These are the show notes to episode 003 of The B2B Copywriting Podcast.
Listen to it here:
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Why Is Copywriting Not Creative?
Because if you want to become good, great, or the greatest, you simply can’t rely on creativity. Creativity comes and goes and is closely related to writer’s block.
But if you’re a copywriter, you’re only facing writer’s block if you haven’t done enough research.
If you actually had 7 times as much research as you would realistically need, how on earth would it be possible to face writer’s block? It simply wouldn’t be possible.
Research comes first in copywriting — before you’ve written a single word.
Research isn’t necessarily creative. It is long, arduous work, during which you read prior findings, study past ads, talk with experts about the product, read manuals, talk to your customers, read their reviews, read the reviews of your competitors, read the ads of your competitors and mingle with your target audience.
Tell me you’ve done all of the above and still have trouble finding a hook, or a way to structure your landing page.
The somewhat creative elements of copywriting
When you’re done researching you probably have pages upon pages of material for you to browse through as you assemble your copy.
Remember that copy is assembled, not written.
Assemble the copy based on your research. This is the “creative part”.
But it’s not remotely close to the Mad Men-like “sleep on your couch until 3PM until a fly buzzing around the lights give you an idea for the upcoming campaign.” That is great television but horrible advertising.
Thoughts on the episode?
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