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25 Years of Copywriting Advice in 25 Minutes — Transcript

by Joanna Wiebe · 4,785 words · 746 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00These are the 25 master copywriting
0:02principles your boss doesn't know, your
0:04MBA program never taught you, and the
0:07manual way of trial and error will take
0:09you decades to figure out. I've [music]
0:11spent 25 years in the trenches as a
0:13copywriter working at agencies and with
0:15big brands like Shopify and Canva. I've
0:17trained an army of 10,000 copywriters
0:21and I figured out the secret principles
0:23that have generated millions and
0:24millions in revenue and built my entire
0:26career. So, these are my secrets. 25
0:30principles to become a master
0:32copywriter. The first principle is that
0:34copywriting isn't actually [music]
0:36writing. The line is, copywriting isn't
0:38writing, it's selling. This concept was
0:40made famous by the very famous marketing
0:43agency Ogilvy in a print ad they did for
0:45Rolls-Royce where the headline was, at
0:4860 mph, the loudest noise in the new
0:51Rolls-Royce comes from [music] the
0:52electric clock. Headline was famously
0:54elegant. Why? Because it was selling
0:57without looking like selling. And that's
0:59exactly what great copywriting [music]
1:01does. Every detail in something that
1:03you're writing needs to be secretly
1:04selling. Great design should be
1:05invisible and so should great copy.
1:07Remember that the [music] next time
1:09you're writing literally anything.
1:11You're not writing, you're selling.
1:13Principle number two is to always hook
1:15someone with the problem. It doesn't
1:17even have to be hot out. My armpits are
1:19always wet. No, that's not a personal
1:21statement of mine. What that is is a
1:23hook. That's a real hook that my team
1:25and I used on the homepage of
1:26Sweatblock, a company we worked with.
1:28And that was the winning headline, but
1:30it's not the first one we tried. We
1:31tried an initial headline that led with
1:34the product benefits. But the one that
1:36beat it was this [music] one because it
1:38focused on a problem. We got to that
1:41problem statement from mining Amazon
1:43reviews and the exact language that
1:45customers [music] were using. We got a
1:47108%
1:48paid lift in revenue for this, all from
1:51leading with the problem. We also pushed
1:53the call to action several scrolls down
1:55the page, which is supposed to be bad,
1:57but when somebody is hooked immediately
1:59[music] by the problem at the top of the
2:00page, they nod along with the copy and
2:02want to scroll down [music] to read
2:04more. Just like when you feel so good
2:06when your friend or family member
2:08[music] or your team resonates with your
2:10problem, remember that. When you're
2:12writing, you should try to [music] put
2:13your brain in the mind of the customer
2:15and talk to them directly through the
2:16problem they're experiencing. Match the
2:18conversation going on in their heads.
2:20The next principle is one you've
2:22probably never heard. Always use the
2:24first person and always use quotation
2:26marks in your headlines. I love
2:28>> [music]
2:28>> this example. The headline here is I
2:31never read The Economist, and the
2:32subheading under it says, [music]
2:35"Management Trainee, 42." You think you
2:37know why it works, but check this out.
2:39What's so great about this headline
2:41[music] is it's an early identity
2:43marketing play. It's positioning the
2:45product as the enemy of underperformers,
2:48which makes the product the ally of high
2:50performers. Now, that's good. Here's
2:52what makes it freaking great. The reader
2:54can consumes the message like a
2:56five-word story. When it's in [music]
2:58the first person and in quotation marks,
3:00it triggers in our minds the idea of
3:02dialogue. Dialogue in a story we're
3:04dropped into. An entire story with just
3:06those words. Now, to use this, make
3:09yourself an ally for your ideal buyer.
3:11Figure out their enemy, align against
3:13them, write a page or email that does
3:15that. Then, rewrite your headline so
3:17it's in the first person and in
3:19quotation marks. Keep the message the
3:21same, the copy changes. The fourth
3:24principle is all about why you should
3:26use your customer's language. If you
3:28think you need rehab, you do. This is a
3:30very famous headline in the copywriting
3:32world because it uses the audience's own
3:35language in actual advertising. [music]
3:36Now, here's how we got to this headline.
