I may not have gone to Davos this year, but I re-read a great little how-to book published in 2002, Net Words, by Nick Usborne, about online copywriting. (I saved a ton of money avoiding Switzerland.) Couple of things I got from the book I'll share with you now.
Thing One: When you set about to write something aimed at a prospective customer, are you on your company's side, chasing a sale? Or do you instinctively identify with the prospect -- the person you're talking to? To write copy that sells, with apologies to Vince Lombardi, identifying with the customer isn't the most important thing. It's the only thing. For years, we've been pounding on the concept that outside-in marketing , what we call customer advocacy, is really about seeing the world through your customers' eyes. To write great copy, says Usborne, "...you need to have a place inside their heads and get a genuine feel for how they react to your site, how they feel about what you are offering--and what it would take to make them feel more comfortable about making a purchase." Amen.
Thing Two: Test, test and test again. "The Web is a tester's dream come true," Usborne writes. "While testing...in a direct mail piece involves a time line of months, those same kinds of tests can be executed and analyzed online in a matter of hours. You can test the words themselves, and you can test the various offers they describe." Testing, in its own way, is about advocating for the customer. The customer side is the winning side. Be sure you stay on it.
