Today’s episode is about copywriting templates. Should you use them when writing copy or are they the work of the devil?
I have railed quite hard against using templates in the past but I’ve recently changed my opinion on this topic and I’m going to be telling you why and giving you my advice on how to use them to your best advantage.
Listen to discover:
- What is a template?
- Why templates might not get you the results you want from your copy.
- How to use templates effectively and replicate value to get results.
- How to use templates as a starting point, not as a finished product.
As always, I have thrown in some sketches to keep you entertained. I wanted to exemplify how two completely different industries, a farm shop and a foot doctor, cannot use the same marketing techniques to drum up business, especially when it comes to live demonstrations. I’ve also highlighted the dangers of mimicking others with my version of a crime scene investigation – enjoy.
I hope this episode helps you to see the benefits of templates and enables you to identify ones that work so that you can tailor them to your specific environment, audience and products, attract attention and make more sales.
Please feel free to get in touch with any questions and let me know if there is anything that you would like me to cover in upcoming episodes.
Links:
- Register for the Write with Influence course
- Download the worksheet here.
SHOW TRANSCRIPT
SPEAKER: AMY HARRISON
SHOULD YOU USE TEMPLATES?
17:57
Amy Harrison:
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Write with Influence. I’m very happy to have you here. If you’re new to the podcast, it’s a copywriting podcast. I base it on tips, tricks and techniques that I’ve learned since 2008 when I first started working for myself as a copywriter and maybe even going back a little further, when I studied screenwriting for film and TV and picked up some storytelling tips there – I like to throw in a sketch or two, just to keep things lively. You can ask questions, you can ask me for help, you can leave a comment or you can just listen. If you’re listening in your car right now, you could pretend that I’m the sitting next to you.
[NEW SCENE – AMY AS A CAR PASSENGER]
Amy: Whoa, slow down! What is that idiot doing? I think he missed the turning … I pretty sure that was the turnoff for the M1. Where do they think they’re going? Wait a minute. Wait, just, are you going to let them in? You’re going to let them in? Okay, fine.
[END]
Amy Harrison:
Alternatively, if you get out and about with me in your ears, feel free to let me know where you take me. Alright, today’s episode is about templates, copywriting templates. Should you use them when writing copy? Are they the work of the devil or are they magic word sequences that will auto magically make you sales? First of all, what do I mean by templates? Well, I’m talking mostly about the plug and play style of copywriting templates that are very popular. So, for example, one very common headline template might be: What [blank] don’t want you to know about [blank]. And it’s usually: What [X] industry doesn’t want you to know about [product or niche] that you work within, for example:
What the air conditioning unit doesn’t want you to know about saving money on your energy bills.
What the shoe company doesn’t want you to know about these new shoes that we’re just bringing out.
It’s a popular style and very common style of headline template and the idea is that you then fill in the blanks with the words that are specific to your product and your target market. Now, this is different to what I would call a messaging framework or a copywriting outline where you might identify the broader flow of a piece of copy. What I mean by this is that you might provide an outline for a sales page with instructions such as:
- Start your sales page by talking about a pain point your customer has.
- Describe the pain point and make it vivid.
- Touch upon a why it’s difficult problem to solve.
- Talk about where your customer would rather be instead and what the transformation looks like.
- Talk about what’s possible when they can solve the problem.
So, a copywriting framework or sales messaging framework provides rough directions rather than giving a specific, step by step roadmap of what to say e.g. ‘insert word here’ etc. Now I’ll admit that in the past, I’ve railed quite hard against using templates and I think that’s because when they’re not used very well, they’re very easy to spot. However, I have started to rethink this because templates are really just a tool, and if you think about it, any tool that is not used well can produce poor results – if you don’t know how to use a screwdriver properly, you can quickly make a mess of that Ikea chest of drawers you’ve just bought. So, I’ve revised my stance a little, but first let’s take a look at why templates might not get you the results you want from your copy.
