Copywriting Fundamentals Cheat Sheet

The 10 Laws of
Writing Persuasively
(Without It Feeling Gross)

Written by
Alex James
@meaningful.marketing

MeaningfulMarketing.com.au
What is
Copywriting?
Copy = Words that sell a product, a concept,
a feeling, or (when done well) all three.

Copywriting = The craft of writing those words.

MeaningfulMarketing.com.au
 How to use the

The first draft of anything is

always terrible. You just have Copywriting
to keep going. It’s called the
puke draft, or the vomit draft,
that first draft.
Fundamentals
Charlie Brooker,
writer of Black Mirror
Cheat Sheet
Whether you’re trying to write a homepage, a
landing page, a social ad, an email, whatever it is:

Get. The. First. Draft. Done.

Copywriting is still writing, so get your intuition down

on the page. Don’t edit as you go. Just finish it.
THEN refer to this to make sure you’re using these
techniques to make your copy as evocative,
informative, and compelling as possible.

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 Copywriting
Fundamental No. 1
Sell the benefits,
not the features.

In 2001, Steve Jobs didn’t say:

“The iPod. A 5GB MP3 player that my team has been
working really hard on.”

He said:
“The iPod. 1,000 songs in your pocket.”

He focused on the customer’s experience,

not his company’s process.

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How To Apply It
Convert a feature to a benefit

Focus on a feature and ask yourself the golden question:

“And why is that a good thing?”

For example:
“This umbrella has reinforced spokes (feature).”
And why is that a good thing?

“Because it will hold it’s shape no matter how windy it gets.”

And why is that a good thing?

“Well, because it won’t break down on you when you need it most.”
Now that’s a real benefit.

Now you can use that feature as a key selling point:

With this reinforced umbrella, you can weather any storm.

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 Copywriting
Fundamental No. 2

Write for one person,

not a million.

L’Oreal doesn’t say:

“Because Everybody Deserves To Feel Special”

They say:
“L’Oreal, Because You’re Worth It.”

They’re talking to you, not the masses.

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How To Apply It
Avoid the “Well, good for you…” factor.

Up until the 1970s, L’Oreal’s tagline was

“Because I’m Worth It.”

Well, good for you .. I guess.

But what’s in it for me?

Changing “I’m” to “You’re” created a more personal

relationship between the consumer and the brand, and
L’Oreal is now the biggest cosmetics company in the world.

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 Copywriting
Fundamental No. 3
Build trust by being
dangerously honest.

In the 1960s, Avis realised they would never beat

Hertz in the rental car market.

So, rather than baselessly claiming to be

Number 1 they said:
“We’re No. 2. So we try harder.”

This self-awareness was not only endearing, it created

rapport with the consumer by demonstrating that the
reader and the brand saw the world in the same way.

(The campaign was so successful they had to

discontinue it when it led to them actually becoming No. 1)

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How To Apply It
Humour is a shortcut to likeability

Take this opportunity to use self-aware

humour to cut through the noise.

Newcastle Brown Ale won awards for

their ad campaign which led with:

“There are many beers out there.

This is one of them.”

Oat milk company Oatly are also masters

of this.

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 Copywriting
Fundamental No. 4

Show, don’t tell.

Don’t just list adjectives - paint a picture

your reader can imagine themselves in.

In 1958, Rolls Royce didn’t say:

“The new Rolls Royce is powerful, quiet,
and luxurious.”

They said:
“At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in
this new Rolls Royce comes from the
electric clock”.

(electric clocks were a big deal back then)

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How To Apply It
Set the scene for them

Get inspired by imagining your target

audience experiencing the benefits
of your product.

Let’s say you’re selling a portable

phone charger to backpackers.

Don’t say:
“Get an additional 10 hours of battery
life”

Do say:
“Never get caught lost and phoneless
in a new city ever again.”

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 MeaningfulMarketing.com.au

Copywriting
Fundamental No. 5
”You” is the most powerful
word at your disposal.

In 1937, Sherwin Cody A/B tested 2 headlines

for his English improvement course.

One was the safe:

“How To Read and Write Masterful English”

The other was more personal:

“Do You Make These Mistakes In English?”

This second headline successfully ran for 4

decades and made him a multi-millionaire.
How To (not) Apply It
You should heed this warning

Facebook & Instagram don’t like it when you use

the word “You” & “Your” in your ads because
they don’t want their users to know just how much
data they have on them (it would freak them
out).

So, if you’re selling sleeping pills to people with

insomnia, you can easily target the insomniacs,
but you can’t say “This will help you manage your
insomnia”.

Instead you have to say something like:

“This new formula helps manage insomnia”.

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 Copywriting
Fundamental No. 6
Don’t create a false sense of urgency,
create a genuine sense of urgency.

If you’re running ads for sunglasses and your ad copy

says: “Only a few left in stock!”, your reader will rightly
wonder “Why, if your sunglasses are so popular, are you
running an ad for it?”

Fake urgency erodes trust.

Instead, leverage 1 (or a combo) of

The 4 Main Types of Scarcity:

Price Scarcity Quantity Scarcity

A good old-fashioned discount Limited quantity of what you’re
offering

Premium Scarcity Offer Scarcity

Bonuses available Offer availability for a limited time
(for a limited time)

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How To Apply It
Justify your urgency

People are serial procrastinators and need a

reason why they should buy now, not later.

