ebook: Never write boring copy ever again (unless your client wants you to)

Copywriting de-mystified

Welcome to my mini ebook on how to write better copy. Are you new to copywriting and don’t know where and how to start? Or have you been copywriting for a while but hit a bit of a funk? You’ve come to the right place.

I’m going to try to break copywriting down for you as good as I can, plus you’ll get to do some fun exercises to get your creative juices flowing. Here’s what awaits you:

On the agenda

1: The who makes the how (who you’re writing for and what that means)

2: Create your swipe file (for instant inspiration)

3: The key elements of great writing (12!)

4: Why data is your friend (math + writing = awesome)

5: Four great exercises to train your copywriting (fun, fun, fun)

Bonus: how to write awesome headlines (guaranteed foolproof)

Ready? Here we go.

Who you’re (always) writing for

The most important thing to remember when you start writing copy is that your copy has to appeal two different people at any given time:

• the merchant (aka the business that hired you)
• and their desired target audience.

Remember, only one of these people pays you. As much as you may know about the target audience, your copy still needs to appeal to a bunch of people who aren’t in that audience.

While you’re likely being supplied with extensive information about the target audience, only few businesses remember to brief you on their own needs and preferences. It’s your job to inquire about them and figure out the fine differences between how they write for themselves vs how they want to write to please the desired target audience. You can find out a lot about the merchant’s tone of voice by checking their social media, website, and talking to employees. When researching the target audience consider culture, demographics, accents/slangs, as well as current trends.

Your Swipe File

Do this right now. Create a folder on your computer and on your phone. From now on, start saving or screenshotting everything that catches your attention: an ad, a headline, an article, a graphic, a website. If you’re very dedicated, add a note on why you thought that particular thing was awesome. You can also create a reverse swipe file with things you think are especially unappealing.

Browse through your swipe file every time you need inspiration. Trust me, it works.

The key elements of great writing

So how do you write copy that the merchant likes and that appeals to the target audience? The good news is, that even though the writing landscape is constantly changing, the key elements of great writing never change.

1. Always write in second person: You should never write in third person, as this will make it more difficult for the reader to relate. First person only works for very niched products and very rarely is liked by the merchant. Your safest bet is you, you, you.
2. Always tell a story: What makes a movie, play, and novel awesome, can also help your copy. Try to follow the concept of a classic story by dividing your work into at least three acts (introduction, problem, resolution). As soon as you get good, add an opening scene (watch a few episodes of The Office for inspiration). Of course this sounds easy when you think of telling a fictional story and can be more challenging when you write about 3D printers. It helps to imagine the problem the product solves first (act two) and take the narrative from there.
3. Always be visual: In copywriting, you operate under the assumption that only 1 out of 5 readers will read the full piece. You therefore need to invoke a strong image in their mind instantly. Practice by trying to describe a picture in detail in as little words as possible. The golden rule is: the stronger the picture, the higher the conversion.
4. Always read: Honestly, if you don’t like reading, you’re going to have a hard time becoming a better copywriter. On the other hand, you can read pretty much anything — from poetry or the bible to internet comment sections — and still get all the benefits that reading has such as expanding your vocabulary, style, and inspiring your imagination.
5. Always know your voice: Find your tone, then throw it away. It’s important that you are aware of your own writing. Everyone has a personal writing style. Maybe it’s that you like to use a lot of short sentences, maybe it’s that you like writing alliterations or using semicolons. By writing a lot, you’ll become more and more aware of your style which means you can kill it. Yes, you heard me. Copywriting is about not having a biased tone. You need to be able to match the tone of the merchant your writing for. Often they will have a brand book and even if they don’t, they have a tone. Find it. Use it. Challenge it a bit. Get paid.
6. Always focus on benefits, not features: Don’t tell your audience what the product does, tell them why it does it. Why is this important? Because it’s the only way for your reader to imagine themselves using the product which connects to point three — always be visual.
7. Always stay short: Copywriting is supposed to be concise and clear. This means for every single sentence and every single word you write, go back and ask yourself what purpose it serves. Does it need to be there? Can you take it away? ‘Why?’ is the copywriter’s favorite question. If the answer to the question isn’t super clear, you probably don’t need that word or sentence.
8. Always throw in a number: We live in the age of #fakenews, so anything that builds trust is a plus. Trying to sell? Use statistics. Numbers are a great way to build trust and convert. Probably because we all hated math at school and instantly feel like someone knows what they’re talking about as soon as they willingly throw in a number. Ugh.
9. Always have your favorite resources on-hand: Thesaurus and Rhymezone are your friends. Just finding the synonym to a word can evoke an entire load of new potential when I write. The same goes for trying to improve melody by looking up rhyming words.
10. Always choose emotions over logic: People make buying decisions based on emotions, not logic. This (by the way) is my number one rule why companies should hire external copywriters. An external copywriter doesn’t know a product as well as an internal wood and hence the chance that she gets stuck in trying to explain features logically is very slim. She is much more likely to write emotionally about the product form a user perspective. That’s what you want if you want to write stuff that sells.
11. (Always) provoke: I love provoking thoughts, ideas, questions, and inspiration. Both personally and professionally, I believe that provocation is the way to go. This rings true for copy for about 90% of all products. Can you raise a provocative thought or question? Put some sass into your copy and give it some attitude.
12. (Always) be a little ‘extra’: Turn up the emotional volume: happy — overjoyed, satisfied — thrilled, prohibited — outlawed — you’d be surprised how much some exaggeration can do for copy, especially if you’re writing for younger audiences.