3:38We looked for books on Amazon about
3:4112-step [music] programs to deal with
3:43overcoming alcoholism, and then we would
3:44read the reviews. Now, that line was
3:46pulled straight [music] from a review.
3:48If you think you need rehab, you do.
3:50Now, whenever I say this, people get mad
3:52at me. They're like, "Joe, you can't
3:54just go through customer feedback and
3:55pick and choose random lines to write
3:57your ads." Yes, you can. That's exactly
4:00what great copywriting is. Using the
4:01language of a customer will always win.
4:04If you want to learn how, grab a seat in
4:06Copy School. There's [music] a link in
4:08the description. So, the next time
4:10you're writing copy, look on Reddit
4:11threads, on X, even in Instagram
4:13comments to see how the audience is
4:16actually speaking about what you're
4:17trying to write about. But, there's a
4:20trap here, and the next principle will
4:22tell you how to avoid it. Principle
4:23number five is next, and it tackles
4:25[music] the trap most people fall into
4:27when they're using the customer's
4:28language. You've got to find the
4:30standout line. This trick is looking
4:33[music] for the standout lines from what
4:35your customers have said directly. And
4:37don't be fooled into thinking [music]
4:38that it's enough to just use the voice
4:40of your customer like we did in the
4:41previous step. When I tell most people
4:43to do that, [music] they think, "Hey,
4:45it's easy." And they look for the
4:46unanimous average line that everyone
4:49agrees on. But, you need to be hunting
4:51for the weirdest, the most unexpected
4:54line in the data set that makes someone
4:57stop scrolling. The framework is that
4:59message is the what, copy is the how.
5:02It's how you say it. [music] To try this
5:03out, when reviewing your customer's
5:05words, separate your takeaways into two
5:08buckets. The first bucket is the
5:10message. It's the repeated themes.
5:12That's really going to be your offer
5:13angle. What's the stuff you hear a lot?
5:15That goes in bucket A. The second bucket
5:18is the copy bucket. It's the standout
5:20lines, phrases, and sentences that no
5:22one in the boardroom would come up with,
5:24which will become your actual headlines
5:26[music] and copy. That's bucket B. Use
5:29your customer's own weird, outlandish,
5:31seemingly bananas language for the hook
5:33to pull them in. For example, big bum,
5:36thick waist, not so perky boobs. That is
5:38very unexpected language for a homepage
5:41headline. It's what real people said,
5:43and when we used it as a headline, it
5:45helped grow the fashion app We wrote it
5:47for. The sixth principle is to always
5:50join the conversation already happening
5:52inside your prospect's head. You're not
5:53you when you're hungry. This line is one
5:56that I'm sure you've heard before. It's
5:57from a Snickers campaign that has become
5:59legendary. This campaign didn't star
6:01ingredients or like how big the bar was.
6:04It wasn't focused on the product itself.
6:05Instead, it started with a universal
6:07human truth that everyone has
6:09experienced firsthand. [music] When you
6:11get hungry, your personality completely
6:13changes. Now, by anchoring the entire
6:15campaign to an intimate condition the
6:17prospect already knows to be true. The
6:19product naturally becomes the only
6:22logical resolution to the problem. So,
6:24to copy this genius principle, don't
6:26waste [music] time trying to create a
6:28brand new concept in your customer's
6:30mind. Identify the internal dialogue,
6:33the narrative, the frustration they're
6:35already obsessing over [music] today and
6:37meet them right there and position your
6:39offer as the solution. You will often
6:42find this in voice of customer data.
6:44Principle number seven is to hold up a
6:46mirror, not your product. Think back to
6:48the famous real beauty sketches campaign
6:50for Dove in the 90s and 2000s. They put
6:53In one ad, they put women in a room with
6:55a forensic sketch artist and had each
6:58woman describe [music] their own faces
6:59from behind a curtain. Now, predictably,
7:02the women were brutally hard on
7:03themselves. [music] Then strangers came
7:05in and described the same woman. The
7:07second sketches were dramatically
7:08happier and actually way more accurate.
