Engage her emotionally by painting a picture with words.

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.

Category one comprises approaches that are basically descriptive. They describe both the features and benefits of the fence.

Stuff like…

“Your fence comes with a self-closing gate, so you can relax in the knowledge your kids will be safe.”

Nothing too wrong with that. Pretty standard copywriting… features supported by a benefit.

But in the world of conversational copywriting we try to focus less on description and more on engagement.

If I want to truly engage my readers I would do well to touch them emotionally.

And one great way to touch someone emotionally is to paint a picture that triggers their own feelings.

I’m not going to describe those feelings, I’m going to try to trigger them… within the reader.

As an example – and this is the approach that falls into category number two – a student might write something like…

“Looking out the window at her new pool, she felt a surge of pride… right up to the moment she saw the ball bouncing across the paving and into the water.”

Loving the pool… but suddenly terrified as her daughter reaches for the ball in the water.

There are plenty of ways to write this.

The point being, this approach is designed to engage the reader’s emotions by triggering deep feelings.

This lies at the heart of the conversational copywriting approach, because the power of conversational copywriting hinges on being able to ENGAGE the reader.

It’s always about engaging WITH your audience and never about writing or selling AT them.

If you love copywriting, you might want to set aside a few minutes right now and see if you can write your own version of this assignment.

You’re selling a pool safety fence.

But don’t just describe it.

Paint a picture with words, engage your reader, and touch her emotions deeply enough to make her urgently want your pool fence.

Help her complete the sales process in her own mind.

Conversational Copywriting is the future of selling online. You can build your expertise now, or try catching up later. Find out about the course here…