Show, don't tell

(This originally appeared in my newsletter. Sign up now to get content like this, for free, every two weeks.)

Fifteen years ago, I took a class on scriptwriting at university. One of the big things they taught us in that class was "show, don't tell."

I don't remember much from that class (it was 15 years ago!), but I do remember this. It's pretty straightforward stuff. If you're introducing a character with a particular trait, don't just tell the audience that the character has that trait. Show them.

It's the difference between saying "that person is clumsy," and saying "he had yogurt all over himself from when he had spilled his breakfast for the third time that week."

I till think about this a lot because it's just as relevant in copywriting or any other kind of writing as it is in scriptwriting. It's particularly relevant when you're trying to convince people to do something, like sign up for a mailing list or buy your product

Nobody cares about all your experience

I was thinking about this because I recently saw a professional services firm put the classic line on their website: "we have more than 100 years of combined experience."

This is so common, particularly in professional services like accounting, PR, marketing, design and so forth.

It makes some sense. Experience is valuable! So highlighting how much your team has can seem like a good way to differentiate yourself from the competition.

But here's the problem: when you do that, you're only telling your audience how experienced you are. You're not showing them the value of that experience.

So rather than write how much experience you have, it makes more sense to write some of the big things you've achieved over the course of those years. You can still say (or imply) how much experience you have - but do that by talking about your achievements and the value you've created, rather than just saying the number of years in isolation.

(I wrote about this on Linkedin a bit ago).

An example in the wild

Now let's take a look at someone who's doing a good job of showing rather than telling.

This is a Facebook ad from a guy named Scott Galloway. The purpose of this ad is to get you to sign up to his weekly newsletter. Here it is:

An example in the wild

Now let's take a look at someone who's doing a good job of showing rather than telling.

This is a Facebook ad from a guy named Scott Galloway. The purpose of this ad is to get you to sign up to his weekly newsletter. Here it is:

Rather than tell us that Galloway is an experienced expert who is worth listening to, they show us the different things that he's done over the course of his career. Founded businesses, sat on boards of directors, voted best business school professor, etc.

Then they hit you with one that's not like the others: over a million people tune into Galloway's newsletter.

Not only has has he done heaps of things, he's also listened to by more than a million people every week. That is a lot.

Each of these shows you a different aspect of why Galloway's newsletter is worth signing up for. They never tell you how great it is, or how experienced he is. They show you by offering proof.

(And notice that they never mention how many years of experience he has. They don't need to, because they just showed us what he's done instead.)

Try it out

Take a look at the information you're using to persuade people in your own writing. Could be as simple as the way you write an email to your boss. Every time you find yourself telling why someone why something is important, see if you can show them instead. If you can, your writing will be tighter, more interesting and ultimately more effective.

Give it a go, and let me know how you get on.

If you like what you just read, you can get content like this delivered straight to your inbox at 6am every second Monday. Sign up now.