Welcome to the first issue of The Copywriting Sauce!
A newsletter for anyone who wants to learn how to start writing killer sales copy.
Every issue will consist of 5 segments presented in this format S.A.U.C.E :
Saying - A saying or quote
Aged - An old ad
Useful - A useful piece of content or advice
Copy - Review a piece of copy that I found recently
Edit - Edit the copy above into a higher-performing piece.
(Saying, Aged, Useful, Copy, Edit)
You’re guaranteed to learn tons about copywriting and marketing in this short and fun email.
Let’s begin.
Saying
“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.” — David Ogilvy
I first read this quote in Jim Edward’s book, Copywriting Secrets and it completely changed the way I looked at headlines
Right now, every time I pick a blog post or a video to consume, I'll pay close attention to the headline. What made me decide that I wanted to continue reading the rest of the body copy / watch the video?
Whatever that is making you take action is exactly what good copy is.
In the past months, I’ve started to collect these headlines that work for me in a swipe file, so that I can refer to these “working” headlines when I’m writing copy for anyone in the future.
So, what can be learnt from this Saying?
My takeaway is that the next time you write your headlines, spend majority of your time on it. Rewrite it ten times if you need to.
Because 80% of your money’s in the headline.
Aged
This is one of my favorite ads made by Zippo in 1967.
This ad was done perfectly. Let me explain why.
1. The $3.95 Zippo - This is a clear message to anyone that the Zippo costs $3.95.
Most people would think that they shouldn’t add the price of their product in their headlines because they are afraid that people would find it expensive or out of their price range.
Here’s what I think.
If the main selling point of your offer is the price point (value), then you should definitely mention it. (Like what Zippo did here)
2. Give it a quick try - This welcomes anyone to give their product a try. This works perfectly with part 3…
3. For 35 years - Immediately, it connects with the reader because most of the time, we would think that if something is cheap, it wouldn’t last long.
The higher the price, the better the quality.
But in Zippo’s case, it isn’t true.
It’s cheap AND it’s high in the quality.
This is what copywriters call : a hook — a concept or an idea that gets people interested in what you have to say… and what you have to offer.
Immediately after reading it, you’re probably interested to find out more about this amazing long lasting product that costs only $3.95.
So, the whole ad here highlights 2 main benefits of a zippo :
1. It’ll last for a long time (35 years)
2. It’s worth the price tag
And they even guarantee you that they’ll fix your Zippo if it doesn’t work after 35 years! (See bottom right)
What a great ad!
Useful
Here’s a useful tip that I found recently that’s helping me write better copy.
Write with an eraser.
You only have a few seconds before your readers decide to stop reading and move on.
So the shorter your copy is, the better it is.
Credits to Harry Dry’s Marketing Examples.
Copy
In this section, I pick a website/ad and point out the good points and how the copy can be further improved.
Btw, here’s how I “picked” a website. 😝
Huge thanks to Harrison for letting me use his homepage as an example in this section.
Anyone who wants to scale your business 10x with paid social media can contact him on Twitter here.
What’s Good 😁👍 :
Using a question as a headline - this creates curiosity and intrigues the reader
Adding a great photo of himself - adding a human element is important for gaining the reader’s trust
“digital marketing professional with 3 years of experience” - shows that he knows what he’s talking about
How It Can Be Improved 🤔✍️ :
Headline can be improved by inserting pain or pleasure
Some copy can be removed as it does not help the reader take more action
The reader doesn’t know what they’ll get after reading this
What’s Good 😁👍 :
Clear bullet points - easy to read
Benefit driven (e.g give you a competitive advantage)
How It Can Be Improved 🤔✍️ :
Better headline to relate to readers
Include more benefits
Reduce 2 CTAs to 1 instead - we don’t want to confuse them and go deep into thinking mode, what we want them to do is take ACTION.
Edit
(Creditts to my buddy TJ, a fellow copywriter for helping me out and suggesting ways that I can present the information in a clearest way possible)
Time to edit and sauce up some copy! 👨🍳
If you’ve made it here, I would like to thank you for taking the time out to read the first issue of The Copywriting Sauce.
Let me know if there is anything you liked.
Let me know if there is anything you disliked.
Whatever it is, I want your feedback.
Why? So that I’ll be able to make better content for you in the next issue of The Copywriting Sauce.
Let me know your thoughts by replying to this tweet below :
Thank you very much and I’ll see you guys in the next one.
Ezekiel ✍️
Congratulations on the first issue, Ezekiel!✨✨ Really insightful one 🙌
Would love to read more of these soon 💯
HUGE congrats on the first edition, Ezekiel! This is a stellar first round, filled with practical and insightful content -- keep it up!!