[WIP] Copywriting Secrets Summary

How to get people to take action with your copy. Good start if you're new to writing sales copy.

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Summary

‼️
Decent book about the basics of writing sales copy, albeit a bit spammy at times with somewhat clickbaity headlines Main takeaways - Sales copy needs to make people take action - Know your customer’s F.R.E.D. - The headline is the most important part of your copy - Create and use a swipefile for great copy - Get in the habit of writing copy every day - Grab attention, build curiosity, clear CTA

Extracted Resources

❓
Worksheet: Reasons people buy
🤑
Worksheet: Write a sales letter
📰
Headline Templates
🗣️
Worksheet: Assemble F.R.E.D
🔫
Worksheet: Bullet Points
📧
Worksheet: Email Teaser
✨
Worksheet: Content Brainstorming
✅
Checklist: Improve sales copy
✨
Worksheet: Magic Desk Meditation

Key Takeaways

1. What is copywriting

💡
- People love to buy. Sales copy helps them buy from you - Hopes, fears, dreams, and desire motivate people to buy - Anyone can get good at sales copy with enough practice

2. One man’s journey

💡
- Nobody is born knowing how to write great copy - Learning to write can change your life - Read the classics like “Scientific Advertising” - Commit to develop your copywriting skills

3. Without a strong reason why, people don’t buy

💡
- Commit the 10 reasons why people buy to your memory - Use as many of them as you can in your copy to “tie down” the prospect - Don’t always make it about saving money or making money - Get creative how you use these reasons… make yourself stretch

4. Nobody cares about you in your sales message

💡
- Make your sales copy all about your prospect - Go back through your copy and look for the words “I, me, my, we, ours” and if you find them change the perspective to make it about them - Remember: Prospect don’t care about you, only about getting their needs met, problems solved, fears calmed and desires satisfied

5. The most valuable skill you will ever learn

💡
- Develop the copywriting mindset in all you do - Master your headlines first because they have the biggest impact - Pay attention to sales copy that gets you to spend your own money - Never stop learning

6. The #1 Single most important piece of sales copy ever

💡
- Spend a lot of time working on your headlines, especially for sales copy and ads. It’s the #1 factor that decides success or failure - Never post anything online without a headline or compelling first statement. If in doubt use curiosity to pull people in - Once you have a headline that works, TEST new headlines against that one to see if you can improve results. Some headlines can create a 500% improvement in sales

7. It’s NEVER “One size fits all”

💡
- Acknowledge the different audiences who can use your product or service - Identify them and put the right message in front of them - Don’t be lazy and fall into the one-size-fits-all trap with you message

8. Meet F.R.E.D (Your ideal customer)

💡
- Know your audience better than they know themselves - Pay more attention to psychographics than demographics - Know FREDs problems, question, roadblock, results

9. The Ultimate Bullet Formula

💡
- Bullets are the workhorse to create curiosity in your copy - Five amazing bullets will outperform 30 good bullets - Always include meaning as your secret sauce

10. What really sells people (it’s not what you think)

💡
- People buy on emotion and justify with logic - The primary emotional motivations to buy are fear and desire - Strive to make an emotional connection with your prospects by tying your product to as many reasons “why” as you can

11. Why good enough makes you (and keeps you) poor!

💡
- Good is the enemy of great - If you’re not testing, start immediately - Never test more than one variable at a time - Test for actions like purchases, clicks, subscriptions - Automate your testing if possible

12. Don’t reinvent the wheel — Great copy leaves cues

💡
- Never write sales copy without research - Research gives you the intel you need to write better copy - Only a fool writes copy without warming up first

13. It’s all about them — Never about you

💡
- A confused mind always answers “No” in a sales context - Keep your messages simple and direct - Don’t use big words and make people feel stupid - It’s not about how smart you are, it’s about how much you can help - Compose emails to a specific person

14. What to do if you don’t have testimonials yet

💡
- Don’t let lack of testimonials stop you - You need proof the help them feel comfortable making the decision to buy from you - Proof comes in many forms including celebrity endorsements, statistics and quotes that support your sales message - Give your product way to people in exchange for an honest testimonial

