the ultimate purpose of copywriting

3.0

Guidebook

SESSION #2:

COPYWRITING FOUNDATIONS

02©Copyright Tina Lorenz 2020

Welcome Sherpas!

Whether you’re here to launch a new career as a copywriter, or if you’re here to learn how to write effective copy for your own business, Authentic Copy is a deep dive course into how to become a top-notch professional copywriter.

But before we get into the nitty gritty details, I wanted to create this short session to lay some foundation and set some expectations about the craft of copywriting.

You see, I recognize that this may be a brand new world for you.

It was for me too once. I remember being intimidated by concepts and terms I didn’t know, and it took me a while to feel confident that I was doing things correctly.

That is a big part of why this course exists. My goal is to make copywriting an approachable career path. There is so much opportunity in copywriting, and so much enjoyment in the craft. I want others to experience it as well!

So with that said, there is never a dumb question in Authentic Copy. This session is here to answer some initial questions you may have and give a good foundation to start with.

If you don’t find the answer you’re looking for, here’s what to do next:

@ Take a look at the Q&A replays and The Vault. If you have a question aboutsomething, there is a good chance it ’s been asked before. The vault is organizedby Q&A session and the questions asked are highlighted so you can go right to theanswer.

@ And if you don’t find the answer you’re looking for there, ask your questionin the Facebook Group! Our community of Sherpas is supportive and helpful, andwe’re all here to lift each other up.

Tina Lorenz


The ultimate purpose of copywriting is simple, it ’s to sell something.

It ’s about answering the need someone has, solving a problem for them, or bringing them something they already are looking for that they need.

A lot of people are hung up on the task of selling. They think selling is “icky”, that it ’s about manipulation, and that it only benefits the seller, not the buyer.

Wrong!

Selling with integrity is ONLY about serving people at a very high level, and being helpful by informing them of an opportunity that could benefit them.

So, if you have any lingering doubts about whether you can feel good about selling things as a copywriter, you still have some work to do regarding your beliefs.

• If you don’t feel like selling has someone’s best interest at heart, ask yourself why you feel like this and where those feelings stem from.

• If you don’t think you’d feel good writing with the intent to sell, uncover why.

Look deep and try and uncover any remaining uncertainties you have about selling. Then ask yourself why? I bet you’ll f ind some interesting happenings or beliefs you’ve been taught in your past that may require some reprogramming.

The reality is that quality marketing and authentic selling only come when you have the client and their customer’s best interest in mind. You are helping them specifically define a need or a want that they have and then providing a solution in the form of a good match.

Effective copywriting has an energy and intensity as well as a structure and a flow that are critical to bringing people to the point of the sale, especially on the internet where there are so many other factors at play.

THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF COPY WRITING

Exerc ise:Do you feel any resistance to the act of selling? Journal and explore your feelings. Find out the root cause for any hesitations, and once you get to the bottom of it, start re-wiring your brain. Come up with your own Selling Power Statement, but use this one to start with:

“Using my gift for words and writing, I love connecting people to products and services that will benefit them. Selling is serving, and I am happy to do this work.”


If you’re looking to make money as a copywriter, there are generally three routes you can take:

• You can get a job with a company hiring in-house copywriters to write about their own products or services

• You can get hired by an agency to write copy for their clients, or

• You can work for yourself and write copy for clients that sign on with you to help their business grow.

In this course, we’re going to focus on the entrepreneurial route of copywriting, and as you progress through each session in Authentic Copy, I ’ll be sharing insights and helping you navigate how to get started as a copywriter and how to land your first clients.

THE JOB OF A COPYWRITER

When a client hires you to write copy for their business, they ’re hiring you for one main purpose: to attract their ideal customer’s attention and get them to purchase. Your job is to write copy that generate leads, or sales, or both.

As such, your duty is not just writing a set of emails or drafting up a sales letter; it ’s being able to speak to the minds and hearts of a certain individual in order to connect that person with a product or service that just might be what they need at that moment in time.

The job of a copywriter is to emotionally connect with a prospect around the purchase of a product or service!

It’s all about emot ion!This is why we go a lot deeper in Authentic Copy than you will f ind in other copywriting courses, and I ’m going to show you how you connect emotionally in the most sincere and authentic way. Stay tuned for that in Session 10, The Celestial Sherpa.

But outside of connecting with customer’s emotions and helping guide them to a purchase, what is a copywriter actually hired to do?

