The Myth of Professionalism
When I first started out in this whacky copywriting business I had this same conversation a lot.
It went like this:
ME: “So, what sort of tone do you want for your piece?”
CLIENT: “Uh, um, well, professional?”
ME: “OK, so by that you mean . . .?”
CLIENT: “Um. . . .well, you know, professional. We all know what professional means, right?”
ME: “Right. . . . So . . .what tone do you want again?”
And it went on and on. One time we had to order pizza because we’d been sitting there so long.
Even today I run into a lot of companies, both big and small, who have a strange and heavy addiction to “sounding professional.” Unfortunately, what they usually mean by “sounding professional” is “sounding like everyone else” which really means “sounding boring” which really means “not saying much of anything at all.”
It’s a sickness. A disease. An airborne pathogen produced by fear.
Here’s my own definition of professionalism in a copywriting sense: Writing with integrity. Writing with personality. Writing like a human being. Writing in a way that your target market actually responds to.
Pretty simple, huh?
March 30th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
Wonderfully said! But then again - that’s what you do
(I liked it so much I’ve quoted you in my blog - sorry but Blogger doesn’t support trackback)
August 20th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
[…] Over the last three years I’ve been freelancing I’ve learned some hard lessons about how to work with clients, just what the heck “Professional” means and how to make a decent live as an Indie Pro without sacrificing my ethics, my passions or my almost pathological need to take languid naps on Tuesday afternoons. […]