7 Rules for Writing Better.

There are a lot of things you need to know and do as a copywriter that apply broadly across just about anything you are hired to write, whether that’s top of funnel content, bottom of funnel sales copy or anything in between. So this segment will cover this general writing advice by topic. Let’s start with…

Rule #1: Keep things simple. This goes along with what we were saying in the last segment about writing at a 5th grade level. You should avoid long words, and use short words when you can. Some examples… 

Instead of “frequently”, write “often”. Instead of “component”, write “part”. Instead of “visualize”, write “see”. Instead of “commence” you might write, “start.” We’re not sharing these words in particular as the words you need to change out, but rather as examples of the kinds of words you’ll want to simplify. There are hundreds of them.

And by the way, this isn’t a hard and fast rule. Sometimes a longer word is the right word to use. But as you edit your writing, look for words longer than 5 or six letters and think about whether there are better options to use.

The same is true for complex sentences. Long run-on sentences should be broken up into two or more shorter sentences. But that doesn’t mean you should only write with short sentences. Good writing features sentences of different lengths. Some short. Like that one. And that one. And some will be a bit longer, like this one. What you don’t want is a sentence like the opening line of Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities, which you’ll recognize… 

​​“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of the noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

That sentence has 16 commas and an em dash—all of which indicate places the writer could have stopped. Now that may work for Dickens, but you’re not writing 18th Century prose. You’re writing copy that needs to keep readers engaged. And long sentences that go on and on are not a good copy practice.

What is true of words and sentences is also true of paragraphs. Break them up so your reader can make their way through your copy more easily. When writing copy that will be read on a phone screen, some writers even break each sentence into their own paragraphs because that can make them more readable on a small screen.

The rule here is to write simple, uncomplicated, easy to understand. But that doesn’t mean your copy should be simplistic or dumbed down. Your reader is not stupid. So your hooks, headlines, and leads should be interesting, attention grabbing, and compelling. But not wordy and complex.

Rule #2 Use specifics, not generalities. This is something that copywriters at all experience levels seem to struggle with. It’s so easy to default to generalities, that we tend to do it way too often.

Consider the following two headlines. Which is better? Or more believable?

Save time with this time hacks course.

Save 47 minutes every day with the 5 Effective Habits Course.

Neither one of these headlines will win any awards, but the second is far more specific about the benefit the customer will get. When you write save time, it raises the question: how much time? A few minutes? Hours? Weeks? But the specific promise: Save 47 minutes is specific enough that the reader can see exactly what they’ll get every day.

And the specificity of the course name is also significantly better. How many time hacks? 3? 20? Specificity is better: 5 Effective Habits.

One way to ensure you are specific in your writing is to assign a number to any claim. Like the example above. Or this bit of social proof I found on a newsletter this week…

Loved by thousands of subscribers.

Loved by 53,235 weekly readers.

Again, the second example is more believable and compelling.

So when should you be specific? Any time you are promising an outcome, be specific about what will happen, how big, how fast, how much—put a number on it. Don’t exaggerate, but don’t shy away from specific promises.

Rule #3: What you write must be believable. It should also be true. But these two things are not the same. There are a lot of true things that just aren’t believable. And there are a lot of untrue things that readers might believe. Your copy must be both believable and true.

The product or brand you are writing about may do some amazing things. Maybe your new stock trading platform saves customers tens of thousands of dollars a year. Maybe your protein shake really does help you lose 20 pounds or more in 12 days. Maybe the brain game app really does help prevent Alheimer’s Disease. But the problem is most consumers have heard promises like these before and they weren’t true then. So they don’t believe them now. It doesn’t matter if it’s true, it has to be believable. In this course, we’ll show you several ways to back up claims with proof. Those suggestions will help, but keep in mind that if it sounds outrageous, readers will believe that it is outrageous.

Rule #4: Write with emotion. This is true whether you write content, copy or anything else. Good copywriters use emotional language to intrigue and captivate. Emotion can make products, services and the outcomes they produce far more desirable. Emotional copy can help readers feel and understand the problems they have, and it can show that you as a writer (or the brand behind the product you’re selling) empathize with them. Some specific emotions you may be able to trigger with your copy include: fear, anger, sadness, joy, surprise, anticipation, trust, and disgust. Think back to the research documents you got as part of Research Mastery. You identified the beliefs that your reader has now as well as the beliefs they need in order to take action or buy your product. Knowing this will help you identify which emotions to trigger with your copy. We’ll go into greater depth on how to add emotion to your copy in the next segment of this module.

