Donor Power Blog: Where does good copy come from?

Good copy is a precious and powerful thing. It crystallizes your thinking. It clarifies your goals. It mobilizes others to join you.

Given all the good things well-written copy can do, why do we see so little of it in the world around us?

Well, excellent writers are rare. But there's more to it than that. Even the best writers can produce bad copy. The Bad Language blog takes a look at some of the reasons this happens in Why good writers (occasionally) produce bad copy.

While it's sometimes the writer's fault, there are some outside forces, including:

Dirty briefs. (i.e., lack of clear direction)
Group-think.
Brand Nazis.
Editing by committee.
Death by redlining.

(There are more. Go read it.)

Copy is never produced by just one person. Forget the image of the lone writer in a garret, pounding out inspired prose in a steady stream. In any marketing endeavor, copy is just one link in a long chain that includes:

Content. The writer needs to have something good to write about.
Strategy. Doesn't matter if the copy is brilliant if the strategy is flawed. The world's fastest runner will lose the race if he's running the wrong direction.
Offer. The call to action needs to be something people actually want to do.
Alignment. Everyone who's involved in the project should have the same goals. (This is one of the hardest parts to achieve.)
Good design. The design should be pulling in the same direction as the copy, with the same emotional message. And it should be readable.
Error-free production. Stuff that's printed wrong or lost in the mail doesn't do much good.