Confessions of a conversational copywriter… how Dynamic Debra changed my life.

I don’t “do” guest posts on this blog.

Except, in this case, I do.

Cindy Reed was one of the first people to enroll in the Conversational Copywriting course.

And this is the story of her own evolution from traditional copywriting to the conversational alternative.

In Cindy’s own words…

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I was a traditional copywriter for so long… until I realized that wasn’t the real me.

I had to step forward, raise my hand and say I could no longer follow that broadcast, adversarial path.

It was scary at first. I didn’t know how people would react. Most scary of all, I didn’t know if any clients would even hire me once I told them I was a conversational copywriter!

After all, change can be… well… hard.

The beaten path of old school copywriting was so much easier… or so it seemed. I knew how to do it from big brands to small names.

The truth is, I love connecting with people… I find them fascinating.

But with traditional writing, I felt like I was yakking at a lego figure who was slapped together with weird labels. Not a real person. Do you really describe your friend as ‘an average income $79,180’, or ‘53% 4-year college degree or higher’?

Here’s what I mean… I wrote a couple of blogs for a big brand vitamin supplier. They gave me a description of their target audience… Dynamic Debra. I was excited to meet Dynamic Debra! I read through Debra’s monologue hoping to get an up close and personal look at what makes Debra tick.

Instead, I found a bunch of marketing words jammed into her script… like “I really value transparency” … “I want a more sustainable future” … and “I’m looking for a company that balances cutting-edge technology with living nutrients found in food.”

Debra’s just not real. So, with traditional style I assembled the attributes, benefits and characteristics of the product… bundled them all together with nice sounding copy… then… Ready… Aim… Fire!

I blasted the message at Dynamic Debra whether she wanted to hear it or not, and hoped for the best!

Don’t forget the FEAR factor…

Traditional copywriting motivates the prospect through strong emotion like love… Jealousy… FEAR! That’s the one I really don’t like. How awful! Who wants to buy cause they’re scared to death!!!

So now, not only do I have a faceless lego who looks like a page torn out of a marketing report… but now I have to scare her to death!!!

Yeah, that’s right…

Hey Dynamic Debra… watch out for that glyphosate. It’s on the food you and your family eat every day. Lookout… it’ll kill ya!

Grim reaper I am not!

I don’t want to scare you… life’s scary enough.

Surely there’s a better way!

Conversational copywriting is appealing to me as a writer.

It respects my reader.

I’m having a conversation with her in a tone and style that is natural… not pushy. She’s sitting next to me. I engage her with simple, everyday language.

No hype.

No yakking AT her.

I’m honest and transparent with her.  She trusts me.

Relying on the natural persuasive power of everyday conversational language.

Now to pop the question… will it work? Will my clients buy it? Will they like it? Or will they leave in droves?

I started slow at first. I began working conversational copywriting into my correspondence… then writing assignments. I didn’t label it. I figured the best way to convince a client was to show it in action. After all, great persuasive copy is worth its weight in gold.

Here’s what happened…

In the first year, email open rates for my clients went crazy… 131% above the industry average. Then there’s the 383% more click throughs. I even doubled the email open rates in the marketing to my own new business prospects… and I got more clients. More writing assignments, and awards followed. Conversational content stands out.

In the first year, I got $36,000 in revenues attributed to conversational copywriting. That figure doubled in year two!

That’s pretty good stuff, right?

Now I use conversational copywriting for all of my clients.

Just last week, Tim Franks called me… he owns a custom design jewelry store. He’s expanding into new geographic markets. Tim wants to reach new prospects while maintaining relationships with his current customers. He was exploring the possibility of hiring me for the task.

Email marketing is perfect for him… except he’s nervous and scared about it. Why? He doesn’t want his customers to unsubscribe. Tim has built his business on personalizing customer relations… and doesn’t want to run them off. Obviously, a guy exposed to traditional copywriting.

I explained to him that I am a conversational copywriter, and that this style of writing is perfect for him. Conversational copywriting will help me maintain his current customers, and grow his business, too… with much better results than traditional copy.

I took him through examples of ad campaigns using conversational copywriting in e-marketing, television, and print. He loved it! And signed up as a new client for a 15-month program.

It’s kinda funny, isn’t it?  Looking back, I was worried about switching clients to conversational copywriting.

Clearly, I’m happy I made the change… and I’ll bet Dynamic Debra is too.