THE JOB OF A COPY WRITER


A COPYWRITER IS HIRED TO WRITE

Most people in need of a copywriter are looking for someone to help them write sales copy in various formats:

• Opt-in copy

• Email copy

• Sales Letter copy

• Website copy

• Blog posts

• Video scripts

• Webinar scripts

• Product descriptions

• Advertising

But here’s the thing. Most potential clients know they need copy written for a certain deliverable like an email sequence (and that ’s what they ’ll ask you to submit a proposal for), but they don’t really know how it really fits in to the whole picture or marketing strategy to generate sales.

That ’s where you come in.

Rather than being a “short-order” copywriter that bids on a la carte jobs, my goal is to empower you with the understanding of the marketing strategy behind various formats of copy so you can lead your clients to better solutions for their business by offering them copy “packages”.

Your clients will benefit by being served at a higher level, and you’ll get paid more as well.

We’ll get to all this in Sessions 8 & 9 of this course after you complete the copywriting training.



VARIOUS FORMATS OF COPYNow let ’s look at the different types of copy that copywriters are most frequently hired to write.

In Authentic Copy, we’re going to be focused on the first three types: opt-in copy, email copy, and sales letter copy, but keep these other types in mind as you start to think about the kind of copy services you want to offer clients in your business.

Opt-In CopyMost business that operate online in any capacity are working to grow their email list. They would like to keep in touch with potential customers, nurture the relationship, and build trust ahead of pitching a product or service. As a copywriter, you will be tasked with creating great copy that generates leads.

Email CopyOnce a business has a subscriber on their email list, they then will be in need of a copywriter to engage with that subscriber via email. Not every email will have the goal to sell. Some emails will be to educate, to build trust, to tell stories, or even to ask questions. Your job as the copywriter is to help your clients map out the email journey you will take subscribers on with the eventual goal of sales.

Sales Letter CopyIn copywriting, (most) all roads lead to the sales letter, and it ’s where a business presents an offer to a prospective buyer. This is why sales letter copy is the money shot in copywriting. It ’s also one of the more complicated and complex pieces of copy to put together, which is why it is such a big focus of Authentic Copy. Understand how to write a great sales letter, and it will be a lot easer for all other types of copywriting to fall effortlessly into place.

Webs ite CopyProviding website copy is a great way for copywriters to establish themselves and build a lucrative copywriting business. Website projects range in size from one-page websites to dozens and dozens of page content. Popular pages on a website that people hire copywriters for are the homepage, about page, and services page.



Blog PostsWriting blog posts for clients is often where beginning copywriters get work, which is why I ’m including it in this list. But writing blog posts is technically “content marketing” and not “copywriting” (unless the blog post is actively working to attract leads and/or pivot to a sale).

Content writers are a dime a dozen online and most content writers end up competing on price rather than the quality of their work, so do not expect to get paid a lot if you write blog posts for clients. This is not the path I recommend you follow to begin your copywriting journey (I recommend you do what I show you in Authentic Copy), but it is a way nonetheless.

Video Scr iptsJust as people need written copy, clients will also need video scripts to use in various places in their business. They may need video scripts for certain pages on their website, to link from an email sequence, or for ads and social media. Video script writing can be a fun and creative outlet for many copywriters.

Webinar Scr ipt CopyAs you build your copywriting and marketing muscle, you will start learning about how to write webinar script copy. Webinar writing is not too dissimilar to a sales letter, but there is a slightly different approach and objective. I teach about this in Accelerated Entrepreneur, which is perfect for graduates of Authentic Copy who want to take their training and business to the next level.

Product Descr ipt ionsThink of all the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of products listed on Amazon. All of those products need product descriptions. Now, not every Amazon seller uses a copywriter to write their product descriptions, but I can guarantee that the top sellers do! Ecommerce is a huge area for copywriters to find a niche and write for.

Advert is i ngFacebook ads, Google Ads, and print advertising is huge business. If you find that you have a knack for being able to quickly attract attention with your copy, then providing advertising copy can be a very lucrative business direction for you as well.



AKA: Your Job Description

Copywriters are often some of the best paid freelancers and consultants around.

And for good reason.

Copywriters position brands and businesses in their very best light, they attract leads for a business, and using just words they are able to create sales for a business. Without copywriters, there would be a lot less commerce happening in the world.

But with that great paycheck comes quite a few expectations that your clients have for the kind of work that you do and what you bring to the table:

9 Your copy must be clear and concise and easy to read.

9 Your copy must be free of grammar and spelling errors. Use a tool like Grammarly to make sure that your copy is clean.

9 You must be willing to research and put in the work to understand the client, their customers, and the products and services they are selling.

