56: 5 powerful copywriting secrets to skyrocket your sales
Are you ready to take your copy to the next level so that you can start getting the sales you have been dreaming of? You’re going to love this episode of ill communication!
You know when you meet someone in person or online and you have an instant connection? Someone whose energy you're drawn to and someone who just generally makes you feel good? That's what I felt the first time I met today's guest podcast host Heather Holloway!
In this episode of ill communication, I’m sharing a rebroadcast of our conversation on her podcast where we talk about 5 powerful copywriting secrets to skyrocket your sales and I know you’re going to love it!
Heather is a dynamic public speaker, voice-over artist, and founder of Holloway Media Services. Heather has a unique energy that shines through in her work, which helps entrepreneurs increase their influence and impact online.
A graduate of one of the world's premier entertainment business schools, and with over two decades of experience in radio, television, and digital media, Heather leads her team of masterful content creators to produce high-performing, organic social media marketing campaigns.
When not absorbed in a personal growth or marketing book, Heather seeks fun and thrills. She loves traveling, meeting new people, and gaining new perspectives. She once jumped out of an airplane willingly and was a contestant on Ellen's Game of Games. Heather hopes to one day host a baking Championship series on the Food Network if she can stop binge-watching them first. She lives in Pennsylvania with her wife and their dog, Molly.
Topics We Cover in This Episode:
The power of direct response copywriting
The five C’s of copywriting that will take your copy to the next level
My top tip to stop writing boring copy
The missing element in your copy that will help you stand out in the marketplace
How these five C’s can improve your copy and increase your sales
There you have it! That was the powerful and energetic presence of Heather Holloway. I encourage you to follow her killer content. And if you need support with your social media strategy and creation, you should totally work with Heather. You can check out https://hollowaymediaservices.com/.
Remember to share your thoughts about the ill communication podcast and get entered into a prize draw valued at more than $1100: www.kimkiel.com/survey.
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[00:00:03] Welcome to Ill Communication, Copywriting, Tips and sales strategies for small Business. I'm your host, Kim Keel. I'm a copy coach, sales strategist and direct response copywriter. It's my mission to help women leaders and change makers amplify their voices through copy. It's why I'm dishing out all the juicy tips, writing prompts and sales formulas to help you generate more leads, book more calls, and get more high value clients on repeat. Sounds pretty good. It's time to ditch the overwhelm you might be feeling and find confidence in your copywriting so you can get your message out there and attract more soulmate clients. Let's get started. Hello. Hello and welcome to episode 56 of the Ill Communication Podcast. Today you're going to get [00:01:00] five powerful copywriting secrets to skyrocket your sales. So you know when you meet someone in person or online and you have an instant connection, someone whose energy you're drawn to and someone who just generally makes you feel good. That's what I felt the first time I met today's guest podcast host Heather Holloway. We met inside a coaching community, and even though we didn't have much interaction at the time, Heather made an instant impression on me as someone who I want to know and stay connected with. So let me tell you about Heather.
[00:01:35] Heather is a dynamic public speaker, voice over artist and founder of Holloway Media Services. Heather has a unique energy that shines through in her work, which helps entrepreneurs increase their influence and impact online. A graduate of one of the world's premier entertainment business schools, and with over two decades of experience in radio, television and digital media, [00:02:00] Heather leads her team of masterful content creators to produce high performing organic social media marketing campaigns. When not absorbed in a personal growth or marketing book, Heather seeks fun and thrills. She loves traveling, meeting new people, and gaining new perspectives. She once jumped out of an airplane willingly and was a contestant on Ellen's game of games. What Heather hopes to one day host a baking Championship series on the Food Network if she can stop binge watching them first. She lives in Pennsylvania with her wife and their dog, Molly. Now, I got to tell you, I did not know until just now that Heather was on Ellen's game of games or that she's addicted to Food Network just like me. So, Heather, if you're listening to this, I want to hear the full story about being on Ellen's show and maybe we can share a few cooking notes, too.
[00:02:49] Anyway, I also wanted to share what Heather has on her website, which I think highlights her character and energy beautifully, and you'll see why I am so drawn [00:03:00] to her in her work on her business about Page. It says this about Heather and her team. We are dog parents and actual parents. We believe in kindness, equality and service and we've been creating content since 2001. Our mission is empowering business owners to post social media content that has a purpose beyond the sale. Do you see what I'm a big fan and how you can use your own values and personality to create connections through the words on your website or in your bio? These words were so powerful and they give you an instant picture of who Heather is and why you want to stay in her world. Anyway, Heather invited me onto her podcast a while ago for a conversation about how to optimize copy. And as you can imagine, it was a super fun and energetic conversation, as you would expect from someone who is a broadcasting professional. So here's a rebroadcast of our conversation and [00:04:00] heads up, Grab a pen and paper or open up your notes app because you're going to want to take notes. Here we go.
