I got the “bug” to rap about copywriting today.
Lots of people are frustrated by it.
And yet, it’s actually pretty simple.
In fact, what I want to do is apply the famous “KISS” (i.e. keep it simple stupid) mantra to this subject and see about taking some of the “sting” out of it.
And I’m going to use a recent frustrating experience as an example.
Sound good?
OK then, check this out:
Lately I’ve been spending a LOT of time at the golf driving range. Mostly because I’m heavily involved with a golf info-publishing business and want to get cozy with the market. And also because I’m enjoying it.
But for some reason, I had a really sucky time at it last week.
No matter what I did, I just couldn’t make a solid shot and was getting extremely frustrated.
In fact, I got SO frustrated I made an especially stupid movement swinging the club that sent a streak of pain up my side.
Arrggh!
But that’s when the “light bulb” went on (pain’ll do that).
And I remembered the golf dude I’m learning from saying:
In other words, it’s easier to use a swing with fewer angles than a swing with lots of angles. So I drew a deep breath, mentally walked through his (simple) swing and — BOOM! — hit the next dozen balls straight as an arrow.
All just from keeping it SIMPLE instead of keeping it complicated.
And you know what?
Copywriting is the exact same way.
Keep it to as few “angles” as possible, and it’s MUCH easier.
And that’s what I want to do now — strip copywriting down to as few angles as possible with an almost laughably simple “formula” that works like crazy.
And here it is (drum roll…):
- Headline
- Lead
- Story
- Bullets
- Close
That’s it?
Yep.
It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that.
And it’s how I write 99% of my ads these days.
Nothing fancy. No bells and whistles. Nothing complicated. And yet, in most cases they pull like gangbusters.
It just don’t get more simple than that, does it?
Ben Settle
P.S. For 122+ MORE simple copywriting tips (used by some of the world’s highest paid copywriters) sally forth over to:
