I began my copywriting career in politics. On my first state legislative campaign, we got some of our mailers back from a guy in Covington, TN, with all sorts of threats and other unkind things written on them.
I shared them with my mentor at the time, asking if it was a sign that we’d crossed a line with our copy, which was rather aggressive for TN politics in the late 1990s.
He responded by saying that he once got some mail back that someone had used to wipe themselves. He said THAT is always the sign you’ve crossed the line.
Millennials and Zoomers think that being edgy in copy is dropping F bombs. That doesn’t work and turns off GenX, Boomers and most civilized people.
Write to your audience like you’re that voice they’ve heard inside their head their entire lives. Write with authenticity, with confidence, with expertise and with true concern for their welfare. Write to their hopes, dreams and fears directly, explaining the pain that will be soothed, the fear calmed, the lasting peace realized that they’re chasing after.