World Copywriting Blog: What I Realized About Copywriting From Watching A Football Game On TV

I’ve been following the rising fortunes of the University of Michigan Wolverines, and yesterday I heard some commentary from ESPN analyst Urban Meyer that really got me thinking.

If you follow football, you know that Meyer has been an extraordinarily successful college football coach as well, at the University of Florida.

During Michigan’s rout of the Nebraska team, the question came up among the commentators: Why was the team’s defense doing so much better this year than last year? Many of the same players, but awesomely improved results.

I’m pretty sure it was Meyer (hard to tell for sure when listening to three trained “announcer” voices amid a lot of crowd noise) who said that there’s a progression of feelings among players that determines performance:

Trust, in the coach, leads to belief.

And belief, in turn, leads to confidence.

Confidence, then, is what gets the team to play better, and get those awesomely improved results.

That little chain of cause and effect has had my head spinning.

What he said is true, in my experience, and not just in football.

Certainly in copywriting and sales.

If people trust you, they will believe you. They will have confidence in what you say. And they will be more likely to buy.

I think this formula is true in all of life, too.

It probably sounds simplistic to the disengaged. That is, if you do not have skin in the game and do not understand difficulties of actually establishing trust in this world, but are looking at it from afar, you might think, “Well, that is like saying water is wet, and wetness causes dampness, which leads to humidity.”

All well and good.

But once you are actually in the fight and you’re depending on finding people you can trust and gaining the trust of others, Urban Meyer’s statement becomes profound and worth remembering.

So let me ask you:

Do you agree?
How do you gain trust in others, in your copy, and otherwise?
What leads you to trust? To distrust?

This stuff matters. I’d like to know what you think.

David Garfinkel

Co-founder, FastEffectiveCopy

Comments

Thanks David... very interesting.

I agree that creating trust is a
critical first step in communication, leadership,
sales, coaching etc.

I might suggest though,
that belief is a bigger step than
confidence.

So, in the 3 part model we are discussing,
I suggest that it's

1. Trust
2. Confidence
3. Belief

Thanks for the thoughtful
and interesting article!

Posted by: Jim | November 20, 2011 at 12:39 PM

Thanks, Jim.

I wouldn't know which comes first
(or second), but I am certain
they are all important.

I appreciate your comment, Jim.

Posted by: David Garfinkel | November 20, 2011 at 08:56 PM

If people don't believe in you, you wont gain confidence.
usually you gain trust in your copy if your'e telling the truth in what you write, people will eventually know that you write he truth, you gain their trust.
Trust & distrust I believe depends on the honesty & sincerity of a writer.
Anyway thanks for the post