Rule #5: Show, AND tell. To make your copy more interesting, don’t just tell your reader about your product or what is happening, show what’s happening with a story or a demonstration. 

Let’s say you are writing for a product that can completely eliminate knee pain. You could write:

PainAway Balm completely illuminates knee pain. That’s a promise and a benefit your customers want.

Or you could tell a story about how before using PainAway you struggled to get out of bed, walking to get the mail was a struggle, and even the thought of playing tennis or wrestling with your grandkids would stop you in your tracks from fear of the pain you would suffer afterwards. But now, after using PainAway for three days, the difference is remarkable. You’re not yet playing tennis, but you walked around the block twice with no pain and tomorrow you’ve got a short hike to the lake planned.

Telling the story helps put the product into a life context your reader can relate to. 

But the real power is putting the two together… the simple statement that tells what the product does then backs it up with the added customer experience story. They work together to make your copy stronger. In fact, be “telling” the promise with short, simple language, your reader doesn’t have to figure out what the story or experience implies. 

There’s a famous video of Joe Ades, who has been called the best salesman in the world. We’ve included the video in your course materials. Notice as you watch, Joe demonstrates or shows how his product works. But he does a lot of telling along the way. He says, “It makes great fries.” That’s telling. Then he demonstrates how to use the peeler to carve out fries. That’s showing. Why are they so good? He says, “Because the fries have three sides and use less oil.” That’s telling. Then he shows you the potato cut with three sides. That’s showing. Together they make a more powerful pitch.

Your copy needs to do the same thing. Show AND tell.

Rule #6: Choose a villain. This may not work for every brand or product, but it should be clear not just what your brand stands for, but also what it stands against. 

Apple made the PC its villain starting in 1984 with its first ad for Macintosh and continuing for years in various campaigns. They made it clear that their product was different from the bland, beige desktop machines used by the masses in the 90s. Patagonia has chosen consumerism and Black Friday as its villain, telling people not to buy its clothing on the day after Christmas (a campaign which ironically increased its sales by almost 400%). Liquid Death, a ridiculously manly canned water brand, has made thirst its enemy. 

Sometimes the villain is a competitor like Coke and Pepsi, or Avis and Hertz. Other times it’s the problem your brand or product fixes. An example of this is AllState Insurance’s villain: Mayhem, which is always lurking, ready to cause problems that cut-rate insurance doesn’t cover. And sometimes it’s an enemy your customers already have identified in their lives: a pain or problem they want to fix.

Calling out your villain helps show that you understand your readers’ worldview. And it makes it clear exactly what you’re fighting for—and against.

Rule #7: Solve a Problem. This may be the most important rule of all—and it’s true of top of funnel content and bottom of funnel sales copy. You need to solve your reader’s problem. 

If they need information, you have to give it to them and show them how it solves their immediate need to learn something. If they need a product or service, you’ve got to show them how the product solves their problem and make it easy for them to get it.

The bigger and more urgent the problem, the easier it is to get your reader to take action. This is often explained with the metaphor of selling vitamins or selling painkillers. Vitamins are nice. They keep you healthy. They ward off all kinds of diseases and deficiencies. Everyone should take vitamins every day, so it seems as if vitamins would be easy to sell. But they’re not (at least to most audiences). Because there’s little or no urgency with vitamins. If you miss a day, you won’t feel a difference. In fact, you can miss a month or two, and most people won’t feel a difference.

But painkillers are different. Pain is immediate. It can be debilitating. And if it’s bad enough, someone suffering from pain will do just about anything to end it. Immediately. If you don’t take a painkiller now, you’ll keep feeling it. Often the pain will get worse. It’s the kind of thing a customer needs to fix now to continue on with their life. And they’ll pay a lot for the cure.

Other marketers have referred to the painkiller problem as a “bleeding neck” problem. If your neck is bleeding, you need to get it fixed now or you will die. That demand for urgency can make all the difference in how interested your customer is in your copy and ultimately how your product sells.

As a copywriter, you need to find the painkiller problem your product or service fixes. This isn’t always easy. If your product is a “nice to have” vitamin type product, you’ll sell a few now and then. But if it’s a “gotta fix it now” painkiller product, you’ll sell a lot of it now.