Lauren Jefferson

Lauren Jefferson is the Co-Founder and CEO of FocusCopy – a full-service copywriting agency. She loves everything copy, digital marketing, and coffee!

Handling Objections In Copy

The Key To Handling Objections In Copy

You watch them scroll through your sales page, nodding along. The email opens are there. Heck, they even click through on those same emails. They’re clearly interested – maybe even excited about what you’re offering.

Then…silence.

No purchase. No follow-up. They’ve vanished into the digital void, leaving you wondering what went wrong.

Here’s what actually happened…

While your prospect was reading, a quiet voice in their head was building a case against buying. 

“This sounds too good to be true.” 

“I bet there’s a catch.” 

“I don’t have time for this right now.” 

“What if it doesn’t work for me?”

These invisible objections are the silent assassins of conversion. They lurk beneath every headline, hide behind every benefit statement, and whisper doubt into every buying decision.

The businesses that consistently convert understand this fundamental truth:

Your prospect isn’t just evaluating your offer – they’re simultaneously building a defense against it. 

Copy that wins doesn’t just present benefits; it dismantles objections before they can take root.

Most businesses lose sales in the space between interest and action. But when you master the art of objection-handling in your copy, you transform that dangerous gap into your competitive advantage.

Ready to stop losing prospects to their own doubts? Let’s dive into the psychology behind objections and the proven strategies that turn resistance into revenue.

Transform your marketing from overwhelming to energizing

Let’s chat about how the right copy strategy can give you back your time and confidence.

The Psychology Behind Client Objections

Your prospect is sitting with their morning coffee, scrolling through your sales page. On the surface, they seem engaged – maybe even nodding along. But underneath that calm exterior, their brain is working overtime, running a constant risk assessment.

It’s not personal. It’s simply human nature.

Our minds are beautifully designed to protect us from making mistakes. Every time we encounter something new, our brain automatically starts asking protective questions.

What’s the catch?

Will this actually work?

Can I trust this person?

Think of objections as your prospect’s internal security system. Just like a good friend who questions whether that “too good to be true” investment opportunity is actually legitimate, your prospect’s objections are trying to keep them safe.

The most successful entrepreneurs understand this isn’t a barrier to overcome – it’s a conversation to join. When you acknowledge these natural concerns with warmth and understanding, something beautiful happens: resistance transforms into trust.

5 Universal Objections Every Business Faces

After years of working with service providers and agency owners, we’ve discovered that virtually every objection falls into one of five categories. Think of these as the “usual suspects” that show up in your prospect’s mind.

Remember, each of these objections is actually a sign of interest. A completely uninterested prospect doesn’t bother forming objections; they simply move on. When someone is mentally working through concerns, they’re already imagining a scenario where they might say yes.

1. Credibility Gap

When you do not build the trust needed to progress a buying relationship forward, the client has this thought running through their head:

I don’t trust you

“I don’t trust you yet” sits at the heart of most hesitation. Your prospect doesn’t know you personally, and in a world full of empty promises, they’re naturally cautious. This isn’t about you – it’s about their past experiences with disappointment.

What can you do to fix this? Add your KLT Factors into the chat. KLT stands for Know, Like, Trust. These factors are what validate your experience and scream to your prospect that you’re a good bet.  

One of our clients, Zero-G, faces this very objection…Why should they be trusted to get me into a zero gravity environment without going to space? Well, when you look at who trusts them, you get the picture.

2. Relevance Challenge

Is your offer a nice-to-have or a must-have? Regardless, you need to address the elephant in the room: relevance.

“I’m not sure I really need this” often surfaces when the problem you solve feels abstract or when your prospect has gotten used to workaround solutions. They’ve been managing without you this long, so why change now?

You need to prove to them that they cannot operate a day longer without your solution. Tell them what they are going to miss out if they don’t take you up on your offer. 

3. Value Perception Problem

When it comes to being a service provider, pricing is pretty arbitrary. Two service providers could offer the same exact service at two totally different price points. So how does the provider sell their service for the higher price point? They have communicated and convinced the prospect of its value. 

“I can’t justify the investment” rarely means they don’t have the money. More often, it means they can’t see how the value exceeds the cost, or they’re worried about making the wrong financial decision.

When it comes to this objection, there are 2 things you can do:

  • Show the ROI. What will they get in return? Is it emotional – increased confidence? Is it financial – 10x return? Is it tangible – lose 10 pounds in 4 weeks? 
  • Communicate the opportunity costs. What do they get if they do not invest?

4. Priority Placement Issue

In marketing, you are constantly competing for your prospect’s attention. But if you do not place enough emphasis on the solution and outcome, they may see your offers as a nice-to-have. 

“I don’t have time for this right now” is usually code for “this doesn’t feel urgent enough.” When everything feels like a priority, nothing actually is.

Get your prospect to see that your buying offer is the most important decision they need to make to reach their goals – whatever that goal is. 

For example, one of our clients, WiseOwl, faced a variety of challenges and objections given the problem they were tackling – school districts not being able to navigate the book ban conversation. So we flipped the script in their copy strategy. We positioned them as a technology provider that puts the parent in the driver’s seat when it comes to their child’s school reading. Regardless of where the parent sits on this topic, they feel empowered to take charge. All without taking up valuable time in school board meetings. 

5. Capability Assumption

As a copywriting strategist, we’ve been tackling this objection head-on over the last couple of years as AI has really taken the world by storm. We hear prospects say that they can plug something into ChatGPT every single week. Really, this response is the DIY objection. 

