Copywriting Tips to Help You Become More Effective

One of the things that I've been focusing on to help me grow my business for the last few months is copywriting.

If your business involves any form of communication (emails, advertising, blogs, email marketing campaigns, ebooks, sales calls or letters, etc.) then it can be improved with better copywriting.  Below you will find some of my best copywriting tips:

️ ✏️ "On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy" -David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising, published in 1985

Furthermore, the most important aspect of email marketing is the subject line - if you can't get people to open your message, it doesn't matter what else is in the message so work on your headline/subject line.  The only job of the headline is to get people to read further.

you don’t want this letter thrown into the trash

✏️️ The Hook, from The Boron Letters, written by Gary Halbert

People open their mail and put it into two piles:
>pile A gets put aside to be opened later (bills that need to be paid, a letter from your Auntie, maaaaybe an interesting advertisement or two),
>pile B goes into the trash (everything else, especially if it looks like "junk mail") ️.
The decision gets made in a few seconds.

Direct response marketers spent countless hours and money making their letters look interesting, remarkable, of value and less like junk mail in order to end up in pile A.

Digital marketers have less than a few seconds. You need to figure out what is your hook. What will get attention to your social media post, advertisement, email, podcast, website?? If you can get into your audience's head and learn what they're thinking and be creative, you can get attention and end up in pile A.  Hey, maybe it's a birthday card from your Auntie with some cash! 💵🤑

✏️️ "Always enter the conversation already taking place in the customer’s mind."

That is the power of doing your homework and digging deep before marketing to people. Otherwise you're just an interruption...

quote by Robert Collier, WRITTEN ALMOST 80 YEARS AGO!

✏️ ️"The number one sin in marketing...is being boring."

-Dan S. Kennedy

✏️️ According to Dan S. Kennedy, one of the best ways to craft an ad is by using the Problem-Agitate-Solution formula:

1. State the problem, in a way that tells your audience that you truly understand what they're going through. Communicate it enough to elicit agreement.

2. Agitate - use emotion and story to tell how it feels when you have this problem and why it's important. Fear and anger do well to get people to take action.

3. After you've gotten your audience on your side, and stirred their emotions about what's happened to them and why it sucks, then it's time to mention your solution and what the next steps are.

✏️️ Hidden Benefits

Uncover the hidden benefits of what you're selling.

The benefit is how the product/service helps your customer, but WHY is that important?

For example: hiring a landscape service will save you time, but the real benefit is that it will allow you to watch football with your buddies on Sunday!

So dig deep and get to know your audience.

✏️️ Pain Points

Why are pain points so effective in copywriting?

Loss Aversion Bias - people are more motivated to avoid losses then they are to acquire gains

✏️️ What's the next step??

Your clients/buyers/customers are waiting to be directed.

For example: You go to a restaurant. The waiter tells you the special entree is salmon. They always have salmon on the menu only this time it's slightly different. But you order it because the waiter has told you how good the salmon is today.

In your social media/content/website/lead magnet/sales communication, tell people what you want them to do: schedule your 20-minute consultation, go to the website & enter their details, etc., etc.

One of the biggest reasons people don't do business with you is they don't know the next step. Tell them how terrific the salmon is and where to order it!

✏️️ Free advertising real estate: EVERY email, message or letter should have a "P.S.".  Almost all readers will scan to the bottom of the message to see who it's from and read your P.S., so make it strong.

Bonus real estate: if your letter is two pages, put a blurb at the bottom of the first page - that "blurb" is basically a second headline! Be sure it compels people to continue reading.

Take advantage of these messaging opportunities to persuade your audience!


✅ I hope you can incorporate these tips into your marketing to increase your sales.