- Write On
- Posts
- Specificity sells
Welcome to the 31st issue of Write On!
The newsletter that follows one rule in life: never say “no” to a free cookie.
Estimated read time: 2 minutes 48 seconds
Frameworks vs. Templates
Some copywriters hate frameworks with a passion. They think it makes you sound like everybody else.
But I use frameworks in 90% of the content I write. And I still maintain my unique voice (or the voice of the brand I’m writing for).
Frameworks have helped me generate over $50,000,000 in email marketing revenue throughout my career.
And you’d never know it.
Because here’s the thing… 99% of people don’t know you’re using a copywriting framework. They don’t care. They only care about whether you can help solve their problem.
But templates are a different story.
A template might work at first, but it can get overplayed.
For example, a template might look something like this:
“[describe initial offer]
But wait. There’s more!
[introduce new offer]”
There isn’t much room for creativity here. And that’s how you end up sounding just like everybody else.
I use the same handful of storytelling frameworks over and over and over. And some of them have been used for 100+ years before I found them.
It’s because they flat-out work.
Frameworks play a major role in my 5-step process for writing compelling stories that sell. I cover this process and my top-performing storytelling frameworks in my course (coming in Sept).
375+ Write On readers are on the waitlist to become a better storyteller so they can sell more online. Consider joining them because you’ll get:
Early access to the course launch
Sneak peeks into the course
Exclusive pricing
Just click the button below 👇
Specificity sells
If you’ve been studying copywriting for a while, you must’ve seen somebody say: “you need to be more specific.”
To be fair, it’s great advice.
But I’ve found that most copywriters don’t go far enough with their specificity.
Let me explain with some examples.
Beginner-level specificity
Imagine this. You’re selling a course on email marketing. Who are you selling to?
Level 1 = businesses
Lever 2 = online businesses
Level 3 = online B2B businesses
Level 4 = online B2B SaaS businesses
You get the picture. The more specific you are, the more your message will resonate with your ideal target audience.
But this is just scratching the surface.
Let’s take our copy to another level of specificity.
Expert-level specificity
Picking up where we left off…
We want to sell an email marketing course to online B2B SaaS businesses.
But not all online B2B SaaS businesses are aware that email marketing is important for their business. That requires a unique message.
On the other hand, you’ll have online B2B SaaS businesses that know they need email marketing, have tried it themselves, and are struggling. That requires a unique message.
So you see… not all online B2B SaaS businesses are created equally. These businesses are at different stages of awareness.
In fact, there are 5 stages of customer awareness that your audience can fall into (detailed below):
Next time you write some copy, take a second to stop and think about which stage of customer awareness you’re writing to.
And tailor your message accordingly.
Because different messages will resonate more (or less) at different stages of awareness.
💡 Bottom line: Crank up the specificity of your copy by tailoring your message to a specific stage of customer awareness.
Spolier: You can also tailor your stories to different stages of customer awareness in your copywriting. I cover this topic and more in my Storywriting Playbook course. Join the waitlist here :)
Top Finds This Week:
📖 Storytelling: Nike makes $50 billion/year by telling stories. And nearly all of them follow the same 3 rules: (link)
🧠 Psychology: Master psychology and you can sell just about anything. Here're 12 TED Talks to teach you more about psychology than a 4 year degree: (link)
✍️ Write On: In 2 min, Mad Men nails storytelling in copywriting. Don Draper's Kodak Carousel pitch hits 4 key points: (link)
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading.
See you next Wednesday!
P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here’re three ways I can help you:
Facts tell. Stories Sell. Use storytelling in your copywriting to grow your business. Get early access to my new course: The Storywriting Playbook (👉Add me to the waitlist!)
Write On ad slots open back up in October. Lock in a discounted ad slot now while the newsletter continues to grow ~1,000+ subs per week (👉Grab an ad slot)
Keep your writing sharp all year round and enjoy free lifetime access to my collection of Write On copywriting guides (👉View all guides)
P.P.S. If you've got a moment, I'd love to get your feedback:
What did you think of today's newsletter? |
A WRITE ON REVIEW:
