Ticket for One, Please

Just the other day I was curled up on one of Costa's mightily comfy sofas, when I overheard the group of girls next to me chatting. One of them stated that she felt less and less like getting into a relationship as she got older.

I'm sure we've all joked about being single by choice, and some people I know truly are. I always thought it was the opposite, though: that as people grow older, they're more likely to want a companion on life's journey. So the girl's comment kind of opened my eyes.

Earlier this week, I read an interesting article in a Men's Health-style magazine about how summer is the perfect time to be single:

• You can soak up the warm summer weather in a beer garden  - if we get any, of course... but this being the UK, summer was last Thursday, so if you were working that day then I'm sorry, you missed it.
• You can 'appreciate' members of the opposite sex
• You can generally relax and do as you please.      

So being single and in my early thirties, I thought I'd have a companion for life by now. But not just yet, as it turns out. 

I'm still learning to embrace being single. Now I see others who are embracing their own single status, though they probably have different reasons to my own, and I see it's not so bad. Freedom and the warm weather are taking the sting out of things. And they will do for some years, I imagine.  

So I'll keep:

• drinking lots of coffee and burying my head in books for hours at Costa
• eating lots of chocolate (there is a connection between sex and chocolate, by the way: eat too much and no one will want to have sex with you!)
• going to concerts by myself and loving it (as long as the music's good, what else do you need?)
• and doing whatever I feel like.

Then, as the temperatures start to drop, the nights pull in and we turn to winter, maybe I'll think about looking for a partner again. 

But only maybe.

Definitely maybe.  

Love is the Drug (that you might think of!)

Never mind listening to your partner's needs, going to relationship counsellors and all that jazz! Such a sensible approach to saving a relationship is too old hat in this day and age, so it would seem. 

According to experts, you may now be able to cut out the middle man or women and do it with a new 'love pill'. These magical pills would contain some of the same chemicals that our body produces during different stages or emotional states in a relationship. 

These would be, then:

• oxytocin and vasopressom - hormones that surge in our body at the start of our relationship
• pheromones - the chemicals which spark emotional response and attraction (not in a relationship right now, so I might be interested in this one!)
• testosterone - do I even need to explain this one?
• corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) - this little beauty generates the fear of separation
• entactogens - create the desire for closeness and improves sociability and connection.

The odd once or twice I've come across strangers in nightclubs who, eyes bulging, and unable to sit still for more than a second, were in love with the world and everybody around them... Different kind of pill, of course. 'Eccies' or something, I think they called 'em.... !

But what if...?

What if they were to bring out such a pill legally? Would you use them, or is your relationship rock solid? Kind of funny to think that if you go through a patch in a relationship, you can have it all sorted by the time the kettle's boiled! No need for your emotions to go through the mill anymore! And you'd finally be able to turn that spare room into your Xbox room or whatever - or Narnia, as one of my relatives calls their computer room. 

And what if it was your turn to be a 'nutty professor'?

Imagine some mad fool let you loose in the scientists' lab and let you invent a pill for anything in the world. What kind of pill would you invent? Here are just a few I might want to make for myself:

• a pill that made me dance better (a man has to know how to cut some shapes!)
• a pill that allowed me to coordinate my colours easier
• a pill that allowed me to read text books in seconds and absorb every single drop
• a pill that could transport me from place to place in seconds, a bit like 'Beam me up, Scottie' but without the technology
• a pill that could make me instantly dashingly handsome. (Oh... already had that one, have we? Okay then....!)

I put it to you....

In the name of good content, those are just a few daft, minor insecurities of my own. Like Lloyd Grossman used to do on Masterchef, deliberate, cogitate and digest them. Then get back to me with your suggestions for a wonder pill. What would you like to be better at?

Get people to go your way with Lenny Kravitz

Remember Lenny Kravitz's old school rock 'n' roll hit Are You Gonna Go My Way? ? Was listening to it just today and it dawned on me that in the song lyrics he gives two great pieces of advice for copywriting. So without further ado, I thought I'd share with you how he informs how to get people to go our way!

'We must engage...'

Spot on, Lenny. You're writing to persuade. You want your audience to buy your product, hire your service, subscribe to your newsletter, return to your website, etc. Unless you're hoping to lull them into a deep sleep and sell to them using the power of hypnotic suggestion - in which case, change your day job- your words have to engage. 

So keep your audience interested. Hook them with your words. The longer you hold their attention, the more likely they are to do what you want them to.

'.... And rearrange...'

Well sung again, Mr Kravitz. 

Maybe the ideas aren't coming to you. Maybe you've done your first draft but aren't particularly happy with what you've written. 

So rearrange the paragraphs. This sometimes reveals a new, better angle from which to persuade your audience. It can strengthen your copy, too, by exposing weaker paragraphs or points. You can give them the snip and, by doing so, tighten up your copy and make it more persuasive. 

Easier said than done - so how do you do it, Mr Clever Clogs!

There are any number of ways to engage with your copy:

• Open with a strong sentence. - Remember the cliché 'SEX! That got your attention!'? Think of something that will hook the reader. It could be a question. It could be a powerful statement, such as 'How I made more money by.... ' . Tap into the reader's interests and write something that twigs them. 
• Be original in your writing - Avoid clichés. They look lazy. If the readers feels you haven't made the effort to write for them, they won't make the effort to read for you. And why should they, says I!
• Challenge the reader - Not to hand-to-hand combat, though! Say something like 'These are just 5 ways to engage your reader. Bet you can't think of more.' They'll be itching to defy you!
• Break long pieces of text up -  Copy that looks like one neverending block of text looks dull to the reader. Split it into sections, with bullet-pointed or number lists or even with images. This makes copy visually more appealing. More importantly, it makes it easier to read which, you've guessed it, also holds the reader's attention easier.
• Vary sentence length - Short sentences of 10 to 16 words work best in copy. But don't keep every single sentence to that length or your copy will become monotonous. Write longer sentences, too, to keep the text inflected.

That's engaging, but what about rearranging?

One good approach is to start at the middle. Save your first draft, delete the first few paragraphs (or place them towards the end of your text) and see what emerges. As well as revealing possible new, better or more original angles, the second benefit of this is that it can put your points into perspective. Changing the order of paragraphs can make the copy more persuasive. That's because it highlights the weaker points, which you can either leave towards the end or simply leave out. 

The third benefit is that it makes the copy stronger in general. A lot of the time, our first few paragraphs act as a warm-up, helping us to hit our stride. Delete them and you'll see how the copy suddenly seems tighter. After all, you're audience is busy and wants you to get to the point, too! 

What would you do?

So, Lenny Kravitz has spoken me to from the music studio with some helpful words of advice. Now I'm passing them on to you.

Have you got any suggestions on engagement or rearrangement for me? Are there any musicians you think have given us some sound advice on copywriting? Surely we could draw something from all those rock ballads that are out there!