What Copywriters Can Learn From a Good Old-Fashioned Ghost Story
Basic human psychology is the foundation of every good advertisement and successful scary story
When Edgar Allan Poe was a child, his family once drove past a cabin with graves in the yard. Seeing the gravestones, young Poe called out, “They will run after us and drag me down!”
Funny, I wonder how many people fear something similar when they see a group of marketers standing by. As the saying goes, marketers ruin everything. So today, let me ruin horror stories by comparing them to marketing copy.
You’re welcome.
In the spirit of Halloween, I purchased my first ghost story in years: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. I was hooked by the first paragraph and finished the book in just two sittings, less than 24 hours after picking it up from Barnes & Noble.
It dawned on me that the best scary stories are like the best ads: you can’t look away.
This comparison begged the questions: what techniques do horror authors use to seize their reader’s attention? Could copywriters borrow some of their writing methods to improve sales?
I’m not suggesting we should scare readers into making purchases — only that we should consider borrowing some of the stylistic choices from horror to make our marketing copy more compelling.
Here are three things copywriters should learn from the craft of ghost story writing.
1. Life or Death: The Stakes Must Be High
What are the worst scary story endings? The ones that cancel out all progress or torment that took place within the story. Your scary story had better not end with, “and after she lost everything, Claire woke up and saw it had all just been a dream.”
Nothing was gained, nothing was lost.
Those endings aren’t clever. They make the reader feel like you wasted their time. No matter the thrills that took place in your story, the stakes were ultimately too low for the reader to care.
In horror and copywriting, the stakes must be high enough for readers to maintain a vested interest in what you’re selling. The best way to do that is to understand some core human motivations: fear, excitement, hunger, social pressure, or our desire to maintain a certain appearance.
You’re never just selling a product or service. You’re selling the emotions behind the reader’s search for your solution.
My favorite recent example of this was a headline I came up with for a tech recruiter’s website. Instead of simply saying, “Hire top candidates for your role,” I went deeper.
I took the messaging to an emotional place and wrote: “Stop missing out on top candidates.”
Same message, but the stakes were much, much higher in the second phrasing. Your copy should answer the question: what is the opportunity cost of not working with you?
The right stakes, clearly stated, cause their own form of haunting.
2. Tease Something Valuable
The protagonist of any scary story must have a will of their own, something to pursue. What experience, treasure, or outcome causes them to keep going, no matter the fear or odds?
Without this element of purpose, a character comes across as a prop that only exists to eventually be consumed by a monster lurking in the dark. The reader might as well root for the monster since it at least has motivations: hunger, murder.
The same is true in copywriting. Does the reader get to the bottom of your landing page and shrug, “So what?” That’s a sign that the reward wasn’t clear enough.
Consider this example. On the surface, the topic of personal finance seems dry and calculated, about as emotional as a spreadsheet. Dig a little deeper, and you realize personal finance is brimming with some of the most powerful emotions of any industry. Proficient copywriters in the personal finance space know how to capture that emotion to drive sales.
Look at some of the landing pages on Ramit Sethi’s website, IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com. Ramit’s team often begins their landing pages with a couple of “What if’’ sentences to help readers dream big about where their financial life could be.
Your imagination gets fixed on this copy-induced fantasy of a life where your relationship with money is suddenly improved.
Now, all Ramit’s team has to do is convince you that their courses can deliver on that big dream. Details, details.
3. Use Syntax Strategically to Heighten Anticipation
One of the first rules you learn as a copywriter is to use short words and sentences. Keep it simple, teachers say. Avoid jargon. Don’t use a long sentence when two short sentences will do.
Some horror authors may beg to differ.
“Periods provide natural pauses for readers to take a breath, but if you stretch out your sentences, you build anticipation for the reader — which they might not even realize until they reach the end of the sentence. By using tactics like this, you immerse the reader into your horror story, making them feel what the main character feels and creating a heart-pounding connection.”
One of the keys to good writing is variation. Sentences of varied length add rhythm to your prose. As Steven Pinker says, “You can write with clarity and with flair, too.”
I agree that copywriting should be simple. But a good writer will craft simple sentences of every length without losing their clarity or punch. The right placement of long sentences can pull a potential customer further down the page with rushing anticipation.
Varying sentence length is also a sign of confidence and control, which can foster trust. Gain their trust, and the reader will follow you —even into haunted houses and (slightly less haunted) sales pages.
Make Your Ad a Page-Turner
An understanding of basic human psychology — what motivates us, scares us, and causes us to act or hold back — is the foundation of every good advertisement and successful scary story.
At the end of the day, the elements that produce powerful sales copy are the same that attract us to our favorite stories. Sure, you can learn a lot about copywriting by reading articles about conversion rate optimization or how to write a headline.
But perhaps the best persuasive formulas are hidden much closer to heart, in the stories we just can’t put down.
