How to Write Copy People Notice, Read, and Trust: Lessons from "The World’s Best Copywriter"

The phone rang a couple times before he picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hi,” I said. “Is this Pat Corpora?”
“Yes, it is.”
“It’s Eddie Shleyner,” I said. Silence. “I sent you a message on LinkedIn … about the Sampler. You replied with your number … told me to call.”
In 1995, Pat published The Doctor’s Vest-Pocket Sampler of Natural Remedies, a piece of direct response mail designed to sell a bigger, more complete book called New Choices in Natural Healing.
In other words, the free “sampler” book was designed to garner the attention, engagement, and trust necessary to sell prospect’s on the real product, the money-maker.

Download our free guide here for tips to become a better writer. 

 “Oh!” he said. “Hi, Eddie.” He sounded enthused. I could tell he was a nice guy. “How can I help?”

“Well,” I said. “I’m sure you know, the Sampler is famous.”

Pat smirked. “Okay.”
“At least it is among copywriters,” I said. “That’s why I’m calling: I’m writing an article about the Sampler -- because it’s a master class in written persuasion -- and I want to make sure I get the facts right.”
“Sure.”
“Well, first of all,” I said, “how many did you send out?”
“Oh, I’m sure we mailed 50 million copies,” said Pat. He paused. “Yeah, about that many.” He paused again. “It was a huge number.”
“And how many books did that sell?”
“Oh, millions.”
“Millions?” I said.
“Millions. It was our most successful mailer ever.”

How did Pat sell all those books?

He hired Gary Bencivenga to write the copy.

Bencivenga is a Hall of Fame copywriter. He’s on par with John Caples and Eugene Schwartz, David Ogilvy and Joe Sugarman. He knew what he was doing. That is, he knew how to write copy that captured attention, garnered engagement, and drove readers to take action.
Like any effective copywriter, Bencivenga was part writer, part psychologist. As a writer, he was able to produce clear, concise sentences. As a psychologist, he excelled at thinking like his prospect. He understood her, empathized with her. And that’s what this article is about.
It’s about the big-picture concepts you can learn by studying one of Bencivenga’s most successful controls. In other words, this article won’t teach you how to write like a copywriter as much as it’ll teach you how to think like one.
You’ll learn the rules of the trade, the fundamentals of crafting ad copy people notice, read, and trust.

How to write copy people notice, read, and trust.

If you don’t already own The Doctor’s Vest-Pocket Sampler of Natural Remedies, you can buy one on Amazon for a buck or two plus shipping. If you’re a serious student of copywriting, I recommend ordering your copy as soon as possible, reading it daily, and transcribing it often.

When you receive it, smile. You're holding one of the finest direct marketing assets ever created.
What makes it great? It follows three important principles:

1. It hones in on a single, primary desire.

That’s why people notice it in the first place.
People buy things to achieve their desires. Period.
“Every product appeals to two, or three or four of these mass desires,” writes Eugene Schwartz in his classic book, Breakthrough Advertising. “But only one can predominate.”
The Sampler’s target audience was older, likely suffering from an ailment, likely fatigued from the side-effects of conventional medicine, and likely eager for alternatives. Natural alternatives. Bencivenga honed in on this.

How to Hone In

Once you know, with absolute certainty, what it is your prospect desires:
a) Make the desire plainly visible and unmistakably clear.
This will ensure that the prospect sees it.
The Sampler displays the words “NATURAL REMEDIES” in big, bold, capital letters on its cover. In fact, those words appear twice, which brings us to my next point …
b) Repeat the desire over and over, using synonymous terms.
This will keep the prospect engaged without wearing her out on the same verbiage.
The Sampler alludes to the concept of “natural remedies” using many different terms, including “self-help remedies” and “non-surgical remedies” and a half-dozen others. Each is a new and engaging way to remind the prospect about the same thing. Each variation whispers, “This is what you want, Dear Reader. Remember? This is what you need!”
c) Sound realistic.
This will allow the prospect to take your copy seriously.
The Sampler doesn’t over-step its product’s promise. For instance, the word “antidotes” sounds more compelling than “remedies” but it’s also less plausible, which is why Bencivenga never uses it. After all, he’s selling a book with thousands of medical suggestions. They’re not all winners. Reasonable people know this.
If you say something that plants doubt in your prospect’s mind, even once, you might lose her. Fantastic claims are risky because they're hard to believe. Temper your promise to give the message a chance.

2. It doesn’t look like an ad.

That’s why people read it.
The Doctor’s Vest-Pocket Sampler of Natural Remedies doesn't look like a mailer. It looks like a book:

The cover is card stock and paper inside is thick, too. The back is blank, clean, except for the publisher’s mission statement: “We publish books that empower people’s lives.”
The Sampler is also 50 pages long, neatly organized into four enticing chapters:
Chapter 1: Natural Remedies for Whatever Ails You …
Chapter 2: Secret Healing Triggers …
Chapter 3: How to Instantly Get a Second Opinion, or a Third, Fourth, or Tenth!
Chapter 4: For a Lifetime of Greater Health, Try This …
Each chapter is well-formatted and written in plain English that’s scannable and digestible, peppered with bolding and italics that highlight value. Bencivenga gave the Sampler all the characteristics of a real book, which is why Debra-from-Nebraska pulled it from her mailbox, then sat down, put on her glasses, and actually took the time to read it.
“Allow the reader to enter into your ad with the least possible mental shifting of gears from ‘editorial’ to ‘advertisement’,” writes Schwartz. “A single change in format can add 50% to your readership, and your results.” Schwartz calls this concept Copy Camouflage. It refers to taking elements from trusted mediums and using them to lend clout to your ad. This is also known as “borrowed believability.”
Online advertorial articles, or “sponsored” posts, are a good example of this: they look and read like typical articles but have a hidden sales agenda. Bencivenga uses the same tactic, except he camouflaged the Sampler to look and read like a book.

How to Camouflage

Once you know the medium your prospect recognizes, likes, and believes:
a) Borrow the format.
This will help your promotion look familiar to the prospect.
The Sampler looks like a book because it was published before the internet took root (circ. 1995), when physical mediums (e.g., books and newspapers) were among the only recognized, credible sources of written information.
b) Borrow the words and tone.
This will help your copy sound familiar to the prospect.
The Sampler sounds comprehensible, colloquial. It uses simple words -- not medical speak -- to convey clear, concise advice that makes sense to people. And that brings us to the final principle …

3. It’s valuable.

That’s why people trust it.
Bencivenga packed the Sampler with advice that can help people live more comfortable lives:

• On page 14, he shares a juice recipe that treats asthma.
• On page 15, he shares a tonic recipe that quells cigarette cravings.
• On page 16, he shares a cocktail recipe that relieves leg cramps.

In fact, almost every page lends a valuable suggestion, something that makes the reader feel excited about the future, hopeful. Something that makes her say, “Wow, I had no idea ...” Over time, these feelings compound and intensify in the reader, engendering trust.

“Couldn’t it be that if someone took care of you, very good care of you; if this person would do anything for you; if your well-being was his only thought: is it impossible that you might begin to feel something for him?" - Bob Benson, Mad Men

How to Deliver Value

Once you know what your prospect values:
a) Highlight it.
This, again, will ensure that the prospect sees it.
The Sampler is full of bolded, italicized, and underlined words and phrases. It’s full of headlines and subheads, sidebars and images. Remember, people can’t begin to draw value from information if they never even see it.
b) Make it clear and concise.
This will fill the prospect with hope and excitement over her newfound knowledge.
The Sampler uses clear language and short, crisp sentences. Even though it’s a medical book, a native English speaker will comprehend every word. Remember, people will only get value from information they understand.
c) Make it actionable.
This will satisfy the prospect, making her happy.
The Sampler tells readers what to do but also explains how to do it. For example, want to treat asthma? “Blend two ounces of onion juice with two ounces of carrot juice and two ounces of parsley juice, then drink this blend twice each day,” writes Bencivenga. “Of course, use this remedy in conjunction with proper medical treatment.”
Remember, people will get the most value from information they can put to use.

“So, what did working with Gary teach you?” I asked.

“Well,” said Pat, “like many other tests I was involved in, it proved the power and importance of copy.”
I nodded, silently, on the other end.
“When we launched new titles, we always tested two or three different copywriters, “ said Pat. “Sometimes the different approaches were close, within 10 percent. But sometimes, it was a 100 percent difference in response rate. That’s what it was with the Vest-Pocket Sampler. That’s the power of great copy.”



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17 Things to Know About Working with a Content Writer That Could Save You Thousands

It’s truly important for you to understand how web content plays a pivotal role in driving traffic to your business website. More traffic means more business for you regardless of whether you choose to write it on your own or hire a professional writer. 

Content writers need to commit on a full-time basis, especially when they contribute towards content marketing. Content writers are in a position to create blogs on various niches whenever the need be. But you won’t find it easy when you’re into another field.

How the professional content writers can help you stick to your budget:

