Tiger Woods is in quite a pickle right now.
He’ slammed his car into a hydrant and a tree and now is being 
pressured to explain why.
For the record, I don’t give a darn why – but this copy junkie is intrigued by something…
I believe that this story will hang around for the next few days because Mr. Woods is refusing to bow to the power of a simple word…
“because”
“Because” completes the curiosity equation for all of us.
- I was late for the meeting because….
- I yelled at you because…..
- There’s a dent in the car because…..
Without “the reason” our brains click into overdrive creating fiction to fill the void.
“Tiger woods ran into a tree because….”
No answer from Woods means we lose our collective minds for a week.
What does this have to do with copywriting? A ton my friend, a ton.
You see, our need for a reason is constant. It must be satisfied at all costs. Excellent copywriters know that you always must give a good reason for anything you offer, claim, or brag about.
Try this on -
- I am offering this ridiculously cheap deal because – a clerical error led to my getting twice as many of this widget than I can affordably store. I need them out of my warehouse now.
- I am giving free patient consultations because I’m new to the area and need to meet as many new faces as possible.
- I am offering this guarantee because I want to prove to you that this offer isn’t too good to be true.
I cheated a bit on the last one – to show you that “because” works even if the reason is um – debatable.
Take a look at your marketing materials. Do you need to explain yourself?
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I agree with you that one simple word like Because could have changed the whole picture here. for somebody with so much money (and probably so many PR people) this was handles really badly. If he had done as oyu said and put out a quick statment saying because of X this happened the whole thing would have died down a lto quicker!