40 Years of Pro Copywriting Knowledge in 5 Hours

Okay. Hello everyone. welcome to this presentation. this presentation entitled The Fundamentals of Writing to Sell. Now, if you are watching this, I'm hoping that you are from the Copywriting Collective Discord Server. if you're watching this and you're not from the Copywriting Collective Discord server, then I'd highly recommend you join. I'm sure you can find a link somewhere online, uh, or by contacting the person who who gave you this video. But long story short, it's the second anniversary of, of when we founded the server. Uh, it's a great place for aspiring copywriters, veteran copywriters, marketers, uh,

and anyone interested in, in the tools of persuasion to, to hang out, uh, and, and debate and share opinions and $h!t posts, and many other valuable, uh, things I'm sure will all agree. Now, this presentation is effectively a summary of all the important points I have, I have learned over the last, uh, few years while I've been launching and, and building my, my career in, in marketing. Uh, so let's crack into it. First of all, I'd like to show you this. Um, this is a demonstration of the power that copywriting holds and the ability to

grasp the fundamentals of good copywriting really can have this impact on any business that you work with. On the left, we can clearly see, uh, the results. Uh, this is in the backend of W Commerce. Um, these, so these are the sale results of a business that I am still working with. Uh, this was in the month before I started working with them, um, before they had applied any of these fundamentals of copywriting and advertising. Uh, and on the right was in the month after I started, um, working with them after the contract had been

signed. And you can see the difference just in the, the height of the bars. But if you look at the figures on the left, the one that, um, shows really the biggest impact, if you look at that, every, uh, average net daily sales went from 124 pounds to just over 600 pounds. So, you know, that's almost, um, gone up fivefold in the matter of, of a few days, over two months, really. Uh, and I didn't perform any kind of wizardry to get these results. There wasn't a huge, um, technical strategy change or anything like that.

This really just was using an existing businesses channels, uh, and the assets that they had and applying the fundamental principles of copywriting, of good copywriting to them to really pump up results. And that's all this was. Uh, and you can see the results for yourself here. So hopefully this is just a, a just to demonstrate what kind of effect this can have in such a short space of time. And I promise you that if you take these lessons to heart and you think on them and you explore and you are curious and you are empathetic,

um, and you really go beyond the brief to try to, uh, to try and act these, enact these results for your clients and for your projects, you will be able to do it. Um, I was in the exact same position as you a few years ago, uh, not really understanding copywriting. Uh, and now to be able to pull out results like this for businesses, you know, within the matter of a month is, uh, it's, it's, yeah, it feels great. Um, but what can you expect? What can you expect from this presentation? From this presentation? Um,

you can really expect the, you're gonna have a proven system for writing the best performing copy on any project. That was really my, my goal with this when I was in originally creating it. I wanted to give something that was as practical as possible and gave as many concrete answers as I, as I could to questions about how to research and how to write copy and how to edit rather than just talking about theory. You know, we do go into theory, of course, cuz we have to, and it's super important and you need to set

up that workbench first before you start using the tools on it. But I did also want to give a, a system and the system that I use to write the copy that serves me well. So that's what you can expect from this. You can expect a, a full-fledged system for how to write copy, but not just on emails and not just for ads and not just for sales pages. Uh, I, I try to really break down the principles of writing to sell and persuasion and psychology and how people, um, react to advertising. I really try

to get to the core of what I have seen over the last three years, um, work and not work and show you, well, okay, these are the kinds of things you need to consider no matter what campaign you are working on, no matter what medium you're writing for, at the end of the day, you are writing to people and people are persuaded in certain ways. So I've really tried to stick to a holistic, a holistic view of, of how to persuade people online and, and through copy, not just through a particular type. Um, which you

could argue is, is not as a, is not as good because some people will want to know specifically about emails, and that's absolutely fine. Uh, but when I teach people, um, especially if you are, if you are new, um, and especially when I'm teaching teams who, who need to be on the same page about things, I really just wanna give you the fundamentals of, of how you should be thinking about persuading people in the first place before you get lost. You know, in the nitty gritty of, of, oh, should I use this formula or should

I use that formula? Or how should I position this? Like, first of all, we just need to talk about the fundamentals of persuasion in copywriting. So that's what you can expect from this, uh, presentation. We first need to discuss the problem with copywriting and why a lot of digital marketers fail. There's no better place to start than with a quote from my all-time favorite copywriter, Gary Benga. And the quote is, never sell something just because you want to sell it, or indeed never advertise something simply in the way that you want to advertise it. That

quote is, I would argue the most important quote you will ever hear in the field of copywriting. And the reason being is because whenever we are looking at marketing, and whenever we're looking at sales or copywriting, we're ultimately looking at persuasion. And persuasion needs to start with the person on the other end of the ad, not you. That is the crucial step to, to, to first kind of take, to understand this field, uh, most marketing underperforms, because copywriters are taught to write for the company, not for the prospect. When I give this presentation, I'm usually

giving it to, uh, a team. I'm usually giving it to teams of people who already work in businesses and already have a structure in place. Uh, and perhaps on the surface it seems more suited to say something like this there, but it's just as suited to someone who is a freelancer and is looking to learn the fundamentals that are actually going to help them with marketing. Because whenever you are writing for a client, you're trying to please two people. You're trying to please the target audience, but you're also trying to please the client themselves. You

need them to be happy with it, and that's a huge problem. Um, and I'm not gonna focus on that because if you spend time trying to please the client, then you're not necessarily gonna write the best ad. I understand that sometimes that's a necessity and, you know, needs must. So if that's what you need to do to earn money, that's what you need to do. But I don't wanna teach you about how to make it as a freelancer. I want to teach you about how to write good ads and this concept of most marketing underperforming

because copywriters are not writing for the prospect themselves. And when I say prospect, I mean the reader, um, because they're not writing for the reader and instead they're writing to please the company that they work for, or their boss or the client. It doesn't do well and it's a, it's a key problem. Uh, it's probably the biggest problem that I see in the world of marketing, and it's not necessarily limited to trying to please a boss or trying to please a client. Oftentimes, as Gary Benga says, it's people trying to please themselves and thinking in

ways that, Hey, I would like to advertise something this way, or, Hey, I would like to talk about this point because I would buy it if it was talking about this point. You know, we, we are trapped inside our own heads, and it's difficult for us to see other people's perspectives sometimes, but it's a key thing to break out of. If we want to be a good copywriter, we need to understand that we're not writing for ourselves and we're not writing for a client, and we're not writing for a company or a boss. We're writing

for the reader for the prospect. And I'd like to demonstrate this in, um, probably, uh, a way that, that some of you may be surprised with because, um, I'm gonna show you a television advert. Now. This television advert is a perfect example of something that has been written for a client, a company to please a boss or to please someone who has made it, rather than thinking about the person who's actually going to respond to the ad. Okay, good fun. Um, that was the ad for the N Nissan 300 ZedX. Uh, I'm not a car

person, so I don't know what I just said. Um, but that's what it was. It cost 200 million to produce, uh, and buy the space for on television. It was named as Commercial of the Year by Time Magazine, Adweek and USA Today. And it was praised publicly by Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Seinfeld. However, US sales of the model that's advertised in this ad went down 37% in the year after it aired, and the model was completely taken off the US market a year later. It was great for Chiat, who is the advertising agency that came

up with this ad, but not so much for N Nissan and Advert's. Purpose is to sell. That's it. There is no debate on that topic. If an ad campaign isn't helping a product to sell, then it's not succeeding as an ad. And that is a concept that a lot of people outside advertising and unfortunately some people inside advertising seem to struggle with. And this, this is a prime offender, um, of this concept. Uh, this ad was entertaining, it was new. Uh, I imagine it was inspired by Toy Story. Uh, so it was fun and people

loved it, and people, oh, so that was a great ad. The problem is when people say that was a great ad, it doesn't usually mean that it was actually a very good ad because people want to be entertained, um, most of the time, and they're not thinking about what marketers are thinking about. Marketers should be thinking about how many sales do this pull in. But people are just thinking about how, yeah, I enjoyed that. The question really needs to be, you may have enjoyed it, but did you go out and buy a NI Nissan 300

zx? No, then not such a great ad, and this was the problem that it had. I wanna show you another advert now, uh, an advert that came out, uh, in the same year as this one, and we're gonna watch it and then we're gonna discuss it afterwards. If you were to take every honor, every award, everything positive that's been said about the Toyota camera and lay them end to end, you'd probably ask yourself, why did I do that with option package savings? Why not lease one for as little as 2 29 a month and come

up with a fi accolades of your own? The 1996 Camry, the gold standard from Toyota. That ad was for the Toyota Camry, uh, in the same year, 1996 is the first one we watched. Now, that AD was not recognized as a high award-winning advert. Um, you'll be high pressed to find any discussion about it online. I certainly couldn't. It was never praised as revolutionary. In fact, I, I can't even remember how many views it has on YouTube. I'd imagine most of them are from me at this point. Uh, however, US sales of the model were

up by over 350,000, which is over 8% throughout the lifespan of the ad. And it was the best ever year for sales of the model. It actually became the second highest, um, in sales for a foreign car model in the US ever. Now, if we compare those results to the results of the first ad that we looked at, I think we can say with with certain confidence, which one performed better as an ad, which one actually made more people buy the car that it was representing. At this point, some of you may be confused because

some of you may already have looked into advertising a little bit. You may already know a little bit about copywriting online and think, why am I showing you television adverts? Um, I'm showing you television adverts, not because they're a good example of copywriting that we are gonna be looking at, but because they are the most recognizable kind of advertising ever, or certainly with with our generations. You know, we all grew up with televisions, and if you ask someone to think of an advert or a commercial, um, you know, the first thing they think of is

television. That is what their mind goes to. Uh, and what we've discussed so far about focusing on the prospect and focusing on what the prospect wants can be perfectly demonstrated in television ads in the biggest way possible and on the largest scale possible. And that really is why all of this is relevant to you. We are not looking at television ads. I'm not even gonna suggest that that second ad we looked at was an amazing ad. And as we'll discuss, uh, in a, in a moment, there's no way for us to actually say whether that

ad caused those sales to go up. We can't actually work that out. Um, and we'll come to discuss, discuss that in a moment. But all of this is relevant to you because you need to understand the difference between an advert that people say is good and an advert that actually is good. And the truth is, this anti-market focus, this, this anti prospect, anti reader focus is even worse today in the digital age. And it's because things like brand awareness, likes, reacts, shares, comments and engagement are branded around as if they are what matters when it

comes to advertising. People seem to think that likes and global reach equate to success in sales, and they don't. At the end of the day, like we said, if an ad isn't bringing in sales, it is not succeeding as an ad, and that's what we need to remember. But today, you'll see far more people boast and celebrate the fact that they hit a benchmark in likes or they hit a benchmark in shares or comments or a certain type of react. I have been in meetings where a whole slides of presentations have been dedicated to the

difference in reacts on Facebook posts. And it doesn't matter. It does not matter. Sure, maybe that's something afterwards you can have a look at and, and, and see if it correlates to anything in any way. But if you are talking about things like that before you even mention sales, then you are wasting potential of your campaigns. And for the next, well, obviously I say for the next two days, for the next however many hours, we're gonna push these ideas out of our minds because we don't care about these things. And as we saw in those

television adverse in that first one, it was named, uh, out of the year, and it got all these, uh, awards and it re received all this public recognition. Well, it's even worse today because back then the only real way that something could receive recognition was by win winning an award that would then get circulated in magazines, on television, on chat shows or whatever. But now in the age, age of social media, marketers can claim success because x number of people watched their video, or X number of likes were given on this post, or it reached

this many people, or it made its way into 10% more countries or whatever the case may be. There are far more, um, opportunities for people to celebrate what I call vanity metrics, things that don't really make a difference to sales. Uh, and it's dangerous, especially if you are working with people in companies who get paid salaries, whose jobs don't rely on the success or failure of a campaign in sales. They just get paid a certain amount and then they can try and frame as much as they can as a win by bringing up these things

as likes and reacts and chairs and whatever it be. In fact, if you go onto many, uh, advertising agencies websites and you go to their case study section, you will see a lot of them bring up points like gain 50% likes, or got x number of more followers. And those are the things they talk about most. In some cases, that's all they talk about, and they never talk about sales or, or acquisitions, um, you know, measurable metrics that we're gonna discuss in the presentation. So, as I said, we're gonna push these ideas out of our

mind, and we're gonna talk about the thing that actually matters when it comes to marketing sales. And by consequence, the fundamentals of writing to sell. That is what we care about. How do we write copy that actually gets people to buy things? And to begin to understand this, we need to look at the difference between two schools of advertising indirect response and direct response. There's a key difference between these two. Perhaps you've already heard of them. Um, but even within people who has have heard of direct response versus indirect response, there still seems to be

semantic arguments and, and a lack of understanding o over what they actually mean. So it's easiest if I show you some examples and then explain the difference. These are some examples of indirect response ads. You can see the first ad that we looked at in the top left. Um, this has a bias towards British advertising. So if you are, uh, if you live in the uk, you may recognize some of these. Um, but I'm sure, uh, you'll, you'll, you get the gist of what they are. These ads are television posters, um, sometimes tweets and things

of that nature. I'm not gonna tell you what makes them indirect response just yet. You, you may already know. Um, but what I wanna do is show you direct response ads, and these are some direct response ads. Um, by the way, when I say the word ad, I don't necessarily mean, uh, paid ad. I'm just talking about a, a form of advertising just to clear that I've known. I say it could be pages or, or emails or whatever. Um, so these are some direct response ads. Hell of a lot more text. I'm sure you'll agree

for the most part, um, probably looks a lot more boring to most people. Uh, and there is one key difference between the two that you will see on pretty much all of these ones, but none of these. And the difference is immediate action. Direct response ads have buttons and forms and coupons. They have ways for you to immediately respond to the ad. They're trying to get you to do something straight away. In the digital age, this is most commonly seen with a link, with a button, with something to click. We can see in the, in

the top middle, a form to fill out. In the middle left, we have a Spotify banner ad, which says, try premium free. It's clearly a link. It's getting you to do something now. But if we look at indirect response, none of these are asking you to do something immediately and they're not giving you a way to do something immediately. They may be suggesting, Hey, buy our product. But if someone sees that poster in the, in the top of the middle and they go out and buy a bottle of detol, a bottle of, um, of, of

disinfectant, how do you know that they came from that ad? Or it was because of that ad? You have no idea. And that's the key difference, a media action. Because direct response is only bothered about getting people to react to things in a measurable way with any of these ads, they can clearly be tracked. If someone clicks a button, software kicks in and it will tell you, Hey, this number of people saw this ad and this number of people click the button in the newspaper ads that you can see. There are things that can be

cut out. There are specific numbers to be called that are dedicated just to that, uh, specific ad. So they can tell exactly how many people saw the ad and how many people called or responded or sent something in or filled out a form. That is the point, that is the difference between indirect response and direct response. But where people get confused is people seem to think that direct response is a style. They seem to think that these kinds of ads have a style to them. And some of them may have a style to them, but

they consider that direct response. They consider that conversational tone direct response. That is not what direct response means. Direct response is an objective. It means I want to respond, I want someone to respond to this directly. It's simply an objective. It is not a style, it is not a conversational way of writing. It's not a particular way of of, uh, structuring your copy or paragraph structure or having one sentence per line or anything like that. Direct response is simply an objective. I want someone to do something straight away that I can measure. That is what

direct response means. So if you're ever in an argument with someone and you are trying to defend direct response, do not think that you are defending a particular style of writing. You are just, um, defending a particular objective in advertising. You'll also see people say that indirect response is ineffective and it's not worth it. And there seems to be a tribal war sometimes between direct response copywriters and indirect response copywriters. Mainly it's direct response copywriters with egos that are a bit too big trying to shit on people who do indirect response. But this isn't the

case either. Indirect response is not ineffective in the right hands. It is very effective. And the biggest companies in the world like Nike, like Cadbury, McDonald's, burger King, uh, all these huge companies, Amazon partake in indirect response advertising where they're not asking anyone to do anything straight away. They're not giving you an option to do something straight away. They're just saying, Hey, look, we exist. And it can be used to great effect in many, many campaigns. So please do not think that indirect response is not valuable or is not effective, cuz it's not true. And

in fact, we have a couple of extremely talented direct response copywriters. Um, otherwise, uh, some people call them brand copywriters in the copywriting collective. Um, so just wanna clear that up as well. Anyway, I felt I'm getting sidetracked here. I know I <laugh>, I know I'm getting into semantics. Um, but yeah, we know the difference is immediate action. Um, so anyway, circling back to what we were talking about, what is the problem with so much modern copywriting? Well, despite what I just said a moment ago, and despite my slight defense of indirect response, the problem

with modern copywriting or a much modern copywriting is that it takes inspiration from the wrong school of advertising. It does take inspiration from indirect response. And for most of us who actually need to make money as copywriters and our freelancers and need to work with clients and businesses and improve results, taking inspiration from indirect response is a mistake. And you shouldn't do it, especially if you are learning, especially if you are starting out, the only indicator of good copy is its measurable results. And in marketing, this ultimately means sales. And as we've discussed, the only

way to precisely measure results of an ad is for that ad to be direct response for it to give a clear and obvious action that the reader needs to take. And then see how many people follow through with action. And that being the case, it means that if you are a copywriter or an aspiring copywriter and you want to know that you are learning the best principles and things that actually work, you need to take inspiration from direct response advertising adds that live or die by their ability to sell end of story. You need to

take inspiration from direct response and you need to study direct response, especially as a beginner direct response advertising equal the fundamentals that we need to write to sell. So why isn't every agency focusing on direct response copywriting? Why is it a relatively underground term that, you know, doesn't crop up in the mainstream much? Well, simply put, it's because a lot of agencies and a lot of marketing agencies don't need to have that level of success. They don't need to be insanely, um, obsessed with learning about direct response and learning about selling because a lot of

agencies don't actually need to make many, um, increases in results to, to get paid. A lot of agencies just work with clients who are happy to get more followers or to increase brand awareness or to have a cool new looking campaign. It's often more of a, a vanity, um, exercise than anything else. Uh, agencies who pay their copyright salaries, uh, again, not all of them, of course, there are many amazing direct response agencies. There are many agencies that do take inspiration from direct response and use this as training. Um, but a lot of agencies, especially

in ones I've worked with in the past as well, um, they just employ people who are, um, quote unquote good at writing. Uh, and that's that they go, okay, Wayo cool. They're good at writing, they're quite creative, they're entertaining, they'll be good in the advertising department. Cool. Um, so the reason that every advertising agency isn't talking about direct response, and the reason you may not have heard of it too many times before is because they don't really need to. That they're often on big contracts where the businesses they work with don't need to see a

huge jump in results. They don't need to, uh, increase sales tenfold for it to have an impact. They are in salary jobs that are relatively cushy, um, that don't always require loads of, um, hard, uh, fought and hard one research to establish. So that's why you, you often see this type of, um, advertising and direct response mainly, uh, being popular among freelancers and people who are kind of more underground and, and go into businesses and, and do consulting work. So anyway, direct response advertising, um, very important. And this is what we are focusing on. This

is what this presentation is about. It's how to take advantage of direct response copywriting. Alright, so we've spoken about direct response advertising and why it's important, uh, but copywriting specifically, what are we trying to do when we write copy? What is the forever rule of copywriting? Well, there is one, uh, uh, I would argue this is probably the best way to think about copywriting. The role of your copy is to connect your product to your prospect's dominating conscious desire using only your advertising message. So I'm gonna say that again, connect your product to your prospect's

dominating conscious desire using only your advertising message. That is the role of copy. Now, that may seem like a fairly obvious phrase, but it's also a very clear phrase. It has a very precise meaning. I in, in other words, uh, if you need it, if you need it in, in said in another way, uh, you need to talk about what people already have in their own heads, what they're thinking about. Uh, and that's all you have to work with. Really. You need to show them that your product or whatever it is that you are advertising

can help whatever it is that they care about. That's kind, that's kind of it. And we'll come onto, we'll come onto, you know, how to apply this, uh, in a moment. But remembering this phrase is gonna help you keep that mission clear in your head. And while a million things are trying to fight for your attention on a campaign, you can always bring it back to this phrase and go, am I actually doing this? If yes, good, if I'm not, I need to rethink how I'm, how I'm writing this copy and how I'm moving forward

with this project. Because most marketers and businesses focus on what they like about their product, not what it means to the customer. So if you can remember this phrase, it will put you ahead of 90% of marketers who are working today, particularly those who are in agency, um, level jobs, uh, and, and who are just being paid a salary, who get, who like to get distracted by, by shiny objects and trends. If you can remember this, then you are the reason that the business you're working for is focused and is concentrating and is winning results.

And it really brings us back to the beginning. And well, the, you know, the first thing we said, uh, the first thing that, that Gary Benga so kindly brought up for us, which is that you should never advertising some, uh, never advertise something simply in the way that you want to advertise it. You need to make sure you are focusing on the prospect, how any prospect decides what they're going to buy. Because we can sit here all we like and talk about good ads, and we can talk about things that seem to work in marketing.

But if we don't discuss how decisions actually get made and how people make buying decisions, these are three books, uh, fascinating books. I would, I would highly recommend you read them. I I'm not gonna do a detailed breakdown of them right now. Uh, but they give a good view, uh, a good insight into behavioral economics and consumer psychology. Uh, and how humans and, and, and in a broader sense than that, just to how humans behave and why we behave in certain ways. Very interesting books. Uh, like I say, I'm not gonna go into everything that

they they teach, but I am gonna bring up five general rules that they seem to gravitate, uh, around and rules that countless marketing tests and psychological studies seem to prove. Time and time again, bear in mind, these are just general rules. There are always exceptions. N they won't work in every context, but they're things that we should keep in mind. Uh, and they are as follows. One, our brains are wired to categorize things immediately. Two, the longer we take to make decisions the less confident about than we are. Three, we rely on herd mentality more

than we'd like to admit. Four logic is secondary and five decision making is based on emotion. Now each of these are important in their own right and you will see, uh, these concepts and, and shoot off concepts, uh, crop up in the rest of this presentation and in marketing out there in the real world. But right now it is that last one that we really care about. It's that last one that is, is probably the most important decision making is based on emotion, not logic, not reason. We are not rational creatures who sit down and

consider every possibility in every avenue before we land on a decision. Our brains are wired to categorize things immediately as the first points points out. We have evolved to make quick judgements and to make snap decisions cuz if we don't make snap decisions, we don't survive. So our brains in all things like to work out what it is and have a decision to land on something. So we know how to respond to it. And that's why emotion is so important, because emotion has developed to, uh, to take from past experiences that we've had and things

that we know we already hold dear or that we already care about and bring those up whenever a decision needs to be made so we can quickly make it. There's there, there's a potential to get into another semanti argument here about exactly what emotion means. Um, in the context of copywriting, I'm gonna tell you what I believe it means and what I've found it most helpful to, to imagine when I'm talking about emotions. Emotions are anything that your prospect knows that they already care about. So it's anything they already have within them, inside of them

that if you bring it up, they're already immediately interested because they view it as relevant. So whatever it is that they already care about in some way, whether that be, uh, a problem, so a pain that they have, whether it be a desire, something they want, whether it be a deeply held belief, whether it be prejudice, whatever it is, if it's inside them and they already care about in some way or have some stake in it, then that is emotional and that's what you're trying to tap into. You're trying to tap into those emotions. So

whenever we're advertising, whenever we're writing copy and we're trying to, to get someone to read it and we're trying to get their attention and, and make sure that we get them on, on our side, there's a, there's another phrase that we can use to, to remember what we're trying to do. We're trying to join the conversation already happening in their head. We want to pick on points that they already know they care about. We don't wanna make them do work. We don't want to bring up brand new angles that they may not have thought of

before in subjects that they don't particularly care about and try to make them care about. It rarely does that work. It's very difficult to do. Instead we wanna take things that they already care about, that they already identify with, that they already have problems in or desires of. And we want to bring those up cuz we know that's a surefire away to get people to listen to what we have to say. And if you need a way to visualize this, when we're advertising a product, this is effectively what we're doing. There are a set number

of facts about a product. You know, take an iPhone for example. The, the product of products. There is a camera that has a certain level of quality. There are different colors, there are storage sizes. There is the fact that it has a touch screen of different sizes, different internals. Each year it gets better. Uh, it only has one button. They remove the headphone jack, whatever it is. Uh, there are many, many facts that we could state and we could list about the iPhone. And many of those could be, uh, points to advertise. We could twist

them in certain ways to make them, uh, feel more appealing. Uh, and we'll come onto how to do things like that in the rest of this presentation. But for right now, we just need to accept that there are many different facts that we could focus on when writing advert about an iPhone. But let's say we're advertising to someone, there are beliefs and problems and desires that this person will already have. And this is the circle on the right that we're looking at on this diagram. They already have things that they know they care about, they

have issues that they want to fix. They have, uh, desires that they, they want that the things that they, they are, they feel like they're missing out on. Uh, and they have deep held beliefs and, and opinions. Um, and what we are trying to do as a marketer is hit that sweet spot in the middle where these two circles cross over where we can take an objective fact about our product and we can twist it in a, an emotionally appealing way to line up with something that they also already care about. So let's say for

example, that the thing that our person really cares about is, um, or the problem they feel they have is that the, the quality of cameras, the, the quality of photos that they take is not where they want it to be. And it's annoying and they can never get the the style right. And they like to go on hikes at night and take photos of the sky, but they always come out crap to them. Bringing up the new colors of the iPhone. May not work, probably wouldn't be bothered about the new colors of the iPhone. And

if that's the thing that they first see about it, and that's the thing they hear a lot, they're gonna ignore it because it doesn't cross over into that middle section. However, if we can talk about the new camera of the iPhone and talk about how amazing it is and how it's been specially tampered to, uh, tampered with to, to take photos of the night sky, all of a sudden it becomes far more relevant to them because it's fixing a problem that they already have. So even though we could select one of an infinite number of

facts about our product, we want to try and get the one that crosses over into something they already care about. Again, this may seem completely obvious to you and um, I hope it does cuz it, you know, it, it it should, um, to a certain degree because it just seems, well, yeah, this is how we, you know, of course we should show people what they care about. But so many times we gloss over this simple fact. And I'm gonna show you three examples, um, just from my personal world too, from my personal experience and one

from a, uh, not even from a marketing context of where this just doesn't happen and where people don't do this is, uh, do this and businesses don't even think to this level about how to advertise, uh, their goods. So I'm gonna show you three examples. On the left side of the screen, you're gonna see the, um, original version of whatever it is that I'm showing you. Uh, we'll call this the control, which means the, um, best performing version up to that point. In reality, these things hadn't been tested before. Um, but on the left it's

the control, the thing that was already there on the right, we're going to have the thing that replaced it and we're also gonna show you, uh, the the conversion rates of them and, and how well they did. This first one, um, is actually an example of the business I showed you at the very beginning, which those results, um, or, or showing how effective copywriter can be. That's, this is the business. Um, the, the, the, where those results were taken from on the left, we had their initial landing page, the converser rate was about 1.15% of

people who saw it, um, ended up clicking the button. Uh, and uh, well clicking the button, yeah, that was a, um, which is abysmal is abysmally. Um, low on the right. We had the version that replaced it that, um, that I wrote after conducting research. And you can see the conversion rate again about tenfold, uh, what the original was. This is a prime example of the difference between just writing something for the sake of it and just kind of going, yeah, that seems like it will be okay. It kind of makes sense. Yeah, that sounds

nice. Versus looking at what prospects actually care about and finding that crossover between a fact about the product or the service and an emotion of the prospect on the left helping your hive to thrive and survive. Uh, that is clearly fluff copy what I would call fluff copy. It's just what someone has gone. Yep, that rhymes. That sounds good. Oh yeah, I should probably explain what this business even is. Um, it's a, uh, uh, it's a pub and bar supplier in the UK so that they help pubs and bars get snacks basically for the, uh,

for the best possible price. They, uh, they sell to them. Um, on the left you can just see it was clearly something that someone said, well, yeah, that's kind of describes what we do and it's pretty generic and yeah, it rhymes cool, that'll be enough. When I conducted research for this business, what I found was that one of the biggest complaints about, um, other businesses in this industry were, or in this market I should say, were how they forced the customer to, to lock into contracts that were annoying, um, and complicated and, and just generally

confusing ones that they found hard to get out of and they didn't quite know how to edit and they weren't sure of exactly what was coming and when it was coming, that was a big bug bear. So I made sure that when we rewrote this landing page, we included that, we made that front and center the point of the headline. So perfect for your pub wholesale prices, no confusing contracts. The conversion rate seems to have justified that decision, uh, and seems to be showing that just by, um, presenting something that the prospect already cares about,

tapping into that emotion by saying, Hey, look, we understand what you are going through. We understand your problem, we understand what you want. Just by doing that, it's increased results by 10 times. And again, I'm not even gonna comment on if the rest of the copy is amazing or if it could be improved. The facts are in front of us just by doing that sl that one thing we are making use of traffic that was otherwise slipping away and just exiting the pages. Um, so there you go. That's one example of, of where a motion

first beats over just what I call logic first. Anything where it's just like, yep, that sounds good. Oh yeah, that seems logical. Uh, it seems like that is something that people would care about. The difference between assuming and actually doing the research and finding out, um, what care, what matters to people. This is another example, uh, different medium. This was a leaflet. Uh, it was actually the first leaflet that I ever, uh, wrote. So that was quite fun. Uh, it was advertising the opening of a vegetarian vegan takeaway in a town. Uh, and the left,

the left version was the first, um, leaflet that went out to a selection of about 2000 houses. It was just a menu saying, you know, new, uh, listing the prices of, of the products and, and showing some photos of the products. Uh, approximately 19 orders came back from that. And we have to say approximately because, you know, there could have been referrals, we don't know. Um, we could only track it by the, uh, addresses of people who ordered. So that's how, you know, seeing if they came from a certain postcode. But anyway, that was the,

that was the first one that that was sent out when the business came to me and asked if I could help. Um, I asked myself, okay, well do people actually care immediately about a vegan vegetarian takeaway? Is it something people really care about? Not necessarily. If you're vegan, vegetarian, clearly that's a, that's a link and it's going to be interesting to you. So, you know, we don't really need to worry about, uh, vegans, vegetarians cuz they're just going to to try it out anyway. But for most people, and for people who we could target, what

is it that they care about right now? Why might someone want to have a vegan or vegetarian dish? It's not necessarily because they're vegan or vegetarian. There might be something else there. Uh, at the time, I think this must have been in February, uh, or no, maybe January actually. Cause I think it was, oh, I can't remember, January or February, 2021. Um, the United Kingdom, uh, it where the town was, um, where this, uh, leaflet went out was in lockdown. And the something that people really cared about during lockdown, they felt guilty about was the

fact that they weren't as healthy as they once were and that they'd gained weight and that they couldn't exercise and they felt like they were having more, um, fast food and, and takeaways. So I thought, okay, well let's try and play on that. Let's see if that makes people more likely to order. So instead of just saying, Hey, we're a new takeaway order from us, um, we, we went with the big, um, obvious headline, how to live healthly after lockdown. Uh, again, not necessarily an amazing headline, but it's hitting on something that people already care

about that we know is dear to people. Uh, we then deliver some value. I'm not gonna discuss everything that's going on in this leaflet, but we then deliver a bit of free value and then we announce that we're a new takeaway that can, can help them out and shows them how to order and, and the website to go to. So, and then we can, of course, we can see by the, the conversions, the, the orders that came from it. Um, again, around 10 times as many came in just because we, instead of just going, well,

that seems good, we'll just do that. It was, okay, well, what do people care about right now? And linking up the service that we could provide, or a fact about the product that we had to something that we already knew the prospects would care about. And then lastly, as an example, that's outside of marketing and in no way, um, is drawing any kind of political bias. I'm just using this as a very clear, uh, example that is anti-marketing. Um, this was a, uh, television debate that took place between Nick Kleig and Nigel Farage in, uh,