15. 3 Sales Formulas that never fail

💡
- Three formulas that work for selling that work well: 1. Problem/Agitate/Solve 2. If you want 3x benefit, then do this 3. The Before/After/Bridge - They take people to a mental process that sets them up for buying - Test them with your target audience to see which one works best

16. It’s all Ice Cream, but what flavor should I choose?

💡
- If in doubt start with a video sales letter - In the end you have to test long vs. short vs. video to find the best option - Beware of absolutes - Beware of only doing things “one way”, especially if you’ve seen good results in the past

17. How to write an amazing sales letter — fast

💡
- Don’t leave out one of these steps or it won’t work - This process works for one page, a video or twenty page letter - Remember to stack up the value if you want people to buy from you

18. How to write Killer Email Teasers — fast

💡
- 99/100 emails are designed for people to click a CTA - Keep it short, concise and aimed at getting a click - Grab their attention, build curiosity and entice them to click - Remember that one person at a time reads your email even if you send it to a million - Write like you’re emailing a friend/colleague

19. The hardest draft you’ll ever write

💡
- Get the first draft done as fast as you can - Use your swipe file to help you get it done instead of creating from scratch - Once you have the first draft it’s 100 times easier to edit than to write

20. Make ‘em more thirsty

💡
- The stories in content marketing are the same as in sales - If you structure your content right you can give away a ton of content without giving away what you’re selling - Stories make people “thirsty” and sales copy tells them where to go and buy a drink

21. Love me; Hate me. There’s no money in the middle

💡
- Love me; Hate me. There’s no money in the middle - Stand for something! - Be consistent in your message and what you stand for - Don’t be afraid to change direction but explain why if the situation warrants it

22. Oh damn — I got to have that

💡
- The promise you make directly affects how many people buy from you - Make and fulfill an amazing promise - Include each part of the formula (Hurdle, prize, timing, eliminator) - Never make people feel like it’s their fault for not having results yet

23. Put lipstick on the pig

💡
- If your copy isn’t performing, try to put some lipstick on it by going through this list
✅
Checklist: Improve sales copy - #1 thing to test is your headline and see how it affects conversion - Make sure your offer is very clear - Try selling dollars for dimes to see if you can improve performance

24. Should I join the dark side?

💡
- There’s a good way and a bad way to “go negative” - Use negatives to get in sync with people and the conversations in their head - Never attack anyone directly but focus on behaviors and/or results

25. Stealth Closes — The secret to selling without selling

💡
- People’s sales radar defenses are up all the time - Stealth closes help you fly under the their defenses and get them to take the actions you want them to take - Make the commitment you will include a stealth close into your free / paid content

26. The hired gun

💡
- Hiring someone for sales copy is an ongoing effort - Audition people with small jobs first - Getting good sales copy back is still work - You ALWAYS need to tweak what you get back from the copywriter

27. The magic desk

💡
- Better copy comes from higher levels of empathy - Using a guided meditation like the “magic desk” can help synthesize information - Take it seriously or it won’t work - Check out
✨
Worksheet: Magic Desk Meditation for the exercise

28. The one and only purpose of an online ad

💡
- The only purpose of an online ad is to get the right people to click your ad - To find an ad that works, you have to test a LOT to find a few that work - Once you have an ad that works, keep coming up with new ones as the old one will eventually stop working - Magic formula = Grab attention, build curiosity, drive them to click

29. You can’t catch fish without a hook

💡
- Hook = one-sentence story you can use to grab attnetion and create intense curiosity at the same time - Hooks are as much art as science

30. Create your own swipe file

💡
- A swipe file can contain anything that grabs attention and works - It does NOT have to be industry specific - Start one, and use it!

31. Polish your sales copy

💡
- People judge your sales copy by grammar + form as much as they judge the content - Get a second pair of eyes on your copy - Ensure your secondary reading path makes sense - Watch your video sales letter without sound, would you still buy?

