In today’s episode, I’m talking all about why you need to stomp out boring vanilla copy and how to infuse your copy with more personality and life, including 4 quick and practical ways you can add a boost of personality right now!

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On Instagram @hayleymaxwellwrites

At www.hayleymaxwell.com 

PEOPLE & RESOURCES MENTIONED

If you want more tips to help you write roarsome copy that packs a personality punch, simply jump over here: https://hayleymaxwell.com/copywriting-with-personality 

TRANSCRIPT

Well hello there my friend and welcome to episode 11 of the Fierce Impact podcast.

How are you doing this week? I hope it’s been a productive one for you.

Today I want to talk about banishing boring copy by adding more personality and life into your copy. Because it’s something I get asked a lot about by clients and via social media.

So I want to provide some practical examples of how you can do this.

First, let me ask you a quick question.

When was the last time you took action after reading a boring piece of copy? 

Probably never right? Because you probably didn’t stick around to read the copy in its entirety.

You probably skipped on out pretty quickly. Exited the website. Moved onto the next social post. Deleted the email.  

So this is why we need to banish boring copy, because if we’re not piquing curiosity and igniting our readers’ interest then we’re not giving people a reason to stick around. 

So we want to make our copy really sticky. We want to keep people reading so they absorb our message (or take action), and so we can position ourselves in a more memorable way. 

Because vanilla copy doesn’t get remembered. Which will make it incredibly hard for people to recall you and your services when they are in need of the kind of help you provide. 

It’s part of building a brand that stands out, which is something I’m going to be talking a lot more about in future episodes of the podcast. 

Because I want you to be able to attract the people who are your ideal clients, and then make sure they remember you. I want you to be able to stand out in the savannah of sameness that exists. 

More than ever we really need to look at our brands and consider how we can cut through the noise that’s out there. How we can stand the F out. And become the only real choice for our ideal clients.

And so one of the things we can do immediately is to look at some ways to make our copy more engaging, more inviting, and more captivating to the people we really want to work with. 

….

I’m often asked if people actually read long copy anymore. And my answer is always the same. And it’s this:

Yes 100% people still read long copy.

They just don’t read boring copy. Because its not worth their investment of time.

Whether your copy is long or short, if it’s boring, people will switch off and move on. 

I’m sure you’ve heard people say before that our attention spans are getting shorter. And this means we need to make sure the copy we write for our business is

1. Succinct – and what I mean by that is that your copy needs to be as long as it needs to be to convey your point, and no longer. If this requires longer copy that’s ok, just make sure it’s not long because it’s filled with more detail than required, or extra fluff that makes it sound pretty but doesn’t actually add any extra meaning. 

Because this all adds to the boredom factor.

2. And number 2 – we need to make sure the copy we write for our business is engaging. 

And so learning the skill of writing copy that’s engaging and interesting for your ideal client to read (which is a skill you totally learn, by the way, even if you think that copy isn’t your strong suit), it’s going to mean that more people will take the time to read your content and copy and absorb your messages, more people will understand how you can help them, which in turn will lead to more people taking action – hopping into you email community, enquiring about your services, buying your products and booking you! 

And that’s why we need copy that keeps eyes glued to pages and posts. That people ENJOY reading! 

Which means we need to stomp out boring vanilla copy! 

We want copy that helps our readers to feel like they’re being welcomed into an inviting, friendly, and interesting conversation.

Because when we think about working with someone we are actively looking for connection points. We need to be able to put our trust in the person we are considering working with, and we want to get to know them so we can make sure they are the right person for us.

And that’s not just about knowing they’ve got the right skills and experience to help us, it’s as much about personality. Because if you don’t feel like you vibe with someone from a personality perspective you’re never going to form a working relationship. Because you’re not going to invest your money into someone who’s not your cup of tea, right?

When people are looking for help with something, particularly if it’s a significant investment. They actually want to get to know you. The person behind the brand. Because that is a major factor in making a decision to take action – to work with someone for example, to buy a course. 

We actively look for connection points, such as:

• Whether you have similar perspectives, a similar personality or not, and whether we have shared values.
• Whether we enjoy someone’s sense of humour, wit, and vibe.

Because prospective clients will actively assess whether they can imagine working with you. 

So I’ll give you an example, when I have chosen the business coaches that I’ve worked with, one of the things I’ve actively considered is their personality, their personality traits. 

Because based on my personality I look for and feel connected to coaches with certain personality traits and strengths that I feel like I need to develop, because I know that that helps to bring me, personally, out of my shell.

So when I’m reading their copy, when I’m watching their videos, it’s feeding into my overall picture of what that person would be like to work with from a personality perspective – whether I would feel comfortable opening up to them and working with them. Whether I think they would be a good personality fit for me.

So you can see that it’s really important for us to infuse our copy and our messaging with our unique personality.

So if your copy is void of personality and life, and vanilla to read – people will switch off and move on.

But let me be clear, I’m not saying you need to add flavour and personality that isn’t you to your copy. It’s about YOUR personality shining through. 

