Transcripts
1. Introduction & Course Outline: Hello and welcome to the ultimate copywriting master class, where you will learn how to take your copy from expert. My name is safety and I'm a professional copywriter and marketing specialists. And I'll be leading you through the course. And this course, you're going to learn the secrets to writing code that connects and converts. You will walk away with some simple and actionable to make your writing more compelling, more genuine, and more persuasive techniques and formulas that you can use and apply to your writing right away. Copywriting is an essential skill in every aspect of your professional and personal life. The words you write in your emails, blog posts, and on social media, your website, the list goes on both online and offline. Copy is any piece of writing that has to do with you and your business for your brand. If you use copy in any one of these situations, this course can help you with. This course is for you, even if you don't run your own business. But your job requires copywriting because let me tell you, everything. Requires copywriting. Rising cv requires good copy. If you want a covenant to that's gonna get you that job. It requires good coffee. If you yourself are a marketeer and he wanted to brush up on your copywriting skills. Discourse is about me. I'm an Oxford University graduates and I studied English Language for my undergraduate degree. I have many years experience working in marketing. I have worked in marketing roles and were in copy for companies such as the BBC, as well as for personal clients and small businesses. Plus, I also ran my own successful blog for a number of years. With all my experience copywriting, I know what works. I'll show you the strategies that I have used that brought me customers and clients. I want this course to be as if it was just me and you in a private consultancy meeting where I completely overhaul your existing copy and show you how to make it fresh. Here's a quick summary of what you're going to bring home from this course will tap into marketing psychology and none about writing copy that cells. If you want to boost sales, you need to learn the secrets of crafting copy in a way that gets people to buy. I'll walk you through the proven techniques and psychology behind marketing strategies that work. You'll get my tried and tested winning templates and formulas. We will look at narrative storytelling formulas that we'll give life to your copy. You'll learn about how personal copywriting can win the trust of your reader. I'll give action formulas that can convince your reader to take action every single time. And we'll look at specific formulas that you can use for headlines. Along the way, I'll give you tons of examples and exercises so you can for what you're learning into practice right away. Copywriting is the glue that holds your business together and persuades people to do business with you. That the result we all want from our copywriting is to get the reader to take action. And whether your coffee succeeds or falls flat. All the tens on the copywriter, it's become an expert copywriter. You need the tools and know-how that will make your words work wonders. Often your copies the only thing that determines whether people pay attention to you and your message with words, you have the power to make sure that your thing, whatever it is, your business, your brand. You can make sure it gets the attention it deserves. Or you have to do is make a few key changes to how you think about copy and it will change your business forever no matter what your experience so far, that will be something you can learn from this course. You can write copy that sets you apart. And more importantly, right, copy the cells. And you can have fun doing it. Once more. You can start right now. I'd be so on, it's happy on the course. So take the first step towards writing great coffee and enroll. Now, I hope to see you inside the course.
2. Class Project - How To Get The Most Out Of This Course: Before we get started, this is a quick
guide about how to get the most out of this course. The first thing I
want you to do is post in the discussion
section of this course, which you will find here. And tell me what
the primary place that you will be
writing sizzling copy for with the help
of this course. You can also post the link to it if you want
me to check it out. My teaching style is
concise and to the point, there was also a
lot to learn and a huge number of
lectures to get through. You can take it
at your own pace, Pause the video wherever
you need to take notes, and you can even slow down if you want to
take things slower. If you miss something,
you can use this button to skip
back by 15 seconds. There is a class
project that you can choose to participate in
alongside your learning. For this class projects, we are going to sell a
product with our words. The goal for this project is
to learn how to sell with the copywriting tricks and tools you have learned
from this course. Start by identifying
what your product is. Your product can be
a physical item. If you're a
product-based business, it can even be yourself, if you are a personal brand. Or it can be a blog, a social media page, whatever you as a copywriter
at trying to sell. It can even be a fictional
products if you wish. For the sake of this exercise, you could find something from your kitchen, home or online. Once you have identified
what the product is that you want to
sell to your reader. We're going to use
a technique which we will dive into in
the next lecture. This technique focuses on how to describe your product
in a way that cells. I want you to first of all
write out a description of your product that details
It's best features. After watching the next video, I want you to transform that
description into copy that cells by changing those
features into benefits. We will learn more about how to do that in the next lecture. There will be a
downloadable worksheet to guide you by uploading
your class projects. You will have the opportunity
for me to review it, as well as your fellow
students who take this class. But if you prefer
for your project to just be between me and you, you can tick this box here to
keep your project private. In the text field here, start by identifying
what your product is. You can put that as the
headline to this project. This is a work in progress
that you can develop an update as you go
through the course. It can start with just
bullet points, ideas, or themes. Everyone
works differently. So why not start your
project right now? Then, as you learn
throughout this class, you can develop and adds to your projects and get
feedback as you go. You might be inspired to write a paragraph after the
next lecture straight away and then edit your project as you go
along through the course. There are also more
downloadable PDF worksheets and printables to help you on
your copywriting journey, which you will find here. Make sure that
you're following me as an instructor on Skillshare, which you can do by
clicking this button. So you can stay
up-to-date with all of my classes on Skillshare. Most importantly, get stuck
in and enjoy learning. I can't wait to get started.
3. Features Vs Benefits - Write Copy To Sell Your Product: If you want to boost sales, you need to learn the secrets of crafting copy in a way that gets people to buy. In this module, you're going to learn how to instantly and dramatically improve your sales efforts. I'll walk you through the proven techniques and psychology behind marketing strategies that work. Even if you're not in the practice of selling something in your business, these techniques still apply to you. But before we may want to sell set makes, I first want you to focus on one part of copywriting. It's really important and that is your product. Because if you want to write slick copy that cells, you need to know your product and your customer inside out. So before we dive into this next module, ask yourself, what is my product? If you're thinking, I don't have a product, you do. You just don't realize it yet. You don't necessarily have to be in sales or business to have a product. If you offer a service, that is your product, if you write a blog, that is your product, or if you're a personal brand on social media, the product is you. I don't mean to commodify everything here, but ultimately, if you're writing copy, you want your reader to commit to an action. And you need to offer something in return for that. And what you are offering return is your product, even if it's just to subscribe to your social media channels or sign up to your newsletter. What you do in return for the action that the reader does. That is what I want you to think of as your products over the next module. So now you've identified what your product is. Feel copywriting. I want you to get to know your product. How would you describe your product to me? Imagine that you're doing research on your own product and in doing so, you tell me everything about it, including how it differs from your competitors. I'm gonna give you a minute to actually do this task right now I want you to pause this video and write down a detailed description of your product. Now it's really important that you do this with me. So make sure you pause the video just for a minute. You now spend eight hours on it. And when you finish that task, make sure you click regime and we will look at that in more detail. Okay, so hopefully after forcing that video, you will have written down a detailed description of your product. Now have a read of that description and tell me this is what you've written down, list the features of your product or does it list the benefits? And I'll explain what I mean by that. Features a factual and descriptives they list walk for it does on a surface level it's appearance and its capability. For example, in this Amazon listing, the copy only describes the features. A plastic faceted four slice toaster in black with crammed details. Features 1.8 kilowatts of power, variable browning control and variable width slots, and electronic controls for reheat the frost and cancel functions, extra lift position from a moving small items and extra deep crumb tray. And in one year warranty. So yeah, that's great. That is all the features of this product. And it fits, however, tell the reader how a product is useful to them. It's the benefits that make customer truly wants to buy your products. Remember, it's not about you switching that focus from yourself onto the reader. That's what happens when you change your copywriting from writing about features of a product to writing about benefits. Your potential customers want to know what's in it for me. So tell them, as an example, if I were to rewrite the listing that I showed you earlier, but listing the benefits and said that the features here's what it would look like. You can see here that the features are listed in capitals, but then the copy goes on to describe the benefits, stainless and easy to clean with a striking, highly polished and brushed steel finish. Highly functions so you can easily and safely remove your toasted bread extra wide slots ideal for toasting thicker items such as bagels or buns or you don't need to worry about anything getting stuck in your toaster. Counseled defrost reheat buttons with LED indicator lights, that ease of use. So you can switch between functions effortlessly. Removable crumb tray for ease of cleaning, and variable browning control. So you can select the toaster Brown to the level that you desire. So you can see how by writing your copy in this way and emphasizing the benefits you'll motivating your reader to by using a simple tip is the first step to creating a need, a desire, and a demand for your product with your coffee writing, I'm going to show you more methods like this one that is going to bring you in sales. I'll see you inside the next lecture.
4. The Pain Point: Now that we have identified our product and its benefits, we can get to the really juicy part of this course, the psychology behind selling using only the power of your copy alone. The features versus benefit system taps into seller psychology, but it puts a focus on the reader and what they get out with a product that you are offering. With the next technique, we take that theory and crank it up a notch from a product that the reader has a desire to purchase, to turn it into a product that the reader needs to purchase and simply cannot live without. How do we do that? We identified what is called the pain point. The pain point is a problem or a struggle that your potential customer is going through. Your customer's pain point is the driving force behind their need for your product or services. It is what sparks the whole buying process. A classic example of the perfect pain point or set of product is halitosis, right? Halitosis, the fancy name for bad breath that many people unfortunately suffer with. Note that before Listerine halitosis did not exist as a medical condition. That's right. Listerine invented halitosis. Now let's be clear. Listerine didn't invent bad breath. That has unfortunately been around for several millennia to sell their products. Listerine gave bad breath and name. They made it into a real problem and turned it from something that everyone has in the morning to a serious pain points. They transformed halitosis from a bolus and personal quirk into an embarrassing medical condition that urgently required treatment. And what was secure. Why is the reeds mouthwashes horse? So how can we apply this to Arne copywriting? Well, here's my simple 4-step structure to creating a pain point with your Cauchy. Step one, identify the problem. This is why you set forth the issue, the pain point that your customer suffers with, even if until now they didn't even realize it. So in the case of Listerine, they identified that the pain points that customers had was dealing with bad breath. Step to show that you understand. Show that you genuinely care about your customers problem and that you want to help. This step is so important because without it you can end up a pairing insincere or like you're capitalizing on your customer's pain. If you just said, got my breath too bad, here's a mouthwash. It doesn't show any empathy. If you phrase it in a way, the shares compassion and say that we all know the embarrassment of dealing with bad breath. Suddenly, you're on the reader's side. Step three, explain a solution. You have to cater to the reader's needs with a genuine interest in solving their problem. So Listerine would say that we have created a unique formula to combat bad breath when used daily. And step four, show how your service provides that solution. Once you have established the pain point and the solution, all you have to do is convince them that the company to buy that service or product from is-you. These four steps when you successfully are a powerful way to convince people of the value of what you are selling by creating a problem that you're solving with your product, equate a need for your customer to bind our product. In the next few lectures, we will be learning more techniques like this one that you sell a psychology to get the results you want.
