S2. E2 - How to write better copy for your business

Today Leeha will cover the difference between copywriting with an R copywriting, with a W and content writing. 

Leeha will give you her tips on how you can write better copy for your business. That builds connections and helps convert,

The good news is you can learn to write better copy for your business by understanding a few basic copywriting principles.

If I can impart one final thought, that is words matter, regardless of the industry you're in the product you sell or the service you. The words you use for your brand, have the ability to build trust, credibility, and motivate a reader to take action.

Thanks for listening

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Transcript

When I started my business, I had no idea what copywriting actually was. In fact, as a law graduate, my understanding of copywriting was completely different. Now, even to this day, when someone asks me what I do in my business, and I say copywriting, nine times out of 10, I'm rewarded with a blank. 

So in this episode, we're going to cover the difference between copywriting with an R copywriting, with a W and content writing.  

And I'm going to give you my tips on how you can write better copy for your business. That builds connections and helps convert Readers into clients.  Let's dive in

Welcome to the real talk for women in business podcast, a podcast, all about helping women entrepreneurs take off. We share real truths, real insights, and really practical tips when it comes to juggling all things, life and business. My name is Leah Debnam and I'm the founder of Meridian digital. We work primarily with growing service-based business owners  helping them to connect with clients throughout all inclusive digital marketing packages. These include brand strategy, brand identity, website, design, and copywriting, plus a few other bits and bobs.

And of course, normally my soulful friend and colleague Nichol Stark would be right here beside me. But. We're going to be flying solo for some episodes during the season. And this is one of them. So I thought I'd start today by clarifying the difference between copywriting with an R copywriting, with a W and content writing these, as I said in the intro, it's something I get asked a lot.

So there is a legal version of copyright or copywriting, which is a bunch of legal rights designed to protect certain creative material like text music, computer programs, artistic works and films. The copyright owners have the right to prevent others from copying or communicating their material without.

Then there's copywriting, which is what I do and was the very first service that I offered in my business. Now, if you Google the definition of copywriting, you'll be presented with a really dry watered down version. That sounds a little bit like this copywriting is the activity or occupation of writing the text for advertisements or publicity material.

See boring. What I do and what I have done is so much more interesting and detailed than that definition, but we'll get into that shortly. Finally, content writing verse copywriting. What's the difference? Well, there's a big difference. Content writing is designed to educate or entertain. Now it may drive sales as well, but that's not its primary purpose.

So examples of content writing include blog posts, white papers, eBooks, or email newsletters. On the other hand, copywriting is designed to persuade the reader to take some kind of action related to what your business is selling and examples of where copywriting would be used on your website, your sales emails, across social media and pay per click advertising like Google ads, product pages, and hard copy brochures.

That might seem like an easy way to distinguish between the two, but let me tell you what copywriting is actually really about. Copywriting is so much more than just words. And I believe that good copy has three main ingredients. The first one is knowing the right words to evoke emotions in and create connections with your reader.

The second is understanding how to structure those words, phrases, and paragraphs to take the reader on a journey, but doing it in a way that they don't even realize what you're doing. And the third is using words in a way that compel them to do something that you want them to do, like buy you a new product or book a call well-written copy sells your business, your products and your services without the reader, fully realizing that they're being sold.

And that's the power of using copywriting in your business, but I bet you're wondering, well, how do I actually write good copy? Now you can be a naturally talented writer, but that doesn't mean that you can write effective copy. It's a skill that has to be low.

The good news is you can learn to write better copy for your business by understanding a few basic copywriting principles. And that's what I'm going to share with you. Now, the first is research. Before you think about putting pen to paper or opening up a fresh word document. Good copy starts with solid research and thorough preparation, regardless of whether you're selling a product or a service.

In this stage, your goal is to collect as much information as you can about the product or service you're selling, 

Including its purpose and price. And it's features and benefits. And let me just give you a heads up features are different to benefits  let me give you an example. A feature of a new mattress might be the seven support zones that distribute the pressure evenly in every sleeping position.

The benefit though? Well, that's getting a better night's sleep. It's waking up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day, head on. Now, if you're a business coach, which a lot of my clients are the feature you might be trying to sell is access to support via a messaging app in between your coaching sessions.

So that's your feature. The benefit though, is actually feeling supported and encouraged in those moments when you need it the most. Now at this point, I'd suggest creating a table that lists all of your products or services and all their features in one column. Then the big benefit to your customer in the next column, you want to undertake competitor research and have a look at what's working and what isn't working for your competitors.

And finally, the key to effective copywriting is about understanding your ideal audience. Now, this is my favorite part of the copywriting process. It's here that you want to ask yourself questions? Like what keeps my audience or my ideal clients up at night? What problems or struggles are they facing?

What are their goals? What motivates them? What are their interests? Where do they hang out online? Now you can gather a lot of this information by searching social media posts, groups, online forums and Google. But my number one tip here is to consider using voice of customer research. Now I introduced this into my copywriting process at the beginning.

Oh, maybe last year, the year before. And it's been an absolute game changer, boys of customer or VOC research is the process of discovering the wants and needs of your customers. By letting them tell you their experiences and expectations with your products in their own words. And this can be done through a simple survey to past customers or clients of about five to 10 questions.

