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Kickass Copy Strategy: Onboard Like Martha

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“What would Martha do?” That’s what I ask myself whenever I invite people over. (I’m talking about Martha Stewart, btw.) See, I imagine that when Martha has people over, she greets her guests with a seasonally appropriate drink. She invites them to have a light (homemade, locally-sourced) snack. And then she gives them a tour […]

How to Curse in English

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My mom is bilingual, and there’s this story she loves about a Spanish-speaker who wants to learn how to curse in English. So it goes like this: The guy meets this group of Americans, and they agree to teach him some “colorful” vocabulary. Only something is getting lost in translation. He keeps saying stuff like, […]

That Time I Got Into an eBay Fight…

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The story contains a valuable sales copy lesson, though, so all was not lost. So, there I was, on eBay. And I found the holy grail: My beloved discontinued jeans in my exact size, in my favorite wash, basically brand new. Only $23? Shut the front door–sold! But when they arrived, I could barely get […]

Some Babies Are Ugly

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You gasp, but it’s true. Now, I’m talking about product babies, of course. Your business baby. Because a lot of times, there’s something wrong with them. Something customers complain about… Or something that repels prospects. You can try to slap an oversized bow on it and insist it’s perfect… But your customers aren’t idiots. And […]

How to Lose Prospects and Repel People

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I couldn’t look away. I knew what was coming. I’ve seen it happen before. Someone in a Facebook group was about to go down, down, down, in a burning ring of fire. Let’s call him Craig. Here’s where Craig went wrong: Craig had been a member of this copywriting group for a short time… And […]

How to Add Value With A Moldy Petri Dish

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It was a petri dish of funk. I’d left it out in my living room, just like the directions said. Closed it, sealed it, and waited. Two days later, there was mold growing in it. Ew. So much ew. That was floating around in the air in my HOUSE? I’m clean freak, dammit! This isn’t […]

If You Give A Prospect a Cheese Cube…

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Real value. That’s what I’ve been talking about this week. Last week I told you about Craig, who claimed to add value… But was really just pitching himself over and over. And yesterday I told you about an air purifier company that actually DID add value… By showing prospects the airborne allergens in their homes. So…how […]

A Check-Up for Your About Page

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Your About Page is kinda like a biannual dental cleaning. Hmmm…let’s unpack that.  🙂 See, I had my teeth cleaned earlier this week, like a responsible adult person. And like all dentists, he’s making small talk…. While my mouth is full of electric toothbrush and floss and probably a monkey wrench, just to see if […]

No-No Words…

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“Are there words you HATE to see in sales copy?” That’s what someone asked me last month, at a lunch-and-learn kind of event. My answer? Yes, of course! The so-called word “impactful” makes me cringe… The word “hustle” and the phrase “crush it” both get on my nerves… And literally no one seems to understand […]

You Use a Blue Button, the Sales End…

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Opt-in buttons: Blue or red? Or aquamarine? Maybe eggshell white? Do I put the button above the VSL or below? WHICH WILL CONVERT BEST?! As Neo would say, “Whoa!” Let’s back up… What if I told you that there’s certainly a place for split-testing… IF your offer, your big promise, is really dialed in? And […]

An “Unsubscribe” Lesson from Total Bastard Airlines

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Some marketers freak out if they get too many unsubscribes.

And some will even follow up with each and every person who leaves their list…

I guess to beg them to come back?

It seems kinda obnoxious. And bad for business, too.

Because really, you should welcome unsubscribes.

In fact, do you remember the Total Bastard Airlines skit from SNL?

 

That should be your attitude when people unsubscribe…give ’em a big BUH-BYE.

Why?

Well, number one, they were never going to buy from you anyway.

If they’re annoyed that you’re selling them things, they were never. gonna. buy.

Best to just part ways…it wasn’t meant to be.

Also, while most of your subscribers are lovely people…

Prospects and customers who want to hear from you…

Some of them will zap your energy.

