Right before going to bed last night, here’s what I sent my BFF, Julie.
Yes. That’s my kid. The love of my life.
I happen to find it HILARIOUS when he’s wailing at the top of his lungs. (Okay, I’m not a sadist – it’s not like I take pleasure in his pain I only think it’s funny when he is being over the top tragic about something like… not being allowed to eat a whole bag of Haribo gummies before dinner. Oh, toddlers…)
So anyway…. this is actually a copywriting lesson, okay?
Here’s what I want you to notice about this text exchange: that was the whole conversation. Just those two lines.
Took me 3 seconds. There was no context. No lead-in. No point-by-point elaboration of what I mean. None of that is necessary because… hello??? Julie and I are friends. This is how you talk to your friends, too, right?
I didn’t have a ‘reason’ for sending this text… other than knowing it’s gonna probably give her a chuckle.
And now, here’s what I really want you to notice, the million-dollar lesson: this is how we NATURALLY communicate with people we know, like, and trust. No throat-clearing. No giant preamble. No unnecessary explaining. No hidden agenda and tortured call-to-action.
Just:”Hey, I thought you’ll like this.” “OMG look what I saw on my walk!” “I had a thought about that thing you told me the other day.”
We just get right to the heart of things. It’s easy. It’s quick. It’s effortless. It makes us feel connected.The connection is the most important goal. The only goal, most of the time.
My friend, THIS is actually how you write copy that is FAST, LIGHT, and ACTUALLY READABLE.
Why? it’s because our brains interpret this kind of speech as “real human talking!! must pay attention!!”, as opposed to “I am now being marketed to… better tune out!”
Take a moment to really think about this. When I announced that you’ll be writing copy every single day inside Writing with the Sword, I’ve gotten so many replies like, “But what if writing takes me forever?” Look. If I were submitting an article to be published in the New York Times, I would take my good ass time with it. I would edit, edit, edit, and edit that shit 78 times to make sure it represents my best.
But copywriting ain’t that. Copywriting is never that. Your job is NOT to present a clear, coherent, beautifully structured essay on your best thoughts. Leave that to the New York Times writers.
The aim of copy is to create a MOMENT OF CONNECTION. And you can do that in seconds, minutes.When you spend hours and hours on your copy… what you are actually broadcasting is your discomfort, your unfamiliarity, and the lack of trust you have in the relationship with your reader.
And unfortunately, what that creates is clunky, stilted and heavy writing that few people want to read.
Of course, there’s a little bit more to the art of writing fast and still resonating with people.
This is just a tiny snippet of the kind of stuff we’ll cover inside Writing with the Sword. But by the end of the course, “ugh, every post takes hours” will be history.
Whatcha gonna do with all the time you’ll get back? 🙂
Writing with the Sword starts next week.
Where it gets you is simple. More eyes on your stuff, and more money in your pocket.
See you there.