Here is what you need to know about copywriting and marketing this year…
That’s right. We’re going back to the basics with this one…
So whether you’re a total beginner, an experienced copywriter, or a business owner who writes your own copy…
In this mini crash course, you’re going to learn how to create a simple and effective messaging and marketing strategy that works right now.
Hey Posse, what’s up? It’s Alex.
Today we’re getting right down to business and talking about what you REALLY need to know about copywriting in 2024.
I mean, there is NO SHORTAGE of information online these days.
One quick Google search and you’ll get hundreds of videos, blogs, and posts telling you about the latest marketing trend, tool, and hack that is SURE to double your conversions and, like, quadruple your income…
Living in the age of information is AMAZING – because it means that starting an online business has never been easier or more accessible.
But it also comes with some downsides…
Like…
HOW can you cut through the noise and figure out WHAT are the things you should actually put your time, attention, and focus on?
What is worth your time? Well, my friend, you’re in the right place.
Here on my blog, you’ll get copywriting and marketing strategies that work today…
Just the good stuff – none of the fluff. Just how we like it.
So if that sounds like something you need more of in your life and business, and you’re not already part of the crew, then you know what to do.
Go ahead and subscribe to my newsletter to be hear when my next tutorial goes out.
Now the good thing about copywriting and marketing in 2024 is that when you zoom out, it really is NOT as complex or overwhelming as one might lead you to believe.
The truth is…
Good copywriting – and therefore good marketing – can be broken down into 5 very simple steps that anyone can follow to improve their messaging and metrics…
And this is the EXACT strategy that I followed to launch the Copy Posse with my very first video on YouTube back on Feb 13, 2019…
And then turn it into a multiple 7-figure brand just 3 years later.
Alright, now before we get into the steps, you know we have to talk about the elephant in the room…
Yes, I’m talking about AI…
Copywriting & AI In 2024
Look, I am not going to sit here and villainize Artificial Intelligence. Am I obsessed with it? No. Do I hate it? Also no.
I think it’s a TOOL that can be useful to save us copywriters, marketers, and business owners precious time…
But at the end of the day… AI is just that – a TOOL.
That can be useful – when used in the correct context and with the correct prompts…
But writing all your copy for you – copy and paste – is NOT the best way to use AI.
The fact is that when AI is used to actually write copy from scratch – what you get kinda sucks…
And I’m not just saying that because I’m biased.
According to research by HubSpot – a massive 95% of marketers who use AI to write copy end up editing the text.
With 44% of them making significant changes.
So if almost 100% of experienced marketers – who KNOW what sells and what doesn’t sell – are not using AI word for word…
That’s your sign that you shouldn’t either.
So then, what CAN you use AI for?
Well, we’ll cover this more in-depth later – but my TWO favorite ways to use AI is for: Research and ideation.
And I’m not the only one. According to that same research by HubSpot, 45% of marketers love to use AI to get their juices flowing.
So instead of relying on AI to crank out mediocre crap, focus on the 5 steps in this blog, then use AI to get started, give you ideas, and help you with the most time-consuming part of copywriting and marketing…
Research!
And that leads me to the FIRST thing that you need to know about copywriting and marketing in 2024…
#1 Your Message Matters (More Than Ever)
Whether you’re a business owner writing your own copy or you’re a copywriter writing for someone else…
The very first thing you need to get right has nothing to do with what you’re writing…
It has to do with what you’re SAYING.
Yes… understanding your MESSAGE will make ALL the difference in your MESSAGING.
With a million options out there in the marketplace, your audience is bombarded with alternatives left, right and center every single day…
In order to stand out, you have to get clear on WHO you are, what you stand for, what you care about AND how you’re going communicate all that in your own unique way.
So ask yourself…
- What do I want to be known for?
- What are my non-negotiables?
- What is the change I want to see in my industry?
- How do I want to serve my audience?
- What is my brand promise?
This will become the foundation of your voice, messaging and marketing.
And it’s what makes you different than anyone else out there. No one wants more and more of the same…
And if you’re a copywriter, ASK your client these questions before you start writing to help guide your copywriting and better understand their brand voice.
That leads me #2…
#2 Your Customers Come First
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying before… “If you try to sell to everyone, you’ll end up selling to no one”
This is true no matter what type of awesome, universal, or revolutionary product or service you offer…
If you want to sell ANYTHING to ANYONE – you need to first show them that you UNDERSTAND THEM…
The desires and drives that motivate them to take action…
And the fears and doubts that hold them back.
