The #1 way to save time writing effective marketing copy

There is a simple way to avoid spending a lot of time and energy on endless rewrites of your marketing copy.

I use it all the time for my business, and with the business owners I collaborate with.

I call it “talking it out.”

Take my client Jan. She came to work with me because she was doing everything right. She was getting new leads onto her list. She was following up with a warm up sequence of emails to build a relationship with them.

She was even inviting them into initial sessions by email.

Clearly, this is a woman who has her act together.

But trouble was, Jan wasn’t getting the right people into those sessions.

They didn’t have any money.

And they didn’t have a lot of urgency around solving their problem.

I’ll tell you what I told her. It’s all in how you talk about the problem. And what assumptions you are making about the people you are talking to.

For instance…

1. What if you assume your ideal client has a lot of urgency?
2. What if you assume that she pays for quality – even if it costs more?
3. What if you assume that the problem has gotten so unworkable for her, that she’ll do whatever it takes to solve it?

She got it. And she’ll go back and tweak her copy with this insight into who she’s talking to.

When you can do this in conversation, it moves pretty quick. You just need to make a distinction in your own mind about who makes a great client for you… and who doesn’t.

This is why I’m a big fan of talking with other business owners who are writing their own copy, too.

Because people who know how to write their own copy have a pretty good sense about whether a message has urgency.

Also, there are things about your business that you may not be able to see – or articulate clearly. Simply. Powerfully.

So being able to talk that out with someone else is really helpful. They aren’t as close to it as you are.

Talking it out saves you from spending a lot of time writing something that is connecting with the wrong people.

It also helps you learn – fast – if they way you are saying things actually make sense to other people. Or if other people even want what you intend to offer.

Unfortunately, I talk to a lot of business owners who are going it alone. They think they are saving money by not investing in an advisor or coach or “getting ready” before they reach out to colleagues or find an accountability partner.

This is the kiss of death.

I get it – I used to be like this, too. As a Recovering Perfectionist, I didn’t want to show anyone my work before it was “finished.”

But if there’s one thing growing a business has taught me, it’s that we are always learning and never done.

So, I encourage you to find someone you can talk your ideas and words out with before you do too much copywriting. Find someone who is a good listener and who understands effective marketing.

Here are some questions you can ask them for feedback:

1. My ideal client is ______. The problem I help them with is ____. If that was you, would you respond to my copy? Why or why not?
2. How could I make it more urgent?
3. Does any of this sound unbelievable, confusing, or boring?
4. What’s your suggestion for how I could fix that?

And if you are looking for sharp people who are up for these sorts of conversations… there are plenty of ‘em in our writing labs.