1. Publish content every day: Content needs to be published every day, and here lies your biggest challenge as a blogger. It creates a solid foundation for your marketing strategy. By hiring a professional writer, you’re assuring yourself of a reliable source of engaging, attractive and authentic content regularly.
2. Achieve great content regularly: It doesn’t need any special mention. A professional service has yields quality content and that too without any mistake and typos.
3. Get improved search engine rankings: A professional content writer will always be able to provide you with content based on the specific keywords chosen by you. This is quite crucial for your business. A content writer should be able to focus on the business needs, which helps in making your products and services more appealing to your prospects. This way, he ends up saving much in terms of your promotional cost. Even when your keywords rank well in search engines, then can’t convert prospects unless the message is vivid and appropriate.
4. Avail more accountability: A professional writer places the right words whenever he gets an opportunity. You save much of your hard-earned money by hiring them as they project more accountability. Eventually, they turn out to be more convincing to your audience.
5. Update site content every day: In order to keep your content appropriate and fresh, you must continue to update t on your site. A content writer saves much of your research cost by studying the changes within the industry and sharing them on your site. A unique and natural presentation will always ensure a huge influx of traffic.
6. Share fresh concepts and ideas: It’s truly challenging to come up with fresh ideas o a regular basis. You may be wondering what to write on or how to begin with, but your writer is aware of all potential resources that get updated regularly. Your website or blog viewers won’t ever experience a lack of information as they develop this habit of visiting your platform frequently.
7. Measure your writing necessities: Your writing necessities are bound to increase when your business expands. Your demands are most likely to be met by a content writer. Content publishing doesn’t seem to be so expensive nowadays, and content writers deserve much credit for this. All you need to do is to share your requirements with the writer in advance.
8. Save more money: Hiring a professional content writer won’t compel you to invest much towards maintaining an in-house team. All you need to pay for is the piece of content for which you place an order. You’ll neither need to occupy a certain office space for this purpose nor would you have to invest on furniture and electricity. You’ll pay your writer only after the content gets delivered to you.
9. Turn the brand easily recognizable: In order to gain more business from your target audience, you’ll need to gain much of their trust. This way, they’re likely to get more familiar with your brand. People tend to remember your content once they become aware of your presence. They will find it easier to come across your services once you publish authoritative content. A professional content writer is naturally equipped to provide you with authoritative content worth great quality.
10. Develop a uniform content stream: Reliability is certainly an important factor that determines the true impact of your content-marketing campaign. Even the smallest of gaps might push you in the wrong direction.
11. Explore most promotional channels within your reach: Your content writer will provide you the opportunity to check out the true potential of all social media platforms for sharing content about your products and services. Alongside driving more traffic to your business blog or website, it will develop brand value across all popular channels like Blogger, LinkedIn, Guest Posting, Twitter, and Facebook.
12. Engage the right audience on social networking websites: It keeps your audience engaged when you continue to post authoritative content about your business across various social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Content that comes from your own business blog or website is of more value to your viewers. They will get an opportunity to interact with you directly by asking questions and sharing their views. That’s why it’s important to hire a content writer who’ll do the needful.
13. Popularize your brand in reputable websites: A good piece of content that’s submitted with a reputable website will help you fetch quality back-links. You won’t need to spend much time on your business website as your content is supposed to write natural content with hand-picked sites. With time your brand gets a much-deserved exposure within the target market.
14. Engage your viewers with your blog or website: A few article or blog posts aren’t enough to engage your viewer. People begin to reciprocate when fresh content get published on your blog or site regularly. The cycle continues as it draws more audience in the future.
15. Achieve better conversion rate: Your conversion rate is bound to increase when you start posting content that seems more compelling. It has nothing to do with your effectiveness in pulling visitors across social media sites or the performance of your site across major search engine. More compelling content yields a better rate of conversion for your site.
16. Achieve extra subscribers for emailing updates: Your website is bound to achieve more appropriate traffic when you create your own mailing list. You’ll find it easier to push viewers for subscribing to your mailing list. They are bound to visit your website more frequently when your website gets updated with valuable information on a regular basis. Under such circumstances they are more likely to subscribe to your mailing updates.
17. Broadcast email marketing programs regularly: Content that you write for your email marketing campaign tends to prove more important than that of your blog or website content. It even helps you in achieving more relevant audience. These viewers are likely to visit your website once they read through your email messages. They are even more likely to be converted after they relate to your messages. All of your email-marketing campaigns are bound to fetch more value through high-quality content.

Imagine the amount that you’re bound to save in terms of brand promotion and fast conversion by hiring a content writer. You can always invest it in some other channels that fetch quick returns for your business in the near future.

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Copywriting 101: 6 Traits of Excellent Copy Readers Will Remember

Mad Men fans everywhere remember the pivotal first scene where we learn just how talented Don Draper is at his job.
Faced with an almost-impossible copywriting task, he rose to the occasion to solve a huge problem for his client, Lucky Strike. In spite of research warning customers of the dangers of cigarettes, Draper delivered the iconic slogan -- "It's toasted" -- to differentiate the brand from its competitors.

 
Now, we definitely aren't advocating for smoking cigarettes (or many of Draper's health choices). But fictional or not, you can't deny the memorability and catchiness of that tagline.

Download our free guide here for tips to become a better writer. 

It's easy to recognize good copywriting when you see it, but there are actually several characteristics that really separate outstanding writing from the rest of the pack. Want to know them? Read on below to find out.

What Is Copywriting?

Copywriting is one of the most critical elements of any and all forms of marketing and advertising. Copywriting consists of the words, either written or spoken, marketers use to try to get people to take an action after reading or hearing them.
Copywriting is like a call-to-action, but on a bigger scale: Copywriters are trying to get people to feel, think, or respond -- or, ideally, to Google the slogan or brand to learn more about the campaign. And where a blog post like this one has the luxury of hundreds of words with which to make a case, copywriters only have a few words to make their case.
But short and sweet isn't the only characteristic of good copywriting. Keep reading to learn more characteristics of truly memorable copy.

6 Traits of Good Copywriting

1) It tilts your perspective.

Sometimes, all a message needs to break through is a slight shift in angle. We've grown so accustomed to blocking out marketing messages, we don't even see them anymore. One of the most powerful things a copywriter can do is break down a reader's guard with an unexpected approach. Every story has a myriad of angles -- your job as a copywriter is to find the one that resonates.

Source: Silence Sucks

This ad from Sage Therapeutics pressing the importance of talking about postpartum depression works because instead of asking readers to care about something they don't know, it puts them in the position of experiencing the struggle that mothers suffering do. Did they miss some readers who quickly passed by the ad thinking it was for adult pacifiers? Most definitely. But the ad resonated that much more thoroughly with those who read it.
The next time you sit down to write, try out this approach. Don't take the topic head on. Instead, ask yourself why it matters. Each time you write down an answer, challenge yourself to push it further. Find the larger story happening behind your message.

2) It finds connections.

In 1996, Steve Jobs let the cat out of the bag. He was speaking with a journalist from Wired on the topic of creativity and explained:

"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after awhile."

Let's say you have to write an ad for a new pair of sneakers. You could take the assignment head on. You could write about the elasticity of the shoe's sole or the lightweight design. Indeed, many have. Or you could put all of that aside and instead draw the connection between the product and the experience it evokes.

