Beware of “that” when writing.
When writing marketing copy, you must entice the reader. Compel them, energize them, and speak to their needs and your solutions. Marketing copy writing must be bold, confident, assertive.
All too often, it is not. It is passive, weak, mealy-mouthed. Passive writing hedges, prevaricates, and in general avoids direct speech. Fortunately, there is a sign of passive writing. The word ‘that’ is like a canary in a coal mine. It is often a warning indicator of passive verb use, especially of “to be.” Let’s look at some examples:
“The new olive oil & tarragon cooking spray, that will be available today, is a great bargain.”
Hmmm. So the cooking oil is available, but you don’t sound sure. What? Let’s try a rewrite …
“The new olive oil & cooking spray is available today, and is a great bargain.”
Which (a word for another day) sentence is more confident? Which is more bold? Often, the word ‘that’ is simply overused. Obviously, there are many places where ‘that’ is a perfectly acceptable word. Such as when it is used as an adverb: “The soup wasn’t that awful,” or as a demonstrative adjective: “That car is fast.”
You can easily improve the confidence of your writing and reduce your word count by looking for ‘that’ and eliminating it.
It’s that simple.