3: The 3-Step System for Writing Copy that Connects and Converts featuring Emily Writes Well (The Systems and Workflow Magic Podcast)
Writing copy for your audience can feel intimidating, especially if you’re trying to sell them something. In this episode, I brought on my dear friend, Emily of Emily Writes Well to share her 3-step system for writing copy that connects and converts. Listen in as she highlights the importance of your words, communication, and connection!
The Systems and Workflow Magic Podcast is brought to you by Dolly DeLong Education. This is a podcast for creative business owners who want to learn tangible steps to automate their business through workflows, systems, tools, and strategies to go from scattered to streamlined with purpose. Because even muggles can become automated wizards.
Click here to listen to this week’s episode of the Systems & Workflow Magic Podcast
The Systems and Workflow Magic Bundle
If you’re ready to streamline your business, make sure you’re on the waitlist for the Systems and Workflow Magic Bundle, where over 30+ creatives and business owners have collaborated to create an exclusive collection of resources to help you start and implement workflows and systems in your business to go from scattered to streamlined! The Systems and Workflow Magic Bundle is new every year and features resources to help you with the puzzle pieces you need to help you with systems and workflows to impact the BACKEND of your own business!
Regardless of when you’re reading this, get don’t miss out on the Bundle and get on the waitlist to see if the current one is open or find out when the next one will be!
Meet Emily
Emily is a copywriter living in Nashville with her husband and hilarious three-year-old daughter. She dreamed of being a writer since she was four years old, but took a winding path through different jobs teaching, coaching, and mentoring to get here. Emily believes in the power of your unique voice. She helps service-minded business owners attract their dream clients and make effortless sales with a personality-driven copy.
Review the Show Notes:
Get to Know Emily (1:23)
Systems and Workflow Magic Bundle (3:30)
What is Copywriting? (6:17)
Your Copy is How You Communicate What You Do (7:02)
Three-Step System for Writing Copy that Connects with Your Clients and Converts (9:18)
- Research Your Ideal/Existing Client (9:18)
- Plan Everything Out (16:28)
- Write & Edit (21:59)
Conversational Tone (29:20)
Recap (33:24)
Grab the Freebie:
Connect with Emily:
Connect with Dolly:
instagram.com/dollydelongeducation
facebook.com/DollyDeLongEducation
Interested in more episodes featuring Emily Conley?
Review the Transcript:
Dolly DeLong
Welcome to the systems and workflow magic podcast where I help entrepreneurs go from scattered to streamlined in their creative businesses. I’m your host, Dolly DeLong, a wife, a mom, and a photographer turned systems educator. Join me every week as we have conversations centered around creating tactical workflows, and automations in your business. Now, let’s make some strategic workflow magic.
Dolly DeLong
Well, welcome Emily, I am so excited to have you on the Systems and Workflow Magic podcast, you’re my first guest. And I’m so pumped to have you on here to chat about a three-step system for writing copy that connects with your clients. And that converts. And this is something that I need to hear because I struggle with copy and I struggle with being long-winded. I’m the queen of long-wind Enos. So I’m happy you’re here.
Emily
I am so excited to be here. It’s truly an honor to be your first guest. So I’m excited, a little nervous, but I think it’s gonna be great. Oh, it’s gonna be awesome. Well, before we like to jump into the topic, I wanted you to introduce yourself to everyone. Yeah, so my name is Emily. I’m a copywriter. I live in Nashville, Tennessee. Well, we’re just outside Nashville, with my husband and my daughter. She’s three and a half and hilarious. Just like a lot of fun. Yeah, I mean, I feel like I’ve my business is called Emily Writes Well, which is just kind of like fun. My brother actually, like named it for me. When I was starting, I was like, how do you name a business? And he was like, What about Emily writes well, and we thought it was funny. So yeah, we’ve got that I’ve been running this business for like two and a half years at this point. And before that, in my life, before I was a copywriter, I was a teacher and an academic success coach. And then I worked with scholarship students in high school. So I’ve kind of been all over the place. But I have finally landed here, which is writing, you know, websites, sales pages, and emails for small business owners. Awesome. In you all. She’s incredible. But you will learn that soon. Also, Emily. Happy birthday. Happy early birthday. Oh, thank you. Yes. Um, so my official birthday weekend. I feel like I can have a weekend so yes. Can you share with everyone what you told me your daughter told you earlier? Like? She said, You were turning. Oh, yeah. So I asked my three-and-a-half-year-old. I was like, Hey, how old do you think Mommy’s gonna be? And she said 24. And I was like, close, but 34. And she goes, Oh, so almost 100.