“I could probably figure this out myself” is where your prospect recognizes they have a problem but believes they can solve it without help – even when that belief costs them time, energy, and results.

The Fatal Mistake: Ignoring vs. Addressing Objections

There’s a tempting approach that many well-meaning entrepreneurs take…They ignore objections altogether, hoping that if they just focus on benefits and enthusiasm, objections will simply disappear.

It’s like trying to have a dinner conversation while pretending the elephant in the room doesn’t exist. Everyone knows it’s there, but no one wants to acknowledge it.

When your copy doesn’t address objections, your prospect is left to wrestle with their concerns alone. And here’s the thing about our minds…When left to fill in blanks, we rarely fill them with optimistic scenarios. We tend to assume the worst.

At FocusCopy, we love to use the objections to steer our copy generation. Sure, we can talk about all our results, processes, and expertise. But that’s ignoring an entire conversation going on. 

“This sounds great, but what if they don’t understand my industry? What if their process doesn’t align with my timeline? What if my clients don’t like the style?”

Without addressing these concerns, your beautiful copy becomes background noise to your prospect’s internal debate. They click away, not because they weren’t interested, but because their questions went unanswered.

For example, DigitalMarketer released an entirely new model based around AI. At first, I thought…”Oh no! Not yet another company building their business around AI.” But see how they addressed that very thought:

The businesses that consistently win understand this truth: unaddressed objections don’t disappear – they multiply.

The 3-Layer Objection Handling Framework

The most effective copy doesn’t just handle objections – it prevents them from taking root in the first place. Think of this as your three-layer approach to creating objection-resistant copy.

1.  Prevention Through Clarity 

The best objections are the ones that never form. This happens when your copy is so clear, specific, and transparent that there’s no room for confusion. Instead of saying “We help businesses grow,” you might say “We write email sequences that turn your existing subscribers into paying clients within 30 days.”

When your prospect knows exactly what to expect, when to expect it, and how it will happen, their mind has fewer blanks to fill with worry.

2. Direct Address With Compassion 

Sometimes, despite your best prevention efforts, certain objections are inevitable. The magic happens when you address them head-on with understanding and empathy.

“You might be wondering if this approach will work for your specific industry. That’s a smart question – we’d wonder the same thing. Here’s how we’ve helped businesses just like yours…”

Notice the warmth in that approach? You’re not being defensive or dismissive. You’re joining their thought process and gently guiding them toward confidence.

3. Social Proof That Speaks 

The most powerful objection-handling often comes from letting others do the talking. When a past client shares how they overcame the exact same concern your prospect is having, it carries more weight than any promise you could make.

“I was worried about the time investment,” shares Jennifer, a marketing consultant from Austin. “But the templates and systems they provided actually saved me 10 hours a week. I got my time back AND better results.”

Advanced Techniques for Objection-Proof Copy

Want to write objection-proof copy? Try these strategies. 

The Assumption Reversal. Instead of waiting for objections to surface, assume they’re already there and address them proactively. “You’re probably thinking this sounds too complicated for your current workload. Actually, it’s designed to simplify what you’re already doing.”

The Specific Solution. Vague objections require specific responses. If the concern is “What if it doesn’t work for me?” provide concrete examples of exactly how it has worked for people in similar situations.

The Timeline Reality Check. Many objections stem from unrealistic expectations about timing. Be honest about what happens when, and your prospect will trust you more, not less. “You won’t see results overnight – most clients start seeing improvements in week 3.”

The Investment Reframe. When cost is a concern, help your prospect see the investment in context. “The average client recoups this investment within their first month through improved conversion rates.”

Testing & Measuring Objection-Handling Effectiveness

The beautiful thing about addressing objections effectively is that the results are measurable. When you’re handling objections well, you’ll notice:

  • Longer time spent on your sales pages (people read more when their concerns are being addressed)
  • Higher email open and click-through rates (your audience trusts your content more)
  • Better quality conversations with prospects (they come to calls already mostly convinced)
  • Shorter sales cycles (fewer back-and-forth emails about concerns)
  • Higher conversion rates across all your marketing efforts

Pay attention to where people drop off in your sales process. Those exit points often reveal unaddressed objections that are silently killing conversions.

Your Next Step Toward Objection-Proof Copy

Every day you wait to address the objections in your copy is another day of lost opportunities. But here’s what fills us with hope: you don’t have to figure this out alone.

At FocusCopy, we’ve spent years perfecting the art of objection-handling in copy. We’ve seen how addressing concerns with warmth and understanding transforms both conversion rates and customer relationships.

We know you have questions right now. 

Maybe you’re wondering if this approach will work for your specific industry. 

Perhaps you’re concerned about the time investment or whether your current copy can be salvaged.

Those are exactly the kinds of concerns we love addressing in our strategy sessions.

Ready to transform your copy from objection-heavy to conversion-ready?

Let’s grab a virtual coffee and identify the hidden objections that might be quietly sabotaging your sales. We’ll show you exactly how to address them with the same warmth and clarity that builds lasting client relationships.

Your voice deserves to be heard without the interference of unaddressed doubts. Let’s make sure it comes through loud, clear, and irresistibly compelling. Because your prospects’ objections shouldn’t be stronger than your solutions.

How To Convey Professionalism & Trustworthiness Through Your Website Copy

Picture this…A potential client lands on your website at 11pm on a Tuesday night. They’re exhausted, scrolling on their phone, desperately searching for someone who can solve their problem. In those precious few seconds before they hit the back button, your website copy has 1 job: to make them feel like they’ve found exactly what they’ve been looking for.