They complain that you’re sending too many emails…

They don’t like your subject line…

They want tons of free advice, or they ask for Skype calls to “pick your brain”…

These aren’t fans or real prospects or customers we’re talking about here…

So if they unsubscribe? You guessed it…BUH-BYE!

In fact, expert marketers will unsubscribe those people themselves.

They know that it saves time, money, and frustration to clean up their email lists.

Remember, your goal isn’t to make every email subscriber happy…

It’s only to serve your target audience.

And THAT is how you grow your list with more prospects, customers, and raving fans.

 

Why Your Prospects Think You’re Full of It

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Check out my latest post, over at Copy Chief!

Screencap, yo!

In the article, you’ll discover:

  • Why your copy raises red flags, even if you’re being 100% honest and selling a proven product…
  • How to use the “Yeah, Right” test to find those red flags in your sales materials…
  • How to replace those red flags with the right form of proof, making you more trustworthy in their eyes…
  • Why it’s ABSOLUTELY critical that you talk about your story or your company’s story, and how to make it all about your customer…
  • 3 specific strategies you can use right away to remove doubt from their minds and inject more proof…

Get all those things right here.

Made You Click! Subject Lines Worth Swiping

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Like a lot of copywriters, I keep a swipe file for inspiration.

However, instead of keeping it to myself, I thought I’d share the subject lines I’ve been swiping lately.

Basically, if a subject line stands out amongst the 100 emails I wake up to, and makes me actually click, I save it in a Google doc. (Especially if it can be adapted for the health and wellness market, since I work with so many health practitioners.)

Now, open rate isn’t the most important metric, of course. Sales is most important.

However, people DO have to open your emails before they can click through and buy. So subject lines matter.

First up…

11 Proven Health Benefits of Ginger (No. 5 is Insane)
The “list” subject line is well known. 5 Silent Killers… 3 Flat Belly Myths…

However, there are two things that struck me about this particular “list” subject line, which comes from a site called Authority Nutrition.

First, it takes the typical list subject line we’re used to seeing and it breaks the pattern. The part in parentheses makes it different.

Second, it piqued my curiosity. If it had just said 11 Proven Health Benefits of Ginger, I wouldn’t have even noticed this email. And, as a health nut, I’d assume it’s nothing I don’t already know. However, by calling out one of the items in the list, and calling it “insane,” now I’m curious. Do I know about this “insane” benefit already? Maybe I don’t! So I clicked.

Is an Ultra Low-Fat Diet Healthy? The Surprising Truth
This subject line questions the status quo.

Lots of people think that low fat diets are healthy. That’s what we’re told by the media and by nonfat diet food marketing and even what we’ve been told by our government (at least here in the U.S.).

So questioning something so widely believed to be true, even by medical professionals, makes it pretty clickable.

In other words, slaughter sacred cows in your subject lines. Speaking of cows, next up we have…

How to Win an Argument With a Vegan
Authority Nutrition is very much in favor of eating meat, basing that recommendation on a slew of studies.

So since the audience is going to be primarily meat-eaters, this subject line creates an us versus them dynamic. There’s you and your tribe, then there’s “those other guys.”

Plus, it’s kind of funny, because vegans tend to have strong feelings about their diet and lifestyle choice. (Not hating–I was a vegetarian for a long time, and I had very strong feelings about it, too!)

Also, a vegan site could easily flip this subject line around: How to Win an Argument with a Meat-Eater.

Point is, draw a line in the sand and rally your troops. People love to click on stuff that’s going to reinforce the beliefs they already have.

Back By Popular Demand
This one didn’t come from the health and wellness market, it came from a shoe company called Sole Society. However, it’s adaptable. It would work any time you reopen a course or get a product back in stock.

The reason I clicked? FOMO. Fear of missing out.

“What was so popular that they ran out, and THEN brought it back?”

(It was a nude and black heel with gold studs, btw.)

Another one in this same vein is In Case You Blinked, from a clothing company called Everlane. It implies that I missed something, and so makes me curious enough to click.