7:11The entire campaign [music] barely
7:13showed the product soap. It was built
7:15around reflecting the customer's
7:17self-perception, both their current
7:18insecurities and their true or
7:20aspirational self. Most marketers
7:23scream, "Look at our product. Look at
7:24how cool it is." And you can't help
7:26yourself from doing that, but great
7:27copywriters [music] point the spotlight
7:29back at the customer. Before you explain
7:31what your product does, because [music]
7:32they don't care yet, hold up a mirror so
7:35that your customer can see themselves
7:37reflected on the page. And that
7:38recognition right there will make them
7:41open to buying the product. Principle
7:43number eight, don't sell a better mouse
7:46trap, sell a bigger, scarier mouse. Back
7:48in the 1920s, Listerine was sold as a
7:51floor cleaner and surgical antiseptic.
7:53Sales were pretty flat until they took
7:55the obscure medical term halitosis and
7:58turned bad breath into a terrifying
8:00social and romantic disaster. The
8:02Library of Congress even holds original
8:05anti-halitosis ads because of how wildly
8:08effective this strategy was. The
8:10takeaway is that Listerine didn't win by
8:11saying our mouthwash tastes better. They
8:14won by taking a seemingly tiny,
8:16unnoticed problem and dimensionalizing
8:18it into a total social catastrophe that
8:21demanded a solution. If your offer feels
8:23hard to sell, stop trying to make
8:26[music] your solution sound 10% better.
8:28Instead, frame the underlying problem as
8:30something far more urgent, costly, or
8:33even embarrassing to ignore. Principle
8:35number nine is to not just state the
8:37problem, but show the lived experience.
8:39[music]
8:40Now, everyone has heard of Poo-Pourri.
8:42It's in your bathroom at home or it's at
8:44your office. It makes the bathroom smell
8:46better and some people swear by this,
8:48even keep a little travel-size bottle
8:50handy. But, Poo-Pourri did not launch
8:52with boring claims about essential
8:54[music] oil barrier technology and why
8:56the product works so well. They did the
8:58girls don't poop video campaign,
9:00plunging headfirst into the most
9:03mortifying, highly relatable social
9:05situations imaginable in the funniest
9:07way possible. This worked because they
9:10depicted the ridiculous, but very real
9:12lived experience that people went
9:14through [music] every single day. The
9:15amazing script that drove the
9:18unapologetically human campaign is yet
9:20another example of copy that just nails
9:22[music]
9:23the lived experience. Your market is
9:25probably filled with a ton of boring
9:28messages and your audience [music] could
9:29use a break. What is your interesting
9:31angle? What does the market wish
9:33>> [music]
9:33>> you would say? Find it. Show that real
9:37lived experience, whether it's funny or
9:38upsetting or sad. Don't be afraid to get
9:40into it. Principle number 10 is to sell
9:42the [music] dream. If you're given a
9:44choice to sell to someone who has a
9:45dream or someone who doesn't have a
9:46dream, choose the person who has the
9:48dream. Now, this doesn't have to be a
9:49huge [music] fantastic dream. I'll give
9:51you an example using this line. They
9:52laughed when I sat down at the piano,
9:54but when I started to play. [music] This
9:56famous headline was written by John
9:58Caples in 1926 and is held by the
10:01Smithsonian [music]
10:02as one of the most famous ads of all
10:04time. It opens on the potential
10:06humiliation of a guy sitting down at a
10:08piano while his friends are giggling
10:10[music] and it turns into an incredible
10:12moment of underdog triumph when he
10:14starts to play and everyone's like,
10:16"What? I didn't know you could play."
10:18What this line did is tap into [music]
10:19the aspiration of knowing that you as a
10:22person could be in this situation. You
10:24could actually wow your friends if you
10:26took the music lessons [music] that were
10:27being sold here. Always tap into the
10:29transformational dream behind the
10:31purchase. Pitch the feeling of walking
10:33into the room and winning over the
10:35doubters, not just the features of the
10:37course or the product itself. Principle
10:39number 11 is to always remove the blame
10:41from your customer's shoulders. One of
10:43my favorite campaigns is the Like a Girl
10:45campaign. For decades, throwing or
10:47running like a girl was actually used as
10:50an insult, [music] but the brand always
10:52took that deep-seated insult, completely
10:54flipped the narrative, and validated
10:56young women by turning the phrase into a
10:57statement of empowerment. [music]
10:58The learning is that most customers
11:00carry weird feelings, guilt, shame,
11:03anxiety about their [music] failures,
11:05social expectations. Great copy can
11:07reassure them that everything they're
11:09doing is right. The world doesn't get
11:10it, but the brand speaking to you right
11:12now gets you. [music] When introducing
11:14your product's backstory, explicitly
11:16relieve your prospect's unpleasant
11:18feelings. [music] Remember that
11:19advertising is all about selling
11:21happiness. Principle number 12 is that
11:23you must create a name both a problem
11:25mechanism and a solution mechanism.