Your words are working around the clock, even when you’re not. 

They’re having conversations with visitors, building relationships, and establishing trust before you ever hop on a discovery call. 

The question is: are they saying the right things?

As a Copy Strategist, I’ve seen too many brilliant service providers struggle with this exact challenge. You know your stuff inside and out, but when it comes to translating that expertise into compelling website copy that builds trust and fills your pipeline, it feels like you’re speaking a foreign language.

Ready for copy that energizes instead of exhausts?

The Priority: Authenticity Over Perfection

Here’s the beautiful truth about professional website copy – it doesn’t need to sound like a corporate robot wrote it. In fact, the most trustworthy websites feel refreshingly human. Your visitors aren’t looking for perfection; they’re looking for connection.

Think about the service providers you trust most…They’re the ones who speak your language, understand your challenges, and make you feel seen. Your website copy should do exactly the same thing. When you write with genuine warmth and understanding, professionalism naturally follows.

But here’s where most entrepreneurs get stuck…

You’re so close to your own business that it’s nearly impossible to see what your ideal clients actually need to hear. You’re drowning in industry knowledge while they’re looking for simple, clear solutions to their pressing problems.

So how do you get unstuck?

Speak Their Language (Not Yours)

One of the fastest ways to build trust is to demonstrate that you truly understand your audience’s world. This means stepping out of industry jargon and into the language your clients actually use when they’re lying awake at 2am worrying about their problems.

Instead of saying “We provide comprehensive solutions for operational efficiency optimization,” try “Get your time back so you can focus on what you love about your business.” The second version immediately connects with that service provider who’s drowning in tasks and desperately needs breathing room.

When your copy reflects how your clients actually think and talk about their challenges, they feel an instant sense of relief. Finally, someone gets it. That’s the moment trust begins to bloom.

This is where strategic copywriting becomes essential. It’s not just about sounding professional – it’s about creating copy that works strategically to move people through your entire customer journey with confidence and clarity.

Show, Don’t Just Tell

Anyone can claim to be professional and trustworthy. The websites that actually convey these qualities do something different. They demonstrate their expertise through helpful, specific insights rather than empty promises.

Consider sharing a brief story about a challenge you helped a client overcome, complete with the specific steps you took and the results they achieved. Or offer a genuinely useful tip that visitors can implement immediately, even if they never hire you. This approach accomplishes 2 things: 

  1. It proves you know what you’re talking about.
  2. It also shows you’re generous with your knowledge.

When you lead with value instead of sales pitches, visitors naturally begin to trust your expertise. They start thinking, “If they’re sharing this much helpful information for free, imagine what they could do if I hired them.

The Power Of Vulnerability

Professional doesn’t mean perfect, and the most trustworthy businesses aren’t afraid to show their human side. Sharing appropriate challenges you’ve overcome or lessons you’ve learned can actually strengthen your credibility rather than weaken it.

Maybe you started your business because you experienced the same frustration your clients face. Perhaps you learned an important lesson from a project that didn’t go as planned. These authentic moments create connection and demonstrate that you understand your client’s perspective because you’ve been there too.

The key is balancing vulnerability with confidence. You’re sharing these experiences not to diminish your expertise, but to show that your solutions come from real understanding, not theoretical knowledge.

Clear Communication = Instant Credibility

Nothing undermines professionalism faster than confusing copy. When visitors can’t quickly understand what you do, how you help, or what makes you different, they’ll assume you don’t know either. This is true for overly professional, buttoned-up copy and excessively flowery copy with no business backbone.

Professional website copy is crystal clear about 3 essential elements: 

  1. What you do
  2. Who you serve
  3. The results you deliver

Your home page should reflect these touchpoints within the first few seconds of someone landing on your site – especially since the average website visitor spends less than a minute on a single page.

Use simple, conversational language that your ideal client would use in a coffee shop conversation. If your copy requires a dictionary or industry knowledge to understand, you’re making it too hard for people to say YES to working with you.

Include Social Proof That Actually Matters

Testimonials and case studies are effective trust-builders, but only when they feel genuine and specific. Generic praise like “Great service!” doesn’t carry much weight. However, a detailed story about how you helped someone overcome a specific challenge and achieve a particular result creates powerful credibility.

The most effective social proof focuses on transformation rather than just satisfaction. Instead of highlighting how happy clients were with your process, emphasize the concrete improvements in their business or life. 

Did you help them reclaim 10 hours per week? 

Increase their revenue by 30%? 

Empower them to finally feel confident about their marketing?

These specific outcomes help potential clients envision their own transformation, making your services feel less like an expense and more like an investment in their future success.

The Trust-Building Details

Small details often make the biggest difference in perceived professionalism. Simple elements like… 

  • A clear contact page
  • Professional headshots
  • Consistent formatting,
  • Error-free writing 

…all signal that you pay attention to quality in everything you do.

Your “About” page deserves special attention because it’s often the second page visitors check after your home page. This is where you can share your story in a way that builds both credibility and connection. Focus on why you do what you do, not just what you do or how long you’ve been doing it.

Infuse Consistency Across Every Touchpoint

Professionalism isn’t just about individual pages – it’s about creating a cohesive experience throughout your entire website. Your voice, tone, and messaging should feel consistent whether someone is reading your home page, blog posts, or service pages.

This consistency extends beyond just words. 

