A description exists for any product
Even a description for air?
I, for one, am tired of hearing about „the freshest clothes”, about „the coolest gadgets” or about „the only X that is for real”. I’m also fed up with transitioning from advertising to anti-advertising and practical theories about how anti-advertising is the new advertisement, but after a while, advertising yet again becomes the only new real advertisement.
From my point of view, all descriptions like the ones above have become redundant. They only exist to fill a void that simply cannot be left empty when marketing a product. The void is the only thing that is neither advertising nor anti-advertising. Until new theories will tell us otherwise. The main idea is that nowadays, everything already functions, only that it functions better or worse. Not functioning no longer exists, we live in the world of all possibilities. They all exist and function simultaneously. Products are sold on the conveyor belt, what really matters is only how fast that conveyor belt is running. There are markets and niches, shops and tunnels for everything you’d ever want to sell.
For everything. Even for air.
Yes, plenty of people have already managed to sell a lot of bottled air in other countries. Bottled as in contained in plastic containers. The need is sometimes so great that virtual rescue can even be thought to be found in environmentally damnable containers. I think this is where the interesting part is born: how do you end up selling something so common better than others? Something in my guts tells me that air and other related products are just about… everywhere. In hundreds, thousands or hundreds of millions of possible copies or alternatives. So how do you end up purchasing X and not Y? No, I’m wrong. How do you become convinced to purchase Y instead of X, especially if X is everything you’ve known so far? In other words…
How do you change your air?
I think this can happen exactly by creating a clever description. Let’s take a deep breath and check the hypothesis.
- There exists a product
- There exists a need
- There exists a possible description
If that description manages to correlate that need with that product, then everyone is happy! You did a good job. In my experience, the ability to create a really fine description comes later in the life of a content writer. It’s not that you need time to get to know your target audience „as well as possible.” You’re not writing a descriptive novel. It’s about the fact that product descriptions fall flat on the border between long copy and short copy – both different in the way they bow to your creative neurons, both requiring hundreds and thousands of written variants until they become a patellar reflex.
The ability to describe everything you see eventually becomes as natural as breathing
There’s a lot of playground on the border between long and short copy, and if you bring your shovel along and dig for words, about 10% of a series of 100 descriptions will take you by surprise. Those are the winners, the best product descriptions. They’ll almost tempt you to place an order of that product for yourself.
- Generally, to create an effective description, you need to speak the target audience’s language. There’s not much to add here, it almost goes without saying. Overexplaining this idea would actually move it away from the audience’s language.
- Use representative product names. But not necessarily the name of the product. Don’t think you’re hypnotizing anyone. A 40-word description in which you use the name of the product 10 times will generate the opposite effect: the product loses its meaning, utility, contradicts its definition, definition that lies in two different hemispheres of the brain. Please repeat aloud the word TV – or absolutely any other noun, this is simply my favourite. After all, only products are nouns, to sell and to buy are verbs. Repeat TV about 15-20 times. The definition vanishes, so does the word, eventually. From anyone’s mind.
- Employ the use of verbs, dynamism, not adjectives. Buy this hat and take it with you on any trip where you want to slowly roast away under the sun. Don’t just buy a big hat made of straw that is cool.
The Andru Method, for those moments when you feel like you’re running out of air
All good and full of verbs and dynamism, but sometimes you have to write hundreds of descriptions like these on a short notice. And you have to do it without typos, as explained in a previous article. So to better understand The Andru Method, I’m inviting you to wear a shirt. A cool, unisex shirt.
Wear this rather expensive, embarrassingly velvety shirt now, which will make you convey to those around you how sweaty you are. No matter what you’re wearing underneath. Because it’s summertime. Because it’s damn hot.
This description does not really achieve its purpose, unless the purpose is to snatch some slightly embarrassed smiles. Now please close your eyes for a few seconds and wipe the sweat from your forehead, as I replace only the words marked with bold.
Wear this extremely velvety summer shirt which will make you convey to those around you how well you feel in your skin. No matter what you’re wearing underneath. Even if it’s summer. Because coolness means comfort.
The difference would be that in the second version I don’t make fun of the product anymore, which you kind of want to do, after 50 descriptions written in a short time. What’s important to remember is that it is not the product’s fault.
I called this The Andru Method largely because… my name is Andru. I’m sure I didn’t invent it, but I’m applying it for my own amusement and it proves to be extremely effective. Are you exhausted? Eliminate your exhaustion through some fun, then replace those keywords with relevant ones. It is extremely effective because:
- It helps me to avoid going crazy when i’ve got a large volume of descriptions to creeate in a short time
- It helps me pay more attention to re-reading, just to make sure no funny stuff remains in the text, it’s serious business, after all.
- It helps me to avoid going crazy when i’ve got a large volume of descriptions to creeate in a short time
So for product descriptions, you can always turn to Nerds & Words, a handful of people who create quality content and coffees for personal needs.
Now, let’s save appearances through The Andru Method:
For excellent product descriptions, always turn to Nerds & Words, an expert agency that creates quality content for your needs.
(However, you can also contact us for some good coffee.)
