• Copy Wizard

    Quickly draft your sales copy & messaging.

    1. Best to do this on a laptop, not your mobile.
    2. Relax, have fun. The first draft is just about getting something down. It doesn't matter how sketchy it looks.
    3. There also an article version of the copy framework or a "done for you" service if you prefer.

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  • There are 5 steps to creating persuasive copy. It's not about being a fancy writer. It's about answering the right questions, in the right order.

    Step One: What does your customer's life look like before, and after, they discover your product?
    Step Two: What are the benefits of your features?
    Step Three: Why is it just like them to buy this product?
    Step Four: Why are you the perfect person to sell this product?
    Step Five: Why is now the perfect time for them to buy?

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  • Step One

    What does your customer's life look like before, and after, they discover your product?

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  • All successful products improve a customer's life by...

    1. Solving or avoiding a problem.
    2. Making them feel better.
    3. Improving their social status.

    Let's look at how your product will improve your customer's life in each of these areas.

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  • Example
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    Keep in mind, that if your customer's problem isn't strong enough, and urgent enough, they won't be motivated to seek out and pay for a solution.

    Example: iPod You like to listen to music but your CD Walkman only lets you carry one album at a time and it frequently skips if you're being active. There are new MP3 players on the market but they are super hard to use.

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  • Example
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    Example iPod: With the iPod you can carry your entire music collection with you and it never skips when you're being active. It's an MP3 player but our software and hardware design makes it super easy for anyone to use.

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    Until you can empathize with a customer's emotional pain, its very hard for them to believe that you have a viable solution and can make them feel better. And unless there is an emotional discomfort, there is rarely any motivation to buy a solution.

    Example iPod: It's frustrating not being able to carry all your favorite music with you when you leave the house. It's annoying when your walkman CD's skip while you're dancing. Trying to work out how complicated MP3 players work makes people feel stupid.

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  • Example
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    Example iPod: Music is the soundtrack of your life, an iPod allows you to express yourself wherever you are, and whatever you're feeling. The software makes you feel in complete control of your entire music collection. You're free to move and free to dance without your music skipping a beat.

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  • Example
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    We don't just measure ourselves against our own values. We measure ourselves by the values of our family, peers and community. So our social status is about how capable we feel in front of the people who matter to us. And how confident they feel about us.

    Example iPod: Swapping cassettes and CD's with your friends feels a little outdated these days. But the new digital MP3 players are so complex only a rocket scientist would understand them.

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  • Example
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    Example iPod: The iPod design is slick and sophisticated, this is a device for people who really care about music. You can be cool, whatever music you love to play.

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  • Step Two

    What are the benefits of your features?

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  • As makers we often think about our products in terms of their features. But features make products into objects or commodities. They say more about the makers process than the buyer's desires.

    Our job is to make your customers feel uniquely hopeful that they are moving towards their deepest goals. To do that we focus on benefits not features. Benefits get customers excited about what they can do, what they can achieve and who they can become.

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  • Example
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    Example iPod:
    Feature: 0.2 inch thick 5 Gb Hard Drive.
    Benefit: Big enough for your entire music collection.

    Feature: Firewire connector.
    Benefit: You can download an entire CD to your iPod in 10 seconds.

    Feature: Rechargeable lithium-polymer battery.
    Benefit: 10 hours of continuous music playing.

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  • Step Three

    Why is it just like them to buy this product?

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  • For a customer to spend their hard earned money, your product needs to feel *consistent* with their identity and personality. It has to feel "just like me to buy this". There are 3 things you can do to trigger that feeling.

    1. Demonstrate consistency with your customer's values, world view and previous purchases.
    2. Demonstrate that your product is approved by other people who are just like them.
    3. Demonstrate that your product is approved by people your customer looks up to. Heroes, celebrities and experts.

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  • Example
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    What we're saying here is, "If you love product X then you will also love our product.", "If you believe Y, then you will love our product.", "If you own Z, then owning our product is the obvious choice."

    Example iPod: If you love music, you'll love iPod.

    Example yoga mat: If you're a conscious consumer you'll love our new bamboo fibre yoga mat.

    Example jerky: If you're passionate about paleo, you'll dig our preservative free beef jerky.

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    Make a determined effort to collect and present credible testimonials, they are an essential selling tool. And if appropriate to your product, more detailed case studies of how your product solved your customer's problem.

    A case study follows the same format as your own sales pitch, but uses your customer's own words as a more credible and trustable source of the information.

    If you don't have any customers yet, use an illustrative scenario.

    Example: This is Bob, Bob loves listening to jazz as he commutes on the NY subway every day, but Bob didn't have enough pockets to carry around his cassette collection, so he tried the new iPod and he loves how...

    Example: (It also helps to visually show your customer's peers.) The iPod TV and outdoor ad campaigns featured a wide variety of customer types, enjoying different music genres (pop, dance, jazz, classical) demonstrating visually that whatever your musical tastes, other people just like you also enjoyed their music through iPods.

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  • Example
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    Example: U2, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and other musical heroes were used extensively to promote the iPod launches.

    If you can't demonstrate celebrity endorsement yet, show how the values and beliefs behind your product are shared by those celebrities. You can often do this by creating content, like an interview, with someone in an authority position and talking with them about your shared values. Association rubs off, you do not necessarily need explicit endorsement to get started.

    Example: Apple's Think Different campaign, one of the most successful of all time, merely alluded to the shared values of a wide variety of historical icons like Ghandi, Picasso, Einstein etc.

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  • Step Four

    Why are you the perfect person to sell this product?

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  • Your customers are looking for change in their life. But they don't want to go through the discomfort that comes with creating that change. That's why they go looking for a ready made solution.

    Through your product, you are offering to do the hard work for them. You are stepping up to be the champion who fights this battle on their behalf. So you must explain why you care, and how you're qualified to solve their problem.

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  • Example
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    How are you qualified to solve this problem? Why are you committed? How is this personal for you? Why is it about more than making money? Be vulnerable and human. Do not try to sound corporate and professional.

    Example: Steve Jobs positioned almost every hardware device Apple produced as a solution made "to scratch our own itch". The first Apple computers were "made from spare parts in our garage for us and our friends".

    Example: Similarly, the iPod was positioned to take advantage of the iTunes music library software that came before it, "we made it for ourselves because no other device was up to the job."

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  • Step Five

    Why is now the perfect time for them to buy?

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  • If your customer is on the fence, it's much easier for them to procrastinate than it is for them to commit. Once they leave, the chances of them coming back plummet. So always consider having a time sensitive reason why it's better for them to act now, not later.

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  • Example
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    Example: If you buy now you'll gain something extra...
    "Sign-up and for today only you'll receive this bonus"

    Example: If you buy right now we'll reduce the price...
    "Half Price Holiday Sale"
    "Book your holiday in winter for 30% off"

    Example: If you buy right now you'll be special...
    "Pre-order and be the first to receive."
    "Exclusive access for the first 100 ticket holders."

    Example: If you don't buy now, the opportunity will disappear...
    "One offer, one time"
    "New Year's Day Clearance Sale"
    "Only 10 Places available"

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  • Almost finished

    Create an account so we can send you your finished draft.

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  • Congratulations, you're the boss of the Universe. You've created all the raw material you need for a compelling sales story that moves your customers to act. Hit submit below and we'll email your completed notes with instructions on how to edit them for impact and flow.

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