📝 The right way to write

Hi 👋

Great writing is both simple and clear.

But great writers don’t just sit behind a computer, type away, and produce something amazing on the first go. It might look like that’s what they’re doing, but it’s far from the truth.

Great copywriters know that going from nothing to something requires a series of steps. And according to the book Read Me, by Roger Horberry & Gyles Lingwood, there are actually four steps writers must go through: research, plan, write, and review.

Let’s go over these.

1. Research

Research forms the backbone of effective copywriting. It starts with an in-depth analysis of the brief — dissecting it to reveal its core components. You should fully understand:

• The nature of the job

• The audience

• The problem you're trying to solve

• The main idea you're building on

• Key messages your copy should convey

• The tone or personality of the final piece

• The deadline

• Where to find additional information

If the brief lacks these details, it's your responsibility to gather them — it's better to know exactly what you're doing before you start. Understand your reader’s hopes, dreams, anxieties, and problems, as these will guide your approach to the material. Research also involves immersing yourself in the subject, making notes, drawing diagrams, conversing with people, and asking questions.

2. Plan

In this stage, you clarify the problem your readers face and how your product/service/brand provides a solution. This might be straightforward in some cases, but in others, the problem may not be as clear-cut. The objective is to align your thinking with your reader's needs.

You may find it helpful to have an internal dialogue about what you're trying to achieve, breaking it down into the who/what/where/when/why/how list. This understanding will help you shape the raw material you gathered during the research phase. Mind mapping can be an excellent tool to connect and sequence your main themes.

The structure of your piece will depend on your audience, subject, and goal, but a few approaches include:

• Issues > Implications > Actions

• Past > Present > Future

• Context > Analysis > Conclusion > Actions

• Problem > Solution > Results

• Inverted Triangle

• Goal > Step One > Step Two > Step X > Result

• Questions & Answers

Remember, these are frameworks to get started. The most effective approach depends on the specifics of your copywriting project. In future editions of this newsletter, we’ll go into greater detail about these frameworks.

3. Write

The third step in achieving copy heaven is to write. Key to this step is writing in a manner that emulates conversation, providing a sense of warmth and familiarity. Your writing should not sound like writing. Instead, it should sound like you are speaking to your reader in a tone that resonates with your brand's voice and the context of the communication. The use of pronouns, such as 'I', 'we', 'us', 'you', can create a sense of closeness and dialogue.

Writing, in this step, is seen as a process of translation, where raw research is transformed into polished prose with a specific purpose. You are the one responsible for making the subject palatable to the audience. Achieving this requires clarity in your thinking and understanding of the subject matter.

When writing, remember to be attentive to the form of your words and vary the length of your sentences, similar to how we vary our speech. Reading your work aloud can help highlight any awkward phrases and provide insight into the flow of your writing. It's also recommended to keep paragraphs concise and to keep the overall piece as short as possible.

4. Review

The final step is to review your work. This involves reading over your writing and polishing it to ensure that it aligns with the purpose you set out to achieve. You may need to review your work multiple times, refining and correcting as necessary until it meets the desired standard.

During the review process, you should ensure that your writing satisfies the requirements of the brief. This involves not only making your writing impressive but also ensuring that it is relevant. If there are sections of your writing that you are unsure of, it is advisable to remove them. The writing must also be honest and factual, unless the intention is to be hyperbolic or light-hearted.

Lastly, if a good idea is rejected, don't discard it. Instead, keep it for future use as it may be relevant in another context. This approach can make you appear more efficient and deserving of promotion.

With that, let's get into what we have in store this week (lots of good stuff):

• Marketing news from the past week

• What to do if you missed product positioning

• 13 ways to grow an email list (without ads)

• Ecommerce SEO case study (211% traffic growth)

• How to craft messages that convert

• Ad from the past

• Website of the week

• Cool marketing jobs (We’re hiring!)

• And much more

🗞 In the news

• Brands want in on the Women’s World Cup any way they can

• Threads reaches 100 million members in record time

• Twitter starts sharing ad revenue with verified creators

• How the Hollywood shutdown could disrupt the ad market

• Norway becomes latest country to pressure Meta’s ad business

🚀 All things growth & product

The seven deadly sins of MQL stuffing, the difference between brand and product channel fit, five steps to starting your PLG motion, and what to do if you missed product positioning early on.

✍️ Content, copy, & emails

Crafting a winning international content strategy, how Neil Patel built a successful content marketing empire, the secret to successful sales copy, and 13 ways to build an email list without paid ads.

⚙️ SEO (Search engine optimization)

Do internal link modules help organic traffic, an ecommerce SEO case study, a monthly SEO analytics reporting strategy, and how to get SEO results fast.

🧠 Psychology & branding

How to craft messaging that converts, the framing effect in marketing, and what it takes to build a profitable consumer brand.

🤖 AI & extra stuff

How AI will eat help your job, using QR codes in sponsored videos, and why you should explain benefits on your pricing page.

📣 Ad from the past

💻 Website of the week

🏝 Cool remote marketing jobs

• Growth Marketing Intern @ Decoherence

• Freelance Content Writer @ Marketer Milk

• Content Growth Strategist @ Omniscient Digital

• Content Marketing Lead @ Webflow

• Product Marketing Lead @ Quora

Okay, that's it for now 🖤. See you next Tuesday!

“Whatever happens around you, don't take it personally... Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves.” — Don Miguel Ruiz

Riddle answer: They’re surrounded by drafts