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A Million Possible Paths for Writing This Copy

by Joshua Uebergang
7 replies
I sit here at a fork road in my copy. It's the beginning of rewriting a letter that has a suck start. It's for a communication skills product and I can take the entire letter in a million directions. How do I go down the most profitable path? How do I choose my hook, I suppose.

Here's my thoughts. Summarize as many paths as I can. Select the top few, write separate copies for each one, then test. It's time-consuming, but the best option I know of right now.
#copy #million #paths #writing
  • Profile picture of the author JoshuaGM
    Hi,

    Rather than test out what you are not sure about, how about putting to test tried & proven content that does?

    You might want to take a look at copyblogger.com. Great ideas & tips on building great content.

    Hope this helps!
    Joshua
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    • Profile picture of the author Joshua Uebergang
      Hey Josh. Thanks for your tip.

      I'm trying to follow proven content and feel I could use any of it. For example, at the moment I'm writing a piece using one of Jeff's Walker, or general copywriting formula, where I show my similarity to the reader, amplify the problem, then present a solution that took me ages to find (which is the truth).

      I imagine most copywriters are probably faced with this dilemma of too many directions in their copy. I need to get down to what matters.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rob Canyon
    Joshua,

    You say profitable path. This would dictate that you have some traffic,
    that possibly is not converting as well as planned.

    Whenever you're stuck go back to the testimonials... If you don't have any
    get some.

    The best sales letters encourage others to join the club of those that are
    already experiencing the benefits your product has offered to others.

    Nobody wants to be first...

    Look at similar sales letters in your niche, print a few, and take a pen and
    note how and where they develop their AIDA.

    Attention, Interest, Desire and Call to Action.

    That should get you back on track...

    Cheers,

    Rob
    P.S. I've always found it best to write in lots of little blocks of time
    instead of 4, 5 or 6 hours at a time... When you're stuck, go do something
    different and then come back to your project with new creative juices.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stephen Dean
    The path you take depends on many, many variables.

    What's the awareness of the customer? Do they already know a product like yours will fix their problem? Do they already know they need a product like yours? Then you don't need to spend much time talking about how your product works and how it achieves the desired result.

    Are there any preconceived notions that might hurt your prospect's opinion of your product?

    Does the audience already know you?

    What do you need to prove to the client and how much copy will that take?

    What sales arguments in your copy rely on other sales arguments appearing before it?

    Here's a good article by Clayton Makepeace on constructing logical arguments: Advanced persuasion techniques. | The Total Package

    Good luck.

    Stephen Dean, stephensblog.com
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  • Profile picture of the author Joshua Uebergang
    Big help, thanks Rob and Stephen.

    Rob, I'm a bit hesitant to follow the structure of sales letters in my niche because they're, well, crap. But I've found one big guy who I'll use your tip on.

    Stephen, those questions are gold for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
    Sounds like you're just playing guessing games at the moment.

    What does your research tell you?
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    • Profile picture of the author Capone
      Why waste anymore time on this? Time is money. Hire someone to write it and it'll payoff down the road.
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