Unknown Speaker
So
Dolly DeLong
for those of you who are listening and do not have toddlers yet, just wait like toddlers will humble you and just make you feel so incredible about yourself
Emily
all the time. Yeah, I was like, I’m there. 66 years between me and 100. Thanks.
Dolly DeLong
Well, you look really good for being close to 100. I just want to Well, Emily, well, before again, before we dive in, I wanted to also remind everyone who’s listening that Emily, this amazing woman here is going to be one of the contributors to the systems and workflow magic bundle that’s coming up January 24, through 28 of 2022. And again, it is a free resource bundle of systems and workflow-related items. They are meant for creative business owners really to dip their toes into systems and workflows for their businesses. So this is my very first year of putting it all together. I have been working on it. Like I said, I’ve been working my little systems loving but off to put this together so that you have a great resource library to choose from. But again, it’s only live for one week. And these downloads are shop items that live in the resources of all of these contributors, like different shops. So the fact that you’re getting them for free is huge. And again, you can join for free by going to www dot systems and workflow magic calm and you can join the waitlist to be notified of when this opens up. And let me say again, there’s no catch. It’s it’s all free. And I just want everyone to know how easy it is to incorporate systems and workflows in their businesses. And you all have a great lineup of contributors who also want you to win at systems and work lows. And Emily, can you like give a little hint as to what you’re going to be contributing to the bundle?
Emily
Yeah. So I’m there are two things included, it’s two writing systems that I just swear by and use at everything that I do. So once a is like a really simple system for writing stories, it’s kind of like a framework that takes a lot of the, I don’t know, pressure off and makes it simple. And then the other one is actually for writing copy that connects and attracts your dream clients, which I think we’re going to talk about in detail today. And then that resource will just expound upon that. So it’s pretty exciting.
Dolly DeLong
Awesome. I’m so so excited. Okay, okay, I know, let’s just get to the heart of the the topic. I know, we’ve built a lot of anticipation of the three-step system for writing copy that connects with your clients and converts. And so let’s dive in. And I have a lot of questions to ask you along the way. Emily, I hope that’s okay. Hope I’m not putting you on the spot. But before like, we dive into those three steps can you define for the audience what copywriting is, and why it’s essential for any type of small business or any type of big business?
Emily
Yeah, I love that question. Because I honestly like did not know what copywriting I was a copywriter before I knew what copywriting was like, I didn’t know that there was a word for it. So copywriting is really like copyright, or the words on the page that are selling something. So copy is all sales-focused. And that does not mean that you have to be like sales and gross, and we’ll talk all about like, I’m really big on attraction, marketing, and personality-driven copy. So it all comes from like a value-centered place. But the ultimate goal of copy, which are those words, on your website, it doesn’t matter where the words are, right? The words that are on the page, that are trying to sell something. So that’s the long and short of it. The reason it’s essential is really because like your copy is how you communicate what you’re doing. So you could have this incredible service, right? Say like, You’re the world’s best systems person, right? So you’re Dali, you’re the world’s best person creating
Dolly DeLong
a new, I didn’t care to say this, but they do. It is
Emily
you cannot tell people if you cannot use your words to say what you do, how it’s different, like how it’s going to benefit them, and why they need it. Even if you’re the best in the world, nobody’s going to buy it. So the copy is really at the core of sales, right? You’re telling people the value, the benefits, what it is you’re offering, and why it matters. And two, I think like for me, copy is about owning the power of your voice. So I talk about that a lot. Like I believe strongly in each unique brand voice. And I could talk on a soapbox about that for like a whole podcast. But basically, Your copy is how you communicate with people, right? So it’s how you share that brand voice and really, like build a relationship with your clients.
