Your Copy Sucks

I’ve been in the whole advertising scene since the end of 2021.

I’ve run campaigns for brands and businesses alike.

And I’ll tell you something.

I’ve seen good copy and bad copy and worse copy.

What do you think separated them?

If you’re thinking about : 

• Grammar

• Hooks and SL’s

• The person who wrote them

Then you couldn’t be more wrong. 

Existing copywriters preach one thing and one thing only.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

And yeah, to some extent it’s good.

But what will you do when you’ve run out of ideas to implement?

Will you keep writing the same bland copy?

How long will you write the same things for? An Eternity?

Modern day Copywriting ‘gurus’ suck because

• Times have changed and they haven’t

• Old textbook tactics no longer work

• People have upgraded

The main reason these ‘tactics’ don’t work is because people have gained a superpower.

The power to see right through an advertisement.

Back in the 1950's people had the patience to read through an entire ad space in a newspaper.

It was typically 100 words long, yet it got views and made a sale.

But today?

Attention span is less than 3 seconds.

That’s why hooks got popular in the first place. 

Nowadays, ads are no longer your textbook ads.

They are more subtle. 

You won’t know it’s an ad, until the CTA at the end. 

So what do you learn?

You need to learn to adapt to the changing times.

I’ve seen a lot and I mean a lot of copies.

Facebook and Google ad copies, email copies, website copies, I’ve seen it all and done it all.

So here’s 3 ways you can upgrade your copy infinitely. 

1. Tell your customer what your product ‘isn’t’

Instead of telling your customer what your product does, how it works…

Just tell him what it doesn’t do. Simple

You’re offering a weight loss program??

Say that your product isn’t about the regular ‘cut calories and go more to the gym’ BS

This is very effective. 

He will be thinking, 

“hmm, if this isn’t this, this and this, then it must be that”

Bang. And that’s how you sell.

2. Market Research

This should be point number #1

But, it’s all good.

If you try to feed grass to a fish what happens?

Exactly. 

Don’t kill the fish a.k.a. Your customers.

Don’t sell to the people you know nothing about. 

How hard can it be to follow that simple principle?

And yet I see emails about weight loss programs in my emails??

Like wtf??

I’m mid skinny. I need to gain weight, not lose it.

That’s how important Market Research is.

3. CTA

I cannot stress how important this is.

I need you to do something for me.

Go through all the copy you’ve ever written and check, how many times have you NOT included a CTA.

I need to know how many times you missed a sale. I’ll be reading all the replies.

When I say ‘CTA’, you don’t have to put “click this link and buy my product hehe 🤓”

NO

Don’t do that every single time. That’s how you stay broke (and a virgin)

I can agree that not all emails can have a CTA.

But you could sneak one in very silently.

For example

-----

This product has helped me out a lot in writing.

And I’ve learned a lot from their page. {link to their page}

-----

It’s that simple.

You are not forcing them to check out the page, nor are you making it too awkward.

Just put a CTA no matter how small it is.

In my experience, these 3 played a major part in my copies. 

I still use them to this day very extensively.

Now, I don’t want this to be a mental masturbation session.

So my dear friend, I need you to do something for me and for yourself also.

Use the value from this email and write one.

You might not write a perfect one in your first try, but through repetition you’ll get better.

And also yeah, send it to me.

Remember, I read all of the replies and respond to them as well.

Hope you guys enjoyed this edition like you did the last one. 

Next time, invite your friends, colleagues and maybe your Grandma.

Don’t let this sauce go to waste. 

Until next time.

Your favorite Copy-dweller

Vishal