So let me jump into  4 simple ways to banish boring copy and pump up the personality in your copy.⠀⠀

1. TAP INTO YOUR YOU-ISMS

You-isms are the expressions, phrases, words, and greetings that you use daily in conversation and that are distinctly YOU.

It might be the way you say howdy instead of hello, or the way you sign off your emails “peace, love, & ice cream”. Or maybe you have a word or phrase you have coined, like:

• Beyonce and Bootylicious.
• Tyra Banks and Smize (smile with your eyes.)
• Marie Forleo and “everything is figureoutable.”

And it’s not just your words and phrases. Think about other things in your life that you adore, you crave, or you can’t get enough of!

If you’ve heard of Jenna Kutcher you’ll know she talks about mac n’ cheese in her copy.

Personally, I LOVE leopard print and ice cream. So you’ll often find me referring to these things in my copy.

• Ferocious ice cream eater.
• Leopard print lover
• Stand out like a decadent tub of ginger caramel ice cream in a freezer full of vanilla.

My brand theme is big cats, so you’ll also find me saying things like: Go forth and be fierce, make a fierce impact, roar and rise with powerful messages. These are part of my brand lexicon and isms. I bring this into my copy to give it more personality and life, and to make me more memorable.

Think about the words, phrases, and expressions you use that you can weave into your copy to add more you-ness. Doing this will make your copy more unique, interesting, and sticky in your readers’ minds.

2. MIX UP THE TEMPO

Think about how you talk in conversation with a good friend.

If you’re having a good catch up you’ll probably talk enthusiastically. Your tempo will rise and fall.

Sometimes you’ll use full and complete sentences. Other times you’ll use sentence fragments. Because that’s how we naturally talk.

One thing’s for sure, your conversation won’t sound monotone.

This is exactly what we want to avoid with your copy.

If the structure of every sentence is the same, it’ll be B.O.R.I.N.G. to read.

You can add personality by varying the rhythm and tempo of your sentences. That essentially means varying the length of your sentences and paragraphs.

Short sentences can help to convey:

• Urgency.
• Excitement.
• Action.
• They are attention-grabbing. Particularly when stacked to make specific points in quick succession.

⠀Longer sentences help to slow the tempo down.

They can help a reader to feel more relaxed. You can convey more detail, so they are great for painting vivid pictures.

Of course, it depends on the topic of the content you are writing and the mood you want to convey. But varying the length of your sentences will help you to vary the pace of your copy, which adds… personality!

Think about the tempo of how you naturally talk and use this to inform your copywriting. Also consider the mood you want to set with your copy, and how mixing up the tempo of your sentences can help you to add more interest to your writing.

Lastly, always read your copy aloud. Because how you imagine it sounding in your head, can be quite different when you read it aloud. Something you thought sounded energetic and upbeat, could sound aggressive for example.

3. WEAVE VALUES INTO YOUR COPY

Your values say a lot about your personality.

Doing the work to get really clear on your brand values helps you to define your brand voice and tone, which guides the way your personality comes across in your copy through your tone of voice.

For example: If one of your brand values is compassion – the tone of your copy is likely to take on more of a caring, understanding, supportive tone for example.

If one of your brand values is fun – you might write copy that is more playful.

It’s about coming back to the values you want your audience to feel and believe about your brand. Think about how you can strategically write copy that communicates those values.

For example: Weaving brand values into your copy by sharing stories and examples that demonstrate your values – not just listing them in bullet form.

It helps your reader to understand what you’re like as a person and makes your copy more interesting to read because it’s more meaningful.

4. FORMAT YOUR COPY IN INTERESTING WAYS.

Play around with the formatting of your copy, for example, you might want to have full stops between a series of single words.

Such as OH. MY. GOSH. as a way to emphasise a point.

Or you could capitalise and put full stops between every single letter. To elongate and emphasise the point you’re making with that word.

You could play around with upper case and lower case letters in a single word, for example the word personality I could spell out with an odd combination of upper and lower case letters to emphasize that it has personality. 

Or you could use asterisks before and after a word to make that word stand out or as if you were whispering it as a side note to the reader…

And while this isn’t copy specific – you can also use a well placed gif to help you get a point across in a more humorous way. 

So there are lots of different ways you can play around with the formatting of your copy or to add that extra personality – but this does come with a word of warning. A little goes a very long way. And you must be really careful not to lose your message by trying to be creative with the formatting of your copy.

So, there you have it 4 quick ways you can banish boring copy by adding more personality and life to it.

To recap:

• Number 1 Tap into your you-isms
• Number 2: Mix up the tempo
• Number 3: Weave your values in
• Number 4: Play around with the formatting of your copy.

I hope you found this episode useful and if you have and you enjoyed this episode hit the subscribe button in your favourite podcast player. 

And for more information about me, the work I do, and my free copywriting resources – including a free resource with some of the tips (and more) that I’ve shared in this episode: head to www.hayleymaxwell.com

And until next time, go forth and be fierce.







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