I, God, you know, 20 between 2014 and 2016. It would've been one of those years. Uh, a the audience, the studio audience was asked who won the debate, and the debate was about Brexit in the United Kingdom, whether the United Kingdom should leave the European Union. Um, Nick Clegg was widely considered to have had the, um, better argument in terms of statistics and facts and, um, projections. He was bringing out actual figures and he was talking about trade and, um, national status, uh, and economic repercussions and things that were quite math based and science based

and, and had clear cut projections behind them. And Nigel Farage spoke about immigration and taking back control, uh, of the United Kingdom. And Nigel Farage pretty much wiped the floor with Nick Legg, and you could obviously argue that it was also about, um, his ability as an a. Um, but ultimately the difference between the two came down to what they spoke about Nigel Farage concentrated on what people were already thinking about because the hot topics in the Brexit referendum were immigration and, um, uh, basically eu uh, legislation over the United Kingdom, those were the things

that were on everyone's lips. And that was effectively what triggered the referendum in the first place. So whereas Nick Clegg was coming at an angle from, Hey, look, these are things that you should care about because they're gonna be impactful. Nigel Farage said, these are things that I know you already care about, so I'm gonna talk about these and I'm gonna, um, play on the emotions you're already feeling about them because I'm gonna, I'm gonna give, um, an impassioned speech about why they matter and why I'm right on these subjects. So again, just another example

of how f tapping into people's emotions and what they already care about and what they already have on their minds is far more effective than talking, um, about logic. And really that's why decision making is emotional. That that's what emotional decision making is. It's about tapping into the things that people already care about. Um, you know, when I say logic and when I was using logic first as a, as the left side of all those examples, you know, logic just means anything that's assumed, anything that people think that anyone else should care about, anything that

someone thinks sounds good because it rhymes. It's all kind of, it, it's never based on research and, and, and it's never grounded in the emotion of the prospect. It's always because of some other kind of logic. It's always because of, Hey, people should be caring about this thing, therefore I'm gonna talk about it rather than, well, I know they already care about it. So, um, that's what I'm gonna play on. This is not seen anywhere better than in headlines because ultimately emotional decisions are immediate and they happen straight away. Uh, and we need to show

the prospect that what we have to say is relevant to them in our first point of contact because they're not gonna give you a second chance. They're not gonna read a hundred words before making a decision. Um, our brains are fine tuned to respond to headlines, whether it be YouTube videos or Netflix listings or newspaper articles or landing pages or subject lines on emails. You know, that first block of text that's bigger and bolder than the rest of them is what we are conditioned to judge things on the headline. Uh, and we'll, we'll cover headlines

in more detail later on in their presentation and we'll go into what makes them work and, and what their purpose is. But for this point in the presentation in, in the proceedings and what we're talking about, we just need to consider what headlines are doing and, and what headlines are doing is that they are forcing our prospects to reach an emotional decision. We're forcing our prospects to say, yes, this is relevant to me, or No, this is not relevant to me. When you look at a headline like this, which was for a newspaper ad, uh,

do you make these mistakes in job interviews? There are two reactions to this headline. Ooh, I, I dunno, maybe I do make these mistakes in job interviews. Oh, okay. Like, let's, let's have a look. Or, um, I'm don't care about job interviews, so uh, I'm not gonna even bother reading this. Those are the two reactions that you get to that. And that first reaction is hopefully gonna be mostly, um, given by people who are in between jobs, who are worried about how they perform a job, uh, job interviews and who are considering moving career soon

or, or trying to do it right now. Uh, cuz it's so clearly obvious and relevant to them that they go, Hey, yeah, you know what? This is on my mind right now. I'm going to read and see what you have to say. Of course you also get people who are just intrigued and that's fine too. But the point is, it's clearly calling out to the people that this ad is intended to target, which is people who are between jobs, people who are thinking of moving careers, people who do want to feel like, yes, I wanna

be confident when I go into job interviews. And it tells that story straight away by presenting what the topic is of the ad and if it's gonna be relevant to us. Um, so even if your headline is repulsing certain people immediately, that's fine as well. It should do that. People should also be able to tell if it's irrelevant to them straight away. A headline shouldn't appeal to everyone. It should appeal to the target audience of the ad. And headlines like this do a great job. What you wanna avoid, um, and this is, and something I

wanna show you is a bad example, an example of where the person clearly doesn't understand that they need to get people to reach an emotional decision that they're trying to tap into existing problems and desires and beliefs. This was a genuine headline that I found on Facebook, on a Facebook ad, uh, as I was scrolling through. It's from a cold ad, which means that I had had no previous engagements with this company. I'd never seen any of their stuff online before, nor had I been on their website. Uh, but it was still targeted at me.

So it's the first point of contact I am having with this company. I'm not gonna name the company the creative above the, the image was the same as the headline, the same words, and I think it was just a photo of two, uh, women with a piece of paper. There was nothing specific or particularly des about it. But the headline reads, X's 15 years of experience to help you live your Best life. What the fuck does that mean? I don't know. Uh, I've never seen this company before. I don't know what they do. I'm not

sure what their product is and this isn't revealing anything to me about their product or service. But even worse than that, it's not showing me how it's relevant to my life or to my pains or to my desires or to my beliefs. I simply don't care. So this isn't even repulsing me, like in this example, if I was happy in a job and I didn't care about job interviews, this is this, um, repulse is perhaps too strong word, but I would be able to clearly see straight away that this is not relevant to me. So

I can clearly back away from it. But this headline, it's doing neither, it's not attracting me all, all repulsing me. I, I don't know anything I, I, I'm not sure what this is trying to say and I don't wanna give it the time to find out because the brain's default response is to ignore. If we don't know what something is and it's not, we can't see how it's relevant to us in any way. If it's not particularly intriguing, then we just ignore it. And not only am I ignoring this cuz I probably am not the

target audience, but also the target audience of this are also probably ignoring it because nothing there is calling out to an emotion that they already have. It's not forcing them to reach an emotional decision. It's not calling out to an existing pain or desire or belief. It's just there, it's just something that someone has clearly gone. Yeah, well let's just talk about ourselves and yeah, that seems kind of logical cuz we're saying about how good we are. Um, and yeah, people like to to to live well. So yeah, we'll put that cuz that sounds good.

They've clearly done, they've clearly put no effort into researching what prospects actually specifically care about right now. Now that we know how important that first point of contact is and how crucial it is to meet the customer where they are and to reflect their emotions in our own copy, we may be thinking, is there an easy way to do that? Is there a simple process that we can follow to make sure that we are meeting them at the same point every single time, especially when we first talk to them. But also when we continue our

sales argument and we continue to write our copy, while thankfully there is an easy way to know how to, um, to well to know where to start and, and how to continue your copywriting. And it's the universal prospects journey that's often overlooked in the mainstream world of marketing. And you may have heard of it before, but it's something called the stages of awareness. And there are five stages of awareness. This was a concept, uh, first introduced and popularized by uh, Eugene Schwartz in his book Breakthrough Advertising. If you can pick up a copy of Breakthrough

Advertising, I'd highly recommend reading, well all of it, but particularly this section cuz he'll explain it far better than I do. Uh, I believe it's in chapter two. And he discusses with us how no matter where a prospect is in relation to buying your product, whether they are absolutely ready or whether they have never heard of your company before or whether they know of similar products, but but haven't, haven't, uh, experienced yours, they always fall within one of five stages of awareness. And our job as a copywriter is quite simply to move prospects through those

stages of awareness. So they're ready to buy and they're very easy to remember and they are. And we start at the top with unaware. If your reader is unaware, it means that they don't know that they have a problem that needs solving because ultimately every product is solving a problem. Whether that be a pain like we've discussed or it's granting a desire, uh, or it's tying in with a belief that someone has and, and taking advantage of that. But regardless, a product is always fulfilling something for someone. It's always solving a problem. And if someone's

in the unaware category, it means they don't even know that they have a problem that needs to be solved. Let alone that your product exists. Typically, you won't write to unaware audiences In many markets, I personally in, in e-commerce, rarely, or I don't think I've ever written to a fully unaware audience. There are some, uh, markets, especially I know in financial publishing where unaware audiences are target audiences, um, relatively often. So it, it differs from market to market, but most of the time, I would say in gigs that you are getting as a freelancer, you

won't be writing to people who are unaware and they, they tend to be the most difficult people to, to write to. Uh, and I'm also gonna go through what you should be doing when you're writing to these different stages of awareness and, and giving you examples of it as well. The next stage of awareness, which is a fairly common one, is problem aware. And this is where your reader knows they have a problem that needs solving, but they don't know of any solutions yet. So quite a simple one, and again, I'll give you an example

in a moment. Then there's solution aware, which is your reader knows of solutions that will solve their problem, but they don't yet know about your product and how that is also a solution or how it can provide the same solution. Product aware means your reader knows of your product, but isn't fully convinced that they want it yet. And most aware is that your reader knows of your product, knows exactly what it does and knows they want it. So clearly our objective as copywriters is to move our prospects into that most aware category. Um, you can

really imagine copywriting as an exercise in moving prospects through the stages of awareness. And there is no one place that everyone starts. It's not as if you're always going to be writing to a problem where audience, you're not always going to be writing to a solution aware audience. It differs from campaign to campaign. For example, if I'm writing to people who have bought the products before or are part of the subscription service or something like that, then they're most likely to fall. Well, they're definitely going to fall into that product aware or most aware category

cuz they're existing customers. Therefore, I'm not gonna try and write to them as if they're a problem aware audience necessarily. Um, and similarly, if I'm writing to someone who has never heard of a product before, uh, um, and they don't even know that there are products like out there, they, they don't know of the solution, but they have a clear problem, then they're gonna be in that problem aware stage. So it really differs. Um, and we're also going to talk later on about how to identify what stage of awareness someone is in because it all

comes down to research at the end of the day. So don't worry right now if you are still a bit confused on how to identify that because we are, we are gonna come on to talk to it, uh, to talk about it. But for the time being, let's just look at how you would tackle each of these stages of awareness. If you're writing to someone in the unaware stage, you can only appeal to the identity of the reader. Uh, like I've said, you, you may never write to, to anyone who is unaware. Uh, but the

problem with the unaware stage is that people don't know that they have a problem. Therefore, you can only really try to grab their attention and intrigue them by talking about something that they already believe or something that they already are. And I'll show you an example of this in a moment. With problem aware, you need to show your reader that you understand their problem and then claim that you have a solution to it. So, very simple solution aware, you need to show your reader that you understand the solution that they're aware of and go on

to prove your product achieves it or is even better than that existing solution. Product aware. You need to reiterate your best promises and claims of your product and prove why your product is the best choice for the reader. And most aware for people who are basically right on the edge of buying, you just need to overcome any final objection or show them an offer that they'll find hard to refuse. But do you see that in each one of these stages? With each objective you are linking to what the product, uh, what the prospect already knows

and where they already are. So each of these stages, no matter where they're in, you can always do something to join the conversation that's already happening in their head. You wanna make sure that you hit on the stage of awareness they're in and do the right thing linked to it. If I am writing to someone who is product aware and they've already heard of the product and they already know what it does, I don't want to write to them as if they're in the problem aware stage cuz they've already been through that. They already know

that they have a problem and they know there are solutions and they know of your product. So there's no point of me in tracking back to try and convince them that I understand their problem. It's just a waste of words. Similarly, if I am approaching someone who is problem aware and they know that they have an issue with something, I don't necessarily want to open with the name of my product and talk about how it's the best because they may not even understand that solutions exist for their problem yet. And a product name isn't necessarily

going to grab their attention and allow them to understand that I get what their um, issues are. I need to write in the stage where they are, like we've said before, we need to join the conversation that's already happening in their head. We need to make them reach an emotional decision straightaway and appeal to their emotions, appeal to their problems, their desires, their beliefs. So let me give you some, uh, well, not real life cuz I've made these ones up. Um, but let me give you some examples of headlines in these different stages of awareness

and just to show how universal this is. I have chosen, uh, an industry that I have never written in before, uh, with, with a, with a product I know nothing about, uh, which is golf. Just to give you examples of just power. By knowing the stage of awareness that someone is in, I can craft a headline that's far more relevant no matter what the industry is. Uh, so for the, for the purpose of this exercise, I have chosen a golf course that allows people to improve their putting game. Bear in mind, I know nothing about

golf. Some of these words may not make sense, uh, but I, but I just, I wrote these out quickly to to show as a, as an example of, of how simple it becomes using the stages of awareness. So if someone is unaware that they even have a problem yet and they don't even know that they want to improve their putting game, all I can reach out to is their identity. So I write club level golfers could be in for a big surprise this September because all that is doing, and all I can do at this

stage is call out to their identity, something that they associate with themselves and intrigue them with a, you know, obviously with a bit of intrigue a bit, um, saying something like, Hey, if you read on this may be relevant to you. So they may not know that they have a problem yet or know that they want to improve their putting game, but the fact that I'm calling out their identity is giving me the best chance of getting them to read on. So that's why I go with a headline like that. In the problem aware stage,

this person will know that they have an issue, uh, that for example, that their, uh, their handicap is not as low as they want it to be. Again, I think that's a <laugh>, I think that's a real thing. Um, so I write Golf Pro denies his handicapped cutting method gives club players an unfair advantage. I'm not gonna go through all the techniques that these headlines are, are using. Um, but you can see there how I'm bringing up the, the topic of cutting a handicap and I'm implying I'm the implicit promise that I am that I'm

giving to people is that if you read on, you are gonna find out something about how to cut your handicap and I know you care about that right now. So that's why we use a headline like that in Solution Aware where we say that people understand that to cut their handicap, they need to be better at putting and they know that that's the solution to their problem. I hit on that straightaway with a really simple headline, how to Sharpen Your Short Game, no additional equipment needed. Uh, obviously that last bit is just a, you know,

a suffix that's, uh, doing something else, but you can see that I'm hitting on the solution straight away by bringing up, I understand that you know what to do and I'm gonna show you how to do it. In an ad like that, when that's my headline, that's when I would typically go on to introduce my product relatively quickly because I know that they're already solution aware and they're already looking out for things that can provide that solution or better things that can provide that solution. If someone is product aware, so they have heard about my

course that I'm selling, I will bring it up in the, in the headline. So I say Achieve Flats stick mastery in just two weeks. And like we said in the product to our stage, we want to reiterate the best claims and promises of our product. So I'm introducing a timeframe and saying, look, you can have this within two weeks. I'm allowing people to imagine, oh wow, I can have this huge benefit. I could achieve this flat stick mastery, which is also the name of the course in a very specific timeframe. And a, a short enough

timeframe for me to imagine having it now. So I'm reiterating a promise of my product. And then most aware for people who have heard of the product and they know they want it, they may just have a slight objection. It could be anything. In this case we'll say it's the uncertainty of it working and they just wanna know that their, their cash is safe and they're not blowing any money. We, we open with, uh, a, a very clear offer, a hundred percent refund if you don't lose at least five strokes within a single month. So

there we're, we're pretty much putting our skin in the game and saying, Hey, we know you like this. Um, we, I'm joining the conversation that's happening in your head cause I know you already want it and we are also providing this guarantee for you. So you don't need to worry if it doesn't work. And then you can see some real life or you know, um, uh, made up. But <laugh>, uh, examples of how the stages of awareness work in a headline. I know I'm only talking about headlines now because we've been speaking about the emotional

decision and the importance of joining the conversation that's happening in someone's head straight away. But the stages of awareness can also be used to guide the rest of your copy, which is something we'll come on to look at as we go on the presentation. But for the time being, we just need to see how headlines and how that first point of contact with our copy can be made so much better and easier. And we can take the randomness away by following the stages of awareness. And for the sake of clarity, I've also given some real

life examples of headlines I've seen out and about, uh, some I've written or not, some maybe two I've written, uh, to show you where they would come in these stages. Usually this is a bit of an interactive section where I ask people if they can, um, identify them, uh, but for the sake of it, I've just shown you what they are. Uh, so you can kinda have a look around, um, at your own ledger. So pause it now and, and have a, have a view and see, uh, if you can work out why these headlines

fall into that particular category. But just to give you a couple of examples, let's have a look at one that could fall into two of the stages of awareness. Cuz something else that's important is a headline could function in one or more stages of awareness. So we take, take a look at the second one down on the left stream, clearly with APOs unique Sound Wave 2.0 technology. That could be with some, for someone who is problem aware because they know they have a problem of streaming clearly and that's what they wanna do, or with someone

who is solution aware and they know that they need a better mic. Um, and that is going to be the key to solving their problem. Uh, and in both cases we're joining the conversation that's happening in their head because we are giving them something to grab hold of cuz they can understand there that their problem is they want to stream more clearly. But the solution also is that, oh, I need a better mic. And we are fulfilling both those things within this headline. So that could double in stages of awareness. Um, and you may find

that other ones I've, I've put that only fall into one stage of awareness could also double into other stages of awareness if, uh, the audience is right for it. And then you take the one at the bottom left as well, how to avoid the biggest mistake new real estate investors make. Well, that could be for someone who's problem aware. Clearly if someone is, uh, a new real estate investor and they're worried about something, um, so it's quite a broad headline, but if they're worried, um, and they they really don't want to make a mistake and

they feel like they're having a problem of without confidence, then clearly that headline fits. But also it could work for someone who's unaware, who they can only, uh, grab onto their identity because we are calling out directly, this is for new real estate investors. Even if you don't think you have a problem, if you are a new real estate investor, you may be interested in reading this. So it could also double as an unaware headline as well. And then one last one, um, just so we have covered all of the, uh, all of the stages

or most of the stages anyway, um, <affirmative> most aware, uh, oh, we should probably do the product away one as well. But if we look at the, the, the third one down the left most aware vapes and off dog down dry shampoo, that is a really simple headline. We are giving a very clear offer saying, Hey, you should get this now because there's a, there's an offer on, there's a clear, uh, reason, there's a discount and we're just naming the product. So clearly as for someone who already knows that they want the product and is

just waiting for something else to give them that little nudge, uh, potentially that could also double for someone who's product aware as well. But if they're at a point where they're considering buying it, they're likely in that most aware stage anyway. They just are waiting for, for something to nudge them over. And then if we look at the product aware, just to complete the circle on the top right there, Dan's 5K to one mill changed my life, Sarah X Homemaker. Well, we can clearly see there that it's for someone who already knows about the course

because we are leading with the course's title and we are giving proof, we're reiterating a claim. The yes, this changes people's lives. And like I say, this is doubling as proof cuz it's a direct testimonial from someone as well. So hopefully all that, uh, makes sense. And why are the stages of awareness so important? Uh, like I say, if you feel my explanation hasn't been satisfactory, I would highly recommend, uh, getting hold of, uh, Eugene Schwartz's breakthrough Advertising, uh, reading through I believe chapter two, where he goes through it and you can, you can kind

of look back through it at your own leisure. But the, the stages of awareness is so important because as I mentioned, it takes the randomness out of copywriting. It allows us to be confident in where we're starting and what we're doing. At any stage of the copy, we can always look back at the research we've done and go, okay, what stage of awareness are this person? Is this person in, right? I know I need to do this then. And if we know that someone is problem aware, then we can even even follow the stages of

awareness down to show, right? Well, we need to introduce 'em to the solution and then our product and then make our product the best one. Um, that's that, that, that, you know, we, we need to make it clear that it's the best one for them. Uh, we'll come onto exactly how that happens. You know, it's not like it has to take a certain amount of words or a certain amount of time. People can jump through the stages of awareness within a few sentences. Other times it takes a whole paragraphs, whole pages, whole documents. So it

really differs from campaign to campaign. But the important thing is we understand where someone is starting out and we know that we have to guide them forward to get 'em to that most aware stage. So that is why the stages of awareness are so important. And this section wouldn't be complete without me just showing you some genuine real life in all their glory. Examples of where advertisers clearly understand what stages of awareness they're starting in and what they're trying to appeal to. We'll only take a few of these as an example. Uh, look at the

bottom right, uh, for a product called Snow, which is a teeth whitening kit, 15% off photo of the product, uh, and also a photo of the product being used. Clearly this is for someone who already knows what the product is. Uh, they, they obviously know they have a problem. They want their their teeth to be nicer, they wanna feel more confident in themselves perhaps. So we're not trying to appeal to that cuz we're not talking about what this product does. It's for someone who already knows what the product is and probably knows that they want

it as well. So this is either on that product or most aware stage, um, most likely, most aware cuz we're leading with 15% off. There is no other copy on that creative. Um, and we are just reiterating the point about how it's the most advanced teeth whitening system. So it comes up to someone who is in those highest stages of awareness who are, who are nearly ready to buy. But then we go right down to the other end of the spectrum and we look at the top left, have you taken out a loan credit card

or mortgage? And that was a television ad, which again, won't have, uh, won't necessarily have a direct um, call to action that could be measured. It may have a specific number, but it may not. So we can see how this doesn't, the stages of awareness don't just work in direct response. We can use them to strengthen any kind of advertising. But if we look at the top left ad, that's not presenting a problem immediately, nor is it presenting a product or a solution to a problem. It's simply calling out the audience who may be watching.