I also love Everlane, and they run out of stuff a lot, so the built-in scarcity is definitely a factor. You could even add scarcity into the subject line:

In Case You Blinked (Expires Today)

Next up…

My Wife Went to My Competitor
Okay, full disclosure. I wrote this subject line, I didn’t swipe it.

However, I’m including it because the engagement it got during a launch last week was crazy.

The email was mainly about how this guy’s business failed because he never talked to potential customers before his launch.

So the subject line could’ve easily been Why My Business Failed. Except that it’s not going to leap out at the audience of startup founders.

Instead, I played up the part of the story with the most shock value: My Wife Went to My Competitor.

I mean it’s bad enough as an entrepreneur to have a failed business. But to have your own WIFE use your competitor’s product? Ouch. You gotta hear that story. Why would she do that? Did she know what she was doing? WHO GOT CUSTODY OF THE DOG?

The open rate on this one was so high that I added this note to my swipe file: Find the juiciest bit of the story, the most painful and gut-wrenching part, the “nail in the coffin,” the unbelievable shocking surprise, the insult to injury, the thing no one saw coming…and turn it into a subject line.

What are some subject lines that have been making you click lately?

Surfing the Wave of a Mass Desire

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In my last post, I talked about where Big Ideas come from.

And today I wanted to talk about another part of a winning Big Idea: Mass desire.

This is one of my favorite copywriting tips from the legendary Eugene Schwartz, which is that your Big Idea has to channel a mass desire.

He defined a mass desire is a “public spread of a private want.”

Meaning, privately, there’s a problem or a desire that each of our prospects wants. And publicly, there are enough of them to make the product/solution profitable.

So our job as a copywriter is to find one of these mass desires and amplify it. Because unless we hitch our wagon to a mass desire, we’re stuck trying to create a desire out of nothing — convincing people that they should care. And you can imagine how well that works.

So let’s make things easier (and more profitable) for everyone, and just find a mass desire, k?

Now, according to Schwartz, there are two types of mass desires:

#1 Permanent forces. These include desires/problems like wanting to be attractive. Or wanting to be healthy or make money. Those things never, ever change. People have wanted them forever and probably always will. 

#2 The forces of change. These include trends, like when Hummers got really popular despite the fact that they’re gas guzzlers. (Or when Priuses became a status symbol even though they’re apparently not as environmentally friendly as we’re led to believe.)

Forces of change also include mass education. For example, the more we collectively learn about how we affect the ocean, the more we as a society might do things like buy reusable bags or reef-friendly sunblock.

There are hundreds of mass desires out there at any given time, and as copywriters, we have to pay attention to them. 

That way when it’s time to write a promotion, we can find the most powerful mass desire that could be applied to our product. And then we amplify it.

And we amplify it throughout the copy, starting with the headline. Then every feature and benefit of our product satisfies that mass desire, as well.

If you do this right, it’s like you’re just riding a wave. Versus trying to paddle against a current. 

Photo by Guy Kawasaki from Pexels

For more on this, check out chapter one of Breakthrough Advertising. (Also, psst…this month I’m going to run a free 5-day challenge to help you build your swipe file. And the grand prize is a copy of Breakthrough Advertising, courtesy of Brian Kurtz!) I’ll announce more details over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, make sure you’re in my Control Freaks Facebook group here.

The post Surfing the Wave of a Mass Desire appeared first on Copy Consulting in Health and Personal Development.

Want Me to Help You Build Your Inspiration/Swipe File?

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Would you like for me to help you build your inspiration (aka swipe) file?

If you’re not familiar with the term, an inspiration/swipe file is a file copywriters build for themselves that’s full of winning copy from top copywriters, also known as controls. Basically, your inspiration file is copywriting GOLD. Not only can it make you a next-level writer, but it will also give you critical intel about your market, it can help you write faster (and NOT by stealing copy — ugh), and more.

So starting this Thursday, I want to help you start or build your inspiration file.

For free. Right here in this free group.