[00:04:08] Welcome to the Social Media Success for Professionals podcast. Hi, I'm Heather Holloway, founder of Holloway Media Services. Former television and radio producer and social media expert. I've multiplied my sales using organic social media, and this show is a way for me to share my experiences and guide you on what it takes to grow your business using social media marketing too. I'll cover everything you need to know to leverage social platforms to build your business practice or firm and have a steady flow of clients, patients and customers waiting to work with you. I'm diving deep into the marketing vault to bring you the best social media secrets to engage high paying clients, build trust, and establish yourself as an industry leader. So tune in, take notes, and get ready to experience social media success.
[00:05:04] Are [00:05:00] you looking for a surefire way to make your social media presence more engaging? Look no further, my friends. We have a free content calendar to plan your social posts for the rest of the year. Our calendar is a great way to plan ahead, so there's no guessing what to post next. These ideas help you share your personality to draw in your target audience. This is your opportunity to connect with your followers, so don't wait any longer. Download the Free Content calendar today and start planning your most successful social media strategy yet. Click the link in the show notes to download.
[00:05:39] Well, howdy, everybody. Welcome back to social media Success for professionals. I'm your host, Heather Holloway. And boy, we got a good one for you because I know you're sitting out there thinking, I don't know how to write copy or the copy that I'm writing isn't bringing people in. Well, I have the expert, Kim Keel, the one the only from Kim Qualcomm, here to teach us the five [00:06:00] top tips to make your company more readable. But before we get into it, Kim, thank you so much for joining me today.
[00:06:07] Hey, Heather, thank you so much for having me. I know we have something in common, which is that we both have the same I'm your age, so we're like connecting in the marketing world as well as in our name. So I love it.
[00:06:19] K dubs H dubs. Here we go. So k dubs. Tell me, what do you do for the people out there?
[00:06:25] I love writing copy. I love helping people connect better with their audiences and I specialize in sales copy. So I help people write in a way that sells their brilliance, their genius is attracts the right clients and creates just a really beautiful connection and relationship because most sales are really founded on building that relationship.
[00:06:50] Absolutely. And so we're using social media these days. We're online, right? We use words all the time. We write so many [00:07:00] words. So it's really good for us to learn how to do that in a persuasive manner, right, for somebody to take action. But how did you get here? Like you didn't become K Dubs, replacing your full time income to writing full time. You didn't just do that overnight. Tell us how you got there.
[00:07:19] Oh, thanks. I started out in get this, I have a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental science with a minor in communication. So communication has always been the thread. And you know, back when I was in university, I felt the only way we could solve our environmental problems was through communication. Over the years, I was in frontline communications helping people understand what are the problems, how to solve the problems. Benchley moved into fundraising because I worked a lot in charity and in fundraising. I learned all of these practices to get somebody to open their wallet to make a donation. And [00:08:00] I learned this term called Direct Response, which is the art and practice of writing in a way that gets somebody to make a response to your copy or to take action. Yeah.
[00:08:11] And I just want to pause right there because I want you to listen and listen good or well, I don't know. I'm talking to a copywriter, so listen in. Listen in. If it's not on Grammarly, I'm a little. But listen, she just mentioned direct response. Kids, look that word up. That is when you take your posts and you profit. So please direct response. Keep going.
[00:08:34] So I was working this day job in fundraising, but I had two little kids at home and I couldn't manage the constant like rush to get people to child care, get people to school, get myself to work and back. And I was late for everything. And it was just I was a mess. And at that time, I discovered this whole world of online business. And through that sort [00:09:00] of deep dive in the Google rabbit holes, I discovered the practice and profession of copywriting. And I realized even though I've never called myself a copywriter, that's actually what I've been doing for the last 12 years. Yeah. And as we all do, I started my own job, quit my day job, and over the last couple of years have been able to replace my annual salary. And my annual salary has now become my monthly salary. So it was a really good move. And I'm working with clients that I genuinely love. They are making an impact in the world. They are changing people's lives and while I get to support them with copy or strategy or copy coaching, I know that like I'm like helping to support that kind of impact that's going out into the world. That's really it's priceless.
