Why Your Copy Sucks, And Why Your Copywriter Might Not Be Able To Help

Please don’t be mad.

I’m not making any assumptions here…although there is a very good chance your copy does suck. I’m just using the title to filter. If your copy is great then there is no need to keep reading.

So your copy sucks for 1 of 3 reasons:

1) You, or your writer, just aren’t a good writer. Wordy, poor style, no flow. All that sort of stuff.

or

2) There’s no foundation, spine, plan, story, whatever, behind your writing. Your copy needs an overall theme, a story, something tying it all together. You won’t make many sales just listing facts or benefits.

or

3) You don’t know how to sell your product and have been hoping that somehow “the internet” will magically solve this problem. If you add enough words and red text someone has to get confused and buy right? When I taught copywriting workshops in Vancouver I never discussed grammar or structure. I taught benefits, human needs and motivation. In fact, I really just taught a sales workshop and talked about writing for 10 minutes at the end.

If you can’t sell your product in person or on the phone you WON’T be able to sell in print or online. You need to be able to articulate the reasons people buy from you, and the reasons they don’t, and then translate it all into copy.

Usually reasons 2 + 3 are where you run into trouble if working with a copywriter who is a writer first and a salesperson second, if at all. Most of the great copywriters had little formal education or came from mixed backgrounds like Clayton Makepeace and David Ogilvy.

Great copy is about understanding people and making a sale.