If I have taken out a loan before or a credit card or a mortgage, I can see that this might be relevant to me. So I'm going to continue watching cuz this is the first point of contact that I've had and it's calling out something I can identify with or I can identify with having done. So that again, clearly the unaware stage is what that is calling out to. It's not presenting a problem or a solution, it's just calling out to people. And then one last one, we'll look at the bottom left. Um, 28 day

day keto diet plan. 100% made for beginners. Okay, well who do you think that's for? What stage of awareness is that made for? It's not for someone who's unaware clearly because it's presenting a solution. It's not for someone who is problem aware because it isn't actually bringing up a problem, it's not presenting, oh do you feel fat or do you feel like you need to gain weight? Instead, it's for someone who is solution aware because it's for people who already know about keto diets and what they do. It's about for people who already understand that

that's a solution. But clearly it's not product aware because it's not mentioning a product. We are just introducing people and saying, Hey, we understand where you are, we're joining the conversation that's happening in your head cuz we know that you've heard of keto plans before and this is a really good one. And then it gives a bit more information saying it's made for beginners. So this is made for people who have, you've never taken a keto diet plan before, this is for you. So clearly that is in the solution aware stage, right? The secret weapon

most marketers are afraid to use. So by this point we know the purpose of our copy, we know what our job should be as a copywriter, we know how people make decisions and we understand the importance of provoking an immediate response. But now it's time to learn the last part of theory while setting up our, our workbench on which we are going to eventually research and write and edit. But so far, just by having a clear understanding of of what we've already been through will make you a better copywriter than most. It gives you an

advantage over marketers who still follow the doctrine of indirect response advertising or who think too logically or rely on randomness and unnecessary entertainment to get by. Certainly in my career, uh, recently and as I'm working with more agencies and businesses and people I have to work with, uh, I guarantee that just understanding the things we've already spoken about will take you beyond them. But having this next weapon in your arsenal will take you up to the top 5%. Before we've even spoken about the actual writing process, this single thing is what the top direct response

agencies in the world use to win campaign after campaign. And it may seem counterintuitive at first glance, but cuz it seems counterintuitive, many marketers are scared to use it, they're scared of even testing it. But I promise you, if you can get past that, that uncomfortable feeling of trying something that seems illogical, you will have the most powerful strategy for writing copy that converts. It's a thing that you should apply to every single piece of copy you write, regardless of where you're writing it or what it's for. And the label that those at the top

most widely recognize this concept by is the rule of one. And for our purposes, it can be remembered with a simple acronym, albeit an acronym that doesn't actually form a word <laugh>, uh, r And before I discuss what Rio is and what it means, uh, I just wanna point out that this is something that most direct response, successful direct response marketers will use in one way or another with slight variations between them. Uh, this is the acronym I use cause it's the one that I found most useful when I was starting out and I still

refer back to it when I'm teaching juniors cuz I think it sets out in the most, uh, easy to understand way, but other people will just talk about the rule of one as a general concept. Other people have different acronyms for it. So bear in mind that it's a very similar thing to, to what most good direct response, uh, copywriters have in their arsenal. But this is just my take on it and what I found to be the most useful. So rella, it stands for one reader, one idea, one offer, and one action. Each piece

of copy you write should encompass these things, but more importantly than that, they must only touch on one of each of them. But why? Well two reasons. One, it keeps your advertising message organized so you can better understand what is driving your prospect and, and what they've already been exposed to. And two, which is, which is more important, a confused mind or an overwhelmed mind doesn't buy. It's a fact that the more messages you throw at someone, the less likely they are to understand your main point or the less likely they are to view it

as important and subsequently the less likely they are to take action. In a moment we'll go through each of the aspects in turn and I'll delve deeper into exactly what each one is doing. But the overview and, and those two reasons, you know, messaging and organization and not overwhelming the reader are just really important to understand as the reasons we even use this concept. And as we go through each of the points, you'll see just how deep these reasons go and what effect they have on your aim of converting prospects. So one reader, what does

one reader mean? What does it mean to focus on one reader? Well your copy must be written as if it's aimed at one person specifically. Why is this important? Because it focuses your messaging based on your research and attracts only those who align themselves with the idea of your product. Meaning the copy that you write will be far more persuasive for your perfect prospects rather than mild and forgettable for all those you read it. An example of this, uh, and again, this isn't copy, but this is just an example of who a one who one

reader might be. When I'm writing copy, I'll write this landing page as if the only person who'll be reading it is a 50 year old mum who's had back pain that's been getting progressively worse over the last decade. And who is only just getting time back to themselves after the kids have moved away. She hates exercise because it's painful, but feels guilty for not being more active. Now we'll go into how we get this information and the research we do, uh, and a lot more about our perfect prospect or our ideal client later on. For

the time being though, all you need to remember is that that's the kind of mindset we have to have when writing anything. It doesn't mean we're gonna be ultra specific and start writing things like, you know, aren't you glad that both of your kids, your son and daughter, have now gone to uni after getting top grades? You know, that's not what it means. It doesn't mean we need to go specific on one person's life. It just means that after our research when we found the kind of person that's most likely to benefit from our product

and buy it, we know that they're gonna share many aspects with others. And it's these that we put into our ideal client, hence our one reader. Cuz there's always gonna be one kind of person who may not make up the majority of our customers, but who is the most perfect for the product. And by imagining that we are just writing to a single person, our messages become far more relatable from our perfect prospects point of view. And even for those who don't necessarily fall into that category, cuz just by being clear, you'll get people on

the outside of that perfect sphere start to see the point you're trying to make and go, okay, I don't perfectly match that, but I do want Matt, one thing. So it comes down to the core idea of copywriting, which is the why do you cast your net? The less fish you're gonna catch. We wanna use a sniper, not a shotgun. If we try to appeal to everyone, we're not gonna convince anyone. So instead it's far better to go hard on specific points shared by our ideal clients. You know, by most of our ideal client, that

person, that type of person that we deem to be yet this is who we wanna focus on. Cuz this is who we are most likely to convince and we'll come onto how to do that when we go into research. So that is what our one reader is, that's what we mean when we say, uh, one reader. The one idea what it means, the single core message of your copy. What main benefit are you promising that will satisfy your one reader's most intense conscious desire? And why? And how is your product able to support the delivery

of this benefit? Now it's quite a mouthful and we'll break it down, but why is this important? Is because the one idea is the crux of your entire sales argument. You must be able to explain it in a single sentence so it's undeniably clear to you and consequently will be clear in the copy that you write. It focuses the copy and doesn't overwhelm the prospect with competing benefits or features that will dilute the primary benefit most relevant to them. So an example of this glucosamine helps support joints of older dogs so they can walk more

comfortably. Our treats contain the highest concentration of naturally sourced glucosamine, and that is an example of copy what could be copy, um, but also, uh, more often than not, the one idea and something like this that you're writing is just so you understand it in your own head and then you can write copy around it. But it's so important that you can boil down the one idea to a sentence like that. So by establishing the one idea of your copy, you know, i e what you want to get the reader to believe, by the time

they finish reading, you'll focus your entire argument. And ultimately it comes down to a single fact, which is the more things you try to convince your reader of, the less likely they'll believe you and the less weight each point will hold. A fully believed idea is 100 times more powerful than 10 partially believed ideas you can use other subsequent, uh, subsequent claims to, to support the central idea that you're going for. But a huge mistake Martys make is blasting prospects with loads of benefits straight away, which makes them instantly less believable and gives the reader

too much to think about. You know, other benefits can and should form part of your argument and other points should form part of your argument. But everything you write should always revolve around one common theme that will be most likely to convince your ideal client, your reader. There are plenty of formulas that you can use to come up with your one idea all driven by the research that you do, of course. And it's important to note we're gonna be going into the research in a moment. Uh, and research is the key to figuring out all

of this. So if this still isn't entirely clear as you right now, don't worry because it will be as we go through it in real time or not real time, but you know, as we go through the the process. Um, but uh, but yeah, uh, it's all driven by research. And similarly, there are ways to strengthen ideas and to use other messages to support your one idea. Having your one idea doesn't mean that you can't talk about anything else and you know, you can't mention any other benefits. It just means that that is the central

point that everything else needs to relate back to that. And again, we're gonna talk about the specifics of this when and what it means practically speaking when writing copy and deciding what to write about. But for now though, just remember that you need to establish your one idea to give focus to your sales argument and make it far more likely that your prospect will buy. What is the one main thing that you are promising them next, the one offer. What does it mean the entirety of what your prospect will gain after taking action? What deliverables

are you promising to your prospect? What is the cost to them for getting these deliverables? This is important because your offer must be clear, otherwise nobody will trust you to deliver on it. Simply put, they must be able to picture exactly what they'll gain. And this must be easily defined because a confused mind doesn't buy or click or or convert. An example of this, again, this is just making it clear for your yourself in your own head by entering their email, my prospect will receive a free PDF that details the seven things I've learned about

PPC ads. It will be downloadable on the next page and it will be delivered to them via email that's just getting clear on exactly what we're giving to them. And it's so important. And as you've seen here, I've not used a paid example, I've not used a product as an example. I've used what we would call a lead magnet. So something that is free and something that's digital. Um, just to show you that any piece of copy your writing, whether it's an email or a landing page or a entire sales page, is always gonna have

a single offer on it. You're always gonna be asking someone to do one thing that you're, you're promising them one particular thing and you need to frame exactly what that is, how they're gonna get it, and what it's gonna cost them. Whether that be money or whether that be putting in an email. Um, the one offer that you have, it can be made more desirable through your copywriting skills and, and how you present it on the page. And again, this is something that we're gonna talk about when we move on to writing copy. Uh, but

you can only ever have one offer because you want it to directly support your one idea. You know, you're effectively showing your one reader how they can take advantage of your one idea through your one offer. You're showing them how they can get that one idea that you've been talking about and that's gonna be through your offer. So it's the key that's gonna allow them to fulfill the desire that's been affirmed by your copy. You know, that's why it's so important to lay out your offer clearly and to make it as attractive and as easy

as possible for your reader to take you up on. So that's why just having one offer and being super clear on what that is, is important. Okay. And lastly, one action. What it means there must only be a single action that you are guiding your reader towards performing. For each piece of copy you write, this is important because multiple options are one of the biggest conversion killers you must establish in line with your one offer. What the single action, the single thing should be that you want the reader to take, otherwise you run the risk

of them getting overwhelmed or sidetracked with something unrelated to your ultimate goal. An example of this is on this page, I only want the reader to click through to the order form, so I won't include any other links or buttons to distract them from that single aim. This is closely tied to your one offer. Uh, but, and, and to be honest, I think it could be wrapped into the one offer and I think most people, most people do wrap it into the one offer and they'll use either just three points or they'll add something else,

um, to fill that fourth spot. But I include it as its own part because it's such an important yet simple rule that too many people get wrong. You should only ever ask a reader to do one thing per page. The more opportunities you give them to stray away from your copies one offer, the less likely they'll be to continue through your marketing funnel. And particularly in agencies. I see this, I see people link to blog posts just for the sake of it on a page, um, cuz they can, and having things on the side and

having little popups here and there for no real reason when the really, you know, you're just trying to get 'em to convert. So you don't want to distract, you don't want 'em to click a click a link and take 'em to another page and risk closing down the browser. Uh, you know, the more opportunities you give them to stray away from your copies one offer, you know, the less likely they're gonna be to continue. For some people, despite having the one offer nailed down, still ask their readers take two actions, like subscribe to a newsletter

and then click through to the next page and they're separate on the page or they'll, you know, they'll link blog posts or whatever it is. That's why we include it in our rule of one, one action from your prospect per page. That's it. People get decision anxiety easily, so there's no need to give them more options and more things to do. They need to be shown a single path. Uh, and again, we'll, we'll, we'll show you, um, we'll show you how this works as we go through, but it's, it's quite an easy concept. I should

also mention at this point there are always exceptions to these rules. I know I say the rule of one and generally most of the time you absolutely should stick to the rule of one to Rio, but there are always gonna be slight exceptions. Nothing in marketing is ever set in stone. Ultimately testing is the only right answer. If anything that you do in real life contradicts anything I've said, um, but you, you prove yourself right? Then you go with that for that audience. If that's what works, then that's what works. But typically you wanna stick

to the rule of one. But when a single piece of copy adheres to all the four rules of Rio, it will be far easier for the prospect to understand, more persuasive for your ideal client. You'll see higher conversion rates and it will make the entire process easier for you as well. So it just focuses every aspect of your copy and it makes the rest of the journey far easier to plan and write two. So whatever you have to go on to write next after you've written a particular page, it means you've already been following a

specific way of, of writing these things and structuring them. So then it becomes far easier to write the next piece cuz you already know what someone has been exposed to. Uh, and the stages of awareness that we already discussed are gonna affect exactly how you present each point of Rio in any piece of copy of course. But this is what we'll talk about later on, um, when discussing how to actually write things. But quite simply, if you have a firm understanding of the stages of awareness and the rule of one or Rio and you remember

to apply them in your copywriting, you will be automatically more effective than 90% of marketers and copywriters out there. There. I promise you, just remembering these two really important bits of theory will give you the expertise that so people lack, so many people lack just because they're not sure of where to start or how to, um, how to focus their copywriting. The concepts we've been through are pretty much the minimum viable aspects of theory that you need to understand to, to be a good copywriter. Uh, and although we'll be moving on to pretty much entirely

practical lessons from now on, there's still one last piece of the workbench effectively that we need to set up for. We can move on to writing the copy and rather excitingly we're going to talk about research. So research the foundation of every successful campaign. You may often hear the quote that copywriting is 80% or any other kind of percentage that is high, uh, research and only 20% writing. Uh, and uh, they, again, there's a lot of merit in that quote. Every successful campaign is built on heavy hitting research because without it, as I'm sure you'll

recognize by what we've been through already, without understanding your product and your customer and the market you're writing in, you won't be able to sell anything successfully. So research is crucial and I wanna take you through the multimillion pound process that'll win for you time and time again. Why is that a multimillion pound process? Cuz it sounds kind of cool, uh, and because it's, it's what I've used to help me, uh, make all the sales in the last two years, really. And it's, it's, it's evolved, you know, it continues to evolve, I suppose, but I,

it's, it's at a point now where I haven't changed it hugely, uh, for a good kind of year. And this is what I, I have found helps me time and time again. So, research is the foundation of every successful campaign. Unfortunately, it's also the foundation of many marketing campaigns that fail. Uh, it research is an extremely broad term and many processes that purport to be researched don't always give us what we need to, to write winning copy. So not only is it vitally important that we conduct research in the first place, it's also important that

we research in, in the right way. Uh, so I'm gonna give you the, the very same research process that I and my agencies and and businesses use that help us craft laser focused messaging, you know, messaging that translates into successful copy and successful campaigns. I won't say that this is the only way to conduct research. Uh, and for sure some people use successful methods by doing different things. Um, they, they, they may do it in slightly different ways, it may be completely different. But what I'm about to show you in detail is a way that

I know works. Since this is the exact process I use myself, uh, I'm also gonna provide you with a, with a step by step guide effectively, uh, and, and try to, to be as detailed as I can. Cuz I appreciate you can't really ask questions directly now, but I will, I'll try to be as detailed, detailed as I can right now, so you can, you know, just go back through it and, and refer back to this, this section easily. I just want to show you what I know works for me. Okay? So research process. The

sticky research process is what I call it. Uh, it's not a coin, it's not a term that I coined. It, uh, was probably from both copy hackers. Uh, shout out to Joanna Weeb, who was instrumental in, in, in teaching me when I was, uh, starting my copywriting career. Uh, and from my, my friend and fellow copywriter and marketer, uh, Jonathan, um, Jonathan Baldo slash angry, if I can butcher his name anymore, uh, who I know have both used the term sticky, um, to refer to copywriting and, and messaging and research before. So I think that's

where I get the title from. Uh, but what, what is, what is mine and how I, uh, how I structure it is that it's, it's split into three very distinct sections. Product research, which is what you've got to work with already, what you're trying to sell, competitor research, which is what others are already doing, and market research what your audience really wants. I've often considered coming up with sexier names for the research process, uh, but I'm trying to keep to the rule of copywriting. So I suppose that clarity should come first. Uh, but for each

step I will go in depth and give you the best possible idea of what works and, and how it works. I'm also gonna reference tools and, and websites to make your job easier for you. But like I said, I'm gonna give you a full breakdown of this anyway, since I've taken you through a lot so far, and I appreciate that your brains may be a little overloaded, although I'd still recommend listening to this in its entirety so I can try and cover any questions that you might have. Okay, so the first part of the process

is product research. And likewise, this is split into three distinct sections, the product rather obviously, uh, the ideal client and the existing brand. The product, again, is split into three sections, which is the physical product, the facts and features of the product that we've already touched on, the functional product, which are the benefits of those facts and features, uh, and usps. So anything that makes the product unique. So unique selling proposition or unique selling point. Uh, what makes it different. Uh, the second part is the ideal client, which is who was the product created for

and also who buys it. There's a distinction between these two questions. Uh, and depending on how your, the position of your product already, you, you may view it slightly differently and the existing brand lastly, which is the image and if that aligns with the ideal client and what authority we can already take from the brand. You know, what's the status of trust in the market? How much proof can you show that the the brand that you're working with is, is good. The easiest way to think about product research on the whole is to become an

expert, as big an expert as you can on the product. You should know everything about it from the manufacturing process down to all the possible benefits that it can provide someone with. Then you wanna look at what kind of people use it or would recognize it as something they could benefit from. Uh, and then you wanna have a firm understanding of the business presenting the product and how they're already viewed within the market. This is the exact set of documents I use for product research and I'm just gonna take you through relatively quickly because I,

I feel like product research is the easiest thing to conduct and will come the most naturally to you. So you can see on the left we have the first part, which is the facts and features, the benefits and the USPS with the facts and features. You list down everything you possibly can about the product, any objective facts or any features that it has that are indisputable, that are cold, hard stone facts. You note them down, how long it takes to manufacture, where it's manufactured, who it's suitable for, what the ingredients are, if there's anyone who

can't use it, you know, when it comes to allergies or, or whatever. Um, what features it has, obviously. So, so you know what, what it actually has on it, uh, or in it, the storage size that obviously I'm, I'm trying to, you may not necessarily have all these things, you know, it is, could be be different if you are advertising a speaker versus, you know, toilet roll. Um, but for toilet roll, how many ply is it? How long is it? Uh, how long does it take to get delivered? All of these things that are facts

and features about the product or about the service that you can possibly note down. You put it down, you should know everything about it. And I, I can't state that enough. Any facts, any features, get them down. The next column is, uh, benefits. I'm not gonna go through the whole process of how you turn facts and feature into benefits, cuz I think that is, there's enough on that out there and it's the first thing that any copywriter learns. So effectively it's just that fact or feature. Is there a benefit that it gives to someone? Can

you directly, um, link that fact to what it would mean to someone in real life? Just as a, a quick example, uh, the touchscreen on a phone, that's a feature, a benefit of that touchscreen is that it's easier to navigate between apps, for example. So, uh, trying to, trying to use an example we used earlier. So there, there you go. That's, um, a clear, uh, benefit. Similarly, using another example, um, that we've already seen, uh, the fact of the service that provides, um, snacks and products to bars and pubs, a fact of that is that

someone can add as many items to their basket as they want and then check out. The benefit of that is that the person doesn't get locked into any confusing contracts. Um, and of course you can, uh, reframe benefits depending on the person you're talking to, depending on the rest of the research that you come out with. But initially, if you have any clear benefits that you already know that a fact or feature provides, you note those down. Um, and you can note it down next to it, you know, so it links directly on the sheet.

And then similarly on the third row, uh, usps, if any of those fact features, benefits are unique to that product and they're something that, uh, no, no other products on the market have, and you already know that, then you note that down, you say what makes it unique. Uh, so hopefully that should be clear enough for you. You just get as much written down there as you can straight away when you've done the research about the product, uh, itself. The next section, which is the ideal client, there are two ways that you can go about

working out who your ideal client is. The first one is if you, if the business that you are working with already has an existing audience and it has a, a f you know, a, a fair pool of customers to pull from already l look at the people who buy most frequently. People who buy, um, re repeatedly or, or people who spend the most, um, get the top kind of 15 profiles of those people, whether you have, if you have access to the information, of course it's always handy if you have access to as much information

as possible. So on, um, you know, their emails and how much they've bought and where they're from, where they're located. Uh, if you can find their Facebook profiles or, or whatever, then that's also another reason. Or their LinkedIn profiles that's just as good. Link their profiles in this box. I recommend trying to find about 15 people and then go through them and note similarities between them. There's no surefire away on how to do this. You just need to investigate each person as much as you can and see what they have in common with each other.

And then you can fill out the net, the section that we're gonna, I'm gonna show you in a minute, but that's, if you already have an existing audience, do that because that will give you a good idea of who is already buying it, uh, and who you can already clearly appeal to. The second option is if you don't have a, an existing audience and if the business is, is new, uh, or maybe they don't have enough data or you don't have access to the data, the next best thing you can do is look at who

the product was designed for. Um, if you're choosing product, uh, option number two for Id identifying your ideal client, then I would recommend conducting competitor and market research before completing this just so you have a, a better view of everything else. Um, but what you want to do in this case is note down the ideal client's gender, their age, their job and their income, their family status, their location, what social media they use and how often they use it, the reason that they need the product, the number one reason they need the product and their

stage of awareness. Get that noted down again. And you should be thinking about who is this product designed for? So talk to the person who created it, why did they create it? Who did they have in mind when they're creating it? And ask them to imagine if it was a person, who would they be? How would you answer all these questions? And then once you've gone through the audience data in option one, or once you have gone through all the other research and filled out option two, then you need to complete that ideal client profile

on the, uh, the second part of the second page, which is, um, after you've done all that research and after you've looked at what we've got is data put down their gender, age, job and income. Family status is location, social media usage, reason they need the product and state of awareness. Get that locked in because then you have justifiable reasons for putting those things cuz either you've been through who the highest buyers are, what they seem to have in common generally, um, or you've completely narrowed down who the product was designed for, um, and who

it's most likely to appeal to. And the rest of the research will enhance this process. So please don't think that once you've done this research, like the product research, that's it and you'll never come back to it. You should be adding to it as you do the rest of the research as well. Cuz you will always pick up on things that you didn't see before. Uh, and that goes vice versa for everything else. Always refer back to research you've already done and keep a record of everything you're doing so you can go back through and,

and adjust it if need be. So that's the ideal client. Just making sure that you are identifying the one reader, the ideal client who you're going to imagine that you're writing to next, the existing brand. The last section of the product research. Does the public image of the existing brand align with the ideal client? Uh, why does it, do you find that the people who engage with the brand, um, and the public image, it seems to have the reactions, it seems to get, um, the general image that it's trying to portray in its advertising. Could

it be trying harder to link to the ideal client that you've identified? This is really only for if the brand is already established. Uh, if you find that the ideal client is someone different to who they're actually trying to appeal to, you need to put down whether or not the image is doing a good job of, of, of, uh, representing and appealing to the ideal client. And if it isn't, then why isn't it doing it? What's different? You know, if you find that actually the ideal client is, uh, is a man, and obviously this isn't

the broadest terms possible, but all the, uh, branding is trying to appeal to women, clearly you need to do something about that. So just note that down and we can use that for future reference. And then lastly, what aspects of the business or the individual client could be viewed as a reason to trust in their expertise? Do they have qualifications? Do they have X number of sales? Have they got loads of testimonials? Note down anything possible about the existing business where, um, you could view it as a reason to trust them and something that's clearly,

uh, supportive of the what they're purporting to be. Whether that be, you know, a an expert in the space or, um, a product that solves a problem, you need to make sure that you have proof for that. So note down everything that you possibly can about the existing, uh, proof elements of a business. And they could be really anything. So, you know, but mainly you wanna be looking at qualifications, years of experience, um, testimonials, sales figures, uh, any kind of satisfaction percentages, uh, feedback, whatever it is, stuff like that. Note it down where you can.

And that is a very quick rundown of the product research process and we're gonna be seeing this kind of inaction and, and filled out as we, as we go through, um, the rest of it. So it'll start to make more sense as we look at the rest of the research as well. But that is where you wanna start by just getting and understanding the product or the service that you are working with. Alright, so the next phase, uh, competitor research. Competitor research is all about understanding what's already taking place in the market. You wanna know

what kinds of things your audience, uh, are being exposed to by, by other businesses. And this is twofold, really, you know, one, it allows you to see things that are already working or not working. Uh, and two, it allows you to keep an eye on your competitors to see if they're missing any opportunities, uh, or if they're, uh, they're capitalizing continuously on a specific topic or a specific medium. The way to do competitor research, uh, it's, it's really, it is quite free flowing. Uh, the basic concept is to find competitors, you know, outside of the

ones that will already be obvious to you, cuz you, you'll kind of, you'll be easily, easily be able to find people who are selling the same kinds of products that they exist. Uh, but the best way to find competitors and see what your audience are being exposed to by them is to act as your ideal client. Act as your audience. So, set up new accounts on Facebook, on Google, on YouTube, and Reddit, and dedicate them to that project. So on, on those accounts, you only want to be searching as if you are the ideal client.

You search terms that are similar to the concerns that your ideal client likely has. And obviously this will be from the ideal client profile that you have. Uh, but if you don't have it nailed down just yet, you'll just wanna search terms around the kind of products, uh, and, um, problems that you know that your competitors are solving and problems that you want to solve for your audience as well. But search on Google for terms that are similar. Click into the ads eventually. These will show up on Facebook as well. Join Facebook groups. Do as

much as you can to act like your ideal client and record what you see as you're going through. This is a very free, uh, free flowing exercise. You just want to see what your audience are being exposed to as you go through with this. You can make, and this is up to you how you do it, but you can make specific records of so screenshots and notes of the funnels that you are traversing. So what was the ad that, in that got you to click? What did it say? Where did that lead you? What did

you see when you were there? What was the next link that they offered? How many things are they showing you? What kind of emails are they sending? How frequently are they sending emails? What kind of points are they hitting on? You just wanna understand, usually your top kind of two to three competitors. You just wanna understand what they're doing and how their approach is. And this isn't gonna be, you know, all useful straight away, but as you go on and you, you write for the project and you, and you create new things for the project,

it'll be stuff you will constantly go back to and have a look and keep an eye on to see what others have done. So don't think that this is just a one and done exercise. This is something you wanna continuously keep up. Uh, but ultimately it's allowing you to highlight competitors who sell a similar product or who sell to the same audience. That's actually a really underused, uh, concept to, to not only see who is selling things similar to you, but also to identify audiences that are selling to the same market or the same kind

of people, cuz they may well be using language that, uh, really hits on, um, the points that, that you can be making as well. So if you are product is, say, uh, pregnancy clothes for women, even though someone like, um, uh, Pampers or I think, I dunno if it's called Pampers in, in the us, uh, whatever the equivalent is, you know, uh, a diaper and nappies brand, uh, even though they're not necessarily selling the same thing as you, they may be using a similar kind of language they make. They're selling to the same kind of

audience cuz they're selling to new mothers or people who are preparing to be parents. Uh, so you may wanna look at what kind of language they're using, just for an example. Never underestimate the power of looking at businesses that aren't quite competitors, but who are selling to the same audience. And this is quite a free flowing exercise. Competitor research. You know, there's not really a specific way to do it. You just generally want to get an idea of how other businesses are operating in the market and what kinds of messages they are using. Uh, you

can never be certain about how well their ads are performing. But a good rule of thumb is that once you've signed up to their lists, once you've opted into their ads and maybe you've got a lead magnets or you've bought from them the things that you see quite regularly from them. So the same kinds of emails or you see ads coming up a lot, uh, those kind of things work. Usually you've always gotta be careful, but it's usually a good bet that especially if they're a bigger business, the things they're using a lot on things

they're repeating probably are doing quite well. Um, so yeah, you just wanna get a good understanding of competitor research. And as you go throughout the rest of the research process and the writing process, you can always, uh, link back to competitor research cuz it, uh, it will always be useful. Here is a an example of what I actually use for my competitor research. I, I usually do three competitors, but you know, if I find there are more that are suitable, I, I, I have gone up to doing about seven before. Uh, sometimes I only do

one or two. If, if it's a, if it's a relatively niche market, um, this how I separate it out. I, I say, okay, what's the main idea? What is the thing they seem to be hitting on? They may not be as sophisticated and as focused in their messaging as we will be, but I generally want to sum up what they're trying to say, what their main message tends to be. Uh, u s P, do they have something that makes them unique? Do they have something that we don't have, uh, particularly as well, but what do

customers get if they go to them that they may not get, they go anywhere else? Uh, pain focus and desire focus. Uh, the, the, these are, these are more, um, oh, what's the word? Subjective, I suppose, in anything else. Uh, I just have a look at if there seems to be a pain that they keep talking about, if they're really trying to appeal to some kind of problem or if they're trying to be more positive and appeal to a desire. So something that's more of a, um, positive one rather than a negative one. So instead

of saying, oh, I wanna get rid of something, or I have this problem, I need solved more saying, oh, um, we give you these good things that you don't currently have, rather than getting rid of something, it's more, more of a subjective, again, can, uh, can be drawn into semantic arguments. But I just like to have a good idea of if they're saying things that are pain focused or desire focused, I have them down. Sometimes I don't fill those out because there's nothing obvious that sticks out. Uh, social media. I wanna know what social media

they have. I link it there. I do a short, um, kind of not too long, but just a short summary of, of what kinds of things they tend to post. Um, ads if you're not using it. Um, or if you're new and you, you want to know how to research competitors, the Facebook ads library is one of your best friends. If you just type in Facebook Ads Library, uh, you'll find the website on Facebook, um, the, the section on Facebook where you will be able to search any business that has a Facebook page and see

what ads they're running in any, uh, region as well. Really useful. If an ad in a competitive Facebook ads library has been running for a long time, uh, particularly more than three months, it's probably performing quite well and you can deconstruct it and analyze it and see what kinds of things they're, they're hitting on in the ad. And then also, I always like to look at praise and con, uh, and complaints they get from, uh, reviews, uh, feedback and in forums. I'd like to have a look, right? What are people saying that are good about

this company? What are people saying that are bad about this company? Cuz those are what we can use when we are, uh, writing our own copy. And we'll go into in a moment. Uh, another, uh, the last, the last part of this kind of research that we, uh, this research process that we use that's very similar to getting that kind of information. Uh, and yeah, and I should just mention again, if anyone wants these documents again, just, um, just talk to me, uh, get in touch and I can send them over. But a helpful way

