𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗕𝘂𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗱 𝗮 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗛𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀

I can’t remember much of what my first-grade teacher said.

But I can still remember those school bus mornings.

Back then, school buses didn’t have seatbelts. At least ours didn’t.

When the driver made a sharp turn, you’d better have a firm grip on the seat. Otherwise, you’d find yourself sprawled on the floor.

And then there was breakfast.

Parents would fill their children’s stomachs with sugary cereal before shoving them onto a bus that bounced and rattled like a paint shaker.

Just about every morning, somebody threw up.

It was practically a rite of passage.

Here’s the thing:

I couldn’t tell you what my teacher taught us on any particular morning. But decades later, I can still picture that bus, feel the turns, and remember the unfortunate fate of somebody’s bowl of Frosted Flakes.

There’s a useful copywriting lesson hiding in all that childhood misery:

𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘃𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.

Suppose you’re selling a rugged wristwatch. You could tell people it’s extremely durable.

Or you could describe how it survived a three-story fall onto concrete without missing a second.

One is a claim. The other puts a little movie in the reader’s head. That’s the difference between making a statement and planting an image in someone’s head.

One disappears almost immediately. The other can stick around for decades.

RW

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