HOW TO BE A CONVERSATIONAL COPYWRITER

Tips on how to be a conversational copywriter with Nick Usborne

Conversational copywriting is like I'm writing to you ... I'm writing as if I was speaking to you face to face across my kitchen table. I'm not going to come out spouting kind of sales nonsense.
I'll ask fundamental questions like "what is it you're actually trying to say here?" What do you really want people to feel about your company, your business, or your product or service?
Copywriting is a craft just like any other craft. And I think that a lot of people who write their own copy for their website ... I guess obviously and predictably, most of them don't do as good a job as a professional copywriter.
My argument is that, okay, now you've got let's say 10 percent more buyers by being aggressive, but what kind of buys have you got? Are they happy buyers?
I'm really excited about being able to help the kind of companies I like and respect the most because I just think the conversational copywriting approach is so useful to those people.

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HOW TO BE A CONVERSATIONAL COPYWRITER

Conversational copywriting is like I'm writing to you ... I'm writing as if I was speaking to you face to face across my kitchen table. I'm not going to come out spouting kind of sales nonsense.

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Doug: Well, welcome back listeners to another episode of Real Marketing, Real Fast. Today, we're going to talk about a very interesting topic that we've covered a little bit with some of our previous guests but not specifically, and that is how to double your sales in three easy steps, but you must buy now before this offer ends. No, just joking. The conversation today is really about conversational copywriting, copywriting and how you should integrate that into your company, your sales message, your social media, and everything you do.

I can't think of a better guest to have in studio joining us today than Nick Usborne. He has been a copywriter for over 40 years. He's an expert in copywriting and web writing. He has written copy for some of the world's biggest brands, including Citibank, Apple, Chrysler, MSN.com, New York Times, WebEx, and the US Navy among others. He attributes his success to conversational copywriting, and he's here today to share his approach on how to help you write a persuasive effective copy for clients. Well, welcome to the Real Marketing, Real Fast podcast this morning. How are you doing, Nick?

Nick: Good, good, glad to be here.

Doug: I'm so excited to talk to you because I'm a big fan of copy and copywriting and I think that our listeners will get a lot of value for understanding how it works and maybe some of the changing paradigms in what's working in the marketplace. So did you want to share just a little bit about your background and kind of how you got into this space?

Nick: Okay. For your amusement. I kind of fell into this. Next year is my 40th anniversary as a professional copywriter. This is how I've made my living like pretty much forever, but I just fell into it. I just needed a job and I was talking with some friends and one of them said, "Hey, I work at an ad agency and it's fun." And I said, "What's that?" I had no idea,

Before that, I hadn't been to university, I just had manual labor jobs. I was totally unqualified. And he explained a bit and he said, "Yeah, it's fun." So everyone went to work the next morning and I pulled out the yellow pages and I wrote hand ... Well, obviously hand back then, this was 1979, hand typed letters to the first 20 ad agencies in the yellow pages. They all begin with a BOC. And so I send off those 21-page letters. I got three interviews,