Straight From The Trenches: Brad’s October 2020 Copy Tips

Pilothouse’s Head Copywriter, Brad Knell, shares his top-of-mind insights from the bowels of sales page copy land.

• Write to ONE person only → Imagine you’re writing a letter to a friend who you know is going through a lot of pain (pain your product can solve).
• Know what motivates them to buy → Luckily, you don’t need to guess. Check out Bain’s B2C Elements of Value (based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) to see what consumers value most. Use this language in your copy.
• Keep sentences short → An easy way to shorten sentences is replacing commas with periods. 
• Keep paragraphs short → One or two sentences only. 
• Use plain English → Avoid jargon like the plague. Grade 8 or below level of comprehension is best. BTW, this isn’t about dumbing down your copy. It’s about making it fast and easy to understand.
• Always focus on benefits → In fact, if you can’t tie a point to a benefit, you might want to rethink it.
• Use NLP phrases → NLP, or neuro-linguistic programming, are subliminal commands you use to plant an idea or thought in your prospect’s mind. Start with these suggestive phrases, and study more of these notes to make your copy more powerful.
• Each sentence should flow into the next → “It’s like creating a slippery slide that takes your prospect smoothly down to the order button,” Brad says.
• Get someone to read your copy to you out loud → This will catch any spots that a) don’t roll off the tongue like silk, and b) are hard to understand.
• Make it about them not you → If you really want to put this concept on steroids, stay tuned for the Story Brand directives below 👇🏽

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