Eugene Schwartz was a legendary copywriter. He sold millions through direct mail advertising and TV advertising. He also wrote Breakthrough Advertising and I would say that if you’re serious about being a copywriter, get a copy. It’s not super cheap and I don’t think it’s always easy to find a copy, but it’s just a brilliant analysis of advertising and it’s a real deep dive into looking at themes and angles based on consumer psychology. I absolutely loved it. In Breakthrough Advertising, Eugene offers his opinion on the approach of just filling in the blanks or rather, copying someone else’s headline, but making it specific to you. He calls it, “the word substitute technique” and it was his belief that, “it was the shallowest, most widespread and ineffective technique for writing copy.” This is because, if you’re simply copying someone else, if you’re simply updating simple details to make it apply to you and your customer, you’re not thinking as much as you would need to if you were coming up with your own angle.
So, this is my view on using templates – what really matters is how much you lean on them compared to how much heavy lifting you’re willing to do yourself. A couple of years ago, I had a very, very nasty sprain and a tiny, tiny fracture in my ankle. I was equipped with one of those massive support boots and crutches, which I was told to use for the first few weeks or so. And they were great as a temporary measure, but then to really heal the injury, I needed to do physio and exercises to repair the damage. So, the crutches and the boot were a great starting point but if I’d kept relying on them and leaning on them to do the work, I wouldn’t have done myself any favours, in fact, I would have made my own muscles weaker and been a lot worse off after the injury. I think templates are the same, the more you rely on them to do your copywriting, the less you are exercising your copywriting skills. Now I love templates as a starting point and as fuel to throw into the fire to spark ideas. I love templates for spotting why a great headline worked for example, trying to identify, did something catch my eye because it used curiosity? Did something work really well because it focused on a particular pain point or a particular benefit or threat of loss? (If you’re interested in curiosity and using it correctly, we looked at this in episode 20.) When you can start to identify winning elements in a successful headline or an advert, you can ask yourself, how can I replicate that value? Please notice that I didn’t say replicate the headline. I’m going to be brutally honest here. You could probably copy someone’s advert and get results, and that’s fine. If your goal is to write quickly, templates will definitely help, I’m not going to lie about that. But if your goal to write well and to develop your copywriting skills, you are going to need to do more than simply copy what you see. Now, this makes me think of a story that my dad told me. When my dad was younger, he went to school with another boy called Peter Drake, I don’t know how old my dad was, I want to say about 12 at the time. Anyway, he thought that Peter had this really neat mannerism, which was that he did this little flick of the head when his hair fell in to his eyes and I suppose that would look quite cool, kind of nonchalant. So, there you are, you’re leaning over your book, doing some long multiplication, your hair falls in your eyes and you just give it a little flick out the way. And my dad saw this and thought, that looks pretty cool, I would like to be cool. So, he copied it, he would flick his head to get the hair out of his eyes and everything was fine until my dad went home and my grandma, his mother, sees him and asks him, “What, what you doing?” So he tells her, “I’m just flicking the hair at my eyes.” Now, knowing my grandma, I would have loved to have seen her face at this moment in time, because there’s one thing that I do need to mention as part of this story: my dad has very, very short, very short, wavy red hair. He couldn’t … it would have been impossible to have had a strand of hair anywhere near his eyes, let alone require them to be moved by a flick of his head. So, my dad thought he had developed a pretty nonchalant, cool character trait, but as my grandma pointed out, “Douglas, you’ve gone and given yourself a bloody Twitch.” I asked my dad about this recently and he sent me a text to say, “Hopefully the bugger will be bald by now.” Peter, if you’re listening, get in touch, let us know.
So, you don’t just want to copy someone else because they do something without thinking about how you can really tailor it to your business and your industry, and also, whether you can even tailor it to your industry and whether it would work for your particular audience. It can be really tempting, particularly in marketing, to look at what brands are doing, even big successful brands, and think, whoa, if Amazon’s doing that or Facebook’s doing that, or that sports brand is doing that, why don’t I try it out for me? But if you just copy someone else without trying to identify why it works or really trying to tailor it to your specific environment, audience and products, you’ve got no idea if it’s going to work for you.
