<p><strong>Small details</strong> often mark the difference between promotional materials that motivate your prospects and those that are quickly tossed aside.</p> <p>One of those details is flow... how the words roll through your reader's minds, carrying them onward through your message.</p> <p>You know what I mean. Sometimes you try to read something and an awkward sentence acts like someone pulled the emergency brake. You come to a screeching halt, re-read the sentence a couple of times, and then haltingly go forward. The momentum is gone, along with most of the enthusiasm you had for learning what the writer had to say.</p> <p>When it's something you're required to read, research on a subject of importance, or new news that could affect your life, you struggle through it.</p> <p>But when it's a marketing message, you're more apt to just move on, deciding your time could be better spent doing something else.</p> <p>Copywriters use all sorts of flow techniques that would make their high school English teachers cringe &ndash; and hand out an "F." Things like beginning a paragraph with "and," using plenty of ellipses and dashes, and writing incomplete sentences. We do that because that's how people talk in real life. (Probably even that English teacher.)</p> <p><strong>So what about the threes?</strong></p> <p>When you're giving reasons why your prospects should choose your product, your service, or your cause, three seems to be the number keeps the copy moving forward while still offering enough information to be convincing.</p> <p>I know, you may have 15 reasons, but you can probably pare them down to the 6 or 9 most compelling, divide them into logical groups, and space them throughout your message.</p> <p>If you try to list all 15 in one paragraph, your readers may not make it past number 7 - if they get that far.</p> <p><strong>Note: </strong>If you do have a long list of features or benefits that should be placed together, put them into a bulleted list. That sets them apart visually and makes it easy for your reader to skip through and catch the ones most important to him or her.&nbsp; And that's all any of them are searching for.&nbsp;</p> <p>A second tip that can help you keep your readers interested is to cut the fluff - and cut the paragraph length.</p> <p>We all have friends who write long emails - rambling on about who knows what and never stopping for a breath of air - otherwise known as a paragaph break. Reading their messages is a chore, rather than a pleasure.</p> <p>So before you call your copy finished, go back and remove anything that doesn't add to the message. Yes, a story is good - but only if it reinforces the message you want to send. Cut out&nbsp; words like "that" and "just" unless they're vital to the sentence.</p> <p>Next, take a sledgehammer to the long blocks of copy! Break them apart into splinters that are easily read and easily digested. This is important in all mailings, and doubly important in email and web copy where it's harder for a person's eye to stay focused on the line.<br /></p> <p><strong>Check your work!</strong> Before you send an e-mail, print a letter, or send any promotional material off, read it aloud. See if it flows easily. If it does, wonderful! But if you stumble in a spot or two, take the time to re-write that section until it does flow. The very last thing you want to do to any of your prospects is cause them to disregard your message!</p> 2008-11-20T22:26:52Z -15.0602 243 2290 true 15 3973 using-threes-to-make-your-message-flow 2 2008-11-24T21:08:33Z 2008-11-24T21:08:33Z

Easy reading is the mark of a promotion that gets read - that and a good message, of course. The rule of threes is just one of many tactics good copywriters use to keep the copy flowing.

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