There are several themes that small businesses and entrepreneurs must create copywriting around in order to win over their target market, build their brand, position themselves as a thought leader and ultimately turn readers into customers. How many Hollywood movies have your watched that are almost exactly the same? In fact, is there any difference between Rocky and Rambo?
The reason these films keep getting made is that audiences love watching them.
Why? Because they tell a story we want to follow.
While you might not be a down-and-out boxer, you have gone through a series of events that led you to start your business. The events you’ve gone through have given you real-world experience and a solution to the pain points your industry deals with.
That’s why you need to share Your Hero’s Journey in copywriting because it’s a great way to announce who you are and why you’re doing what you are.
The reality is that most people don’t know you right now, but if you explain Your Hero’s Journey you share with them something that’s memorable and engaging.
Here’s how we create copywriting content strategy around Your Hero’s Journey and Brand Story in a 12-step process:
Using it in your copywriting is an effective way to announce to your target market who you are and what you do and can significantly build your brand.
And if you’re likeable in Your Hero’s Journey, it will warm-up your ideal customers to your offer and shorten the sales cycle.
A thought leader is an individual or business that is recognised as an authority in their industry and whose views and expertise are sought after.
But if you call yourself a ‘thought leader’ it’s doubtful you really are. It requires more than just saying it. In fact, in all the books and content Richard Branson has created not once have we seen him call himself a thought leader.
Most people referring to themselves as a thought leader don’t put forward any new thought or idea in the copywriting they publish.Posting motivational material doesn’t work either – Tony Robbins has cornered that market anyway.
One way to be considered a genuine thought leader is to publish copywriting that touches on new themes or has a different perspective on issues within your industry.
Thought leadership copywriting is designed to be a knowledgeable reference piece that can be used as a resource tool, providing the most relevant answers a reader might need.
Thought leadership copywriting is by far the most in-depth form of copywriting in the content space and requires accurate viewpoints backed up by evidence to support what the writer is saying.
While not an exact science, thought leadership copywriting generally needs to have the following characteristics:
The truth is, you’re not a thought leader until other people are saying it on your behalf. That won’t happen until they consistently read copywriting that offers something new, educated and relevant to them.
The Content Marketing Institute has some interesting statistics on the power of publishing copywriting that addresses the concerns and interests of an audience.
It suggests that:
But that won’t happen if you simply write copy about yourself and how great you are – that becomes tiresome very quickly.
One of the major drivers of copywriting becoming a lead generation tool is when it offers education. The best way to do this is to understand your ideal customer’s pain points, address them in your copywriting and provide workable solutions.
A great way to find out the problems your ideal customers have is to identify what they’re searching for online.
Think about it logically; a customer’s buying journey starts by typing keywords of their question into an internet search engine. Whoever has the copywriting that best addresses their question ultimately gets the sale.
Here’s how we create SEO keyword copywriting:
Having an opinion is only natural and you shouldn’t shy away from it in your copywriting.
As long as your opinion is supported by the people you want to target (i.e. your ideal customers), it will help build your brand.
If the topic you choose to give your opinion on is trending in the media your copywriting can be pitched to online publications and magazines, which is great for your SEO backlinking strategy and to build Google authority.
Opinion piece copywriting can easily get published by external platforms because it offers a viewpoint on a current trend. Editors are looking for high-quality and engaging opinion pieces that their readers will want to consume.
If you offer value and it’s written to editorial guidelines, it stands a good chance of getting a run.
Here’s how we create opinion copywriting (or an op-ed in journalism-speak):
When it comes to writing opinion pieces, you need to be direct and authoritative but mindful that readers probably won’t know the topic as well as you do. So make sure opinion copywriting is written to be consumed by many people from different industries and backgrounds.
Previously, in Your Hero’s Journey, we mentioned that you need to explain who your support network is. Now is the time to showcase their skill set and how you can benefit their market in your content.
Everyone in business is surrounded by others who offer complementary services to what you do but don’t overlap. Typically, this is called your referral network and it’s a powerful tool to use in your copywriting.
Doing this will mean that when your copywriting is published the businesses and entrepreneurs included in it will share it to their networks – on the website, social media platforms, in their videos and podcasts and in EDMs and e-newsletters.
That means every time this happens, your copywriting (and you) are exposed to a wider audience. Chances are your referral partners’ networks will be a hotbed of potential leads that need what you offer. And if business and entrepreneurs are included in your copywriting, you’ll get the SEO backlink featured on their website.
Here’s how we create joint venture copywriting:
Creating copywriting in this way enables you to drag in new audiences but also lessens your need to consistently identify new ideas for the copywriting you publish. Any external businesses or entrepreneurs included in your content will bring their unique ideas to the table and will be able to engage and influence your market in value-adding ways you’d never previously considered.
Now more than ever, your ideal customers want you to prove you’re as good as you say and they won’t engage with you until you have.
There are two ways you can do this in copywriting.
First, you can create copywriting that focuses on you and what you’ve done. Statements like:“For more than 20 years our customers have trusted us to deliver the results they needed at an affordable price.” That’s bland and doesn’t cut through in a competitive space.
Second, you can give your market social proof from others that you actually have a solution to their problem that works.
The best way to do this is to create case study copywriting that details a customer’s experience using your products or services. If done well, this type of copywriting becomes a giant customer testimonial and can be used wider than just on your blog or social media and in things such as pitch decks and proposals.
Here’s how we create case study copywriting:
In effect, you’re not telling that reader how great you are, you’re getting others to do it on your behalf. That’s powerful copywriting.
See also: Social Media Video Creation