Your visual design, navigation structure, and user experience all contribute to the overall impression of professionalism. When everything works together harmoniously, visitors feel more confident about your ability to deliver quality results.

P.S. Start building consistency into your brand by nailing down the fundamentals.

The Long Game Of Trust

Building trust through website copy isn’t about tricks or hacks – it’s about consistently showing up as someone worth trusting. This means being honest about what you can and can’t do, setting realistic expectations, and always prioritizing your audience’s needs over your desire to make a sale.

Remember, every visitor to your website is a real person with real challenges, hopes, and concerns. When your copy acknowledges their humanity and speaks to their deepest needs, professionalism and trustworthiness become natural byproducts of genuine care and expertise.

Your website copy is more than marketing material – it’s the beginning of every relationship with your future clients. Make those first impressions count by showing up authentically, helpfully, and consistently. The trust you build through thoughtful, professional copy will become the foundation for lasting client relationships and a thriving business.

The best part? 

When you get this right, your website becomes your most reliable team member, building trust and nurturing relationships even while you sleep. Now that’s the kind of professionalism that truly pays off.

Ready to Transform Your Website Copy Strategy?

If you’re tired of website copy that doesn’t reflect your expertise or convert visitors into clients, you don’t have to figure this out alone. Strategic copywriting removes the overwhelm and empowers you to show up with confidence while consistently filling your pipeline.

Let’s schedule a discovery call to explore how we can overhaul your copy strategy and create website copy that builds trust, showcases your professionalism, and turns visitors into clients. Because you deserve copy that works as hard as you do.Step into the strategy café with a Discovery Call – we’ll guide the way.

How To Use A Marketing Filter To Simplify Your Strategy

How To Use A Marketing Filter To Simplify Your Strategy

Want to cut through marketing chaos? 

More than half of small business owners feel the same. 

In fact, most small business owners aren’t 100% sure their current marketing strategy is working. And it makes sense with countless platforms to choose from to promote who you are and what you do best. 

But if marketing anxiety and stress have you chewing your nails and pulling your hair out, it’s time to use a marketing filter strategy for your business (and your sanity). 

Marketing should move your business forward, not drain your time, budget, and mental clarity. From social media and email campaigns to SEO, PPC, and influencer marketing, it’s easy to get overwhelmed – and even easier to waste resources on strategies that don’t align with your goals.

Your marketing should be intentional and align with your goals – not those of your competitors or what’s trending. This is why we’re breaking down how to filter through the noise, focus on what matters, and choose the marketing activities that actually support your business objectives. 

Get ready to simplify your decision-making and get more done with less guesswork.

Why A Marketing Filter Strategy Precedes Execution

Whether you’re aiming to generate more leads, increase conversions, or build long-term brand equity, it all starts with picking the right path forward. And one of the most common marketing missteps business owners make is jumping into SEO, social media, or paid ads simply because “everyone else is doing it.” 

Did you know that small and mid-sized businesses spend 7 times more on pay-per-click (PPC) advertising than on SEO? This is often due to competitive pressures, which can lead to unsustainable marketing expenses.

It’s tempting to look at what your competitors are up to and assume you should follow suit. But without a clear marketing filter strategy tied to your business goals, you risk spinning your wheels. Marketing activities should serve your objectives – not distract from them.

So before you dive into marketing execution, ask yourself:

Are we trying to increase revenue?

Do we need to launch a new product or service?

Are we entering a new market?

Should we build or expand brand awareness?

Each of these goals requires a different approach and different tactics to match. 

For example, if your top priority is revenue growth, your marketing filter strategy should center on lead generation, nurturing, and conversion. That means focusing on measurable activities that drive qualified traffic and sales – not simply increasing likes or impressions on social media.

By grounding your marketing in your specific business goals, you create a filter that helps you eliminate distractions and prioritize what truly matters.

Ready for copy that energizes instead of exhausts?

Your Target Audience Is The Cornerstone Of Marketing Mastery

It doesn’t matter how polished your marketing is – if you’re speaking to the wrong audience, it won’t land.

Before you pick any marketing activity, you need a crystal-clear picture of who you’re trying to reach. That means defining your ideal customer profile including demographics:

  • Age
  • Location
  • Industry
  • Job title
  • Company size

And more importantly, their psychographics:

  • Motivations
  • Pain points
  • Buying behaviors
  • Goals
  • Values

Understand both and you’ll be able to walk through their customer journey with ease. You can explore them yourself by asking questions like…

Where do they spend their time online?

What kind of content do they engage with?

What messages resonate with their challenges or goals?

Achieving this kind of clarity ensures you can create the right message at the right time to reach your goals. Because when you choose marketing channels that your audience doesn’t use – or content formats they don’t engage with – you’re not just missing the mark. You’re also wasting your budget.

Pro Tip: Talk to your customers moving forward to get this information directly from the source. A few simple interviews or a review of your website and social media analytics can uncover exactly what your audience is responding to. Data beats guesswork every time.

Audit What’s Already Working

Before launching new initiatives, mine the gold in your existing data. Every marketing decision should begin with a comprehensive audit of your current performance metrics. Identify exactly:

  • What’s driving traffic to your website
  • Which channels generate qualified leads
  • Which activities consistently convert prospects into customers

This forensic approach reveals patterns that generic marketing advice simply cannot. When you discover that LinkedIn outperforms Facebook by 300% for your B2B services or that email sequences convert at twice the rate of your paid ads, the path forward becomes clear: double down on winners and ruthlessly cut underperformers.