5. Find Your USP: One thing we need
to consider when providing a solution to
the pain point we have created is how unique is the product that
you're offering. Because more often than not, your customer isn't
going to land on your website for you to tell
them what their problem is. Chances are your
customer already has a problem that
they want solving. They are searching
for the solution. In which case, how do you distinguish yourself
from the competition? There might be hundreds, thousands of other businesses
providing the same service, selling the same product. And they all answer the
customer's pain point. This is where USB comes in. You might have heard
of USP before. It is after all, a much do
use hallmark in marketing. Usp stands for unique
selling points. In order to get that sale, you have to show the customer
what makes your product uniquely different from
the others on the market, and therefore the
best for them at solving that problem
or pain point. This is what sells your
product over your competitors. Your USP is crucial. Say, if you're offering
a product that many other competitors
also have, such as washing up liquid. You either a need to create a specific need or pain
point within that niche, or be focused on a narrow cross-section
of your target audience. With method a, for example, you can create a new
specific pain point. For example, washing
up liquid is the only one on the market that tackles reducing soaking time by half. This way, you are winning customers from your
competition because all the other
products we'll tackle the same pinpoint
like dirty plates, but you've created
an additional one which is having to
soak plates for long periods of
time and carved out a new USP for your product. With method B, you need to
focus on a cross-section of your potential
marketplace and target them. Many people don't realize that
the more targeted you get, the more likely you are to sell. They think, Well, if I cut out a portion of my
potential audience, I might get less sales right? Wrong. The more targeted your copy is at a specific
group of people, the more likely those people
will feel like you're speaking directly to them and
therefore make a purchase. Your USP could be
that you provide the highest quality or
that you are the cheapest, or you might have
the best services, but you have to pick one. Don't be afraid to get
really specific and define what makes you different. So in this example, your new target audience
could be those seeking the highest quality washing
up liquid on the market. But your USP could
be that you provide the cheapest or you have
the best customer service. The point is you
have to pick one. Don't be afraid to
get really specific and define what
makes you different. Here's where it pays
to know your product, your customer, and know your
competition Inside Out. Know your customer's
demographic, their age, gender, education, location,
industry that they work in. All of this information gives
you a clear idea of who your ideal customer is and
what USP they are looking for. What does your customer value? What are their needs? Knowing the answer
to these questions puts you ahead of
the competition. And that way you are
better positioned to define what makes you different. And the copyright will
be more successful and more effective at
attracting new customers.
6. Writing To Persuade: What do you do? However, if your product and its USP doesn't solve an obvious problem or have a clear pain point to use as leverage in your copy. This is where you need to use your powers of persuasion. If you are writing copy, you will be writing with the intention to persuade your reader. Any of the copy that you read online or elsewhere is written to persuade you to perform an action, to bind, to enroll, to sign up, or to share. First of all, you need to know what your goal is before you begin to try to write persuasively, you don't know the action you want your reader to take. You'll never be able to convince anyone to do anything. Have a clear intention for your writing. Define what action you want your reader to take and keep it in mind when you're writing, right? It's in bold at the top of the page to remind you exactly what you want to persuade your reader to do. The art of persuasion can be difficult to crack, but there are a few writing techniques you can use to improve your copy, which will look at now, position yourself as the authority. When you perceive someone as an authority, you are more likely to do what they say. Think of a personal trainer shouting orders. Are you to perform various exercises as they are the authority, you do exactly what they say. But if your mom told you to run five kilometers, he probably wouldn't. So authority is important. And if you can write with authority, you can harness the power of persuasion in your writing. Now, this is no time for modesty. If you're thinking, Well, I'm not an authority on anything. You are, you hopefully will know what you are talking about when it comes to what you are trying to sell or your business. So that in itself makes you in authority. You now just need to write like one, right? With confidence, be bold, and be direct, not hesitant or uncertain, like in this example here, I really hope you like my new range of bath bombs. To position yourself as the authority, you need to avoid phrases like, I hope or I think, say I will, and I know have confidence in what you are writing, changed the statement to have authority. And it reads, as, I know, you'll love my new range of bath bombs. Can you see how instantly your reader will believe in what you are saying? You can use authority in your copy by demonstrating your skills, knowledge, and track record. So phrases like, I know and I will, and I believe our all power words for demonstrating your authority. Other power phrases you can use are those that demonstrate your skills, knowledge, and track record. Since and insert the name of the year since 2004, for example, shows that your website and business have been inaction for over