(TLDR: I'm learning to write copy and wanted to share my sticking points and resources that I come across. Feel free to scroll down to the section of this post where the broken lines --------- begin if you want to skip the backstory. )
Hey all! Hope you're all learning valuable lessons and getting that ever-amazing experience.
So recently, I've been focused on writing short and punch copy for a new project my mentor has taken on. It's been a few weeks that I've been on it without having to switch off to another skill, so I figured that since I'm still pretty green with writing copy, putting up a progress thread that could detail everything I'm learning and the sticking points I'm dealing with would be really beneficial to myself and hopefully to others who are going through and learning how to write copy right now.
Until my other progress thread was mentioned in my recent thread about my worst interview ever (or anyone's I think), I hadn't really looked through my original progress thread, "Learning Marketing in the Trenches," (which actually wound up being more like learning PR/email outreach instead of pure marketing, but I digress). Mars posted asking if I could share how I got my results with PR, and I had to go back through my progress thread and actually take another look at it to make sure that it actually outlined the process I was using to learn and shared resources that could take others through my own learning process and provide value in that way.
As I was reading through it, I realized how much of my learning was actually solidified and strengthened through making it like that. It was my own personal journal that others who could teach me could also comment on, a way for the masters to launch knowledge bombs all over my brain. And I've been told by a few people now that it really helped them in their own new campaigns, so it was an easy way for me to also provide value.
I hadn't posted in it for a while because I've been so scattered in what my mentor has been wanting me to do for him the last few months, I feel like it would've just read like a confusing and ADHD shotgun blast of random business skills after a while, and would've really diluted the usefulness of it as something others could gather value from. So that's why I'm creating a new one - to have a focused thread on one topic I'm learning that can be a guide for others as well.
So stay a while and listen, friend.
---------------------------------------------------------
At the moment, I'm having a very difficult time with that dreaded specter of budding wordsmiths the world over - writer's block!
I keep looking at the landing page my mentor's team has created, and reading it over and over trying to figure out something to put in that's good. It's been almost a week now since the last time I was able to come up with anything I didn't immediately delete. The deadline for the first draft of the lander is coming up in the next few days, and I'm starting to get a bit worried that I won't make it.
With that in mind, I started reading 3 separate books to help me in my endeavor, and hopefully get me to be able to finally write something good - Ca$hvertising, The Ultimate Sales Letter, and Running Lean.
I also dug up an old post of mine where I got a lot of helpful advice and feedback, and want to offer that as the first resource so far - https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/how-to-write-copy-to-your-demographic.56363/
I'd almost completely forgotten about it until I remembered I wanted to watch the video that was posted in there again and remembered. I'd say that post is a solid snapshot of where I am at the moment, interestingly enough. Although reading competitor's sites so far has proven just about fruitless - they're all pretty terribly designed/written, so I haven't been able to glean much from them. As an alternative, I've been reading questions posted on Quora and their responses to try and get a clearer picture of what exactly our customer persona is like as a person.
The main thing I'm keeping in mind at the moment for whatever I write, is a sentiment that I keep reading but forgetting easily, but that was really driven powerfully into my memory in this post by Sinister Lex -
"https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ith-no-degree-no-feedback-no-portfolio.58837/,"
That's being focused on whoever the customer is and writing to them and how you can solve their problems, instead of writing your copy (or whatever contact you have with your customer) focused on yourself. So far, I've been noticing that about 99% of the landers I see in the field ours is going up in are focused exclusively on what that company does and how great that company is and why you (the customer) should be excited that you could become a customer at said company.
Like I said, awful stuff.
Anyway, to try and bring this overly-long intro post to a close, that's pretty much what I'm intending with this progress thread and where I'm currently at. Thank you for reading and see you on the next update!
-Testament
EDIT: I just realized that the video The Truth posted has been taken down. I was able to find another copy of it though linked here -
Hey all! Hope you're all learning valuable lessons and getting that ever-amazing experience.
So recently, I've been focused on writing short and punch copy for a new project my mentor has taken on. It's been a few weeks that I've been on it without having to switch off to another skill, so I figured that since I'm still pretty green with writing copy, putting up a progress thread that could detail everything I'm learning and the sticking points I'm dealing with would be really beneficial to myself and hopefully to others who are going through and learning how to write copy right now.
Until my other progress thread was mentioned in my recent thread about my worst interview ever (or anyone's I think), I hadn't really looked through my original progress thread, "Learning Marketing in the Trenches," (which actually wound up being more like learning PR/email outreach instead of pure marketing, but I digress). Mars posted asking if I could share how I got my results with PR, and I had to go back through my progress thread and actually take another look at it to make sure that it actually outlined the process I was using to learn and shared resources that could take others through my own learning process and provide value in that way.
As I was reading through it, I realized how much of my learning was actually solidified and strengthened through making it like that. It was my own personal journal that others who could teach me could also comment on, a way for the masters to launch knowledge bombs all over my brain. And I've been told by a few people now that it really helped them in their own new campaigns, so it was an easy way for me to also provide value.
I hadn't posted in it for a while because I've been so scattered in what my mentor has been wanting me to do for him the last few months, I feel like it would've just read like a confusing and ADHD shotgun blast of random business skills after a while, and would've really diluted the usefulness of it as something others could gather value from. So that's why I'm creating a new one - to have a focused thread on one topic I'm learning that can be a guide for others as well.
So stay a while and listen, friend.
---------------------------------------------------------
At the moment, I'm having a very difficult time with that dreaded specter of budding wordsmiths the world over - writer's block!
I keep looking at the landing page my mentor's team has created, and reading it over and over trying to figure out something to put in that's good. It's been almost a week now since the last time I was able to come up with anything I didn't immediately delete. The deadline for the first draft of the lander is coming up in the next few days, and I'm starting to get a bit worried that I won't make it.
With that in mind, I started reading 3 separate books to help me in my endeavor, and hopefully get me to be able to finally write something good - Ca$hvertising, The Ultimate Sales Letter, and Running Lean.
I also dug up an old post of mine where I got a lot of helpful advice and feedback, and want to offer that as the first resource so far - https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/how-to-write-copy-to-your-demographic.56363/
I'd almost completely forgotten about it until I remembered I wanted to watch the video that was posted in there again and remembered. I'd say that post is a solid snapshot of where I am at the moment, interestingly enough. Although reading competitor's sites so far has proven just about fruitless - they're all pretty terribly designed/written, so I haven't been able to glean much from them. As an alternative, I've been reading questions posted on Quora and their responses to try and get a clearer picture of what exactly our customer persona is like as a person.
The main thing I'm keeping in mind at the moment for whatever I write, is a sentiment that I keep reading but forgetting easily, but that was really driven powerfully into my memory in this post by Sinister Lex -
"https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ith-no-degree-no-feedback-no-portfolio.58837/,"
That's being focused on whoever the customer is and writing to them and how you can solve their problems, instead of writing your copy (or whatever contact you have with your customer) focused on yourself. So far, I've been noticing that about 99% of the landers I see in the field ours is going up in are focused exclusively on what that company does and how great that company is and why you (the customer) should be excited that you could become a customer at said company.
Like I said, awful stuff.
Anyway, to try and bring this overly-long intro post to a close, that's pretty much what I'm intending with this progress thread and where I'm currently at. Thank you for reading and see you on the next update!
-Testament
EDIT: I just realized that the video The Truth posted has been taken down. I was able to find another copy of it though linked here -
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