Ep 13: What’s a Dirty Copywriting Draft and Why Do you Need One?

This podcast episode is all about the importance of first drafts and freeing your creative beast! I strongly believe that the most crucial part of the writing process is this initial stage of exploring your thoughts with no restrictions.

Ignoring rules and being messy is key – what’s not to love?

Listen now to discover the best ways to:

• Keep creativity flowing and explore your thoughts freely.
• Feel less daunted by your written tasks.
• Find a fresh perspective and come up with amazing new ideas.
• Add value to your business/ brand and make more sales.
• Move, engage and hook people in with your writing.

Once you’ve listened to this episode, you’ll see how the best creative minds ignore all the rules and how awful life would be if they didn’t! I’ve thrown in some Tina Turner, some James Brown and some examples of how the verbal equivalent of ‘dirty drafts’ can go wrong, especially if your mother-in-law is listening!

But seriously, I’m hoping that this will really help you to draft more productively and I’ve also given you some tips on how to prioritise your work without getting distracted. I hope it inspires and encourages you to relax about perfection and embrace the disorderliness of your thoughts going down onto paper because, within this chaos, is where the true value lies.

If you would like to know more about the Write With Influence course, please follow the link below.

Write With Influence

 

Show Transcript:

Amy:

Hello you!

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of ‘Write With Influence’. This is a show of sales messaging and persuasion tactics for making more sales in your business. If it’s your first time here, I’m honoured to have you. You can expect 10 minutes or so of tips to sharpen your persuasive writing skills with some light-hearted fun and japes thrown into the mix because look, no six-year-old ever said to themselves, ‘When I grow up to be a marketer and sales executive, I really hope learning new skills is boring!’. We are against boring here at Write With Influence HQ.

So, what have I been up to?

I know technically you didn’t ask, but I’m going to tell you anyway – at the moment I’m about to head up to work in London this week for a two day sales messaging consult with a client and I absolutely love doing these.

This particular client helps other businesses implement their digital transformation strategies, and what they’re looking for is a new and fresh way to talk about their business so that customers, when hearing this message will say, ‘that sounds different, that sounds valuable’ and more importantly, ‘that sounds like something I want to know more about’. These sessions are usually pretty intense because we’re going to spend two days pulling apart their existing message and then building it up into something shiny and new with real show stopping attraction. What I love the most about doing these sessions is that most clients are already sitting on a gold mine. They tend to have really good products, they have good skills, the clients love them, but after years of being in a business, sometimes it’s really hard to have that fresh perspective about what you do. Perhaps you can relate to that?

So, what myself and another consultant will do is go in and we help them mine their gold and create a message which is shiny new and make sales but, did I mention it can feel like a very messy process and sometimes it’s uncomfortable? Because we will go in there, we will break things apart, we will tear apart the old sales message until it lies in bits and then we look to restructure, rebuild and see what’s new, what needs to be discarded and what can be combined in a different way than before. That’s a lot of messy work to do before we get to that shiny state and that brings me onto the subject of today’s podcast, which is all about writing dirty drafts. In today’s episode, I want to talk specifically about why I strongly advocate that when you are writing copy, a sales page, an email blast, whatever it may be, that you begin with a dirty draft.

Some writers call this the ‘vomit draft’ and if your posher than I am, you might call it a draaaaft, but my accent means I have to shorten that ‘a’ and it’s a draft so hopefully you can get on board with that and it’s not going to put you off too much every time I say it!

So, what is a ‘dirty draft’ or a ‘vomit draft’? Well, very simply it’s where you sit down to the page, you look at the notes that you’ve made from your research and then you try to write in the loose structure of whatever it is that you’re creating whether it is a sales page or an email etc, you just get everything down on paper. You don’t worry about formatting, you don’t worry about proofing, spelling, grammar, etc and this is what I strongly recommend and I also want to explain why I think it is so important and why it’s such a key stage in copywriting.

Building a sales message is a creative exercise and it’s really important that you’re not restricting yourself during this process. When you sit down to write that first draft, your thoughts are more important than making it look pretty – that comes later.  But also, your thoughts are moving pretty fast and if you’re trying to craft each sentence perfectly before you move on to the next one, it’s like sticking your finger in a creative dam – all those themes, angles, illustrations that might otherwise come out at the draft stage can get blocked because of your aim for perfection and they are far more important than perfection at this stage. It’s not just about keeping the creativity flowing as well; we need to get our thoughts down onto the page so that we can explore them further and test them out, see if they do stand up. You know, if you’ve ever felt stressed because you’ve had perhaps lots of different things to do, there’s a huge amount of relief in sitting down to make a list. I know it sounds really simple but even if it’s just a handful of items, trying to sort them out and make sense of things in your head will make you feel cluttered and will make you feel stressed.

So, the ‘dirty draft’ isn’t just about writing copy, it’s also about exploring the thoughts that you’ve developed from your research, and you need that place to explore your thoughts. You need to remember as well that just because you put an idea down on the page doesn’t mean that it’s set in stone. Once it’s there, you can tweak it, modify it later or cut it completely if you find you no longer agree with it. The first draft isn’t about final decisions, it’s about exploring your thoughts on a subject and this exploratory process is necessary, it also happens in real life. Sometimes we just need to say things out loud almost as though we want to try on a thought. It doesn’t mean that we mean everything that we say.

[New Scene]

Tom:

“Thanks for a lovely than a darling.”

Sylvia (mother in-law):

“Yes, it was a lovely dinner, Julie. Although, if I had known we were going to be eating so late, I would have brought myself some sandwiches to snack on.”

Tom:

“Mum, do you want me to drive you home?”

Sylvia (mother in-law):

“Oh no, I could do with a walk, I expect I’ll need to move around quite a bit to walk off those roast potatoes! Julie, you must let me know how you managed to get them so dense! Right, now, don’t get up, I’ll see myself out.”

(Gets up and leaves)

Tom:

“Love . . . just take a breath . . .”

Julie:

“Oh, she is a treat!”

Tom:

“She can be a little critical.”

Julie:

“Critical? It’s nonstop from the minute she walks in! Your mother seeks out joyful people in order to just break them down. She feasts on the souls of the innocent and the pure, she’s the devil incarnate. She’s the stuff of nightmares. She is . . .oh, standing in the hallway!

Hello, Sylvia!”

Sylvia (mother in-law):

“I forgot my purse.”

(Goes out the front door)

Julie:

“She’ll forget about that won’t she?”

Tom:

“Water off a Duck’s back, I’m sure.”

[New Scene]

Tom:

“Mum, come in.”

Julia:

“Yes, come in and meet your first grandson, Sylvia.”

Sylvia (mother in-law):

“Oh, I don’t want to get too close.”

Julie:

“No, that’s OK, you can hold him. . .”

Sylvia (mother in-law)

“No, it’s just that he looks so innocent and pure, I’m not certain I could resist feasting on his soul. We only popped to the hospital so your father can get his prostate checked – he enjoyed it a little more than I think he should have! Toodaloo!

Julie:

“Tom, it’s been three years!!!”

[New Scene]

Tom:

“Mum, what are we doing in the churchyard?”

Sylvia (mother in-law):

Your father and I wanted you to see the plot that we’ve bought. We’re not getting any younger and I just wanted to share with you our future resting place.

Julie:

“Oh, I’m sure you and Jeffrey will be around for many, many, many more years. Sylvia.”

Sylvia (mother in-law)

Oh, I’m sure of it, come, the stonemasons just finishing up the engraving.”

Julie:

“Oh, for the love of . . . Tom has she really?”

Sylvia (mother in-law):

Dearest Sylvia, mother of Tom, wife to Jeffrey, now free to feast on the souls of the innocent and pure for all eternity.”

[End]

Amy:

Here’s another reason why trying to write a neat and perfectly formed first draft doesn’t really work – it leads to procrastination. Next to the paper cut and RSI, procrastination is a writer’s biggest killer. If the pressure is on to sit down and create something well-written as you write it, that’s a lot to take on. But, if you can ask yourself, ‘look, can you just sit down for 30/40 minutes, look at your notes, and pretty much just smash the keyboard out and write nonstop in that time?’, well, that’s a much easier and less daunting task. So why are people reluctant to do this? Well, first, because of what I’ve already talked about, they think that they are committing to an idea or a thought as soon as it hits the page and that’s just not true. Secondly, because they think that if the quality is poor on that first attempt, well, what’s the point in writing it?