to think about this, this whole research process, uh, it, it's, it's, it's fluid. It's a fluid process. You know, go with the flow of where your research takes you and, and take down anything that you feel like might be of note, as a minimum. Try to get down everything that's laid out in the research docs that I show you, but don't let it limit you. You know, go down paths to see where they lead as with everything in copyright. And we don't wanna risk it becoming too mechanical. It's helpful to have guidelines and to know

rough stages that we need to complete, but ultimately, nothing is ever set in stone. And you should always allow yourself to, to, to use instincts, you know, based on the fundamentals that we've already discussed. So, um, yeah, that, that would be the last thing I say on competitor research. Allow it to be fluid and allow yourself to get lost down rabbit holes when you are, when you are researching competitors. Okay, so now we come on to the longest, but I would argue the most fun, uh, and insightful part of the entire research process, which is

why I've left it till last to, uh, to show you market research. Remember, your copy should connect your product to your prospects dominating conscious desire. This is where we discover what that desire is. This is where we discover the stage of awareness, um, for our ideal clients as well. If we, if we haven't yet established that, this is where we discover the best messages to use in our copy. So this is like the start of really nailing down what we are gonna talk about when we, when we write our copy. Um, ultimately to write a

winning campaign, you need to have a deep knowledge of your market, of your audience. And although outside formulas and looking at other businesses can be helpful, everything that you need to succeed in marketing is wrapped up in your product and in your market. And here are some tools that I often use to help me with this existing audience data. Of course, if the business you're working with has, uh, a CRM and they have, uh, uh, or yeah, a CRM system, um, that basically that just means if they've got logs of all their customers up to

this point, uh, and they know more about, uh, an audience than just what they bought, if they've got information about where they're from, um, and what kinds of things they like and how often they buy, uh, and their gender and stuff like that, then use that use, use existing audience data, but also Facebook groups. And the Facebook ad library as we've discussed, and Reddit and relevant subreddits, YouTube videos, Amazon listings and reviews, online forums and other social media, uh, Feedly and Quora. These are all websites and things that I would highly recommend using for market

research. This is by no means, uh, a limited list. There can be more that you, uh, that you touch on and that you use. So, um, yeah, <laugh>, and, and it would be great if I, if I could just throw a bunch of websites in your face and say, okay, go and do some research. But, uh, but you already know it's not gonna be as simple as that because at the end of the day, you know, what exactly are we looking for when it comes to market research? Well, unsurprisingly, the information that gives us the

best idea of what will work for our market and our audience comes from the prospects themselves. As we've mentioned loads of times in this presentation so far, it's the prospect and it's how they make decisions. And it's the beliefs and the problems and the desires that they already hold. It's their emotions that really matter. You know, it's from those conscious desires that they have and the words they use to express those desires that we're gonna find out how we, um, how we should approach copy this information. So stuff that the, uh, audience say themselves is

what we call voice of customer data. The best way to get an idea about what the market wants is by getting the market to tell us what it wants. You know, it's indisputable that when people see their conscious desires reflected in copy, they're more likely to respond positively to it. And like we said, you know, relevance and intrigue are the keys to establishing that connection initially. And what better way to establish them than by finding out what's relevant and what intrigues our market. You know, there's no better source than your potential customers decide on the

messaging for a campaign and the messaging for your copy. So, voice of customer data is invaluable to us as copywriters. We just wanna know what prospects actually say about what they want. What do they want? We need to know it from them directly. So then, do we simply ask the market what it wants? Well, as arguably the father of modern advertising, David Ogilvy once said, the trouble with market research is that people don't think what they feel. They don't say what they think and they don't do what they say. Getting information that, you know, will

resonate with what people actually want is quite tricky. It can be valuable to ask people their opinion. It can be, but the failure rate is disproportionately high for products that purely go off of asking people. Much like an overall reliance on logic, though seemingly sensible, it can lead to failure. You know, relying on what people say they want is not necessarily a good thing, cuz people don't always say what they actually want. Oftentimes they say what they want you to hear or what they think they want is not what they actually want. So it's a

bit of a problem with just asking people. And just going off of that, that first kind of direct voice of customer data. For example, if Red Bull had listened to their direct market research, they would've never even gone to trial. The feedback was overwhelmingly bad. Reviewers said it didn't taste good, it left them feeling gross, uh, and that they could never compete with brands like Coca-Cola considering the price per unit and, and how small the, the amounts were. But they found their niche and have dominated ever since. Cuz they're now a multi-billion dollar company. So,

despite the first people who drank Red Bull and were testing it, saying things like, I wouldn't drink this piss if you paid me to. They are now one of the most successful drinks brands in the world. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have a product where the market research was overwhelmingly positive. Surveys, test groups and direct questioning gave a team at Uya real confidence about the potential of the console, which was a, um, uh, a small games console very cheap that, uh, ran on a kind of mobile operating system. They raised millions of

dollars in funding only for the product to completely flop. So you can argue in it, it was initially successful, uh, but when it actually came to market and they were going off that research, they'd done, it was a disaster. People just weren't interested. The, the, you know, the best selling game on the device, I, I, I believe only sold 7,000 copies. And despite what their extensive market research had told them, the market just wouldn't buy it. It was made all the worse by the dis uh, the dissatisfaction of those who did buy it. Because when

they got the console, they were like, this is not what what I want. Um, and on the screen, there's a, there's a quote from, uh, one of the initial kind of beta reviews from, uh, a website, which was, this is the perfect hybrid of something that's inexpensive and open, yet good reviews. And people saying what they want initially doesn't always lead to success. And a perfect example of ignoring direct market research in practice comes from the Dollar Shave Club. Their initial research showed that the spoken demand was for raises that lasted longer or were far

cheaper. That is what they found out to begin with. Um, it seems logical and it married up to what people were saying, but the founders instead decided to launch the company based on what they thought was actually behind those statements. And by digging a little bit deeper into what people actually cared and complained about when not being asked their opinion directly, what they discovered is that the core issue was that buying raises inconvenient. It's not that people want 'em to last longer necessarily, or that they need to be cheaper. It's that it's irritating to buy.

And it's inconvenient to buy razors because you feel like you are spending a lot of money for something that is a necessity. And you have to do, you have to kind of guess at, um, and remember every, you know, two months, three months, one month, depending on how many you buy. So remembering to buy razors and having to mess about with a protective casing and things like that, they were real pains, but they weren't something that people openly admitted to, whether out of embarrassment or just a simple oversight. It was only by digging into the

real why that the door shave club could produce a breakthrough product. And of course, they set up a subscription service where, uh, you would just get delivered razors every however many, um, weeks or months, and you would pay and they would be brought straight to your door. So you no longer had to go out and get them and try and remember and worry about running out. So that was really the key to it. So what did all these examples and hundreds of others have in common when it comes to market research? What is the thread

that links so many examples of easy to predict in hindsight campaigns? It's that the only kind of research that you can always rely on is indirect. And it's this indirect voice of customer data that we really care about. In other words, the results of the research for these campaigns and what would've actually worked and what did end up working didn't come from direct questioning in a market research context. It wasn't interviewing prospects and talking to them about what they wanted that made these failures or successes, what they were, um, or certainly made the failures what

they were, I should say. It wasn't focus groups or market research, you know, surveys that constructed these winning conclusions or these, um, or what could have been winning conclusions. It was voice of customer data procured through accidental or cloaked or lateral means to make it simpler. Uh, the people who revealed the desires that proved to be the ones shared by thousands or millions of others didn't think that they were being probed for opinions. They didn't think that they were taking part in market research just in passing. They would mention it or someone would say, I

think this might be actually what is driving people. When we look at what they're saying, it's not necessarily taking things at face value. Because when people don't feel like they're being questioned, they don't feel the need to change their answers consciously are, or subconsciously to fit in with what they may view as a social norm. It's market research that comes from indirect means that provides campaigns with winning messages time and time again. Um, and sometimes this will line up with direct market research. I'm not saying that direct market research is useless cuz it can be

very helpful, but I'm saying that it can't always be relied on. The only thing that can be relied on is when it's indirect because people won't change their answers based on the fact that someone is questioning them. So therefore, the type of data you want to collect is indirect voice of customer data. And now there are plenty of studies that dive into cognitive dissonance and marketing and social conformity and authority matching and all this kind of psychological, um, uh, concepts, tests that show how people change their outward opinions depending on the context of the situation,

basically. But by far the best proof of this inaction is just a thi a simple thought experiment. Uh, imagine that your partner asks you, you know, your boyfriend, your girlfriend asks you what your favorite film is, and let's just say for arguments sake that it's grownups too. God knows why it would be, but you know, you like what you like, uh, I doubt you'd have much trouble telling one of the people that you trust most about your genuine feelings. You go, oh, you know, I I really like grownups too. Maybe someone knows if bit's stupid,

but I really enjoy it. But you change the context of that. Say you're in front of the film critiquing panel of the Guardian newspaper or of, of really, uh, you know, the New York Times, uh, for our American friends, um, who are trying to get an idea of what films different kinds of people enjoy. Maybe you'll being questioned by them. You'll have a bit of a rethink and suddenly decide that the Shawshank Redemption is actually your favorite film and you happily tell them. So. But later on, when you are met with the choice to watch

one of these two films in private on Netflix with nobody to judge your choice, then perhaps despite 75% of people choosing a higher brow film in public, the actual watch rates fall to perhaps half or lower if they're given the choice between Sure and redemption and grownups too. We wanna tell people what they'll expect to hear because we don't wanna risk seeming odd. We want to impress, we want to conform, we want to be on the side of authority ultimately. And unfortunately, this even goes for when people have insisted that they'll tell the truth, whether

consciously or subconsciously their brain will always work to put them in the most socially acceptable position that they can be in. So what does this all mean for us? Well, in a nutshell, we need to source voice of customer data from places where people have no idea that they're being probed for market research. Uh, and I can tell you from direct experience that this kind of research has been what's led to the success of most of my campaigns. It's not been talking to customers directly, it's been seeing what they say in places where they don't

know they're being asked questions. And that's why we use tools that we've discussed, like Quora and Reddit and Amazon reviews and Twitter and forums and YouTube video comments. Um, they're places online where our target market feels safe. Of course, you need to identify the right one for your target audience. Um, and, and thankfully, uh, well, for a change, I suppose we people get to share their unfiltered opinions on these sites. And depending on the ideal client, some of these places, um, well, like I've said, some of these places may be better than others. Um, but

in all of these cases, when we identify places online where our target market shares their thoughts on areas relating to our product, we just wanna copy and paste the raw data that they give us word for word. You should copy down comments, posts, direct quotes, um, anything from our target market discussing areas that are relevant to our product. And I'll show you exactly how to do this and, and how to organize it in a moment. But, um, but yeah, but as I'm sure you've guessed by now, the the purpose of this is for us to

get to know, um, how are prospects think to get to know them intimately and to get to grips with their desires and their concerns and their beliefs. But you should use your ideal profile, your ideal client profile, um, to, to, to help you focus your attention. You know, if you already have enough of an idea of your ideal client, if you've established it already, then you can use that to your advantage and you can go to places where these kind of people hang out. But like I mentioned earlier, if you haven't been able to construct

an ideal client profile yet, and you only have an idea of, uh, who the product was designed for, then you can use this research to inform your decision. You know, i e what kind of person is having problems with, um, the thing we know our product can solve. So you can reverse engineer it from this research as well, just by researching the problems that your product can solve and seeing who's reacting to that online and who's asking questions in that area, you can reverse engineer an ideal client. Now, when you are recording this raw IOC

data, it, it can be tempting to just copy down swathes of comments without really knowing what's useful, which is why we establish five main categories that this data fits into, and then two more that help clean up the rest. Uh, and I do this as I'm going along. So as I'm copying and pasting comments into this, uh, the doc that I use, which I'll show you in a moment, I, I, I categorize them immediately as I get the, uh, data and as I'm copying, as I copy it into one of these categories. The first one

is pains and fears. So if there's a common or a direct quote, uh, from a review or a forum or whatever it may be that's talking about a problem that requires a solution or a fear or a pain, something that is negative and, uh, worries related to those problems, then I put that into that section. Next is objections. So these are issues that people have with believing alleged solutions. Like what, what are, what's stopping people from believing things? What are they bringing up as reasons to not follow through with purchases or not believe what a

video is telling them or reviews or whatever it may be? Uh, so I put those down in the objection section. Then there's desires, positive associations with the imagined outcome of solving a problem. So anything that, that people are saying that they really want or they can't wait to have, um, or yeah, any of anything of, of that nature. Is there anything positive that they, they kind of imagining and then they can't wait to, to secure for themselves? Then firm beliefs. Firm beliefs are opinions that they hold as, as absolute fact that they refuse to be

violated. So, uh, for example, I mean the mo this is the most infantile example, but if, um, you are talking to a Christian audience and you say that God doesn't exist, that is a kind of a, a a, um, kind of gonna break any, any relationship that they feel that they have with you and they don't want to, they won't wanna buy anything from you. So just recording any firm beliefs that people have, if, if there's anything that, um, they hold really dear that they 100% think is right. Uh, classic example in the financial space

for this is, uh, writing to Republican supporting, uh, retirees. You don't want to come along and say, Hey, Biden and Hillary are great. Um, cuz you know that that just violates what they already believe in. 100% Shakeable beliefs, uh, opinions that people hold, but they would rather weren't true. So things that they're happy to be convinced of, otherwise, things that they, they think are true, but they, they would, they would rather, they had a reason not to believe. This can be a difficult category to, to define sometimes, and it doesn't come up too often, so

don't worry about it if you can't find anything or nothing crops up that fits into that one. Uh, but I had to make its its own category for it. Cause I did find it coming up, uh, fairly regularly. Uh, and then the last two categories we have are other. So anything else that's, is seemingly useful but doesn't fit into one of the categories above or common words and phrases. So any part of the market's vocabulary or vernacular that gets used frequently. Uh, really, really useful just to, to understand what people, um, are using and what

kind of words they respond to as they talk to each other. But by knowing the ins and outs of these categories, uh, in the market, you'll be in, uh, a better position than, than anyone else really to, to sell to them because you are immersing yourself in the world of the prospect. You are pulling the most convincing points straight out of the market's own mouth. You're getting the concerns directly from them. Uh, I just use a simple Google doc to, to record this for this stage, uh, and, and, and it, and it looks a bit

messy, but I love it because we're, you know, we we're getting down the unfiltered thoughts of hundreds of people after all. So it should be messy. Um, and it, it can end up looking, uh, something like this. Uh, you can see there on the left, uh, nearly a complete document. Um, they can be longer than that. They can be about that size. They're usually longer than that. Uh, in fact, I don't actually think that is the full document. Um, but, uh, but then I've zoomed in just to show you what kind of stuff is in

there. Uh, I italicize everything that's copied directly from comments online or, or quotes from videos or whatever. Uh, and I do normal font for any general thoughts that I'm having while going through the research. So if I notice any general patterns, I'll just, um, put it down, uh, in the document so I remember to kind of make a note of it later on. Uh, but that, again, that's not, that's not I, uh, vo voice of customer data that is just me thinking, oh, I'm noticing this a lot. But your IOC sheet should be filled with

italics. It should be filled with, um, direct quotes. You know, you should let the raw data do the talking at this stage and only note down your thoughts when you notice frequent patterns or, or similarities. Um, so, uh, so yeah, this is, um, this is what the sheet looks like. Uh, and this is what the sheet looks like. Before I've typed anything on it, I'd give a little, um, just a reminder for myself or for anyone using this. Just say, oh, you know, here are places that you can look and you can see the categories

all set out there as well. You know, it's not, it's not fancy and it's not clever. It very much reflects this stage of the process. You know, we, we, we are, like I said, just immersing ourselves in the market, you know, in the world of our audience, and we're letting ourselves experience what they care about, looking for things that they love, that they hate, that they believe, and they object to. So we want it to be as raw as possible because the, the best messages are, are found in the words of your prospects, um, especially

when they don't, don't know that you are, you are looking for them. And here's what it ends up looking like in, in a kind of fuller, a fuller way. Um, you know, bear in mind that this was copied and pasted from across hundreds of sources. Uh, so anything that fit into one of the categories and, and came from someone within my target market, um, ideally as close to my ideal clients as possible, was taken and pasted into this document. Um, and I don't, I don't record, I don't usually record where I get specific, um, quotes

from, but I will, I I'll tend to, to do a list at the bottom of, of links that I've used. And again, this is, um, I didn't actually mention it. Uh, so this, uh, is from a real project that I worked on, a project where I was writing, um, copy for a, uh, well, not just writing copy, I was actually, um, building the business as well, uh, a dog treat for older dogs, um, to help them with their joint pains and generally helping older dogs, uh, have something healthy in their old age, which they, they

still enjoyed. So that's what this is from, this is the research from that project. I actually used it earlier as an example when I was talking about the one idea. So, um, you can see how that one idea kind of, you know, where, where that, that started. How I came up with that one idea was from this research. Um, but, uh, but anyway, we already have now, after we've done this, a bank of relevant thoughts from our target market directly quoted from them. You know, this alone, this sheet alone is a wealth of information for

us. There's gonna be many phrases and words and messages here that are gonna resonate with the target market because it comes directly from there and, and people like them's thoughts. Uh, but this is where we go a little further from here on, just to make things easier for us and to begin the steps of turning this raw data, um, into something that resembles copy and, and, and a winning campaign. So it's where we, we, we change it into something like this. You know, we, we groom through this raw data and we translate it into easy

to digest messages for us to look back on. The simplest way to do this, um, is in a spreadsheet like this. So typically how you want to, uh, how you want to approach this, um, is keeping the categories as they are as you've got in the raw data. So I'm gonna use my mouse just to show you here. So all of this stuff here, you know, I've got pains and fears, objections, desires, firm beliefs, shape or beliefs, other, and then, uh, common words and phrases you can do directly into this, um, uh, spreadsheet. I mirror

these categories as the headers, as the headers, uh, um, of these columns on the spreadsheet. And for each of these, I wanna translate these quotes into sentiments, into general messages that keep coming up and put them in a kind of nugget size summary of what, um, of what they are. So I go through this and I see what is coming up frequently, what's coming up frequently. The simplest way to explain the process is, is just to say that whatever sentiments you, you find coming up most frequently and with the most intensity are the ones that

you should summarize. So here you can see that the first, so these are also in order of, um, kind of frequency slash intensity, you have to, you have to kind of use a subjective measuring system to, uh, to rank them, you know, whatever you see coming up frequently or the most intensely goes at the top. And then next, and then next. And here you can see pain of seeing time catching up with the dog, knowing what's never to bought, particularly around stiffness. And we can take from here the raw data that we got getting stiffer

and slower with age. Um, over the past year, it's become painfully clear that our dog is get, is getting older. Um, I look at her now and I know what is inevitable. I know this is quite an upsetting topic. Um, but you know, this is, this is real copywriting. Um, uh, I coming up time and time again, you see, it's people singing their dogs getting older and starting to notice things. Um, so that's one of the biggest pains of fears they have. So that was what was coming up most frequently. So that's what you put

at the top. Um, next, the fear of seeing the dogs suffer and lose their joy in life, or pain of recognizing new behaviors, uh, behaviors or tendencies, but not understanding why or what they are. Um, so that last one again, we were seeing things come up like, um, people worrying about new things or things they'd never noticed before happening and, and immediately linking that to old age, um, in dogs. And we do this for every category. Again, uh, I'd encourage you to pause this now and just have a look through some of the, I don't,

I, again, I don't think this was an extensive list, um, because I, I needed to fit it on the, uh, <laugh> on the screen and still make it readable. Um, but you can just see the kinds of IOC data that was coming out and see how I've translated it into IOC summaries in this spreadsheet. So you can get a good gist. Um, for, for what that process, uh, is like, After an hour or two of combing through the raw IOC data, you'll have a series of sentiments, um, that is to say emotional feelings that your

target market have and will recognize if, if mentioned because it's what they themselves bring up of their own accord. You know, here you can see we, we tend to have about three to five per category, um, which is relatively typical. Uh, though, depending on the topic or or size of the market, you, you could have as many as 10 items come up frequently enough to, uh, to record. Uh, but now we can, we can really start to see the basis of the messaging that we're gonna use in our copy. We can see the messages that

are gonna allow our audience to see themselves in our copy that's gonna be immediately relevant to their conscious desires. So everything we've gone through is starting to fall into place. Uh, and in fact, you may even stumble across new benefits, uh, that you didn't think of before. By doing this research, you may realize that that certain features can satisfy what the market wants in ways you hadn't even considered that, that that will become evident to you through the IOC data. Uh, and I usually use, um, I usually use this spreadsheet for, um, more frequently to

go back through at every stage of, um, of the campaign, especially when I'm entering new parts of the campaign as well. Uh, and the reason I use a spreadsheet is, uh, is just to keep everything organized. Cause I'm typically managing a team of copywriters or working on project, uh, multiple projects myself. Uh, so it's easy for me to have multiple tabs up to, to keep track of different areas of the campaign. Anyway, so now we know how to translate the raw IOCG data into summaries. And now the final stage of the research process is upon

us. I've already touched on this first point, um, but the next thing you need to do is take the IOC summaries and rank them according to their intensity and frequency. It doesn't matter which category they're in, view them all as equal and have a look at which IOC summaries come up the most frequently and in the most intense way of the raw data that you've recorded. Um, there's no set rule for how to do this, for how to rank them. Uh, but, but remember that by now you should have a pretty good idea what your

audience cares about. You should be pretty immersed in the market. So some things will be clear winners because you've seen them come up time and time again, and they definitely come up the most, uh, whether that be a problem, whether that be a desire, whether that be a big objection, um, whether that be a deeply held belief, whatever's coming up the most frequently in relation to the research you've been doing. Then you wanna put that IOx summary at the top and you wanna try to rank the others in as best in order as you can.

Some may be kind of hard to position in an, in a precise way, so don't worry too much about getting the order spot on. Uh, just get the obvious things down first and get the, the kind of best one placed and, and any that that come that follow that. Uh, and you can throw the rest in according to your gut feeling of what you feel like has come up more often. But the important thing is you're being led by the research that you've already done. Um, so that's the first thing you wanna do, is you

wanna fill in this column here and just rank them, rank all of the ones that you can and get them in the best order that you feel reflects how intense and how frequently, um, they are, they are brought up by the, uh, the market. Then what you wanna do is you wanna match each summary to a corresponding benefit if you can. So you wanna go back to the benefits list that you did in the product research phase. Uh, and remember, you may have filled in more benefits as you've been doing the rest of the research,

cuz you may have thought of more or more may have cropped up or during the competitor research phase, you may have been able to swipe things that they talk about as benefits that you didn't consider. So that list may have grown, but you wanna go back to that list and you wanna match those up to any IOC summaries that you have ranked. So keep them all in the order that you've ranked them in before you even looked to the benefits, and then go back to that benefits list and go through them and have a look

that if any of the benefits can in any way satisfy one of the summaries. So whether they solve them or support them or agree with them, if they're in some way related to the IOC summaries that you have brought up, note them down. You wanna find any points of commonality between your product and your IVO summaries. That is really what this phase is about because as we know, copywriting is simply connecting your product to your prospect's conscious desire. So when we have that down, we can see how the prospect's conscious desires or pains or whatever

it may be, um, of the IOC summary can link to the product and what our product can do. So there we go. It re this is really, um, the practical way of fulfilling the mission of our copy. Some of the IOC summaries may not have a corresponding benefit, and that's okay. Not every, not every single one needs to don't force it. If it isn't there, that's fine. It's just as important to know what our product can't do as what it can do. So we don't expect every single i o summary to be satisfied by a

benefit that we can think of. Uh, but once you've ranked and matched each one, you'll decide on which one to use, uh, as your one idea. I hope that that was clear. That's kind of the end of my research process and the end. The last thing to, to discuss really is, is how important is research. Um, what so far leading up to this point before the writing stage, you now know your product better than the manufacturer. You have researched your competition and made notes on what they're doing, and you can even see where they're going

wrong or where they're going, right? Depending on how frequently their ads are coming up. You have a huge log of raw opinions from your market that you have ranked, uh, you have summarized them and made a note of how frequently and intensely they come up. You have linked these talking points and these issues to the possible and potential benefits of your product and how they could satisfy them. So even though your copy isn't written yet, and there's still a way to go before it's refined into the perfect messaging, by simply completing this research process, you

are better prepared than any other copywriter to complete your brief. You know, the market inside out. You have a log of their thoughts that show that you actually care about them. Um, you're not relying on blind logic or tainted research that's, um, you know, been, been, um, been tampered with by someone's unconscious. Uh, you have the resources to make the prospects see themselves in your copy and to be at the forefront of their mind by being relevant to what they consider important. And all this is only possible through this level of research. So granted, this

probably feels like more than it actually is because I've been talking for a long time about all of it. Um, but I promise you that this is the most powerful tool that you can use as a copywriter is deep, meaningful research. And it's why every single master copywriter that I have been mentored by or read books from or seen seminars of, uh, and, and even and I've even experienced this myself, uh, have said that they spend more time researching than anything else. So even if you weren to use the strategies and techniques for writing that

I'm gonna reveal, uh, later in this presentation, just having this research process in your arsenal will give you a better chance than anyone else if impacting a prospect's life through advertising. IOC data is something that few copywriters bother to harness to this extent, and it means that they're throwing away simple chances to connect with readers by using their language and highlighting their direct concerns. Let's learn how to write some damn good copy. But before we break into the process, uh, there's one thing I wanna say and it, it's really important cuz I've, I've worked with

a lot of juniors over the last, uh, couple of years. Uh, I've been a junior as well, you know, when I started out. Um, and one thing that I I wanna make clear is that you will come across people who think they know how to write good copy just because they know how to write English. Uh, and it's really difficult to deal with as a freelancer because like I mentioned earlier, sometimes you're trying to, you're trying to please two people. You're trying to please the client and you're trying to please the, uh, the, the reader,

the, you know, the prospect. And it can be difficult to, to, uh, go against what the client that you're working for is, is saying and, and what their suggestions are. So I'm, I'm not, I can't really offer advice on how to get around that, but one thing I will say is if you are in a position where someone is telling you that there is an absolute way to do something, uh, and they have no evidence to back it up and they're not an experienced copywriter and you know they have no real, uh, control of, of

sales copy, then please do not take it to heart. Because I've met a lot of people who will talk about concrete rules in marketing and, and it's just not the case. As we've discussed already, the only indicator of good sales copy is sales. Like that's, it results equal good copy and nothing else. So don't let anyone, um, skew your mind or make you think that you need to be doing something a certain way or you absolutely shouldn't do something. Same goes for this presentation. If I tell you something but you find that something contradictory works

for you or something contradictory works on a specific campaign, then you go with the thing that works for you. Do not think that what I'm telling you are hard set rules because they're not. So that's really important. And before we get into this process, cuz you know, this is a fairly, um, a fairly detailed process. Uh, and it's just what I use cause it's what I find useful and it's what I've used to write, uh, pretty much all of my campaigns. Uh, I don't want you to think that it's the be all and end all

of copywriting cause it really isn't. Um, and there will be potentially structures and processes that are more suited to you and you will develop your own as time goes along. So you know, you do what works for you and you do what the sales tell you. Okay? Right. So now about kind of warning is outta the way. Let's actually learn how to write copy. As we've already spoken about. We know that the job of copy is to connect our product, the thing we're selling to our prospects, conscious, dominating desire, but what does that actually mean?