11:27[music]
11:28Famous infomercials from your childhood
11:31and even some companies like [music]
11:32Scrub Daddy and Sham Wow, they were able
11:34to capture attention so well because
11:36they don't just sell a problem and a
11:38solution. They sell through a problem
11:41mechanism and a solution mechanism. So,
11:44the mattress company Purple is a really
11:46great example [music] of this. Purple
11:47didn't just say, "Our mattress breathes
11:49well." They explicitly named their
11:51unique construction mechanism and showed
11:53a raw egg being dropped on it without
11:56breaking. [music] The demonstration is
11:57amazing. The problem mechanism is how
12:00the problem is created in the category.
12:02[music] Give it a name. The solution
12:05mechanism is how your solution uniquely
12:08solves the problem. Give it a name, too.
12:11Purple named their advanced technology a
12:13trademarkable term, GelFlex Grid. When
12:17you name it, people ask for it by name.
12:20That's where lasting [music] brand value
12:22is. Name everything. Every methodology,
12:25process, system, your departments in
12:26your business, your cart, your checkout.
12:28This sounds ridiculous, [music] but
12:29naming is wildly powerful. Definitely
12:33name your solution mechanism. Then keep
12:35naming, naming, naming. We name
12:36variations in our split tests. We name
12:38campaigns. We name launches. Name
12:41everything. Principle number 13 is to
12:43take the cap off, which essentially
12:45means never make anything feel like
12:48work. In Mad Men, Betty Draper is on set
12:50filming a Coca-Cola commercial. Right
12:52before they roll, the director steps in
12:54and takes the cap off the bottle. Why
12:56did he do this? [music] Because showing
12:58her struggle to open it introduces
13:00friction nobody needs. The takeaway is
13:03to not make anything look remotely
13:06difficult. [music] Life is supposed to
13:07get infinitely easier with your product.
13:10Your copy needs to make that promise
13:11with every [music]
13:13easy-to-nod-with word. Now, you may not
13:16be on the set of a Coca-Cola commercial,
13:17but this lesson applies to everyday
13:19things you'll work on in your business.
13:22Audit your calls to action. [music]
13:23Audit your sign-up flows. Are you
13:24telling people things they don't need to
13:26hear yet or need to hear ever, take the
13:29cap off. Principle number 14 [music] is
13:31a technique the legendary direct
13:34response copywriters taught us all, list
13:36offer copy. A lot of people will often
13:38jump straight to, let's change the copy,
13:40but nope, it's probably not that. First,
13:42you need [music] to ask, are we
13:43targeting the right people? Your list is
13:46everything and by list, I mean traffic.
13:48Who are you speaking to? Start there.
13:51Then comes the offer. What are you
13:53offering and does [music] your list care
13:55and want that? How can you optimize or
13:57modify the offer to make the list care?
14:00Only when you've nailed list and offer
14:02should you think about moving on to
14:04copy. Dollar Shave Club nailed list and
14:07offer in their famous our blades are
14:09great [music] campaign. That
14:11made writing killer copy infinitely
14:13easier for them. Now, this is why
14:15homepages suck so much because they get
14:17all sorts of random traffic on them and
14:19your headline becomes this like void
14:21vacant BS [music]
14:23six-word line trying to work for
14:25everybody. If the list is wrong,
14:27changing the copy can't fix it. [music]
14:29If the list is good, then you fix the
14:32offer. Then and only then do you work on
14:35the copy. So, when someone says, "This
14:37campaign isn't working, let's fix the
14:38copy." Pause. If you need confidence
14:41doing this, check out the description
14:42for our links to our group coaching.