Tools that transform guesswork into strategic certainty include:

  • Google Analytics tracks website traffic, user behavior, and conversions to help assess marketing performance
  • CRM (Customer Relationship Management) reports provide insights into customer interactions, sales activity, and lead progress
  • UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) analyzes tagged links to measure the effectiveness of specific campaigns and traffic sources

These aren’t just reports. They’re roadmaps to your next marketing victory. Remember, the most successful businesses aren’t those with the biggest budgets, but those who systematically reinvest in proven channels while competitors chase marketing trends that may never deliver returns. Because even with a viral video or blog post, you still must be equipped with the tools to maintain your marketing and your presence to keep the momentum going.

Align Marketing Activities With Your Buyer’s Journey

Strategic marketing isn’t about isolated tactics – it’s about creating seamless pathways to purchase. Every prospect moves through distinct psychological stages before converting. This means your marketing activities must be precisely calibrated to each phase with their thought process at top of mind. For example, consider 3 vital customer mindsets and how each aligned marketing activity is tailored to FocusCopy:

1. Awareness Stage

  • Content Marketing: Trend-based blog posts address marketing pain points while positioning us as a trusted expert.
  • Social Media: Educational LinkedIn posts and newsletters (like Copy Cortado) share key industry data with branded visuals that build credibility.
  • SEO: SEO-optimized blog posts target high-volume search phrases to offer practical insights while positioning copywriting services as the next logical step.

2. Consideration Stage

  • Customer Testimonials: Client success stories highlight tangible results and show how we drive growth.
  • Email Nurturing: Automated email sequences guide prospects from challenge to solution with practical advice that fits their budget.
  • Live Webinars & Workshops: By remaining involved and present in our community, we’re better able to answer common questions about processes and digital marketing to build trust.

3. Decision Stage

  • 1:1 Discovery Calls: Personalized conversations allow us to become a strategic branding and copywriting partner while uncovering business owners’ real needs.
  • Copy Systems: Flexible frameworks give business owners a jumpstart with no added pressure – simply practical support to simplify their marketing.
  • Copy Roast: These free copywriting tips and insights allow business owners to step out of the sales spotlight while keeping them connected to copywriting services – if they ever need them.

Each marketing activity should intentionally move prospects to the next stage – creating not just visibility, but a methodical journey toward becoming a loyal customer.

Focus On Less To Get More Out Of Your Marketing

ROI isn’t just about money in versus money out. It’s also about how much time, energy, and team capacity you’re spending to get those results. Before you start a new marketing effort, ask:

  • What return are we expecting and when?
  • Do we have the time, tools, and team to do this well?
  • Will this move us closer to our goals or just keep us busy?

The best strategies start small with one or 2 core activities done really well. Once they’re working, then you scale. That’s how smart businesses build momentum while others stay stuck.

Less isn’t lazy. It’s focused. And focus wins.

Build A Simple, Prioritized Marketing Plan With Your New Marketing Filter Strategy

Strategic marketing balances ambition with logical action. Rather than overwhelming your team with overly complex initiatives, develop a streamlined prioritization approach that still has an impact while acknowledging real-world constraints.

Create a visual scorecard that evaluates potential activities based on:

  • Anticipated impact versus required effort
  • Short-term versus long-term value
  • Current team capabilities and resources

This way, you naturally surface the high-value, low-resource activities that should form your core focus, becoming your new strategic sweet spot. Then, structure your plan in progressive quarters to prevent the common trap of simultaneous implementation – where nothing receives enough focus and attention to produce results. 

Instead, each initiative builds upon previous successes, creating a marketing ecosystem where each element reinforces the others to drive growth.

Stay Focused & Stay Flexible

Marketing success isn’t about doing everything – it’s about doing the right things with consistency. You must be willing to test, measure, and pivot based on what’s working. When you stay grounded in your goals and open to change, real progress follows.Feel like your marketing’s all noise and no traction? Let’s stir up a marketing filter strategy to fix that. Schedule a Discovery Call to get started.

The Subtle Shift That Changes Everything In Service-Based Sales

Most service-based business owners think their sales problem is about price objections, ghosting leads, or not following up.

But the real issue? They’re selling the wrong thing – or at least, they’re positioning it that way.

After working with companies of all sizes – from startups to multi-generational companies – I’ve learned one key thing. Salespeople (oftentimes the business owners themselves) all face exactly the same issues selling services. And it’s probably not what you think.

In sales, we see people try all sorts of games (or “strategies”) to boost service sales…

  • SPIF’s (Sales Performance Incentive Fund) to pay immediate extra bonuses for selling something
  • Solution selling
  • SPIN (Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need-Payoff) selling
  • Services credits
  • Service-first
  • Sell service, then product

…And plenty of other versions of these “strategies”.

They may all be designed to boost sales in the short term, but, they somehow fail, fail again, and then fail one more time. Which leaves you wondering whether you’re even using the right strategy in the first place.

But here’s the thing…We see organizations spend huge amounts of money on conferences, trade shows, giveaways, and promotions every year to sell their high-end services thinking they’ll see a huge return on their investment.

In the long term, most of these efforts turn out to cost far more than the business they generate afterward. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Are you ready to transform your mindset and grow into a much savvier one?

When Selling Services, You’re Probably Looking At The Wrong Thing

Management and executives typically begin to wonder why expenses keep increasing while sales are not. They look at their cost of goods sold (COGS) and decide their sales team is ineffective. So they either throw another service at them to sell or they lay them off. 

