![11 Essential Copywriting Tips You Can Use Today [LNIM128]](https://www.latenightim.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/essential-copywriting-tips-1024x675.jpeg)
These 11 essential copywriting tips will help you improve almost anything you are working on. Copywriting is one of the few skills that translates across every area of business and communication. In this episode I selected the tips most likely to produce immediate results.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
- 11 actionable copywriting tips you can apply to your business today
- How ATS Camera Rentals creates remarkable customer loyalty through small personal touches
- Why copywriting skills matter for every kind of content, not just sales pages
Episode Summary
Customer Service as Marketing
My wife rents camera lenses from ATS Camera Rentals before we buy. Every rental arrives with a personal handwritten note, sometimes with candy attached. They noticed from her Twitter activity that she was photographing birds and drew little bird pictures on their notes. That kind of attention ensures she will never rent from anyone else. What are you doing to make your customers feel that level of care?
The 11 Tips
- Craft a killer headline — More people read your headline than anything else. Build a swipe file of great headlines for inspiration.
- Tell stories — Stories are engaging and entertaining. Start every piece of content with something that draws the reader in.
- Inject your personality — Let your real voice come through. It filters your audience to people who know, like, and trust you.
- Appeal to emotions — Tap into what your reader feels about the problem. Emotion drives action more than logic.
- Make copy visually appealing — Use whitespace, readable fonts, bullets, and headings so readers are pulled through rather than exhausted.
- Speak your customer's language — Use the exact words your audience uses. It builds credibility and trust.
- Focus on benefits — Features explain what something does. Benefits explain what the customer gets. Benefits sell.
- Deliver intrinsic value — Give something useful inside your copy before asking for anything.
- Ask yes-answered questions — Build momentum by getting readers to agree with you before the call to action.
- Include a strong call to action — Be direct and specific about what you want the reader to do next.
- Organize with a formula — Follow a proven structure. Terry Dean uses story-value-CTA. Dan Kennedy uses problem-agitate-solve.
In the next episode, we go deep on Ray Edwards' PASTOR method, a comprehensive copywriting framework that ties all of these tips together.
Key Takeaways
- Headlines determine whether anyone reads your copy
- Personality and stories build trust faster than polished but generic writing
- Benefits sell, features explain
- Always ask for the sale with a clear, specific call to action
- Small customer service touches create lifelong loyalty
What's Changed Since This Episode
Mark recorded this episode in February 2017. All 11 tips remain fully relevant because they are grounded in human psychology rather than any specific platform or technology. AI writing tools can draft copy, but these principles are how you evaluate whether that copy is any good.
Short-form content has raised the importance of headlines. Every social media post, video title, and email subject line is a headline competing for attention in a crowded feed. The swipe file advice is more valuable now than ever.
Visual formatting has become even more critical as mobile reading has grown. Most website visitors are on phones where dense blocks of text are particularly punishing. Whitespace, short paragraphs, and clear headings are non-negotiable.
Resources Mentioned
- ATS Camera Rentals
- BallCapMom.com — Paula Mason's photography
- LNIM129 — The PASTOR Copywriting Formula
- LNIM127 — Email Marketing Tips with Terry Dean
Related Episodes
- LNIM128 Transcript — 11 Copywriting Tips
- LNIM129 — The Best Copywriting Formula
- LNIM127 — Email Marketing Tips with Terry Dean
Listen and Subscribe
Listen to Late Night Internet Marketing on Apple Podcasts or subscribe at latenightim.com/internet-marketing-podcast/. Have a question for Mark? Call the digital recorder at 214-444-8655 or drop a comment below.
