What Selling Sunset can teach us about copywriting
Firstly, OK, yes, yes I know. How am I going to tie a frothy reality show about real estate into copywriting? But behold, dear reader, for I am about to and I am about to do it VERY well. Here's the scene: Me, Sunday afternoon, semi-comatose on my sofa after a house move and weeks of no sleep due to a 12-week old kitten. I may or may not have bothered to put on trousers. I'm delightedly chainwatching the new Selling Sunset OC spin off, which is even more thrilling for the fact I didn't realise it was out until it showed up on my Netflix homescreen. Normally, when I watch stuff like this, the joy is in the fact I can practically feeeel my brain slipping like molasses out of my ears. Warm, delicious, brainless mush. Shows like this are my meditation. But not this time. This time, I weirdly found myself not only wondering what volume of black-market hair extensions it takes to create the average real estate agent, but also noodling on what reality TV like Selling Sunset shows us about copywriting. Because there's a reason so many people love this shit, and it's certainly not for the believability of the story arcs. Selling Sunset, Made In Chelsea, TOWIE (if you're not in the UK, the latter two focus on the lives of glamorous Brits in either Chelsea or Essex). What these three shows have in common is that they offer us a window into a different life. We can press our nose to the glass, breath blooming in a little circle, and peek into a lifestyle that's vastly different to our own, but not completely inaccessible. And THAT is what great copy allows your customer to do. You want them to be able to press their nose to the metaphorical glass of their future and see something desirable, tangible and achievable there. Just as Selling Sunset allows me to play in a world where I have massive fake boobs instead of two fried eggs on an ironing board, stagger around in lethally vertiginous heels instead of the same pair of battered Birkenstocks every day, and stand a chance of making six figure commission from one house sale, instead of whoring myself out on IG with 'Copywriting Tips' posts and a potty mouth for a few grand a month... ...I can for one second put on a different hat and try on a different lifestyle as I sink into my sofa and bathe in the glow of sunny LA pavements (sorry, sidewalks) and Christine Quinn's revoltingly kitsch designer handbag collection. Do I want that life? Nope. Do I want a 'chair purse'? Faaaack no. But that doesn't matter. It's the sense of 'something more' it stirs up that makes these shows so compelling. In short, Selling Sunset allows us all to escape. And that's something really great copy does with a technique known as futurescaping. When you're talking up the benefits of your product or service, make sure you're also painting a transformation that taps into their future desires (the surface level ones, and the secret, soul-deep ones). With your words, let them try on an E Cup and sashay around in Fendi bodycon dresses and high heels for a moment. I promise it will improve your conversions (and it's also a great way to steer your copy into more positive territory, as opposed to pain-point laden fearmongering). So, next time you're talking about your offer, take a minute to let your customers escape into a world of What Ifs for a second. Copy chat over. Talk dirty to me (by which I mean, talk to me about Selling Sunset, obvs). |
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