Dolly DeLong
Mm hmm. That’s awesome. And it’s so true. Like you could offer the most amazing, transformative service. But if you don’t know how to communicate that effectively, then it’s kind of pointless and exactly like you don’t stand out. And I am so grateful for you. Because you all have hired Emily in the past to help me write copy for certain sales pages of my website. And it is so transformative. Like just how powerful copy is. So yes, Emily. There we go. Yes to copywriters. So I’m so grateful for your gift and I’m so grateful for. Yeah, what you do so. Okay, so let’s dive into the first step of the system that you are talking about. And I was gonna ask you, do you mind sharing an example of each step? And what tangible actions somebody can take for each step and feel free? You can use me you can use whatever example you want to use.
Emily
Awesome. Yes, I think that’s a great idea because it makes it feel more real. So the system we’re going to talk about is pretty simple. The point of the goal of following or using this system is what Dalia has already said, it’s copy that connects with your ideal client, it brings in those dream clients, those people you want to be working with because they read it. They feel seen heard and understood. And they’re like, Yep, they’re all in and it converts them right and from like a person entrusted to someone who’s handing you their money and saying like, yes, give me what you have. And actually, the first two of the three steps like you’re not writing so spoiler alert. A lot of times people look at like, I write brand stories, for example, it’s like maybe three to four paragraphs, and somebody will look at that and be like, Well, why would I pay you, you know, $1,000 to write that, and it’s because 80% of the work was researching and planning, which we’re going to talk about, those are our first two steps. There’s a lot, you can’t just sit down. I mean, if you could, you would kill it, but you can’t just sit down, and like, go for it, right? That’s not going to be. That’s what a lot of us do. And that’s like, so it’s okay, right, we can get our point across, but that’s not going to be the coffee that is really like connecting with your audience and generating those effortless sales. So we’re going to start with research. And I’m gonna use myself as an example. That’s probably the easiest for me. So you can’t skip it. Everyone skips it. And like this is really what’s different between like, a professional copywriter and someone who’s just trying to write for their business, right? Yeah. So the research piece is where you are spending time finding those words that your client is using. So this is the secret to it, right? If I want you to feel seen, heard, and understood, I need to know what you want, and the actual words you’re using to describe the thing you want. So there are a couple of different places you can go for your research, right? My best, like, my best suggestion is to start with your testimonials and reviews. So pull them all up. I will sometimes copy and paste them into a Google Doc, because then I can highlight them easily and go through and find like, what are the words that people are repeating, right? I can use Dali as an example of this. So I did this process when I was working on a sales page with Dolly. And every single person who had written about sales funnels, right? We’re working on talking about funnels, every single person said that if someone could do it for them, they would feel relieved. That was what that relief relieved, relieved, relieved, like that was everywhere. So that was a big word that we used to talk about, like, what are you going to get, you’re going to get the relief of having this done, you’re going to feel relieved? Because that’s what people are looking for. Right? Another example, like, when the first time I did this, I was working on my website copy. So this applies to any kind of copy, right? sales pages, emails, websites, like really anywhere you can use, which is why I think systems are great, right? Like, it’s a framework that we can apply to a lot of different places. Yes. Okay. So I went through and looked, and as four or five people talked about how the, what I did for them was like, improve the flow of their words, they use that phrase, and I kept seeing that phrase pop up. And I was like, that’s not something I’ve ever talked about, I don’t even really know, like the flow of your words, like that’s another thing I like thought about as a writer. That was what my clients were taking away. Like, that was their big, that was the thing they most loved. So you better believe I started talking about improving the flow of your words, right? So that’s why the research step is so important. So basically, when you’re doing this, look at those reviews and testimonials, common words, feelings that stand out common experiences, all of those things, that’s a really easy place to find them. You can also look in, like, when you have a discovery call, if you take notes, that’s a great place to mine go back and look like what are people looking for? What are they telling me? Like, I can guess what my ideal clients’ problem is. Right? As you could guess. So for example, you could be like, Oh, I think my ideal client’s problem is that, like, they don’t have time to put a funnel together. But if you go and look at all your discovery calls, and every single person is telling you, I’m stressed out by the idea, and I don’t even understand what this is. That’s a very different thing. So like, we’re just pulling out all of these words. And we’re using their actual words, right? Like we’re putting those on the page. We’re keeping a list of them. You can also look at like your DMS you can look at your competitors. I don’t suggest doing that. Because I think you can get comparisons and drum
Dolly DeLong
Yeah, that’s that’s a good point. I like that.
Emily
Yeah, but you can write you can see like, what they’re doing. But that is the research piece of the puzzle and that’s where we’re going to start
Dolly DeLong
awesome research and do you know by any chance what is holding people back from research?
Emily
Most people don’t know how to do it. Okay. So people don’t think right we’re not writing research papers for like seventh grade English class. So a lot of people don’t think about it. Also, I have like, I work one on one with clients and they’ll tell me like Oh, my reviews are like that helpful. Right? Like they’ll be like oh, all my reviews just say like, oh, Emily was the best thanks so much. That’s a big problem. So I do suggest moving forward having and I know dolly this is a thing you do in your business but using an Unlike a reef, a review forum, and sending people specific questions, so like, if you want to be able to talk about the transformation your offer has asked people, How did this transform your business? Ask those very specific questions. So you’re getting very specific answers. And that’s going to be a lot more helpful. So I say those are the two things people don’t know that they’re supposed to do, or they don’t have like, high-quality reviews and testimonials to really like look to.
Dolly DeLong
So I have a little teaser for everyone who’s listening. I’m bringing on like an expert on how to receive raving client reviews. And yes, I’m excited because this expert has helped transform my reviews for my photography, business systems and workflow business. And so you just talking about this just like solidifies, like the importance of just like mining for your ideal clients, voices like you, you need to hear what they’re saying or read what they’re saying.
Emily
Yeah, that’s awesome. I’m so glad. I’m excited to learn. So that’s great. It matters.
Dolly DeLong
So research is step number one. And those are good examples, by the way. So what is the next step? What is the second step? And again, can you give some, real-life examples of how people would tangibly apply this?
Emily
Yes, absolutely. So we’ve done our research, we have these words, these phrases like we know what our client wants to hear. And we are now going to plan so research is the first step second step plan. I am going to Enneagram seven, I don’t believe in making plans. Like I have a horrible time planning anything like I, I will legitimately just like, I don’t even know. And college I like took a trip to a very spontaneous trip, like to London with my friends, because for a long weekend, because we found cheap tickets, and I was like, We got to go like, let’s do it. Right. So that’s how I operate. But when it comes to writing, you do need to plan. Okay, so the first part of the planning process is actually, I don’t know a better word for it a brain dump. I don’t love that term.
Dolly DeLong
It just sounds weird. I know, I know it to mean, it’s just weird.
Emily
It is weird. But that is the first thing that you’re going to do. So we’ll use a social media caption. So like a small thing. Okay. So, like I said, this could apply to any number of things. But like, let’s just look at a small example. I’m going to write a social media caption about, right about storytelling. Cool. Like, that’s what I’m going to teach people like how to tell a good story in a caption, probably not the best idea, but like, we’ll focus on so anyway, I know that’s what I’m going to do. What most people do, right is they sit down, and they just start writing that caption about storytelling. $1 You were saying, like, you struggle with being long-winded? Yes. Yeah, meet you. Okay, there’s, the struggle is real. You can probably tell from how I talk, like, I love to talk tall, I love to talk, you love to write everything down. And what happens when we don’t take this step to just kind of like clear our heads? Everything comes out on the page. So you always hear people say like, when you confuse you lose, but it’s very true. Like when someone is confused or lost. Um, they’re not gonna, they’re not gonna know what you’re saying. They’re not gonna keep reading most people will like, yeah, sounds right, like leave. And so the brain dumps part of this planning session is like, that’s your first go. So you just put out I don’t keep this. So like, I, I’m a pen and paper, like an old fashioned person. So I usually write this down and everything that’s in my brain about like, tell storytelling, I will just write down and I do stream of conscious bullets. Like, however, it comes out, right? No one’s gonna read this. So it doesn’t matter how you do it. But I’ll be like, storytelling is so important. He like here’s seven reasons why it’s so important. Oh, one time I told us like everything that’s in my brain, I just put it on the page. And I spend maybe three to five minutes. So I do not like writing a dissertation. Just getting it out. And that is amazing at clearing your head. Right. So now all of those thoughts are on the page, and you can kind of move past them. So now that I’ve gotten all that out on the page, the next part of planning is just like a rough outline. So the outline depends on what you’re writing for social media caption. I always recommend writing your call to action first, so I know it’s at the bottom, but you need to know what you want people to do. Before you can write right actually write your call to action First, write the body of it, and then I write the hook or that First, you know, opening liner to last. Because when it comes back to it now I know here’s what I’m asking people to do. Here’s what this caption is about. Now I can write a better, more informative hook. Right? Interesting. Yeah. So you plan it out, like you just, you know, I would write my call to action, I would be like, here are the three things I’m going to say. Here’s my hook. Cool. So we haven’t moved to the writing part yet. But whatever you’re doing, you’re just structuring, if it’s a blog, you’re probably writing your headers, right? Like, okay, I’m going to get my keyword, you know, not to get too confusing. But like for a blog, you probably be writing your headers or your subheadings. If it’s for a website, you might just have like, here are the three sections I’m going to have, or like, ‘s just some bullet points, basically, a rough structure. So you have your so you’re confined, I think, the most terrifying thing and like we’re writing goes off the pages when it’s just like a wide open blank space. So you want to rein yourself in, right? Like, I’m only giving myself three bullet points, great. I’ve got to say it in these three are like, I’m only giving myself like, physically this much space of a box on a website, whatever that looks like. You’re planning out the structure, and then just kind of like a very rough outline. Does that make sense?