Here’s how it’ll work:

  • Starting on Thursday (7/23/20), I’ll post a short video in the group, with one of the 5 strategies. (No videos on the weekend, so videos will post on Thursday, Friday, and Monday through Wednesday.)
  • You complete the strategy. It should only take you 10-15 minutes per day. (I’ll let you know how to show proof you completed it in each video.)
  • Complete all 5 strategies, and I’ll give you 5 killer controls from my file.

And there’s the grand prize … [drumroll] … a copy of Breakthrough Advertising!

Yes, the famous Eugene Schwartz tome … the book that launched a thousand Facebook selfies … the holy book of copywriting that’s selling for $379.99 when I checked just now on Amazon. 🤯

(BTW, in my video below, I said that this book would go to the person who finds the most controls during the challenge. But I realized that’ll be hard to verify, so the grand prize will probably be a drawing. To enter, you must complete all five days of the challenge.)

Oh, and each video for the challenge will only be up for a few days. I designed this for people who want to take action right away and build their files, so it’s not meant to be a “I’ll get to it later” sort of thing.

Tough love, y’all. 😘

Got Qs? I got your As. Ask away in the comments of the pinned post in the FB group

The post Want Me to Help You Build Your Inspiration/Swipe File? appeared first on Copy Consulting in Health and Personal Development.


A Jill of All Trades, Master of One

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Some of the best copywriters in the world are a little bit all over the place. They get really excited about a lot of things … maybe too many things. They’re Jills (and Jacks) of all trades.

I’m this way myself. And for most of my life, I thought it was a bad thing. I blame my friend Aaron for this.

I met Aaron when I was in first grade. 

At seven years old, he knew he wanted to be an architect. And me? Well, I thought it’d be cool to be a doctor. It sounded like an important job.

Then we hit fifth grade. Aaron still wanted to be an architect. And I wanted to be a lawyer. After all, I was great at arguing! And lawyers are successful, right?

Years passed, and we were in high school. Aaron was still going to be an architect. At this point, I wanted to be a forensic scientist for the FBI. I did serious research into this occupation, reading some pretty questionable books for a ninth grader. (Unless every 14-year-old is into books by John Douglas, a criminal profiler for the FBI?)

Then, we were off to college. Aaron the future architect, and April the…psychologist? Microbiologist? Journalist? I switched majors a few times. Feeling embarrassed about that, I took full course loads every summer so I would still graduate in four years.

Aaron went to grad school. I got a job in marketing. 

And then I had a quarter-life crisis. I hated my job. Hated it. 

office space work GIF

So plotted my escape, getting my real estate license. Only once I was in real estate, I realized I didn’t care at all about real estate. Not a good sign. 

So I got a job as an editor for a local non-profit. I needed a paycheck until I could figure out my next move. A paycheck that literally required me to account for every 15 minutes of my work day, via some POS software.

office space slow turn GIF

I knew that I loved writing, but I didn’t want to be a starving writer. I knew I was ambitious, but I didn’t want to feel chained to a desk.

I’d often think about Aaron, too. I was so proud of my buddy and his accomplishments, and at the same time I wondered, “What’s wrong with me? Why don’t I have that kind of focus?”

Eventually, after three years of cubicle hell, I got serious about my exit strategy. I ramped up my freelance writing, and six months later, I was earning enough to replace my salary.

I started writing blog posts and other content for clients in the personal finance space, and things were going well. I wasn’t sure what was next, but at least I wasn’t working in a cube farm anymore.

office space GIF

Then I came across something called direct response copywriting. Copywriting! It was like the clouds parted and angels sang. 

You mean to tell me I could write words that help people…

I could get nerdy about numbers…

I could help my clients get more sales…

I could argue a point all day long…

I could use all these random interests and experiences I’ve had…

…and get paid for this?

Where do I sign up?!

Unfortunately, there actually isn’t a copywriter sign-up sheet. 

Instead, I had to study and write a lot. I convinced some amazing clients to let me write their sales emails. And eventually I landed a mentorship with Parris Lampropoulos.

(The hard work was worth it, but I still sorta wish there was just a copywriter sign-up sheet.)

