From The Copywriter Underground:

My English teacher said parentheses were the tools of lazy writers. Wikipedia says "In most writing, overuse of parentheses is usually a sign of a badly structured text."

All true. But irrelevant.

In skilled hands, a parenthetical statement enclosed in parentheses will help bridge the gap between writer and reader, puncturing the invisible barrier between the two. (See what I mean?)

They give you the ability to step out of the copy and into the reader's space. You can even share what feels like a private joke (just don't tell anyone else!), transforming your reader from skeptic to confidant.

Here are a few ways you can put them to work.