When you get crystal clear on what your customers need and the challenges they’re experiencing, you can create offers they actually WANT…
For example, I have multiple programs and ALL of them appeal to my customer avatar (business owners and copywriters who want to start and grow their businesses)…
But, each course is TARGETING a different core need and challenge…
- My Write & Ignite Challenge teaches you how to write a high-converting Sales Page…
- The Look Legit Website Toolkit gives you all of my copywriting formulas for the 5 most important pages of your website…
- Own The Inbox helps you create an entire email marketing campaign for your next launch or promotion…
- The Posse Eye walks you step-by-step through my branding framework as you craft a beautiful and memorable brand voice guide…
- And, the Launch Pad is my once-a-year copywriting coaching program that teaches you everything you need to write an entire sales funnel and build your copywriter portfolio from scratch.
I can’t tell you how easy it is to create offers that people don’t actually need or want…
And, yes, I’ve done this myself. It’s SO easy to simply create what I THINK people want or the product I’m excited about, rather than just ASKING my customers what solution they would happily PAY for.
An offer/market mismatch is the #1 reason launches or promotions fail – no matter HOW AMAZING the copywriting is. So no matter what, your customers ALWAYS need to come first…
Ask them…
- What is the biggest challenge you need help with right now?
- What is your biggest dream or desire when it comes to [what you help with]?
- What is something that you’d PAY MONEY for right now?
The more specific answers you get to these questions, the better your marketing will be. When you know who you’re selling to FIRST, so much of the hard work is already done.
Now we’re ready to move on to the next important step…
#3 Don’t Skip REAL Research
Alright, so market research is something I find a lot of new copywriters and business owners tend to skip when writing copy today…
Mostly because they think tools like ChatGPT will give them ALL the insights they could possibly need…
But that is a BIG MISTAKE because market research is more important now in 2024 than ever before.
When we do market research, we’re often looking at two things: First, we research what the market is actively searching for RIGHT now in our industry. Second, we research what other similar people, brands or businesses are doing to serve that market, so we can do it in a way no one else is or offer a new perspective.
While we definitely do turn to ChatGPT to do some customer research on pain points, challenges and other key messaging concepts, there are a ton of other places and AI tools we use to research industry trends, topics and keyword search volume so we know what our audience is ACTUALLY looking for…
Tools like…
Once you have a good idea of what your market is actively searching for, you can then start researching your competitors.
Go onto Google, YouTube, Instagram and even TikTok and search common keywords and phrases to see what and who is trending and ranking…
Ask yourself:
- What are they doing?
- What kind of content do they share?
- What offers do they have?
- What can you do better or different?
This is going to give you great intel on the best place to start for our next step…
#4 Create Relevant Content
The biggest thing to know about copywriting and marketing in 2024 is that you cannot just show up and make an offer and expect that’s enough for people to buy your stuff right away.
That is just not the way it works anymore…
People are taking MUCH longer to buy than they ever did… in fact, in 2019, people took 9 days longer on average to make purchase decisions compared with 2015 – and that number is even longer now…
And what is happening DURING that longer buying window, you might be asking?
Well, according to Google in their recent report “Decoding Decisions,” this is known as the “messy middle” which is defined as “the space of abundant information and unlimited choice in between the first trigger (or touchpoint) and the final purchase decision or sale”…
In this “messy middle” customers are engaging with a complicated web of touchpoints, making it HARDER and HARDER to track marketing initiatives…
But what we DO KNOW is that during this longer window and web of touchpoints, people are turning to social media to look for and evaluate options…
This means, in 2024, social media is going to play an even bigger role in your marketing.
87% of marketers say that social selling is effective, and that’s really no surprise when you look at WHERE people prefer to discover new products…
Social media is the preferred channel for Gen Z and Millennials…
And it looks like Gen X and Boomers aren’t far behind.
What this means is that in order to build brand awareness and stay front and center when your customers are in the “messy middle” exploring options, you NEED to be present on social media.
No matter how “new” or “small” your audience is now, start posting across your social platforms on a regular schedule – be it once a day, 3 times a week, or even once a week… just pick a schedule and stick to it.
Create content that is interesting and relevant to your audience.
Of course, you want to share advice and tips to help them solve problems, but don’t get caught in the trap of thinking that is all you should post about…
Educational how-tos are only ONE type of content.
People don’t only want to know WHAT you do, but they want to know WHO you are. People buy from people they know, like and trust.
So come up with a list of topics and subtopics you’d be interested in talking about that includes both educational topics and interesting topics and make sure you’re posting to your Instagram stories too.
I know the idea of posting on social media can feel overwhelming sometimes…
Like we’re marketers… NOT influencers! Right? Do we really have to do this…
Trust me, I struggle with it too. Sometimes it’s hard for me to show up on social media when all I want to do is write… but it is such a crucial part of marketing today, and it really cannot be skipped.
Alright, NOW that we’ve covered all that very important groundwork…
NOW we can zoom in and focus on your copywriting and marketing strategy, which brings me to…
#5 Build A Marketing Funnel
Up until this point, we’ve been talking about your front-end marketing efforts and while this may not generate leads directly… it is going to make your copywriting and marketing efforts so much more effective.
