Copywriting – The Truth on the Streets

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I’m always impressed with copywriting that makes people stop with just a few words. Some of the best I’ve ever seen was not on a business sign, in an email, or anywhere online. It stood on a corner, written on a piece of old cardboard.

Have you ever taken the time to read what’s on the signs of those people who stand on street corners asking for money? Some of them are very clever and make you want to stop and hand out the cash to the person.

Often you see someone with a sign saying they’ll work for food. In my city over the last few years these people have gone from one or two to dozens. There is nearly always someone sitting on a specific corner I frequently pass and it’s rarely the same person. I always slow to read their signs, impressed with the ones who do something original and clever.

Tonight though, I saw something different. I was driving in my car and noticed two men on opposite corners. One of them had a sign that said Homeless, Please Help, God Bless, a normal boring sign that may get him a few handouts but certainly isn’t creative.

The other was far different. Instead of being scruffy, his clothes ragged, he stood in a suit with a bottle of window cleaner and paper towels at his feet. On his sign it read Single Father Trying to Feed My Kids. Will wash windows for $1.

Instantly I was more drawn to him than the other man. In a few simple words he’d reached out and told me all that I needed to know. He’s a father. I don’t know what’s going on in his life but it’s obvious he is desperate, willing to do just about anything to keep his kids fed, clothed, and with a roof over their head. And most of all he isn’t a beggar. Instead of saying he’d work for food he came up with a plan, a plan which would give him the money he needed.

It amazed me how clearly he’d conveyed his message in so short a space. I stopped to watch for a while, seeing the competition between these two men on opposite corners. The scruffy one had the better corner, but time and time again I watched people go out of their way to let this other man wash their windows, giving the scruffy man little, or nothing.

As copywriters you need to be able to do that. You have to take your message and boil it down into something tight that grabs people’s attention and even if there’s no explanation to follow makes them want to stop and hand over their money.

Like the beggar who sits on the corner alone you’ll get a few hits with enough people passing by, but when the other person moves in, offering something more valuable, revealing who they are in nothing but a few words, your customers switch.

I don’t know how many people stopped to get their windows washed, but as I watched this play out I knew more were stopping by him than the homeless man for he had instantly given more worth to the offer. He was willing to work for it.

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