5 Things J Peterman Taught Me about Copywriting

Content is king, and no one knew that better than Seinfeld’s J Peterman. The eccentric world traveler, his products always had a story behind them.

Peterman would have loved today’s marketing environment. In a world where brands create more content than ever, he would have been right at home. See, you can read a million articles on content strategy and they would probably be very helpful, but at the end of the day you have to tell a story, and boy could Peterman tell a story. A few things I picked up from him:

1. Embellish

Sometimes, you have to embellish a little to tell a great story. I don’t recommend you lie, but there are certain ways to make situations and scenarios sound more interesting than they might actually be.

2. Be Enthusiastic 

If you don’t love what you’re writing, it’s probably going to show. You can’t tell a story or communicate an idea without believing in it.

3. Expand Your Vocabulary

Expanding your vocabulary gives you a war chest of descriptive words to help with any article. This will really come in handy when writing about a repetitive subject. Just don’t go overboard and used big words just to sound smarter – people easily see through that.

4. Assemble a Team

You always need someone to bounce ideas off of, having a team of creatives is a good place to start. They can provide feedback, as well as help further develop partial ideas you may have.

5. Be Eccentric 

Throw in a little dash of eccentricity into your writing, it could help boost the creative process.

Here’s a great clip of Peterman in action: