Stacy Braga: Copywriting has always had the same classic mistakes. it makes sense because it's a different type of thinking. It's a different type of writing than most people are used to. If went to college, you are not writing ⁓ a in any your writing classes, right? You're not writing marketing emails in any of your writing classes. And so as been talking AI a lot, the truth is AI didn't bad copy, but it does mask the problem behind bad copy. when things sound good, it's harder to know ⁓ the mistakes are. by end of this episode, you'll know if it's copywriting is your problem, or if actually ⁓ your problem is a symptom of something else. So let's dive in. Okay, so there are five classic mistakes that I want to talk about ⁓ are mistakes that have been around since the dawn of copywriting that hurt your conversions. So first one is not being on your ideal client. ⁓ So this something that comes before copywriting. This is the piece that comes with strategy and messaging ⁓ and it's really who is on the side of the screen writing these words because If it's too vague, then you're not calling in the right people, right? If you're talking to everyone, you're talking to no one. so that's foundational piece needs to be clear. The second common copywriting mistake is about everything included in your offer, but not connecting the dots for your people. So ⁓ instead of saying, hey, what's included X, Z, really showing like, XYZ actually helps you meet your goal and this is how. so that piece is also a messaging piece that comes before the copywriting. The one ⁓ is having clear point of view, right? So this is your spicy takes, this is your approach, this is how you talk about how ⁓ you problems why you approach them that way. This is your differentiator and this is also, again, something that comes before the actual writing piece. So this is something that you want to work on in your messaging work, sure that you sound like everyone else, right? Why do your clients choose you? Actually thinking about that. once you that and you know very clear on your transformation and you know exactly you're talking to, ⁓ Having those clear pieces is going to make a much better website page or is going to make a much better email. But I wouldn't even start writing until you have at least those pieces in place. number four is forgetting that you are the expert in the room. And so what I mean by this is the way that you talk to your other people who do what you do, is going to be different than how you talk to your ideal clients. Your clients are not in your industry. And so a lot of industry terms is going to off putting. So that's one piece where you really want to think about how do they talk about this problem? How are they talking about what they want and replicate that language? because using industry terms that are super drug and heavy going to actually push people away, but using the words that they would use to describe themselves, that they would use to describe what's going on, ⁓ going to pull them in closer because it's going to show that you understand what they're going through. And the final is missing calls action. This ⁓ is a one. You have to the ask. I have to remind clients of this. You have to make the ask. You have to actually the people to opt in, ask the people for the sale. If ⁓ are soft in asking all of the time, people are not going to buy. You have to ask them and it can uncomfortable, but it's also part of running a business. So those are five classic mistakes, right? Not clear on your client, only talking about the deliverables, not a clear point of view or approach. using industry terms and then not making me ask. how AI really made all of these worse? One is skips the process of messaging and strategy. So it skips straight to the emails and that is probably the biggest mistake because it's exacerbated of these mistakes a faster. because can put out an email that sounds really, really good pretty fast. But you have that messaging and strategy piece already established, then... what AI is going to give you is not going to be reflective ⁓ you want to work with, how you're going to help them, and all of that. even if using AI and you might be choosing to not use AI, there is a ton of pre-work that goes in before you get to the writing. The other thing that The internet is now filled with AI content, right? And have seen it. now it has become so popular, people through because when you think about the role your marketing, the of your marketing is stop the scrolls, to get people's attention, to have them interact with your brand, right? And ⁓ if you are posting, content that is generic AI content and somebody else is posting generic AI content and somebody else is posting generic AI content, are not going to stop the scroll for that because they already know it's generic AI content. It's becoming ⁓ and more easy to spot and As it becomes easier to spot, people are being turned off by it and maybe it's not even a conscious decision of like, hey, I don't want to read this because it's AI, but it could be something like, hey, I already read something like this earlier, so I'm just going to skip on over this. So generic copy is a huge piece of why AI is problematic. Sydney I touched on this in the last If you haven't listened to one, go back and listen to it. this idea AI you feel like you're being productive, but if you're being productive and not the results that you want, then it's actually waste of your time, right? So if you're not getting the conversions that you want, if you're spitting out of this content, you're trying to do more more more, but it's actually not leading to clients, it's actually not leading to conversions, then it's actually a waste of your time. And so really thinking about Where does AI fit in your business and can you as a business owner stand to the people? ⁓ How do capture their attention? And a lot of the times