"Yours are the only emails I actually open and read" - a regular reply in my inbox since 2009...and I'll bet in yours, too, once you subscribe and learn by pure, lazy osmosis to become the most compelling writer around. That said, no promises on improving your moral character.
Don’t let me see you using this F-word
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Hiiii! I’m very proud, because a li’l rant I recorded a couple of weeks ago has turned the marketing world on its head. It was about my latest pet peeve F-word. You know I’m a big f’ing fan of the original F-word, even if I don’t always spell it out in my emails. I’m also fond of variations like fakakta (Yiddish) and FUBAR (military speak), as well as the portmanteau — or fortmanteau if you will — fugly, and its mini-me, fug. So, obviously, it’s a different F-word. And since I publicly hated on it, I haven’t seen it used once. (As if! Its use has actually spread like measles in Texas.) The new one that has me bitch-slapping everyone who uses it (in my head) is… FLUFF. Or, rather, the claim, “no fluff.” I see it or hear it like, three times a day. I’ve been hate-curating a collection of examples: “No fluff, just actionable strategies.” Why the hate? First, it’s so AI. ChatGPT lurvvvvves it. (Shoutout to my friend Michelle Martello, who used “No filler, no fluff” as a tagline long before ChatGPT entered, well, the chat. She’s off the hook for my anti-fluff rage.) Second, the word itself is so overused, it’s become white noise — and therefore, actual fluff. Most of all, it’s a waste of copy real estate. Is the absence of fluff an exciting prospect? I get that no one wants to waste their time. But is anyone's first concern, when they sign up for something, that there’s going to be fluff? Is that what you’re wondering when your finger’s hovering over the buy button? “Sounds great, but…will there be fluff? Oh wait, I almost missed it right there in the headline. It says no fluff. I’m sold!” It reminds me of a now-closed store in my neighborhood that I stopped going into, even though I liked the clothes. The owner always lurked outside the dressing room, and when I came out to look in the mirror (which, btw, F off for not putting it inside the dressing room), he’d say “That’s a really well-made dress. It’s not junk.” Huh? It never would’ve occurred to me that it was junk. Why are you even planting that seed? Tell me, “That dress looks so great on you. You’re gonna end up wearing it to everything.” Or tell me a gorgeous celeb just bought the same dress. Tell me what it is, not what it’s not. And in that spirit, I’ll be teaching my legendary class, Emails That Sell, live on October 29th. Instead of telling you that it’s not junk and there’ll be zero fluff, how about I tell you that the only reason you might leave in the middle is because I’ve gotten you so fired up to write an entertaining, high-converting email to your list that you can’t focus on anything else. If there’s fluff, it’ll be the kind that’s great on peanut butter.* Oh, one more thing. Hmm, this is awkward: It was still a great interview. Listen here. xoLaura PS - *God, haven’t had that in decades! Do they still make it? PPS - Why yes, they do. And wow, it’s nearly as cheap as Morton salt. I might buy it, but first I need to know…is it free of fluff? PPPS - Here’s the video of my rant, if you want to feel the full impact of my fury
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Thank you for reading and sharing, |
Laura Belgray (Talking Shrimp)
"Yours are the only emails I actually open and read" - a regular reply in my inbox since 2009...and I'll bet in yours, too, once you subscribe and learn by pure, lazy osmosis to become the most compelling writer around. That said, no promises on improving your moral character.
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