a decade. And add authority to what you are saying. When you add these Authority indicates to your copy, you will most likely notice a huge increase in your conversions. Another powerful persuasion technique is reassurance. When nowadays so many purchases are made online, safety for the customer can be an issue. Many people are concerned about online security and it can be a barrier to sales. So you need to put your reader's mind at ease with your words. How can you provide reassurance? You could offer a refund. Many people are afraid to do this because they think that if you offer refunds, people will start taking liberties and refund everything. But in reality, the majority of your customers are highly unlikely to request a refund if your service is good, but if you offer it, it provides that all-important reassurance that makes your reader feel more secure about that potential purchase. It might even push them to buy. If they are deciding between two identical products and use officer refund, this small gesture could be the tipping point that persuade them to make a purchase. Another technique that gives the reader reassurance is what is known as social proof. Social proof is the security blanket that comes with the reassurance that other people have made this bunches and they unhappy about it. You could feature your customers testimonials on your sales page as one example of social proof. Or you can simply write, join 0.5 million other happy customers, or however many customers you have sold your item two, with that key piece of information that your product has a proven success, he provides the all important reassurance that the reader may need to be persuaded to take action. And finally, reward. Reward, bribery, call it what you want, but if you offer your customers something in return for the action you want them to take. This can be a very persuasive bargaining tool. Incentivize the action you want your reader to take by providing them with a freebie, you could give them a free taster, a free PDF resource. Make the first chapter of your book free. Give them something of value that is going to make them want to come back for more. After all, who doesn't love free things? And it can be a great way to hook in new customers and compel them to make a purchase later on. There are a few key words of vocabulary that you can use which are guaranteed to sway your reader in a direction. You want them to go. First up, new, brand, new, new season. There is a power in having the most up-to-date version of an item or product, which can drive people to buy. Mystery phrases, phrases like the secrets behind XYZ or exclusive. These phrases and words create intrigue and curiosity. And with these power was you increase desire for what you are selling because a has the alleles of mystery that you'll read is onto something that only they know about. And finally, you, we've discussed earlier in the course the importance of changing the focus from me to you. But if you actually use the second person pronoun you, it can become a power would in itself. For example, you can transform your skin overnight, means that your copy is written directly to the reader in a way that is distinctly possible. So to summarize these persuasive techniques, Keep your goal in mind and know exactly what you want to do to persuade your reader. Position yourself as the authority. Offer, reassurance, offered a reward, and use power words. I will see you in the next lecture for another persuasive technique for copywriting.
7. Get Your Customer To Buy Now: In this lecture, we are going to learn some key ways to encourage people to by now a lot of the time, no matter how well you have crafted your copy, the reason will be interested, but they may not take action, at least not right away. They may click away from that page thinking, I'll do that later. I want this item or this service, but I don't want to commit right now. They might have more important things to do like picking up the kids from school or a deadline at work. Many life events can get in the way of your customer making a purchase at that moment. How you can combat this is by communicating urgency to your reader. If you use phrases like limited time or limited number, you can compile your potential customer to take action. Now, you've worked hard to draw your reader in established trust by using their language, convince them to buy your product. And the final step is to convince them that the time to buy is now not later. Apply that time pressure to create a sense of urgency. In a similar vein, using your copy to communicate, scarcity is a great persuasive technique. Tell your reader that there is only x number of places available at this price. Established that it's first come, first serve, and then when they're gone, they're gone. In the same way that urgency compounds the reader to take action. Scarcity works in the same way because it puts pressure on your potential customer and compels them to take action. Now, not later. In order to maintain integrity and authenticity, you do have to follow through on your promises. Do make sure that you do as you say. Otherwise, you may not only break the trust with your reader because you don't follow through on your word, but you immediately lose the urgency that you are trying to use to persuade your reader. If they believe that your sale is in fact available all the time, you can always of course, extend the sale date due to high-demand or bring it back. But if you say that the price you're offering is only available until a certain date, makes sure that you do change your pricing back so that it goes to the full price on that date. Have a limited number of places available at a lower price point, calls them early bird tickets. And again, make sure that they are no longer available after the cut-off date that you've communicated. So try either or both of these strategies, introduce a sense of urgency and scarcity to your writing. And you should soon see an upturn in conversions from your copy.