14:44Principle number 15 is that an offer is
14:47not a discount. A lot of people think
14:49that an offer is just a discount and
14:50that spending less will make someone
14:52want to buy. That is not true. The
14:55deeper psychological layer is that an
14:57offer is [music] actually meant to have
15:00baked-in ways to neutralize the
15:02customer's anxiety about the purchase.
15:05Look at Domino's very famous 30-minute
15:07proposition. It wasn't 20% off, it was
15:10an offer built to destroy anxiety around
15:13time and uncertainty. Or take my friend
15:16Bob messed up. He worked with a condo
15:18building in Detroit that was trying
15:19[music] to sell half-million-dollar
15:21units to empty nesters who weren't
15:23buying, but it was not a price issue he
15:25discovered. Bob talked to these empty
15:28nesters and realized that they didn't
15:30want the second bedroom that came in the
15:32condo. They wanted a dining room for
15:34hosting their family. So, what did he
15:36do? Bob actually increased the price of
15:38the condos, added storage next door for
15:40their downsizing clutter, and had the
15:43builder turn the guest [music] bedrooms
15:45into dining rooms. The building at the
15:48higher price sold out instantly. [music]
15:51Now, when we connect this back to list
15:52offer copy, Bob talked to the exact
15:55[music] list. He optimized the offer for
15:57their specific anxiety, and by that
15:59point, the copy, what the salesperson
16:02said, wrote itself. So, [music] stop
16:03slashing your prices. Talk to your
16:05customers. Find out what specific
16:07friction or anxiety is keeping them from
16:09saying yes, and rebuild your offer
16:12>> [music]
16:12>> to wipe that anxiety away. Principle
16:14number 16 is to hook fast, but don't
16:16confuse fast [music] and short. People
16:18tend to think you have to keep copy
16:20short to hook people quickly. That's
16:21false. [music] Look at Volkswagen's
16:24famous lemon ad. Yes, the hook was
16:26instant. The word lemon paired with the
16:28image took half a second to read and
16:30[music] understand everything that was
16:31going on, but it was then followed by
16:34165
16:35words of copy that people read. Those
16:38165
16:40words were necessary to give you a
16:41genuine reason to walk into the
16:43dealership and buy the car. What you
16:45want to do is hook them fast, and then
16:47allow whatever space is actually
16:50required to get into [music] it. Focus
16:52on making your initial hook lightning
16:54fast to grab attention, but don't shy
16:56away from long form copy underneath it
16:58to get [music] them to take action.
17:00Principle number 17 is next, and it's
17:02that your hook dictates your copy
17:05framework. This famous print ad worked
17:07because it used the AIDA framework:
17:09attention, [music] interest, desire,
17:11action. Don't buy this jacket is a hook
17:14that grabs attention. Then the copy
17:16builds interest, [music] converts that
17:17interest into desire for the product,
17:19and then goes in for the call to action.
17:21Now, Patagonia sold 40% to as many as
17:2460% more jackets that Black Friday with
17:27this ad. Find your hook in voice of
17:30customer [music] data. Then you choose a
17:32copywriting framework based on the hook.
17:35So, copywriting frameworks are things
17:37like PAS, problem agitation solution. If
17:40your hook is about a problem, PAS will
17:42probably work for the copy you're
17:44writing. [music]
17:45Desire obstacle solution, DOS. If your
17:47hook speaks to a desirable outcome,
17:50choose [music] DOS to architect your
17:52copy. Don't fall into the trap of just
17:54like picking a framework out of thin air
17:56or not using one at all. Principle
17:58number 18 is that copy is [music]
18:00assembled, it is not written. This is a
18:03huge principle from the late great
18:05Eugene Schwartz, [music] and it's how I
18:06write, too. You don't sit around trying
18:08to be creative and write copy from
18:10scratch. You take raw voice of customer
18:12data or VOC, [music] and you organize it
18:14inside framework. So, I have two
18:16monitors. On the one in front of me is a
18:18Google Doc, on the other is a big
18:20spreadsheet [music] called a message
18:21matrix in which I've organized voice of
18:23customer. I find my hook in that VOC, I
18:27choose my framework accordingly as we
18:29just covered, and I write the framework
18:31out on the page. Then I copy and paste
18:33VOC from the sheet into the framework.
