The Conversational Blog

In these posts we explore conversational writing as
a powerful way to communicate and sell online.

Why learn conversational copywriting now? Because playing catch-up sucks.

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The best time to build expertise in any area of digital marketing isn’t necessarily at the very beginning.

For example, sites like MySpace were heralding the birth of social media back in the early 2000s.

But it wasn’t until 2006 or so that the big players like Twitter and Facebook took hold.

And many of the big names in social media marketing didn’t get established until about 2009 or 2010.

But after that… well, everyone else who wanted a slice of that market had the play catch-up.

And like I say, playing catch-up sucks. It’s sucks because you’ll always be trying to make yourself heard in a market where the voices of the earlier adopters dominate.

It’s the same story with conversational copywriting right now.

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The intersection of traditional sales and conversational selling… with Shane Gibson.

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Say less to sell more

In this post I get to interview Shane Gibson, an international speaker and author on social media marketing, social selling and sales performance.

Shane and I worked together training young entrepreneurs way back in the mid 1990s. A LONG time ago! Since then he has become a huge force in a few different areas, from sales leadership training to social media.

A little while back, instead of just reading one of his tweets, I clicked on it and soon found myself immersed in his videos and podcasts.

Weird thing… although we’ve barely been in contact all these years, it seems like we’ve been travelling along parallel lines.

This is a long and meaty interview, with a ton of powerful takeaways.

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Engage her emotionally by painting a picture with words.

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Engage emotions with conversation

I have a homework assignment for you.

I want you to write a few lines promoting a swimming pool safety fence.

I’ll give you a full briefing about the fencing… what it looks like, how it can be installed, taken down, and so on.

And then it will be up to you.

This is one of the 6 homework assignments I give students of my Conversational Copywriting course.

And when I look at all the submissions, I can divide them fairly neatly into two categories.

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5 Tips on selling to your grandmother, without feeling awkward.

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Conversational selling with grandma

Imagine you’re tasked with writing a short sales page, pitching a home security package.

The package includes security cameras, motion detectors and an app for a phone or tablet. There’s a panic button function too.

But here’s the twist…

Once you’ve done writing, you’re going to read this sales copy to your grandma.

And you’re going to read it while sitting across the kitchen table from her, looking her in the eye.

You can’t deviate from the script or improvise. You can’t make excuses and say, “But hey, this is my grandma.”

I want you to think about how you would write this sales copy with the prior knowledge that you WILL be reading it to your grandma.

If you want to avoid any awkward moments while doing that, here are 5 tips that might help.

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How to find a conversational voice for your business, with Ann Handley.

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Ann Handley in conversation

In this post I get to interview best-selling author and Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, Ann Handley.

I’ve known Ann for over 20 years, ever since she first invited me to write for ClickZ, a website she co-founded with Andy Bourland back in 1997.

Through working with her and reading her books, I know we agree on most things when it comes to writing for the web.

That’s all very nice, but could also be a problem. Mutual appreciation interviews can get really boring, really fast.

So… I thought a little harder and came up with a slightly non-obvious line of questioning.

I don’t know what Ann’s answers will be. But I’m really looking forward to finding out.

Let’s get started.

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3 Tech trends that are driving demand for conversational copywriting.

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The rise of conversational copywriting, with two robots talking

When they read my writing on conversational copywriting, some marketers think I’m talking about a soft, nice-to-have skill.

They see the conversational approach is being attractive, but optional.

I think they’re totally wrong.

From what I’m seeing, conversational copywriting is fast becoming an essential marketing skill. Not an option, but a necessity.

And the need for conversational copywriting isn’t being driven by me or any other individual. It’s being driven by some massive technology trends that show no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Let’s take a look at these trends one by one.

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