One of the biggest problems I had in grad school was the ethics involved in writing research papers.
Now, I’m not talking about plagiarism or anything like that. This was much more subtle.
We were expected, when writing papers, to have a thesis and support it. That’s pretty standard, I think, for most types of non-fiction writing. Build your argument, provide evidence, that sort of thing. But, there was something we weren’t allowed to do: point out potential weaknesses in our arguments. You leave that to others in the field who will, no doubt, offer up critical thought on your work. Only after they raise objections do you address potential problems with your thesis.
In other words, you can’t tell it like it really is.
To me, this seemed irresponsible. Why? For several reasons:
- Others can completely miss a weakness that you’ve readily identified. Your argument, then, stands not on its own merit but on the lack of insight on the part of your critics.
- Failure to point out potential problems with your argument prevents others from finding solutions to that problem. You eliminate your cheering section and defenders.
- This approach only provides a singular view of the topic. The paper exists in a vacuum, speaking only to itself and, in many ways, only being heard by like-minded folks.
- Leaving out important information in this context is, in my mind, akin to deception.
In some ways, copywriting is a lot like writing graduate research papers. When you’re writing copy, you write about the positive points of a product or service - its features or benefits. You don’t write about potential problems with the product or about how another product might function in a similar way. You restrict the flow of information and leave it to the consumer to discover the counter-arguments or problems on their own. If you don’t, your copy doesn’t convert.
Is this good or bad? Do the ethics of academic research apply to the ethics of copywriting? Should academic research take the same approach as copywriting? Is it possible to tell it like it really is when writing copy and still make sales?
13 comments ↓
Hi Bob,
I think it’s possible to make sales while “telling it like it really is.” However, since telling it like it really is implies pointing out faults with a product or service, you can expect the conversion ratio to decline.
Centuries ago, when I used to date, I’d hide things about the “product” to increase conversions. Most of these things wouldn’t be considered deal-killers. But, arguably, they were “minor product defects.”
If a product or service has a defect which would diminish the value expected by the customer (for example, a ball that won’t bounce), then we should “tell it like it really is.” Not doing so would be like selling a car in which the timing belt is about to break.
Less than honorable.
Otherwise, I think it’s fine to not mention potential drawbacks to a product or service as long as the prospect receives the value she expects.
I don’t think copywriting should point out any weaknesses. Cnet, or a host of other websites are where a responsible consumer should head to find them. Word of mouth also does wonders.
Advertising is all about putting a product in the best possible light - that shouldn’t change. I don’t find it deceptive either, it’s merely good business sense.
The place I think people *should* tell it like it is, is when one goes to a store and is looking for a product. When the customer asks questions, the employee should give them an honest answer, and not a deceptive one in order to make the greatest sale. For example, when I’m in a store like Best Buy I actually do find that the employees are quite honest with me. And that makes me want to come back for return visits. This ultimately gives the store the greatest level of profits in the long run. Trust is paramount in this department.
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Bob,
This was a very thought-provoking article, thank you. When I was in j-school, my faculty also required a minor in an academic field, so my undergrad experience consisted of wildly different writing expectations.
In academic subjects like poli-sci, we were expected to defend our thesis to the death without pointing out weaknesses, as you outline here. Meanwhile, in journalism, we had an obligation to tell every side of the story!
In any case, as for sales and copywriting, I am not sure I agree with the school of thought that says you shouldn’t mention negatives in your pitch. In my experience, buyers are not stupid and will often pick out the negatives right off the bat anyway.
I have always found it more effective to -anticipate- criticisms and deal with them proactively. Example: Say you are selling a service that is more expensive than that of your competitors- that could be considered a negative point.
But what if, in your pitch, you point out exactly what you will do to create additional value, and exactly what those cheap competitors won’t? Now, before you’ve even talked price, the buyer may be expecting a higher number, but you’ve pre-rationalized that “negative point” in their mind.
