Johnson.

I reckon anyone wwho knows how to ake the cynic shell out his hard-earned dollars can market to anyone. Marketing is all about trust. Well, the cynic is one of those guys who doesn’t give out trust like it’s free. You have to earn it. He’ll make you work for it. That’s why when you write copy or whatever, you’ve got to write it for the inner cynic in you. A good way to practise is by reading some cpy yourself and finding where you find yourself being cynical. Here are 7 phrases cynic’s use:

1. “yeah right!” you’ve made a crazy claim that you can’t back up or can’t prove.

2. “you don’t even know who I am!” you try to generalise the reader into a category.

3. “so what?” you’ve said something which you think has sounded impressive but isn’t.

4. “what’s your point?” you’ve said something that seemingly has no purpose.

5. “why should I?” or “what’s in it for me?” you’ve told them to do something, like “click here now!” but they see no reason to.

6. “prove it!” you’ve said something, they’re interested but they want proof.

7. “why should I listen to you?” this one should be first, but it’s the credibility issue. why should they listen to you?

So if you want to write better copy or just market better in general, see if there are any holes by always asking yourself these questions/statements.