[00:09:48] I love that. That's a compound effect is we're able to then give our expertise the things that we've been diving deep on over the last few years. Share that. Share the wealth. Right?
[00:09:58] Yeah.
[00:09:59] Oh, that's fantastic. [00:10:00] That's fantastic. So for today, I mean, that's a perfect setup. Listen in. This woman has taken her annual salary and made that her monthly salary by crafting creative content. So today, five top Tips to make your copy more readable. Teach us, coach. Teach us.
[00:10:18] Okay, listen up here, people. So I'm actually going to borrow from another popular copywriting trainer named Bob Bly. He created something called the four C's of copywriting, and I'm adding a fifth C, So the first C, when you're sitting down to write copy or when. Are reviewing something you've written. You want to ask yourself, is this clear? Do I know what I'm actually selling here? Like, so often when we sit down, we're like, I don't know what I don't know what I'm actually selling. You want to be very clear about what you're writing about, what the purpose is and to whom you are writing. Have in mind your ideal customer. [00:11:00] Make sure you know who your ideal customer is and write clearly to them. Now, the second part of being clear in your copy is avoiding what I like to call like industry jargon or coach terms or if you're in finance or law, would be using like super jargony terms that the average person doesn't know what it is those people just want. You know, I want to protect myself. I want to protect my legacy, use the terms that they're using. Be very clear in the words that you're using and don't try to be too academic.
[00:11:33] I love that. You know, we work with lawyers. We work with doctors. And so, you know, as I'm trying to attract more of the same, I better not use words like agency business or company. Rather, I'm using firm or practice, right? So it's finessing. You can have evergreen content, but you have to finesse it.
[00:11:54] Absolutely. Yeah. And being clear about what those words that they use are and infusing that into your [00:12:00] copy.
[00:12:00] So that's the first sea clear.
[00:12:01] The first year. Be clear, avoid being clever. That's actually like one of the best adages in copywriting. The second C is to be concise. Even though a lot of us think we are terrible writers, we actually probably write too much. And I know you talk about this a lot, Heather, but to write sort of shorter content or write and then go back and edit out all these extra words, see if you can shorten your copy into a more concise message. So just be really clear. Often I find when I'm reviewing copy for my clients, they'll have an email, they'll be talking about so many different things and I'll say, You know what? This is actually three emails. So suddenly this one email you can just now split it into three, and now there's three weeks worth of content instead of just one. So you want to just make sure you're very concise in your messaging.
[00:12:54] I love that so much for so many reasons, one being efficiency and getting time back [00:13:00] in my day. So like taking that longer form and splitting it out. Holy smokes. Now you have, like you said, three posts in one. Fantastic. Yeah.
[00:13:08] The third C is credibility, especially when you're writing sales copy. And this happens also in like social media copy where you want somebody to take an action, you want to provide a little bit of proof that you are who you say you are. You have the expertise that you have. So in your copy, make sure you're infusing customer reviews, especially if you have like a Google site or you're collecting Google reviews. You can take screenshots of those and share them in a carousel. Post on social media, you could infuse a customer story. Say somebody came and sat in your chair. They had this a ha or you delivered an incredible service. Share that story because it builds your credibility, gives me trust to know that I'm ready to invest in you. So if you're writing a sales message, make sure you have some of that [00:14:00] credibility baked in. And it could be in the form of numbers and data. You could say, Hey, I've been writing copy for 12 years. That was how I dropped in a little bit of credibility there. So you can see how you can weave it into your messaging.
[00:14:13] Love that, Love that so much. Yeah, I mean, social proof, right? Like we purchase with our eyes and listen, when we're out there, people are buying us, not our brand as coaches, consultants, lawyers, doctors. You know, it is us Halloween media services. It is Heather Holloway. So you got to share that proof that this is the person you're going to deal with. These are the things that you can expect while working with me. I love that so much.
[00:14:37] The fourth C stands for Compelling, so we've got clarity, concise credibility, and now we're on to compelling. You want to write in a compelling way. Now I'm going to say something that maybe some of your listeners might not really like, but I have to say a lot of professional services tend to write very boring copy, and we have this belief [00:15:00] that we have to sound professional. We have to be very businessy and buttoned up. And to your point that you just made, Heather, like we are humans buying from other humans. So like unbutton that top button a little bit and don't be afraid to let your personality shine. Some easy ways that you can write compelling copy is through telling stories. It's through dropping in a fun gif into your email that maybe can help bring your story to life. Use funny isms or references. So I'm a big Beastie Boys fan. I often in my. Copy will be dropping little Beastie Boys nuggets in there like little references. I also love cooking, so a lot of my references have to do with food. Say you love like sports. You could drop in references to sports or a type of music if you're like a country music fan. Look at ways that you can just infuse that into your copy and to bring your personality onto the [00:16:00] page again, because humans are buying from you. You want to connect with them and you want to make sure that they want to open and read your email. So make them just a little bit more lively and interesting. Yeah, you.
