Thesis Statements Rule

In my undergraduate years, I was keenly interested in the approval of my profs. While writing came pretty naturally to me, I was a story teller, not an essay writer. The idea of giving away my whole idea up front was startlingly adverse for a novel writer.
I got over it.
Then I received my first 300 Composition 101 essays! I was transformed. 299 of the essays were nearly indecipherable. The writers had given me no clues as to where they were going. The essays were either idea-less or had so many ideas jammed into them that I couldn't make sense of them. Very few had identified their "thesis."
And then I understood the importance of the thesis statement.
Ad writing, marketing and fund raising is no different. The offer is the thesis statement. The copy writer should never start writing a letter without a clear and succinct offer. Starting with the response form or devise is a great idea. The designer should not begin to design or lay out the piece without clearly understanding what the offer is.
All of the information, writing, content, design -- everything -- hinges on the offer.
We slide past this too often. We assume we know where we're going. Then, half way there, we take out the map and refocus on our goal. Getting lost in mid-stream is a waste of valuable time.
The second thing I learned in Composition 101 is that words should be chosen for the audience. Even as I write it, it seems like such a simplistic point. But all of my clients get hung up on this. Using words that have an affinity to the corporate structure or internal language builds barriers for the donor/customer.
We were chatting around the pool one fine summer morning. Our guest was a young man from Japan who spoke impeccable English. He had learned this impeccable English at school. He could only grasp about half of what I said. I was stunned to realize how much I spoke in metaphors and allusions that were Canadian specific (or at least North American). My colloquial speech had not been covered in his English classes.
Our clients, donors and customers don't live in our corporate structures or contexts. We need to speak to them in language they understand.