What I want to tell you is that even a rough draft is probably not as bad as you might think. Now, don’t get me wrong, I would never ever, ever share my draft with a client. Sometimes at the end of the writing periods, my fingers are just tired from typing and all I can see are red squiggles because I’m not even hitting a lot of the right keys anymore, I am just mashing them in the vague direction of the keys that I need. However, when I go back to edit, I’m often surprised at the quality of the ideas that can emerge from what feels like a very, very messy process. You know, it certainly doesn’t feel great at the time, but there they are; important thoughts and sometimes an illustration that I don’t believe I could have stumbled upon if I was not allowing myself to write freely.

Now obviously, when you turn in or you publish your work, your copy has to be tidy but that’s what proof-readers and editors are for, and they are invaluable . . .but they come in after your great ideas. They are there to shine what you have, not to dictate the show because I’m sorry, but people aren’t moved by perfect punctuation and impeccable grammar, they’re moved by the themes that they find emotive and that make them feel something and when people feel passionately about your writing, they’re hooked. If it was the other way around, if people were only moved and engaged by perfect grammar and punctuation, I think we’d lose out on a lot of super creative work.

[New Scene]

Music Producer:

“OK, what have you got for me?”

Talent Scout:

“Oh boy, oh boy! This has been a whirlwind tour of top talent. I’ve got some of the best songs for you to review that are available for us to release.”

Music Producer:

“Hit me with it!”

Talent Scout:

!OK, first one, this is from this guy James Brown – it’s a real funky soul number, it’s got ‘hit’ written all over it and it just comes in really edgy and punchy with,

{Singing}

Well, I feel good da da da da da da da,

I knew that I would know now,

I feel good,

I knew that I would now,

So good, bam bam,

So good,

Coz I got you . . . “

Music producer:
{Clapping}

“Yes! Oh yes! Love it! Love it! Sign him up, get him on board! Err, I just need a couple of lyrics changed and then we are good to go.”

Talent Scout:

“Lyrics changed?”

Music Producer:

“Yeh, the grammar is all wrong, we’re going to have to get him to sing ‘I feel well’.”

Talent Scout:

“‘I feel well’?”

Music Producer:

“That’s the correct grammar.”

Talent Scout:

“But that doesn’t sound right.”

Music Producer:

“It will to people who love grammar.”

Talent Scout:

“No, no, no, no! ‘I feel good’ sounds like he’s at a sudden burst of energy, that he’s electric – he’s ready to shake things up! That’s what the kids want! ‘I feel well’ sounds like he’s been a bit poorly and he’s just starting to improve after having some chicken soup.”

Music Producer:

“These things are important.”

Talent Scout:

“All right, look, look, here’s another one, it’s a little bit more soulful, but one that still reaches a powerful crescendo. So, this is by some lass called Tina Turner?

She’s singing softly, you think it’s a love song and then BAM, she hits you with it!

{Singing}

What’s love got to do, got to do with it?

What’s love but a second hand emotion?”

Music Producer:

“Oh, I love it! A couple of tweaks and we’re there!”

Talent Scout:

“Again? Tweaks?”

Music Producer:

“Yeah, again, she’s just sloppy with her grammar, ‘What’s love got to do with it?’? No, no, it doesn’t make sense. She is going to have to sing ‘What does love have to do, have to do, have to do with it?’”

Talent Scout:

“I feel like we’re losing something by doing that to these songs.”

Music Producer:

“Oh, we are certainly losing things, make no mistake, we are losing some very basic linguistic errors. We release these songs as is and we will be hounded by pedants for the rest of our lives.”

Talent Scout:

“By what?”

Music Producer:

“Pedants.”

Talent Scout:

“Oh.”

Music Producer:

“Get Tina, get James on the phone, tell them we’ll take their songs if they’re willing to tidy it up.”

Talent Scout:

“I don’t think they’re going to do that.”

Music Producer:

“Then we’re the ones laughing because they’ll never be successful like that!”

[End]

As I mentioned before, your first draft is about building on your research. Whether you’ve done customer interviews or tested the products etc, now is the time to consult your notes, look for connections and themes and points that you can group together and get them down on the page as quickly as you can. It’s this very process which is what makes you a great marketer or a copywriter because you have to think and you have to form new ideas. It’s why templates should really only be used as springboard for ideas. Anyone can sit down and write with perfect grammar, but the person who spots a theme that stands out or a pain point that really resonates with their customer. . . someone who comes up with the ideas, the way to talk about the benefits in a way that sounds fresh and new, that is the person who’s going to add value and be sought after.