Go Deep

1. What is copywriting

  • Anything intended to get the reader to take a specific action
  • Good copy feels like a conversation with a trusted advisor
People love to buy but they hate to be sold
  • You need to put value in front of people then push for the next step
‼️
You need to grab people’s attention, stop them in their tracks and create curiosity
💡
- People love to buy. Sales copy helps them buy from you - Hopes, fears, dreams, and desire motivate people to buy - Anyone can get good at sales copy with enough practice

2. One Man’s Journey with sales copy

  • Put familiar words and pictures into new relationships
💡
- Nobody is born knowing how to write great copy - Learning to write can change your life - Read the classics like “Scientific Advertising” - Commit to develop your copywriting skills

3. Without a strong why, people don’t buy

  • People need a reason to buy and you need to give it to them
  • The more reasons you can tie into your offer, the better
💡
- Commit the 10 reasons why people buy to your memory - Use as many of them as you can in your copy to “tie down” the prospect - Don’t always make it about saving money or making money - Get creative how you use these reasons… make yourself stretch

4. Nobody cares about you in your sales copy

  • People aren’t interested in you, only in themselves
  • Remove “I, me, my, we, ours” from your copy as much as possible
💡
People want to be the hero of you sales message, make it about them I want to tell you something → Here’s something you need to know
💡
- Make your sales copy all about your prospect - Go back through your copy and look for the words “I, me, my, we, ours” and if you find them change the perspective to make it about them - Remember: Prospect don’t care about you, only about getting their needs met, problems solved, fears calmed and desires satisfied

5. The most valuable skill you will ever learn

  • Learn copywriting yourself even if you want to outsource it but good copywriters are expensive.
  • Externals can never know your company as well as you can
  • Develop a copywriting mindset: Focus on it, practice, pay attention to the results
  • Become good and then choose which jobs to do vs outsource
  • Study people who are doing it well
💡
Pay attention to the copy of products that you buy
  • Highest lever tasks:
    • Write great headlines
    • Become good at writing bullets
💡
- Develop the copywriting mindset in all you do - Master your headlines first because they have the biggest impact - Pay attention to sales copy that gets you to spend your own money - Never stop learning
 

6. The #1 Single most important piece of sales copy ever

  • Five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy
  • People need to emotionally connect with your headlines
  • The headlines needs to clearly target the right audience
  • Always test your headlines, especially if you don’t have sales
  • Create a swipe file with ads that make you buy
💡
- Spend a lot of time working on your headlines, especially for sales copy and ads. It’s the #1 factor that decides success or failure - Never post anything online without a headline or compelling first statement. If in doubt use curiosity to pull people in - Once you have a headline that works, TEST new headlines against that one to see if you can improve results. Some headlines can create a 500% improvement in sales
 

7. It’s NEVER “One size fits all”

  • Your message needs to change based on traffic temperature (cold, warm, hot)
    • Prospect is product aware → Headlines is the product
    • Prospect has desire → Headlines starts with desire
    • Prospect is problem aware → Start with problem and crystalize into specific need
  • Each group should get a different message
  • You need to get in-sync with the conversation in people’s heads and that’s different for each segment
💡
- Acknowledge the different audiences who can use your product or service - Identify them and put the right message in front of them - Don’t be lazy and fall into the one-size-fits-all trap with you message

8. Meet F.R.E.D (Your ideal customer)

  • Mirror the reader to himself and show afterwards how your products fits the needs
  • Find out what’s going on in their head and enter that conversation
  • Demographics are too broad → Use psychographics instead
‼️
Understanding your audience is more about excluding people than it is about including
  • Narrowing down makes it easy to speak to the user in their language
  • Your avatar is F.R.E.D
    • Fears
    • Results
    • Expectations
    • Desires
  • Talk about what people want, not what they need because that’s what they buy
  • Sell people what they want and include what they need
  • PQR2 is the secret code to your audience’s brain
    • Problems
    • Questions
    • Roadblocks
    • Results
  • Your sales copy needs to bridge the gap between PQR and results
  • 80% of people are caught up with their problems, not the results