8. Leverage The Power Of Emotive Copywriting: In this lecture, we're going to learn how to leverage the power of emotion to convince your reader to take action. When the copy we write activate certain emotions, your words take on a new level of persuasion. If you're writing copy about something technical, you may be wondering how on Earth am I supposed to write emotional copy about something so dry, but it can be done. Your story just needs to be told in the right way. To write with emotion about, for example, internet security. You need to get to though, why? When he asked, Why is Internet security important? Your copywriting can transform from boring, too emotional. So for example, coffee about an Internet security company would read as follows, I know what it's like to wake up one morning with a nightmare you never knew you had? I had that nightmare once. My online business was taken from me by salon, I never met someone who could not care less that in my website and social media platforms they ruined for us was my livelihood and everything I had ever worked for. C, that when you tell the why, it becomes easier to sell the product in describing a bad personal experience with an emotional story, you can convince your readers that the threat of internet security is real. In the last lecture, we looked at how to write copy with urgency and scarcity. One of the reasons those techniques are so effective is because they trigger the emotion fear. The fear of missing out, the fear of not taking action in time. When people experience fear, they look for a way to get out of that situation. So if you clearly provide an option or way out with your copy, you can use that fear to your advantage. Fear is just one of the emotions you can use in your copywriting to convince your reader to take action. So next we're going to explore how you can use these emotions to drive up sales. Safety. The need for safety is a powerful emotion. If your product offer security or peace of mind like this copy sets up for, you will want to capitalize on this. Your tone should be Kant and reassuring. You want to offer your reader a voice of reason and trust, unlike fear, where you spur your customer interaction with the summation, it is more gentle. You want to reassure the reader and gently remind them what dangers your product provides protection from. So to follow on from the example earlier, you could capitalize on the emotion of a readers need for safety by writing as follows. I'm telling my story in the hope that it might convince others to take action and protect themselves. So it doesn't have to happen to anyone else. Internet hacking is becoming increasingly common. In fact, it happens all the time. Mag Security offers them a simple and effective means to protect your data and identity online. Finally, another emotion you can use in your copy is guilts. This technique is often used by charities and non-profits. In this scenario, you appeal to the reader's compassion and empathy to provoke a knee-jerk reaction, like in this example here. So setting up a scenario that evokes emotion of guilt and following that with the direct question, can you help really tugs at the heart strings? Don't underestimate the power of emotion in your copy. It may seem in some ways manipulative, but when you understand the psychology behind the emotions use within your copy, it can help create connection with your customer. Once you learn how to write high converting, emotionally driven copy, it committed tipping point. You need to get your reader to take action.
9. The Magic Word: When writing copy to sell. So far, we've talked about our target audience and thinking about our ideal customer. But a common problem people encounter is how to write for more than one type of ideal customer. This is essential if your business serves a diverse audience. What if your product is a massage therapy, for example? Your target audience could range from tired parents to sports athletes to pensioners. Within any discipline, there will be a range of potential clients that you want to reach. One way to tackle this in your copy is to pose a series of quick fire questions that serve multiple audiences. The goal here is to get your potential customers as diverse as they may be, to say the magic word. And that magic word is yes. For example, a relationship council service might open with, do you need relationship advice? Have you lost the passion that you once had for your partner? Is your relationship in trouble and you don't know what else to do to make it work. We can help you get your love life back on track. What we're aiming for is for your potential reader to answer yes to at least one of those opening questions. The first question is quite broad and general, but the second two are slightly more specific. Before providing the reader with a solution. See how the author speaks in a way that gets the reader to agree. The copy here does a great job of getting the reader to say yes and prime them for the sale or opsin that would follow. Classic book Influence The Psychology of Persuasion. Dr. Robert Cialdini lays the groundwork for what makes people say. Yes. He advises that at the beginning of your copy, you can write to the reader and say things that will make them nods their head in agreement. This will make it easier to get the reader to agree with you when you move up the ladder and make a somewhat larger ask, the more yes's you get from your reader before you make the big ask for a sale, the more positive your reader will be feeling about making a purchase. When using this method, sometimes it helps to get your reader to agree to smaller asks before you move up the ladder and make a somewhat larger call to action, such as a sale or subscription. So for example, you could ask them to sign up to a mail list. You could say sign up to our male is to get a free weekly newsletter packed with relationship advice. Set it up in a way that gets your reader to say, yes please so me up and you have them prime to say yes for that all important sale. So next time you're writing copy, make sure that you pay attention to guessing a reader to agree with you from the beginning. Get them to say yes, and you'll be on track to making a sale from your copywriting.
10. A Short Written "Exercise" (or a small favour!): This is the part where I
awkwardly ask you for a review. But this time there's
a little twist. I hate to interrupt
your learning, but it would mean so much
to me if you could kindly spare two minutes of your time to help to improve this course, I would be so grateful if
you could leave a review and tell me about your experience so far to make it more interesting, why not try this? If you are leaving
a written review, this can be your chance to put what you have learned
into practice. Reviews are so vital
for instructors. They are by far the best way
for me to get feedback on this course and make it the
highest quality it can be. Some of my students,
I want this course to be the very best course
about copywriting, but I can only do
that with your help. I am more than happy
to change the content of this course if you
think it needs it. Because by now from my students, as much as you are
learning from this course, in case you're not sure
how to leave a review. I have made a quick
demonstration video to show you. And as I said, it shouldn't
take longer than two minutes. Thank you in advance
for your help. I look forward to reading
your expert Lewis and reviews and hope that you
enjoy the rest of the course. To leave a review on Skillshare when you are on the
class page like so, if you scroll down, you will see that there is
a Reviews tab on the right. If you select the button
here that says leave review, Skillshare will then
present you with a series of short
questions about the class. And right at the bottom, you have the option to leave
a few words if you wish. When you're done,
hit Submit Review. And that's it. Reviews really helped
me to continue making great courses and
content for you guys. So thank you for taking the
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11. A Word Of Advice On Applying Copywriting Templates: There are certain tried and tested patterns of writing. The time and time again bring results. In the last section of the course, we looked at the psychology that we can tap into to encourage our reader to take the action that we want them to. If you combine that strategy with the formulas in this module, I guarantee that your copywriting is going to bring home results. I'll be taking you through step-by-step to show you how you can apply these tried and tested copywriting formulas to your writing and make them your own. You may not have already come across these companies. Yeah. But once I let you in on the secrets to these copywriting templates, you will notice them everywhere, from advertising to sales pages to website copy. Every copyright, a user's these templates as a starting points. And that's what they are. They're they're a launchpad for your ideas. I'm not saying that you have to copy them word for word. You still need to bring your own unique voice, your character, and just put your spin on it. But that's the beauty of using these copywriting templates. You know that they work and you have to do is fill in the blanks and put your own unique twist on it. So with that, let's get started using templates, and I'll see you inside the next lecture.