Source: Pinterest

Two things are happening in this ad. First, the copy recognizes that for many, running isn't about running at all -- it's about solitude, peace, and restoring sanity to an otherwise hectic life. Second, not only does Nike connect the ad to the experience of running, it actually connects to the sound that those shoes make as they hit the pavement.
This ad is about the complexity of one's life fading away and being replaced by simplicity and clarity. As the copy progresses, the sentences simplify and the copy's complexity is slowly replaced by the simple and rhythmic pounding of words: run, run, run, run. The same rhythm one hears when all but their footsteps have faded away. That's connection.

3) It has a stunning lead.

The following are all headlines or leading sentences from Urban Daddy, an email-based magazine drawing attention to new products, experiences, and eateries.

• "Six days. That’s how long you have until 65% of your body is turkey."
• "There are 8,760 hours in a year. And just one hour in which a stand will be dispensing gratis latkes with homemade applesauce and sour cream in Harvard Square. Yeah, it’s not fair. But 60 minutes is 60 minutes."
• "Ewoks. Talk about living."

What's common among each of these leads? They make us want to read the next line. I mean, seriously, how much do you want to know where that Ewok thing is headed?
There's an adage in copywriting that's loosely credited to copywriter and business owner Joe Sugarman, which roughly states that the purpose of the headline is to get you to read the first line. The purpose of the first line is to get you to read the second line, and so on. In short, if your first line doesn't enthrall your readers, all is lost.

4) It is born out of listening.

Seeing its plans to launch yet another gym in the greater Boston region, an outsider might have called the Harrington family a wee bit crazy. The market was already flush with gyms, including a new breed of luxury ones that seemed to be in an arms war for the flashiest perks. Gyms across the region were offering massage services, smoothie bars, and fleets of personal trainers. And GymIt wouldn't have any of that.
What did GymIt have? An understanding of its core audience. Before launching its new gym, the brand did a ton of listening to its primary market of gym-goers. For many in GymIt's target market, the added benefits associated with luxury gyms were nice to have, but came with a lot of baggage -- namely expensive rates and overly complex contracts.
GymIt decided to simplify the gym-going experience for people who predominately cared about getting in and working out. The copy in its launch campaign and across its marketing materials reflects that understanding.


In an older blog post, Copyblogger's Robert Bruce put this nicely. "Humble yourself and truly serve your audience, listen to their needs and desires, listen to the language they use," he said. "If you listen carefully, your audience can eventually give you everything you need, including much of your copy. Get out of their way."

5) It avoids jargon and hyperbole.

Groundbreaking. Revolutionary. Business Solutions. Targetable Scale. Ideation. Evidence-based approaches. Industry-wide best practices.
Have I lost you yet?
When writers struggle to convey what is truly special about their company, product, or service, they sometimes fall back on jargon or hyperbole to underscore their point. The truth is, good copywriting doesn't need dressing up. Good copywriting should speak to the reader in human terms.
This isn't to say you should never celebrate awards or achievements. Just be direct in the way you explain that achievement. This homepage from Basecamp does a nice job of highlighting its popularity in concrete terms.

6) It cuts out excess.

Good writing gets to the point -- and that means cutting out excessive phrases, and rewording your sentences to be more direct. In an ad celebrating its "academic" readership, The Economist playfully demonstrates this below.


How do you rid excess words from your writing? It's half practice, half knowing where to cut. This article from Daily Writing Tips is one of the most effective summaries I've found on precise writing. Included in its tips:

• Reduce verb phrases: For instance, turn "The results are suggestive of the fact that" to "The results suggest."
• Reduce wordy phrases to single words: You can change "in order to" into "to." Another example: Turn "Due to the fact that" into "because."
• Avoid vague nouns: Phrases formed around general nouns like "in the area of" or "on the topic of" clutter sentences.
• Read the full list of brevity tips here.

In general, if you can afford to cut without losing the meaning of a sentence, do so. Push yourself to strip down your word count. Turn 50-word homepage copy into 25, then push yourself again to make that 25-word sentence into 15 words. It's not about brevity so much as it is about making sure every word counts in your writing.
Since my last point was about getting to the point, I'll keep this brief: Words matter. Every time you sit down to write an ad, web page, video script, or other content for your company, you have the opportunity to break through to people. Find those opportunities in your marketing and make sure that you've made the most of them.



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10 Advanced Email Copywriting Tips for Your Next Campaign

Writing a few sentences for an email campaign might not seem challenging, but there's an art to crafting effective copy.
When your email message is well written, it can draw up to 7.8 times more traffic to your website. That's nothing to scoff at, and yet, many marketers are in such a hurry to get emails out that they spend little time thinking about word choice, placement or their audience.

To help time-strapped marketers create emails that are effective, here are ten advanced email copywriting tips to follow: 

1. Solve a problem

People buy solutions, not products. No one wants a plunger—they want a way to fix their toilet when it gets stopped up. Write your copy to help the reader understand how your product or service will save them time or money, or generally make their life easier.
Solving a problem also requires your recipient to trust you, that is, believe that you’re an expert on the subject.
The Black Tux, an online suit rental company that partners with Nordstrom’s, does a great job of solving several problems in its e-newsletter, “Well Suited.” Using a mix of short, punchy copy, images and video, they provide expert tips on:

• What to Wear When There’s No Dress Code
• How to Talk to a Tailor
• Why You Shouldn’t Wear a Matching Bright Tie and Vest

 

When in doubt, talk about the benefits of your product or service, not the features. It’s great that your vacuum is bagless, but it’s better to point out that bagless vacuums don't lose suction.