Data is your friend

What kind of copy are you writing? Different principles apply to different types of copy. For all of them you have a ton of data to look at and help you figure out what to write and how to write it. You could look at things like:

• Where users drop off on your website
• What questions they have related to your product
• What social media posts create the most engagement

Listen to what customers have to say. What are their motivations? What problems are they trying to solve? Data will especially help you when you’re writing UX and onboarding-related copy, but also contributes to better conversion rates for marketing and sales.

Exercises to improve your copywriting

Before we start with the exercises, lets look at an example of great copy:

“At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”

This copy clearly highlights the benefits of the product rather than the features. It’s also a great example of simple copy, that creates a visual situation for the user to dream themselves into. Instead of selling the obvious feature of the car,(speed, clocking 60 miles an hour) the writer focuses on the benefits of driving a Rolls Royce: the comfort. Many cars can go 60 miles an hour, but the Rolls Royce offers the highest comfort while doing that.

So how did the writer come up with this neat piece of copy? Likely by imagining how the user of the car felt in a certain situation. What problems does the user encounter? By putting yourself into the shoes of someone in your target audience, you will be able to discover certain problems, triggers, and details that will ultimately give you the opportunity to write spot-on copy. In the case of the Rolls Royce, the writer identified that most cars are extremely loud when driving at 60 miles an hour. The Rolls Royce, however, is quiet. This is a key-benefit that, by using the right words, can easily be used to trigger buying decisions.

Think of this example while doing the exercises. And remember: imagination is everything.

Exercise 1: Provocation

User’s Problem: “I want to climb up the corporate ladder, but the competition is fierce. How do I get there?”
Solution by The Economist: Business Intelligence in The Economist will give you a competitive edge over your colleagues.

Try to write a short sentence or tagline that can be used to promote The Economist.

Solution:

Exercise 2: Be blunt

Let’s pretend you are a financial consultant.

You specialize in debt reduction. From your 20 years in the business you know that the dominant desire of those in debt is to get out of debt — quickly.

Your headline might look like this:

• Why Some People Will Never Get Out of Debt

Now take that overriding desire and restate it a number of different ways throughout your copy. And remember: don’t repeat anything you’ve said before. The moment you do, your prospect is gone.

Solution (suggestions):

• Be debt free in 30 days
• What you can do today to be debt free by 2019
• The 10 things that are blocking you from becoming debt free

Exercise 3: Pocket Money

What’s the first thing you ever spent your pocket money on?

Describe the experience as visual as possible. Write it down and read it to yourself (out loud). This exercise both trains the ability to visualize a picture in writing by basing it on a fond memory, while also making it easy to eliminate things that don’t sound right as you read it out loud to yourself.

Exercise 4: Three Breaths

This exercise is ideal for crafting clean language. It involves imagining that you have to run to the top of a steep hill. At the top is your boss and you have just three breaths to relate the key elements of your story. As the base for your story you can pick an experience i.e. your first kiss, buying your last car.

In those three breaths (= three short sentences) try to answer all the questions below:

• Who?
• What?
• Why?
• How?
• Where?
• When?

The sentences should also sum up the situation as a whole. Can you make them fun too?

Tip: Most people tend to forget to answer the why, so make sure you state the purpose in one of your sentences.

Bonus: How to write headlines with guaranteed conversion

Headlines are a tricky thing. When you’re writing articles, blogposts, white papers or pretty much any other marketing material, the headline is what’s initially going to decide if it’s successful or not. In the second it takes to read and process it, your reader will either decide to read it or forget about it forever. The pressure is on.

So what’s the magic that makes a great headline? In recent years you’ve likely seen a lot of discussion around so-called clickbait — headlines specifically designed to make the most amount of people click. That’s not what you’re going for. The difference between a great headline and a clickbait headline is pretty significant: clickbait often times generates exaggerated expectations about the content it advertises. Often times those expectations arent met, leaving readers annoyed or even angry. This is not something any good copywriter should aim for.

In fact, your headline should communicate exactly what’s to expect when reading your piece or watching your video. However, there is a psychological trick you can use to make it more appealing. That trick is focus on focus.

Here’s who it works.

Result Focus

How to get (RESULT) (QUICKLY) (NO RISK)

Example: How to earn 1000 bucks on medium in a month without wasting your time

Situation Focus

If (TRIGGER SITUATION) is happening, then (FEAR) might be true.

Example: If you’re partner has suddenly encrypted his phone, he might be cheating.

Action Focus

What to do if/when (TRIGGER ACTION)

Example: What to do when you have a crush on a coworker

Approach Focus

Why (COMMON SENSE APPROACH) doesn’t work and what to do instead

Example: Why you’re not loosing weight on a low-carb diet and what to do about it

Want to learn more? I have lot’s more to share and offer training, coaching, mentorship, and inspiration on request. Ping me at nicoletellsit@gmail.com or on my website nicoletells.com. This ebook has exercises tailored to individuals, but I designed a workshop for groups up to 20 people based on the same learning. Email me if you’re interested in taking part in my next one.