And how can we, how can we know that we've done that? And I think it's important to have a benchmark to aim for because you need something to measure against. Like I said, we don't know if copy works until it's been tested, but before we can test it, we need to have some kind of indicator of whether we think it'll be good or not. And the indicator that I use are the five subconscious questions. This is a list that I have, uh, developed over the last, um, couple of years of questions that I believe prospects

need to have answers to, to take action. If a prospect can't confidently answer one of these in their own mind when reading your copy or after reading your copy, then they're not going to buy from you. They're not gonna do what you ask them to do. And keep in mind, these aren't, you know, these aren't actually questions that they ask themselves in that they, they sit down and they consider each one carefully. These are just in the subconscious, and it's a, it's an easy way for us to imagine what we're trying to do and what

level we're trying to hit in relation to, um, a prospect's opinion on our copy. And the five questions are, are these, uh, one, how is this relevant to me right now? Two, why shouldn't I categorize this as something I already know? Three, do I understand the benefits? I'll stand again. Four, do I understand how those benefits will be delivered? And five, do I trust the person or business talking to me? If you have heard of Evaldo Albuquerque, um, he is a copywriter. I, uh, he was at a Agora. I think he's still there, but I'm

not sure. Um, he wrote a book called The 16 Word Sales Letter, uh, which I, again, I would highly recommend reading. Uh, in that book, he talks through a certain objections that he feels are relatively universal when talking to, uh, prospects in, in the financial space. And I definitely took inspiration from him when I was kind of developing these, uh, this isn't something I sat down and worked out one day, it was just I, I started to realize again and again that these were the things I needed to have answered to, um, to, to, for

my copy to work. Uh, so, uh, just a quick shout out to, to him because that, that that book was, uh, was, was fantastic in helping me understand that, you know, you need to have some kind of benchmark of objections to, to, uh, to satisfy prospects. I'm just gonna talk you through each one quickly and, and why this is my list that I use. Number one, how is this relevant to me right now? We have already discussed this at great, uh, great length. Uh, it's probably the most important one. Um, I mean they're all pretty

much equally important, but, uh, I give, I give a lot of value to this one because this is the emotional decision. This is hitting on emotions that they already feel that the prospect already knows. They have the desires, the pains, the beliefs. We've already gone into that. How is this relevant to me right now is the first thing anyone needs to know. Uh, secondly, why shouldn't I categorize this as something I already know? There is a fine line between acknowledging something that is relevant and boring people with something they already know. When we look at

that first question, how is this relevant to you right now? And hitting that emotional decision, we need to be connecting with something that, um, the prospect wants to know about and they feel is relevant. But what, that doesn't mean that we should just repeat things that they already know. We never want someone to think, oh, I don't need to read on because I already know about that. That's the easiest way to think about it. Um, without me going, getting a kind of perfect definition of what I mean, uh, you never want someone to start reading

your copy or to see it and be able to categorize it as like, oh, I don't even need to read that because I already know what that's gonna be. So if someone is reading your copy and they think they know what you're going to say or they think they've heard of what you're talking about before, then likely they're not going to read on. So you need to show them a reason that there's gonna be something new, you know, they haven't seen before, because there being something new is, is really important. They need to feel like

they're gonna get more information that they haven't had before. They're not gonna get anywhere else. So why shouldn't I categorize this as something I already know? Really important question. Uh, third, do I understand the benefits? I'll stand again, probably the simplest one to understand. Uh, <laugh>, okay, getting their attention is great and being relevant is great, but if you can't show them why it's going to be useful for them, uh, if you're not promising them something specific, uh, if you are not showing them how it's gonna, how their life is gonna improve by taking action,

then there's no reason for them to take action. So that's kind of really, I suppose the, the backbone of copywriting. Making sure that what you are telling them to do, asking them to do is gonna be beneficial for them. Uh, and we'll go into, uh, in, in a little while, you know, how we actually, um, translate the research into, uh, into copy. So we, we are, we are absolutely satisfying that point. Uh, next, do I understand how those benefits will be delivered? This is really important because a lot of people get obsessed with that third

question, do I understand the benefits? I'll stand again. And that's kind of all they think about. And they will, they will layer on promises and claims and they'll talk about, oh, this is why this is the best thing ever. Something I see overlooked quite often, especially by juniors, is explaining in a clear way how the prospect's actually gonna get those benefits. In what way are they gonna be delivered? Do they understand the process, the mechanism, the the the products function? Do they understand how it's going to deliver those benefits? Because it's all well and good

saying that, um, going back to, you know, that the teeth whitening kit we saw it's all well and good saying, Hey, you can have the whitest teeth ever, but if you just repeat that and you make no mention of how it does that thing, you don't talk about the, uh, product itself and the reason that it can whiten your teeth or the, you know, potentially the, the chemical process that takes place to, to seem like you already know what you're talking about. If you're not giving any kind of indication of like, Hey, this is how

it actually happens, then it doesn't matter if you have the best promises in the world, it doesn't matter if they're true, people are gonna go, Hmm, I don't understand that. I'm not gonna, I know, I think I'm okay because it's not been sufficiently explained. So never overlook the importance of people understanding how things work. And then the last question, uh, again, the easiest one really, uh, do I trust the person or business talking to me? Uh, if you know, relationships are built on trust and sales are built on relationships and, and and being relevant. So

if, if someone feels like they can't trust you, uh, if you don't have enough authority in the space, uh, if they can't see proof of you delivering on these promises, then likely they are, um, going to back away. In fact, I would go so far to say that that is the biggest killer of conversions after, um, someone has started reading and someone who's made that emotional decision, it's that lack of trust. If they feel like that they can't trust you, uh, or that the company doesn't have a good enough reputation, or they're not quite sure

on, um, uh, the proof that you are presenting, then they're again gonna err on the side of caution and say, well, I'm not gonna give this person money. So the five subconscious questions really important. Um, and I think all of those, uh, cover the bare minimum of what you need to answer to get someone to do something. I'm not saying that that is all you need to do, because it isn't, and likely you need to do more and you need to answer more specific objections, of course. But if you can't answer, or if the prospects

can't answer any one of those, then they definitely will not take action. You need to make sure that you've checked the box on each one of them. So this is more of a, um, uh, I suppose a negative checklist and a positive one. You need to make sure that you have all of them, uh, for anything to work. It's not necessarily an extensive list, but it is a list that you need to have as a bare minimum. So that's the benchmark that I use as I'm writing my copy. And after I've written it as well,

I always go back to it. So as you've written something, um, go through it, go through it after you've written it, and just check, right? Do I think the prospect could confidently answer each of these questions? Do I get these answers across in the copy? In fact, I actually have them written down on a post-it note and stuck on my screen. So I'd recommend doing that now. So I, you know, if you want to use this system, then definitely write those down and make sure you're answering them in the copy that you write. And now

that we have this benchmark, we can start to look at the precise plan, because as I'm sure you've guessed by this stage and the, the relatively methodical approach I've, I've taken for most of it, um, I, I believe that you do need to start with a plan. Uh, not many of us are naturally gifted enough to just start writing, um, and, and, and have it 100%. So I'm a firm believer in starting with a plan. And the first thing we start with, with a plan, uh, and, and making sure we have these, these, these, these

objectives to hit to, to keep it all under control, uh, is actually something that we have already been through and something I'm gonna expand on now. In fact, I probably should have been clearer that, that we were going to expand on it, uh, when I was talking about it initially, which is Rio. So we already know about Rio. We went through it earlier on, uh, one reader, one idea, one offer, one action. And like I said at the time, this is really, um, a concept that helps in two ways. One, it makes sure it keeps

your messaging focused and relevant and, and workable, uh, but also two, it keeps everything under control for you. So it's not just good for the prospect, it's good for you, and it makes the process easier. So Rio and the rule of one, uh, is, is, is a, is a really good place to start. We've already gone through what Rio is and, and, and why it's important, but now we're gonna go through, uh, again, a practical application of, of what it looks like, what, what, what do we actually need to do for eo, what, what, what

do we write down? Um, so we're gonna go through that and then, uh, we're gonna move on to, uh, well, I suppose what we do, what we do with it, and how we, uh, how we then apply that to the writing. So remember, again, this is just the, this is just the planning, the planning stage. And after I've gone through each of the points and we've looked at what they look like, uh, in the plan, I'll share with you what the actual Rio a sheet looks like. So you can see what it is that we're

filling out. It's, it's effectively a brief, uh, and I think I'm, I'm probably at the point now where I don't always use the brief 100% because I kind of just know the process and I can do it as I'm going along. But having the brief and having it down on a document is really helpful. So again, that'll be in the, uh, in the documents pack that I, that I share in the, uh, in the discord. Okey dokey. So one reader, uh, at this point, you will have done the research. You either will have had a

one reader in mind already, um, or you will have done the research and found out exactly who, uh, is best to target, or you will have had a hybrid of those and circled background and have a good idea. So how it should actually end up re uh, looking is something like this. You can see on the right, uh, the example we are using is, and this will be the example we use for all of this Rio planning, just to make it simple. So the one reader that we are writing to, the person we are imagining

we are talking to, the type of prospect, um, is a man. He's 35, he's a UI designer, uh, medium sized marketing agency, earning about 35 K a year. He's married. He has children who are young, uh, lives in a suburban town in the south of England, primarily uses LinkedIn and Facebook. Uh, why do they need the product? The product, by the way, being a, um, software that helps PCs run, uh, faster and use up existing space in a more efficient way. Uh, they need the product because they're sick of having more than five applications running

in the background that slow down their computer, even though they are vital and they are solution aware, which means they are aware of, and like we discussed, they're aware of products like ours and they know that there are things that solve this problem, but they haven't heard of our product yet. So that's who we are working with, and that is who we have seen our one reader to be after the research. So that's what we're imagining. So again, you just wanna write that down. Have this Rio a document in front of you so you know,

not necessarily at all times, but have it easily accessible. So you can always go back and see, right, this is who I'm talking to because this is the typical person in the audience that's most likely to buy the idea. Now the idea is the thing that we're trying to get our reader to believe, to agree with. And then, and then believe. And that'd be the reason for acting on, um, the idea. Really, you can break down into two parts, um, which is what main benefit will your reader get from taking action and what makes this

benefit possible? And again, this will be on the sheet and I'll, I'll show you that at this stage, we're not writing copy, we're just writing out the one idea so it's clear to you in your head. And so you can then write copy around it. That's the most important thing, is just making sure it's, it's clear to you. Uh, and I've always found two, um, two formulas are quite good for crafting ideas. Before I, before I go, go and dive into them, I will just say that ideas and, and big ideas and one ideas, uh,

they, there's a lot of discussion about them in the copywriting community. And so don't just take my word for it and what I believe, uh, it should be. Because loads of people have really good opinions, um, and ideas on ideas on what the idea, uh, should be and, and how it should be created. I'm just give, again, I'm just giving you the way that has been the most beneficial for me. So that's how you should understand this. Uh, not everyone is gonna come up with ideas in this way. And I would also bear in mind

that I'm not always this methodical with the ideas. Sometimes it does just kind of come naturally as I'm doing the research and I can formulate it in my head as I'm going. Uh, and as you get more used to it, you will be able to do that too. But I would definitely recommend starting with this relatively methodical approach, um, for planning it anyway. Okay. So the two easy, relatively easy formulas, crafting ideas. Number one is this opportunity that they've never seen before is the key to the prospect's desire. And it's only attainable through this product

that is taken pretty much straight from the 16 word sales letter that I already mentioned from ado, Albuquerque. Uh, I include that cause a lot of people find that like a really, really useful one. Uh, definitely pick up his book if you wanna see example, more examples of how that, um, how that looks. Uh, the one I probably typically use is quite simple. It's just, here's the big and relevant benefit and this is why it works. So it's just showing what they stand to gain and explaining, um, how it works so they feel like they

really understand it. Uh, and if you take your mind back to the five subconscious questions that is hitting on two of those immediately. So we already know it's clear in our head, right? This is our idea. And that's how it's meeting two of those subconscious questions. Here are some examples of that. So this opportunity they've never seen before is the key to the prospect desire and is only attainable through this product. Um, that's the 16 word sales letter variant of, of an idea. And taking the product that we spoke about a moment ago, this is

how it would look. Again, this isn't copy, this is just keeping it clear in our own minds. Grouping applications on a single platter is the key to running up to 10 design apps simultaneously without crashing your pc. And it's easiest to do with system x A. So this opportunity, which is grouping app applications on a single platter, cuz it's not, that's not our product. That isn't, we don't own that necessarily. That is just what's facilitating the benefit. That is the, um, like I say, that's the opportunity. It's facilitating the benefit. So other products could do

it, but we're just saying this is what you need to do to achieve that benefit. It's the key to running up to 10 design apps simultaneously without crashing your pc. That's the benefit that is the prospect's desire. So that is their, the IOC summary, the one that we ranked as the highest, that is their top one. Like that's the thing they really care about. That's their desire, that's their problem. Whatever it is, it fills in that gap. The key to the prospect's desire. Um, and we're translating that into a benefit there cuz we're saying, you

know, uh, you'll be able to run up to 10 design apps simultaneously without crashing your pc, uh, pc. So that's the benefit that links into that Ivo summary as well. Um, and it's easiest to do with system x A, that of course is our product. So we're saying there's this opportunity, this solution, this is the solution to your problem and here's the benefit of doing that. And this is matching up to your desire or your problem or whatever it is that you care about most. And our product does it. So that is one way of

coming up with an idea. Remember that's not copy, that's just for us or the way that I typically use, um, is the bottom one, which is here's the big and relevant benefit, and this is why it works. Triple the speed of low times when running multiple heavy duty design apps by reading secret hacks from the very people who develop them big and relevant benefit, tripling the speed of low times when running multiple heavy duty apps. And that links in with their biggest problem. Um, which if we go back to the one reader, you know, the

reason they need the product, they're sick of having to run all these applications, uh, and it's slowing down the computer. We're saying, well, we'll triple the speed of low times when running multiple ones. That's straight away bringing up the benefit that links to that problem or that desire. And this is why it works By reading secret hacks from the very people who develop them. We are telling them how they're going to learn about it. We're gonna, we're telling them how to get that in this case. Um, this one idea on the bottom is not directly

advertising the product itself. It's actually advertising a lead magnet, um, for the product. So it's, it's advertising, um, a free e booklet which just goes into, um, uh, reveal what the developers, uh, think about, um, like low times and, and, and the kind of secrets behind low times and how to speed them up. And I included that there just so you can see that one ideas are not just for selling products, they're not just for the a sales page, they can be for anything. It's just to complete and focus a piece of copy no matter

where it is. So that is hopefully a clear explanation of the one idea, um, and how we can create it so it's clear on our own minds. The next part of the Rio process is the offer, the one offer. Now in copywriting, an offer doesn't mean a discount or a guarantee. It can include those things, but that isn't what it means. It doesn't mean when most people say special offer, it's a different meaning. The offer is simp quite simply in, in the, in the easiest way possible to explain it is what is the prospect giving

me and what am I giving the prospect? In other words, what are they getting from us for taking the action that I'm asking them to take? Now this could be buying a product and what they're getting, what they're actually buying. Uh, this could be, uh, what do they get once they give you their email? What do they get once they click a link? It doesn't have to be purchasing something, it just means whenever you are asking them to do something, what it is, what is it that they're getting in return? In a sense, this seems

like it would be the simplest part of rwa, but I find it's where most copywriters get confused cuz of cuz of the confusion around exactly what an offer is and what it consists of. Now obviously there is that main, there's that core part of it. And as you can see at the top of the sheet in front of you, is that what main tangible deliverable are you promising the reader? That is what, that's why most people kind of stop with the offer. They just think, all right, well they're paying me $29 and I am giving

them this course, or they are giving me $300 and I am giving them, oh fuck me, I've got day drink guys, one second fucking up. Oh, that's the cough catch, aren't we anyway, sorry. Uh, yeah. Or they pay, um, $300 and we give them this uh, motorcycle part. Alright? That's what most people kind of think the offer is, and that's where it stops. But that is the core of the offer. What are they actually getting? What is the main thing? What's the main reason that they are giving you something? Uh, or of course if they're

giving me their email, uh, and I am promising to give them a free e booklet, right? That would be the main tangible deliverable. It's tangible because it is an actual thing. It's easy to describe, uh, and it's can be broken down. The next part is really important because most people stop at that top part, this deliverable that we have decided on, that we're saying that they're getting. We then need to break that down into parts that logically prove how the main benefit will be achieved. That might sound like a bit of a confusing sentence. So

let's just break down what that means. Um, we have the deliverable. The deliverable, let's say that they're buying something, is the product that is effectively the core of our offer. We are giving them a product that is the deliverable. We also have in our research and before this, and in our one idea, we've linked a benefit to that product, there's a reason that someone is buying it and it's the functional product. What are they, what they actually getting from it? What is the benefit? There's the reason they are buying that main deliverable. So what we

need to do is we need to break down the deliverable to explain how the benefit will be achieved. And again, this is going back to one of those subconscious questions, which is how will these benefits be delivered? Do I understand how these benefits will be delivered to me? So for example, well actually I'm gonna show you example in a minute. Um, so we'll, we'll leave that for a moment, but I'm gonna show you in the next, uh, the next slide, an example of all of this filled out. But that's what we mean. It just means

we need to break down the deliverable into different parts that will help explain how they're gonna get the benefit from it. It'll come become more obvious when I see an example. Uh, next, what guarantee or policy makes this offer irresistible to the prospect? This is where we can talk about, you know, discounts or, um, 30 day guarantees or money back or whatever it may be. Uh, is there anything else that we are lumping in with this, um, product, with this offer, with this main tangible deliverable? Is there anything else we're lumping into it to make

it more desirable? Uh, and usually this does come into, you know, you get your money back if you, if you send it back within 30 days, uh, or it could be that there is a percentage or discount, um, whatever it is. But is there anything that's making it slightly more, uh, attractive, uh, to buy and safer to buy or cheaper to buy? Next, are there any bonuses or sub deliverables included? If yes, list them bonuses or sub deliverables. Uh, really you will see these most commonly in info products. They are free modules, they are extra

video courses. Uh, they are a free pack of documents or whatever it is. Um, these are, these are things that are included for free. Um, or if you are making it as part of a bundle package, you can, you can list out that, okay, they just need to add this amount of money and they get this for a cheaper price or whatever. But basically these are anything that come with the core offer, that tangible deliverable for free. What makes it more attractive? So do they get a free booklet with it? Do they get another video

series? Is there anything else that comes with deliverable that's more attractive? Does a electric toothbrush, uh, uh, what am I saying? Electric toothbrush come with a pack of 10 heads, right? Does, uh, the water bottle come with a carrying case? Is there anything else included to make the offer more attractive that they're getting for free? So just wanna list those down. There may not be, you don't have to feel pressured to, but there may be. And in a moment we're also just gonna discuss offer building as well. Um, and, and how you can try to

negotiate that with the client. Cause it's quite a difficult, uh, thing to do. And then last, what is the cost to the prospect of taking you up on this offer? This is really obvious. How much does it cost or what are you asking them to do? So, uh, is it their email? Is it 50 pounds? Is it 1999? You know, what do they have to do? What is the cost to them? Uh, what are they giving up to get this offer? And then lastly, the one action, uh, which will explain on its own in a

moment, but it, it does kind of come into the offer anyway. But let's just look at an ex an example of the offer. So using the product that we've already been talking about, one offer, what main tangible deliverable are you promising the reader a free trial? So again, we're not selling them product just yet. We are talking about free trial. So this is just, again, giving you an example of how it doesn't, not all copywriting has to be about the sale. It can be about leading up to the sale as well. And you can use

this method for any part of the process. But let's say one offer. What main tangible deliverable are we promising the reader a free trial for a software that specializes in optimizing application, uh, ram and power usage? I don't actually know what that means, but that was what it was. <laugh>. Um, try and make sure you know what it means. You know, obviously you have done more research on the product, uh, but yeah, a free trial for a software. So the free trial is the tangible deliverable. Like that is what a person is gonna be getting

in exchange for an action. How can we break this down into parts that logically prove how the main benefit will be achieved? A one click download gets the software ready in less than five minutes. The automatic data clean organizes any free space on a hard drive, grouping it together. This leaves the software able to move the heavy duty apps into space that is less clogged By replace data, increasing load speeds moving forward, the software will continue to optimize space no matter what gets added or downloaded. Meaning load speeds will never slow dramatically again. And this

is where your research and being an expert on the product that you are selling is really gonna help because you are gonna know the steps that achieve that main benefit that you've already promised. So you've figured out what matters to the reader, you've linked it to a benefit that your product can give, and now you're breaking down how that's gonna be delivered to them. And this will help us to explain it in our copy. So this is a really important step and hopefully as you write for products, this will become easier to do. But the

key is becoming an expert in the product on really going hard on the research. And bear in mind, we're not necessarily going to mention all of these things in the copy. We don't need to. It's not like we have to use that as copy. Remember, this is just for us to understand exactly what we are giving and exactly what the Rio of our page of our copy is going to be. Next, what guarantee or policy makes itself irresistible to the prospect? A risk-free 30 day trial. If they're impressed with the results, they can cancel before

their card is charged, no questions asked. So again, there you go. Um, we're just saying, uh, what, do we have anything in place that's a guarantee? Um, or can, can make them feel safer or, or can they get it cheaper or anything like that. Next, are there any bonuses or sub deliverables included? If yes, list them one, a free e-book clip on ensuring individual design apps are running on the best settings for different types of hard drives and 24 7 support. So do you see how those things are? They get them for free, but they

just add value to the offer. And that's something we're gonna be talking about in a moment. And then lastly, what is the cost of the prospect taking you up on this offer? Entering their credit card info So they can be charged 39 99 per month after the initial 30 day trial period. So again, we know exactly what the cost is to the prospect before we move on from the one offer I want to talk about offer building and exactly what we're trying to do when we talk about offers. If you're a copywriter or a freelancer

especially, and you're working with a client, you may not be able to decide exactly what gets included in the offer. It's still just as important to understand what the offer is so you can, um, manipulate the, the, uh, the, the facts into that makes it sound like you're lying. <laugh>. I don't mean manipulate in that sense, but you know, you can, you can move the facts around and frame them the best possible way that links to the, uh, links to the reader. Um, but offer building is a, is a skill in itself. So I can't

really cover all of it right now. Uh, and especially if you go onto found businesses or launch products of your own, you will need to learn how to build offers. And I really can't, I really can't dive into it cuz it's, again, it is really an entire skill unto itself. But, um, don't worry too much at this stage if you are a bit confused about how do I make an offer really good. But what you can worry about at this stage is reframing offers and making sure that they seem as valuable as possible. Cuz that

is effectively what you are doing in this stage. Uh, and what you're gonna do when you translate this into copy, you are making sure that you understand exactly what the offer is. So then you can frame it in the best possible way and make the prospect feel like there's tons more added value than just that main tangible deliverable. And that's why we've gone into such detail to break it down and to make sure we know what bonuses there are or guarantees, uh, or anything like that. Because it's not just us saying, Hey, here's a free

trial for you. It's saying, Hey, this is a free trial. This is exactly how it's gonna work and why it's great we're giving you a 30 day, um, it's gonna be 30 days and you don't have to, um, commit to any kind of purchase after that. And you get this thing for free and you get 24 7 support while you're doing it, which are, you know, usually part of the platinum and package or whatever. So we just wanna get everything down because with, when it comes to the offer, it's about understanding it clearly and getting

it across clearly, but also seeming like, uh, putting across that there's as much added value as possible and reframing it in the best possible way to, to make it attractive to to readers. Okay, next, the one action, um, this is the simplest one, but it's very often overlooked. And I like to include it for juniors because people or, and people in businesses and teams, because they often get distracted with putting loads of links on a page and, and not focusing on exactly what the person is doing. Remember, it's one action, this is all they're doing.

What is the one action you are asking the prospect to take to get this offer? Pretty simple. It kind of links into the one offer as well. Uh, and the cost section. So very similar, but this is really a, uh, an objective view of what they're doing, not what, not necessarily what it costs, but what do they actually need to do on the page. So they need to click on the signup button that opens a popup where they need to enter their personal and payment information. That then is your guiding light. That is what you

are trying to get the prospect to do. Nothing else, just that. So make sure you have that written down and if people start coming in and saying, oh, let's add this here, or, or maybe should we do it this way? Like, oh, let's add a blog post here, let's add a link so they can get proof or whatever. Nope, it's one action per page. That's it. All right, so here we go. Here is a, um, a summary of what all that looks like. And this is the document that, that I, um, again, don't use so

much anymore. I tend to just do this as I'm going along, but I always like to have it up so I know what I need to hit on. But this is gonna be really important for you if you want a brief and something to follow. And this is filling out your Rio one reader, one idea, one offer, and one action, getting it all down. So once we have it filled out and we have all of those parts of it working, uh, and just in front of us, it becomes so much clearer what we need to

do, um, to to to, uh, to write the copy. We suddenly have a ton of benchmarks that we need to hit and it becomes precise. We know who we're writing to, we know what they care about and how they're gonna get it. We know exactly, um, how to make the offer clear so there's no confusion and why it's gonna be, um, useful and attractive to them. And we know exactly what we're trying to get them to do once we have this filled out. And remember, we are using our research to help us fill this out

because we then know everything. This is going to be the holy grail of writing focused copy as a beginner and well into your career, cuz you always wanna stay focused. So that was the first part of planning our copy was just laying out Rio. But before we move on to step two of planning copy, there's something we need to talk about. Uh, it's something that's really important and there's a reason that I have put it in this position in the presentation. Uh, I've already touched on it a little bit, but I wanted to, to come

during the planning phase so you don't kind of, you don't muddy your planning around this misconception, uh, around this fallacy in fact. And it, and it is, it's the attention span fallacy. It's, it's probably the thing that, or one of the things certainly that, again, in the world of modern, modern copywriting seems to, to throw people off the correct path, uh, it's, it's a really damaging misconception. Time and time again, I see infographics like this, uh, particularly on LinkedIn. I kind of hate LinkedIn <laugh>. Um, but, uh, but anyway, I see time and time again.

I see infographics like this comparing human attention span to, uh, a goldfish or, or, or measuring it against a clock or something like that. Uh, and and what it's saying is they're saying that humans have shorter attention span than, um, than goldfish or than than whatever else. You know, that we have an attention span now of about eight seconds or six seconds or whatever, you know, the, the, the number can vary. And how in recent years it's, it's gotten even shorter. I'm not here to dispute these claims. I, again, I've had arguments in the past

or debates where there's some semantics of the word attention span or the term attention span have come up and exactly what that means. So I'm not even gonna try to debate the f these findings, even if they are scientific, I really don't care. Um, it's not the fact in this case that causes the issue. It is the perception of these findings that causes issues. It's really damaging because people, when they see things like this, they apply harmful logic to it. And what they think is, instead of thinking that, oh, um, that means that I only

have a shorter time to get someone's attention and show how what I'm saying is relevant, which I'm more inclined to agree with. Instead they think that, ah, I only have a certain amount of time to get all of my points across to someone. I only have six seconds. To, uh, to to, to, um, to make sure that people understand why what I'm saying is great. Uh, otherwise they, they're gonna fuck off and I'm not gonna be able to hold them. Um, so I need to throw as much as I can into a shorter space as

possible. This is not the case. A shorter attention span should not equal shorter copy. I'm not gonna go into the big debate between long copy and short copy cuz I honestly think it's quite ridiculous. Um, of course longer copy is kind of wins out a lot of the time because you're giving more time for someone to be convinced of something. But nor does that mean it's automatically better. The only rule is you, you write as much as you, you need to write to convince your one reader. That's it. Uh, but I need to bring this

up because I see plenty of companies and businesses, um, and even freelancers, uh, try and throw as much information as they can into a shorter space as possible because they think it's a countdown. They think that, oh, I only have a few seconds before someone is not paying attention anymore. But this isn't the case. Why would argue if those studies are to be believed? Why would argue is that you may have a short amount of time to get someone's attention, but that does not put an actual limit on how much attention they are going to

give you after that fact. So as assure attention span should not equal shorter copy regardless. Don't think that because we are living in a more digital age and we have things like, um, you know, TikTok and uh, Instagram captions and limits on Twitter or whatever, that we have to be short with what we're saying cuz we don't, we need to be relevant. Take this ad. I I probably should have talked about this ad a bit sooner. Uh, again, this is another genuine ad that I saw on Facebook. I've, I've blocked out everything, uh, just out

of respect cause I, I don't, I don't want to directly slag anyone off. We can't wait to welcome the UK to our new store. We now have more stock than ever before. And free delivery on all orders over 30 pound. Whether it's your first time in the hobby or you're a seasoned professional, we can help. And that was the ad. Uh, this, I don't know whether to mention what industry this was in because I feel like you may be able to find it and I don't want to, again, I don't wanna like directly call out

a company. Um, but let's just say that they were sell, it was, it was e-commerce, they were selling something and, and as the advert implies, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a hobby really more than anything. It, it's a selling to people who, who have it as a hobby. I don't wanna get into the specifics of, of how you should approach that, but I will say is that this is a wasted ad. I doubt it's, I doubt it was performing very well. Maybe I was proven wrong. Um, but again, it, it hit me, it came

up on my timeline. So it clearly wasn't directed at people who were completely, um, who were, who knew the company. And they're just trying to throw as much as they can into a shorter space as possible. And it, and it just makes it completely useless. It's not hitting on anything. It doesn't, doesn't make me reach an emotional decision. It doesn't talk about any benefits. It doesn't make me understand how their store is unique or how it's better than anything else. They kind of just chuck benefits at me. They just go like, oh, well the store

is new. We've got loads of stock, uh, we have free delivery. Um, and we, we help everyone. That's basically what they're saying. And so clearly it hasn't been thought through in, in any way, any, you know, in any way, um, when it comes to planning it out. But also I think that they have subscribed to this philosophy of, well, we need to be quick and concise with what we're saying. Uh, therefore we can't go over a certain amount and we should squeeze it all into one paragraph. We should be concise, but we should be clear.