How do you discover Fred’s PQR2

  1. Live interaction
  1. Look at yourself
  1. Forums
  1. Your website’s help desk
  1. Popular products
    1. Looking at popular products gives you insight what people want
  1. Answer sites (e.g Quora)
    1. Get educated about the questions people ask
  1. Suveys
    1. Find other people’s surveys by googling (+ survey at the end)
  1. Social media sites
    1. Ask people on facebook a question (group or single person etc.)
  1. Google search
    1. Search your keyword + FAQ, mistakes, questions or top 10
  • You can also create content from things people are asking on answer sites!
  • Fred wants to change the way he feels
  • All your content should be around PQR2
‼️
Money is usually secondary, the emotion is primary, also focus on fun
💡
- Know your audience better than they know themselves - Pay more attention to psychographics than demographics - Know FREDs problems, question, roadblock, results
 

9. The Ultimate Bullet Formula

  • Copy is not written, it’s assembled
  • People buy benefits, not features
  • You need to become amazing at writing bullet points or you will have trouble creating curiosity
  • Good bullet points
    • Give people reason to act
    • Build curiosity
    • Carry the load of what your product is and what it will do for them
  • Also list the meaning of each benefit to make things crystal clear
‼️
Ultimate Bullet Formula = Feature + Benefit + Meaning It can _____ so you can _____ which means _____.
  • Create a swipe file of well performing bullets or once that you see
  • Start thinking in features + benefits + meaning, not just feature + benefits
💡
- Bullets are the workhorse to create curiosity in your copy - Five amazing bullets will outperform 30 good bullets - Always include meaning as your secret sauce
 

10. What really sells people (it’s not what you think)

  • Meaning is important because it creates emotion and gets people to act
  • People need a powerful why to buy, because why creates emotion
  • The more emotionally charged your meaning, the more sales you will make. Try to connect one or more of the following to your meaning:
    • Love for ____ (family, self, country, community, etc.)
    • Hate
    • Fear of ____ (failure, making mistakes, death, loss etc.)
    • Vanity
    • Pride
    • Longing for _____ (fulfillment, peace, completion, etc.)
    • Greed
    • Freedom
  • Emotional connection is how you turn lookers into buyers
💡
- People buy on emotion and justify with logic - The primary emotional motivations to buy are fear and desire - Strive to make an emotional connection with your prospects by tying your product to as many reasons “why” as you can
 

11. Why Good Enough Makes You (and keeps you) Poor!

‼️
The enemy of great is good
  • Even good enough copy needs to be split tested
  • Never test more than one variable at a time
  • Start immediately
💡
- Good is the enemy of great - If you’re not testing, start immediately - Never test more than one variable at a time - Test for actions like purchases, clicks, subscriptions - Automate your testing if possible
 

12. Don’t reinvent the wheel — Great copy leaves cues

  • Find out what people want, fear and desire
  • Model the funnels of working products
  • Use your customers words to get them to buy
  • Do some immersive research before starting to write your copy
  • Warm up when writing copy
💡
- Never write sales copy without research - Research gives you the intel you need to write better copy - Only a fool writes copy without warming up first
 

13. It’s all about them — Never about you

  • Simplicity is the ultimate sofistication
  • Prove to people how smart you are by talking in a way they understand
  • Use simple terms, short sentences, well organized structure
‼️
A confused mind always answers NO
  • Always write to a single person, never to a group
💡
- A confused mind always answers “No” in a sales context - Keep your messages simple and direct - Don’t use big words and make people feel stupid - It’s not about how smart you are, it’s about how much you can help - Compose emails to a specific person
 

14. What to do if you don’t have testimonials yet

  • What you really want is proof, not a testimonial
  • If you don’t have a testimonial for the product (from better to worse)
    • Use testimonial about you or your company
    • Celebrity endorsement
    • Statistics
    • Quotes
💡
- Don’t let lack of testimonials stop you - You need proof the help them feel comfortable making the decision to buy from you - Proof comes in many forms including celebrity endorsements, statistics and quotes that support your sales message - Give your product way to people in exchange for an honest testimonial
 

15. 3 Sales Formulas that never fail

Formula #1: Problem/Agitate/Solve

  1. Define the problem people face
  1. Agitate it, make it worse
  1. You solve it by presenting your product or service as the solution
  • Works especially well with cold traffic