9 You must be willing to bring ideas to the table. You’re not just being hired to write, your clients need to be able to lean on your creativity of thought and your original ideas.

9 You are able to learn the brand voice and be consistent in that voice throughout all the copy you write. This is an important point. As a hired copywriter, you do not write in your voice; you always write in your client ’s voice!

9 You have good interpersonal and communication skills. As a copywriter, you not only have to work well with your clients, but oftentimes you may actually be engaging with their customers in order to understand their needs and voice better.

9 You are organized and can keep to deadlines. Copywriting is very deadline driven work. Oftentimes you may be writing copy for a launch with a date that is set in stone. You clients need you to be able to deliver on time.

CLIENT EXPECTATIONS

http://www.grammarly.com


Something I hear often from people is a comment along the lines of “Tina, you must love to write”. While it is true that I do love language and writing, this statement is implying that copywriting is always fun. It ’s not! Just like anything else, it is work, and sometimes it ’s hard.

Sometimes it ’s the mood I am in that affects what inspiration I feel and/or the creativity I have for a project, and sometimes it ’s the product or service itself.

I ‘ve written financial copy before, and while I was good at it, it wasn’t all that fun and not the kind of copywriting I ended up doing a lot of.

So just like anyone else, I had to establish my own creative process in order to get the juices flowing and to deliver quality copy for my clients.

In fact, having a creative process can make an unfamiliar topic more fun to write about! You end up learning about it, relating to it, and finding clever ways to connect the target audience with the product or service.

I am going to share my creative process below for you to learn from, but I encourage you to come up with your own as you practice writing and as you grow your copywriting business.

1. Protect Your TimeProbably the biggest block to creative thinking is stress, so when you take on a copy assignment for a client, avoid taking on something unfamiliar under too tight of a deadline. What I mean by this is that I would not agree to produce a quick turnaround on a sales letter for a product or service that I am not that familiar with.

I need time to seed the product or service in my own psyche and become familiar with it on a deep level. This doesn’t happen in a few minutes.

Protect your time and give yourself an opportunity to get to know a project. During this time, ask yourself, “What ’s the best way to present this product or service?”

FINDING YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS


2. Bra instormOnce you’ve blocked out some time to get to know your subject matter, the next part of the process is to brainstorm.

For this I create a new folder on my computer and a Word Document (or use Google Drive). The folder is to save screenshots and things I f ind online that will help me as I write copy, and the document is to house a brain-dump of ideas. Things to consider as you brainstorm and do a “brain dump” of ideas into a document:

• What does the customer need to know about this product in order buy?

• What does the customer need to believe in order to buy?

• What are the objections that people will have about this product/service?

• What does success look like or feel like?

• What ’s the cost of not buying this product or service?

• What are fun or unusual ways to use this product / service?

A lot of these questions are the same types of questions you may try and uncover in your research of a product or service, or in interviewing your clients, but it ’s great to also try and brainstorm this on your own to see what you can come up with.

3. Pull In Inspirat ionAnother part of my creative process is to pull in inspiration from elsewhere. I have a large personal library of my own copywriting work as well as examples I have pulled from magazines, websites, advertising campaigns, political slogans, etc.

Whenever I have a new project to work on, I like to look at my library through that project lens and see if anything jumps out at me. Is there a clever headline structure from an unrelated campaign that may work well in my current project?

I always see something new every time I do this exercise.

FINDING YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS


There will be many tips shared throughout this course, but here are a few tips I want you to keep front of mind going into this training!

THERE IS A LEARNING CURVE TO COPYWRITING. The best copywriters in the world were not born the best, they worked at it. So practice, practice, practice.

I recommend you start studying emails that you receive from businesses, that you pay close attention to advertising that crosses your Facebook news feed, and that you seek out and actively read sales letters.

I also recommend that you write as much and as often as you can. Copywriting is a muscle that you can workout and build.

DON’T STRIVE FOR PERFECT, STRIVE FOR MOMENTUM! Write as much as possible, whenever possible, but don’t worry about writing perfect copy. Analysis paralysis will get you nowhere, and fast!

There will be times when you write something you think is great, but it will not generate sales and there will be times that something you don’t love sells like hotcakes. With that said…

LEARN FROM EVERY EXPERIENCE.I ’m constantly learning something about copywriting, what inspires people, and about my own writing. It ’s part of what makes this job fun!

