As some of you may know I’m about to launch a Copywriter Mentoring program. As part of that, I’ve been “head down” putting together training material on the traits of highly successful copywriters. Before long, my thought processes soon turned to the Male vs Female debate. More specifically, I started to ponder the question, “Who’s better?”
Guys overall? Girls overall? Or does it depend on the product they’re writing about?
To start with, from what I’ve seen, there is no connection between gender and copywriting skill.
But what if the product is gender-specific? If selling motor vehicle accessories, is it better to use a male copywriter? If selling female beauty products, is it better to use a female copywriter?
The most obvious way for me to answer would be to say to use females for female-focused products and males for male-focused products, but is that the best solution?
Obviously, just because a copywriter is of a certain gender it doesn’t mean they can write words that sell.
And consider this too, just because a copywriter is male, it doesn’t mean he naturally can relate to all male-focused products. Nor does it mean he naturally writes in a masculine way and vice versa.
Having said that, I feel that masculine and feminine energy does play a major role in writing great copy, in the following two ways. The copywriters who can embody both of these traits (and know how to sell) are true masters:
a.Empathic – the greatest copywriters I know are empaths. In other words, we are energetically sensitive and can tune into the needs/feeling of an audience at a kind of psychic kind of level. It enables us to relate (at a very deep level) to what customers are going through.
b.Hormone/Energy NOT gender-related – yes, it’s about hormones and energy. People with a good dose of masculine energy find it easier to write in a masculine style than people without.
Let me explain …
It’s no secret that (regardless of sexual orientation) certain women have much higher levels of testosterone than others. Agree? Women who naturally operate with a lot of “yang” (masculine) energy are often strong, confident, and driven and can often be seen in leadership positions.
Conversely, certain guys naturally operate with higher levels of “yin” or feminine energy than other guys. Yes?
A colleague of mine is a classic example of having a good mix of both yin and yang, and consequently he is a genius at relating to both sexes. When speaking with me alone he talks “woman”. He talks about feelings, sometimes he gets teary-eyed, his sentence-length gets longer and he uses softer, flowing words.
Then just recently I saw him in a group setting with a bunch of blokes. It was like seeing a different person. He was loud. Talked in shorter sentences. Sharp words. More grunt. More – let’s do it! Massive “alpha male” thing going on!
Brilliant. The same happens for me. When it comes to how I operate in business, I’m 50/50 feminine and masculine. I can easily flip between soft and fluffy, romantic, heart-centred words and masculine, pragmatic, cut-to-the-chase kind of copy.
So – forget gender and consider first and foremost, can that person write words that sell regardless of their gender.
Second – if you need a specific gender-bias in your copy, does the writer have the empathic ability and the right “energy” (masculine or feminine) to easily relate to the kind of copy that needs to be written.
There are more qualities to look for but I’ll address them in future blogs.
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