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Hey Marketing Bestie, Remind me to pick a Halloween costume next year that doesn't involve fur. I have never been warmer. Or in more trouble for complaining. Was this email forwarded to you? Sponsored by Vibe.co The most interesting thing in TV advertising right now might be a Walmart receipt. Seriously. So, a fitness brand can reach people who bought home gym equipment last month, before they’ve Googled a single workout app. (The segments are crazy specific, too, go look. Moving companies? They got you. Quilters? Don't worry.) 13 COPYWRITING HILLS I'LL DIE ONLast week, I shared my AI Marketing hills I'd die on. Now, I'm getting into copywriting hills. Because I'm convinced 1 of the biggest risks of AI isn't that it'll replace great copywriters. It's that we'll forget how to become great at copywriting in the 1st place. When you can generate 20 headlines in 5 seconds, it's tempting to skip the hard part. Understanding your customer. Finding an interesting angle. Figuring out why someone should care. But those are the skills that make someone a great copywriter. And the easier it gets to produce words, the more important those skills become. So here are 13 copywriting hills I'll die on. Let me know where you disagree. 1️⃣. Your customer's search history is a better copywriting brief than their demographics.A job title tells you who someone is. Their Google searches tell you what they're struggling with. Find the questions your customers are asking when nobody's watching, then write copy that answers them. This is the game of niche queries and it's not new, it's just now agentic. 2️⃣. If your competitor could publish your headline, it's not finished.Remove your logo and replace it with your biggest competitor's. If the headline still works, you haven't found your angle. Find something genuinely distinctive about your product, perspective, or customer experience. 3️⃣. Stop selling the transformation. Show me Tuesday afternoon after the transformation."Save time" is forgettable. Finishing your weekly report before lunch instead of working late on Friday? That's something I can picture. Make the benefit feel like a real moment in someone's life. 4️⃣. Write the headline nobody in your industry is writing.Study 10 competitor headlines. If everyone's selling speed, try control. If everyone's promising growth, explore what growth is costing people. The most interesting angle might be the conversation your entire category is ignoring. 5️⃣. Your best copy might be hiding in the sentence your customer almost didn't say.Listen for the throwaway comments in customer interviews or reviews or social comments. The little frustrations they laugh about. The "this might sound stupid, but..." moments. Those offhand remarks can reveal more than an entire survey because it's unfiltered. 6️⃣. Don't just find out what your customer wants. Find out what they're trying to escape.Someone buying project management software might say they want better organization. But maybe they're really trying to avoid the embarrassment of missing another deadline. Understand the fear behind the feature, and you'll write more persuasive copy. ^ this 1 is my personal favorite. 7️⃣. Show the cost of doing nothing before introducing the cost of buying.Your biggest competitor might be inertia. Before asking someone to spend money, show them what staying put is costing them. Make the consequences specific, whether that's wasted hours, missed opportunities, or unnecessary work. Or, a promotion. Ouch. 8️⃣. Test opposing ideas, not different versions of the same sentence."Save 5 hours a week" and "Get 5 hours back" are practically the same test. Try convenience vs. control. Ambition vs. frustration. Curiosity vs. proof. Test different motivations, not different adjectives. 9️⃣. Make your copy pass the kitchen table test.Read your copy out loud and imagine explaining it to a friend over dinner. If you wouldn't naturally say "unlock seamless solutions that drive efficiency," why are you writing it? Rewrite every sentence that sounds like it belongs in a corporate presentation. We're not making a board deck, we're SELLING. 1️⃣0️⃣ . Never publish copy until you can explain why someone would believe it.A strong promise means nothing without a reason to trust it. Find the evidence behind your biggest claim. A customer story, a demonstration, a surprising detail. Give people something more substantial than your confidence. I <3 a press badge that sits next to great copy. 1️⃣1️⃣. The more expensive the decision, the more copy you probably need.Short copy isn't automatically better copy. Someone buying a $20 T-shirt needs a different argument than someone spending $20,000 on software. Stop cutting words just to make something shorter. Cut the words that aren't helping someone make a decision. 1️⃣2️⃣. If your copy doesn't create urgency, you're giving people permission to forget you.People are very good at putting decisions off. Give them a real reason to act today instead of in 2027. It doesn't have to be a countdown timer or a fake deadline. Sometimes showing what they'll miss by waiting is enough. Or, lock in their pricing. Nobody wants to throw away today's price. 1️⃣3️⃣. The best copy doesn't just answer questions. It creates new 1's.A good headline makes someone curious. A great opening makes them need the next sentence. Build your copy so each paragraph reveals something interesting while giving the reader another reason to keep going. Curiosity is a skill worth practicing. MEME OF THE WEEK  THE AI BRAND VOICE WORKSHOP Want AI drafts that sound like you? Minus the part where you rewrite all of it anyway? Speaking of copywriting, join me November 18 for a free workshop with Markup AI. Bring 1 piece of content you’re proud of and leave with a brand voice playbook your whole team can use. 🎙 TUNE IN Podcast to listen to this week (10 min listen): Pinned Comments Are BACK and Your Old Posts Just Got a Second What you will learn: 🎙: How to pitch your product as a must-buy wishlist item JUST FOR FUN 🤩: Brand of the week: See's Candies *This 1 is brought to us by 1 of my awesome brand partners. Ari was telling me about a game where you take your husband to Sephora and if they can't pronounce the brand name they have to buy it. Bring it on, honey. I can pronounce Clé de Peau AND L'Occitane. Don't start with me. Your friend, | ||||||||
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