Yes, introduce scarcity but always provide a

reason why along with it.

The justification can be something flimsy, like:

“It’s our anniversary!

15% off everything for 24 hours!”

But there has to be a reason why this urgency is

here, otherwise they’ll subconsciously distrust it
and dismiss it.

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 Copywriting
Fundamental No. 7
Address their objections
or lose them forever.

One of the first things you learn in Sales is Objection

Handling - where your prospect presents a concern (an
objection) about the offer, and, through conversation, the
salesperson responds in a way that alleviates those
concerns.

Your copy needs to be having this conversation on behalf

of your reader – because they have objections and you
need to handle them or lose the sale.

Despite being the market leader, Headspace still takes

the time to provide reasons why you should pick them
over the 2,000 other meditation apps out there. Be like
Headspace.
(And don’t worry about “planting seeds of doubt”.
Consumers are justifiably sceptical and doubts have already taken root in their minds.

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How To Apply It
Anticipate their objections

The 4 most common objections

& how to address them:

Common Objection How to address it

“I don’t need this.” Remind them of the problem

your product solves.
“I need this, but I’m not sure if I Highlight your authority and
should buy from you.” credibility. Include ratings and
reviews.
“This is too expensive.” Contextualise the value of what
they’re getting. “For less than a
cup of coffee a day…”
“I’m confused. I don’t know what Highlight how effortless the
I’m meant to do next.” purchase process is.

Bonus Tip: Use your FAQ section

to address these concerns.

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 Copywriting
Fundamental No. 8
Use negative reinforcement to
drive behaviour change in your reader.

If you want your reader to stop doing something, first

understand what your reader values, then position the
undesired behaviour as a threat to that value.
A “tosser” is a
Both New South Wales and Texas used this principle to British/Australianism for a
proud moron.
tackle their littering problems. Thanks to the campaign,
NSW saw litter decrease by 45% and Texas saw a
decrease of 72%.

It worked because the copywriters understood the

core values of those they were speaking to:

• New South Welshman value self-image.

• Texans value state pride.

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How To Apply It
Social pressure is powerful

New South Wales provides another

example of this principle in action.

The campaign encouraged bystanders

to throw up their pinky finger when they
saw someone driving recklessly.

The tagline read:

“Speeding. No one thinks big of you.”

You can watch it here.

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 Copywriting
Fundamental No. 9
Use metaphors to communicate
complex concepts quickly.

Like going from a steam engine to a

bullet train, metaphors will get your
ideas across faster and cleaner.

The power of the metaphor shines in

Apple’s ’Get a Mac’ campaign.
The campaign had such
Steve Jobs personally rejected 100s of universal cut-through, it was
pitches before agreeing to go ahead localised across the globe.
with this one.

And it won awards for its ability to

communicate a strong, sticky
message in a microsecond.

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How To Apply It
Get inspired by storytelling tropes

Crafting effective metaphors from scratch isn’t easy.

But if you leverage established tropes and staples from

storytelling (like a princess in a castle, an old wise
hermit, a rebellious teenager, etc.) you’ll get your
reader on your wavelength in record time.

I like to use TvTropes.org for inspiration.

It’s like a library of every recurring theme in media.

Click Browse and it will display a selection of tropes at
random. Pick one, turn it into a metaphor, and watch
your copy go into Super Mode.

Try it yourself here.

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 Copywriting
Fundamental No. 10
Your tone tells a story.

These rideshare companies provide the exact same

service but have totally different messaging.

Uber says:
”Tap a button, get a ride.”
Which is a serious, direct, authoritative command.

Lyft says:
“Rides on tap.”
Which is a cute, playful, friendly pun.

They are, essentially, saying the same thing but the difference is
dramatic.

Sometimes the only thing you need to do to differentiate yourself

from your competitors is establish a unique tone of voice.

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 How To Apply It
Build a tone profile

Top branding agencies use just 4

categories to capture the tone of
voice for the world’s biggest brands.

Tone Profile Humor Humor Tone Profile

Funny Serious Funny Serious

Formality Formality

Casual Formal Casual Formal

Respect Respect

Sassy Respectful Sassy Respectful

Enthusiasm Enthusiasm
Matter- Matter-
Enthusiastic Enthusiastic
of-fact of-fact

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 How To Apply It
Build a tone profile

Your turn.

Humor

Funny Serious

Formality

Casual Formal

Tone Profile Respect

Sassy Respectful

Enthusiasm
Matter-
Enthusiastic
of-fact

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 Copywriting
Fundamentals
Cheat Sheet

1 Sell the benefits,

not the features. 2 Write for one person,
not a million.

3 Build trust by being

dangerously honest. 4 Show,
don’t tell.

5 ”You” is the most powerful

word at your disposal. 6 Create a genuine
sense of urgency.

7 Address their objections

or lose them forever. 8 Use negative reinforcement to
drive behaviour change.

9 Use metaphors to communicate

complex concepts quickly. 10 Your tone
tells a story.

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 I hope this
was helpful!
For more, head to meaningfulmarketing.com.au

Written by
Alex James
@meaningful.marketing

MeaningfulMarketing.com.au