Clear doesn't necessarily equal short or quick. It just means clear, it means relevant. So if what you are saying is relevant and interesting or and useful, you can keep a prospect hooked for hours. And there are plenty of examples of this. Um, marketing doesn't exist in its own world. Marketing is everywhere at everything. It is is formed by human psychology, as we already discussed. So don't think that marketing evolves in a way that is different to the rest of the world because it doesn't, um, it, the only way it evolves is with human psychology. And

human psychology doesn't really evolve. Techniques evolve of course, um, and contexts evolve. But we don't need to worry about, uh, TikTok being a huge influence and saying, right, well we have to get everything done in seven seconds. You know, we have to get everything said in this amount of time. Um, cuz that's not the case. If it were things like this wouldn't work, we wouldn't, it's not just in marketing. We wouldn't have long films, we wouldn't have entire series. We wouldn't have, um, books, book series that were really long. We wouldn't have ads like, um,

rich Sheron that you can see on screen that clearly work. We wouldn't have long tutorials, we wouldn't have huge sales pages. At the end of the day, if what you're saying is relevant, interesting, or useful, you can keep prospect hooked for hours. And here is the proof of that. It's not just in the world of marketing, it's everywhere. As long as you are being relevant, then you don't need to worry so much about length. You don't need to worry if you are going over, you just need to worry about is this still interesting and relevant

to my reader? Is it showing them something useful? Um, that is what you need to understand. And importantly, there's something else that this misconception around the attention span proves. It proves that as copywriters, we are attention managers. In fact, that is pretty much a synonym of copywriter. We decide what our prospect sees in what order they see it, and how much information is communicated. No matter what school of advertising a copywriter hails from or what opinions they hold or what they're trying to do, we're all obsessed with getting attention and not putting our audience off.

What we're saying, you know, seems kind of logical. Uh, but this means it's, it's our job to, to guide them on the path that we know will convince them. We don't wanna write something that's going to make them lose interest. So we need to use the attention that they give us to the best of our abilities. Although I don't agree that, uh, humans only have a set number of seconds before they lose interest in anything. I do agree that humans lose interest very quickly. So we just need to make sure that we are keeping it

up and we, we are keeping it to the best of our abilities. If we don't know what our goal is or, or who we are writing to or where we are leading them or even what point we're trying to make, then we're gonna lose the reader. But thankfully because of Rio, um, we already have that tied down. So it it, that's why we've done all this research and, and and, and planning up to this point cuz we know that people can only focus effectively on one thing at a time. And, and we know that cramming

in an overabundance of benefits and messages and, and options dilutes the point that we really wanna get across. And it makes each point far less convincing, therefore less likely to keep the prospect's attention. So that leaves us with one option. And it's the option that best I say, well, it best suits beginners as well. Definitely it's, it's the, it's the option that copyrights take anyway, but especially if you are beginning, I think this is gonna keep it simple for you and allow you to understand what you're trying to hit. Just like the benchmarks we've used

already to test our copy against, this is another one that you can imagine yourself trying to obtain. You need to take prospects down a linear path in your copy because take them down a linear path keeps you in control of what your prospect sees. It strengthens your one idea, it leads to a more convincing argument and it prevents overwhelm for the prospect. So we wanna take them from A to B to C to d Copywriting is, is it's simply a game of evolving people's beliefs. They need to go from one stage to the next. We're

taking them through those stages of awareness. And the best way for us to do this is to make them understand how what we have to offer will help them one step at a time. And that is why it's so vital that we rank all those research points that we came out with. That's why it's important we rank those IOC summaries. Cause we know roughly in what order people care about things. That doesn't mean we're gonna include all of them and do it in exactly that order, but we're gonna come onto how we manipulate that to,

to make it, uh, uh, a simple way for us to, to write the copy. But by writing out those IOC summaries and ranking them, we now have a list of things that we know the market cares about, the things they want, the problems they have, the objections they harbor, uh, some of which we are, we're now gonna incorporate into our copy in a linear fashion to help support that, that one idea, the thing we already written down in Rio, the biggest thing that we need to convince them of that will make them take action. And

by now, you'll already know your ideal client stage of awareness, the Rio that we've listed out and the research points, the IOC summaries. So you're in a pretty good position. You're in the best possible position to plan out what your one reader needs to hear to take action. I know I keep hammering these points home, uh, and it's because that they really are the key differences between average copywriters who just go out on a whim and the ones who win campaign after campaign. And if you can nail these down early and I I repeat them

enough so they really are ingrained in your mind, then you are gonna be far better off than anyone else. But I do appreciate how much all of this is to take in. I do promise you though, that once you've been through this process a couple of times, it does become second nature, uh, and it starts to become less mechanical, uh, and more methodical and, and, and, and it, it flows more naturally and you start to incorporate your own, uh, pieces of, of work into it as well and, and ways that you like to do things.

But what we've been through so far has had to be this intense and this kind of, um, upfront because the lessons it teaches us take literally months and years of having full active control over campaigns to learn. You know, if if you don't have resources like this, you're not gonna learn this quickly. Uh, and you're gonna need to do testing yourself. So hopefully this is a good, um, summary of it all. Now at this point in proceedings, since we're about to run through how to plan the structure of copy, many mentors, um, would introduce a

formula. You can see a few of them here. And it's true that formulas can be very helpful. And I'm not slagging any of these ones off. In fact, many of them are very useful in specific contexts, <affirmative>. However, when it comes to planning copy, the real truth is there is no one formula, um, for the structure that's gonna automatically lead to success and trying to stick to any of them entirely, especially the ones that are more specific can actually hinder your chances of, of things working out. There is no one universal formula that can tell

you exactly what order to present your messages in, especially considering the number of markets and possible forms that the copy can take. But there are obviously formulas that are brilliant for Facebook ads and Lyft emails and long form sales pages. And, and lo just everything you can imagine. There's always gonna be one that that's really good for each, but none of them can be applicable in every situation. And I'm not here to try and teach you the, the flavor of the month technique. And I don't wanna give you one thing and say, Hey, this is

absolutely it. Of course, we've used a few acronyms already in a few structures like Rio. Um, but that's just planning and getting you the information that you need when it comes to writing and showing the prospect what they need to see. It's difficult to narrow down one specific formula. So I'm gonna try to teach you the fundamentals that work time and time again. Uh, and that can be, and you know, they can be applied in any copyright task as well. So that's what we're gonna try to do. But before we come onto, uh, the copywriting

structure and the, the general structure that most, uh, copywriting follows, we are gonna look at the next two steps of the planning process or I suppose the final two steps of the planning process. Step two is crafting a messaging hierarchy. Step one, which was, uh, Rio. If you think of Rio as something that keeps you on track and keeps you going in the right direction, then a messaging hierarchy is the thing that makes sure that you actually move forward. It's all about knowing what you need to write. So it's the what it's figuring out, uh,

roughly getting an overview o of of what kinds of things you need to mention for the reader to, to take action. And it's all about taking them down a linear path from A to B to C to D. There's a few things we're gonna do that we've already looked at to help with this. We're gonna use our IOC summaries to lay out. We're gonna refer to R and we're gonna refer to the five subconscious questions as well. And I wanna show you what it ends up looking like before I explain exactly what it is. This

is from a genuine, uh, project I worked on. And this is not a clinical example. This isn't a surefire 100% precise way of what it should look like. It won't make a lot of sense to you and that's good because it's mine and it makes sense to me. The point I'm trying to make here is that these overviews should just make sense to you so you understand what you need to say. You are the one who is the expert on your audience and on your product. So you are gonna use phrases and you are gonna

mention things that other people won't understand by looking at it. You just need to get it clear in your head what you need to hit on at each point of the process. And I'm not gonna take you through this, you know, line by line. You can pause it now and have a look if you want, but this was for a, a vsl. So it was for a video sales letter. Uh, and this is just setting out, I think it was about 45 minutes long, maybe the video. So, so what you're seeing in front of you

covered 45 minutes worth of, of copy effectively, you know, reading it. Um, and these were just hitting out the main sections that I wanted to, that I knew I had to, to talk about because I'd done all the research and I'd laid out my Ivo summaries and I knew what the one idea was and I knew how I needed to support that and what kinds of things the audience cared about and what the links were. Uh, so this was just me visualizing it of saying, right, I'm gonna mention this point and then this bit and

then this summary, and then I'm gonna talk about this and then I'm gonna add some proof, uh, cause of how I went about, uh, structuring it and, and how I understand, um, how I understood to lay it out, which I'll take you through. Now, to lay out a meshing hierarchy, it's easiest to imagine it as a series of steps. And the first one that you should take, and this is especially useful if you're a beginner. Uh, so it keeps it clear in your head of exactly what you need to do. Use your one idea as

the starting point. You've done all this research and you've created, you've created all these IOC summaries and you now know which one is your one idea. The one idea is the thing that is the most relevant and the thing that you need to prove to your prospect that you can deliver on. It's that benefit that is relevant to their conscious desire, their pain, their belief, whatever it is, it's the one thing that you have found comes up the most frequently and the most intensely. So it's where you should start. I'm not saying that every single

copywriting campaign has to start there. I'm not saying that everything has to start there to be successful because I've seen ones that have come a completely different way, however they're slightly more advanced and oftentimes rely on the ability to just test willy-nilly and do whatever. This is a proven way and it's the most, again, never guaranteed, but I think it's the most guaranteed po uh, way possible of getting it right. Starting with your one idea. So at the top of your messaging hierarchy, which is here, you know, you can see here I spoke, I said

desire and that desire that I was referring to was the one idea. I didn't even mention what it was in this case, but I'm talking about, you know, what's the main desire, what's that single desire? And then I talk about empathy as well, you know, hitting on that relevance and making sure it's obvious to the, to the reader that I know what they're talking about or I know what they're thinking about. So using your one idea as a starting point is crucial. And you can see here in these ads and articles, um, and sales pages,

they each start with the emotional decision. They hit on the main, the big benefit that they're then gonna go on to prove and convince the reader that they can get as well. So that's what it's doing. It's a Facebook saying, Hey, I know what your biggest uh, concern, worry, desire, belief is right now. I know that it's on your mind and I'm implying that I can somehow fulfill it. So starting with the emotional decision, that's why at the top you wanna have of your messaging hierarchy, you wanna have the one idea that's the number one

thing on the rest of these ad the ads that you can see in front of you right now on the rest of them. So the stuff you can't see the rest of the copy, it all goes into proving that one idea that it starts with, it all goes into backing up the emotional decision. It all goes into, for example, on the top left one, proving that they have the answer to how never to be tired on the top right to proving that you are going to learn how to not not waste money on Facebook ads.

You are gonna be a ads expert. Basically by the end of this, it all goes into proving that one thing that they start with because they know that that's the thing the reader cares most about. Cuz that's where the research has gone into the messaging hierarchy is an overview. So you start with that biggest point at the top, and then the rest of it, and the rest of it can be a bit tricky. And this is where people trip up sometimes they go, okay, I get that, but what am I putting for the rest of

the hierarchy? Well, now that you've presented your one idea, you need to prove it. And I think that's the simplest way of thinking about how you establish a hierarchy. So let's just go through four easy steps of what you're actually doing here. Um, I also, I just wanna, I wanna preface this by just saying, um, if you aren't going through this in real time, which I know you probably aren't right now, uh, this may be more difficult to comprehend, but once you have conducted the research process and you've got the IOC summaries and you've been

through all of it and you've gone through the points up to this place, uh, up to this stage, everything becomes a lot more natural and it becomes far easier to understand and to comprehend. So don't worry right now if you're just watching this for the first time and you're like, this seems like a lot, I promise you, once you are doing it for real, it becomes easier and you'll start to understand, okay, I see how this all links in because you've immersed yourself in the world of your prospect and you are an expert on the

product and on the audience. Anyway, let's go through what effectively how messing hierarchy is created. So you wanna collate, which basically means just gather all the IOC summaries and their benefits that you've identified in your research that are relevant to your one idea. So you have that one idea at the top, and then look at all the other IOC summaries you've got and see which ones link to that one idea specifically, right? Hopefully that should seem, that should be obvious to you and which ones do link to it. But all this means is, um, going

back to the example that we used early when we were, when we were going to IOC summaries, seeing, um, noticing your dog getting older, and that was, I think, I believe that was the biggest, um, you know, that was the IOC summary that was like, right, okay, well that's the one idea then is noticing it and seeing time catch up with the dog. That links quite well into a more specific summary that came up, but it still came up frequently of, uh, stiffness. Um, or, uh, another one which came up. Um, I can't remember exactly

what they were now, uh, but say one was coming up a lot about, um, noticing new behaviors, um, because they are, it's all about their, they're, they're, they're seeing time catching up with a dog. Okay, well how does that manifest itself? And people keep mentioning how they don't like seeing new behaviors that they don't understand. Well, that's a clear link there. So the first thing you wanna do is just get any IOC summaries that link into your one idea in a way like that where you feel like they, they could support them or they're agreeing

or they're in the same kind of vein. Uh, if you end up with all the Ivo summaries, that's fine. Uh, you want to try and narrow it down and, and really be strict with saying, okay, is this actually related? For example, you don't necessarily, if you've decided you are. One idea, you know, for a car ad is that, um, it is completely efficient with its energy, uh, and it has the best mile per um, gallon and it's electric and all that, and it's, you know, really efficient and easy to fill up. You don't necessarily want

to include an i an IVO summary that says something like, um, oh, uh, and it goes, uh, it's the fastest electric car in the world, right? Because that's not really relevant to what you've found is the biggest, uh, relevant IOC summary to your prospect. So things like that you want to leave out, at least for the time being. You just want to get the ones that are related to your own idea. After that, you want to collate all the objections that you've identified in your research. So you're, you are already gonna have a category of

objections that are i v summaries in themselves. Uh, so get all of those, um, if they are relevant to your one idea and to your one reader, but also just objections that you have noticed elsewhere as you've been doing research. Are there more specific objections or general objections that people are going to have, for example, in the five subconscious questions? I don't trust this business is a very real objection. So those kinds of objections you need to note down as well and go, okay, well we need to make sure that we prove the five subconscious

questions too. So we need to find somewhere for those to link in. And we actually, that's actually stage four, so I'm jumping ahead of it, <laugh>. Um, but stage three, order what you've already collated by their relevance to the previous point. So start with the one idea and then look at the rest of the IOC summaries that you've got and ask which one is the next most relevant, which one relates to the one idea? And then after that, which one relates to the previous point best? And then keep doing, doing that and keep doing that

and keep doing that and keep doing that. Just do that until you've got 'em all ordered, and they'll be ordered in the, the order that your one reader is most likely to need them dealt with. You know, both the points and the objections. Remember, this isn't final at this stage. It's just putting it all together. Then ask yourself the five subconscious questions and whether your one reader would be able to answer all of them according to your messaging hierarchy. So if you manage to achieve satisfying each of those points of your messaging hierarchy, would the

five subconscious questions be, um, satisfied as well? Ask yourself that. If not, then you can start to look at the subconscious questions and go, okay, what kinds of things do I need to touch on to, um, to make sure they are dealt with as well? And once you've got that set out, uh, and you've got something that looks a little bit like this in some way, and it's relevant to you and you understand, well, it's clear to you, you know, you understand what you are are saying and what you need to hit on, um, then

you'll be ready to move on to the next stage, step three of the planning. Uh, before we do, I just, I do just wanna make it clear though, you know, I promise you that this will be all be easier when you are doing it for real and you're actually, you've been through these steps. Uh, this presentation is, I, I, I do, I appreciate it might be quite a lot in one go cuz I'm giving you quite specific steps. But once you are doing something and you can refer back to it, it is gonna feel a

lot more natural to you, like I already mentioned. Um, so don't worry too much if you feel overwhelmed right now. Anyway, step three, speed drafting. Um, SPD drafting is one of my favorite, uh, parts of the process. Effectively, it is a more in-depth version of the messaging hierarchy. It, it, it, it's the same kind of thing. It's, it's talking about what you say, not how you say it, whereas, but the, the, the meshing hierarchy is a bit more of an overview and just talking about, it's more kind of prospect ent, uh, centric. It's more about

what kind of points you need to hit on just for them to feel like the, the one, the one idea is being proved. Uh, whereas spit drafting is a bit more about what you say in a, um, I guess on a slightly more precise, slightly more precise way. And I'll show you examples so you can, you can see what I mean. But it's, it's about what you say, not how you say it. It's, you don't have to, it's not the words you're using. And, and again, when I show you an example in a moment, hopefully

that should be a bit more clearer. But spit drafting gives a clear purpose as well to each small section of copy. Uh, and it creates steps for dealing with the points of your messaging hierarchy. So it's just a drill down version of it. Here is an example of a spit draft, as you can see, similar to a messaging hierarchy in that, um, it's random words for some of it just kind of blotted down in, in paragraphs. Um, but importantly, this is about going slightly deeper and saying what you're gonna be doing to achieve those points

of the messaging hierarchy book, introduction recap, big idea, open loop on why the core concept is important, not statements to qualify Prospect Crosshead statement on what the book is with brief expansion. Again, none of those phrases might make sense to you right now, but importantly, they do make sense to me. And as long as it's, as long as your spit draft is clear on what you need to do, then that's okay. This is just bridging the gap between the research and the copy itself. I can't give you specific instructions on exactly what you need to

write in a spit draft because it really depends on the research that you've done and the messaging hierarchy that you've produced, knowing what kind of, what kind of bits you need to, um, to do, discuss, to satisfy. Uh, but once you've gone back through your messaging hierarchy and you've, you've, you've, um, you've edited it and you have refined it, and you have, uh, decided yes, these are points that I definitely know people will need to have proven to them, then you can start going like, okay, how am I going to prove those points to them?

What do I actually need to bring up? And this is where you start to link the benefits of the IOC summaries together, uh, the things that you've already done, that list of benefits combined with that list of iocc summaries that you already produced. It's bringing that back up and looking at each benefit and saying, okay, do any of these prove the IOC summaries? Do I have any actual proof that proves the IOC summaries? Um, what am I going to do to fulfill this messaging hierarchy? What steps do I actually need to take? I, I appreciate

that's a bit of a vague explanation of exactly what spit drafting is. Um, and it's because it's a very personal thing. It's just so you can understand what you need to do when it comes to writing the copy itself. Here's another example. Again, this isn't even as long, this is slightly shorter in, in its lines, but I, I'd, I'd, I'd recommend just maybe pausing. Um, and, and just seeing what, how I do it, what kinds of things I write. Like I say, this is, this is not, this doesn't look amazing. It's just, it's really simple.

They're simple points and it's on, you know, word and Google Docs. Like, I don't even bother doing, um, doing it in a, in a special, uh, document or a form or anything. I just write it down. But the main thing you should notice about these examples is that they, they flow freely. I just allow myself to write down what I can take from the research and think, all right, this is what I need to prove from my messaging hierarchy. This is probably how I'm gonna do it. So this is what I'm gonna write. This is

what I'm going to bring up. But I'm not necessarily using specific words just yet. Although sometimes, um, I will use little quotation marks to say, okay, I think this line of copy might work. So I will put, oh, if I think a line, think of a line of copy, I just put it down there so I have it for later in case I, um, in case I wanna use it. And again, here's another version. Um, uh, pause it, have a look at it, see what kind of things I do. It's just clear steps on what

I need to write. There's no one way that you should write the line of a spit draft. Simply tell yourself what you need to do and what message you need to get across. Like, do this by working out what benefits and proof that you can use to satisfy each of the messages in the hierarchy. And as long as you understand it, as long as you understand what you need to write, then it doesn't matter how you do it. So when you're creating a spit draft, I suggest copying a new version of the hierarchy and typing

like directly under each point so you know what kind of i o summary you're trying to satisfy. And then under each point you can just write, okay, this is what I need to do to satisfy it. Um, that's how I like to do it anyway. Uh, or just judges or just have the hierarchy open so you can see it clearly as you're creating the spit draft. And, and you can, you can create the spit a spit draft, like pretty much however you want to. I, like I say, I just use a regular doc, but some

people I know who I've taught this to and how, who now use this process, um, use Excel to make it a bit more, uh, to make it look a bit clearer, which is fine, as long as you can edit it easily and add thoughts and comments and sections and understand it, then it is all good. So that's actually gonna be the end of the planning section, really. Um, I know it's a bit of a messy end. Uh, I really hope that this does make sense, uh, in, in this kind of video context where I can't,

I can't answer questions and, and talk about a specific campaign. Uh, but like I say, go through it, um, using real examples. Uh, and it should, it should come up, uh, slightly easier to, to comprehend for you. So onto the main event, turning your research and planning into copy. And I know some people will be saying there saying, oh, thank fuck. Like, this is what I've been waiting for. Um, and to be completely honest with you, this is an extremely short section comparatively. Uh, and there's a good reason for that because everything we've done so

far, all of the research and all of the planning and the preparation and the, the hard line deep diving into messaging and structure is pretty much 80% of the work done. Uh, the fact is, doing all of that makes the writing so much easier because unlike most people and most copywriters, you're no longer just drawing blanks and, and fi, you know, firing blindly into, um, the mess of prospects hoping that something will stick. You're not having to stare at a blank page and just write out whatever comes to mind. You have tons of data and

ideas and, uh, planning points to take from when you write the, uh, the words. And, um, you know, it's, uh, it's, it's, in a way it's almost annoying. It's almost irritating to think God. So it's, you know, there is nothing special. There is no particular talent to someone who writes good copy, you know, is just research. Um, and I, yeah, I think so I do think that the best copywriters are of the best researchers, uh, and they do the best preparation because, um, they're the ones who can turn over project after project after project, and

they don't get stuck because they have something they can rely on. But anyway, we will talk about it and we're gonna talk about it now. Um, how to write the words. So if I was to go through all the nuances and techniques of writing copy, we would be here for months. Uh, and as is my aim for this presentation, I I, I want to, I don't wanna overload you with too many different options. I wanna try and give you one fundamental view of how you can do things. Uh, and this is my one. And what