So today, I think of myself as a Jill of all trades, master of one. And I happily indulge my crazy interests, because it’s all fodder for future sales promotions.

And my friend Aaron? He became a lawyer.

Ha ha, just kidding. He’s an incredibly talented architect.

The post A Jill of All Trades, Master of One appeared first on Copy Consulting in Health and Personal Development.

Copy Lessons from a Book I Hated

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This book was part of my copy cub homework with Parris Lampropoulos, and I hated reading it.

In fact, I read the last several chapters as quickly as I could, specifically because I didn’t want to have to take the book with me on my upcoming vacation. (This was pre-COVID, when travel was a thing.)

The book is The Game, by Neil Strauss.

If you haven’t heard of it, it’s about the dark and disturbing world of pick-up artists.

I would’ve been happy to steer clear of that world, including reading about it. But there are a lot of lessons for copywriters about persuasion and psychology, so I recommend it anyway.

Here are my top 5 copy takeaways from the book:

#1 Copywriters and pick-up artists both need to grab attention right away.

A pick-up artist might do this by asking for a woman’s opinion on something. A copywriter can’t use that exact tactic, since we’re not talking to the target in person. But a copywriter CAN create an irresistible hook that grabs the reader’s attention.

#2 Pick-up artists — like copywriters — use social proof.

Social proof for a pick-up artist means being at a bar with a beautiful woman. She is his social proof. And that social proof makes it much easier for him to meet other women than if he was hanging out alone. Meanwhile, copywriters use things like case studies and testimonials as social proof.

#3 We both use some form of “crack” to hook people.

Strauss used something he called “chick crack.” Chick crack includes things like tests, psychological games, and fortune-telling, which draw women in and get their full attention.

Copywriters do the same thing when we create things like “what type are you” quizzes. All of these are examples of giving the other person insights about themselves, which they naturally find interesting.

#4 We both test our pitches.

For instance, Strauss tested copy for his personal ads. After several failures, he succeeded. The secret, he learned, was to seem like a selfish jerk in the ad, and then be a fascinating, laid-back gentleman when he met a woman in person.

And of course, copywriters test their ads, too.

#5 We’re different, too.

Strauss said that the problem with pick-up techniques is that they violate every principle necessary for a long-term relationship. Principles like sincerity, genuineness, trust, and connection.

And that’s one way pick-up artists differ from copywriters. The pick-up artist techniques are only about the immediate “sale.” Whereas a good copywriter working for a good client needs to think about the long-term relationship with the customer. So that means we have to be truthful in our copy. We have to be genuine about the promises we make. And we have to be sincere by writing for products we really believe in.

And that, my friends, is what saves us from being a slimy pick-up artist. 🙂

If you haven’t read this book, I do recommend it. Just take a shower afterward and maybe burn some sage in your house to clear out the ick.

The post Copy Lessons from a Book I Hated appeared first on Copy Consulting in Health and Personal Development.

Reader Mail: “What does it mean to sell the concept first?”

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This is an email I received this week:

I’m starting to read some control copy. I followed Parris’ (Lampropoulos) advice about getting on the Second Opinion mail newsletter. I’ve been studying the small ads they send out. But I’m a little bit confused as to what you mean by “selling a concept instead of the product.” For some reason I can’t seem to wrap my mind around this.

Thanks,
A.P.

I answered his question, and I thought it was worth sharing here, too. Because it’s really powerful, and a lot of copywriters don’t know to do it or get it wrong.

So here’s what it means to sell the concept…

You’re probably familiar with talking about the problem, and then introducing the solution. Pretty basic stuff.

But what lots of writers do is bring up the problem, and then talk about their particular product. Like, “Hey, do you have painful tingling in your toes? Well, just buy this product for $29.95.”

Think about that from the reader’s perspective. Doesn’t it sound a little convenient that the thing you’re selling just happens to be the solution to their problem? Not to mention, you haven’t really sold them at this point, yet you’re asking for their money.