2. Focus on one point

Don’t try to cram your new product announcement, free shipping promotion, and upcoming webinar into one email. Choose a topic and stick to it. It's better to send multiple emails than to try to squeeze everything into one, which not only overwhelms subscribers but also dilutes your messaging.
JAM, a business that offers online courses for kids on topics like cooking, building with LEGOs and drawing, knew that last-minute Christmas shoppers would be looking for gifts that could still be delivered on time. The company sent out an email focused solely on gift certificates available for online courses for kids, offering a printable certificate so that the gift-giver could have a physical item to present on Christmas.

If JAM had crowded the email with other promotions or information, the idea of a printable gift might have gotten lost; leading recipients to believe it was just another solicitation for an e-gift certificate.

3. Set a deadline

Email copy should compel subscribers to act instantly. Once they've read your message, you need them to click and convert. To do that, give subscribers a deadline.
Every sale should have an end date and every coupon should have a quick expiration date. The idea is to get subscribers to act fast so they don't miss the deal. Mention the deadline in your subject line and again in the copy.
You could even send a second email as a "last chance" to take advantage of the sale or coupon.
Here's a great example from Bath and Body Works. This is the second email sent about this deal and the deadline is clear at the top of the email.

4. Talk to the reader

Just as you don’t want to get stuck in the corner at the dinner party with the guy who only talks about himself, no one wants to read copy that’s full of “me,” “we” or “I.”
Instead, use “you” to make the reader feel engaged in the copy. Think of it as a respectful conversation in which it’s your turn to talk about something that (hopefully) interests you both.
Using "you" in the copy also forces you to think about the customer as you write, which will make your messages stronger and more relevant.

5. Stop pushing your brand

When Saturn first starting selling cars, it touted “no-haggle” pricing. The novel approach was welcome to many because it removed the “hard sell” of the stereotypically used car salesman from the picture.
The same approach should be taken with your email copy. Skip the hard sell, create great copy and simply add your logo. 
Shaving company Harry’s successfully pulled off this approach in a St. Patrick’s Day email. The copy that accompanied the video only mentioned Harry’s by name once, and that was simply to say, “Happy St. Patrick’s Day from all of us at Harry’s.”

Don’t worry that subscribers might not know who or what you are if you don’t hit them over the head with your brand. Curiosity will give them a reason to click and learn more.

6. Don't overpromise

In an effort to sell products, brands sometimes overpromise. They exaggerate a product's features or use phrases like, “Guaranteed not to break.”
If you make a promise that you can't keep, customer retention will suffer and word of mouth could negatively affect sales. Dishonesty will be a disaster for your company; no one does business with someone they don’t trust.
Be honest and realistic with your subscribers. Period. 

7. Format for scanners

Assume that everyone reading your email is incredibly busy and won’t read every word of the text. Use headlines, subheads and very short blocks of text, or better yet, bullet points, to get your point across to skimmers. Put your most important message first and use boldface to draw attention to other important messages.
Remember, your copy can always include links to longer pieces, which gives the email a cleaner look and the reader the option to click to read more.
Paul Boag writes copy using short paragraphs, colorful headlines and linked text for recipients who want to read more on a topic. In this end-of-year email, he immediately gives readers an option to skip something that might be irrelevant to them by addressing the target readership in the headlines:

• If you work in-house
• If you run your own digital services business

It's a great way to format an email with the subscriber in mind.

8. Kill your adjectives

There’s a reason Mark Twain advised writers to “kill your adjectives.” They make content fluffy and tend to slow things down for the reader.
Instead of clogging your copy with descriptive overkill, offer the basics and then provide links for readers to further explore the products or services.
Vacation Rentals by Owner (VRBO) has had success using a simple headline, two lines of copy and then category choice—rather than lots of description—over clickable images. For example:

• HEADLINE: Find the best retreat for your besties
• COPY: Summertime means time off for grand adventures with great buddies! Be your pack’s leader and plan the perfect group getaway now.
• CATEGORIES: Fewer than 10 people; 11-15 people; 16-20 people; More than 20 people

Here’s another example of this style form VRBO in which they use pricing limits to invite click-throughs on the images.

Even if the recipient wasn’t planning a vacation, who wouldn’t at least be curious to see what you could get for under $100?

9. Avoid clichés

Clichés are overused. They're typically vague phrases that don't add any value to your copy, so it's best to avoid them altogether. Phrases like those below are all too common. Make sure you leave these out of your next email:

• • "Are you sick and tired of …"
• • "Play your cards right …"
• • "Grass is always greener …"
• • “Every cloud has a silver lining …”
• • “Good things come to those who wait …”
• • “Think outside the box …”
• • “Better safe than sorry …”
• • “Stop and smell the roses …”
• • “Take the bull by the horns …”
• • “When the going gets tough …”

10. Avoid the exclamation point

Marketers tend to believe that everything they say is exciting, which is probably why they overuse the exclamation point. Used sparingly, the exclamation point can show enthusiasm, but most of the time it's just unnecessary.
Your email copy should mimic a conversation, so unless you're the type that runs around yelling all the time, you should stick with normal, conversational punctuation like a period.
With these ten email copywriting tips, you can create compelling emails that subscribers will love. Remember, sending a quality email with a great message is more effective than creating sloppy copy in an effort to get an email out quickly.



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How To Write An Email Marketing Message

Email marketing involves a unique form of copywriting that a lot of people, especially when just starting out, have difficulty planning and executing. There are many similarities with other forms of copywriting, but there are also some unique opportunities and pitfalls as well. In this article, we will examine some of the elements of writing for email marketing and walk you through the basic steps of crafting your message.

As with writing for the web, there are a number of mechanical considerations that you must remain aware of. For example, just as web pages are listed on search engine result pages with brief “teasers” that describe the relevance of their content, email clients also display snippets of email messages. If the first line of your message is not compelling, it is therefore less likely that your message will ever be opened and read.