Now, when it comes to mapping out your funnel, there are a TON of things you could do…
But if you’re just getting started, here’s the basic funnel I recommend you start with…
Ads
The first step of any brand’s marketing plan is to get TRAFFIC.
Aka – eyeballs that hopefully turn into new leads and paying customers! Now, we’ve already talked about content and social media… and this can be a great source of organic traffic for you. In fact, 80% of my sales come from 100% organic traffic from content like this…
But let’s also talk about ADS!
Typically, your ad will have one of 2 purposes. Either you want to:
- Get a new lead
- Make a sale
If you’re promoting something free – like a free guide, a free masterclass, etc. – then your purpose is to get them to click to get that free thing and sign up, which gets YOU a new lead.
If your ad is promoting a product or service that costs money – your purpose is to make an immediate sale.
Simple, right?
But no matter what the end goal of your ad is, all of your ads should follow this format:
- An eye-catching visual hook that captures the reader’s attention…
- A strong headline or opening hook to get them to read or watch more…
- Compelling copy that inspires them to take action…
- And a clear CTA to tell them what to do next.
If you want to dive deeper into the formula of crafting great ads, I’ll link to another video below where I talk all about writing Facebook Ads that you can watch after this video.
Okay, the next part of your funnel will be…
Landing Page
If your ad does its job, then the user will click that ad and go to a landing page or sales page.
Now if the purpose of your ad was to generate new leads – that means you’d send people to an optin or registration page.
Most of the time, you are simply asking them to sign up for something free – like this example where I’m giving a free guide on “101 ways to find your next client”.
You can see that optin pages are usually pretty short and to the point.
You start with a strong headline, offer a few juicy benefits or reasons they need it, and tell them where to get the free thing.
They sign up and officially join your email list, where you can begin the process of nurturing and marketing to them.
But, now let’s talk about the other option – if your ad IS selling something.
In that case, the page they would go to is the sales page…
Sales Page
Your sales page should include:
- A compelling headline
- Intro or lead-in, that helps the reader identify with what you are offering.
- The problem/Solution.
- Your offer – and how it solves the problem with the solution)
- Benefits to buying
- Social proof & authority
- Scarcity – why they should buy now.
- Risk reversal
- And of course a CTA!
Now if you want a more thorough breakdown of the sales page process – I have an entire blog on that that I’ll link for you below to read next.
But don’t leave just yet, because we still need to talk about…
Emails
This is a big one because email is such an important component of the sales process.
Email continues to be the largest revenue generator for my brand by far…
And if that’s not the case in your marketing, then you are leaving a TON of money on the table from the first day a lead joins your list.
For starters, I always recommend sending a series of 3 automated emails after someone signs up:
- Where email #1 – welcomes new leads, gets them excited to be here, and gives them the next steps.
- Email #2 – you share more about your mission and, most importantly: Get them to feel included and like they are part of that mission WITH YOU.
- And email #3 – is where you tell them exactly how you can help them. This is a great time to make them an offer… and send them to your sales page!
Again – if you want to dive deeper into this, I have a whole video explaining these 3 emails and I’ll link to that in the description below as well…
BUT YOUR JOB ISN’T DONE THERE.
The thing I really want to drive home about email marketing is that it’s a LONG GAME.
It’s pretty rare that a brand-new lead will see an ad and then immediately become a customer…
It does happen, of course, and we love those people! But it’s pretty rare.
More often than not, a new lead will sign up for your email list and watch and wait until they are ready to buy from you.
That could take days, weeks, months or even years!! The average Copy Posse customer takes 46 days to buy from us after their first major interaction with our brand…
It can be a long process to nurture a new lead into a customer and during that time, you want to make sure you’re staying top of mind AND top of the inbox.
This means sending regular content emails to keep your list warm.
That way, when it comes time to promote something – you’re going to have great trust already established with your list, and your promotion will go much, much better.
And if you’re wondering how often to promote an offer, well that really depends on how quickly you’re building your list.
In general, I would stick to around 3-4x larger promotions or launches a year in the beginning.
So to recap, here’s what you need to do when it comes to email:
- Set up at least 3 email autoresponders that welcome new leads to your list.
- Email valuable content on a consistent schedule…
- Send a promotional email campaign 3-4 times a year …
Again, I know this can feel super overwhelming to try to plan all these emails and stick to sending them consistently…
Especially when you’re already so busy trying to do all of the other marketing things on this list!
So I’ve been thinking about creating a resource to make planning your email marketing calendar super easy for you guys…
If that’s something you’d be interested in, comment below and let me know!
And remember guys, at the end of the day, marketing should be FUN. Don’t let it be big and scary…
Reread this blog as much as you need to. Take notes, highlight, take more notes.
Watch the supporting lessons I’ve linked here. YOU CAN DO THIS.
Give me a comment below if this was super helpful for you!
Until next time, I’m Alex. Ciao for now.