[00:16:11] Know, I love that you say that because in the beginning when I was creating content, it was so cookie cutter, right? I was seeing what other agencies are doing and most marketers get it wrong. Most marketers get copywriting wrong, most marketers get marketing wrong. So if I'm looking at somebody doing it wrong, what am I going to do? Not so good, right? But until I change to telling stories. Kim The moment the first email I sent that shared a story was with me and Miranda Lambert. I booked three perfect fit clients and I think I grossed over 15 K one email and did was share a story. I mean, not all I did. I led them down a path. Right?
[00:16:50] Right. Yeah. You had credibility. You had you were concise, you were compelling, and you had an action that you wanted people to take match the.
[00:16:57] Four C's with the CTA. Now, number five. [00:17:00]
[00:17:00] Number five is the one that I'm adding, and I think it is missing from so much marketing. So Bill Bly has those first four C's. I just want to back up. You just said it there. The the CTA that's also part of compelling. You want to compel somebody to take the action. So make sure you include that next step. But the fifth C that I see missing from so much copy is compassion. And this is an element of empathy that I feel is really missing, especially in sales copy. It's not baked into our sales processes. It's a level of kindness and caring and compassion that if we infuse it into our copy, will help connect our people. We have to appreciate where people are coming from when they're reading our stuff. You know, if I have a toothache and I'm going to be Googling like dentists near me, if I find a dentists web page that is going to say something along the lines of, [00:18:00] Hey, even if you're scared about going to the dentist, we have all of these strategies to help you feel comfortable when you're in our chair, when you're selling something, it's about giving people more time to make a decision, especially if it's a big investment, more in like coaching space, which is where I tend to work.
[00:18:19] People are selling these tremendous coaching packages that cost five figures, four figures, even six figures sometimes. Yeah. And you can't expect somebody to make a decision, a five figure decision on a webinar, give people a chance to really understand this is the level of investment and I need a few days to make that decision. Sometimes it's a few months to make that decision, but you want people to enroll themselves in working with you. You don't want to pressure people, you don't want to use click bait. You don't want to use like timers and other things that force people to make a decision when they're not ready. [00:19:00] Now, deadline timers are fine. If it's really a limited time offer, if it's a low ticket like $20 offer. But if you're having a countdown timer on something that's $10,000, you're triggering someone to make a decision that may not be the best one for them. So I just really want to add in that level of compassion and care in all of our relationships and especially those sales moments.
[00:19:24] Yeah, I love that so much because I try to impart on our clients and folks listening to that you gain with gratitude and compassion and empathy. So we have a system, it's called scope, and it's our social media marketing system for professionals. And the last part of that scope engage. I also would maybe add empathy onto that. Yes, yes. And energy, because the same way that you write copy compassionate copy for your web, you can also write compassionate copy or gratitude when people are engaging and commenting on your posts. So have some kind things to say back to them. Have [00:20:00] some. If they're asking questions, make sure that you're just guiding them and sort of just being their friend, their guide through the whole thing. I love that so much. Kim That's the secret sauce right there. Number five, compassion.
[00:20:11] I think it is, yeah. And it helps you stand out in the marketplace because if everyone else is responding to the DMS with like, Are you ready? Are you ready? Do you want to jump in? Here's the link. Are you ready to buy as opposed to well, why don't you tell me what your biggest struggle is like? Where are you wanting to grow your business or where are you wanting to get your financial future to, you know, like actually taking the time to get to know your audience and then showing them that compassion? Yeah.
[00:20:37] Do you find yourself with that last C. Are you reading books on psychology? Are you trying to find out patterns of why people act a certain way? Like how can we inform a little more compassion?