1. Target Your Audience

One of the most important aspects of any kind of marketing effort is to know your audience. Different types of messages and arguments will appeal to different age groups, ethnic groups, regions, etc.
You’ll want to write much differently if your message is targeting businesspeople than you would if you were targeting housewives. Twenty-somethings respond differently to email marketing than fifty-somethings.

If you don’t know much about your market, then stop planning your email campaign and come back to it after you have conducted an appropriate level of market research. Without doing this you are just wasting time and money.

You also need to build up your email marketing list, which should always be highly qualified and doubly opted-in. Don’t bother buying email lists. The better qualified your email list, the more people will actually receive and read your message.

2. Determine Your Ideal Outcome

If you don’t know why you’re sending an email message, then you shouldn’t do it. There should always be a very clear and specific goal that your message is trying to achieve. Often your ideal outcome will be to have your recipients respond to your message by completing a purchase. But that is not always the case.

Many time people want to send out email campaigns to increase brand awareness. This requires a different approach than a direct-sales strategy. You may, for example, want to consider a viral email marketing strategy by offering incentives for your readers to forward your message on to their friends.

3. Establish A Connection

The way you do this is going to depend on the previous two factors. If you’re selling lifestyle and entertainment products to the 18-25 crowd, you may want to grab their attention with a fresh or amusing graphic. Businesspeople at the prime of their lives may want you to get right to the point and tell them what you have to offer before getting into too much detail, while an older or less time-crunched demographic may be more intrigued by a loaded question about the state of their life or business.

4. Tell Them Why They Want To Take Action

This is basic sales writing. Don’t tell them about what you have to offer them, tell them why they want it. Tell them how it makes their life better.

This can be tricky if you’re not writing direct sales copy. If you’re trying to get the message recipient to forward your message to a friend, for example, you can’t just sit on your hands and hope it happens, because it usually will not. Offer up the reward: “Imagine how hard your friends will laugh about this video.”

You want to be as specific as possible here, and offer up as many details and benefits as you can. Focus on the ways in which the individual reading your message will personally and directly enhance his or her existence by taking this action.

5. Inoculate Against Objections

As with every other type of copywriting, you want to introduce potential objections that your reader might have while they consider your proposition. By bringing up these arguments yourself, you are able to provide counter-arguments that assuage the doubts that your reader did not even yet know they had! If you do this effectively, the reader will not only want to comply with your request but will want to get others to do the same.

6. Ask Them To Take Action

Once you have told them what a wonderful world it would be if they were to comply with your request and systematically annihilated their doubts, that is the time to formally pose your request. If you want them to go to your website and buy your product, say to them “Click on this link to go to our order page, then click on the button marked ‘Check Out’, enter your payment information, and Click ‘OK.'” If you want them to forward your message along, tell them so.



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How to Write Well: 10 Timeless Rules From Legendary Ad Exec David Ogilvy

Writing is easy. Most people can do it. If you’re reading this, you can write.
But can you write well? Does your writing connect with people? Does it engage readers, compelling them down the page? Does your writing inspire action, selling things or services or ideas?
If so, you have a potent skill at your disposal: you can command attention, a valuable commodity. More importantly, you can influence free will.

Download our free guide here for tips to become a better writer. 

David Ogilvy, the creative force behind Ogilvy & Mather, understood this. He respected the potential of good writing.

The Memo

“The better you write, the higher you will go,” Ogilvy wrote in a memo to his management team. “People who think well, write well.”
The note, drafted in 1982, later appeared in The Unpublished David Ogilvy, a collection of incisive letters and speeches by the man hailed as “The Father of Advertising.”
“Good writing is not a natural gift,” he writes. “You have to learn to write well.”

How to Write Well

He closed out the memo with “10 hints” that anyone could apply to make their writing better.
I’ve transcribed his suggestions below, along with some modern context:

1) "Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing. Read it three times."

Full disclosure: Kenneth Roman, Joel Raphaelson, and David Ogilvy were cronies. In fact, Roman served as the agency’s CEO, which explains the front-and-center mention of his book. That said, it’s still a great business-writing resource.
Aside from the knowledge you’ll glean from Writing That Works, reading it over and over and over will acquaint you with the voice, tone, and style of two excellent writers. The more good writing you read, the more good you’ll internalize. The more good you internalize from others, the easier it’ll be to spot and correct the bad in your own writing.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing is the product of prolific reading.

How to read more:
Ryan Holiday, an author and media strategist, offers some advice here: change your mindset.
“Stop thinking of it as some activity that you do,” writes Holiday. “Reading must become as natural as eating and breathing to you. It’s not something you do because you feel like it, but because it’s a reflex, a default.”
Holiday cites three main barriers that keep people from reading:
Time: “Carry a book with you at all times. Every time you get a second, crack it open.”
Money: “Reading is not a luxury … It’s a necessity … Books are an investment.”
Purpose: “The purpose of reading is not just raw knowledge. It’s that it is part of the human experience. It helps you find meaning, understand yourself, and makes your life better.”
If you want to read more, make it a priority.

2) "Write the way you talk. Naturally."

Ogilvy, by all accounts, was down to earth, cool.

“His latest book is called Ogilvy on Advertising. Please welcome, David Ogilvy!” said David Letterman in a 1983 Late Night interview. He reached across the table to shake his guest’s hand. Ogilvy shook back without a word.
“The book is very informative,” said Letterman. “Anyone interested in a career in advertising should certainly do themselves a favor and take a look at that thing.”
Ogilvy broke his silence. “Damn right,” he said.
Ogilvy wrote like he spoke, naturally, which enabled his success as a copywriter.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing is informal.

