Copywriting Lessons
Introduction: Copywriting Lessons
Some time ago I got an email from Ryan Deiss from DigitalMarketer.com with subject line What is Copywriting? The email was written by Ben Griffin, primary copywriter at DigitalMarketer. His blog post is chock full of solid copywriting lessons.
This got my attention because one of the early “business in a box” ideas I implemented was on the subject of copywriting – sharing materials from Bret Thomson, a leading Australian copywriter.
Copywriting Defined
Now I did read the blog post. I must say I thought it could have been a whole lot better. It just seems to ramble along in a train of thought sort of way. Now there are some key messages starting with what copywriting is summarised in a few words
Copywriting is the reason why people buy something
or
If you have a product that you’re trying to sell to people — you need copywriting.
I think it needs to be stated more strongly than that – all those years ago I wrote the copy for my copywriting landing page along these lines
(The doyen of advertising,) David Ogilvy told us to “Write Copy that Sells”. New Age (digital) marketing tells us to write copy that COMPELS people to buy.
Copywriting is the words that you use that takes the man in the street on a journey of discovery about your offer that compels them to part with their money and to buy.
Copywriting versus Content Writing
In defining what copywriting is Ben Griffin also talks about what copywriting is not. He draws the distinction between copywriting and content writing.
- Copywriting crafts the words that compel the reader to take some action (to buy or sign up or volunteer information)
- Content writing is all the other words that go around the topic – e.g., the words in a blog post like this; the detailed features and benefits in a sales letter.
Don’t get me wrong content writing is important as it gives great context to help the prospect journey – the journey along the KNOW, LIKE and TRUST path that Dean Holland, my mentor likes to talk about.
Copywriting is what tips them over the edge to become positive action takers
Copywriting is Changing?
Ben Griffin argues that copywriting has changed in the era of digital marketing because of the huge amount of copy the man in street faces every day pouring in from headlines and social media and billboards and advertising and, and, and…
I am not convinced that this is right. My friend, Pete Godfrey the Wizard of Words, started his life in copywriting doing direct response mail – i.e., writing stuff that got put into envelopes. He keeps telling me that the stuff he used then still works now in a digital age. He says it is all about:
- Crystallise the problem
- Show them a solution
- Convince them it will work and show them the value of problem solved.
That has not changed. Maybe what has changed is people have become a whole lot more scientific about the (psychological) techniques they use. What used to be instinct and gut feel is now science.
What is very clear though is one has to do a lot better to grab attention and to build the case for COMPELLED TO BUY than was the case before the explosion of Internet delivered content.
Specific Copywriting Strategies
The rest of the blog post gives some specific strategies of things that work now. Mostly, I used Ben Griffin’s sequence here (but I combined 5 and 6 into one).
- The Power of One. How to capture that one good tipping point that takes the prospect to COMPELLED. It might be a good idea, or a good story, or a statement of the obvious or a core emotion
- Verb, Noun, Goal. Take action to help a prospect achieve some desired state
- Keep it Simple. We have heard this a million times before BUT in copywriting it is about writing to an 8th grader level of understanding. Simple ideas and simple words
- Focus on Benefits not Features. What difference will your product or service make to your prospects’s life
- and 6. Fear of Missing Out. Scarcity and urgency may be hackneyed and over-used approaches but they sure knock out procrastination
- was 7. Use Customer’s Language. The Wizard of Words always talks about writing for one person – the reader is the prospect. As writers we need to meet our prospects where they are – share in their feelings and pain and effort and disappointment and joy and excitement. Be very aware though that strategies 5 and 6 get in the way of doing that.
Key Copywriting Lessons: Test and Retest
Of course, you will never get it right first time – the blog ends with this key piece of advice. The key to successful copywriting is not just about strategies and tricks and words. It is about testing stuff and changing stuff that does not work.
If you’re not hitting the nail on the head with your copywriting and getting the conversion you hoped for, don’t freak out. Remember—the not-so-secret secret about copywriting and marketing is to keep testing your copy over and over and over again.
Read the blog post here What is Copywriting?
Dan Kennedy – Master Copywriter
In the last ten days of August 2019, the doyen of modern copywriting, Dan Kennedy penned the last letter to his No Bullshit Marketing community as he entered the last stage of life in a hospice. This letter got people writing.
I find myself in the unusual position of regretfully announcing my death. Usually people are having to do the opposite; deny rumors of their passage.
He asked to include two cartoons – not dead yet was his message
Read the full letter here
Dan Kennedy influenced so many copywriters and marketers, especially Internet Marketers. The tributes flowed when his letter came out – here are a few samples culled from Facebook from amongst my friends – copywriters and internet marketers all.
So it is fitting to remember a few Dan Kennedy quotes reminding us of key copywriting lessons
Get a fix on the prospect/customer/client and on his or her desires; failing to do so will undermine all your other efforts.
Do not arrive as an interruption or disruption, attempting to divert your reader’s attention from the object it is focused on, fighting to interest him in something different from what he is already, at this moment, interested in. Instead, align yourself with the subjects already possessing his attention, the matters already garnering his interest, the self-talk conversation already occurring in his mind, and the conversations he is already having around the water-cooler at work or at the kitchen table at home with peers, friends, and family.
And this one to end
My Copywriting Journey
Over the years I have been on a copywriting journey too. I launched the copywriting business in a box from Bret Thomson. I also got to know the Wizard of Words, Pete Godfrey, another Australian copywriter. This is a long story but I did obtain the rights to sell two of his products and never really got those off the ground. Just never got around to it even though I promised a long time ago that it was coming soon. His stuff is rock solid and built from a long journey of his copywriting lessons. More about that in time but you can jump onto what I did start by clicking the image below – 5 free reports from Bret Thomson.
Credits
Dan Kennedy image is copied from his Amazon page. This is his best selling book – grab yours now and find out what everyone is raving about