But look, I am realistic. If you have a tendency towards perfection or if you get distracted by having a thought and feeling that you need to research or tie down right there and then, here’s something that you can try — when you are writing your dirty draft, keep a separate list next to you or a bunch of sticky notes to just capture any thoughts that you feel you need to follow up. Now, I do this every day, even when I’m not writing, I have a stack of post-it notes and if something comes up whilst I’m in the middle of a task and I think, I should look that up, or if I get an email and think, Oh, I should probably ask them this question or reply to that, instead of doing it straight away and getting distracted, I write it on the post-it note and start a pile that I keep on the base of my lamp. Then I go back to my task, but I have the peace of mind knowing that the stray thought is captured and it hasn’t derailed what I was setting out to do. At the end of the day I flip through the post-it notes and make a decision on each one – does it even need me to take action anymore? Because you’d be surprised at how many little things that crop up in the day actually ended up being resolved on their own. If something does still need action, I ask myself, can I delegate it? It’s much easier for me to take a stack of tasks and send them to my assistant than it is to do them myself one at a time. Finally, if there is anything that I still need to take action on, it’s added into my schedule very deliberately and it means that I can concentrate on the task without getting distracted by all these little tiny thoughts that threaten to take my attention away. So, when you write your dirty draft, I encourage you to do the same thing. So if I have something I want to research a little more, I’ll write down what it is that I want to look up and sometimes I will just write in a line of the actual draft. I’ll write down a point and then I’ll maybe put in capitals, ‘MORE’, so I remember to make more of this point or, ‘BETTER’, which means I need to tidy it up, or ‘SIMILAR TO X’, if there is something I can tie it into or join it into another point or, ‘LOOK UP’, if I need to research a statistic, name or fact. But the point is I don’t do these things whilst I’m writing that first draft. The point is to get the big things down on paper and then tidy the tiny stuff. Don’t try to tidy the tiny things first.

That’s all for this week. Don’t forget to leave your thoughts about the show in the comments. I’ll be back next time where we will be talking about how to repeat your sales message and marketing without sounding spammy.

Stay tuned and remember when you sit down to write your first draft, don’t restrain yourself, free your creative beast!

[New Scene]

Speaker 1:

“I won’t be a minute; I just need to grab some files in my office and we can go for that drink.”

Scientist 2:

“I can’t believe you got that job at the top-secret Government lab! I went for as well you know?”

Scientist 1:

“Did you?”

Scientist 2:

“Yeah! Failed the tests for it though – the psychometric test, aptitude test, common sense test. . .I did score highly on the ‘likable’ and the ‘daft lass’ test but it means I’m not really suitable for a lab role as such. . . I think they’re putting me forward for a managerial one.”

Scientist 1:

“OK, look, just wait here a sec, let me grab my things and . . .”

{Roaring in the background}

Scientist 2:

“Whoa!!! What’s that?”

Scientist 1:

“It’s an unknown species, we discovered and captured it last week in Crawley. Look, I can’t tell you much about it, but just, just wait here. Don’t touch anything. I’ll only be a minute.”

Scientist 2:

“Got it.”

Unknown Species:

“Psssst!

Scientist 2:

“Oh my God, you can speak!”

Unknown Species:

“Of course I can speak! Could you just let me out?”

Scientist 2:

“Should I?”

Unknown Species:

“Well it’s the weekend, isn’t it? Everyone else is knocked off early, they, they just forgot to unlock my cage.”

Scientist 2

“Hmm, yes, that makes sense.”

Unknown Species:

“Cheers.”

{runs away}

Scientist 1:

“OK, let’s go! Wait, where’s the beast?”

{screaming in the background}

Scientist 2:

“Probably in ‘Spoons’ by now . . .”

Scientist 1:

“You let it out?”

{Screaming and roaring in the background}

Scientist 2:

“Yeah, but it said it’d be back after the weekend?”

Scientist 1:

“Do you know what, you’re right; you’d be a perfect manager.”

[End]