Formula #2: If you want 3x benefit, then do this

  • Use this when focusing on a desire, not a problem per se
  • State 3 benefits and their meaning
  • Work them into a “longer” form text
  • Works best for warm and hot traffic

Formula #3: The Before/After/Bridge

  1. Start with before (Status Quo, why is FRED unhappy? / Roadblock)
  1. Introduce the after (Future pacing, tell them what their life will be like)
  1. Bridge (Path to get there / Bridge the gap, usually your product)
💡
- Three formulas that work for selling that work well: 1. Problem/Agitate/Solve 2. If you want 3x benefit, then do this 3. The Before/After/Bridge - They take people to a mental process that sets them up for buying - Test them with your target audience to see which one works best
 

16. It’s all Ice Cream, but what flavor should I choose?

  • When you want to test an offer, start with a video sales letter (landing page?)
  • Page Structure
    • Headline (Mandatory)
    • Insert your video (Mandatory)
    • Buy button under the video (Mandatory)
    • 4-6 curiosity inducing bullets
    • Give a guarantee
    • Summarize what people get
    • Another buy button
    • closing copy
    • Postscript (P.S.) → Repeat main benefits in the video
  • Don’t oversell, people get suspicious if you have a lot to say about a $10 product
  • Test other forms like long-form and short-form sales letters
  • Beware if “absolute experts”
💡
- If in doubt start with a video sales letter - In the end you have to test long vs. short vs. video to find the best option - Beware of absolutes - Beware of only doing things “one way”, especially if you’ve seen good results in the past
 

17. How to write an amazing sales letter — fast

  • A sales letter consist of building blocks
  • Goal of each block is to move the user to the next one

Headline

  • Grab attention, identify the topic of the letter and set expectations

Shocking Statement

  • Use a shocking statement to stop people in their tracks as they’re constantly distracted
  • Use “Did you know….”

Define the problem

  • Define the problem using the Define/Agitate/Solve formula from chapter 15

Agitate

  • Press harder and make the problem hurt for the reader

Solution

  • Present the solution to the problem

Bullets

  • To arouse curiosity

Credibility statement about you

  • Why are you the right person to talk about this?

Proof

  • Name why people should believe you

Sum up offer and give price

  • Answer what, how, when they’re going to get what they’re buying and what it costs
  • You can add discounts but people are getting more immune to this so it needs to be believable
  • Avoid commodity pricing battles

Bonuses and Pot sweeteners

  • If you have special stuff or bonuses add them here
  • One nice strategy is copying the USP of a competitor and giving it away for free as a bonus to your offer (if you can)
  • Be strategic about bonuses, no BS

Guarantee

  • Reverse risk by giving money back guarantee of some sort

Call to action

  • Make people take an action

Postscript (P.S.)

  • Restate the benefits
  • Reason why they should buy now
  • Tell them to buy now
💡
- Don’t leave out one of these steps or it won’t work - This process works for one page, a video or twenty page letter - Remember to stack up the value if you want people to buy from you
 

18. How to write Killer Email Teasers — fast

  • The purpose of an email teaser is to get people to visit your webpage
  • Don’t sell people in the email, prepare and make them click the CTA
‼️
The best subject lines are short, concise and often phrased as a question
  • You want the right people to open the email and the wrong people to ignore it so make the subject self selecting. e.g: Worried about failing your next PT test?
  • Acknowledge people in the greeting section of the email (Hey Indie Hacker…)
  • Next is a shocking statement or question
  • Three to four bullets to arouse curiosity
  • Then a CTA
  • Close with a personal note “See you over there, Thanks Jim”
  • Pump up the benefits of what they will see when they click the link, not what you’re selling
  • Talk to them like to an old friend
💡
- 99/100 emails are designed for people to click a CTA - Keep it short, concise and aimed at getting a click - Grab their attention, build curiosity and entice them to click - Remember that one person at a time reads your email even if you send it to a million - Write like you’re emailing a friend/colleague
 

19. The hardest draft you’ll ever write

  • The hardest draft is always the first
  • Break it down into chunks to make it easier
  • Write it as fast as you can
  • Rely on your swipe file for creativity and inspiration
💡
- Get the first draft done as fast as you can - Use your swipe file to help you get it done instead of creating from scratch - Once you have the first draft it’s 100 times easier to edit than to write
 