How to write informally:
Unless you're writing a legal document, feel free to relax your tone. Use:

• Active voice: “We have noticed that …” vs. “It has been noticed that …”
• Contractions: “can’t” vs. “can not”
• Abbreviations: “t.v.” vs. “television”
• Colloquialisms: “kids” vs. “children”

Informal writing is less cumbersome, easier to read.

3) "Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs."

Reading is hard, you know. It takes energy and concentration and time, all finite resources.
Dense, long-winded writing that meets the intrinsic needs of the author, rather than the extrinsic needs of the reader, won’t get read. Writing should deliver value, quickly, to the audience. The author’s personal satisfaction is irrelevant.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing gets to the point.

How to write concisely:
Concise writing boils down to:

• Awareness: your ability to recognize wordiness
• Discipline: your willingness to cut unnecessary words

These six exercises will help you do both.

4) "Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass."

It’s true, big words make writers sound snobbish and conceited. What’s worse, they run the risk of confusing the reader, making her feel foolish, detaching her from the message.
As a writer, you have only a small window to capture attention. Don’t narrow it even more by using obscure words.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing is immediately understood.

How to write coherently:
Cut your risk. Use words even a child can understand. For example, instead of:

• Reconceptualize, write “rethink”
• Demassification, write “breakup”
• Attitudinally, write “with attitude”
• Judgmentally, write “with judgement”

Need help with word choice? Use Hemingway Editor.

5) "Never write more than two pages on any subject."

Take this one with a grain of salt. While “two pages” is subjective, Ogilvy’s point is clear: never write more than is necessary on any subject.
In other words, if you can abridge an explanation without diluting the concept behind it, do it.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing simplifies complicated information.

How to simplify a concept:
The Big Short, an Oscar-winning film about the 2008 housing collapse, was almost never made because the subject matter was too technical for a lay audience. Mortgage bonds; credit default swaps; collateralized debt obligations: all these concepts required explanation …
How did the producers make it work? Cameos and stories.
Anytime a complicated concept was introduced, a celebrity would appear, armed with a quick story. What made these stories so effective and efficient at educating audiences?
Shawn Callahan, founder of Anecdote, cites several key elements

• Familiarity: The stories were told by famous people, like Selena Gomez, Anthony Bourdain, and Richard Thaler, a renown economist.
• Plausibility: The stories were credible, thanks to Thaler’s presence.
• Relatability: The stories took place in recognizable settings, like a casino or a kitchen.

Finally, the stories were metaphorical, drawing parallels between the housing crisis and losing a blackjack hand, for instance.
“If you need to explain something that is complex or highly technical to an audience that might not understand it,” writes Callahan, “then tell them a hypothetical story based on something they do understand, something that’s relatable. And pick someone to deliver the message who is familiar to the audience, someone who is like them and also has credibility.”

6) "Check your quotations."

Take this one literally. As a writer, the information you distribute commands public perception over ideas and events and individuals. It’s a tremendous responsibility.
In the age of self-publishing and Fake News, an author’s integrity is paramount. Check your quotes, your facts. Readers are depending on you, trusting you.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing has integrity.

How to maintain your integrity:
Let your conscience be your guide.

7) "Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning -- and then edit it."

Communication rarely comes out right on the first go, especially when it’s written.
You wouldn’t give a presentation without a dry run, so why send an email or publish an article without an edit? Sure, the writing makes sense to you, the author. But only because you’re so close to it: your perspective is shot.
Distancing yourself from the work is the only way to regain objectivity, ensuring your message makes sense.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing is clear.

How to write clearly:
Richard Lanham, an English professor at the University of California, developed a system called The Paramedic Method. It's designed to help writers clarify their sentences with a simple, two-step process:
STEP ONE: Identify the problems in a sentence.

• Underline prepositions (e.g., about, to, in, across)

• Circle forms of the word “be” (e.g., is, am, are, were, was)

• Box verbs (e.g., run, hide, jump; running, hiding, jumping)

• Highlight the person or thing performing the action

• Bracket wind-up explanations

• Cross out redundancies

STEP TWO: Fix the problems you found.

• Rewrite or delete unnecessary prepositional phrases

• Replace forms of “be” with action verbs

• Put the action in the verb

• Put the person or thing performing the action into the subject

• Delete unnecessary wind-up explanations

• Eliminate redundancies

Lanham’s method streamlines the editing process. For more context and examples, click here.

8) "If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it."

As far as I’m concerned, if your name is on it, it’s important. After all, your writing speaks for you long after you part with it. In that sense, every word counts towards your reputation, your legacy.
With so much on the line, you should have an insurance policy.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing needs an editor.

How to find an editor:
You could ask a coworker to lend a fresh perspective, like Ogilvy suggests. But you have other options, too. It’s not 1982; leverage the internet. Try:

• Reddit: Post your content in a relevant sub-reddit.
• Twitter: Tweet your content at a writer you admire.
• Inbound.org: “When you can’t just tap someone expert on the shoulder, turn to the inbound.org community to help and be helped.”

As long as you're polite, tactful, and appreciative, someone will give you their time. But you have to ask.

9) "Before you send your letter or memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do."

Business writing, specifically, always needs a goal.
Whether it’s soft (e.g., influencing a general belief) or hard (e.g., driving a specific action), a goal will focus your message, making it more cohesive, not to mention easier to write. Moreover, nobody wants to invest their professional time reading a dead-end message, one that leaves them thinking, What now?

