Writing is one of the most important skills in marketing.
Everything starts with writing.
Your captions, your ads, your emails.
I never understood the importance of writing until I became a marketer/business owner.
Even in a movie, a script is first written before it’s being produced.
Writing is a broad term. In marketing, when you write to persuade or sell, it’s called copywriting.
And it’s hands down the best marketing skill I’ve picked up over the years.
But the most important thing in copywriting though…
Has nothing to do with how good your English is…
(I barely passed my O levels and A levels English – got C6 for both)
The one thing your writing must do is to keep people reading more.
Read the first line.
Then the next line.
And while reading, consume your message and eventually take action.
Whether it’s to opt-in, fill out a form, click add-to-cart and buy something.
Think about this:
If people aren’t interested in reading what you have to write…
What chances do you have of even marketing anything or getting any message across?
In this letter, I’ll share some simple writing tips that you can easily apply.
If you want to write in a way that’s easy to read, interesting and can keep people reading…
Then read on!
1. Break your lines up (line break) and write in short sentences.
If you notice my writing so far…
I break almost every line up.
The #1 reason is because it’s easy to read this way.
Imagine if I didn’t break the lines up:
That means I could be writing long sentences like this in a long paragraph. I may be able to write a lot of stuff like this, but most people might just skim through it, especially if this is written on social media. Because it’s a huge chunk of text and it’s tiring for the eyes and brains. Of course, if you’re used to reading a lot, then this is fine. But to cater to MOST people who are surfing mindlessly, it’s easier to read if you break your lines up.
I hope you can tell the difference…
The maximum number of sentences I might include in a paragraph is 3-4 lines.
I try to not go more than that.
But as you can see…
I break almost every line up…
Just 3-7 words per line because it’s easy to read.
2. Write using simple English (like a primary school kid)
I’m gonna be very honest – my vocabulary is not strong.
There are a lot of big words that I don’t know.
But it doesn’t matter – because I’m still able to convert and convince a lot of people using simple English.
The thing is, you want your writing to be easily understood.
That’s why when I teach copywriting in my group coaching program…
I always tell my coaching clients to write like a primary school kid.
Simple words will do.
Get your message across simply.
Big bombastic words don’t do that very well.
3. Write as if you’re talking to someone
That means you are going to use a lot of ‘I’ and ‘You’.
Exactly the way I’m writing now.
I’m writing like I’m talking to you…
Right?
Because you don’t want to be writing in third person when you’re marketing something.
For example:
Want to lose weight but don’t want to hit the gym 3 times a week?
Versus:
If you’ve always wanted to lose weight..
But you hate going to the gym…
I have a solution that can help you.
You can see it’s more personal and easier to read.
Especially if you’re writing to persuade someone…
You definitely want to be writing like you’re talking to someone.
When you talk to someone, you don’t use big words right?
When you’re in a conversation, you ask questions too, right?
So you see…
When you’re reading this now, it’s almost like you can hear my voice.
Try that in your writing next time.
4. Use emotions in your writing to connect better with readers
Share your emotions when you write.
For example…
It PAINS me to see how many of you actually have such great products/services…
But you’re not getting more leads/customers because you’re not reaching enough prospects.
Maybe you’ve been trying to post more content on Instagram…
Maybe you’ve been sending many DMs to prospects…
But it’s not working.
And you’re TIRED of trying these ineffective methods.
Guess what?
I was once like you.
I felt LOST and UNCERTAIN when my sales were low…
But I was so GLAD I went to learn how to run ads.
Today, I don’t have to WORRY about the lack of customers anymore.
Ok, I think you get what I mean now.
When you write your emotions out…
You connect much better with the reader.
Humans are emotional.
So don’t write like a robot.
Don’t blindly use ChatGPT to write out your ads for you.
Make sure you give it enough prompts to make it more human-like, with more emotions, if you want to use ChatGPT for your writing.
5. Keep your readers curious
If you watch TV shows, you’d probably know what cliffhangers are.
Usually at the end of the episode, something happens but you don’t know the end result.
Like somebody crossing the road…
A car speeds by.
The person screams.
And the episode ends.
You don’t know if the person got hit by the car or not.
Honestly, I get angry at such cliffhangers because I don’t like to be kept in suspense LOL.
(That’s why I rarely watch TV shows, unless they release all the episodes at once)
You can kind of use this concept in your writing.
Not exactly keeping people in suspense.
But keeping them curious to find out what you’re gonna share next.
For example:
Recently, I found a hack you can use on Instagram to grow your followers by 2X, in just 1 week.
And this hack is so simple that it will surprise you.
If you want to know what this hack is…
Read on. Or
Click here. Or
Download this PDF.
You get the idea.
You build the curiosity up…
Then get them to keep reading, or take action.
You might see this being used pretty often in Instagram carousel posts as well:
Here are 7 side hustle ideas that can make you $10k/month:
(SWIPE to see more)
Curiosity always works.
Because humans are curious creatures.
So there you go – 5 simple tips to keep people reading what you have to write.
Break your lines up.
Write simply.
Write like you’re talking to someone.
Share your emotions.
Keep them curious.
Go try it and let me know how it goes!