DON’T SWEAT THE TECH! As a copywriter, you do not need to know how to do any of the technical aspects of getting the copy online or in print. Let me repeat that again… You don’t need to know how to do any of the technical aspects of getting your copy online or in print.

BUT You should have awareness of what technical considerations there are when you write copy. You’ll learn more about this when we talk about autoresponders in Session Seven.

START WITH BIO BUILDER SECRETS IF YOU NEED MONEY QUICKLYBy far, the best way I have found for new copywriters to not only begin making money quickly, but to connect with ideal prospects for bigger projects down the line is to start writing LinkedIn Bios. Check out Bio Builder Secrets if you haven’t already to learn more.

Tina's Tips for Success

https://my.tinalorenz.com/bio-builder-secrets


Ass ignment:BECOME A STUDENT OF COPYWRITING

You’re a student of Authentic Copy, yes, but now I want you to become a student of copywriting! I want it to be part of your identity!To be a student of copywriting means that you’re constantly paying attention to your environment. It means that you subscribe to email lists just to study the communications you receive, it means that you save sales letter examples, and it means that you find yourself re-writing headlines you see in the wild - just for fun!

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Create a new free GMAIL email address for yourself - just for subscribing purposes. When you come across an opportunity to join an email list, and it looks interesting, sign up! Using a separate email address for your research and learning purposes keeps your main email address free of clutter.

Create a folder on your computer desktop (or in Google Drive) to save sales letters you come across and various copy examples you’d like to keep and reference. The Go Full Page Screen Capture Extension for Chrome is a great tool to use that will capture full webpages (i.e. long sales letters) as a PDF or png file.

Commit to being a Student of Copywriting, and repeat this affirmation regularly: “I am a student of copywriting. I enjoy learning from the work that I create as well as studying examples I find. I am open to evolving and improving my skill over time”.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gofullpage-full-page-scre/fdpohaocaechififmbbbbbknoalclacl


Below is a glossary of common copywriting terms I want you to be familiar with. We’ll also be discussing concepts used in the two books I recommend you read as a prerequisite to this program, DotCom Secrets and Expert Secrets. Take a look at the table of contents of each of those two books and familiarize yourself with the terms mentioned there.

And when in doubt about a term you’re not familiar with, ask your fellow Sherpas in our Facebook Group!

ABOVE THE FOLD: On websites, this is the area of a website that visitors can see without having to scroll down. Because of the increased attention this area gets, you want to use it for copy and design that gets your customer’s attention.

AUTO RESPONDER: Where tools like Gmail are used to send and receive email communication, Email Service Providers like ConvertKit are used to send automated emails. Auto Responder emails refers to a sequence of preprogrammed emails sent to people upon opt-in or purchase. These emails are usually created in a sequence (i.e. 7) and are intended to nurture the eventual purchase.

BENEFITS: The benefits of an offer is what the customer is actually buying. Benefits are the results people want like more money or better health.

BONUS: Bonuses are used to enhance the value to the original offer. Increasing the overall value by giving

away bonuses can help persuade potential buyers to take action. Bonuses can by physical products, info products, or even services.

CALL TO ACTION: Each piece of copy should include a Call-to-Action (CTA) where you tell the reader what you’d like them to do - like “buy now” or “click here”.

CLICK THROUGH RATE (CTR): This corresponds to email marketing and to the rate at which the readers click your CTA. This is data that will help you and your clients understand the effectiveness of your copy.

CONVERSION: This is another data point in your copywriting and it corresponds to the goal your copywriting is working towards - be that a sale, an opt-in, or even a share.

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GLOSSARY OF COPY WRITING TERMS

https://dotcomsecrets.com/go?cf_affiliate_id=562572&affiliate_id=562572

https://expertsecrets.com/?cf_affiliate_id=562572&affiliate_id=562572

https://www.facebook.com/groups/authenticcopyinteractive


COPY: Copy refers to any piece of copywriting.

CUSTOMER PERSONA: This is a generated profile of an individual within your target market. It outlines their interests, problems, emotional triggers and is an integral part of writing copy - so you can connect with your idealcustomer

DIRECT RESPONSE COPYWRITING: Direct Response Copywriting is the industry that we are in. It refers to marketing messages that are intended to get a customer to take immediate action - be that make a purchase from a sales page or opt-in from a landing page. This is in contrast to traditional advertising (i.e. from a billboard or magazine) that is mostly geared towards generating awareness.

