COPYWRITING: 7 COPYWRITING LESSONS FROM HISTORY'S GREATEST MARKETERS

Morning!

I’m currently in London. It’s a whistle-stop tour to see ABBA + a live podcast. It feels like this last month has been non-stop. I can’t remember the last time I had a laid-back day.

But who needs rest days?

Anyway, today I have something a little different for you.

Over the last 2 years, I’ve written 112 articles and studied 100+ different marketers, including some of the greatest to ever live: Steve Jobs, Phil Knight etc.

Yet, with nearly every single marketer I study, there seems to be one thing that pops up again and again.

Copywriting.

So today, you’re about to read 7 of the best copywriting lessons I’ve learned from studying the greatest marketers to ever live.

Breaking Down The Strategy

Over the last 112 Growing Viral articles, I’ve covered nearly every type of marketing strategy, tactic, or campaign you could ever think of.

From Ben Francis using influencer marketing to launch GymShark to Richard Branson flying a blimp over the broken London Eye.

Yet, with nearly every single one, copywriting has played a huge part in its success.

Nowadays, there is a lot of shite copywriting tips and advice online.

(and even more copywriting “gurus” who’ve never written two lines of good copy in their lives)

But today, we’re going to stay away from those.

Instead, I’m going to share with you 7 of the best copywriting lessons I’ve learned from 1000+ hours researching history’s greatest marketers.

Let’s get into it!

Lesson 1: Sell Outcomes, Not Features - Steve Jobs

Arguably the most infamous ad copy ever written was a line that came straight from Steve Jobs’s mouth.

“1000 songs in your pocket.”

In one of his talks after coming back to Apple, he says:

Sell outcomes, not features.

That’s exactly what he’s saying here.

No one cares how fast the iPod processor is, they care about the outcome the iPod provides.

Lesson 2: Get To The Point - Amazon

On Christmas Eve last year, I was scrambling for last-minute gifts when my phone pinged…

It was an email from Amazon.

I opened it up and saw one of the best 3-line emails I’ve ever read.

The audience’s problem: Need a VERY last-minute gift

Amazon’s copy: Give eGift Cards instantly

They didn’t faff around trying to write clever copy, they just got straight to the point.

Which ironically is very clever copy.

Lesson 3: Write What They Want - P.T. Barnum

Most copywriters spend hours trying to think of a clever headline.

But Barnum never wasted his time trying to do that. Instead, he just wrote what his audience wanted.

Example: He didn’t tell them about his circus, he just said “The Greatest Show On Earth”.

At the time, nobody wanted to go to watch the circus.

But who wouldn’t want to watch “The Greatest Show On Earth”?

Lesson 4: Don’t Make It About You - Phil Knight (Nike)

When was the last time you saw a Nike ad that was actually about Nike?

Never. Because Nike ads are never about Nike.

They’re about the people who wear Nike. They highlight their greatness. Then push you to be like them - by wearing Nike.

While other brands talk about how great THEY are, Nike makes everything about their customers.

The same should go for your copy.

Lesson 5: Have An Enemy - Andrew Tate

The easiest way to get someone on your side is by going after a common enemy.

For Andrew, the enemy is “The Matrix”.

In nearly all of his videos, Andrew references “The Matrix” as the one behind everything that is wrong with society.

What this does is create a big us vs. them mentality.

It’s the same “marketing” (or propaganda) they use in war times to make people get behind war efforts.

But it is also a great evergreen lesson for copywriting.

For example…

The enemy: Smartwatches where you can’t check the time without being bombarded with notifications.

The copy:

Lesson 6: Always Have An Angle - Trung Phan (Business writer)

Trung is one of the most popular business writers on the planet right now.

One of the many reasons he’s become so popular is his ability to take a unique angle on everything he writes about.

The perfect example: his thread on Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ painting.

The painting is the third most visited painting in the world.

But Trung didn’t:

- Give an art lesson on how it was painted (been done before)
- Give a history lesson on how it came to be (been done before)
- Or give a critical analysis of what it represents (been done before)

Instead, he took the angle of its effect on the development of photography.

It’s these unique angles on well-known things that make Trung’s writing so interesting to read.

You should do the same with your copy - make people see things in a way they’ve never seen them before.

Lesson 7: Write The Copy Only You Can Write - Sam Parr

Sam grew The Hustle to millions of subscribers and an 8-figure exit, mainly through great copywriting.

The reason his copywriting was so good? He wrote the copy only he could write.

Take The Hustle’s old welcome email for example:

It’s beautiful.

His tone is so clear, so quirky, so out there, that it’s impossible not to feel a certain way about it.

It just goes to show that sometimes writing great copy isn’t about writing great copy. It’s just about stringing words together in YOUR way.

That’s all for this week!

Until next Sunday.

— Niall

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This has been a breakdown of 7 Copywriting Lessons. I hope you have learned something and can implement a similar strategy in your business!

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