12. Narrative Storytelling: The first formula that you
will frequently encounter when reading copywriting
is narrative storytelling. Storytelling is a
tradition that has been part of our culture since
the human race began. We've all been told
stories as children, the fairy tales
once upon a time, and the happy ever rafters. So when your reader
encounters copy that is structured as a story, it gives them a sense of familiarity, safety,
and happiness. It builds connection and trust with your
potential customer. If written with the right
Storytelling Formula, your copy will not feel like
a sales pitch, but instead, something your customer can relate to on a personal level, telling a story is more
than just a beginning, a middle, and an end. The structure is so tried and tested that it's predictable. Now, often predictable
is seen as a bad thing. But in this case, predictability encourages
that feeling of trust because the reader
knows what is coming. The common storytelling
formula goes like this. The main character is our hero, and he or she leads an
ordinary life and then something unexpected
happens that changes their life forever. The hero than embarks on a journey that takes
some through twists and turns before a final battle where they defeat an obstacle, usually an evil villain. Think of The Hobbit, any Disney film or Marvel movie, they all follow this pattern and this formula is repeated
over and over again. But somehow people just
never get tired of it. It's a trope more commonly
known as the hero's journey. So how does this
apply to copywriting? Well, what if you were to
make the customer, the hero, like in this Nike ad here, this copy motivates
the customer to buy, because doing so is
a heroic action. But the crux of it, the hero must make a choice. It's up to them to discover that secret tool
which can change the world and take
the right course of action and make a purchase. So here's what you
need to do to follow the storytelling
formula for your copy. And as I've said, there are
many variations of this. I'm presenting it in
its simplest form that you can make it your own. First of all, make the
customer your hero. Then in this scenario, you can set up the bad guy to be the problem that your
product solves with your customer as the
hero and your product as the tool that can help the
customer defeat the bad guy. You've set up the
perfect storytelling formula when your customer over whether that
is hungry kids at breakfast time or mold in
the shower, for example. Instead of treating that mold
as an everyday occurrence, make it the bad
guy and your hero, your customer has
to fight that mold with the super strength
power of your product. This copywriting formula is most suited to products that
solve a specific problem, especially if that
problem is something that your customers can
fight against. By using this
storytelling formula, you can make your copy
exciting, interesting, and it will keep people reading
all the way to the end.
13. Get Personal: The next copywriting formula we will look at is another kind of storytelling, but this is more about your personal story. This is the personal copywriting formula. Here you begin with a personal story that explains the problem and the hardship that you have experienced because of that. That hardship, you discover a solution. Now that you know the secrets to that solution, you need to pass on the incredible results to the reader. You feel compelled to do so for the good of humanity. You're sharing something intimate and personal to you with your reader, building that all important connection that drives sales. This formula is based on the advice from the well-named book like Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People. His magic formula for an engaging story is as follows. Firstly, an incident, share a vivid personal experience that is relevant to the point that you're making. Then action shed a specific action that you have taken to solve or prevent the problem. And thirdly, benefits clearly emphasize the benefits of taking this course of recommended action. If we look back to the previous example I gave a while ago in the course about internet security. As well as appealing to the reader's emotions as we highlighted in that module, it also follows this personal storytelling formula to a T. It describes the incident. It tells the reader how they took action. And it concludes with the benefit to the action that they are recommending. The important part here is that it is a story, it's personal. The goal is not to recommend a course of action, but immersed the reader in what happened. Without the personal story that precedes the benefits about the security system, it simply wouldn't have the same effect. There wouldn't be any connect with the reader. What makes this story so convincing is that it's real and personal. So always use real stories where you can. In copywriting, there can be no substitute for true stories. But often we struggled to find the right words and we have to make it personal. If you find you're stuck for ideas for your own personal story. When Oscar, the people, some of your clients, the material that they give for that testimonial can often be inspiration for what you can use in your copy for personal storytelling. The reason is template is so successful is because once again, in storytelling node, there is a warm sense of familiarity that puts the reader at ease. It doesn't feel like a sales pitch. When you tell a story, the reader can picture the whole journey is does a promotions and they get sucked in by hooking in the attention of your audience immediately with a personal story. They can relate to you because you create a connection. This formula works particularly well for when your service or product provide a solution that is to do with personal growth or development. Something you can create a personal account out of businesses modelled on nutrition and diet stories. And that solution, for example, work particularly well with this kind of formula. Try it out and see if this copywriting formula works for you.
