Writer's block is no fun
especially when you have a big sales page to complete
and a looming deadline ahead.
So in this video, I'm sharing five
of my go-to copywriting Prompts and exercises
that help me get started.
(upbeat music)
Hey guys, what's up?
It's Alex, welcome back.
Now as a copywriter or a creative entrepreneur
I don't need to tell you what it's like to have
a big sales page you need to complete
and a looming deadline ahead,
and you sit down on your computer and nothing happens.
Yeah, copywriter's block is the real deal.
And sometimes the more you have to do
and the longer you put it off, the worse it gets.
And despite all of the templates and formulas
and tools available online,
I am still guilty of sitting on a sales page
for way longer than I should,
because I can't seem to ignite that creative spark.
For such an important and challenging piece of copy,
where do you even start?
It can seem like an impossible task
when you're staring at that blank page
and that flashing cursor.
I feel you, I've been there a million times.
So in this video, I'm sharing five
of my go-to copywriting Prompts and exercises
that help me get started writing
a high-converting sales page.
And for more copywriting tutorials,
to strengthen your skill and ignite your creative flow,
you can count on me for weekly videos, guides, and examples.
So, if you're not already part of the Posse here on YouTube,
all you got to do is click that button below to subscribe
and then ring that bell to be notified
when my next video goes live.
Next week, I'll be sharing the biggest mistakes
I see people make when writing sales pages,
and trust me, you will not want to miss it.
All right, now let's start with Copywriting Prompt
number one, the USP Statement Generator.
The magic ingredient of any sales page
is the Unique Selling Proposition or USP.
This is a statement that communicates your big promise
and the one benefit that makes your product stand out.
At its core, a USP should quickly answer the question...
Why would someone buy from you over your competition?
A specific, clear, and consistent USP
gives you as the copywriter or the business owner
a strong theme across all communications
and helps guide marketing decisions.
That's why it's something that should be established
well before any campaign or sales page is written.
It becomes the guiding light, the key concept
that you're trying to get your prospects
to believe and understand.
A great USP clearly defines
who your product helps, how and why,
which brings me to the simple fill-in-the-blank
USP Statement Generator that I created
to help my students come up with a clearly defined USP
as a starting point for their sales pages.
So, it goes like this...
Now while the statement might not go
in your copy or your website exactly as it's shown
and yeah, you may wanna change up a few words.
It's a very helpful exercise
to expedite the sales page writing process.
It gives you a clear direction in which to point your pen.
It helps you answer the question,
okay, "What am I trying to say here?"
"What do I need people to know about my product
in order to make a purchase?"
So, here's an example of my USP Statement
for my copywriting coaching program,
The Copy Posse Launch Pad.
The Copy Posse Launch Pad helps aspiring copywriters
who have no idea how to start
write a complete and high-converting copywriter portfolio
through personalized guidance, coaching, and support.
So, that's my USP Statement.
That was the guiding light
that helped me write my sales page.
And if you wanna see the final sales page in action,
you can click the link in the description below.
All right, moving on to prompt number two,
the Pain-Problem-Pain Loop.
So, it is scientifically proven that we as humans
are more motivated to avoid pain than to gain pleasure.
And as a copywriter, you know this.
It is so important to address and empathize
with your customer's pain in your sales copy
so that they believe you can actually help them overcome it.
But be careful though,
a common mistake copywriters make
is confusing pain with the problem.
The problem is not the pain.
The problem is what causes the pain.
And simply describing the problem
will make your reader think...
"Yeah, I know that already that's why I'm here!"
It's sort of like selling a weight loss product
and constantly telling people that they're overweight.
It's a little bit cringey (chuckles).
Plus there's only so much you can say to someone
about that one overarching problem.
How many different ways can you tell someone
they need to lose weight?
But if you first focus on the core emotions
your prospect is feeling,
it will allow you to explore
the more specific issues they're experiencing
as a result of that larger problem at hand.
And ultimately go deeper into understanding their pain.
So, a really easy exercise to help you with this,
is my fill-in-the-blank Pain-Problem-Pain Loop.
Now the goal here is to illustrate a bunch of believable
and relatable scenarios that speak
to what your prospect is struggling with...
And how that might show up in their daily lives.
So, it goes like this...
So, using the weight loss example again,
here's what that might look like.
You were feeling anxious because your clothes no longer fit.
And as a result, you're embarrassed
to go out with your friends.
And then you continue through the Pain-Problem-Pain Loop,
so you are embarrassed to go out with friends
because you don't wanna feel judged by your weight gain.
And as a result, you feel lonely.
You feel lonely because your skinny friends
just won't understand what you're going through.
And as a result, you feel frustrated.
You feel frustrated because you've tried
so many different diets and none of them seem to work.
And as a result, you feel helpless.
So see how much deeper I was able to go
into this customer's emotional experience,
as a result of that one big problem they're dealing with.
Now, even though it might feel a little bit redundant,
or repetitive at times,
the goal is to keep going through that loop
until you have a long list of emotions
and specific problems your customer might be experiencing.
