Many wellness entrepreneurs feel fearful about writing compelling copy for their businesses.
Maybe they’ll say the wrong thing. Maybe they don’t consider themselves very skilled with the written word. Maybe they sucked at English in high school and the Vasana of those old reports continues to hang around.
After spending years teaching copywriting, editing manuscripts and articles and growing my own business through the written word, I’ve put together these five tips that I hope will help you feel more confident in sharing your (written) message more broadly with the people who really need to read it.
1. Students first
A free service I’ve been offering for over five years now is a newsletter assessment.
Yoga teachers, coaches, counsellors and healers from all over the world email me their newsletters for review and I send them back three or four tips for improvements.
The most common advice I give is to write more about the reader than the writer.
For example, a Yoga teacher starts a newsletter with a paragraph along the lines of:
‘Hi Amy, I’ve had such a beautiful spring. The flowers in my garden have just been gorgeous and I can really feel new ideas emerging. How are you feeling?”
The first two sentences are all about the writer, not about the reader. Like it or not, in 2021 we live in a ‘what’s in it for me’ society. This means that a more compelling version of the above would be:
‘Hi Amy, How have you found this spring? Has it been a time of new ideas and celebration for you? Perhaps you’re feeling it’s time to start a new project.”
These two openings convey the same message but one is reader-centric and is likely to generate more engagement right from the start. An engaged reader is more likely to not only read all of your email, but to also take action (i.e. sign up for something).
2. Clear then clever
Jazzy titles and jazzy little phrases are the clipart of the written word.
Things like ‘Register for my Rest, Rejuvenate and Revilatise Retreat’ or ‘You deserve to live your best life… now!’ are not only over-worked and twee, they make your message indistinguishable from so many other people around the world.
Perhaps we got away with these sorts of phrases back 1993 (hidden under a shoulder pad) but not anymore. Remember, alliteration, puns and cliches dilute your message.
Be clear first and then be clever. Tell people what you want them to understand. Use your own vernacular to make your writing pop, rather than relying on what you’ve seen other people write.
3. Benefits over features ALWAYS
When you’re writing sales copy — email marketing, webpage, social media comments or ads — it is essential that you spend much more time discussing the benefits than the features.
Features are the specific, quantifiable elements that make up your offer: 75 minute class, 5 night retreat, twin share accommodation, 1 hour massage.
Benefits are the qualitative outcomes a buyer could expect having signed up for something from you: feel relaxed, find ease in sore muscles, enjoy deeper sleep, meet fun new people.
Here’s an example of a Yoga class description that is mostly features:
Join my 75 minute Yin Yoga class that finishes with Yoga Nidra on Wednesday night at 7:15 at the Uniting Church Hall on the Main Street of Thattown for $20.
And here’s one that is mostly benefits:
Leave class feeling soothed and relaxed with tight, stressed muscles feeling longer and more flexible.
Most people are motivated to buy from benefit statements, rather than features statements. So make sure you include both, with an emphasis on the former.
Remember: ensure your benefit statements are also realistic and ethical!
4. Love VS Fear
Sure, this compels us to recall Donnie Darko, (Jai Patrick Swayze) but we need to bear it in mind. Let me explain why it’s critical.
Fear-based copy writing sells.
‘If you don’t buy my ‘Find Your Ideal Soulmate’ course now, you could be lonely forever!’
‘Don’t stay stuck living an unlived life: buy my coaching package!’
‘Without Yoga every week you could be causing long term damage to your body!’
The thing is writing and sharing these sorts of messages feels gross. And it should, right? It’s manipulative and mean-spirited. Who wants to freak, shame or harass people into signing up to work with us?
No thanks!
So how do we avoid the copywriting norm of fear-based sales? We tap into positive emotions: love, hope, gratitude, joy, connection, inspiration, peace and respect.
When you’re writing your copy, keep your enthusiasm for what you’re offering front of mind. Seek to convey that while at the same time letting go of any of your own fear around people not signing up.
Think of it as abundant, attachment-free writing!
Writing copy this way that’s warm and welcoming may not get you as many sales in the short term, but you’ll feel better about spreading the word and you’re likely to find people resonate with your message in a committed way over time.
5. Done is better than perfect
Lastly, people need to read your message. Waiting for it to be polished to perfection isn’t serving anyone!
One of my podcast listeners shared with me the other week that it takes her 45 minutes to write ONE Instagram post!
A client of mine told me earlier in the week that writing 4 sales emails would take her all day!
What is going on?
A friend of mine sent out her Yoga newsletter the other day talking about her latest offerings. It was so perky and fun and I felt lighter and brighter from reading it.
I sent her a note to tell her so.
And she immediately wrote me back lamenting all the typos and grammar errors she’d seen after she sent it. She felt sick and wanted to head back to bed.
We forget that our readers — the clients and students we are really looking to serve — aren’t the critics we are so fearful of.
We never want to be sloppy or crap, but it is time to let go of the unachievable expectation of perfection.
Just as we would never expect perfection from a student in a Yoga pose, our readers don’t expect it from us. They want to understand. They don’t want to be distracted by errors. But they’re not your high school English teacher!