14. Take Action: The first formula that you will frequently encounter when reading copywriting is narrative storytelling. Storytelling is a tradition that has been part of our culture since the human race began. We've all been told stories as children, the fairy tales once upon a time, and the happy ever rafters. So when your reader encounters copy that is structured as a story, it gives them a sense of familiarity, safety, and happiness. It builds connection and trust with your potential customer. If person with the right Storytelling Formula, your copy will not feel like a sales pitch, but instead, something your customer can relate to on a personal level, telling a story is more than just a beginning, a middle, and an end. The structure is so tried and tested that it's predictable. Now, often predictable is seen as a bad thing. But in this case, predictability encourages that feeling of trust because the reader knows what is coming. The common storytelling formula goes like this. The main character is our hero, and he or she leads an ordinary life and then something unexpected happens that changes their life forever. The hero than embarks on a journey that takes them through twists and tons before a final battle where they defeat an obstacle, usually an evil villain. Think of The Hobbit, any Disney film or novel movie, they all follow this person and this formula is repeated over and over again. But somehow people just never get tired of it. It's Detroit, more commonly known as the hero's journey. So how does this apply to copywriting? Well, what if you were to make the customer, the hero, like in this Nike at here, this copy motivates the customer to buy because doing so is a heroic action. The, at the crux of it, the hero must make a choice. It's up to them to discover that secret tool which can change the world and take the right course of action and make a purchase. So here's what you need to do to follow the storytelling formula for your copy. And as I've said, there are many variations of this. I'm presenting it in its simplest form so that you can make it your own. First of all, make the customer your hero. Then in this scenario, you can set up the bad guy to be the problem that your product solves with your customer as the hero and your product as the tool that can help the customer defeat the bad guy. You've set up the perfect storytelling formula when your customer over whether that is hungry kids at breakfast time or molding the shower, for example. Instead of treating that mode as an everyday occurrence, make it the bad guy and your hero, your customer has to fight that mold with the super strength power of your product. This copywriting formula is most suited to products that solve a specific problem, especially if that problem is something that your customers can fight against. By using this storytelling formula, you can make your copy exciting, interesting, and it will keep people reading all the way to the end.
15. How To Write A Killer Headline: So far, we've looked
at templates to follow for the
meat of your copy. The body of texts where you have the chance to persuade your
reader to do something. But we haven't yet looked at
the all-important headline. But what's our headlines? These are the words you see
at the top of the page, the title or the page header, usually in big bold letters. Headlines are often the first
thing you see as a reader. And they are the 1 that if
the reader doesn't go past, we won't be successful
as copywriters. Headlines or like a door. What's behind that
door is a mystery. If the reader decides not
to go past that door, then you lose out on business, then it doesn't really matter
how nice the interior is. You could write amazing copy, but if your headline fails, you, your potential customer
won't even get to read it. So headlines are important. They need to be interesting,
eye-catching, and powerful, so that readers feel
compelled to read on the importance of a headline extend beyond just
the page itself. Don't forget, also, if you're publishing
something online, if it's shared, those headlines are usually what people
see in their news feeds. I'm going to give you
some useful examples that you can use for
your own headlines. So you know that you can hook your reader in
every single time. But first, I want to take a
closer look at what makes a good headline
like with any copy. Make it specific. You need to adapt the
headline according to the platform and page
you're putting it on, the audience you have in mind. Is it for a sales page? Is it an article or a blog post? Communicate what's in
it for the reader. If they continue to read on delivered the information
the audience needs to know. So they keep on reading. The same rules apply to
headlines as for any copy. The reader will want to
know what's in it for me. So make sure that you
get to the value fast. Communicate that
this content is for you and it will be
a value to you. Remember that if someone shares your copy
on social media, the headline mega
truncated or cut short. So don't get tripped up by this. As a rule, the guide for shareable headlines
is 60 characters, only ten to 12 words. Otherwise, you risk getting words cutoff in a number
of valuable places online, like Google searches,
Twitter and Facebook. A headline will certainly lose its effectiveness if you didn't get to see
the whole thing. So make sure you keep
within these limits. If you apply all
of these tips to your copy when
writing headlines, you can be sure your
reader will stick around and actually make it to the copy beyond the
headlines that you have worked so hard to craft. So without further ado, here are some tried and
tested templates for headlines that make people want to read on and share
what they see. Number one, how to
do something in X, number of simple steps. From a reader's perspective, it's a clear way to see that
you can learn something. The first blank is what people are searching for on Google. Headline promises the reader
that they will benefit. I learned how to do something, but promises that in a
set number of steps. Headlines that start
with a how-to and numbers are eye-catching
and create an expectation. Rita's love, numbers
and headlines. It is something that quantifies
what they're about to read and gives value
to the content. So, for example, how to deep clean your apartment
in five simple steps. Or flip it round, like in
this BuzzFeed article. Six, easy steps to
eating healthier. To do something like
an expert without XYZ. In, without section
you mentioned something that perhaps a
lot of people experience. So following the path formula
that we looked at earlier, you hint at the pain
someone may experience, but you're providing
the solution. For example, have to sprint
like a pro without any pain. Or in this example here, how to interview an expert
without looking like an idiot. Number three, x number of lessons I learned
while doing something. Eight lessons I learned
while getting a divorce. Five lessons I learned while
getting my first puppy. This template is one to
use if you are describing something from your
personal experience. This would particularly
suit if your copy is using the personal
storytelling formula that we looked at earlier. Again, you're giving
the reader a benefit. They can learn from
your experience and you're hooking them in with
your personal narrative. Number for x, secret
ways to do something. This template focuses on the
information being exclusive. The mystery peaks
your interest as the reader and encourages
you to read on. For example, seven secrets, stock market investors
won't tell us, or 20 things you didn't know you could sell on Craigslist. And finally, x number of adjective things
you should do or know before you do something. The adjective here really sells what you are
writing about. For example, ten
potentially bankrupting pitfalls you need to know
before starting a business. See how this example uses powerful adjectives as
an attention grabber, or this example here, Twenty-five truly amazing places you must visit before you die. So give one of these
templates or go for your copy and
have fun with it. Headlines, or for getting
people's attention. So think of creative ways
that you can do this. You could try to unusual things in your
headline that don't often go together to force people to take
a second glance, try out some different ideas, and find the right headline
that works with your copy. So you can make sure that
your reader sticks around.