it's not going to be AI written content. another piece of too ⁓ is AI, no which you're using, if it's Claude, if it's Chachabi T, they are yes man robots. They are to tell you your idea is great, right? They like, I will be like, Hey, I'm thinking about doing this. And they're like, that's a great idea. And then I'll be like, actually, I feel like that was a bad idea and I want to do this instead. And they're like, you're right. That was a bad idea. I want to do this instead. So it is just going to mirror you back to you because that's what it does, right? It predicts language. so if you were putting ⁓ wrong strategy in, the wrong messaging in, even it knows voice it sounds like you, but you don't have that positioning that messaging piece, that strategy piece, you're not going to get good copy going to actually work for your business. So. when you think about... what is actually wrong? Like, is it copywriting or is it the pieces that come before it? ⁓ would say 90 % of the time it's the pieces that come before it and not the actual words. You there are things that you can do to improve the of your copy, right? You can edit it, you can rearrange it. But most of time... It's not about the words so much as it is about the offer and the positioning. So how are you talking about this offer? How are you showing that you're an authority? are you telling about how you approach your work? And so two pieces, that really come before the copywriting. The first one is strategy. Where are you showing and why are you showing up there? ⁓ Does it actually make sense? you using someone else's business strategy because you think you should, or are you using ChatGPT strategy because it offered you a strategy? Or do you actually have a marketing system that sense for the type of business that you your capacity in this season, and ⁓ that actually is going to convert your ideal clients, If you only need to sell like one or two offers, you don't need thousands of people in your email list, right? So it's really thinking about makes sense for my business and not am I stealing something from somebody else's business and trying to make it work for me. The piece ⁓ is message. this is you know your strategy, know where you're going to show up. Your message ⁓ is, are talking to right about the right problem at the right So what are you actually saying how you positioning yourself and your offer as the right choice for this person? So not just hey, this is my for you service, but how do you do it differently than somebody else? Why should they pick over somebody else? And these two pieces are % of work that comes before copywriting. Once you are clear on these two pieces, ⁓ Copywriting, writing that email, writing that website page, it's like the last leg, right? It is putting words to all of these ideas that you already fleshed out. when you try to words to it before you flesh out all of these other things, that is where ⁓ writing and marketing gets hard because you're trying to start from scratch every time. ⁓ You're not really sure the goal is behind something versus like when you start strategy and message. you can really think about, is my ⁓ This is what I'm doing. Here is what saying. Here's why I'm saying it. Here's who I'm saying it to. And then every time you want to show up and send an email, you're thinking about, okay, where is this right now? What do I have to say to them versus being like, hmm, should I even talk about? Right? you already know what you're gonna talk about because you have already done the work beforehand. The other thing... that I want to touch on is... Your brain, this is like the second grade teacher in me. brain is what makes you special, right? hire you for your brain. ⁓ A of ⁓ my right, they are consultants, they are service providers, they are coaches. They are not being hired for what they do. They are being hired for how they it, how they approach the work, the relationships that they build with people. That... is something that the robots cannot replace, right? They cannot replace your opinions. They cannot replace the frameworks that you've built the of working with clients. They cannot replace your client lessons you have learned, can write something really quick. It cannot see your brain. It cannot your perspective. And so the more that you can incorporate you, your perspective, your experiences, your approach into the actual copy that you're writing, the less generic it's going to be and the better it's going to perform. So I have been noticing this in my business. I have had clients noticing this in their businesses that when they sit down and actually write the copy and they have fun with it and they play with the words they have done all of the foundational work beforehand, they copy that actually converts a lot better than generic copy. ⁓ Why? their audiences are not skipping over it because it's capturing attention because it was written by a human. So. If you are listening to this episode and you are like, where do I start? How do I even do this? Then here is solution. The three day AI copywriting challenge. is three days. It starts on March 31st. And the point isn't be anti AI. The point is to understand what thinking has to before the writing actually happens that's what's gonna help position in the market. what's gonna make you stand out to your ideal clients and not make you sound generic. So day one is all about strategy you're and why. ⁓ Day two is about messaging. So what's the meaning behind the words? What are actually saying? Day three is copywriting. Notice that this comes on day This is where you actually execute it after you have done the thinking behind it. Then you can go ahead and execute it. the to sign up is in the show notes. It starts March 31st, but you can sign up now, head into our Slack channel, introduce yourself, say hi, and I will you there. Thank you so much for listening and until next time.