by In this week’s episode of AmyTV we’re looking at the problem of Umbrella Terms, how they creep into your copy to make your marketing bland and, more importantly, what you can do about it.
Watch the episode or read the article below:
What are Umbrella Terms?
Umbrella Terms are used by businesses in their marketing when they’re trying to sum up, in short snippets of content, the entire value of their offer.
You can often see them in bullet points trying to ‘sell’ the idea of a product or service. For example:
- High-quality
- Premium-service
- Industry-leading company
- Experienced-employees
These are examples of Umbrella Terms.
***UPDATE***
Since publishing this post, Urban Renstrom got in touch via Twitter to tell me of this little beautiful cluster of Umbrella Terms he’d recently heard.
And how did those Umbrella Terms go down with Urban?
Needless to say, you do not want your customers to respond like this to your copy
***END OF UPDATE***
Why ‘Umbrella’?
Because the writer is trying to cover a variety of individual features in a short phrase (Click this link to jump to the explanation in the video).
For example:
One of the reasons customers love our kennels is because we go above and beyond for our customer’s dogs. Each dog has their own individual, heated kennel with a separate sleeping area and they get to play 3 times a day in 2-acre field. We have a vet on 24 hour call in case we do need something and each kennel is fitted with a camera so that they can log-in and see how their dog is doing. We also offer local collection and delivery for no extra charge. How do we sum all this up? I know, we’ll tell people it’s a premium service.
So what’s the problem with them?
On their own, these phrases lack impact.
As a customer reading the copy, how do I know it’s high-quality? What makes it a ‘premium’ service over other services?
Customers are cynical. They’re not just going to take your word for it, you have to show them the proof behind the promise.
Otherwise:
- You’re not going to mention anything that resonates with your customer
- Your copy will sound bland – it could be describing anything
- You won’t stand out from the competition
The formula for solving copywriting Umbrella Terms:
The key is to give a little glimpse of a specific feature that warrants the ‘Umbrella Term’
Step 1: List a number of features that made you think of the Umbrella Term.
In the above example it might be: Vet on call, 2-acre play area, collection service.
Step 2: Use this formula:
X + Y (and perhaps) Z = Umbrella
Technical I know. Here’s the visual version:
Why it works
This works because you’re giving your customer something he can really hook into. Rather than using generic content, you’re giving him something that proves your claim, giving it more credibility.
For example:
Premium service: heated kennels, 2-acre playing field and collection service at no extra charge
You don’t have to add in 3 different features (sometimes there just won’t be space) but you should be striving to make each individual sentence or phrase work hard to sell what you do.
You deserve to be heard!
So my question to you is this: look at your landing pages, look at your home page, and track down any Umbrella Terms that might be putting an invisible cloak around you and your business.
What can you do to beef them up and bring them back to life?
Let me know in the comments below…
Great article and I love your videos Amy – good British dry humor. I’m a Brit in the USA so that’s one thing I miss, but at least I get to watch you and your clever marketing ideas.
Time to review my copy as I realize I’ve got lots of umbrellas and I certainly don’t need them in Colorado with over 300 days of sunshine (haha), although it is snowing today. Back to the drawing board so to speak.
Keep up the great work!
Hey Jan! Sorry for the delayed response I ran a marathon the day after your comment and it knocked me for six. 🙂
So pleased you’re enjoying the videos, and yes the British do dry humour well (which is surprising for such a soggy country).
Love the ethos of your site, and thrilled to connect!
Thanks Amy, glad you like it. The thrill is reciprocated! 😀
Excellent topic and video Amy.
Clear over cleaver, simply vs complex. Yes, easy to say yet so so hard to do.
So why do people lose their ‘voice’ when sitting in front of a keyboard? Is it the curse of wanting to sound important. To impress others?
Not sure. What I am sure about is hitting the back button faster than a gunslinger can draw his six-shooter when my eyes land on marketing speak copy.
(leaving to check under the umbrella at my own copy…)
Keep on keeping on
And thanks for Tweet conversation – I thought it was only between you and me thought….
Hey Urban,
Sorry, but your tweet definitely needed more eyes on it. 🙂 Such a good example to show this happens day to day.
It’s funny, in the past when I’ve done client interviews to find out what they do I can almost see them trying to convert what they think is ‘dry and boring’ into something that sounds like ‘marketing’.
They don’t realise that the dry and boring is often where the beauty of their product lies, it just needs a copywriter to bring it to life. A fun task.
Great video Amy. I don’t do copywriting but it pertains greatly to a review site I run. Keep up the great work on your educational and funny vids.
Thanks for your comment Keith! So glad it was useful. 🙂 Do stay tuned.
Great advice Amy. I’m definitely guilty of using umbrella terms in my writing. Ack! Time for me to get specific.
And nice green screen there on your video. Although in your case doesn’t matter what kind of production value you have, because your personality and quality of your content is why I love to watch your videos. 🙂
Thanks Marlene!
Don’t get me wrong, we all use them for sure, the key is to try and back them up wherever possible so you’re making your copy work hard for you. One thing you can do is build a document which lists what you are (high-quality etc), and then in a column next to it, the reasons WHY. That way you’ve got an easy reference sheet to keep you focused. (And it makes writing copy easier and faster!)
And I am LOVING the green screen. Hopefully I can keep upping my production (but great to know you watch me regardless of my filmmaking foibles!) 🙂
Brilliant and so true. Thankyou
Ahh, thanks for watching and commenting!