But this doesn’t help either because you end up back where you were at the beginning of the sales cycle – with a new team who isn’t familiar with your process or offer.

And this continues, year after year until someone in senior management brings up the difficulties of selling to prospective clients without any tangible solutions to move forward.

So they quit their services business.

And who does this affect? 

Customers and the people who are let go are certainly affected. And while the company is still okay because they have products to sell, everyone ends up on the side of uncertainty about what to do now and how to move forward. 

It’s deflating and can be damaging for everyone involved. 

A perfect solution may not exist, but there are steps you can take to avoid falling into this cycle, again and again. 

The Solution: Focus On The Person

So what are these companies missing? 

It can’t be sales skills because they still sell products like hot-cakes. 

It must be something else. And fortunately for you, we have the answer. 

They forgot their customers are people. They aren’t just a number and a company name in a sales forecast. They have feelings, beliefs, and real pain points. 

And if you want to be successful in your sales efforts, you need to get back to the basics – starting with these 4 strategies. 

1. Ask the Right Question(s)

You may ask yourself…“Why aren’t we selling our services? And what’s wrong?”

Notice anything strange about that statement?

Surely, the question should have been “Why aren’t our customers BUYING services? What’s wrong?”

Notice the difference?

A simple word change makes all the difference. 

And when you reframe the question as “ Would it make sense to talk through how this could look in your business?”, you find that you’re focused on the person making the decision. 

Now, we can start solving the sales issue.

Let’s figure this out and explore how you can change your sales focus from selling to the customer to enabling the customer to buy from you by starting with one fundamental truth.

Customers don’t like to be sold to. They prefer to buy from. 

And those customers prefer to buy from the people and businesses they know, like, and trust.

2. Deploy Sales Tactics That Let Customers Come To Them

For now, let’s focus on solving the “customers don’t like to be sold to; they prefer to buy from” challenge.

When we sell, most sales people walk into the meeting with a preconceived idea of what they want to pitch to the customer based on an email, phone call, or short discussion. And those conversations usually look like this…

Sales: “Based on our last contact, I think we have just what you are looking for. Because we offer feature, feature, feature, and more of our own features. I know you have blah, but our services will [rehash features]. Oh, and we also offer additional services or a set of more products too.”

Customer: “That may be right for us, but we’re not quite sure. Send me a quote. Bye.”

Successful? 

Hardly. 

Yet, we see sales people all over the world try to sell services exactly this way.

Let’s change the tune and see how it looks. 

How about this…?

Sales: “Based on our last contact, it sounded like you are having issues with [specific challenge], and that you may be looking for some kind to help to fix this issue and make your life easier. Is that correct, or did I misinterpret what you said? I just want to make sure we are talking about the same thing, and I’m not wasting your time.”

See the difference?

The salesperson now gives the customer a chance to unload their issues, giving them further insight to their:

  • Priorities
  • Challenges
  • Solutions tried
  • Future expectations

And even if your salesforce has these notes already, it gives them a chance to listen and connect with their potential customer on a human-to-human basis. But at least, they will know in detail what the customer is looking for and seeking to BUY.

If the customer says, “That’s not what I meant or said.” 

Simply apologize for your misunderstanding and wasting their time but also say that should they think they need your assistance later, simply reach out to you and you’ll do your best to help him. Leave them an olive branch. Then move on to the next prospect.

P.S. You can test your sales tactics in your copywriting and vice versa. Need help constructing the conversation? Let’s schedule a virtual coffee.

3. Don’t Assume & Pitch The Next Steps In The Sales Conversation 

Making assumptions in the sales process without placing the customer first can land you in hot water when it’s time to close the conversation. This usually happens when you find yourself in either of the following situations:

  • You launch into a pitch starting with…We have this service, which I think will solve your issues because it has [features list] at a budget-conscious price of $XXXk.
  • You are upfront about your level of expertise, saying that while you may not be an expert in everything you’ve discussed, you do provide something similar to another client that helped them achieve x, y, and z. 

The second option is obviously customer centric and a winner. 

You can further make your point by writing up what you’ve understood from meeting with your prospective customer to send it and confirm that you’ve genuinely captured their wants, needs, and challenges. 

While they review that, look internally for similar past projects to tie your solutions with real experiences. Doing so can help you confirm or correct the requirements to figure out what could work best for them and your team. Then, arrange for a follow-up meeting within a week or so to keep the momentum going. 

When you’re putting together conversation notes, write your ideas with clarity by: 

  • Keeping it easy to follow with bullet points
  • Don’t offer a solution yet 
  • Restate the customer’s needs early on 
  • Review and adjust for typos and grammar

Send it to the customer and ask them to confirm your understanding of the issues and requirements provided within a day or two.

When you get confirmation from your customer, talk to your sales support and ask them how they’ve solved similar issues (if you don’t already know). You need their help. Keep in mind that they likely tried to sell the solution, not persuade the customer to buy the solution. So take everything you hear with a grain of salt. 

Next, search for any whitepapers or other sales collateral used in the past. Again you may have to paraphrase it or even develop new copy to provide to your customer, if needed.

Scour the information to ensure that it meets every requirement listed in the document. If it does, great! If it doesn’t, reengage with your internal experts to find out how the missing requirements can be met. Whether it can be met or not, it may not be a deal-breaker.

4. Push Benefits, Not Features

Your selling points are not the features that you think they need, but the benefits you offer that will solve their issues and make their life easier. This doesn’t mean eliminating a feature focus entirely. You’ll want to still keep those in your back pocket.

