3 Copywriting Tips To Avoid At Your Peril

Today I have a lovely guest, Memma Seilosa Clare, who’s going to share with you her top 3 copywriting tips to avoid at your peril!

Memma is a copywriter with her own content marketing agency. She also offers entrepreneurs the chance to pick her brain so that they can write their own copy without going into complete meltdown.

Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences

I absolutely love my life. I LOVE the word “crackalackin’” and try to use it wherever possible. My superpower is to see the positives in every situation.

What made you decide to become an entrepreneur?

I kind of fell into copy and content writing by accident. I simply needed to pay the bills and I couldn’t go out to work in a “normal” job – I had just moved to a different country and couldn’t speak the language. I started working as a content writer. I instantly fell in love with what I did and found that I had some kick*ss copywriting skills.

Over the years of writing for different agencies, I learnt that writers often got a bad deal. I decided that I wanted to set up a company that would pay writers what they’re worth and still give clients amazing value for money when it came to awesome copy. So I set up with my brilliant friend and that’s how we roll now.

Who has been your biggest inspiration in business?

My daughter. I’ve read a ton of advice and tips from copywriters. They all help me hone my skills. But my daughter inspires me to be the very best that I can be so that she learns to do the same.

What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

My business coach told me to get outside my comfort zone. I knew I needed to anyway but sometimes, having that person there to hold you accountable makes all the difference. I now do training videos which I never would have done before I met Jane. But the videos are getting an amazing response so it was definitely the right move!

What are your top 3 Copywriting tips that we need to take notice of?

Do you every look at all those articles on “How to Write Great Copy” and get flustered with the sheer amount of information?

Which copywriting tips are best for you as a coach? Which ones need to be learnt now and which ones can wait?

As a coach, your copy is one of the sharpest tools in your arsenal. You know that once you get in a room or on the phone with a prospective client, they’ll love you. You just need to get them there first. Enter… the 3 copywriting tips to ignore at your peril.

Use these three tips whenever you write your copy and you won’t be a world class copywriter, but you will get your clients into that room with you.

Copywriting Tip for Coaches #1 – Don’t hold back with your headline

Time for some scary truth – your headline can literally make or break your copy. It’s the first thing people see when they visit your page and if you don’t manage to make an impact with it, your headline will also be the last thing they see.

I could write a whole post dedicated to the art of writing great headlines. But this is all about getting some of the essentials down so you can move forward now. That’s why I’m going to show you a few headline structures that you can use straight away.

1. The big promise – Think about the biggest problem your readers have and promise them that you’ll solve it in your article. E.g. “Attract 10 more clients a week by learning this trick”
2. Be highly specific – The more specific you are about the benefits you offer, the more the reader will trust you. E.g. “Convert 23.5% of your readers into customers”.
3. Two is better than one – One great benefit might get your reader to sit up and pay attention but two great benefits count as an opportunity not to be missed. E.g. “Save time and make more money while you write”.
4. Make it urgent – Don’t let your reader hit that back button. Let them know that this is information they need to know right now or they’ll miss out. E.g. “3 Copywriting Tips to Ignore at your Peril”.
5. Make your reader think – Turn the situation round by putting your reader in the spotlight and get them to engage with you straight away. E.g. “Do you want to get better at writing copy?”.

Be on the lookout for any headlines that stand out for you. Do they use any of these techniques? Maybe they use some other structure. Look closely at them and see if you can use the same methods in your own headlines.

Copywriting Tip for Coaches #2 – Think “storyline” instead of sales pitches

Just because you’re trying to sell a programme or service, it doesn’t mean that you have to become a tacky sales person to do it. One of the best ways to pitch a programme is to tell a story…

As a coach, you already know that what you do can have a huge positive impact on your client’s life. In actual fact, signing up with you is the beginning of their journey to success. Think about that journey and turn it into a story.

Every good story has a good guy, a bad guy and of course, the hero. In this case, your client is the good guy, their number one pain point is the bad guy and you’re the hero that will save the day.

When you focus on this kind of story-telling instead of a hard sell, you bring your clients on board by letting them know that you absolutely understand their situation and you can help them through it. You connect, motivate and inspire all with one piece of copy.

Copywriting Tip for Coaches #3 – Put the reader to work

You already know that setting a client homework can help you improve levels of engagement between sessions. Well by placing a call to action within your copy, you can do a similar thing.

Putting a CTA in your copy can get people to share, comment and engage with you. It can literally mean the difference between 10 people visiting your blog and 1000. Don’t be afraid to ask your reader to do something.

If they do what you ask, it’s a great indicator that they’re invested in you and what you do. They want that relationship with you. They’re listening to what you’re saying. You’re winning!

Bonus Tip: Create Value – Make sure there is always a benefit for the reader.

Any time you put a piece of copy or content out there, you’re asking your reader to give up their valuable time to read what you’ve written. You need to make it worth their while.  Make sure your copy does at least one of the following for your reader:

• Teaches them something valuable
• Makes them feel better about themselves
• Entertains them

If you can do all three of those things with your copy, you’re golden!

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Just lately I’ve started to run a programme that helps people write their own copy. It seems a little counter-intuitive to help people do the job that I do lol. But the fact is, some people really do need to write their own copy. Especially if their business is a one man band and they rely heavily on making a real connection with their clients.

Again, this is something I wouldn’t have thought of before but I absolutely LOVE it. I can see why you coaches love what you do. Giving somebody that “lightning bolt” moment is the best feeling ever!

If I wanted to connect and/or work with you where would I find you? 

You can check out all the big things that are crackalackin’ (see what I mean about that word?) over at Content Cakey if you visit the site.

You’ll find details of some pretty nifty content packages plus the lowdown on my very own Intensive Day programme – the 6 hour one to one session where I work with people to kick their copywriting problems to the curb!

Thanks Memma for some fantastic tips.  I know I’m personally a work in progress!

If you want to check out my poor copywriting for my upcoming 12 week programme (Coaching Rocks Bootcamp) to help coaches starting up their own coaching business then you can find out more here! Come back on Thursday for another great guest post all about selling!

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