16. The Often-Overlooked Ninja Writing Weapon: We've now looked at headlines. But what about what follows
on from a headline? Before you get to
the body of copy, there is usually a single
sentence after the headline. And this is what is known in copywriting as your
lead sentence, also known as a sub-header
or sub-headline. This is an often overlooked
ninja writing weapon that can improve
your success rate when it comes to getting hits. It is the first-line people
will read after the headline. So it's your introduction or first sentence to the
main body of text. Here, you began leading the reader to where
you want them to go. It's often also
what will appear in Google if your website or
article appears in a search. So it's very important
that you get it right. You'll lead sentence
has to be great to keep your readers interests. You have one sentence to
keep your reader's attention after the headline and
convince them to read on. If you get it wrong, it could be what makes
your reader click away. Something to bear
in mind is that many people just skim
the lead sentence. However you write
your lead sentence, it's essential to
include the keywords, the most important points of your content in
that lead sentence. Moreover, the headline and lead sentence have to work together. If your headline promises
nine ways to fry onions, the next line should build
on that headline and the copy that follows should
fulfill that expectation. So avoid anything
cryptic or confusing. Now is not the time
to be mysterious. So how do you follow up the headline with
a lead sentence? There are different
types of leaves sentence that you can use with your copy, which I'm going to
describe for you now. That's the summary lead. This is often used
in journalism, where the first
paragraph will be a quick summary of the facts and what follows will
be a continuation of those facts in full detail. Creative lead sentences. This can be a witty
or unusual way of starting the article. Perhaps a pun or a joke, or a surprising fact. You'll lead sentence could be, what is the most astounding or surprising or juicy
part of your copy? That's the same setting lead
sentence where you describe a scenario that
allows the reader to put themselves in the story, set the scene so that
you draw the reader in and they can imagine
it for themselves. Finally, the landing page lead. If you're writing a lead
sentence for a sales page, your sentence after the
headline needs to be enticing and drive
your reader to action. We will get into lead pages in more detail
in the next module. But with your lead
sentence here, you need to guide
the reader from the headline to the call to action by putting the most
compelling benefits upfront. If they continue to read
the rest of the copy, they can find out about
the other benefits. But don't forget people have
a limited attention span. So put your most
enticing benefits first. Using these will hopefully be
a springboard to structure your ideas and take your
copy to the next level. So now we have looked
at how you can use formulas for headlines and sub headers and templates that make your potential
customer take action, as well as techniques for narrative and personal
storytelling. Using these will hopefully be
a springboard to structure your ideas and take your
copy to the next level.
17. Conclusion: That brings us to the
end of this course. Thank you so much for watching. I really hope that
you've enjoyed it. Not permit, and that you
can already start to see an improvement
in your copywriting. The hard work starts. Now, you've learned all of
these copywriting techniques, but now you need to actually apply these techniques
to your writing. You have all the
tools you need to turn your copy from dry, dull writing into dazzling
client attracting copy. If you haven't
already been applying these techniques as you
went along with the course, start doing So right now, here's a recap of the
key actual points to take away from this course. We learned about copy that cells using the theories behind marketing psychology to get
your reader to take action, use the formulas and templates
that we looked at as a launchpad for ideas for
your own copyrighting. If you follow all of these
steps before you know it, you'll see how your copy has the power to convert your
readers into clients. Please do make sure
that you complete the class project. Don't be shy. A work in progress is
better than nothing at all. And by sharing it, you have the chance for
me to review it as well as your fellow students
who also take this class. If you have any
questions along the way, you can post them in the
discussion area of the class. And if you enjoyed this course, make sure that you
are following me as an instructor on Skillshare so you can stay up to date with any new classes that I
publish in the future. Why not start right now
and put all that you have learned into practice
with a new piece of writing. Use this course to guide you. Integrate these techniques
into your writing and start to become conscious often when
you're reading as well. By doing that, you start
to develop a sense of tone and style and get a feel
for what makes great copy. Every day that you put it off. You're leaving behind a
potential client or sale. So take action. Now. I wish you all the best in
your copywriting journey, and I hope to see you in
another course very soon.
SuperSoph, Copywriting Consultant & Writer
