the art of copywriting with Jacques de Villiers By Nikita Gomes Achadinha Writing. When I hear that word I automatically think of ink, pens, paper, the good ol’ days. In reality, that’s all very much a thing of the past; nowadays we are all so attached to our BlackBerrys, iPads and computer screens that physically picking up a pen and writing something down feels unnatural. However, some traditions need to be kept alive, certain old practices still work today and, in some cases, the methods and theories developed in the dinosaur years are still the most effective ones today. This is certainly true for copywriting in the marketing and sales industry, or so believes Jacques de Villiers, who says it’s still copy that really drives your sales. I sat down to get a closer look at his reasoning following his address at the Marketing Indaba – if you are starting a business or have a brand that perhaps needs to refresh its marketing strategies, now would be a good time to start paying attention. De Villiers started out in sales but soon realised that generating leads was a huge part of good sales practice and was brought on by marketing, promoting him to enter the marketing arena. “People say, ‘I want a marketer or a copywriter’, no you don’t. You want someone who can generate leads and can help you convert them; that is all you want and that is what this business is about.” Funny how I have always thought of marketing and sales as separate entities, but as de Villiers pointed out, while the sad reality is that they are disconnected, they should be working together. “They don’t have a common vision; they don’t understand that they are actually working towards the same thing.” Humorously, he explains how sales people tend to see marketers as “prima donnas”, while marketers see sales types as being quite “boorish” as they are the ones that attack the sale. “Marketing is Sandton and Sales is Roodepoort.” ood “G ent ont c re”, is ra COUP●JANUARY●2012●04