Figure out the one, strongest emotional 'hot button' directly connected to the primary benefit that your ideal buyer will enjoy once they have bought your offer.
Build your entire message around the various dimensions and aspects of that one thing.
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Submitted by Timothy “Sully” Sullivan
While writing copy, try short sentences with brevity as often as possible.
But for instance if you have one long sentence, always use Ellipsis...
And convert it into two short ones.
P.S. Write for readers with 7th grade mindset.
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Submitted by Deepak Chawla
Salespeople should be reading these tips.
So much of selling is written, and today's short attention spans demand that salespeople write crisp, compelling emails and proposals. Good copywriters know how to do that.
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Submitted by Brendan McAdams
Read other people’s copy, deeply.
Notice the mechanics of how your favorite newsletter or brand set up a call to action. Read poetry, feel the feels, and try to emulate the emotional transfer between author and reader. Find nuance in newspaper headlines and leads.
Great writing is everywhere (one read through these comments confirms that). Slowing down to appreciate it — and understand what makes it slap -- has improved my own writing tremendously.
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Submitted by Bruce Fryer
Being a perfectionist often holds me back. It’s taken a good while to accept that my first draft won’t be award-winning.
Tip? Write shit. Brain splatter over the page, don’t worry about grammar, use basic descriptive words if you have to. Your story will still be in there and you can finesse it after a cuppa.
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Submitted by Eppie Shepherd
Try very hard not to publish a sentence with a hendiadys* modifying another hendiadys. If you do, you’ve just interrupted your reader’s regularly scheduled comprehension of prose with a “table” they must construct in their heads.
I don’t think they’ll appreciate it.
*Hendiadys: a writing feature identifying an abstract concept, with contributing ideas x and y, as “x and y” instead of “x-ish y” or “x-ly y” (or better yet, single word z if you can find one). You may see it with lists of 3 or more ideas in really gnarly cases.
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Submitted by Alexander Dave McMath
Get your user experience right, and your marketing will write itself.
Look to your customer testimonials for inspiration. The features that resonate with one buyer may provide the content/messaging that persuades and interests another buyer from your ideal customer group.
If someone says they loved X and it saved them 4 hours on a process, use that in emails, on social, on your site. That's the kind of social proof your audiences are looking for.
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Submitted by Natalie Tate
Read it out loud to see if it flows.
It's completely different from reading it in your head.
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Submitted by Mark Hibbitts
Your copy should be focused on meeting your reader where they are in their own story.
And your copy should move them forward, in a positive direction, after reading it.
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Submitted by Cuyler Callahan
When you write for the spoken word -- you need the spread to catch cadence and pause. A paragraph really has no place to go with well written fast driven speech. Every line must be a zinger. This is scripting.
On the other hand, speech that narrates or orates wants bigger chunks. Gettysburg Address was I think five paragraphs with lots of punchy sentences.
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Submitted by Steve Czajkowski
Got The Blank Page Blues? Years ago this was an affliction I had... where to start.
The headline was always my first priority. No wonder I was stumped!
Research (I know, it implies effort) will get you pumping out ideas, phrases and metaphors certain to capture the mind and wallets of your prospects. Use Google when researching. Your competition is where I’d start.... then go deeper and harder than they do.
Knowing your ideal clients mixed in with your research and you’ll improve your results 10 fold.
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Submitted by Paul Parkin
Start jotting down interesting phrases and ideas when you're reading. Go through them from time to time. And you'll find your thoughts flowing smoothly once you get to writing.
I recommend the good old pen and notebook for this. Somehow you internalize better that way. And your repertoire of words increases exponentially.
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Submitted by Mayukhi Chakravarty
Create a customer avatar in your head.
That is, a vivid mental picture of your ideal customer. Get as specific as possible in your visualisation of them. Then, once you go to write, write with your avatar in the forefront of your mind. This is a powerful way to ensure you are writing for the customer, not the business.
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Submitted by Danielle Underwood
When translating languages, don't translate words, translate ideas.
What does the original person want to say or convey? Who are they writing for or conveying it to? How can you express it in a form that is faithful to the original meaning, natural in the target language and appropriate for the target audience?
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Submitted by Richard Mort
The Rule of 3 lends a wonderful rhythm to your copy. One always seems lonely and two is awkward. When in doubt, three is your magic number.
Short enough to be interesting, yet long enough to make a powerful impact.
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Submitted by Rachel Friedlander
Give a shit.
If you really, truly care about the problems you’re solving you end up understanding your reader in such an intimate, personal way. And your copy (which is really their words most of the time), cannot help but resonate.
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Submitted by Simon Ford
When writing an ad/email/landing page/physical mail, etc... features DO sell if your market is used to hearing other companies promise the same benefits as you.
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Submitted by Zac Garside
When you create that space between each line, it segments each thought and allows you to see how each sentence stands when read alone.
It’s also useful for when you re-read your copy aloud because it’s less clunky.
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Submitted by Eli Joseph
When you experience writer’s block, just bark, meow, or make a funny sound to jolt your current state and get your whole body functioning again.
Sounds strange — and it is — but it works.
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Submitted by Emmanuel Musa E
