Copywriting Rules That Convert

When people start writing about anything, they often drape their subjects in:

• Adjectives

• Superlatives

• Everything else under the sun to explain what they are talking about

The issue is the more words you write, the harder it is to read.

Simple > Complex.

Here are a few of the rules we use when copywriting for clients. 

1. Less is more - Every extra word costs the reader more time

2. Be specific with what you are offering - Your idiom is someone else’s confusion

3. Make your copy easy to consume - how it looks matters

Good copy is simple, short and easy to read.

Remember this next time you write about your business.

Don’t Be A Turkey

I got talking to someone recently about their business. I asked them which service made them the most money?

After pondering the question for a good while they gave me a guestimate of their highest revenue stream. When I pushed for their most profitable service they had no clue.

It reminded me of a story from the book called Fooled by randomness.

"Imagine a turkey that is fed by a farmer every day. Each morning, the turkey wakes up, and the farmer comes with food. The turkey grows more and more confident that the farmer is a great friend, that life is good, and that food will always arrive. This pattern continues for months, reinforcing the turkey’s belief in a predictable, benevolent world.

But then, the day before Thanksgiving arrives.

That morning, the turkey wakes up expecting food—just as it has for hundreds of days before. But instead of being fed, it is slaughtered.

From the turkey’s perspective, this event is completely unexpected. Nothing in its past experience suggested that today would be any different. But for the farmer, the turkey’s fate was always inevitable."

You hear about these turkey stories from the start-up world. Businesses achieving unimaginable heights off the back of VC funding and vibes then crashing horribly.

WeWork, AllBirds and Pets.com, those types.

From what I know, this person's business is profitable and affords them an above-average kiwi lifestyle. So who cares?

In my mind, this is a catch-22.

I can't understand how they can possibly make good strategic decisions for their business if they don't truly understand how their sausage is made. But also, if they've gotten this far, with such a low fidelity view on their business, imagine what they could achieve, if they knew all the details.

From afar, it's hard to know if their business is a turkey with an inevitable fate or something long-term prosperous & robust.

But the point is, they should know and they don't.

If I knew where I was going to die, I'd never go there. - Charlie Munger