TAKEAWAY: Good (business) writing has purpose.

How to give your writing purpose:
What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to:

• Inform, driving home the features?

• Influence, driving home the benefits?

• Entertain, driving home the brand?

To know for sure, write your call-to-action first. This will give your writing direction, funneling every subhead, paragraph, and sentence towards the same point.

10) "If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want."

In business, nothing is more intimate than a smile and a handshake, a pat on the back. Writing is void of these elements. Even the best writing can’t replicate human interaction, the sensation of being face-to-face.
People are irrational. We like to think we operate logically, but emotions are what ultimately move us. And while reading words can be a powerful experience, nothing replaces eye contact.

TAKEAWAY: Good writing, sometimes, doesn’t work.

How to avoid writing:
Ogilvy said it best: don’t write. Get in front of the person. Get on:

• Skype
• FaceTime
• A plane

And if you’re down the hall from the person, walk to them. They'll appreciate it. And you’ll be in a better position to get what you want.

“Good writing is not a natural gift,” wrote Ogilvy.

“You have to learn to write well.”
Now, you have his advice. The rest is up to you.


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15 Cheat Sheets Every Successful Digital Marketer Needs

It’s not easy being a digital marketer today. You need to know and do everything from content strategy to writing and editing, SEO, social media marketing, analytics and so much more.
So how do you stay on top of it all?
(I’ve developed my own cheat sheet for content marketing ROI – because that’s the biggest challenge I hear from marketers today.)
But here are 15 cheat sheets from some amazing sources that will make your life easier and help you get the results you want from your digital marketing efforts.

1. The Anatomy Of The Perfect Blog Post

How do you create the blog posts that will get your audience’s attention and stand out from the sea of content out there on the web? This infographic gives you the blueprint for writing a great blog post, everything from the headline to intro, main copy, visual elements and social sharing.

2. The Periodic Table of Content Marketing

This periodic table highlights the eight areas that are key to your content marketing success. You’ll find everything from content marketing goals to content formats, types, topics and metrics you need to track to deliver great content your customers will love.

3. The Web Developer’s SEO Cheat Sheet

For SEO newbies and experts, this cheat sheet from Moz includes all the SEO best practices you’ll want to know to keep your websites SEO and search-friendly, including HTML elements, social metadata, URL and hyperlinking tips.

4. Everything You Need To Be A Social Media Rock Star

This handy infographic shows you everything you need to know about image sizing for your social media profiles, keyboard shortcuts, best days and time of day to post on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram, to help you get the most out of your social media marketing efforts.

5. The Ultimate Inbound Marketing Checklist

This eBook-like cheat sheet walks through all the key components of a successful inbound marketing campaign and how you can go about accomplishing each, everything from blogging to social media, lead generation, email marketing, marketing automation and analytics.

6. The Ultimate List Of Blog Post Ideas

Running out of topic ideas for your next blog? This comprehensive infographic shares over 50 content topics and types that will surely fire up your inspiration today and help you create quality, valuable content to keep your audience coming back for more.

7. A 50-Point Checklist For Creating The Ultimate Landing Page

Don’t think your landing pages are delivering the results you want to see? Here’s a checklist you can use to make sure you’re not missing any of the key 50 elements that will help you build a remarkable landing page that converts.

8. The Ultimate 101 List of Copywriting Awesomeness

Creating compelling content is no easy job. This cheat sheet covers 101 writing do’s and don’ts to help you write great content that engages and converts.

9. Content Distribution Strategies For Blogs Of All Sizes

Creating valuable content is only half the battle. If you can’t get your content in front of your target audience, you’re not going to get the traffic and conversions you’d like to see from your blogging efforts. This checklist from Buffer shares 11 effective strategies they’ve learned from content promotion experts to help you get your content out there and make sure it is seen by as many of your target customers as possible.

10. The Ideal Length Of Everything Online

Wondering what the optimal length is for your social media and web content? SumAll and Buffer pulled together this amazing infographic that summarizes the ideal length for your tweets, Facebook and Google+ posts and more.

11. The Ultimate SEO Checklist

This infographic from SEO & Digital Marketing agency LeapFroggr is a must-have for any digital marketer’s toolbox. It includes practical SEO tips and best practices you can implement, everything from market and competitor research to on-page and off-page SEO, to ensure your great content and websites are getting searched and seen by your target audience.

12. A Complete Conversion Rate Optimization Checklist

How do you make sure your web pages are attracting and converting your target audience? Here’s a helpful checklist that walks you through the 6 essential steps to successful conversion rate optimization, so your target visitors are taking the action you want them to take.

13. Google Analytics Metrics and Dimensions Cheat Sheet

If you’re new to Google Analytics or need a refresher, here’s a great cheat sheet that provides a comprehensive overview of all the Google Analytics metrics and dimensions you’ll want to be tracking to measure and improve the ways customers engage and interact with your website.

14. SEO Best Practices For Blog Posts

Totally new to SEO but want to optimize your blogs for SEO and search ranking right away? This infographic offers six important SEO best practices you can implement today, with a checklist you can hang to your wall as a quick reference for future blog posts you’re creating.

15. The Ultimate Google Algorithm Cheat Sheet

With Google constantly updating their algorithms, it’s hard to stay up-to-date with it all. This comprehensive article from Neil Patel helps you understand some of the key ranking factors that will impact your website ranking in search results.

What other cheat sheets and resources do you use to improve your digital marketing efforts? Please share your ideas below!

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