I believe is the, is the best for juniors to focus on. Um, the best way for me to help you start out, uh, and to, to really improve your copywriting and in a quick way, is to teach you two techniques that encompass pretty much everything. Uh, and then we're gonna go on to cover three areas of the sales message structure. So you can, you can have a look at, um, uh, you can have a look at the, the backdrop in which you're going to use these techniques. So firstly, let's talk about the two techniques. We're

gonna talk about adapting IOC data and dimensionalization. These two techniques are ones that you can always use to fulfill the plans set out by your spit draft and to improve the ideas from your, um, Rio plan. So let's go over, um, something that I, I'm sure you probably already have a pretty good idea of, which is adapting. I OG data. Now adapting, I OG data pretty much does what it says on the tin. Uh, it's the process of using the best source that you have for what your prospect will want to hear and translating it

into the copy. And of course, the best source you have is the words of prospects. It's what they say when they don't feel like they're being questioned. It's the raw data that we've collected, the pages and pages of it. Remember that huge, um, word or Google Docs document that you will have filled out, um, or that you will go on to fill out. That is what we use. So for this, we're gonna need that document with all the raw IOC data in it. We're gonna need your sticky research, uh, and we're gonna need your spit

draft. And it's quite a simple process. All you need to do is go through your spit draft, go through the raw data beside it, and see which samples of the raw data line up with the messaging that you've already decided on. So, the spit draft that you've done, there will be certain messages that you have put in it and points you've decided on things you said, right, I need to do this here. I need to do this here. Go back through the raw data and match them up, annotate them, comment on them, label them however

you find best to do it. I usually just do it, um, with two word documents. Uh, and then I list them out underneath the points in the spit draft, the, the raw data. Uh, and then you can work on translating them. So you wanna look for any key phrases or metaphors or adjectives or ways of describing something that the IOC uses, um, that links to the specific, specific messages. As you go through your spit draft, you should always think of your job in this instance, like we already discussed, to join the conversation that's happening in

the prospect's head. So highlighting pains or desires as they describe them, or using words that they often use themselves are easy ways to make, um, the copy resonate. And you, you'll have that full list. Um, and all those, those different categories as well that you can easily go back through, particularly the common words and phrases. That's actually a very useful one, um, more often than not. Uh, and let's just have a look, an example. Just one example cause it's all we need for this. Uh, cuz like I say, you, you already have all this work

done now it's just, uh, a matter of making it fit the style that you are writing in and putting it into context. So here again, we have real life examples of, uh, IOC data that I recorded for a gluten-free snack that we sold. Uh, and I mean, I'll just take you through a couple of them. So, you know, I don't wanna be a picky food princess and force my friends and family to make big changes for me. What meals can I make to satisfy both the intolerant and intolerant? How do I go about parties? Because

obviously these are people who have celiac disease and who can't eat gluten. Um, uh, another one. I hate feeling like people have to change their plans because of my diet. Uh, you can tell that one's from the real world because of the poor punctuation and spelling. Um, and then the last one, and why making my friends change what meal we eat is embarrassing. So what we do is we take those, because we had a point on our spit draft that said, um, people are embarrassed. People don't like changing plans. People feel bad about it. Uh,

something along those lines. So we went back through the Ivo data and we said, okay, well what direct quotes match up to that? And then we look at the direct quotes and we merged them into copy. And that's what we've done beneath those three quotes. Become forcing friends and family to make last minute menu changes isn't fun. Now, do you see how we're taking the core concepts of each of these quotes and we're mixing 'em together and we are making something that is concise, but extremely relevant. We use the word force and forcing, cuz that

was the emphasis was put on that. Um, as if they really feel like it's a horrible thing they have to do, friends and family, it's not fun. It isn't nice. So we highlight that. This is just a simple example of how you change that raw IOC data into copy. Once you have the spit draft to go off of. And remember by the point that you have, um, you have all this prepared and ready, you'll have immersed yourself in this world. So you'll have that kind of natural, um, indication of, of, of the contexts that you

need to use them in. Uh, and you, you'll un you'll understand it when you have a campaign and when you have a specific objective set out through Rio as well. So right now, I'm just looking at this in isolation. It may may seem a bit confusing and a bit like I'm still not entirely sure how to do it. But the point is, once you working on a real campaign or real copywriting task and you have all this stuff prepared and you've been through everything, this will feel so natural and it won't feel like you need

to struggle to write copy because you have everything you need at your fingertips. So this is a simple process, but it's one of the many lazy marketers ignore or overlook because they think that they know what their market wants better than the market themselves, which of course is, is never the case. So that's how we adapt IOC data to really work for us and how we transform it into copy. Now, dimensionalization, um, dimensionalization is perhaps the least understood term even among those who label themselves as direct response copywriters. And for all intents and purposes, it's

about making the copy feel more real. Uh, you know, whenever you are pressing on a pain point or presenting a desire or showing a benefit, you can use dimensionalization to make it feel more urgent, more real, more relatable. So once you've got the copy written, uh, either as you're going through or as you review it, you can have a look at what you've written and say, can I dimensionalize this? Can I bring it into their world more? So on the left, we've got an example of a benefit. Your business won't need as much of your

direct attention. Um, so okay, sure, cool, that sounds good on its own. Uh, but how can we dimensionalize that? How can we make it better? How can we make it feel more real? How can we make it feel more desirable for the audience? So what we do, um, well I'll tell you what we do in a moment, but it can become through dimensionalization. You'll no longer be on constant alert for urgent emails during that well deserved vacation, which is far more relatable for people and it invokes a far stronger feeling, something they're used to rather

than just being told, oh, it doesn't need attention. You can imagine what that's like for your business not to need attention. You can really start to draw on their imagination and pretty much do the imagining for them. So that's what it looks like and that's a benefit, but we don't, we don't just use ever benefits. We can use it for pains and problems as well. So on the right we can look at, um, this where we're trying to highlight something negative that they're already experiencing, where, um, they're disappointed in the results of their ads. Instead

of just saying something like that or, you know, in, in a slightly different, um, uh, framed a slightly different way, we can dimensionalize it and say that empty feeling you get when your worst fears are confirmed, when the cr won't seem to go up, no matter how many times you click refresh. That is far more evocative than just saying, oh, disappointed in the results of your ads. Um, again, you need to, the context will make sense to you if you actually have the task in front of you and you'll work out what sounds right and

if it's appropriate. But just going through and being able to dimensionalize and look at things will make so much of your, your copy far stronger and far more effective. And I can tell you, as someone who needs to check the results of ads, that is extremely relatable. Um, and I can still feel the pit in my stomach when things haven't quite gone the way that I want them to. So it's far more effective than someone just asking me if I want better results of ads or if I'm disappointed. Um, but anyway, the point is, it

immediately brings your messaging into a place where the prospect can imagine it having an impact on their life. The easier you make it for them to imagine themselves in the situation, the more likely they are to trust you and be convinced by your argument. It brings the message out of the, the world of the ambiguous and into the dimension of understanding and reference. So naturally, the more you know about who you're writing to, the better. Uh, and thankfully, cuz you, you've already proven, um, that you can perform the research process at this point. Uh, this

will be a simple task for you as well. Uh, and you try and use dimensionalization or whatever a message that you've put forward is, is bland or, or neutral, um, or you feel like it could, um, be colored in a slightly different way. So ask yourself if it can be dimensionalized for your one reader. So how do we actually dimensionalize that? What, what what's a a kind of good way to remember how to dimensionalize things? Um, well, a simple way to remember it is the, the phrase show don't tell. We're not telling something to someone

what they'll get. We're trying to show them what it means to them and what they can have and the actual benefit they get from it. Um, or indeed, uh, we're trying to show that we completely understand the pain that they're currently experiencing. So number one, we just wanna highlight the benefits or pains that we're focusing on in our messaging. So just, we just wanna get them up so we know what kinds of things we actually need to dimensionalize and then ask yourself, so what does this really mean to my reader? Your business won't need as

much to your direct attention. What does that mean to my reader? Okay, cool. It means they won't be giving enough, uh, uh, giving much attention to their business. But what does that mean? What can they do if that's the case? You know, what can they do that they can't do? Now? You usually thinking about how is that positive for them? Or indeed, if it's their disappointment in the results of their ads, okay, what does that feel like for them? What does that actually mean? What's the consequence of being disappointed in the, in the ads? And

it's that you get that empty feeling, you know, you are, you are stuck there clicking, refresh, hoping and having that hope pulled away from you. So ask, what does it really mean to my reader? And then three, identify the effect that it is having, uh, that it will have or is already having on their life. And then dramatize it with your words. And again, you can go back to the, the raw data, the IOC data to help with dimensionalization. It's a, um, it's a symbiotic relationship. They both feed into each other and will help each

other grow and become stronger. And when you have all that research in front of you, you will be able to see, yes, this sounds like it's come from a prospect. This sounds like it's one of them complaining, but also understanding the solution to it. So keep in mind these two techniques of translating your research and planning into copy because, uh, they are very useful adapting IGO data and dimensionalization. They are two concepts whereby you can use the massive arsenal of research and planning that you have built up. Uh, and you, well, effectively you can actually

use it on the battlefield. They're no longer just sat there doing nothing. It means that all that hard work you've already done, that methodical process that you've been through can be easily, and I mean easily transferred into real copy. So that's why we don't need to go on about this topic so much and about writing the copy so much because 80% of it is in the research and in the preparation. And by having these two concepts, understanding them and practicing them, you can really go above and beyond to make the research and the planning work

for you. Okay, so we've been through the two techniques, but what about the sales message structure on which we can use them? That really is the backdrop that we need to understand. A little while ago we spoke about acronyms and formulas for copywriting, and we spoke about how there isn't really one universal one that can explain everything. And the more letters they include, the more confusing it becomes and the less clear it is. And that's definitely the case for if we're looking at copywriting tasks as a whole. Uh, and we, that's what we're trying to

do here. We're trying to look at for the most part, what is the link to human psychology that we can take advantage of in copywriting? We'll, if you strip away the letters from 90% of the formula, uh, formulas out there, what you'll find is they all kind of revolve around this structure. Hook slash promise fighting objections or objection fighting and c t a call to action. That is what the formulas revolve around. And there's another way to frame that lead body close that really is what pretty much every single copywriting task, every single piece of

copy has in common. They all have a lead, they all have a body. They have a close three quite distinct sections that, um, copywriting greats have, uh, carved out for us over the years. And it's because they're grounded in psychology of emotion first in the hook and the promise post-rationalization and fighting objections and making sure that our logic, the logic that we use, um, after the emotion is lining up with it so we can fight any objections we may have. And then an easy action at the end, a CTA for us to do something. So

it's reaching that emotional decision, backing the emotional decision up with facts, and then taking an easy action. It works very well because it's pretty simple and it's kind of how we are wired to act. So you'll find that most things adhere to this basic structure. And by diving into the practices, strategies and techniques that, you know, master copywriters over the years have, um, have honed over thousands of split tests, uh, we can find universal guidelines for writing any kind of copy that aims to get a prospect to take action. And it's variations of these practices

and strategies and techniques that have led to hundreds of copywriting formulas, uh, and different interpretations of them, most of which end up being specific only to the kind of medium that they've been tested within. So you get ones that are very specific to emails, ones that are very specific to Facebook ads, whatever the case. But ultimately they all kind of come back to this basic structure. Now that's why we're not attempting to make a clever acronym of our own here. You know, instead we're just gonna take a look at a few of the fundamentals of

each part that can be used to write copy, uh, in any situation. So, um, so let's dive into it. So number one, the lead, the lead or l e d if you wanna be fancy, um, which is fair enough because I think it is actually really the right way of saying it. Um, or spelling it. Uh, the lee is the most important part of your copy. Why? Well, we've already touched on this many times, but I know I'm hammering this home, but it's so important, um, because it's where 80% of the selling is done in

a piece of copy. You know, in other words, we, we already know it's where the emotional decision takes place. We've been speaking about that first point of contact. That is what the lead is. It encompasses the first bit of your copy and therefore your prospect's first point of contact, uh, it needs to grab their attention and it needs to keep them reading. So the lead is very important. It's responsible for hooking the reader. It's where the emotional decision happens. Uh, it's your one reader's first point of contact. So it should be entirely relevant to their

strongest conscious desire. And it's something of course that you'll have refined as your one idea. Uh, and there's no definitive length of a lead. It could be a single headline, it could be 500 words, uh, perhaps even longer in some long form sales letters. You know, it, it really depends on the medium. There is no, uh, one kind of, um, length of a lead. So don't worry if someone ever says it needs to be this long, uh, that it is just not true. And it will change depending on your one reader's stage of awareness as

well, um, to the length of it and to how you approach it. But as long as your lead is helping each of these things to happen, then it's a good lead. The crucial indicator is whether or not it presents your one idea in a way that makes the reader at the very least want to read on. But another crucial element of, uh, the lead is a single easily definable part of it. Um, and it's can really be applied to any kind of medium. Uh, the most important aspect of copywriting, uh, really without a doubt is

the headline. Headlines always get read. And we spoke about this earlier, the rest of the copy rarely does. Humans are conditioned to read them and to make a judgment on the rest of the piece accordingly, cuz we don't have time to read a whole piece before we decide whether or not it's for us. Headlines have the hooking power. So they need to be studied greatly. And I'm sure you've seen plenty of headline formulas like the ones on screen. Uh, and yes, there are some that are generally pretty reliable and there are a few good acronyms

that can be good to, to help judge effectiveness. But ultimately we wanna know what makes headlines work and how we can get 'em to work in any circumstance. So the stuff you've seen on screen now is not stuff I would necessarily endorse cuz it doesn't necessarily work. There is no one formula for a headline that is 100% guaranteed. Ultimately, there are three things that a headline should do, and as long as you are doing them, uh, then don't let anyone else tell you that the headline is is wrong or needs to be improved or needs

to stick to a particular formula, uh, formula. So the three things you need to do, one, grab your one reader's attention, that's pretty obvious to get them to read the next line because, uh, there could be headlines that get people's attention but may not necessarily want them make to read on. Uh, so that's really important. And three, set relevant expectations for what comes next. Those are the three things you ideally want your headline to do. There's no set word count either for a headline. Um, you know, I've seen successful headlines that are two words long

and I have seen others that are 20 words long. The headline or the headline complex as it's sometimes called is typically counted as any copy, the top of a piece that is in some way different from the rest of it. So boulder bigger, it's meant to be read first. And there are plenty of ways to create, uh, headlines and wildly different variations can work for the same piece of copy. So as always, testing is the only real way of telling what is best for any piece. But the most reliable way to construct a headline is

to convert your one idea into one, um, and, and ensure that it's fulfilling these three objectives. But if you really want some kind of formula to back your headline up, then I suggest using this simple checking mechanism. Uh, again, this is not a surefire away to make a headline successful, but it's a pretty damn good indicator of what one is likely to work or to complete those three objectives. The four use, is your headline useful? How does it help the one reader? Is it urgent? How does it encourage them to read on right now? Is

it unique? How does it differ from what they've seen before? And is it ultra-specific? How does it prove that the copy has specific details and information that is new, um, and, and, and relevant. Uh, so it's those four use useful, urgent, unique, ultra-specific. If you can appeal to as many of those as you can while fulfilling those three objectives, you're likely to have a good headline. You don't need to do all of the four yous necessarily, but typically the more you have, the better, um, chan the better a chance you have for success. So if

you're completely stuck and you have no idea what kind of headline to form, then you can always turn to the four yous for inspiration and start. Okay, well let's try and make it useful. Let's try and make it urgent. Let's try and make it unique. Let's try and make it ultra-specific. So that's a nice simple way to, uh, to to to check. It's a benchmark for your headlines if you like. And here are some headlines that have, uh, done very well, uh, from different eras and different markets. Uh, a couple may seem kind of clickbait

now, but we judge them on their results, not on our preconceptions of what would or wouldn't convince someone to read on, okay, did they make sales? Yes or no? That's what's important. And the important thing to analyze with any successful copy and, and these headlines are no exception, is the psychological triggers that the words are appealing to and how we could adapt such things for audiences that we are working with. So even though the IRS owes you 10,000, $470 may seem a bit clickbait or whatever today. And it may seem like, Hmm, I I don't

like that it's in big red font. I don't think that would work. That doesn't matter. The fact is it did work. Why did it work? What was it doing? Was it because it was new information that someone hadn't heard before? Was it because it was drawing in a common enemy of the irs? Was it because it was being ultra specific in the number of the, the dollar amount that it was, um, labeling? Was it because the subhead mentioned that you could have it within 90 days, which is a very specific timeframe and one that someone

can imagine. These are the things we need to think about. You can't just look at the words and the font. You need to look at what it's appealing to and how we may be able to adapt those appeals to copy in context that we are working in. So really useful to study headlines because, uh, they are one of the most useful, um, uh, pieces of copy to, to, uh, to look out for, for psychological, uh, psychological triggers just cuz of how important they are. Um, so yeah, again, have a pause now if you want, have

a look at them, have a, uh, see why you think they did. Um, uh, that they, they got people's attention basically and got 'em to read on. So as long as your headline grabs our attention and gets 'em to read the next line and primes our expectations potentially through adapting your one idea or certainly, um, if you're starting out by adapting your one idea, then you've got something good. Now we need to kind of work out the end of the lead. The end of the lead, um, comes when the reader has decided that they want

to be convinced of what you've said or implied. So we know how to craft a good headline, um, and how to check a good headline, but the rest of your lead needs to satisfy those expectations. Um, and in short, they don't lose interest. And it is to really force 'em to make an emotional decision. So as long as you think you've done enough to make the reader want to believe what you are telling them, then your lead is complete. So that's how you need to think about it. That is, in my opinion, where a lead

ends. Um, um, and I guess I guess to highlight the point about how important the lead is, I've seen ads and sales pages with fantastic leads and very average bodies and, and closes convert like crazy. But I've never ever seen the opposite. I've never seen an ad or a sales page with a bad lead or a bad headline do well, even if the rest of it was brilliant. And it just goes to show that you have one chance with someone and if you blow that chance, they're not gonna read on for the sake of it.

So very important, just remember to get the reader to make an emotional decision. Get them to want to believe what you are saying, and they go, right, I want you to convince me now. And that's what they should feel at the end of your lead. That's when your lead ends when someone says, I want you to convince me now. That's how you need to think about it. Okay, having just said about how the lead is the most important part, um, let's still take a look at how to write fantastic body copy because most copywriters and

marketers mess up after the lead, even if they've done it. Um, well by thinking that piling on benefits and features is the way to make an argument stronger, but instead this only really serves to scour attention, dilute the most powerful message and make any previous or subsequent claims less believable. Um, drawing attention to other features and benefits that your product has just cause harms your chances of getting the reader to take action. And it, I I I think this revelation is, is one of the hardest to drill out of people because it's a natural human

trait to assume that the more information that we give someone, the more likely we are to convince them. We think to, uh, courtroom battles, you know, uh, debates, uh, arguments with our friends where it doesn't matter where we're pulling out the points, points and the evidence from as much as we possibly can get to prove that we are right is what's important. But a courtroom is very different from someone's living room and the iPhone on which they're looking at your webpage. So we can't just think about it like piling on more and more points is

beneficial. And I've highlighted this point many times over the last few hours or however long it's been, um, because I, I quite often see people fail to grasp this concept and instead they, they retreat back to, to the alleged safety of, of piling on potential benefits. Um, and it really isn't what, what we should do. You know, what we wanna do is we wanna focus on the one idea and proving it and to help demonstrate it. Here's kind of one last analogy to, to help prove my point. Um, let's say that you love learning about

history, uh, particularly the 18 hundreds. Uh, and recently you've become interested in the later years of Napoleon's reign. That's what's on your mind. Suddenly you are presented with two books, one which covers things that you are genuinely interested about in general, which is, you know, the transformation of the world in the 19th century. Very interesting. But another that delves specifically in to Napoleon's defense of France in 1814. Which one are you gonna pick? This may seem like an infantile example and it is, but this alone is proof that when any topic is top of our

mind, we have a bias towards trusting sources that talk about it in isolation as opposed to ones that delve into other things as well. Even if the book on the left does a better job of going into the details about Napoleon's later years, it hasn't presented itself as such. So we fail to reach an emotional decision in that vein towards it. Instead, we are far more drawn to something on the right that really hits on what we're thinking about effectively. The more obvious the you make an effort to, to prove your one idea to the

reader, the, you know, the one idea that's been born out of all the research that you've done, the more likely you are to convince your prospects. And it also has the, the added bonus of of giving them less to focus on, which means the whole thing will feel easier for them since they only have to deal with one subject at a time. And like I say, I know I've been through this so many times over the last few hours, but it's such a vital, um, uh, concept. So you really need to drill it into your

brain. And let's just reiterate, there's nothing wrong with including other messages, okay? But they must either be linked to and support the one idea or fight against specific objections that the one reader will raise. Uh, effectively this means that they should either give the prospect more reasons to believe the one idea that you've put forward or they should expel any resistance that your prospect will raise naturally, you know, either objections that they already have that you've already researched, um, including the five subconscious questions or ones that come up as a result of reading your copy.

And we'll go into this, um, in, in a minute. Although one thing I do wanna bring up quickly is <laugh>. Cause I do see this sometimes, never raise objections that you are confident your one reader isn't gonna bring up themselves because it's a waste of words and dis it distracts from the main message and potentially gives them something else to think about, you know, another reason not to buy. So never just bring up an objection for the sake of it. Only bring up an objection if they already have it or if you believe that they're

going to bring it up naturally once they have read your copy. Another way to put body copy, another way to think about it is it equals objection fighting. If your one idea is strong enough, which absolutely will be because of the research you put into, um, uh, finding it, fighting existing objections, including ones that form as a result of the one idea is all you need to do. Because once someone has made that emotional decision in the lead and they've decided that you want, they want to know what you can do for them. All you

need to do is fight the objections they have to the promise you've given. That's it. And what's more, there is a formula. There is a formula that we can rely on to achieve all this. And it's actually a formula that I put an asterisk next to, um, earlier on. And it's called O C P B objection, claim Proof Benefit. Uh, again, not the cleverest name, but uh, but I didn't come up with this one so you can't blame me. Uh, but what it does is far more important because it's something that we can use to

combat every single objection that we identify. And the, uh, the, the basic framework of it is with the objection. You acknowledge the specific doubt or the objection and you c or you can just assume that they're already thinking it. And then the claim, you answer the objection, you make a claim to answer it. Uh, proof you provide evidence for that claim and then benefit you show them what the claim would mean to them. So pretty much like dimensionalizing the claim for them. And you can see from the two examples below, this process can either take

paragraphs or it can take a sentence or two. It depends on the extremity of the objection and who you are writing to and what the format is. It depends on a few different things if you're working to any restrictions. But ultimately you are just trying to answer the objection. So if you are doing that, uh, it doesn't matter how long it takes, sometimes an objection may need 5, 6, 7 paragraphs to be dealt with. Sometimes it just needs two sentences. It really depends. And you can pause now and, and read through the one on the

left and you can see where it's bringing up these, these different points. Uh, but, and even arguably a harder one to, to um, to break down to see how it's falling. O C P B is a, is a shorter one because you know, there's not even four sentences there. So let's see what it's doing. The alti lamp can't even run out of battery. It's patented. Solar grids and emergency crank system mean you'll never have that. Oh no, I forgot to charge it moment ever again. What's the objection? The objection is being assumed. It's also being

kind of semit state, which is that, um, you're never gonna run out of battery with this, so don't worry, you know, it's reliable. Can I rely on this? That's the objection. You know, will this run out of battery? So clear objection there to, to following through with a purchase. And we're saying the ulti lamp can't even run our battery. That is a claim. We're claiming that it can't run our battery. So we are directly fighting the objection by saying that, uh, if we were to leave it there, someone may say, okay, but you've not given

me any proof as to why that's the case. So we give them the proof and proof. Don't think of proof as something that needs to be a testimonial or a quote or a statistic. Sometimes it just needs to be the presentation of something, of a mechanism that supports a claim. You don't need to necessarily even show them. Of course it's more powerful if you do have a photo, but you don't even need to show them if you're just acknowledging it and you're saying, Hey, here is the proof by the way. Uh, we're not just making

it up. There's this thing we can talk about. Then you are providing that proof needed for something like this. An objection like this. Um, the auto lamp can't even run of battery. It's patented. Solar grids and emergency crank system mean you'll never have. So there you go, that's the proof. It's patented solar grids and emergency crank system. There's the proof that it can never run out of battery. So that's the proof for our claim. And the benefit, well, we're dimensionalizing what the claim means to them. What benefit do they actually feel from having a lamp

that never runs out of battery? Well, it means they'll never have that. Oh no, I forgot to charge it moment ever again. Cuz we all know, uh, that feeling when whether it be a phone, um, or a speaker or whatever that we haven't charged and we've forgotten to plug in, it's like, oh, bollocks. Well, it's another two hours of my life wasted. No, not with this. Um, or you know, if you're out camping, oh well there's no sockets, <laugh>, um, with this doesn't matter. You'll never have to remember to charge it. So you can imagine

that stress not being around in your life for this particular product, that's a really simple way of O C P B and we do it in two sentences. So there you go. Uh, the one on the left, again, I won't read through all of it, but if you, if you do have a look, what you'll see is that, that it's dealing with a far bigger objection. And the objection really is around like, okay, well how does this system even work? You know, like, it is this, is this something that, that is real? Um, it's really,

really digging into, uh, I dunno if I believe this at all. Whereas the alti lamp is just talking about something specific. Um, and then it goes on to talk about a story and someone in quotes and gives very specific examples of of the money that they made and saved. So there you can see ocb, uh, ocp b be putting to the test in, in, in a more, um, uh, a more extreme way and taking longer to get that point across. And depending on the topic you're writing about, it may well be longer than that or

shorter than that or the same. So all depends on the level of commitment that you need from someone from the reader. But remember, you're simply justifying their emotional decision in the body copy, okay? You're, you're justifying it by removing the objections that they want you to remove. As long as you can provide them with undeniable proof and dimensionalize what it means to them, you are doing your job as best you can. So as long as you're hitting the core components of O C P B in some way, it doesn't matter what length it is or

what form it takes, thinking of sales messages that you write in this way is gonna keep the whole process a lot more focused. Now we move on to the close, the last of the three sections. We've had the lead, we've looked at the body, uh, we've looked at what those jobs are and how to do them. And now let's look at the close. This is all about turning the prospect's justified emotional decision into action. And despite being called the close, it could start relatively early on in copy, uh, particularly in um, long form. Uh, and

so sales letters, uh, really wherever you begin telling the prospect about what they can get to satisfy the feelings they now have, um, that is when you start to do the close. It's when you're introducing the product and you're laying out the offer. And this section will come after you've dealt with all the objections related to the one idea specifically. So related to that main benefit, the operating. Once you've dealt with those objections, then you're moving on to the close and there are two core components of the close. You need to lay out the offer

in a clear and compelling way and you need to ask for the one action directly. And if you do both these things, it'll help to make the one idea more achievable in the eyes of the prospect. It'll lay out the exact expectations that they should have and it'll create a sense of urgency to encourage a media action. So laying out the offer and asking for the action, this whole section is about making the reader understand how they can get the things that you've promised them, uh, and in what form they'll be delivered and what they

need to do to get it. So this is effectively the offer in ariola and the action, this is what this, this section contains. The key in the close is going all out and not holding back. If someone's got this far in your copy, um, no matter how long your copy is and if they're still on the edge, you need to give them that extra push. Don't be tepid with your request for action. Many copyrights forget that their job is to secure a yes and to make a sale in a lot of cases. So you can

only do that while you have their attention and you have their attention right now. So you need to give them a good reason to act right this second, there are plenty of formulas that copyrights talk about when it comes to closes, but these two steps and the three points beneath are the fundamentals. And sometimes this can all be done in a single sentence, sometimes it takes a few pages. It all depends on your one offer and your one reader. So let's first of all have a look at laying out the offer in a clear and

compelling way. Understanding exactly what the reader will get and what it will cost them is just as important to the prospect as the feelings you invoke. And we dive into this in sub in the five subconscious questions and we talk about it in the offer section of Rio. The one offer is effectively the personification of how the one reader can actually achieve the one idea. It's the gateway for them to getting all of this stuff that you've been hyping up. And that, and I, I'm gonna repeat again cuz I I I spoke about it in

the subconscious question section. The first thing to understand is that the prospect needs to know how you're gonna deliver on those promises. So you need to make the offer as clear as possible so they can immediately understand what to expect. And of course, you're gonna continue to write about in a compelling way. Sometimes this is an obvious task cuz the offer may just be a single, um, like a simple one product, one purchase that doesn't need much explaining. Uh, but for more complex offers that include multiple items or a single product made up of multiple

modules or segments, the prospect may need a better idea of how it works and what they can expect. And you need to remember that it could take pages and it certainly has in many cases in my, in my experience, this in itself is dealing with objections as well, but it's not necessarily dealing with objections, um, that relate to the one idea. They're just dealing with objections raised to how they're going to get those benefits that you've promised. If they can see what's included in your offer and they can see that that matches up to how

they believe the benefits could be delivered, then you are leaving them with very little opposition to, to doing what you ask. So you really wanna match up like, hey, these benefits that you want, well this is how you're gonna get them. I'm making this really clear. So you can see that if we had to break down your job when laying an offer, it would be like this. Your job is to increase the perceived value and the certainty of your solution. Whether it's a 10,000 pound software or a free e-book, you need to increase the perceived

value, make it seem as good as possible. And the easiest way to do this is to break, break down the one reader's biggest problem into logical chunks, and then do the same with whatever it is that you are offering and match them up to one another. This is a, a quite a handy technique that I found works quite often. Um, and it's probably my, my, the, the thing I I I rely on most when I'm, when I'm laying out offers. As long as your prospect understands how you are proposing to deliver on the one idea,

then your offer can follow any formula you want it to and exactly how you're gonna present the offer. It differs from medium to medium, but as long as you're showing your one reader the way to achieve the one idea and what they need you to get it, uh, what they need to do to get it, then you are all good. So here are a couple of wildly different examples of laying out offers. On the far left of your screen, you can see the full section and then in the middle and the right, I've kind of

broken up into uh, three so you can see it more easily. Uh, this was for a sales page for a book, uh, and this, this is all about the offer. This, this whole section is about the offer and showing people what they can get. And you can see here's how this book will get you there effectively saying, this is how this book is going to, uh, deliver on the benefits, on the promises we've made. And we break it down into three steps, three steps that we can logically lay out that link to the benefit we

promised in this case. It's know the difference between a good business and a great business. Discover the eight areas essential to building the foundation for exponential growth and shift your perspective on common business roadblocks and understand where the core issues really lie. So straight away we are breaking it down so the reader can understand, okay, I get now what's going to be happening for me to achieve this thing I've been promised. It's not just a big mash of words, it's three very distinct sections that help. And then we move on to, uh, what we call

fascinations and bullets effectively. So bullet points, bringing up, um, or teasing out what's inside the book and what they're gonna get. Uh, again, I'm not gonna go into the specific techniques too much because I'm just talking about fundamentals in this presentation, but the point is we are now giving them tidbits of information about what lies in the offer itself and what the product consists of and why it's really good and what they can look forward to. So we're matching it up to the benefit. We're breaking it down logically, and we're showing them an insider look.