DOWNSELL: When a customer is on a sales page and makes an attempt to leave and/or declines the offer to buy, some marketers will make a downsell offer. A downsell could be something like a payment plan option or a modified, lesser offer at a lower price with more risk reversal.

EVERGREEN: Whereas a “launch” refers to offering a product or service within a specific date range, when a product or service is offered “evergreen”, it is offered on an ongoing basis.

FEATURES: Not to be confused with benefits of an offer (i.e. the results people are buying), features relates to WHAT people are buying.

SALES FUNNEL: A sales funnel is a series of steps designed to guide visitors towards a buying decision. The steps are composed of marketing assets that do the work of selling, like landing pages and emails.

GUARANTEE: Used to generate peace of mind and make your customers feel comfortable buying, a guarantee is integral to creating successful offers. Depending on what is more important to the customer, you may want to build in money back guarantees or satisfaction guarantees.

HEADLINE: The headline is the leading, most prominent piece of copy of any given message.

HOOKS: Hooks are what you use to grab people’s attention and get them interested in reading your copy. These could be stats, quotes, or statements that get people to stop in their tracks.



KEYWORDS: Keywords are ideas and topics that define what your content is about. In terms of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), they ’re the words and phrases that searchers enter into search engines, also called “search queries.”

LANDING PAGE: A landing page is a single web page with a single purpose - generally to collect an opt-in. It ’s important on landing pages to keep the focus singular and to limit distractions (i.e. remove any and all links to anything but the CTA).

OFFER: The offer is the purpose of your copywriting effort. Everything that is written and included in your copywriting is there to support the offer and increase the chance of your ideal customer accepting the offer. OPEN RATE: This is the number of people who open your email compared to the total number of people who were sent the email.

OPT-IN: Marketers grow their emails lists by creating opt-in offers where they give something away of value in exchange for a prospects contact information. These could be free reports, free consultations, or even things like discount codes.

ORDER BUMP: An order bump is an optional feature built into some online order processing services (like Clickfunnels) where you can make a secondary offer to a buyer right when they are inputing their credit card information. These are effective at increasing the average order value.

POSTSCRIPT OR P.S: The post script is often used at the end of an email, sales page or sales letter. The reason it is used is because it is a method of catching the reader’s attention and highlighting a specific point. If your reader scrolls all the way to the end of your promotion just to find out the price, the P.S can be a trigger to highlight a benefit that may then make them dive into the body copy and read more about the product.

RISK REVERSAL: Risk Reversal is related to the guarantee, but where a guarantee often correlates to a refund if someone is unsatisfied, risk reversal more relates to additional bonuses and/or features of an offer that instills confidence in the buyer.



SALES PAGE: A sales page is a landing page geared towards generating a sale. It often is much more detailed than a landing page and includes all the information necessary to help a prospect make a buying decision.

SCARCITY: Scarcity is used in copywriting to develop a sense of urgency. Scarcity can come in many shapes and sizes including limited number of offers available and/or available for a limited amount of time.

SUBHEADS: Subheadings are used to break up your body copy. They are a larger font size to the body copy and should be written in a way that encourages your prospects to keep reading. Subheadings make long pieces of copy more readable and also help convey the overall message to those who may be more prone to skimming.

SWIPE FILE: This refers to a library (in the form of a document or folder) where you save examples of copy you find useful/helpful - either copy you write, or copy you come across. Swipe.co is a great resource to use, but you can also begin to save your swipe files in Google Drive or on your computer.

TAGLINE: A tagline is a short phrase that sums up a product, brand or service. Strong taglines can be as simple as explaining WHAT you do and WHO it is for (i.e. web design for chiropractors)

TESTIMONIALS: An important part of copywriting is highlighting the words and endorsements of others within the copy of an offer. You do this with testimonials - short video clips or messages from a previous customer with a positive experience to share.

UPSELL: After a customer makes a purchase, an upsell is when you direct the buyer upon sale completion to a secondary landing page with a related, yet different offer in the attempt to offer more value and increase the average order size.

URGENCY: Urgency is an important aspect of copywriting. It ’s being able to effectively communicate the importance of taking immediate action rather than waiting - as this is the best way to ensure high conversion rates and customer satisfaction. In addition to writing with urgency, tools like countdown timers are also helpful.

USP – UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION: Your unique selling proposition is what sets you apart. It ’s what makes you different and is a reason customers want to go to you rather than a competitor.


the ultimate purpose of copywriting

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