[00:20:48] A lot of the psychology books that I read are actually about getting people to the sale. It's about buyer psychology. Yeah, The empathy card, I think, is actually missing from a [00:21:00] lot of our education systems today. Like this is now we're going to get philosophical here. Oh, here we go. But I think it is what's sort of a missing ingredient in general in our society or in our culture, and particularly in the western North American culture. I would say, yeah, I think it's just tapping back into the values you had when you were a kid. And, you know, my 11 year old, he'll say, Oh yeah, I have all these friends. They're all my friends. Like he views the world where everybody is his friend and we could have all these very different sociopolitical paths. But he views everyone as his friend and he treats everyone as his friend. And I think when you sit down to write your copy to think, keep that in mind. I am writing to my friend. Yeah. Whether it's a social post, whether it's your email newsletter, whether you're coming up with content for a YouTube channel, you want to just imagine that you're talking to one friend and how would you talk to that person? You wouldn't be like, Hey, they're here. I am trying to sell you something. You'd be like, [00:22:00] Hey, this funny thing happened to me at the store the other day. Wait till you hear it. And then you'd go on.
[00:22:04] That's right. You don't walk into a bar, see an attractive person and be like, Do you want to get married? That means ever in the history of ever happened. And if it did, it probably ended up as a rom com or something. I don't even. Yeah, exactly. That ain't how it works and it isn't how it works in the human communication department. And it's not how it works, especially when you're trying to translate something through the written word. So repeat them for us one more time. Give me the five.
[00:22:31] The five C's are clarity. Make sure you're being clear about your offer, what you're selling, but also clear about who you're talking to. Be concise. Don't talk about three things when you can. Just talk about one thing you want to be compelling, right? With a bit of personality, use some gifts in your communications, weave in stories. You want to have credibility. So drop in a few data points, show some customer reviews and testimonials and [00:23:00] case stories. And the last C is compassion. Make sure you're sitting down and being compassionate with yourself as well as with your audience.
[00:23:09] I love it. There you go. The five C's and you will write all the way to the bank. Now, if people are sitting here wanting more from you k dubs, where can they go to find you?
[00:23:19] H dubs They can head to two places. One they can check out my podcast, which is ill communication. You'll find it on all the channels. You'll also find that on my website, which is triple skim Qualcomm and it's Khimki Telecom. That's where you can connect with me. You can grab a freebie once you're there. The magnetic copy checklist. Yes, but in general, that's sort of the foundation for everything. Yes.
[00:23:43] And before we go, let's talk about that freebie, the ultimate checklist for magnetic copy that attracts and sells. Tell us about it and how to get there.
[00:23:50] So you can go to kim.com/magnetic and download this free checklist. I can't even think it's about 20 pages, but a lot of it [00:24:00] is screenshots that show you before and after how to actually change your copy. And some of it is physical. Like what kind of font are you using? How big are your margins? What kinds of images are you using? And others is giving you some other tips to infuse in your copy. So you could actually just download that resource, grab one tip and you could immediately implement it.
[00:24:24] Literally happening after this recording. I'm going to go do that. So make sure to grab the ultimate checklist for magnetic copy that attracts and sells. Kim Dotcom slash Magnetic. Kim This has been phenomenal. You gave us the five keys. I feel rewrite copy all day, every day since, but I feel stronger having had this conversation with you. So thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, your expertise, your compassion, and being very clear on your message.
[00:24:52] Thank you, Heather. Thanks for having me. So, my friend, that was the powerful and energetic presence of Heather Holloway. I [00:25:00] encourage you to follow her killer content. And if you need support with your social media strategy and creation, you should totally work with Heather. You can link to all of her services, podcast and social media channels from her website. Holloway Media services.com. I'll drop the link in the show notes. And before I go, I want to remind you that you have a chance to work with me for free simply by filling out my listener and subscriber survey. When you fill out and share your feedback with me about this podcast, the content I create or anything else. You'll be entered into a drawing to win a prize of a free no BS copy audit where I'll roll up my sleeves and analyze your website, a sales page or any other kind of copy and give you a full checklist of ways to optimize and improve sales and conversions. It also includes a private one on one session with me. And as an [00:26:00] added bonus, you'll receive the joy of copy recipe card deck to help inspire you to write copy anytime you need it. The prize is valued at over $100, so get your name in the virtual hat over at Khimki NHL.com Slash Survey. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'll be back here next week with a copy prompt. Perfect for this time of year. And that's a wrap on today's episode of Ill Communication. Hey, if you're picking up what I'm putting down, I would love if you would leave a rating and a review to let me know. And don't forget to follow the show so you never miss out on the tips, prompts and strategies I share in every episode. They're designed to make you an ill communicator, too. As always, you can check out all the links and resources from this episode on the web page. Just head over to Kim keil.com/podcast. I'll [00:27:00] chat with you again next week.
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