18:36We want to use the word [music]
18:37"assemble" really strongly here because
18:39a customer is actually assembled by the
18:42copy you write. [music] Great
18:44copywriters know this. You organize your
18:46messaging in a precise order to move
18:48prospects through their psychological
18:51journey. [music]
18:52So, treat copywriting like an assembly
18:54line. Map out your framework, [music]
18:56gather VOC data, and assemble it all
18:59into place instead of just like trying
19:01to invent [music] sentences from thin
19:03air. My book, The Copy Selling System,
19:05covers this end to end. Principle number
19:0719 is that you must move people through
19:10five stages of awareness one stage at a
19:13time. If you're newer to the copywriting
19:15world, there are five key stages of
19:18awareness. Unaware, problem aware,
19:20solution or category aware, product
19:22aware, and then most aware. Now, here's
19:25the [music] key. Buying only happens in
19:27the product aware and most aware stages.
19:29It does not happen before that. You
19:32can't just take someone who clicked on
19:33an ad about some random topic, drop them
19:36somewhere on a sales page, [music] and
19:38hope they buy. You have to know what
19:40stage of awareness they were in [music]
19:43based on the ad that they clicked. So,
19:44if an ad moved them to the middle of
19:46problem aware, your page must join them
19:49right at the middle of [music] problem
19:51aware and walk them to the next stage.
19:54So, audit where your traffic is coming
19:55from [music] for different landing
19:57pages. Identify the exact stage of
19:59awareness when they land on your page,
20:01and then rewrite it so the copy takes
20:03them to the immediate next stage instead
20:06of forcing a premature sale. Principle
20:08number 20 is to use formulas. Some copy
20:11is creative, but 99% of it is not. It's
20:15an ad or a page or [music] an email.
20:17Businesses produce so much copy every
20:21single day. If you treated all as a
20:23creative exercise like a Super Bowl ad,
20:25your boss is going to be frustrated.
20:27What you want is formulas that make your
20:29copy [music] great. For example, the
20:31even if formula. That goes like this.
20:33Achieve benefit even if you, and then
20:36you insert the difficulty. So, you find
20:38what your prospect wants and then what
20:40their objection is. Then you put even if
20:42between them like quadruple your meta ad
20:45performance even [music] if you spend
20:47less than $25 a day on ads. Formulas are
20:50polishing tools to make raw customer
20:52data sound better, sharper, and more
20:54persuasive. [music] We wrote the
20:55definitive guide to copywriting formulas
20:58a decade ago, and still holds up because
21:01this stuff is timeless. There's a link
21:03to the post in the description. [music]
21:04You should definitely train your AI on
21:06it. Principle number 21 is to be sweaty.
21:09Marketers write by committee, which
21:11[music] produces corporate, polished,
21:13hands-off copy that nobody notices. This
21:15[music] is not an exaggeration. This is
21:18the norm in established businesses. But,
21:20look at the brands you get most excited
21:23about. Their copy is actually sweaty.
21:25They are trying so so so so so so hard.
21:29Dollar Shave Club, Poopourri, Liquid
21:32Death, they all launched with a bang.
21:34They tried way too hard to get noticed,
21:37and it worked, and then they got big,
21:39and then it got [music] diluted. It's so
21:40sad. Legendary copywriter John Caples
21:43actually embarrassed his mother and
21:45father, who were New York socialites,
21:47with his aggressive, try-hard copy.
21:49[music] But, that copy changed the face
21:51of advertising and 100x the businesses
21:55that Caples wrote for. When we wrote
21:58brand-voice heavy copy for engineer
22:00[music] placement service Lemon, it made
22:02some people cringe. But, who cares about
22:04them? It was huge for the Lemon
22:06business. So, stop trying to be cool.
22:09Stop trying to be elegant. Put your
22:12hustle on the page. And, when someone
22:14tries to water down your sweaty-ass
22:17copy, stand up for it. Unless your brand
22:20is dominating in your space, you cannot
22:24afford to produce [music] bland copy
22:25that everyone feels fine about. Go be
22:28sweaty. Be eager. Try harder. That's the
22:31job. Principle number 22 is that [music]
22:33extreme specificity makes readers
22:36visually see themselves inside your
22:38copy.
