Write the way your audience speaks
This post is a free chapter from my new 4h copywriting crash course for bootstrapping business owners “Dangerous Ideas To Write Like a Copywriter”. If you enjoyed reading it pay what you want to download it (Normally minimum is $59.99, but for Creative Samba readers it's $20.99).
My copywriting crash course won’t make you magically start writing copy like a Pro copywriter with 20+ years experience. But it will help you start writing copy that feels new (and so relatable) that the right people will read every word.
Charles Smith is one of America’s most influential winemakers. But his success didn’t happen overnight.
In 2001 Smith went to see Matt E. Tucker, Commercial Vice- President of Banner Bank.
Smith needed $250,000 to launch a winery in Walla Walla, Washington.
Smith did’t look like most winemakers, he looked more like a lost member of The Ramones.
Smith had a funky business plan, listing the vineyards he was working with and how much he had in bottle. And that was it.
So Tucker says: "First, we have to try your wine".
Smith comes back the next day with two bottlings from his initial vintage, 1999.
Tucker loved it, “Congratulations, you now have a $250,000 credit line. Your wine is the collateral.”
Banner Bank was taking a big risk. Smith spent 9 years managing rock bands in Scandinavia. But he was a newbie in the wine business.
It turns out Smith was a marketing genius.
I remember reading a Wine Spectator interview with Smith a few years ago. Smith said something you rarely hear winemakers say:
“When people drink it they feel good about what they bought. It’s not about me, it’s about everyone else.”
Then he adds, “The simplicity of the label is almost like a courtesy. You’re going to help me pay my bills and survive, and I’m going to talk over you? No, I’m going to communicate in your language. The packaging tells the story.”
Smith knew most people don’t speak wine. So he communicated in a language they understand.
He created simple but distinctive black-and-white labels. And called his wines easy to remember names like K Syrah, Velvet Devil Merlot or Kung Fu Girl Riesling.
In 2016 Smith sold 5 of his best-known wine brands to Constellation Brands for $120 million.
Your reader is busy, not dumb. So write things that are easier to read than to ignore.
And one of the easiest ways of getting your audience’s attention is to use their language.
Because your voice, in some way, your voice reminds them of theirs.
Dangerous example:
Ella’s Kitchen makes “Yummy organic baby food for tiny tummies.” There’s a reason why they’re the UK's #1 baby food brand.
Ella’s Kitchen uses playful language and “foodie- focused onomatopoeia, alliteration and playful puns to mimic the mouths of little ones.”
And this, naturally, speaks directly to new parents hearts (and wallets).
1. Unexpected Outcome Of Using Your Product⇝“guaranteed giggles”
2. What you’re selling⇝“with every nibble”
BONUS freebie chapter: Make a distinctive claim, not a superlative claim
Brands love using superlatives and claiming that they are the best in their industry. Or the cheapest in their category. Or that they offer the simplest way to do something (*cof cof startups are the worst*).
But why would consumers believe these brands?
The problem with using superlatives is that they make you sound like a sneaky car salesman.
This is why saying how your brand is distinct (rather than better) is waaaay more persuasive in winning people’s eyeballs, hearts and wallets.
Kazakhstan is a pretty culturally conservative country where women are expected to be stay-at-home moms and nothing else.
Business meetings are quite formal. And it is considered unacceptable to invite a woman to a business negotiation.
Also, contrary to what’s normal in the Western World, discussing women’s rights is a taboo topic.
Yet, facts tell a different story.
The truth is, women contribute to 40% of Kazakhstan’s GDP. Women run 43% of all Kazakhstan’s small and medium sized businesses. And 52% of Kazakhstan’s sole proprietors are female.
ForteBank is a Kazakh bank that supports many businesses owned or run by women.
In 2019, ForteBank created a perfume called “Forte Femme” to celebrate female entrepreneurship.
Then ForteBank sent the perfume to 2,000 Kazakh female entrepreneurs and invited them to spray the “Forte Femme” fragrance on their tenges (Kazakhstan’s currency) and put that cash back into the economy.
That way the scented banknotes would spread all over the country.
A week before International Women’s Day, people started noticing that their tengeshad a different yet nice smell.
Then ForteBank launched a National ad campaign to reveal that a bank was behind the scented banknotes and remind people how women deeply impact Kazakhstan’s economy.
If you want people to believe you, make a distinctive claim, not a superlative claim.
Dangerous technique: Tell a believable truth.
This Casio Alarm watch print ad from 1980 is a good example.
1. State a product fact in a distinctive way ⇝ “Casio tells time that's music to your ears”
2. Back your claim with evidence ⇝ “12 different ways”.
Then the body copy expands a bit more, “In fact, it’s like having a whole orchestra right on your wrist. Because it’s the only melody alarm watch that plays a different song each day of the week, plus a special chime that sounds every day at noon.”
Dangerous Ideas To Write Like a Copywriter is a new copywriting crash course disguised as an ebook.
The best part? It's so fun, practical and easy-to-read that you can complete it in less than 4 hours.
Inside you’ll find:
11 dangerous principles for writing copy so sharp, it should come with a warning label. Yes, with examples—you’ll need them.
11 dangerous writing techniques. They’ll make your copy irresistible, your deadlines shorter, and your competition nervous.
17 headline techniques. 29 formulas. All designed to write headlines impossible to ignore.
$20.99 for Creative Samba readers. That’s less than the price of a nice bottle of Le Père Jules French Cider from Normandy)
Your pal,
🚀 Founder & Chief Copywriter: Teardwn
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