20. Make ‘em more thirsty

  • Create content that makes people wanna but without giving away too much so they don’t have to buy
  • Make them more thirsty for your paid offer
  • 4 Types of stories you can use for content
      1. Stories (Things that actually happened)
      1. Case Studies
      1. Examples
      1. The three M’s of content (myth, misconception, mistakes)
        1. Talk about things people believe (myth)
        2. Talk about why they’re wrong and build a right view
        3. Talk about where people are going wrong and why
  • Don’t directly sell in your content
‼️
Teach people to make them more thirsty using stories and content, then sell them to show where they can get the drink
  • 4 other ways to sell when creating content
      1. Lead magnet (free content for additional purchase)
      1. Tell them what to do, why they should do it and then sell them how/what they need to do
        1. Step one: Do this
        2. Step two: Do that
        3. …
        4. Step eight: Publish it on [my product]
      1. Teach all the steps leading up to what you want to sell
      1. Teach people the manual and hard way to do what you’re selling
💡
- The stories in content marketing are the same as in sales - If you structure your content right you can give away a ton of content without giving away what you’re selling - Stories make people “thirsty” and sales copy tells them where to go and buy a drink
 

21. Love me; Hate me. There’s no money in the middle

  • People buy from other people, not faceless corps
  • You need to take a stand and have an opinion so that you can lead people
  • You will be either loved by some or hated by others, but being bland won’t help
  • You should “force” people to form an opinion about you so that you will be remarkable
💡
- Love me; Hate me. There’s no money in the middle - Stand for something! - Be consistent in your message and what you stand for - Don’t be afraid to change direction but explain why if the situation warrants it
 

22. Oh damn — I got to have that

  • Creating a profitable promise has 4 parts (Profitable product promise formula)
      1. The hurdle
      1. The prize
      1. The timing
      1. The eliminator

The hurdle

  • First you must address people questions and concerns about what they have to do to get what they want
  • People focus on motion, so they think in actions
  • Give them mental images that inspire action → Those are the headlines

The prize

  • What the person wants. Also known as the result
  • Should be coming from taking the previous action
  • Your product promise is closely coupled to your niche

The timing

  • How long does it take to teach them?
  • When will they get it?

The eliminator

  • When it comes to sales copy, it’s never the person’s fault
  • Eliminate their final concerns (”Learn x, …even if you write.”)
💡
- The promise you make directly affects how many people buy from you - Make and fulfill an amazing promise - Include each part of the formula (Hurdle, prize, timing, eliminator) - Never make people feel like it’s their fault for not having results yet
 

23. Put lipstick on the pig

  • If copy isn’t performing check the following
      1. Look at the headline
        1. Is the headline about your audience?
        2. Is there a big bold, benefit or promise?
      1. Is the offer clear?
        1. What do people get?
        2. How do they get it?
        3. When do they get it?
        4. How much does it cost?
      1. Clear reason to buy now?
        1. Bonuses
        2. Time deadline
        3. Limited quantities
      1. Is there an emotional driver in the copy?
        1. Do you have emotion to grab people at the beginning of your copy?
      1. Do your bullets suck?
        1. Do your bullets build curiosity?
        2. Do they use the magic bullet formula?
      1. What about the price?
        1. Is your price too high? (Not value in the offer)
        2. Is your price too low? (Low perceived value)
        3. Is your offer worth 10x the price (Good baseline)
      1. Are you using the right graphics and colors?
        1. Are the graphics clear or distracting?
        2. Does every major sales point have an accompanying graphic?
      1. What about proof?
        1. Do all your claims have solid proof?
💡
- If your copy isn’t performing, try to put some lipstick on it by going through this list
✅
Checklist: Improve sales copy - #1 thing to test is your headline and see how it affects conversion - Make sure your offer is very clear - Try selling dollars for dimes to see if you can improve performance
 

