Joanna Wiebe Old School Copywriting for New School Businesses

Old school
FOR NEW SCHOOL MARKETERS
COPYWRITING
JOANNA WIEBE @COPYHACKERS

“You'd better not let your
father see this.”
John Caples’s mom
@COPYHACKERS#bos2017

IF IT FEELS SAFE,
SCRAP IT

“Five times as many
people read the
headline as read
the body copy.”

“I ﬁnd if I drink two
or three brandies,
I’m far better able
to write.”

COPY IS NOT YOUR BRAND’S
CREATIVE EXPRESSION.
COPY IS YOUR ONLINE
SALESPERSON.

WANNA BE CREATIVE?
WRITE A poem. got that
outta your system?
great - let’s work.

“The only
purpose of
advertising is
to make sales.”
claude hopkins

I ROLL WITH THE HARDEST.
MAKE MONEY WITH THE SMARTEST.
AIN’T GOT TIME FOR YOU ARTISTS.
bOS-APPROPRIATE rewrite
of lyrics by The Game

Gene Schwartz
John Caples
Claude
Hopkins

CAVEAT 
Err on the side of caution
sometimes. Not everything that
worked then ﬂies now.

Let’s START WITH 4 quick hits
(‘cos it’s end of day)
@COPYHACKERS

ASK GOOD
QUESTIONS

WRITE FOR
READERS

Ba sold better

“THAT’S MORE COPY THAN
WE’RE USED TO”
Andrew Capland, Wistia

TAKE THE
CAP OFF THE
COKE

DON’T BE
TOO
FORTHCOMI
NG
aka

fewer clicks
Ba

PUT YOUR
HEADLINE &
BUTTON IN
THE FIRST
PERSON

sold better
Ba

24% increase in CTR with
98% confidence
13% lift in CTR with
99% confidence
24% MORE CLICKS
13% MORE CLICKS

3 BIGGER IDEAS
TO SHAPE YOUR COPY

Don’t write copy.
1
@COPYHACKERS

YOU GO TO A QUIET PLACE TO WRITE.

(Because to write, you need to be alone with your thoughts.)

Yet, somehow, genius doesn’t strike.

Turns out the copy in your head… sucks.

So you give up. And find something else to do.

Don’t write copy.
HOLD up a mirror.
1
@COPYHACKERS

Stop “writing”
Understand that the thing on the
page is the customer - not “the
product”
Know the customer so you can
show the customer him/herself
(ideally happy or getting there)
Hold the mirror (i.e., be in the
background)
to do this,
you must:

the PRODUCT
is NOT the
product

the
CUSTOMER IS
the product

YOUR COPY IS
CREATING A
CUSTOMER.
NOT SELLING
A PRODUCT.

HOW DO YOU KNOW
WHAT THE MIRROR
SHOULD REFLECT BACK?

What do you do with the mad that you feel
When you feel so mad you could bite?
When the whole wide world seems oh so wrong,
And nothing you do seems very right?
What do you do - do you punch a bag?
Do you pound some clay or some dough?
Do you round up friends for a game of tag?
Or see how fast you go?

HERE’S THE EASIEST,
fastest, cheapest WAY
(I’LL FORGIVE YOU IF YOU OPEN
AMAZON.COM NOW)

1. On one or more sites with reviews,
find products / services in your category.

2. Go through the reviews and clip
the STICKIEST insights.

3. TAG THE VERBATIMS AND ASSEMBLE THEM INTO DRAFT 1.
@air_story#bos2017
Joanna is
assembling
in

“Copy is not
written. Copy is
assembled.”
gene schwartz

TO TRULY BE A MIRROR, YOUR PAGE
HAS TO REFLECT BACK A SPECIFIC
PERSON. NOT AN “AVERAGE PERSON.”

“Your message
should single out your
prospect like a man
being paged in a
crowded hotel
lobby.”
claude hopkins

Roses are red,
Violets are blue -
Donate to a teacher
With the same name as you.

Dear Joanna -
Roses are red,
Violets are blue -
Donate to a teacher
With the same name as you.
Mr. Wiebe
French novels for his junior high students. 
$68 remaining
Donate to Mr. Wiebe’s project
3x more likely to give to a project
Gave 3x as much
Reactivated lapsed donors
Source: Donors Choose Annual Review 2014 - 15

Can your prospect  
see herself on YOUR page?
@COPYHACKERS

Don’t write copy.
hold up a mirror.
1
@COPYHACKERS

“THEY ALL LAUGHED WHEN I
USED A FORMULA. BUT WHEN
THEY SAW THE RESULTS!”
2
@COPYHACKERS

FORMULAS
FOR ADS
FORMULAS
FOR
LAYOUTS
FORMULAS
FOR
ELEMENTS

FORMULAS
FOR
LAYOUTS

Problem
Agitation
Solution

“The correct
solution, the right
headline, the perfect
ad lies buried in the
problem itself.”
gene schwartz

NO FORMULA PAS FORMULA
Ba

(when you suggest delaying the product
shot, even the coolest lose their cool)

“Just as the physician uses the
same prescription many times with
beneﬁcial effect… Just as the civil
engineer uses the same formulas
again and again for building
bridges… So can the copywriter
use formulas that have worked
successfully in the past.”
john caples

Don’t write copy.
HOLD UP a mirror.
1
@COPYHACKERS

start with a formula
or framework.
2
@COPYHACKERS

EDIT IN THE AWESOME.
3
@COPYHACKERS

YOUR FIRST DRAFT
SHOULD BE A BUNCH
OF ASSEMBLED VOC
DATA

grammar!!!
PROOFREADING!!!

grammar???

1. The clarity sweep
2. The voice and tone sweep
3. The So What sweep
4. The Prove It sweep
5. The speciﬁcity sweep
6. The heightened emotion sweep
7. The Zero Risk sweep
THE SEVEN SWEEPS

“You cannot bore
people into buying
your product. You
can only interest
them.”
DAVID OGILVY GENE SCHWARTZ
“Advertising is
the literature
of desire.”
G. BENCIVENGA
“Emotions are the ﬁre
of human motivation,
the combustible force
that secretly drives
most decisions to
buy.”

emotion /
“feeling" isn’t
always edited
in after

• Need for love
• Fear of shame
• Pride of achievement
• Drive for recognition
• Yearning to feel important
• Urge to look attractive
• Lust for power
• Longing for romance
• Need to feel secure
• Terror of facing the unknown
• Lifelong hunger for self-
esteem
GARY BENCIVENGA

“It’s not about building
better mousetraps. It’s
about building larger
mice - and then building
a terrifying fear of them
in your customers.”
gene schwartz

As many as 60% of sales are lost to “no decision.”
Source: CorporateVisions.com @COPYHACKERS#bos2017

MAKE YOUR READER DECIDE.
EVEN IF THEY DON’T CHOOSE YOU.

DON’T “WRITE COPY.”
use formulas.
EDIT IN THE AWESOME.
@COPYHACKERS

“THIS IS NO LAZY MAN’S FIELD”
Claude Hopkins

Joanna Wiebe Old School Copywriting for New School Businesses

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