Instead, there should be a step in between describing the problem and pitching your particular product: selling the concept. I think Dan Kennedy also calls this the “category of the solution.” (Someone correct me if I’m attributing that to the wrong person — I have insomnia and a toddler, so I deserve applause just for stringing together complete sentences right now.)

What is the concept or category of the solution? Well, I think examples illustrate this best. Here are a few:

  • Before you try to sell them LinkedSelling, sell them on the idea of using LinkedIn to get leads.
  • Before you try to sell them a Kindle Paperwhite, sell them on e-readers first.
  • Before you try to sell a Peloton, sell them on exercise bikes.

So LinkedIn for leads, e-readers, and exercise bikes are all concepts or categories of the solution.
Once you sell them on that, you segue to your specific solution and talk about how it solves their problem and is better than any competing products.

Basically, this is your template: “Here’s the problem you’re having, here’s the type of thing that can solve it (concept), and here’s why our particular solution is best.”

This way, you can really sell them on your product before you pitch it. And you put some space between the problem section and your specific solution, making it less likely for prospects to think:

cardi b GIF by REVOLT TV

Alright, that’s it for this week. And if you have any copywriting questions, send them to me!

The post Reader Mail: “What does it mean to sell the concept first?” appeared first on Copy Consulting in Health and Personal Development.

Don’t use big numbers in copy, unless you do this

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One of the coolest things about copywriting is how much psychology goes into it.

(Okay, maybe we have different ideas of what’s “cool.” But I read psych books for fun, so. <—#hugenerd)

Anyway, since I’m reading this stuff anyway, I thought I’d start offering the CliffsNotes version here.

And the first topic will be: Why people can’t grasp big numbers (and why it matters in copywriting).

Now the reason it matters in copy is pretty straightforward … if people can’t grasp big numbers, and you have a lot of numbers in your copy, they’re not going to feel the urgency or the weight of the problem. And then they’re not very motivated to buy.

But what if you HAVE to use big numbers in your copy? What if you’re trying to explain to the reader that their same exact problem kills hundreds of thousands of people every year?

It’s an important point, and yet, your readers won’t really grasp it. So what do you do?

Well, first we’ll talk about why they can’t grasp it, and then I’ll give you some solutions.

One theory is that people are bad at grasping large numbers because there’s no evolutionary benefit. Sure, cavewoman April might’ve needed to know that three antelopes would feed my clan of 20. That’s important for survival. But she would NOT need to know that there are 70-sextillion stars in the Universe. Who cares? She had to kill antelope and invent the wheel and stuff.

These days, however, we’re surrounded by large numbers. Yet our brains still struggle to really understand what those large quantities mean.

You can see this playing out right now, with the number of COVID deaths. In the U.S., more than 433,000 people have died from COVID so far.

But it’s hard for the majority of people to really make sense of that number. So David Kessler, a grief specialist, told National Geographic to think of it like this:

“Assuming there are 138 seats in a classic 737 jet, that would mean 8 planes have crashed on U.S. soil every day.” Every day, for the past year.

A road trip seems like a better idea…

If every single day you read about 8 new plane crashes here in the U.S., would you ever set foot on an airplane again? It would seem like a suicide mission.

And that example holds the secret to helping your readers grasp big numbers…

First, you have to break it down into numbers they can understand. Saying “8 plane crashes” is something people can picture. Then, you have to make it relevant to them. Most everyone has flown on a plane. Most everyone has read about a plane crash with some feeling of horror, thinking, “what if that happened to me?” So it feels relevant.

Here’s another example:

I recently read that in Denmark, overall COVID metrics are good enough to suggest the country should have started reopening weeks ago.

However, cases of the new, more contagious variant are growing exponentially in Denmark. And studies have estimated that this strain is 30-70% more contagious than the original.

If that’s the case, and it goes unchecked, the new variant will quickly overwhelm the medical system. People who could have survived COVID will die, simply because hospitals are too full to help them.

Worried Danish leaders have tried to explain to their citizens why they need to stay in lockdown. But this is really hard to do when their case numbers and deaths don’t look that bad.