Dolly DeLong
No, that makes sense. And like, oh, that people like me, like, I need to hear that. Because I just feel like I have to constantly over-explain everything, for people to make some sort of connection on, like, what systems are, what automation is, what workflows are, because I don’t know, I just like really struggled with just like getting to the heart of the matter, sometimes.
Emily
We all do. It’s that is the heart like, right? That is the hardest part, which we’re going to talk about when we get to writing stuff that can sometimes help with that.
Dolly DeLong
Awesome. Okay, well, then let’s get let’s dive into point three. Okay,
Emily
so the last part is where we get to right, so right, you’ve spent two-thirds of your time researching and planning and now we’re gonna write. So when it comes to writing,, I mean, we could have multiple episodes on this, but I’m going to keep it simple. What I want you to do is the first thing I want you to write is your one promise. So let’s go back to the social media caption example, I’m writing a social media caption about storytelling, my one promise is, maybe by the end of this, you will know how I like to write this down, write my one, like, I promise when you finish this caption, you’ll know why storytelling is important. Or you’ll know the three elements of a good story, or you’ll know what a segue is like, it doesn’t matter, right? Wherever that plumber says. So for you, it might be like, maybe you’re writing a sales page. And your one promise for your offer is like, when you buy this course, you will know how to XYZ, right? Like you will know how to plan your content, nine, you know, 30 days of content in four days, or whatever the thing is, so then you have that’s like, again, like the framework, right? So now we know that this is what we’re promising. Like, it’s kind of the main idea, right? Like, do you remember writing a five-paragraph essay? And it was like, you have your main idea? And then your supporting paragraphs, right? Yeah, like, I mean, that structure we still kind of use. So that will help you, you’re going to use those words. So that research piece we did, we’re going to pull those words in, and those are the words we’re going to use. So maybe like everyone talked about how they would feel so relieved, we’re going to talk about the relief, they’re going to feel, maybe they wanted to improve the flow of their words, I’m going to write like, I will help you improve the flow of your words. So we’re pulling those pieces down and using those words, those phrases, whatever it is, there’s, I mean, there’s a lot more. But the last thing I will say is after you’ve written, you’ve used your research, you’ve planned everything out you like write it all down, go back and edit. So this is the part that no one wants to do. Me included. It’s not exciting, right? Like this is the most boring. The first edit I would do is a read-aloud. So this is hard. If you’re writing a sales page, you don’t want to read the entire long-form sales page out loud, so maybe like break it up and just do this for each section you’re working on. But like for emails, social media captions, and website pages, it’s probably right. If it’s too much to read, you probably wrote too much. So that’s a good sign. But read it out loud and pay attention to where you get tripped up. Okay, I love like the M dash, you know, the long like the long hyphen thing. Yes. Yeah. Okay, I’m obsessed with an M dash. I use them. Way too. too much. And I know when I’ve used them too much because I’ll be reading a sentence and I have to stop. And I’ll be like, and that. Okay, and like, I get tripped up by my writing. Yeah, I get tripped up by it. And I wrote it. That’s like a guarantee that someone else is gonna get tricked out. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, pay attention to like, where things get lost? Where do you lose the train? Like where your train of thought, like, where is it confusing or weird or just doesn’t sound right. That’s the first edit. And then, if it’s short enough, I do recommend reading it backward for spelling and grammar. So that makes you slow down and pay attention. But I would say that those two things are not the most important, like misspelling something who cares? Like if people know what you’re saying? It’s not a big deal. People are always very surprised to hear that because they’re like, oh,
Dolly DeLong
yeah, that’s surprising for me, because I feel like, I feel like such a weirdo for admitting this. But maybe it’s just the way I grew up. But I will recognize when words are misspelled all the time in public and one time. So embarrassing. I can’t believe admitting this. But one time I went to the gym. This was like 10 years ago. So not recently, because this was before I had Blaze before I had a kid, I could go to the gym anytime I wanted to go. So I went to the gym, and there was a misspelled like, sign. And so I told the person at the front desk, I was like, Oh, just so you know, like this is spelled wrong. And the look they gave me they’re like, I don’t you know what Dolly, you should have just been quiet about.
Emily
That’s so funny. I’m right there with you. Yeah, my sister. I remember when I was in middle school, my sister was like, She’s five years older than I am. And she was like, You’re not going to have any friends if you keep correcting. Oh, okay. So yeah, I mean, I’m with you, I’m 100% notice, but so many people, I think, let the fear of like grammar mistakes or misspellings get in the way of them, like really sharing, like their value and, like, you know, putting their words out there. And so if that’s what’s holding you back, like, that is not at the end of the day grammar rules exist for clarity, right? Like we have those rules to help us read and like communicate clearly. You I always tell my mic people that I coach, like, learn the rules, so you can break them. I use incomplete sentences all the time. Right? For emphasis, I don’t use an incomplete sentence that doesn’t make sense as I use it on purpose right? I’ll say like, I don’t know. Like incomplete sentences No,
Dolly DeLong
like, use them like email newsletters are a prime example of this because you’re for those of you are listening and you are going to want to join Emily’s newsletter, like get her newsletters once a week, I should say because they are so entertaining. Emily like they make me laugh. There was this one you wrote two weeks ago or a week ago about camels. Yeah. I read your newsletters. I read them. So yes, you’re completely right about that being the time to sprinkle a little magic through the systems and workflows in your business. Along with over 20 different creative business owners and experts. I’ve created the systems and workflow magic mental, a collection of exclusive and free resources designed to help creative business owners start and implement workflows and systems in their business so that they can go from scattered to streamlined this year and beyond the systems and workflow magic bundle is coming January 24 through 28th of 2022 So make sure you join the waitlist today to be the first to get access to this free bundle head on over now to www dot systems and workflow magic.com to join the waitlist so that you can create some workflow magic in your business
Emily
so this goes back all to like conversational tone, right? So the thing that is going to take your writing take your copy from boring, formal, generic like vanilla copy, which I’m not a fan of to this like this. This brand voice like your brand voice is what makes the difference right? So like when you have a brand voice and you use it and you talk you write to your readers the way you would talk to them. Whenever that is whether your voice is reserved or quiet. That is your superpower. You do not have to be loud, to be heard, or to have your voice count right you can be If you’re direct, and your writing style is short, with quick sentences, and bullet points like there’s no fluff. If that is your brand voice, and that’s your personality that is how you should be writing. Yes. Will it repel people? The best copy does. The best copy is going to repel the people that you don’t want to work with. I’ll give you an example. Like, a big part of my business is being like, laid back. And like having fun, right? One of my core values is having fun because like, why do we want to have a business if it isn’t fun? Like that’s, again, my Enneagram seven coming out. Like I want everything to be fun, right? So that’s important to me, which is why I right, oh, like, I do a bunch of storytelling in my emails, right? My cop, like my copy, is very relaxed. Like, I ramble. Sometimes I try not to, but like it’s gonna happen. And like I tell these stories, and it’s all like very personality driven. Or like my personality, right? So there are people who open up my emails, and they see that they’re like, four or five paragraphs long. And they’re like, No, this is awful. I’m not reading this, right? Like, I’m not interested, or like, why is that girl always telling stories? Oh, just get to the point. Well, I don’t want to work with that person. Because guess what, when we sit down to work together, like, I’m going to chat, I’m going to chit chat. Like, don’t waste the first five to 10 minutes talking. And I’m going to laugh. And I’m going to expect this to be a really fun experience. Because like, that’s how my businesses and like, that’s why my brand voice is the way that it is. So it’s a really good thing that the people who are not into my vibe are being turned away because they don’t want to work with me. Great. I also don’t want to work with them, not because they’re bad, or I’m bad. Like, we’re just not the right fit for each other. And I think that’s when you harness your brand voice. Right? Like Dali, you love Harry Potter, and like, yes. Right. So like, if there’s someone who thinks Harry Potter’s like the stupidest thing, and that to them makes them not want to work with you. You don’t want to work with them.