24. Should I join the dark side?

  • You can’t create mass desire but you can direct it, that’s your job as a copywriter
  • You can use a negative to get in sync with people and enter the conversation in their head
  • You need to acknowledge their problem
  • You can attack results and behaviors but never people or companies directly
  • You don’t have to always be positive, that won’t resonate with people forever
💡
- There’s a good way and a bad way to “go negative” - Use negatives to get in sync with people and the conversations in their head - Never attack anyone directly but focus on behaviors and/or results
 

25. Stealth Closes — The secret to selling without selling

  • Any piece of content can be a secret sales agent
  • Give value and then invite people to another level by bridging with “by the way…”
  • Also works great as a P.S. section
  • The stealth sale needs to be formatted the same as the rest of the content
  • Use stealth closes when people’s defenses are up (reddit? lmao)
  • Hook people with the promise and delivery of value, close them with a “by the way” that is tied into the advantage that people want to have
  • Commit to post nothing without a close, an action you want people to take once they’re hooked
💡
- People’s sales radar defenses are up all the time - Stealth closes help you fly under the their defenses and get them to take the actions you want them to take - Make the commitment you will include a stealth close into your free / paid content
 

26. The hired gun

  • You know your market better than anyone
  • If you want to outsource get a professional
  • You still need to teach the copywriter
‼️
You need to be able to write your own sales copy
  • You need to give up on the dream of outsourcing your copy
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- Hiring someone for sales copy is an ongoing effort - Audition people with small jobs first - Getting good sales copy back is still work - You ALWAYS need to tweak what you get back from the copywriter
 

27. The magic desk

  • You need to become a student of markets and not products / techniques
  • People only think about what’s in it for them
  • You need to learn to have empathy
  • You have to “become” your customer to enter the conversations in their head
  • Try a visualization exercise that will help you understand the customer better by imagining yourself as them in an agitated state
  • They’re with you to talk about their wants, needs, desires and fears
  • Try to put yourself into their shoes to see what they see and draft the perfect copy to answer all their questions
  • Ask yourself as the prospect:
    • What terrifies you?
    • What does that mean if it happens?
    • What is your deepest desire in your life right now
    • What objections do you have for what you want to achieve
  • The connection that you need to make with your customer starts in your mind
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- Better copy comes from higher levels of empathy - Using a guided meditation like the “magic desk” can help synthesize information - Take it seriously or it won’t work - Check out
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Worksheet: Magic Desk Meditation for the exercise
 

28. The one and only purpose of an online ad

  • Get the right people to click and the wrong people to keep scrolling
  • Target better, to spend less $$$
  • Creating curiousity is key
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You want to trigger a yes/no response in your customers head
  • An ad that gets clicks from the right people:
    • Emotional grabber
    • Curiosity driver
    • Clear CTA
  • Ads are a numbers game, it can take 10-15 ad tests to find one that actuall works
  • Ads don’t work forever, you gotta keep working on new creative
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Change your mindset to fail fast with losing copy but stick long enough with it to find a winner
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- The only purpose of an online ad is to get the right people to click your ad - To find an ad that works, you have to test a LOT to find a few that work - Once you have an ad that works, keep coming up with new ones as the old one will eventually stop working - Magic formula = Grab attention, build curiosity, drive them to click
 

29. You can’t catch fish without a hook

  • Hooks are often hidden stories or angles
  • They don’t sell but build intense curiosity so that people keep consuming the rest of your content
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- Hook = one-sentence story you can use to grab attnetion and create intense curiosity at the same time - Hooks are as much art as science
 

30. Create your own swipe file

  • Build your own swipe file with ads that make you take action
  • Start your swipe file today and make it a conscious exercise to look f. good copy
  • Will become your inspiration for good stories
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- A swipe file can contain anything that grabs attention and works - It does NOT have to be industry specific - Start one, and use it!

31. Polish your sales copy

  • Finish your first draft ASAP, only once you have a flawed whole you know what to fix
  • Make sure your videos work without sounds
  • Make sure it’s skimmable
  • Make sure your copy flows well
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- People judge your sales copy by grammar + form as much as they judge the content - Get a second pair of eyes on your copy - Ensure your secondary reading path makes sense - Watch your video sales letter without sound, would you still buy?