[NEW SCENE – COUNTRY FAIR]
Podiatrist: Thanks for coming with me. Business has just been so slow recently. I needed a break and to maybe get some inspiration.
Supportive Friend: Not a problem. I love a good country fair, and there’s lots of businesses here – you might get some good marketing ideas.
Podiatrist: Okay. The dog and duck show is at 03:00. There’s a woodcutting and chainsaw display later, a cider tent – will be popping in there.
Supportive Friend: Hey, what’s that?
Farm Shop Stall: Gather around people, gather around, come on, don’t be shy. That’s it. Come to the front.
Podiatrist: Wow, people are flocking to that stall. I think it is for a local farm shop. Let’s go have a look.
Farm Shop Owner: We are going to need a volunteer. Thank you, Maisie, big round of applause for Maisie. Today we’re going to show you a quick demonstration of how to make a delicious casserole with some simple ingredients that you can buy here today. Okay Maisie, let’s go.
Podiatrist: Wow. That’s really impressive.
Farm Shop Owner: Simply chop like this. That’s right Maisy, and now we’re just going to mix everything in, oh, she’s ahead of me, you’ve done this before Maisie! And there you go people, one delicious casserole. If you would like to buy the ingredients you need and the one-page recipe, just step right up. Okay, form a queue, no pushing, there’s enough for everyone.
Podiatrist: Did you see all those people lining up to buy?
Supportive Friend: Yeh, she was pretty impressive.
Podiatrist: That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to get stall here next week to promote my business. I can do a demonstration. I just know that if I could show people my skills and how good I am it would drum up more business.
Supportive Friend: With a demonstration?
Podiatrist: Yeah. I’ll pick someone from the audience, like Maisie, work my magic and voila, booked up and thank you very much.
[A WEEK LATER – STALL AT THE COUNTRY FAIR]
Podiatrist: Testing, testing. Okay, gather around people, come on, don’t be shy, that’s it, I don’t bite. I’m going to need a volunteer for a free demonstration. I’m going to treat you for free. Step right up, right this way. Okay, yes, we’ve got a taker. What’s your name love?
Albert: Albert.
Podiatrist: Albert, lets give it up for Albert, yes, why not! Just hop onto that couch Albert. There you go. That’s it, I’ll give you a hand. Are you on Albert?
Albert: Yes.
Podiatrist: Now, you just whip your shoes and socks off for me love.
Albert: What?
Podiatrist: Shoes and socks – off they pop.
Albert: I can’t reach down there.
Podiatrist: Right. Okay, no problem, let me just, oh, these are on tight – some good boots you’ve got there, Albert.
Albert: They’re my dad’s. He died 40 years ago, but these boots are still going strong.
Podiatrist: Indeed, they are. Okay, now the socks.
Albert: They were my dad’s too.
Podiatrist: Okay well, it’s your lucky day, Albert, because I’m going to do a free podiatry demonstration. Ladies and gentlemen, in just a few moments I’m going to show you exactly how we are going to treat Albert’s hard skin, cracked heals, and a somewhat serious fungal infection, which actually might need surgery.
Albert: My wife doesn’t like the smell.
Female Spectator: Excuse me. Could you tell me … we’re looking for the stall with the Roquefort cheese, is that it?
Male Spectator: No love, it’s that fella’s feet.
Female Spectator: Dear God.
Podiatrist: No, come back, really, it’s really simple. Now we’ve no time to soak, so I’m going to go straight for the big guns – these are some great industrial strength nail clippers, and now we’re going to go to the dremel.
{Moans from Albert}
Podiatrist: And then, in just a few minutes, we’ll use a drill to …. and I’ve got a special offer on services for …
Albert: They’ve all gone love.
Podiatrist: Yes, I can see.
