Stay On Topic

If you've been following me for a few years you'll know that I've been learning about marketing for quite a while now. 

And to this end, not long ago, I subscribed to a famous marketer's copywriting emails. But after a few weeks I unsubscribed because all the emails spoke too much about health and fitness, or at least what he thought that health and fitness was, and how he linked it all to copywriting was tenuous at the very least.

Not only was this a subject I have no interest in, but also all his information was incorrect so even if I wanted information about exercise and diet, following his advice would have led me to having health issues that I'd never had before, plus my health is fine and I don't suffer from anything (except maybe crazy monkey mind issues) so I never read articles about it.

I suffered through these emails for a short while and deleted them all within minutes of reading them, thinking that he was just on a current health obsession of some kind and that he'd soon get back to talking about copywriting.

Anyway, the last straw came when I received an email all about the typical US (he's American) fear of eating carbohydrates. He talked about a woman who improved her health and fitness by eating only cheese, soup and salad and how great her body looked. I laughed at that because no matter what someone's body looks like, you can't see their clogged arteries, diabetes or heart issues, and these are the things that are important.

And then he said how he himself always eats like a lion by eating lots of meat and not much of anything else. I thought this was a strange thing to do because he's not a lion so why would he want to eat like one? Also lions only eat about once every three days and I'm betting he didn't do that.

He likened his heavy meat-based diet to making his copywriting roar. Hmmm... Such a thin connection from one thing to the other. More like a 'Dad Joke.' He then provided links to his copywriting products. And that was it. No other mention of copywriting in his copywriting email.

It was this email that made me unsubscribe immediately.

You see, I didn't want dietary advice. I wanted advice about copywriting. But I didn't get anything except a a few links to his products that he wanted me to buy. So instead of being intrigued to take a look, I just thought that if his products were anything like his emails, they were of no use to me.

So how is telling you this helpful to you?

Because what I'm trying to show you is that if you're writing about something you need to stay on topic and not talk about unrelated things.

I mean, if you're talking about writing,  it's OK to talk about getting enough sleep so that you feel more awake to write, or how to keep up your motivation or productivity, or  talk about a great computer for writers, or a great book that can be helpful, but waffling on about how you stay fit isn't going to be interesting to people who want to find out about being a writer (or copywriter).

This is why it's important to stay on topic when you're writing, and whenever you talk about something else, explain how it ties into what you're saying and how it can help.

This is writing and marketing 101.

How to Write An Article in 15 Minutes or Less
- Including Research, Writing and Proof Reading

https://ruthiswriting.com/books/15.html