Then think about what you want your customer to buy and what each of those offers contain. 

Ideally, you want them to buy your mid-level package, but you have a lower level one available just in case their budget turns out to be smaller than you or your customer originally states. Of course, you need a platinum offering just in case the customer loves your solution and wants more!

Now that you have your thoughts together, your packages assembled, and your sales pitch ready (when needed), it’s time to document the process and track its success.

Whenever you reach back out to your customer, arrange a follow-up (not a sales) meeting, to discuss what you’ve found that may help them.

Assuming they accept, be prepared to walk through their requirements and how you can address them while stressing at each point how your offering will help them solve their issues. Don’t worry about having a cost-heavy conversation just yet.

Once you’ve gone through the solution or several solutions, ask them whether they think you missed anything and whether they think that your solution will work for them. This puts them in the driver’s seat and makes them feel like they are in control of the situation.

RELATED: Transform Features Into Customer Benefits In 3 Simple Steps

Rethink What You’re Really Selling

Sales is driven by numbers – often impossibly short term numbers (i.e. COGS, revenue, and resource numbers they have to report every 30, 60, or 90 days). But when you’re stuck in the numbers, it’s hard to see a solution outside of that. 

Ready to shift how you sell – without the pressure, pitching, or pretending?

Let’s talk about how we can help clarify your messaging and package your offers with new copy that resonates better with your audience. 

How Marketing Can Prevent Feast Or Famine Fluctuations

Streamlining Operations: How Marketing Can Prevent Feast Or Famine Fluctuations

How do your marketing and sales teams define quality leads?

It’s a simple question that can garner a wide variety of answers. But which answer is right for your business?

Trade shows, conferences, and one-on-ones can bring plenty of business in, leading to prosperous times of “feasting”. But with everyone hyperfocused and hunkered down seeing projects through from start to finish, there isn’t typically much time built to offset the famine that could come afterward. 

Your marketing (and its consistency) can address dips in productivity – proactively. Plug your ever-changing goals into your marketing to not only prevent famine but to also help you boost conversions from your target audience to your active sales pipeline by 65%.

A Business’s Worst Enemy: Feast Or Famine

During peak season, your phones ring nonstop and the days fly by. 

But in the off-season? Crickets. 

We’ve seen it in many businesses, and it could be happening in yours if your marketing is inconsistent and unaligned with the rest of your business.

Being proactive and developing year-round marketing campaigns for your business reminds your customers of your presence while keeping them informed about your services to smooth out revenue even in “slow” months. 

However, coming to this realization isn’t where most business owners get stuck. 

Usually, a lack of systems and processes for execution is what impacts your business’s operations most. This looks like burnout, cash flow issues, and an increase in poor client experiences. And while it’s easy to chalk those problems up to sales or staffing, the real disconnect often lies in how isolated your business functions are – especially when your marketing and operations aren’t working in sync. And that looks a little something like this…

When things are going great is the time that most businesses fall behind in their marketing. And this happens for a number of reasons. You may be taking time off, revisiting your referrals, or simply focusing on other areas that need your attention.

Next comes the promise to get back on schedule when famine comes into play to avoid the same issues in the future. But it’s a reactive move that leaves your marketing inconsistent – leading to inconsistent sales and overwhelming operations. 

And the cycle continues.

Explore specific ways to build consistent marketing and create operational stability for every season your business is in before famine hits – starting with your marketing and operations.

Marketing Isn’t Just For Lead Generation – It Supports Predictable Growth

When your business’s marketing remains disconnected from the rest of your business, you create disconnects that slow growth, waste resources, and confuse customers. 

This is your sign to align your marketing and operations first and lay the groundwork for a business that runs more efficiently. 

Here’s what this looks like from the outside of your business:

Before: Marketing sets the promise for your operations to fill. If your marketing is promoting fast delivery or white-glove service, but operations can’t deliver, trust breaks and your brand suffers.

After: Your entire business is aligned with your marketing for better customer experiences. Marketing knows what operations can support (and vice versa), and your messaging is clear, more accurate, and more impactful. This diminishes or completely eliminates common phrases you might hear around the office like…

Didn’t we already create that?

Why are there two different versions of this?

I didn’t know we offered that. 

We’re targeting two completely different audiences.

Marketing is focused on brand awareness, but we need leads now.

Feel the tension?

Your marketing and sales teams may feel like two totally unique blends of people, professionals, and personalities. But teams simply work better together when they’re in sync.

If this sounds like your team members, align your marketing and operations to build a more integrated, agile business that’s primed for sustainable success.

7 Collaborative Ways To Align Your Sales & Marketing Teams

Ready to align your sales and marketing teams?

