the sally sisson blog

Continuing my fixation with the group buying site…

[See part 1:  The Key to Groupon's Success? A Stable of Great Copywriters]

I know much of the genius has to do with the simple business model, but I remain fixated on the creative. Here’s another article I bookmarked a while back, this one from 52weeksofux.com:

Groupon and the value of copywriting

“There is lots of talk of whether Groupon can keep their advantage over new competitors. But the competitors I have seen don’t have the copywriting chops that Groupon does, at least right now. As long as Groupon continues to write such great copy, they’ll have a big advantage over their competitors.”

Click here for full article.

Editorial style (and schtick) guide

Check out the company’s Public Editorial Manual which describes the Groupon Voice in detail and has a whole section on Humor Writing, complete with examples. Here’s a small taste:

Zog’s Dogs

“The first deep-frying techniques were used as a means of preserving wedding gowns and Barry Bonds rookie cards; it wasn’t until later that they were applied to food….”

Guide to Art-Museum Banter

“Before taking advantage of today’s Groupon, memorize these handy art criticisms, which are guaranteed to apply to any work in the Lowe Art Museum:

• “The brush stroke is large. It would not shock me if the artist painted with a wig or mop. Do you agree with my point of view?”
• “The way color is used is breathtaking. It is either red, blue, green, or purple, but I would need to take a closer look to be sure.”
• “Some say those are boxes, but to me they appear as triangles. Either way, this painting is about Lou Gehrig’s desire to adopt a dog.”

Okay, so it’s not only about the clever content. But it’s the reason I read my Groupon coupon every morning as I sift through the clutter in my in-box. And I’m not alone.

Back in September I posted a link to this article from VentureBeat about writing as the key to Groupon’s remarkable success. Now whenever I read about the social-buying site and Google’s billion-dollar takeover offer, the copywriting bit remains top of mind.

Read the article here:

The Secret of Groupon’s Success Is… Good Writing?

“Chief executive Andrew Mason said today that the success of his popular social buying site Groupon had less to do with brilliant tech and more with good writing, and with unfashionable technology like email.

“Groupon employs a staff of 70 writers to create the text of all its group deals, Mason said. It might be easier to ask the businesses offering the deals to write the content, or perhaps to find some way to automatically generate the text, but Mason said that having well-written, engaging content is a key part of convincing users to keep reading…”

To be continued…

Say you’re a business owner or marketing manager. You’ve got a lot on your plate. Email, voicemail, snail mail. Now add Facebook and blog posts to the mix. Now squeeze in a few tweets throughout the day. Be sure to make them clever and compelling.

Some people have their social media channels perfectly integrated and running like a well-oiled marketing machine. (We’ll explore that later.) But if Twitter is just one more thing to send you over the edge, consider this:

Twitter Redux: Stockpiling tweets

During ebbs between deadlines, why not type up a batch of tweets. Make them relevant to your marketing campaign, company mission, whatever you’re trying to convey. Use the “word count” tool in your document to make sure each is 140 characters max.

Or, why not pay someone else to write them for you? (Like me.)

Preconcieved tweets? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Doesn’t it completely miss the point? Well, yes. For personal purposes, it seems a bit contrived. But for business it can make a lot of sense.

Case in point

After writing the copy for a website last fall, I was asked to write a series of tweets to accompany it. The client wanted a stockpile of tweets, divided into categories, ready to spit out on Twitter at a moment’s notice. Some were general tips, others tied in more closely with the partner client, Clorox.

After tweeting the entire inventory, they ran them ticker-tape style on the home page of the website. Breathing yet more life into the copy. Repurposing content. Getting more bang for their buck. Brilliant!

Check it out:

New Teacher Survival Guide | Discovery Education

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/survival/