22:39>> [music]
22:39>> Guess which phrase sold more cars: at 60
22:42mph or it travels at high speeds
22:44quietly. These two lines are from
22:46Ogilvy's Rolls-Royce ad. And, here's the
22:48line that they went with: At 60 mph, the
22:51loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce
22:53comes from the [music] electric clock.
22:55We talked about this earlier. Notice the
22:57specificity. Not fast speeds, but 60
22:59mph. [music]
23:01Not it's quiet, but the loudest noise
23:03comes from the electric clock. Vague
23:06claims trigger skepticism and pass
23:08through the brain without leaving an
23:10image. Specific numbers, [music]
23:12precise times, concrete sensory details
23:16force the reader's brain [music] to
23:17visualize the scene. To try this out,
23:19replace every general adjective or round
23:22number in your copy with precise data,
23:24exact [music] times, and concrete
23:26imagery you can see with your eyes
23:28closed. If you follow my earlier advice
23:31to swipe all of your copy from your
23:33customer's language, this part will
23:35already be done for you. Principle
23:36number 23 is that you must explicitly
23:39[music] prove every claim. Whenever you
23:41need to prove something, try the PCPO
23:45framework. So, the PCPO framework is
23:47this: problem, cure, proof, outcome, or
23:51sometimes offer. State their problem,
23:53present your cure,
23:55solution, immediately follow it with
23:57proof as in a testimonial or
23:59demonstration that is validating that
24:01cure, and then show the outcome or
24:04present the offer. This is why dumping a
24:06wall of random testimonials at the
24:09bottom or middle of your page does
24:10almost nothing for conversions. Proof
24:12[music] must prove a specific claim.
24:15Demonstrations beat copy every single
24:17time. Blendtec's Will It Blend series
24:20proved product power by blending
24:22iPhones. Purple Mattress proved support
24:25with the raw egg test. Domino's [music]
24:27proved speed with a money-back
24:28guarantee. So, when you're writing copy,
24:31especially for websites and [music]
24:32landing pages, never just leave proof
24:34like a testimonial floating alone.
24:36Attach specific proof [music] directly
24:38below or near the claim or benefit that
24:41it verifies. Principle number 24 is that
24:44[music] the market always gets the final
24:46vote. The true test of copywriting is
24:48financial performance. Prospects vote
24:50[music] exclusively with their credit
24:53cards. So, while a lot of people think
24:55that their copywriting is amazing
24:57because one time they won this award or
24:59their boss liked it. The important thing
25:01to remember is that data and revenue
25:03numbers settle [music] every copy
25:05debate. Let real-world AB test results
25:08and conversion data dictate your copy
25:11decisions, [music]
25:11not internal company opinions. If the
25:15copy is performing, leave it. If it's
25:17declining, optimize it. If it never
25:19worked, throw it out. Start again from
25:21scratch using what I taught [music] you
25:23here today. The last principle, you made
25:26it, is principle number 25, [music]
25:29which is to take something boring and
25:30turn it into a guarantee. Overnight
25:33shipping was an operational process. It
25:35was very [music] difficult, but FedEx
25:37took that quiet utility and created one
25:39of the most famous slogans in
25:41advertising history. When it absolutely,
25:43positively has to be there overnight.
25:46Nobody else in the industry was willing
25:48to stake their entire reputation on a
25:50single time promise. FedEx took a
25:52standard [music] feature, removed all
25:54cost or risk, and made it their
25:56definitive reason to choose FedEx. So,
25:59find the one operational promise your
26:02competitors maybe take for granted, wrap
26:04a strong guarantee around it, and make
26:06it your primary [music]
26:07claim. Those were the 25 lessons for
26:10copywriting that I've learned over
26:12[music] the past 25 years that have
26:14helped make me successful. Share this
26:16with your team, grab [music] a seat in
26:17Copy School so you actually know how to
26:19do this stuff and so much more very
26:22well. And [music] if you like this
26:23video, check out my next one here.

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