Dolly DeLong
Goodbye.
Emily
See ya, right? Like, I was trying to think of a good charm. That would be like, just, I can’t think of
Dolly DeLong
that you know who that person is. In my life. It’s my husband. He does not like, he’s not like Harry Potter. And he on purpose will like to make Lord of the Rings references and be like, just like that Gandalf right said that on Harry Potter. And I, he will like, see me like cringe. Just for the reaction? Yeah.
Emily
Oh, yes. Okay, well, that’s a character flaw, I feel like you
Dolly DeLong
will work on that.
Emily
Make, you know those things that make you you know, that everyone has to, you know, like plenty of people who may not like, Harry Potter can come to work with you. Yeah. And they are turned off by the fact that like, you have like, a fun like little magic. I don’t know, like copy works into your title of like your thing. If they’re not into that. They’re not your people, right? That’s not the person you want to be working with. So really good copy repels and attracts that. That’d be the right people.
Dolly DeLong
That’s so excellent. I love that so much, Emily, I just, I just love learning from you. You are a wealth of knowledge. Okay, so can we recap the three points just in case just to bring everybody back? So the first step is to do the research. And the second step is to plan everything out. The third step is doing the action of writing it out and writing out your copy that will connect with your client.
Emily
That’s right. And editing, right? I think has to become it. Listen, I hear you if you’re like, oh, who has the time, but like, editing has to be actually like an inextricable part of writing. Like if you want your writing to connect convert and stand out. Editing has to be a nonnegotiable. So that’s why it’s not its step. It’s just part of writing.
Dolly DeLong
Yeah, no, I agree with you. It is excruciating. I will say that, but it’s worth it when you take the time. And like we were saying to like, plan out and execute, like good coffee, and you edit it out. It will convert at the end. I’ve seen it time and time again. It’s so true. But it just takes time.
Emily
It does. And it takes like testing to I think another thing this isn’t like related to the system, but just like being willing to play around and try things with your writing. Like especially with your copy, like maybe try like, I don’t know, sending an email that’s like just a bulleted list of like, here’s some value and I’m going to try something different or like you try storytelling. You Don’t feel like trying these things to like, I don’t know, see how they fit. You see if you like them, and see how your audience responds. And it’s okay to play around. I mean, it’s not, I think sometimes we get so like, writing just feels so like, serious. Yeah. And like permanent, you know, cuz it’s like, oh, well video like, that’ll go like, you know, I recorded an Instagram story like, I can look like a fool, it’s gone in 24 hours. But like, if I write something on my website like that might be there for years, and it has that permanence. And I don’t know, just like, like the overtones, of high school writing. I mean, I’m a big nerd, I went to grad school for literature. So like my dream, like I, you know, wrote a 60,000-word thesis. And that was basically like a vacation for me. But most people don’t feel that way about writing. So I think that’s why I just want to encourage people to like, have fun with it, don’t take it so seriously. And just kind of like, see what works for you.
Dolly DeLong
I had that just like made me think of a funny story. Again, it has nothing to do with this topic. But you said writing in grad school, I also got my master’s not in writing, but in something different from systems. But I, I opted out, I was able to opt out of the big, like, writing assignment because I did some other class that like, that’s how much I avoided writing. I hated it. But you’re so when you said like, it was a walk in the park for you. I was like, oh, man, like I remember, like, just sweating that semester and thinking, how can I get out of this? And it was like,
Emily
Yeah, you didn’t know at the time, you’re gonna own a business that I know. Right? All the time?
Dolly DeLong
Did I know I would have been like, maybe you should practice a little bit Dolly? Well, okay, so you brought up the brand voice guide. And I know you have this as a gift for the audience who’s listening. Can you share a little bit about this brand voice guide? Yeah.
