Strong, powerful, confident words communicate and convince. Lame, wimpy writing kicks the legs out from under your message, and waters it down.

The most common kind of wimpy writing are “qualifiers.” If you remember what your 7th grade English teacher told you, qualifiers are adjectives and adverbs that limit (”qualify”) your message — thus modifying it — and too often, undercutting it. You’ll find lots of them in your own writing — words like “sort of” and “I guess” and “I think.”

Obviously , there are places where certain adjectives and adverbs are appropriate. Take this sentence:  “The dimpled cloud drifted lazily across the blue sky.” In that example, “dimpled” and “blue” are adjectives, and “lazily” is an adverb. You can see how these words describe (and hopefully enhance) the meaning. Unfortunately, most of us overuse adjectives and adverbs, but that’s a topic for another day.

But too often we use qualifiers as a cop-out, as a way of softening or watering down a statement. Note the wimpy qualifiers in italics: “It’s a piece of junk, in my humble opinion.” “She’s sort of a monster if you ask me.” Maybe it’s a little over the top.”
Whether you’re trying to convey a marketing message or a marriage proposal, state whatever you’re trying to say strongly and clearly. Don’t lie or mislead, of course, but don’t water down your message with wishy-washy qualifiers.

I mean, how would you respond if someone wrote,

“I sort of love you. Will you perhaps marry me? I think I could make you fairly happy.”

Doesn’t exactly sweep you off your feet, does it? Now strip out those wimpy qualifiers and see how much stronger and more confidently it reads:

“I sort of love you. Will you perhaps marry me? I think KNOW I could make you fairly happy.”

Don’t feel bad if you find your own writing peppered with wimpy and unnecessary modifiers. That’s what revising and editing is about. Even professional writers and speakers fall into the habit, as Seth Godin admitted today:

“I noticed a little while ago that I was using the word “just” and the phrase “sort of” in my writing. All the time, in fact. In my last book, a search and replace removed more than 80 unnecessary ‘justs’. Just say it. Don’t hide behind waffling terms that don’t mean anything.”

The always-interesting Freakonomics blog in the NY Times recently cited a recent study that confirms the importance of providing lots of product information in your marketing and sales material.

The MediaPost headline says it all: “Majority Of Online Shoppers Check At Least Four Reviews Before Buying.” Take-away point: A solid 68% do their homework before making a purchase.

As a savvy marketer, how do you respond to this knowledge?

1. First, make sure you satisfy this hunger by providing all the facts and figures your prospects need to make a buying decision. The more complex — or expensive — your product or service, the more information you need to provide.
2. Differentiate yourself. Find something different, unique, special about your widget that nobody else can claim, and emphasize that in your collateral.
3. Make your product data available in a variety of formats to please every kind of buyer: Web page, pdf, print (e.g., spec sheets), free samples, etc. Give the people what they want, the way they want it.
4. Triple-check your facts. Make sure everything is accurate and complete. Fresh eyes find mistakes that eyes tired miss.
5. Add a case study or two. Customer “success stories” demonstrate how you’ve helped other, similar customers in the past. Pretty compelling and persuasive stuff.

Then, of course, you somehow still have to find a way to keep all these facts interesting — better yet, fascinating — to your prospect. After all, you can’t bore someone into buying. A few tips:

• Good copywriting and graphic design are essential. Here’s how it works: An attractive layout catches the eye and encourages further reading. The headline makes you want to read the first sentence. The first sentence makes you want to read the second, then the third, etc.
• Effective copy itself begins by addressing the buyer’s wants, needs, fears, etc. Don’t just start bragging on how great you are. Instead, tell me how my life is going to be better if I make your widget part of my life.
• Balance features and benefits throughout the copy. Don’t just tell me about the advanced anti-lock braking system (feature), for example. Tell me why I should care. Safety, peace of mind, better protection for my loved ones — those are benefits.

And benefits are why people buy.

Seth has a cogent observation about the differences between direct mail, brochures and emails. Basically, most direct mail pieces — and this includes those long direct response Web pages — try to make the sale in one step. The famous (and challenging) “one-call close.” The copywriter tries to think of every possible objection you might have, then shoot it down. That’s why the copy in direct response is so long.

