87 ways to get unstuck
A deck of named copywriting techniques, each with a question to ask your brief and a way to try it on your own copy.
Made by ProCopywriters, the UK’s professional body for copywriters. Free, for anyone.
Persuasion
40 cardsPrinciples and rhetorical devices: why people believe, remember and act.
Absolutes are unbeatable
As Luke Sullivan writes: ”Go for an absolute; go for an ‘-est’.
Address objections
Addressing objections doesn’t need to be negative, though, because you can positively address customers’ concerns.
Appeal to authority
How can you demonstrate your authority?
Benefits first
Features are things your product does.
Brutal honesty
Address the obvious weakness with your product immediately and openly.
Call to action
How can every word contribute to guiding readers towards this action?
Craft
30 cardsWriting technique: how the words are made to work.
Active voice
For example, writing ‘we save your life’ is more informative and powerful than ‘lives are saved’.
AIDA
First, you must get a reader’s attention, then capture their interest before arousing desire and, finally, encouraging action.
Alliteration
Starting multiple words with the same sound can lend texture to your writing and encourage people to pay attention.
Ask questions
Asking questions is a simple technique to make your copy more conversational.
Because
It’s one of the most powerful words you can use.
Bucket brigade
What do we mean?
Chiasmus or antimetabole
A chiasmus is a piece of writing that repeats words, concepts or grammatical constructions in reverse order – e.
Conflict calls attention
Conflict demands resolution, so it makes for interesting stories.
F-shaped pattern
Can you organise your words to accommodate people who scan the material in an F-shaped pattern?
Front-loading
Make the keywords unmissable.
Help the hero
Can you place your product at the centre of the hero’s journey?
Imagine
You might use ‘imagine’ or ‘picture this’ or find less overt ways to get your customers’ minds engaged.
In medias res
In medias res is Latin for ‘in the midst of things’.
Metaphors and similes
These literary devices can make alien ideas feel like familiar friends.
Move through time
Show readers that you understand their situation before illustrating a better future.
Numbers
What can you quantify for your readers?
Parallelism
Example: ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
Rhythm and poetry
Reading your copy aloud can help you detect monotonous verbiage that might make readers inclined to nap.
Start short
As Joseph Sugarman suggests: “The purpose of the first sentence is to get you to read the second sentence.
Storytelling
People can tune out an ad but they can’t resist a story.
Throw ideas for readers to catch
Start a sentence that the reader can finish.
Unbury the lede
To ‘bury the lede’ is a classic journalistic sin that involves hiding the story’s salient details under multiple paragraphs of preamble.
White space
As a copywriter, you’re designing a reading experience.
Write like people speak
It’s easy to slip into ‘marketing speak’ when writing copy.
You
By addressing your readers one-to-one, you transform your generic broadcast into a personal appeal.
PAS (Problem–Agitate–Solve)
PAS is one of the most reliable copywriting structures ever devised.
Before–After–Bridge
Before–After–Bridge is a simple three-part structure.
Jobs to be Done
The Jobs to be Done framework reframes your product around the outcome your customer is seeking.
The inverted pyramid
Borrowed from journalism, the inverted pyramid puts the most important information first, followed by supporting details, then background context.
Customer awareness stages
Eugene Schwartz identified five stages of customer awareness: Unaware (they don’t know they have a problem), Problem-aware (they feel the pain but don’t know solutions exist), Solution-aware (they know solutions exist but not yours), Product-aware (they know your product but aren’t convinced), and Most Aware (they know and trust you – they just need a nudge).
Process
17 cardsWays of working: how to get unstuck, get started and get it done.
Bullets
* Don’t worry about the style or tone
Change the font
This visual shift can highlight weaknesses and errors in your copy.
Combine harvester
Rewrite a single headline using five different voices or copywriting techniques.
Cut-up technique
Try printing your working notes so you can cut them up and rearrange the physical sheets.
Dirty dozen
Instead of trying to write the perfect headline, try to write the very worst thing you possibly could.
Draw the thing
Sketching your ideas might help you imagine how the reader will flow through the ad, how the messaging will fit together, and which details you have room to include.
CopyDeck is the free part of Ideas. Studio is ProCopywriters’ tools for people who write copy, included in Pro membership.