And after you've done this multiple times,
you can then select the most poignant
pain points to integrate into your copy, got it?
All right, now let's move on to number three on my list,
The Feature-to-Benefit Converter.
So, let's say you need to write a sales page
for a product that has a lot of features,
parts, or steps to highlight.
Well, a good place to start
is to list out all of the features
or parts your product has,
or the complete step-by-step framework,
if it's say a digital program.
But you don't wanna stop there.
So, another big mistake people often make
on their sales pages is to put all their focus
on product features
and they completely neglect the benefits.
Now, if you're new to my videos,
let me give you a really quick distinction
between these two concepts.
Features tell people what your product or service has or is,
Whereas benefits describe why they would want to buy
your product based on the outcome they'll experience.
It can be kinda tricky to turn your features into benefits.
So, that's why I created my super simple Feature-
to-Benefit Converter.
So, you simply start off with one of the features
you listed out.
So for example, let's say it's...
"batteries included" on a children's toy.
Now let's go ahead and turn that feature into a benefit
using just five simple questions.
Well, batteries included, it's ready to use.
Well, it saves you that extra cost
and that extra trip to the store to buy batteries.
Well, frustration, disappointment,
maybe an upset child or anger.
Well, Christmas morning, maybe a birthday,
some sort of celebration
when you're giving your child a toy, right?
Well, to remove stress, peace of mind, right?
So, now what's the benefit of batteries included?
Having a stress-free Christmas morning
with your family at home.
Voila! Now here's a bonus tip
by simply adding three little words...
"so you can" you can beautifully describe any feature
as a benefit right on your sales page.
"Batteries included so you can have
a stress-free Christmas morning with your family at home."
Now repeat this exercise
with each one of the features you've listed out.
And to help you out,
you can grab my copy of the Featur-To-Benny Converter
at the link below.
All right, moving on to number four.
What I call the No-Delete Cheatsheet (chuckles).
So, if you've tried the first three exercises
and now you're struggling to weave your USP,
pain points and benefits into compelling sales copy,
here's a fun exercise.
So, open a new document or sheet
and write whatever comes to your mind as fast as you can
for 10 to 20 minutes straight without stopping.
And whatever you do do not touch the delete key.
This practice, known as Freewriting,
was actually developed by English Professor Peter Elbow
in the seventies and has made
its way into writing classrooms everywhere.
Now it might take some getting used to,
because yes, there will be resistance at first.
The editor and us always wants to interfere
and provide feedback as we write.
I know I am a recovering perfectionist,
but the point is to leave all that polishing
and correcting and structuring until after you're done.
No matter how many grammatical errors
or aimless meandering it may entail.
By removing any quality filters
and completely minimizing gaps between thought and action,
you'll actually tap into the most creative
and emotional part of your brain,
and leave your inner critic out of it.
Learning how to get your thoughts onto paper in this way,
is an important part of strengthening your writing game.
And it's super fun too.
All right, lastly, number five, the Copy Cat.
No, I am not telling you to swipe someone else's work.
I am not endorsing plagiarism, that is a big no-no.
And if you do that,
you're really no copywriter at all. Are you?
But if there is anything that us copywriters can learn
from songwriters and filmmakers and screenwriters
is that sometimes you don't have to reinvent
the wheel to create.
Some things work well for good reason.
So, here's my Copy Cat writing exercise,
find a great and relevant sales page
that's already out there on the Internet
and write each sentence in a notebook by hand.
So, research has actually proven that handwriting notes
helps improve your creativity, cognition, and memory.
So, by handwriting sales pages,
you'll really get the cadence and flow of great copy
burnt into your brain
and spark more creativity in the process.
Now I know plenty of copywriting experts
already teach this powerful exercise,
but I like to take it one step further.
So, after you write out each sentence,
go ahead and rewrite it in your own words
by replacing the nouns, the features, the benefits
or pain points with your own.
See if there's anything you would add, change or remove
to make that sentence even more powerful and precise.
So, the goal here is to get into your copywriting brain,
before you start writing your own sales page
not to create copy that's a slightly modified version
of someone else's work.
This handwritten exercise will really help you break down
your ideas and infuse relevant emotional triggers,
stories, and information into your copy.
And if you're looking for great copy to use
as inspiration, check out swiped.co
for a whole library of ads and assets
that you can write, rewrite
and reverse engineer for practice.
All right, so there you have a guys,
five Copywriting Prompts and exercises
to help you get started on writing
your high-converting sales page.
Give me a thumbs up below if you found this video helpful,
and I really hope you give
some of these a spin. Comment below
and let me know how they go.
And if you missed my video last week,
make sure to check it out.
I shared eight of my go-to copywriting tools
that will make you a better writer.
You can watch that next right here.
And I will see you next week with a brand new video
where I'll be sharing some of the most common mistakes
that copywriters make when writing a sales page,
that absolutely kill conversions.
Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss it.
And until then, thanks for watching.
I'm Alex, ciao for now
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Miss it, so subscribe.