Brochures are different. They’re not trying to make the sale, but simply to move you along to the next step in the selling cycle. Brochures are supposed to make you take some kind of action. (With many, it’s hard to tell exactly what, but that’s because they’re poorly thought-out or badly written.) A brochure, as Seth put it, needs to be “engaging and hopefully viral. But its only job is to keep you in the running, not end in a transaction.”

Then there’s e-mail selling (with permission, of course). That has a whole different zeitgeist. It’s meant to spark a response, “to move a conversation forward, to help you learn a little bit about the person you’re engaging with.”

If your emails read like direct mail letters or look like brochures, Seth observes correctly, you’re wasting time and effort.

I hate sales and discounts — at least for professionals and small businesses. When you lower prices, you’re basically training customers to wait for a lower price before buying– a bad habit.

There are many better ways to drum up business, especially during your slow season. Rather than simply offering discounts, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing suggests thinking of some combination of the following offers:

• Exclusive and private members-only discount sale days
• Community-building events that include the entire family
• Early hours just for current customers, where they get first crack at the newest stuff
• Credits and/or discounts for referrals and passing out gift certificates
• Promotion with a non-profit partner that donates a portion of sales during an exclusive event (you can probably find a way to work this into one of the non-profit’s events).

This approach is much classier than simply lowering prices. First, as Jantsch points out, it rewards your good clients. Plus it motivates prospects to become clients, because they see they get lots of unique benefits when they do.

By the way, this approach isn’t only for retailers. It can work just as well for B2B and even service businesses. So — what are your plans for a summer promotion?

By the way, if you need some professional help writing the copy…

Jansport backpacks have been around since 1967 — the Summer of Love, baby– when Skip Yowell’s cousin had an idea for a better backpack, built around a lightweight, adjustable aluminum frame. Murray formed a company. His girlfriend was a virtuoso on the sewing machine. Murray promised that if she’d marry him, he’d name the company after her. She did, and he did, and JanSport was born.

In 1967, no self-respecting flower child was thinking about business plans. In his book, The Hippie Guide to Climbing the Corporate Ladder & Other Mountains, Yowell describes the JanSport team as “three hippies…no business plan…even less money…All we had was Murray’s innovative design, Jan’s skill, my creative instincts and a shared affinity for Dylan music and beer.”

One message is clear, says StartUpJournal:

Enthusiasm matters. We never really learn, from reading the book, just how much money Mr. Yowell has made or how big his company is. (Answers: a lot and very.) But we do learn about how he took dealers on climbs of Mount Rainier, joined an Everest expedition and got involved in goofy promotions like the “Bak-A-Yak” fundraiser for a Himalayan excursion.

Sounds like having fun is a solid core business principle — one that’s too often neglected in today’s frenzy for power and profits. How about you? Are you having fun yet? If not, maybe you should take a tip from an ex-hippie. Maybe we all should…

Groovy, man!

Who’s your perfect customer? You don’t need to be an FBI profiler to pin down the kind of customer you want.

Now consider: What kind does your marketing actually attract? If there’s a disconnect between the two, you have a serious marketing problem. As Seth put it:

“Many of the products and services we use are now about our identity. Many small businesses, for example, won’t hire a coach or a consultant because, ‘that’s not the kind of organization we are.’ Wineries understand that the pricing of a bottle of wine is more important than its label or the wine inside. Price is the first thing that most people consider when they order or shop for wine. Not because of perceived value, but because of identity.”

One of the most fundamental jobs of your marketing communications is to identify and attract the right kind of customers, i.e., the ones who can relate and identify with what you offer.

If your marketing consistently attracts the “wrong” kind of customers, it’s past time for a marketing makeover.

Thinking of doing a little freelance writing or graphic design work? Or maybe you’re thinking of hiring one.

The Freelance Switch blog has compiled an amusing Guide to Freelancers. It zeros in on 13 common character flaws — oops, breeds — the highs and lows associated with each type, and a glimpse into the impact each type has on clients.

Chances are you’ll see yourself — or someone you’ve hired — in at least one of them. All except me, of course: the “perfect” freelancer