The best copywriting advice I ever received
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If you’ve ever suffered procrastination when writing copy, or find yourself overthinking it and restarting over and over again, then this piece of advice will save you. It was something a mentor of mine shared with me that has helped me become a much faster and efficient writer.
The best copywriting advice I ever received
Procrastination is my friend. Well it seems it, because she keeps hanging around, even when I’m giving her clear signals that it’s time to leave.
This is the bane of any copywriter's life, but sometimes I have to believe that maybe it’s just my process to get writing.
However, one of my mentors Kevin Rogers of Copy Chief taught me something so important, that once I eventually get going on the writing it means I actually get the thing completed.
I’m about to share this nugget advice that will help you to stop second guessing what you’re writing and get the damn thing written because, as a business owner, you haven’t got time to waste, fannying around writing copy (this is a very British term if you didn’tknow). You need to GET IT DONE so that whatever it is you are writing can get out there and do its job… which is to make more sales.
So what is this golden idea that stops procrastination and can turn you into a productivity machine to have you cranking out content as if you were a machine?
Well, it’s called… THE SH*TTY FIRST DRAFT!
The basic concept is that you gotta just WRITE and get the worst of your ideas out of your head and onto the page so that good stuff starts to flow.
Then and only then can you edit, tweak and test.
The 7 point system to get your thing written
So how do you go about getting your Shitty First Draft written?
Here are some pointers:
1. Set yourself the intention to write and don’t back out
This is easier than it sounds, but you must make a promise to yourself that you ARE going to sit down and write the thing you said you want to write. That means scheduling time in your calendar to do this. Pick the best time of day that you’re productive, let family members know this is happening so that you don’t get interrupted and turn off device notifications to allow for a focused writing session (you don’t want to be like Alice and end up down a rabbit hole).
2. Take your idea and chunk it down
So no doubt you’ll have an idea of what you want to write about. But sometimes eating that big ol’ elephant can seem impossible, so chunk it down into sections. Break up what you want to say into different parts so that it doesn’t seem so daunting. You may think “I don’t know what to write about yet”. If that’s the case you might be someone who just needs to start writing. The plan is to find the best method that works for you.
3. Start writing
This sounds simple but this is the hardest part of it all. But if you’ve done the steps before, the resistance will be less so, as they say, you’ve just gotta eat that frog and do it. Maybe you need some kind of rewards system? I have a great post about how you can trick yourself into being more productive here.
4. Put a time on it
Have a timer available (an egg timer is best because it doesn’t mean you need to use your smartphone which reduces the likelihood you may get distracted) so that you can set yourself half an hour to an hour to get your writing done. I’m not saying that’s all you need, it may take you several sessions to get through it but one things for sure, you can blast out quite a few words when your time is limited to a short amount of time. IT’s a way of tricking your brain to accomplish more in a short amount of time. And of course the entire concept of the Sh*tty First Draft is that you don’t have to worry about it being good.
One of the world's greatest copywriters, Eugene Schwartz, used to swear by this Pomodoro technique and always gave himself 33 minutes and 33 seconds to write. He’d then have a 5 minute break and start again. I personally find that an hour works well for me, with either a 15 minute break or come back to it another time completely.
5. Be daring
This is another tip from the maestro Kevin Rogers. With copy, it can sometimes be hard for you to have an objective eye and often can feel like you’re being salesy. So the advice is to be daring and be salesy. Be as outrageous as you can when you write - that means in terms of your claims, your tone of voice and the subject matter. Imagine writing whatever you really feel like, without having any sensors or filters preventing you from writing like a crazy person.
The thing about writing copy is that there’s an editing process, and in that process you can always pull things back from the edge if you feel it’s gone too far. It’s much harder to push something to the edge once it’s been written as it seems like your tagging ideas on. Be bold and daring and push that envelope.
6. Stop the urge to edit as you write
This is one of the things I find hardest to do, but I try my best to keep it at a minimum. Going back and rewriting what you’ve just written is a sure fire way of stunting your creative flow. Remember, this is the Sh*tty First Draft. You have total permission for the whole thing to suck, big time. Just get it out on the page and try your best to not edit as you go. There will be plenty of time to edit but you’ve got to get your first draft done.
7. Don’t delete what you’ve written
Even when it comes to editing, don’t delete a thing. If necessary use the font strikeout function so you know you don’t want to use a piece of copy. Again the idea is to just get the thing written and any deleting can hamper your progress, THere’s also another reason… You may find that something you wrote, which you thought wasn’t very good is actually what you want to use. But if you’ve gone ahead and deleted it, it’s now gone into the abyss, never to be found again. The Sh*tty First Draft sometimes IS sh*tty and sometimes you’ll write gold - but it’s only obvious after the fact so don’t mess around with creativity by deleting anything that may be the key to a cracking piece of copy.
There’s magic in the sh*tty first draft
So there you have it. My 7 point system for getting the thing written. There’s plenty of time for editing, but it’s vital to get into the flow of getting your ideas out of your head and onto paper (or Google Doc).
It’s so easy to procrastinate, especially in this day and age with so many distractions. So if you want to set yourself up for success and get your content written, then follow this simple plan to get your Sh*tty First Draft written.
I’m all for systems and processes that make life and business easier. That’s why I’m a big fan of automation. This process is a form of automation. You’ll trick your brain into automatically writing out your first draft so that you can then edit and make it gold.
Try out the steps above and let me know how it goes and then the next step is the editing process.