When you look at some photographs you know (or sense) they have been given the technical treatment. Increased contrast, more vibrant colours and even the removal of blemishes.

Not much tampering with the image associated with this blog, however.

You may think the colour of the water in the lake has been made more dramatic in photo editing. I can tell you thats not the case. The water really is that colour.

The picture is of Moraine Lake, a popular tourist attraction in Banff National Park, surrounded by The Canadian Rockies.

The lake is not always this colour. Despite what some Canadians tell American tourists, the lake is not emptied once a year to paint the bottom. There’s a scientific, geological reason.

Moraine Lake takes on this dazzling turquoise appearance towards the summer. It is fed by glaciers so  is at its most full around June. The colour is caused by refraction of light off rock flour – fine-grained rock particles regularly deposited in the lake.

The colour, the vividness, the drama. It’s all created below the surface.

The result breathtakingly beautiful.

It’s no different in sport. The training that a football or rugby team does. The practice put in by tennis players. The work of the engineers to prepare a Formula 1 car for each different race track around the world.

It’s all behind the scenes. Below the surface.

We just see the result during the game, the match or the race.

And it’s a similar thing in marketing.

The words you see on a web page. In an email, On a postcard. In a sales letter. In an advert.

These are the result. What the audience sees.

The product of what goes on before, below the surface.

The craft of the strategic copywriter.

What is not seen by the audience is all the work in the background, below the surface: the brief, the research, the strategy, the tactics, the attention to detail, the scientific approach, the use of psychology and influence. Then the art of writing the words to create a desired outcome.

When it looks effortlessly good and delivers natural results, it’s a sign of high performance.

If your copy is looking a bit grey, you may want to look for someone who can make it dazzle like a glacial lake (hint: you don’t have to look too far).