Emily
So I think whether you are like, if you are just starting in business, or you’ve been doing this for like, 10 years, I think a regular kind of check-in on your brand voice is really important. So a lot of people can tell you like, Oh, my brand voice is, you know, sarcastic, witty, and fun. I don’t know, like you, you have like, the adjectives to describe it. And that’s important. But a lot of times those are the adjectives that like, just describe the writing you’re doing. So the brand voice guide is, I mean, you can download it, you can work through it in probably like 20 minutes, but it just asks you some questions to help you get clear on what matters to you. There’s a question in there, that’s like, would you rather a client see you as knowledgeable or funny, right? Kind of thinking through those things of like, because I guarantee you, if you’re looking at this, you’re like, you’re 100% One way or the other? Like, why would you want? Of course I would, I would only ever want a client to think I was knowledgeable. Like, why does it matter if I’m funny, whereas I’m sitting over here? And I’m like, I mean, I don’t they know what I like, they think I know what I’m doing. But I want them to think, right? You know, so like, thinking through some of those things and kind of have a value-centered approach to a brand voice like those things that matter to you. those core values, it just helps you kind of identify those and sort through like, what does this mean for my brand voice? And how can I describe it, and helps you kind of get those specific questions?
Dolly DeLong
Awesome. And just to clarify everyone, this is another free resource that Emily’s providing and I’ll put the link in the show notes. This is aside from what she’s providing in the systems and workflow magic bundle like she’s overdelivering. I’m Emily, I’m so excited.
Emily
Well, I’m on a mission for every single person in the business world to like, know their brand voice be so proud of it, and like own it. So whatever I can do to Hello,
Dolly DeLong
I know I’m excited. Well, okay, so we’re at the end. I know we’re reaching the point where people are like, When are they going to stop talking about the systems of copywriting but you guys, we’ve reached the end. And I just want to thank you again so much for your time, Emily, because I know you have a lot going on in your own business. And before we leave, can you remind everybody where they can find you and how they can connect with you? And also like how can they work with you?
Emily
Yeah, so I am at Emily Writes Well on Instagram, that’s the main place I hang out my website is Emily wrightsville.com and you can browse my services there. There are right now two main ways to work with me one is for custom website copy. So that’s like you know, you want to if you’re starting a website or if you want to overhaul your website if you’ve recently changed audiences or like niches or you know after your business has been around for a few years, things tend to shift. So that’s a custom website copy. And then the other thing I offer is project days. And these are like, again, my spontaneous personality, I feel like just drives everything in my business. But project days are really fun because you can put whatever you want in them. So like any copy project, whether that’s like an email sequence, lead magnets, sales pages, us one page of your website, you want to change. I’m trying to think social media, really any kind of copy project, brand messaging, that’s a big thing. And it either fits into like a half day or a full day, depending on you know, what you want done. And that is a done-for-you service where you hang out, and do your thing. At the end of your project day, I send you all your deliverables.
Dolly DeLong
Well, and you guys I’ve hired Emily several times, and she’s helped me out on so many occasions. So Emily, continue to take my money because you’re I will
Emily
I will do it. With you. I will do it. Dolly was actually my first ever paying like first ever paying client who found me she found either my sister-in-law. Yeah, I love your sister and probably she’s great. Um, but yeah, so dolly and I go way back to the $35 for a blog posting.
Dolly DeLong
Yeah, way back. So you guys, I just want you to know, I pay her more than that. Now.
Emily
It doesn’t exist anymore. But that’s where I started. So we’ve come a
Dolly DeLong
long way. Oh, man, Emily, it was so good chatting with you. Thank you so much for just pouring so much wisdom and knowledge into my audience and I hope that you guys will take advantage of checking out Emily’s Instagram and her freebie and checking her out for the systems and workflow magic bundle. So, Emily, you have a happy birthday and I will talk to you later.
Emily
Thanks. Sorry, this was so fun.
Dolly DeLong
Thank you so much for listening to the systems and workflow magic podcast. You can find full show notes from today’s episode at dolly DeLong photography.com forward slash podcast. If you love the podcast, I’d be so honored if you’d subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast player. Be sure to screenshot this episode, share it with your stories, and tag me at dolly DeLong education over on Instagram. Until next time, go make some strategic workflow magic.
Leave a Reply
Finally get those dreamy & classic family photos you desire & want!
