What makes great copy?

It’s the million dollar question.

Your copy’s at the heart of nearly all your marketing efforts. From sales emails to blog posts and video scripts to social media updates. If your copy doesn’t hit the mark your campaign will fall far short of your goal.

The web is full of articles on the topic of creating better copy. We’re told to focus on the benefits, make it scannable, use power words and know what our audience wants.

All of these little nuggets of wisdom definitely help, but they’re something of a long way round. They require a lot of thought and analysis. They require hours of sitting at a desk and attempting to discern the deeper meaning of your product and how it appeals to your audience.

Fortunately for us all, there’s a little shortcut copywriters have been using for a long, long time.

Theft.

Yup. I said it. Why torture yourself in a vain attempt at discovering a marketing epiphany when you can simply “borrow” the best messaging right from the mouths of your primary prospects?

Conversions aren’t born of witty slogans or clever copy, they’re the result of desire and trust. If you can convince your prospects that you’re one of them and know their pain, can build their desire for your product and establish yourself as a trustworthy solution provider, the battle is all but won. What better way to show them you understand their problems than by using their own words?

“But surely stealing from your audience is bad,” you say. And yes, I’d be inclined to agree if we were talking about something of actual value, but we’re not. We’re talking about repurposing their language so that your brand better aligns with your prospect’s ideals, needs and opinions.

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If I asked for your opinion on the most important tool for driving conversions, what would you say?

Many CROs focus heavily on optimizing their CTAs, reducing sales page distractions and fiddling with USP copy.

There’s no doubt that these are all incredibly important, but they’re not at the heart of what drives conversions.

No, the most powerful tool in your marketing toolbox is compelling copy. Ignore the power of persuasive paragraphs and even the greatest CTAs in the world will fail to convert.

Of course creating high converting copy isn’t easy. Those who run their own business have two options when it comes to creating killer copy.

The first and most obvious is to hire a skilled copywriter (nudge nudge, wink wink). Yet this can be little on the pricey side and isn’t ideal for fresh startups or those bootstrapping their business.  (more…)