We're making that perceived value, feel like it's more, we feel like they're getting secrets, feel like they're satisfying their thirst, and they're intrigued now that they've seen these bullets and these fascinations. And then, uh, the last page on, on the far right, we start to talk about, um, uh, the bonuses they get and the guarantee. And we are really hammering home the rest of the offer that we will have broken down in Rio. So you can see here, this is just one example of laying out an offer. And this is for a longer form sales

page where it does take pages to, to really break down, um, what we are offering, um, and why it's gonna work. So there you go. That's one. Um, that's one thing. And I will actually, I will include one technique really quickly, quickly cuz I, I do quite like this. Um, you'll notice that on this longer form page, uh, there's an inclusion of a PS at the bottom, at the bottom right, that helps sum up what the offer is. I highly recommend including those not just on longform on pretty much, okay. Has to be long form

enough for it to not be like, just readable in, uh, a tiny section, I guess. Um, but yeah, I recommend including pss wherever people have to scroll down a few pages or something, or a couple of pages, um, including at the bottom. So when someone scrolls down the bottom, they see a ps, which is a summary of the exact offer. Cuz people will love to skip down to the bottom of the page. So you wanna highlight the main benefit there, break down the sections really briefly, and just reiterate the best points that you've made and,

and any objection fighting you need to do in a really concise way. So it's not necessarily gonna convince someone all on its own, but the point of that is to make them want to go back up and read the rest of it. Just a quick technique. I wasn't really, you know, trying not to delve into that too much. But yeah, PS is already effective. Uh, so definitely try that in, in pages that you, that you write. Um, okay, so that's one example of laying out offer. Here are a couple of other examples, again, of offers

being laid out, but in a completely different way. Um, you'll see here that we'll look at the one on the left from the Beard Club with 45 unique trim lengths. It's got everything you need to keep your beard in perfect shape, warranty included. Call us from chargeable, three hours of run time, 7,000 RP motor, great for beard and hair. Visit beard club.com and say 50 on select kits during our Father's Day sale. Whil supplies lost. Wow. How concise is that? And how clearly does that layout what you are getting? Not just the features and like

the, the physical attributes of the product, but also the benefits. I'm not saying that it's perfect copywriting, but the fact it's saying great for beard and hair, it's affirming like, you know, this is good for both things. This, it's gonna benefit these things for you. It's, here's a fact, it's got a 7,000 RPM motor, it's got this battery life, there's warranty included, like this is a bonus. So great, nice, concise way of summing up the offer. And then the action at the bottom. Visit beard, uh, beard club.com. One action. Very simple, say 50%. There's, uh,

an extra a discount for you. So there's an extra thing to make you wanna buy. So brilliant, fantastic way of summing up an offer. Uh, and a juxtaposition to what we just looked at that took ages. And again, all these things are gonna depend on how long you need to take to convince someone of something and how much there is to explain. But that's gonna depend on the product you're writing for. And then on the right, Frank Kern, we love Frank Kern. Um, he is an absolute sweetheart, amazing, amazing guy. Um, but, uh, we look

at his ad, uh, and again, he starts to, he also talks about the benefit. Um, but towards the bottom you can start to see that he gives a clear, clear view of where to go, what you need to do, and what it is you are getting. It's a free ads class. He's explaining, he's dimensionalized it for you before, like, why, why this is gonna be beneficial, why it's useful for you. And he's saying, tune in right now and I'll share all of this for you. So go here. Again, really simple, slightly different to the one

on the left. Uh, it doesn't go into the specifics of the offer as much necessarily, and it doesn't, um, doesn't section them out, but it's taking a slightly different approach and it still ends with that one clear action. So no one is in any confusion of what to do, which brings us onto the simpler task. As you've seen in these examples of asking for the one action directly, the prospects should know what to expect when performing the action. And that expectation should be fulfilled immediately. Urgency and scarcity enhance call to actions in most cases, but

they must be well justified. And of course, you should only ever drive a reader to one action per page. It's an easy rule. Um, but something that a lot of cop, uh, copyrights seem to forget, particularly newer ones. And people on teams, you know, one action, remember that, make sure your CTA is clear and direct. The prospect should be no doubt of what they have to do next. And the close is no time to be vague. You know, this is a time to hit home and really go for it. And by now, your reader will

know what's on offer to them and why they should take you up on it. All that's left is to show them how to do it. Make it clear, make it obvious, make it undoubtable. Make it singular. Okay? And like I say there, you can use urgency and scarcity, uh, but you have to have a reason to use those things. You need to be able to justify it. You can't just necessarily, some businesses do work quite well by saying, Hey, um, two days are left on this offer. Great. Those are, um, kind of quantity businesses, particularly

a lot of econ businesses that just run constant discounts. But for the most part, if you can justify why there's urgency or why there's scarcity, you're gonna have a far better reaction to it. And you're gonna get far more people take it seriously and click through as well. Um, the more you justify it, the more likely it'll work. So, um, yeah, very useful. Okay, so why have we gone through this rather free flowing structure instead of a really specific formula? Um, well, because it follows the basic structure of psychological buying decisions, which is the emotional

decision objection, fighting, and then taking action. It can be wrapped into three sentences or 30,000 words. And it always gives free reign to adapt to each situation. This whole presentation, like I've said, has been about the fundamentals and I'm trying to give you a as good a view as possible into how you can use it on anything. And lead body clothes is just a good way to try and remember what you're doing. If you're ever in doubt, there are specific formulas that do work better, but in specific, um, circumstances and on specific campaigns. But we

are here to learn the fundamentals of copywriting. And as long as if you are following the guidelines that we've set out in each section, you'll know the reason behind each of them and what you need to do with any copywriting task before you move on too quickly. You're never gonna be stuck on what you actually are aiming for at any stage of your writing. And that's why it's so important to learn these kinds of things. First, you wanna know what the purpose is of a section, what's, what are you trying to do right now? And

then you can start to use more formulas to, to, um, enhance that if you want to. But for right now, just knowing the fundamentals is hugely important. So editing copy, uh, as with everything else, what I'm gonna show you is gonna be applicable to all kinds of copy. Uh, and in fact there are only two editing techniques that I'm going to show you cuz there are only two that I think you really need to learn in copywriting. And we call them the Cub method and Swappy, because you already know how much copywriters love acronyms. Uh,

this is also the order that you should complete them in, by the way. So, you know, complete cub, the cub method first, and then swappy. I should also mention that editing is a broad term and you will go back, uh, naturally through your copy and back through your research to have a look at if it's right and you will redraft and you'll make line edits so it flows better. Uh, so this isn't replacing that because that just happens naturally as you go through. But these are giving two very specific techniques and methods on how to,

uh, ensure that you are, you are hitting on the right persuasion strategy in your, in your copy, and to make sure you're really, you are really hitting on the right messaging as well. Okie dokey. So the Cub method, um, the Cub Method comes from a book called Copy Logic, which again, um, I would really recommend, um, reading, uh, it's, uh, well, yeah, to come read it. <laugh>. Um, the, uh, the, the, the premise of the Cub method is that there are three killers of copy of persuasion in copywriting. They are confusing copy, unbelievable copy and

boring copy. These three things will stop someone from reading what you've written. First of all, you need to be able to identify them in what you've written. And the best way to do this is to give your draft to a few people that you trust. Generally, they should be in the target market you are writing for, if at all possible. But failing that, having friends, family, or colleagues just look over what you've written is fine as well. They don't need to offer you advice in any way. It's actually better if they don't offer you advice,

um, unless they're an experienced copywriter, of course. But the point of this exercise is simply to ask them to highlight any pieces of your copy that they found confusing, unbelievable, or boring. Uh, a simple comment on a Google doc with the words boring, confusing, or unbelievable will suffice. And it shouldn't take them longer than take that. It'll take anyone else to, um, to read it normally. They don't need to overthink it. They simply need to work within those parameters and make sure they're highlighting those three killers. The more people you can send it to without

annoying them, the better. Uh, at least three is a, is a good target. You can can even form a kind of buddy group system where your team will help perform this test together with each other. But remember, they should only give cub notes. No advice. You are the one who knows the market best at this stage. So trust yourself. That's why it's best to test the copy with someone already in the target market, just to keep it, um, uh, along those lines to keep it in the same stage of awareness as well. But I appreciate

that's not always possible. So when you get the, um, the copy back from the, you know, the three plus people you've given it to look for any section where everyone has found issues. So those are the first you need to focus on. If there are areas where only one person has brought something up, then you can still perform the editing method. But they're, they're far less vital. Um, any, any sections where everyone has said this is confusing, you need to address straightaway. So this brings us on to how to actually, um, fix cub copy. How

do you fix it? The first thing to do is ask yourself why they may have highlighted a particular section with one of the words. Uh, sometimes this will be really obvious and you'll know exactly what you need to change. Other times you may need to fall back on the, uh, the surefire ways to tidy it up and to remove the aspects. So in the most simple form, um, this is how you fix each one. If it's confusing, you cut it out. If it's not needed, you cut it down. If it is needed or you simplify

it, um, really there's no, there's no kind of set way of how to do that. You just need to do one of those things. Um, if copy is unbelievable, either cut it out if it's not needed or prove it, you need to provide more evidence cuz clearly there's something that people find not trustworthy about it. Uh, and if it's boring, again, either cut it out or cut it down or make it relevant. Um, you know, with confusing, you should simplify it anyway. And with boring, you should make it relevant anyway, just as part of cutting

it down. Um, but that's really what you need to do. There's nothing too, um, genius about this. It, it's just, it's quite simple. It just gives you an easy editing method to fall back on. So, confusing, unbelievable, boring, just finding out from people if they view any of your copy as that is the most useful thing. And these are some easy ways to, uh, to fix it. So, um, that's why we use it because the cub test stops our bias from getting in the way of healthy editing. Uh, there may be a passage of copy

that you just love, for example, cuz you've, because you know, you've worded it, but it may just be a real bottleneck for readers who don't understand what you're trying to say. So seeing that someone has li uh, highlighted it as confusing can be a real eye-opener. And it stops us from becoming too attached to something that's gonna damage the chance of, um, of achieving our objective. Okay, and swappy, right? This is a last chance editing technique and it allows you to catch any last things that even your club reviewers may have missed. Uh, and like

that process, it forces you to take a look at your copy from a neutral viewpoint. So, uh, it really makes, it forces you to justify every single word that you've written. Uh, you can do this yourself or you can do it with a partner and voice each of the answers that you have to your own analysis. So you can ask what they think. But effectively, for every line of copy, for everything you've written, you first of all wanna ask. So what is this line doing anything for the reader? You need to be able to justify

that. Can you justify that this is doing something for the reader? That the reader is reading it for a reason? Sometimes this can be harder than it looks. Um, and if you find yourself stumbling and unsure of why you've included it, especially if you're doing it the partner, then you need to get rid of it because it clearly isn't doing anything. It is fluff copy, much like dimensionalization that we spoke about. You know, it's a way for you to justify what the piece of copy actually means to the reader. So if asking yourself, so what,

you're either gonna be able to immediately link it to something directly that the reader cares about, in which case well done. Uh, or you'll realize that there's a better way that you can frame the message that you're trying to get across and you may realize you'll, you're kind of going around the houses to try and make the point, or you may just realize that it's not supporting your copy in any way and to cut it out cuz it's fluff. So ask yourself, so what for every line and message and see if you can give a

good enough reason for its existence, then you have to say prove it. Um, and this will apply to many lines in your copy, even if you could justify their existence by asking. So what if it's something that needs to be proven? You also need to make sure that, um, that what you're saying is backed up by some kind of proof, either logically or through a testimonial or data. You know, does it get proven at any point, especially almost immediately after it gets said, uh, have I given the reader a reason to believe me on this?

If you have and there is clear proof, then okay, great. If you haven't, then ask yourself why not? If you can give solid evidence, then do it. If you can't, then you need to think about cutting it out. Because really you may be effectively lying to someone, you may not know why you're saying something. Hopefully most of this will be caught out by the cub test, but it never hurts to double check and to go through it on your own or with a partner. Uh, and I just wanna give, again, I think this is the

second time I've mentioned her and, and while I've been doing this, but I wanna give credit to Joanna Weep specifically for, um, these editing methods, cuz I picked it up from her a couple of years ago. And it has stuck. I think this has been the thing that has stuck with me the most from like my first ever kind of foray into what I would describe as direct response copywriting. Uh, so thank you copy hackers, cuz this has been, uh, invaluable for me. And also check 'em out. Check out copy hackers cuz they have loads

of free content on the website. So, so definitely worth it. Okay, so <laugh>, this is a topic that I felt duty bound to include, uh, just because of how many conversations I've had with in-house marketing teams who have to follow a style guide. Uh, so I usually really include this for the sake of teams that I, that I give this presentation to. But, uh, it, it's, it's also useful for freelancers, um, cuz I do have conversations with juniors about, uh, how important punctuation is and stuff like that. So I just wanna give you a, a

perspective on this, on this subject and what I have seen work over the last few years and, and what I think is important. So the first thing to say is that there is, there, there is no one perfect style guide that encompasses everything. And as we've learned over the last few hours, good copy depends on the context of the market and its position. It's exactly the same for tone and the accuracy of grammar and punctuation. It depends on the audience you may hit. Others tell you that there are kind of cardinal rules when it comes

to grammar and punctuation. But the truth, the truth is that most of the time these rules are, are skewed by bias. Um, I love the oxford com for example. I'm a big fan, however, you know, even though I would defend it to my death, I do recognize that it is a bias I have. And you know, not that it really matters in the world of copywriting at all, but if there's even a percentage either way, it may be worse than using no oxford com at all anyway. Um, so yeah, biases do exist. If you already

have a style guide, which I know you won't probably if you're watching this and you are a freelancer, but if you do work in a, in a team, um, and you already have a style guide that a client or a company insists that you use, then fine. You know, use that. But if you really want to squeeze as much effectiveness out of your copy as possible, there's only one thing that you need to remember. If your ideal client knows what you mean and doesn't view you as any less credible than write however the hell you

want to. That's it. First and foremost, remember that this rule trumps all others. I know how much copywriters love lists, uh, and quickfire tips. So here are a few things I have picked up, um, that seem to have a positive impact over the course of my career. Uh, especially when writing to, you know, kind of like regular customers in a bt uh, B2C or, or a more casual B2B space. So take this all with a grain of salt, but I know people like to, I do get questions saying, oh, what, what kinds of things do

you do? And, and how do you like to write? So these are just a, this is just a list of things that I tend to use and I tend to have noticed over the last couple of years. But by no means are these set in stone or even necessarily helpful. So ellipses, uh, three dots, they build momentum and they tap into a prospect's natural curiosity. I love them. I use 'em loads. Uh, you should capitalize to emphasize not to be grammatically correct. Uh, although, you know, there's no reason not to be grammatically correct, basically be

grammatically correct unless there's a reason, is what I'm saying there. Um, but yeah, capitalize to emphasize as well. Don't be afraid of that. Avoid commas where possible because people don't know how to use them. It's fine. It it, I found it's better to just kind of use them. So it fits in with speech rather than, um, grammatic accuracy. I love how I just said grammatic, which I don't think is a word. Grammatical <laugh>, um, uh, anyway, yeah. So avoid commas. Um, the rule above, so about commas goes double for sub clauses in sentences cuz people

just don't get it and they get confused. Use simple sentences instead. Uh, and it's true that the length of copy shouldn't matter, however, make your copy look short at a glance, okay? Cuz people don't, people aren't excited by the prospect of reading a lot. They will, but they're not excited by it. So try to avoid more than three to five lines per paragraph, um, and make it seem like it isn't much to read in as best the way you can, uh, read copy out loud to check it. It should read like someone could speak it.

Very important. Please make sure you read your copy out loud. It really does catch out a lot of mistakes, especially when it comes to line edits. Um, use contractions unless you're trying to emphasize something so you know, your versus you are, it's just, it's far more natural to say your, um, absolutely start sentences with conjunctions if it sounds right. So, because, and, and, and, but you can use those at the start of sentences despite what your English teacher told you. Uh, cuz it just sounds more natural cuz everyone, I think I have probably started 40%

of the sentences in this presentation with the word. And so do not worry about it. Avoid humor. Um, this isn't about grammar or punctuation, but humor is one of those things that can work really well and can be effective. But generally it's, it's safer to avoid it. And to instead just go for clarity and, and relevance. Don't try to be funny. Don't try to make cultural, uh, cultural references because it, it can backfire and it can be confusing. And I have, I've edited many, many pieces of work from juniors who have tried to make jokes

or puns or something and I've just said, this is just confusing me. Cause I have to do, I have to think and I have to do work to try and understand it. So try to avoid you if you can. Uh, cuz it's safer. And then this is, this last one is just something I wanna do cause it annoys me. <laugh>, um, it's, you know, a or an comes down to the next sound, not the next letter. So if you have an abbreviation, um, if you are using H the letter H and it's part of an

abbreviation, uh, uh, an acronym for something I should say, um, like h b o, then you say, um, this is an HBO o production, not a H B O production. Cuz it doesn't sound good. And it's how we read how we speak. But that is an extreme bias of me. So that's just me trying to get my petty vindictive rules, uh, and biases put on the world. So you can ignore that one. Um, anyway, okay, so <laugh>, I hope you can forgive that. Uh, slight neurosis there. Um, we are now in the final stretch of,

um, of, of this, uh, presentation. And I, I really, I really hope you've enjoyed it. Uh, it's been fun to film. I appreciate that. This has pretty much just been me rambling for hours on end. Uh, it's been, it's been weird to do this without a live audience and without the feedback sessions and, and cutting out some sections that go into, uh, teams. But it's been really fun to do and, and I'm glad, I'm glad I I could find the time to do it. So, uh, one last thing really, um, which is, uh, split testing,

AB testing. Why am I bringing this up? Um, I'm bringing this up because I, I've seen a lot in the copywriting collective. People ask about split testing, AB testing and what to test and how to test it. Um, I'm gonna shout out Sean here who introduced me to a phrase which has been invaluable for me as I've gained control of marketing campaigns and had to test things. Um, test screams not whispers. Make sure that what you're testing is extremely noticeable on the page. Not tiny tweaks here and there, cuz this is the only real way

to judge the effectiveness of copy. Um, and of sections and aspects of the page is to do a split test. And you wanna make sure that you are split testing something that is noticeable enough to be split tested. So the best things to split test are things like the idea that you, that you go with your one idea, you know, what, what are you gonna use, um, the headline and the lead, the page structure, the hero section, which is the, the top section, um, on the page, how that's laid out and what you include there.

Any forms, whether you do it over one page or two pages, anything, whether transactions are involved, test those and change the pages and see, see if there are any differences and how the offer is laid out as well. These kinds of things are, are typically the best to, um, to split test. So I just wanted to add this slide in because I, I have noticed, uh, quite a few people recently either talking about it or messaging me and asking, um, about testing different like emails and, and via MailChimp or whatever, or different pages and having

a look at the old results on bug analytics. So test screams not whispers, don't waste time on just, you know, um, testing slightly different wording of something or, uh, a different font, for example, unless you have a shit ton of money in a shit ton of time. Um, but generally you want to in, uh, test things that are, that are screams not whispers. Okay? Um, we're kind of coming out of the, uh, well we've, we've come out really of the, the, the, the theory and the, the practical lessons of copywriting. Now I just wanna talk

about the wider marketing strategy for a moment, because copy is the lifeblood of any campaign, but there are other things that you need to consider. Copy is great and it's amazing and it can have a huge impact on campaigns. And I would argue it is the most, um, uh, thing that has the biggest impact on marketing campaigns, but it doesn't exist in isolation. It exists within context and it has to work with different aspects of marketing strategies. So other things to think about outside the words you use themselves and the messages you get across are

questions like, what form will a copy take? Will the prospect be ready to hear it? I mean, that kind of goes into message matching and the stage of awareness as well. Um, is the product good enough? I have, I have not written for many products that I haven't believed in, and I now only write for products I actually like, or services that I think are good. Um, but I can tell you from experience, it's far easier to write for products that are genuinely good than to make up things about product services, courses, whatevers that are

shape. Um, so that's a really important one for me and you need to consider it as well. Is the product actually good enough? Sometimes copy can't save it. Well, I'm telling you, copy cannot save a bad product. It's as simple as that. So make sure the copy is, is, is good enough and is is there's a desire for it in the, in the space in the market. Does the offer justify a purchase? Um, is the product being presented in a good enough way in the offer? Uh, are they getting enough? Is the price too much?

These are all things that you need to think about when you compare it to what else is in the market. Is it too similar? Is it too different to other things? Um, bring us on to the next point. Is the product different enough, either in reality or by perception to competitors? You need to make sure that the product is unique because if it isn't, um, I, I, I mean I have seen and I have run campaigns where the product has been exactly the same, in fact come from the exact same supplier as someone else, but

the copy has been different and it's been wildly successful and it's good. That's a good feeling. But they're harder to write for. It's far easier if you have a good product that is also unique because you can draw on real aspects of the product. So is it different enough from what else is out there for you to write good copy about it? Is the prospect's attention being managed in a linear way? This brings us back to the copy and something we've already been through, but it's just, uh, one of the last points I wanted to,

to bring up. You know, that's always something you can ask yourself. Are you throwing too much, much at them or are you making it simple and easy for them to understand? Because you never wanna make them do work. You never wanna make them feel like they're having to read it. You wanna make it feel like they're actually on a journey of discovery and they feel good about learning what you are, what you are telling them. And then lastly, does Rio apply to the entire task? As a copywriter, you may only have control over the copy,

you may not have control over the strategy, over the design, over the ui. So you need to, it's difficult. I say you need to, it's not always possible. But if you can, you need to make sure that Rio is applying to the entire task and that the whole team is on board with it. That's why when I usually give this presentation and I'm, I'm giving it to marketing teams or to people who have, who have joined a team that I'm on or come into my agency, I make sure that we are all on the same

page with all this. And it's really important that everyone understands that we're working towards the same objective. And you need to accept that sometimes you are gonna be working with people or in environments where that just won't be the case and you will feel like things are detriment to you and others are almost working against you. So wherever possible work, and again, I know it's not always possible cuz believe me, I have been there. Um, work with people who do subscribe to the same concepts as you and understand the importance of the rule of one

and focus and managing attention cuz it's really, really important. Back to copywriting for a moment. Perhaps a more practical, um, practical explanation. Uh, how can you improve your copywriting long term? You know, we've been through the process I use. Um, how can you improve your own copywriting? How can you, uh, how can you enhance what you've already learned? And how can you go beyond what you've learned and, and, um, learn how to to write in a, in a, in a, in a manner that flows and in a tone that fix the, um, the campaign that

you're working on. Well, there's a few things you can do and this is really a daily practice, uh, that I recommend for the juniors, uh, or some juniors that I have. Um, I have, uh, mentored in the past and worked with, unfortunately. Now, I, I tend to work with teams who, with copywriters who aren't as dedicated. So, you know, I can't really ask them to do these things, but it's what I suggest. Spend 30 minutes hand copying. So writing out by hand. Good copy a day. Find copy that works and every day for 30 minutes,

copy out by hand. Start with the, you know, pick a sales page or a sales letter or an email or headlines or whatever it is that you want to develop. Anything is better than nothing. And spend 30 minutes a day copying it out by hand. Just copy out by hand. That's it. Just spend famous day doing that. It trust me, it becomes relaxing. It is actually quite a, quite a nice task. Um, but for one, it is naturally gonna help you pick up on patterns that good copywriters use. Sometimes you may be copying things from

a different era or from a different market that won't work in what you do and that's fine, but it will help, it will help expose you to more ways of writing that you may not have considered and it may spark inspiration for, for a campaign that you're working on. Then spend 30 minutes analyzing and annotating good copy. I dunno if you've guessed yet, but that first one and that second one, do bleed in quite nicely. The copy that you have, um, written out by hand. Analyze it, go back through an annotate it. I just go

through it. I use a red pen to mark it up and I say, what do I think is happening here? Um, I analyze it and I write down, Hey, I think that the, uh, writer is appealing to, um, the uniqueness of the product. I mean, I'm just gonna fucking show you an example, but yeah, I talk about what techniques I recognize and what psychological triggers I think they're appealing to. Um, where I feel like the emotional decision has come in, why the lead works, what proof they're using, um, how they're, you know, showing weaknesses of

the product and they're reframing them, reframing them in a good way, whatever the case may be. But just analyze good copy, analyze what you've written down by hand, and then spend 30 minutes a day reading a copywriting development book. Off the top of my head, I personally always recommend scientific advertising for anything else cuz I, I think that is a phenomenal book to start your career on. Uh, it really grounds you in the principles of advertising and, and what you should be. Um, valuing breakthrough advertising, of course, uh, very good Alchemy by Rory Sutherland. I

think one of the best marketing books ever written, uh, probably my favorite. Uh, I would highly recommend reading it. Um, but there are tons like, I mean I've already mentioned a couple in this presentation of, well, the 16 word sales letter, um, copy logic. There are an endless amount of books that you can read. So those are three things I suggest doing that take 30 minutes each on top of that, um, daily consumption of news and articles from at least four wildly different media companies. If you're working on a specific campaign that, uh, where the

audience is, um, in a specific kind of, uh, demographic who reads a particular kind of paper or magazine or, or news website, then read that a lot because that's relevant to you. But just generally I think it's a good idea to read quite broadly and to get an idea of what kinds of things people get exposed to on a regular basis. Then a weekly review of direct response fundamentals, notes. So the notes you've taken, potentially notes that you've taken from this presentation and ones that you've got from reading other things and looking at resources. Review

those every week at least once a week. Review them, revise them. Make sure you know what they are. Keep them in your mind, burn them into your brain. Next, collect and reread maxims regularly. Any kind of, um, sayings or suggestions, uh, maxims as I say that copywriting greats give to you. Write them down and reread them. That is a piece of advice directly from Gary Benga. So I hold it dear in my heart and I, um, I adhere to it. I do it as much as I can. Again, it's a weekly thing for me, usually

a daily thing. I'm always reading quotes, uh, and just trying to sear ideas into my brain and review them and match them up to what I learn in the world of advertising. And lastly, stay curious and stay empathetic. Those are the two most important things that you can do. Always be curious about things as a copywriter, you need to be, um, don't just reject something outright. Never just say, oh, I'm not investigating that anymore. Or, no, I completely disagree with you. Read into it. Um, we, uh, I dunno if anyone will remember this from our

copywriting, but we had a, uh, I can't, when we did a a panel, um, we had some people completely blast us for doing that. And assuming it was the start of a funnel and saying, no, don't, don't, um, don't watch that. Uh, you know, I wouldn't, don't like go on there. Don't go along to there cuz they're just gonna try and sell you something. Anyone who said that, um, for the most part I imagine is not gonna be a very good copywriter. Purely because if you wanna be a good copywriter and someone is selling you

something and you're suspecting that someone's gonna sell you something, you fucking go along and see what kind of techniques they use, see what strategies they're employing to sell you something. Like, I don't, I can't comprehend why you wouldn't just go along or check it out to, to see what people are doing. So please be curious about things. Don't throw money away and don't, you know, don't let twats convince you to, to spend thousands on a course cuz you, you don't really need it. Um, but be curious about things and sign in, uh, sign up to,

to funnels. Um, give your email away to lead magnets. See what companies send you and see what, um, webinars you get onto and have a look and see if you can analyze what's going on. You need to be curious about these things because you will pick up so much more by just having an open mind and allowing yourself into these funnels to immerse yourself in them. And then say, right, I'm gonna have a look at what's going on here. So please stay curious because, uh, it is honestly the fastest way to grow. And also just

stay curious about facts out there in the world and, and, and things you learn and, and conversations that people are having. Don't just reject something. Um, see where it goes. Do do some research and come up with your own opinions. Yeah, okay. I, I went on, I went on a bit much there <laugh>. Um, anyway, um, but yeah, and stay empathetic. Try to practice empathy, try to see other points of view. Um, really work hard to, to understand other people and to, to see how they feel because it is, it is the, you know, the

key to copywriting is to, to to learn how other people react to things and, and try and understand how they feel so you can meet them at that point and you can join the conversation happening in their head. So, staying curious and staying empathetic, really important. Um, thank you for watching up to this point. I'm not gonna go, I'm not gonna read all these again right now cuz I, I think I'm making it on myself. Um, just, you know, uh, take a screenshot. I'll pause a screen, read through them again, have a look at what

they say, uh, and take them to heart because if nothing else, this is the, the lessons that one person has learned over three years, um, in, in the copywriting industry.