Blending Value + Voice: The Recipe for Writing Copy to Grow your Brand and Increase Conversions
August 30, 2019
Have you ever cried tears of joy in your business?
My first tears-of-joy moment: When my very first client cried reading her copy. THAT I WROTE. I know, the best.
My second tears-of-joy moment: I hopped on an inquiry call with a person I didn’t know, and she said, “I just want you to take my money so I can work with you already. I feel like we’re already best friends.”
Hang on… I need a minute…
OKAY, I’M GOOD.
But, you guys. That is THE DREAM, right? When people value your expertise, believe in the results you deliver, and just love your stinkin’ guts so much that price becomes TOTES IRRELEVANT.
Today, I want to give you the 3 keys to blending CRAZY value (getting people results) with your true voice (creating a long term connection that keeps them coming back… and maybe even sending you iced coffee stickers in the mail.)
How to Blend Value with Voice:
1. Your brand voice is found, not created.
If I had an iced coffee for every time I got the question, “How did you create a brand voice when you were just starting out?”
Friends, I get the pressure to come up with something that will stand out, and I really understand that it’s hard to believe you have that within you. But, hear me out: If you are trying to create a brand voice from scratch, you are going to have a really hard time showing up and embodying that on a regular basis. Brand voices are not created, they’re found. My brand voice is as close as you’ll get to me on Marco Polo, or a group text. Your brand voice should feel like yoga pants, not those vintage jeans that squish your butt, ya feel me?
I have a guide (that people #humblebrag rave about) to walk you through a Brand Voice Dig — but here’s the thing, you only get the guide as a bonus when you purchase The Website Bundle from The Promptlate Shop. Head here to check it out.
2. Don’t be afraid to think outside the value-box.
The most buzzworthy piece of advice on the market is “provide value!” And I know you probably feel like saying, “OK, cool. I was trying to provide things that added nothing to the world, so that was a helpful piece of advice.” Instead, I want you to start thinking outside the box when it comes to value. It doesn’t always have to mean a “how-to” for your particular content area.
Value can be defined in three different ways.
An experience:
This could be something like a challenge or a webinar, for the sake of conversions on a website. It could also be showing up to do the same thing every Monday on Instagram, and talking to your people about it through direct messages. It could be consistency in blog posts on Wednesdays. Whatever it is, people show up and they get an experience, they get to connect with you or others in some way, shape, or form.
A result:
Value in the form of a result, is usually called a “quick win.” Can you give away a checklist? Can you give someone a single action step that will move them forward? Can you give them a tip that solves a problem they’ve been looking for, or sell them a guide to a step-by-step process?
A mindset shift or novel idea:
This is the most under-utilized deliverable of value.
With all the noise in this world, as content creators, it’s our job to provoke thought, to make waves, to DISRUPT, not just blend in and add to the noise. One of the best values you can provide through your copy on your website and in a consistent presence on other platforms is a new perspective.
What mindset shifts does your audience need to have before they can get the best results possible? Make it your sole mission to give away those mindset shifts for free, for anyone who will put in the work and make it happen.
Disrupting is the best way to get results, but it’s also one of the easiest ways to be remembered. Mindset shifts carve new neural pathways in the brains of your audience, if they have the chance to sink in. That means you’ll be more top of mind than the content creator who just tells them to travel the same paths they trek through every day.
One way I like to shift my own mind in that direction is to call CTAs (an acronym for calls to action) “changing thoughts and actions.” Because when your people convert, it means they’re taking a step to change their thoughts or change their actions to align with the result they’re hoping to get. If you think of it that way, that button copy holds a lot more weight.
3. Trust is built in the follow-through.
It’s happened to the best of us. We go on a pinning spree when Thanksgiving is coming up, and we pin everything in sight. BUT, when it comes down to making that perfectly-delectable black-bottom pecan pie, you go to click on the recipe, and it takes you to a PECAN WEBSITE, no pie recipe in sight.
I mean, can a millennial BE any more disappointed?
The same can be true of your website copy. Do you promise you can get someone results, and you’ll be their guide, but then give them a million different things to choose from as their next step? Well, rude.
Do you say “click through to get this guide for FREE” and then you sell to them in the very first email? Or, WORSE, the free download email doesn’t come through?
Trust is built through a series of micro-actions, and if the first impression someone has of you as a business is disappointment, that’s a customer, client, and fan forever lost. Be sure that you’re doing your job of providing value in simply following through on your promises, and being who you promise to be for your audience.
4. Brand Voice is the new Professional Tone.
You guys. It’s time we stop worrying about “sounding professional,” and start paying attention to the little things.