Hm… maybe I should have made this a blog post (and maybe I still will
Daniel
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I’d been encouraged, in my college papers, to address weaknesses in the argument, mainly for the sake of preemptively finding the likeliest counterarguments and countering them. Whether that would work in advertising is another question; I’d probably be more impressed by an advertiser willing to admit that they know their own products’ flaws and how to work around them than by one who ignores them entirely, but I’ve never exactly been what one would call normal, either.
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“We’re number 2.” What company said that?
I believe in admitting flaws. I even tried to get the only client that didn’t work out to provide an honest testimonial and told him to be honest.
It just all depends on the big picture. What kind of content? Where? How much of it? Too many variables come into play.
However, I recently read a white paper — it talked about the company’s product throughout the paper. That’s NOT a white paper.
A white paper talks about a problem and a generic solution. Then introduces the company’s product after the generic solution — a small portion of the white paper.
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Hi Bob,
In British and Australian academia (I live in Australia) it is more common to need to address the weaknesses in a thesis.
I’m an introvert and don’t like sales and hate being sold to. So using copywriting as the model for writing on blogs has never sat comfortably with me. (Surely people come to our sites for more than being sold to. Surely they will rapidly tire of this.) It is not surprising that this line should be promoted and sold heavily - after all these are sales people.
I was just about to do a post on using journalism as an alternative model - as Daniel mentioned in journalism there is the space to put different perspectives.
I think it is unethical to give a falsely positive impression. The defense that it leads to greater sales is also unethical.
I think our credibility (the currency of the blogosphere) relies on us telling it like it is. An example, two bloggers I greatly admired gave testimonials for a course I was interested in. So I signed up for the course. The course was decidedly ordinary and their credibility with me has never recovered. I realised that they had been endorsing a course that was outside their area of expertise, which was silly of them and their credibility with me has suffered because of it. Same thing if people find out a flaw that we haven’t admitted. Our credibility will be tarnished.
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Bob,
Some marketer (and I’m sorry I can’t recall who at this moment) encourages authors to come up with ten reasons for people to buy their book and ten reasons for people NOT to buy their book. Of course, he suggests that the negatives actually be positives for the target audience.
“Don’t buy my book if you’re looking for a magic formula for success that doesn’t take any work.”
This isn’t really pointing out inherent flaws as you talk about in this post, but it does help potential buyers determine if the book meets their needs.
This could be done with any product.
I’ve seen what you’re talking about regarding academic writing, too. I think it’s totally purpose-defeating; isn’t the point of academia to advance knowledge, not squash it?
When it comes to copy, I think it’s important to be honest about the product by not making it out to be something it’s not. But pointing out the advantages of other products that the one being sold doesn’t have is probably not going to help conversions much at all.
Considering that I have an entire website devoted to the flaws in the argument of my own existence, I should probably recuse myself.
Thanks, everyone, for your comments. Some very insightful stuff. I’m especially intrigued by the journalism angle; we could probably add in a permission-marketing model to make 4 legs to the stool of this conversation if we tried.
Here’s my take on the question: I think that the academic side of things is very different from writing copy. In academia, you want to assume that there is objectivity and the free exchange of ideas. The reader believes that those in academia want to know the truth. False assumption? In too many cases, yes. But in an ideal world, that’s how education and academic research works.
Marketing is something different. When you read sales copy, you assume the writer is trying to convince you to do something, and that the writer is going to put it in as positive a light as she can. You don’t expect objectivity; you hope, though, for honesty.
Sales copy isn’t objective, and shouldn’t pretend to be. Consumers realize its purpose and take that into account when reading (or they ought to). That doesn’t mean we should lie in our sales copy, or that we should wordcraft in such a way as to give a false impression; it just means it’s OK to accentuate the positive when writing sales copy.
You did indeed provoke a blog post from me after all
Your readers can view my response to your article in the CommentLuv link below, if they wish.
Daniel
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Not address a flaw in your argument? That would have been a failing paper in the Reasoning course I took no matter how fabulously the rest of the paper was executed.
Just checking out your site; is it okay if I don’t remember how I got here?
I think your absolutely right. When writing a research paper you should be honest. People like to hear about both sides of the story, they crave honesty.
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