Six practical copywriting tips for startup marketers
Where are my multi-hyphenate marketers at?
I’ve worked in marketing at several startups and have only been blessed with a copywriter at Series C brands and beyond. Anything earlier than that, and I’ve been left to my own devices.
Most of the writing I’ve done in these roles isn’t the splashy stuff you see on billboards. It’s simple copy for PDPs, emails, ads, and social media. But don’t be fooled — simple doesn’t mean easy.
After 12 years of moonlighting as a copywriter, I’ve found a few tricks to rely on. Read on for my favorite way to use ChatGPT and a reminder I turn to when I’m feeling lazy.
#1 Write yourself a mini-brief
Most copywriting advice features a generic pointer like, “Know what you want to say.”
This is helpful in theory, but what if you don’t know what you want to say? When struggling to find clarity, I write myself a mini-brief, almost as if I were working with a copywriter. I outline the task, target word count, and include messaging inspiration. If possible, I also reference past creative assets that have performed well, flip through brand guidelines, or review A/B messaging test results. Don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to.
#2 Befriend your audience
Talking like your customer helps make bottom-of-the-funnel creative more effective. How to do it? Befriend your audience. Spend time interacting with them on social, host focus groups, or physically be where they are. Do you have stores? Host events? Show up and talk to them. You’ll start to understand how they speak, what words they use, and how your brand fits into their lifestyle.
If all else fails, send your copy to a friend in your target audience and ask for their feedback.
#3 Use AI, but not in the way that you think
I don’t recommend asking ChatGPT to write your first draft. Instead, use it to synthesize customer feedback and help you articulate brand value props. There are a few different ways to do this. Here’s one example:
I dropped the link to EADAM’s Lip Softening Balm into ChatGPT along with the following prompt:
Read the customer reviews for this lip balm and tell me what words customers are using to talk about the product.
It turns out that several customers mentioned the “cooling” applicator in their reviews. This isn’t something the brand currently promotes on the PDP, and could be interesting to test in messaging via email and ads, particularly in warmer months or climates.
#4 Edit yourself aggressively
On Writing Well by William Zinsser and The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. are two of the most valuable books I’ve read as a marketer. Both encourage brevity and clarity in writing:
“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.” - William Strunk Jr., The Elements of Style
“Examine every word you put on paper. You'll find a surprising number that don't serve any purpose.” - William Zinsser, On Writing Well
I like to use the editing function in Google Docs to cut extra words. For some reason, striking through what I’m cutting helps me more than deleting the words. I also like to read everything aloud. If you stumble over a phrase or a transition, it’s a sign to take another look to ensure it flows more smoothly.
#5 Don’t say what you can show
Here’s an example: “Our results speak for themselves!” You know what speaks for itself more than this sentence? A photo of said results.
Thanks to the digital age, the average attention span decreased from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8.25 seconds in 2021. On top of that, we process images 60,000 times faster than text.
Whenever possible, show it; don’t say it.
#6 Mind your brand taglines
Don’t overuse your beautiful but lofty brand taglines. When I started at Glowbar, our storefront windows read, “Face your skin.” What does that mean? A modern dermatologist's office? A medspa for injectables? A skincare shop?
Large windows on 5th Ave in Manhattan are prime real estate. Five years in, we started thinking about those assets as direct-response OOH ads that communicate our offering: “30-minute custom facials.” Short, sweet, and, most importantly, clear.
If brand taglines don’t communicate your offering, practice restraint and focus on value props. Your taglines will have their moment. Trust.
What’s your best advice for marketers writing copy? Spill your tips in the comments!
Have a question about your career? Need help with something at work? Ask me anything.
loved this
I put almost everything I write thru the Hemingway editor to simplify and eliminate adverbs (my worst habit). The other useful thing AI can do is you can prompt it to act as your target customer and tell you the pain points and desires it has. Other golden rule: the copy always has to focus on what your product or offer will do for your customer. How the customer feels and how they want to feel is everything. the customer is the main character always. brand is not the main character unless you’re writing an about page. And probably not even then. I am better at some things than others but this mindset in email marketing especially has helped me get open rates that I didn’t think were possible for marketing emails.