verbs are ‘doing’ words”

Like a stick of rock, if you cut open a freelance copywriter (not that I am suggesting for one second that you should) those words will go right the way through them.

Just as they were in fiction, verbs are important in your sales writing. They drive your writing; they make it active and vigorous. Copywriters love verbs.

But there is a tendency in some in-house copy to turn perfectly good verbs into nouns.

I think an illustration is required:

Nouns

“Our specialization is the provision of high quality IT solutions” (10 words, 55 characters)

Verbs

“We specialize in solving IT problems” (6 words, 31 characters)

I think that speaks for itself. So remember keep your copywriting active – it will have a much greater impact.

Briar Copywriting’s Sally Ormond is a professional freelance copywriter who offers a comprehensive range of copywriting services to businesses and individuals across all industry sectors.

The most powerful tool that a copywriter has in their armoury are words. They are the cogs that make the whole sales machine work. In this post I shall look at using power words within copy. So let me begin by asking you a question:

Q: What is the one thing that freelance copywriters are always asked for?

A: Snappy copy.

Ask your client exactly what they mean by ‘snappy copy’ and the response is usually:

“Erm…you know…snappy…punchy…that sort of thing.”

Very insightful.

In order for a copywriter to create powerful copy, they need to utilise power words. These are very basic, simple words that don’t require defining or explaining. Your reader should be able to connect with them immediately.

You want to see some examples? OK. Power words are things such as:

• Love
• Hate
• Cash
• Care
• Best
• Crash
• Worst
• Win
• Lose
• Huge
• Risk
• Fizz

Once a copywriter has created a first draft, their next job is to read through the copy and clear out all the flabby worn-out words and replace them with something more powerful. Of course, the choice of words is going to depend on what you are writing and who you are writing for.

If you are still unsure of what I am getting at, I have listed below some worn-out words and given a powerful alternative.

Worn-out:
Cost-effective
Impact negatively
Optimal
Upgrade

Power packed alternative:
Cheap
Hurt
Best
Boost

See how much ‘snappier’ the power words are? They will give you copy far more impact. So you see just a small change can have a huge impact on your sales message.

Sally Ormond, of Briar Copywriting, is a freelance copywriter working with businesses to help them save time and money while benefiting from increased sales and market visibility. For more details on her comprehensive range of copywriting services get in touch at sally@briarcopywriting.com.