We talked about it a couple weeks ago, too.
It shows attention to detail, and crazy-creativity when each little bit of copy has consistent personality and flare.
Do the work of finding your brand voice in the beginning, and then follow-through with that throughout every piece of copy on your website.
If you get stuck, go back and read this post about when to be clear and when to be clever.
5. Notice your known-for’s, then use them consistently.
Again, notice the use of the word “notice” here.
I didn’t say make up what you want to be known for. Don’t manufacture a love for tacos just because it’s mucho trendy right now. Don’t tell people you love a simplified planner when you haven’t even filled it out and you just want the affiliate kickback. As a personal brand, it’s your job to notice the little things that make you you (or ask me to do it for you!).
Pro Tip: Even though The Promptlates are geared toward a specific page of copy, rumor has it, you can REPURPOSE the information from the prompts like CRAZY. So… under-$100-to-get-your-copy-done just turned into the confidence and brainstorming power to also write captions, email newsletters, and that letter to your boss to quit your job because you found your calling. (Oops, maybe too far.)
6. Your perceived limitation might actually be your greatest strength.
Part of the struggle that comes with digging for your brand voice, unique value in the market, all that jazz, is that we tend to only look for the good things.
Spoiler Alert: You can’t be trusted to name all the good things about yourself.
Even so, there is treasure hiding behind your struggles and what you name to be your limitations.
Example #1: The Legal Paige
My friend Paige is a lawyer (cool) and a photographer (double cool). Murphy’s law, or the high-traffic pins on Pinterest would all have something to say about Paige’s business.
You should niche down, girl.
Yeah, pick a lane! You can’t do both.
And Paige has basically said, “Oh yeah? Watch me.”
You see, the magic behind Paige’s multi-six-figure business is that she is a lawyer for creatives, and she KNOWS the creative industry. The fact that she keeps one foot in photography and one in the law means that she’ll never become irrelevant to the industry she’s aiming to serve.
It’s genius
(Side note: Paige is also a master at nicheing. She just very intentionally decided not to choose between her two passions.)
Example #2: Shannan Monson
I’m getting a little breathy as I type this. Shannan Monson is my spirit animal–she’s a human, but you get it. Shannan started out in the nutrition world, and she is constantly telling stories about how she had to struggle to make it. But, her struggles are SO relatable, you guys. She talks about everything from getting her husband on board with her business, to how she spends intentional time with her kids, to how she learned to run her business 100% through University of Google.
In the moment? All those things felt like limitations to her. But now? She maximizes those experiences to be LITERALLY her greatest asset.
P.S. It feels like University of Google should actually be a thing. I’ll take royalties on that one, Google. Thanks.
Example #3: Me!
Are we bordering on too much Elle Woods in one post? Not sorry.
Confession: I’ve labeled myself as “not-a-good-enough-copywriter” because I don’t have any past corporate experience.
My background: teaching high school, reading literature, writing about literature, sports, coffee dates.
One of the hardest obstacles I’ve had to overcome in this business is learning to see my background as something that will set me apart, something that makes my business the best it can be.
(The reality is, I got a PhD in hard knocks! Just kidding.)
But, my experience was in the psychology behind learning and making ideas stick. It was in helping kids use words as a tool to be seen and heard.
Now, I’m so glad that I studied neurology and psychological theories, and that I tested them through action in the classroom.
I learned the power words can have on a life as I sat on the floor of a classroom, piecing together a story my student never had the courage to tell until she blubbered it out to me in that moment.
Is my lack of corporate experience a weakness? Not in the least. Does it mean I need to learn a lot, still? Uh, duh. But, flipping that switch in my mind has made the biggest difference for the value and voice I bring to my audience every day.
Don’t let the quest to blend value and voice stress you out, okay?
I hope this post shows you that if you focus on who’s in front of you, and focus on giving from right where you stand, it will go a long way in consistently attracting the right people to your brand + business (and making sure they stick around).
If you’ve been struggling to get copy that connects and converts UP on your site already, head to The Promptlate Shop, PRONTO.
(also see: if you’ve ever been EMBARRASSED to send someone to your website.
I can’t wait to see all of the transformations and ah-ha’s that are happening for so many of you when you nail down your message. This is just the beginning!
I’m Jess,
iced-coffee-obsessed, saved-by-grace, allergic-to-small talk, and one of the biggest dreamers you’ll ever meet.
It’s the very first solution of its kind to help you take #alltheideas inside your head and turn them into website copy that connects, converts, and doesn’t sound like literally everyone else’s.
Think your copy needs a makeover? Then, it probably does.
You’ve gotta capture, connect, and convert—FAST. No big deal, right?
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