So in a recent Facebook post, the prime minister tried a new approach. She said to imagine sitting in the top row of Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium, a soccer arena with a capacity of 38,000 people.

A dripping tap is filling it up, one drop the first minute, two drops the second, four drops the third. At that rate, the park will seem almost empty for the first 42 minutes. But two minutes later, it will be completely filled.

I don’t know how many minds this changed — after all, she’s telling them something they really, really don’t want to hear. Hopefully in our copy we’re not delivering a message like that. Because that’s a real uphill battle, and you should probably reconsider the approach or the project.

But notice how the prime minister took a concept like exponential numbers, and she broke it down. One drop, two drops. 42 minutes. And she used a visual that people in Denmark could picture — Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium. From there, it’s not hard to imagine it completely flooded with water.

So … tip #1: Don’t go against human nature and expect people to care about the huge numbers you’re throwing down. They won’t.

Tip #2: Break those big numbers down. Make them relevant and visual. You’re going to have to work a little more to help your readers grasp them.

But if you do it well, you’re going to get far more of them to take action.

 

 

The post Don’t use big numbers in copy, unless you do this appeared first on Copy Consulting in Health and Personal Development.

How to write kickass copy, 2x faster

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Last week, I wrote two lengthy emails in the same time it takes me to write just one.

And not only did I write twice as fast, but I wrote these for my mentor Parris Lampropoulos. If you don’t know Parris, he’s a copywriting legend, one of the “titans of direct response,” and he’s got an incredible record for beating controls. And then keeping the control for up to a decade.

And when you’re one of his copy cubs, you quickly learn that you won’t ever get away with lazy copy or not following his top-secret checklist. It doesn’t matter if we’re on a deadline, it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve rewritten it already. It’s not done until it’s perfect.

I tell you this so that you’ll know that when I wrote 2x faster, I wasn’t churning out trash copy. It still had to be A-plus work.

And when I sent these emails to Parris, he only had a couple of minor suggestions. Which means the copy was really good. 

So how did I write A-plus copy twice as fast? And on a typewriter?! 

Kermit The Frog Reaction GIF

Okay, it wasn’t on a typewriter. This is 2021, and I’m not a hipster.

But I did write 2x faster, and here’s how…

I decided to test Parkinson’s Law — the adage that work expands to fill the time allotted.

And the reason I decided to test Parkinson’s Law is that we needed to bank an extra email, because we’d lost the runway we had when I was out during the winter storm. It stresses me out when we don’t have runway, so I really wanted to get two emails written.

So here’s what I did:

First, I changed up my calendar. Normally, I allot 30 minutes to write the email outline, 30 minutes for a first draft, 30 minutes for a second draft, and 30 minutes for final changes. So now I split those 30-minute sessions between two emails. That meant 15 minutes to write the outline for email #1 and 15 minutes to write the outline for email #2, and so on.

Then, I used my timer. This is only significant because I’m not the best at remembering to use my timer. I tried the Pomodoro technique and couldn’t stick with it … it just made me hungry for Italian food. (Ragù alla bolognese …  buonissimo!) But for this week, I wanted to use the timer.

So how did it work out?

Well, like I said, I’m not the best at following the timer method. So some of the 15-minute sessions stretched into 20 minutes, because I was in the middle of a thought and turned off the alarm. (“You’re not the boss of me, timer! FREEEDOM!”) But at the end of the week, I had two emails in almost the same time it takes to write one.

So it was a huge success.

Now, I tried testing it again this week, and it didn’t work as well. I think it’s because we have our runway again, so I didn’t feel the same pressure to get it done. I knew that if I didn’t get both completely finished, it wasn’t such a big deal. So as my timeline expanded, so has the time it takes to get it done.

Parkinson’s Law!

bill nye mind blown GIF

So if you need to write faster, try this out and let me know how it goes. You might be surprised at how well it works.

Best,

April

PS. Lolz

 

 

The post How to write kickass copy, 2x faster appeared first on Copy Consulting in Health and Personal Development.

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