Not only do you get juicy insight information that you can use to evaluate your products and services and inform your business strategy. You've now got a back pocket full of real life, words, and phrases that you can magically weave through your copy to make it more relatable, impactful, and persuasive to your ideal customer or client.

And I'm going to do another podcast on voice of customer data. So I'll talk you through how to actually undertake that recent. How to analyze it and how to use it in your copy. But for now here's an example. Let's take the humble and espresso machine in response to the question, how has this product or service changed your life?

The customer might say, I can now enjoy my favorite coffee from the comfort of home at half the cost. Well, at least my partner thinks that it's the, that's why he bought me an espresso machine, but it's just not quite the same as it now as a copywriter, I would take the words that that customer used and craft the following, heading your cafe favorites at home without the cafe coffee.

Do you see what I did there? I took the words that the customer had used to describe the benefits of the product and how they were feeling about using the Nespresso machine. And I turned it into a headline for my business, copy something that other people are going to relate to as well. Now some businesses might not have access to client surveys and that's perfectly fine.

You can also get access to your ideal clients, voice through review mining. And the best part is  you can gather a lot of words and phrases by just spending 30 minutes. Looking at Google reviews left on businesses that sell a similar product or service.

Now writing your copy comes next. And the world of copywriting is made up of formulas and techniques that help you structure your writing in a way that makes it more compelling.  Let's dive into possibly the most popular, the pain or problem agitate solve, or pass a P a S.

And it can also be known as problem agitate solution. This classic copywriting formula can be used for all types of marketing from websites, sales pages, to emails and flies , and even product descriptions with a good handle on the pain or problem that your ideal client is experiencing.

And what's leading them to your business effective copy or tap into the emotions that your ideal client is experiencing. Let's talk about the first part of that formula pain. Now, the first part is really about acknowledging the pain that they're going through and doing it in such a way that when they read your copy, they feel like you're speaking directly to them, that you really understand what they're going through or what they're facing.

And it's at this point that people are starting to build trust with you and your brand. Next comes agitate. Now this part of the formula is really about digging just that little bit deeper into their emotions and how they feel. 

You've acknowledged the problem. Now you want to gently stir that pot with some of the emotions, irritation, and frustrations that they're currently. And I use the word gently on purpose. This is not about fear mongering. The last thing you want to do is to take part of this formula too far and risk turning your reader off altogether.

So the final part of that formula is solve or solution. Now you're going to show them a way out of their pain or their problem, their emotions, while they are a little heightened, they want to escape. They want change. Now you can convince them that your solution, your product or your service is that way out.

It's exactly what they've been searching for. And if you've taken the time to do your voice of customer research, which I know you will, you're using the above formula with their words and the phrases that they've used to describe their pain. What makes that pain worse and what their dream state or their happy state looks and feels like once that pain has been removed or their problem solved by your product or service?

Of course. So I want to walk you through a really short example here of how to use this formula. The first is an example for a service-based business. Specifically, a life coach  is a lack of confidence holding you back. That's the pain or the problem.

You're not alone. Millions of people admit to lacking the confidence. They need to live a life. They dream of. You could stay that way. You could live a satisfying, but unfulfilling life, always wishing, but never doing the agitate part. But why do that instead break free and have the confidence to live your best life with one on one life coaching. That's the solution. Now I know that there's a lot of business owners out there listening to this podcast that also sell products. So I've got another example of what you. Here we go.

Remember the time you're still letters got stuck in the turf pain. Oh, the embarrassment. Not to mention the damage to your favorite pair of pumps. That's the agitate. Our heel stoppers are your secret weapon. Perfect. For the races, garden parties and weddings say goodbye to heel sinking interf forever solution.

Now, these are just two short examples, but the past formula can be used to structure your website, copy your emails and so much more. And that's just one formula. There are many, many others, and there's a great   resource that I'll link to in the show notes by copy hackers, which gives you the complete guide to copywriting formulas.

Oh, you can just Google the complete guide to copywriting formulas. I can guarantee you. Copy hackers is going to come up.

Interestingly, I've spent the last 12 months completing a variety of courses in copy school, which is a big copywriting course over in the United States. And despite all the copywriting formulas, the past formula or the attention interest desire, action, or ADA formula, where the ones referred to most often, regardless of the type of copywriting undertaking.

 And this brings us to the end of this episode on the power of good copy. But if I can impart one final comment before I go, that is words matter, regardless of the industry you're in the product you sell or the service you. The words you use for your brand, have the ability to build trust, credibility, and motivate a reader to take action.

I really hope that you found today useful. And I would love to know whether or not you've taken it upon yourself to use some of the tips and tricks that I've shared with you today to improve the copy for your business.

That's all for now.

Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed today's show, don't forget to leave a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google podcasts, or wherever you are listening from. It will help other people just like you find us to be notified when our next episode is released. Be sure to hit subscribe. And finally, if you've got a burning question or topic, you'd like us to cover, please email us@realtalkdotwibatgmail.com. We would love to hear from you until next time. Keep smiling and take care.