Albert: Could you ever look at …
Podiatrist: I’m a foot doctor, Albert, just the feet, keep your pants on.
[END]
Amy Harrison:
Okay. As I say, I’m not against templates, and if you would like some simple templates to get you started, I am actually going to link to 30 simple headline templates, I’ll put those in the show notes for you to check out. Now, I’m not just going to give you the templates, before you get to them, there’s a little grid that I’ve created, a little matrix to fill out with the details that are specific to your business. What I’d say is that the more work you do there, i.e. the better the details you have that are specific, vivid and relate to your customer and industry, the better the results you’ll get when you start putting those details into the templates. Try out a few to generate some ideas, but please use them as a starting point and not necessarily as finished copy.
This is one of the reasons why in the Write with influence course, so much time is spent on pinning down your specific customer details. Because once you’ve got those building blocks, when you really understand what makes your customer tick, the better foundation you will have for writing any copy, whether it’s an email or sales page, whatever it is. If you’re interested, you can find out about the full course at www.writewithinfluence.com and you can also find links to all other episodes of this podcast.
So, in summary, no, templates are not bad as long as they are a crutch that you use to get stronger and not something you rely on to do all the work.
Until next time, keep believing, and remember, if you want to make a living as a copywriter, you need to be strong enough to develop your own ideas. Copying someone else might make you a great mimic, but it doesn’t necessarily make you an expert, and that’s what clients pay for.
[NEW SCENE – CRIME SCENE]
Amy: What’s the story Serge?
Sergeant: We’ve secured the perimeter, but the culprit may still be in the area. This area of bushes is where we think the crime happened. Now, this is one of the biggest incidents we’ve had since that politician was caught. We can’t afford to miss a single shred of evidence. We’re just waiting for the dogs to come through and search this area of the park, but they’re stuck in traffic and time is of the essence.
Amy: I’ve got my dog here, he’s in the car.
Sergeant: I didn’t know you were on the dog team.
Amy: I’ve always been team dog. Some people are more cat people, but look, let me go get him.
{Leaves and comes back with dog}
Amy: Here he is Serge.
Sergeant: He looks lively. What breed is that?
Amy: God only knows.
Sergeant: And he’s trained?
Amy: Of course he’s trained.
Sergeant: Okay. We’re looking for any traces of evidence invisible to the naked eye, blood, money, drugs, contraband.
Amy: Got it. Go on Banjo. Go on.
Sergeant: Shouldn’t we follow him?
Amy: That’s not a bad idea actually. God knows where I’ll get to.
Sergeant: Wait. He’s leaving the perimeter, that’s not the area we’re searching. Why is he over there?
Amy: Err, Picnic? Yeah, they’ve got sausages. I mean, come on Serge, what do you expect him to do?
Sergeant: Now he seems to be interested in that tree.
Amy: Nope. He’s just urinating. Ah, now I think he’s found something. Come on. What is that? I think I see blood.
Sergeant: Why is he rolling in it? Oh God, he’s eating it.
Amy: Alright. Just calm down, calm down. Oh, it’s a dead squirrel. He loves those. Yeah, we’ll be lucky to get him back.
Dog Squad: Serge, we’re here with the dogs.
{turns to Amy}
You’re not a dog handler.
Amy: No, I know.
Sergeant: But you said you were.
Amy: No, I said I had my dog with me.
Sergeant: You said he was trained.
Amy: Of course he’s trained, he hasn’t crapped inside for years.
Sergeant: I mean trained as a sniffer dog.
Amy: What do you mean?
Sergeant: Amy, these dogs go through rigorous training. Years and years to learn how to discern between different scents so that they can identify and signal evidence found without destroying a crime scene.
Amy: Is that what you lot do? I thought you were just wondering about.
Sergeant: What does he got in his mouth?
Dog Squad: It looks like a hand Serge.
Amy: Good boy Banjo!
Sergeant: The evidence!
Amy: He’s not going to want to give that up Serge.
[END]
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