  1. At the ground level of your business, all workflows should be clearly written and accessible to everyone with well-organized documentation. This should include everything from fundamental sales processes to content production schedules. Not everyone needs full access to these documents, but all team members should at least have shared visibility.
  2. Use a shared content library to keep messaging and offers consistent across teams. Whether sharing a service-based post on social media, sending a one-pager to a prospective client, or searching for the right verbiage to use when meeting another business owner for lunch, it should all be labeled and located in your content library.
  3. In between your routine operations, both teams should meet often enough to know what’s going on with one another. Hold regular check-ins and keep communication open with weekly or bi-weekly huddles. This is an important one to keep up with as sales and marketing goals can pivot quickly and leave objectives misaligned.
  4. Sales and marketing must agree on one target audience to ensure both are speaking to the same people with the right message. This step is where many businesses feel stuck and that’s fairly normal. Whether it takes one or several meetings to nail down your audience, it’s worth doing before moving forward. 
  5. After you’ve decided on your target audience, set shared goals such as a number of qualified leads gained and conversion rates. This reminds both teams of the main objective and gives them the opportunity to show up to the next huddle with a quick progress report.
  6. Remember that progress report from before? Let sales and marketing inform each other of their progress with real data and insights. This improves transparency about certain systems while making space for all team members to contribute to tactics with a solution-focused mindset. 
  7. When marketing knows exactly what sales needs to close deals now, your campaigns can support your real-time goals. This ensures your team isn’t just creating for visibility, but driving qualified action that keeps the momentum going.

Consistency Means Systemizing Your Marketing Activities

Strategic and targeted efforts like email nurture campaigns and a search-optimized blog strategy can help you control demand – rather than being at its mercy. Here’s how that actually looks with the marketing tools you likely already have: 

  • Weekly content (blogs, emails, social) keeps your brand top of mind, nurtures leads, and reinforces your expertise. We recommend 1 blog post, 1 email, and 2–3 social posts per week.
  • Automated nurture sequences guide prospects through your sales journey with timely, relevant content. We recommend 5-7 emails delivered over 2–3 weeks per sequence, triggered by signups, downloads, or inquiries.
  • Monthly lead magnets or offers attract new leads and give warm prospects a reason to take the next step. We recommend 1 fresh offer, downloadable, or webinar per month answering your frequently asked questions or depicting a problem being solved.
  • Quarterly SEO audits and content updates keep your content discoverable and aligned with evolving search trends. We recommend reviewing and refreshing blog posts, keywords, and metadata every 3 months.
  • Consistent visibility through strategic repurposing maximizes ROI by reusing existing content across channels. We recommend repurposing 1 blog post into 3–5 content pieces monthly (social posts, emails, videos, etc.).
  • Regular performance tracking helps you know what’s working and where to optimize. We recommend reviewing metrics monthly (open rates, CTRs, traffic, conversions).

Use simple document templates or project management software to streamline reporting and share your findings with other team members. 

P.S. We use ClickUp to automate all of this…starting with our blogging schedule. And it’s cut our content production time dramatically – where we can get a whole month’s worth of blogs, newsletters, nurture campaigns, and reporting in a couple of hours. 

Take Action: Your First Step To Breaking The Cycle

There’s a lot of information here for aligning your sales and marketing to improve your growth and stability. But before diving directly into development, narrow down your needs by first asking yourself one question.

Are your current marketing efforts consistent?

Whether you’re starting from scratch or just need to tighten up a few loose ends, creating a 90-day visibility plan can help smooth out the ups and downs in your client pipeline. With a clear, consistent strategy in place, you’ll stay top of mind and attract the right clients – without scrambling during slow seasons. 

If staying consistent feels impossible with your current bandwidth, consider outsourcing your marketing (like to your trusted partners at FocusCopy) so your content keeps working for you – even when you’re focused on delivering for clients.

Consistent Messaging = Consistent Pipeline

If your sales efforts feel disconnected from your marketing, take a minute to think about whether its ebb and flow mirror your busiest and slowest seasons. Tidy up your marketing and create consistent pipelines your teams can’t wait to connect and work with.

Breaking the cycle is about embracing proactive marketing through simple, consistent actions while utilizing tools already in your kit for operational stability.

Ready to break the cycle in your business? Book a discovery call with FocusCopy.

Stretching Your Marketing Budget: How To Prioritize Efficiently

Stretching Your Marketing Budget: How To Prioritize Efficiently

Entrepreneurs are stretched, exhausted, weary, and…Motivated. 

After talking to dozens of entrepreneurs over the last couple of weeks, we’ve concluded that while we navigate a particularly challenging marketing environment, there is more energy to make it happen. 

So what are businesses facing? And why is it tying up budgets?

  • Digital Saturation. Entrepreneurs are expected to maintain a presence across 7+ platforms including social media, email, website, video, podcast, search, etc. Consumers are sifting through content volume that has blown up more than 300% from what it was in 2020. AI has also leveled the playing field for small businesses, making it more difficult to stand out. 
  • Rising Acquisition Costs. Meta advertising costs increased 43% year-over-year. Google keyword costs in competitive industries are up 27% since 2023.
  • Resource Limitations. Marketing teams are expected to handle more functions than ever before, stretching their time and expertise. 68% of marketing departments report a flat or reduced marketing budget compared to previous years. And there’s a big push for immediate ROI for all marketing investments (even when it’s impossible to do so right away).
  • Economic Pressures. Inflation, interest rates, supply chain issues, and tariffs have either reduced purchasing power of existing budgets, tightened overall business spending, or increased pricing without adjusting value – ultimately causing decision makers to stall on moving forward. 
  • Technology Adoption Costs. Businesses are expected to invest more in marketing automation tools and AI to be more competitive in the marketplace. And not every business uses the same automation tools to do so. This also grows the need to find specialized talent who can also manage the increasingly complex martech stacks.

These challenges make strategic prioritization of marketing activities and budgets more critical than ever – particularly when it comes to high-impact areas like professional copywriting that directly influence conversion rates.

Marketing ROI: What It Means For You

Ever heard (or said yourself) any of the following…?

We’ve been at this for 2 weeks. Shouldn’t we see something by now?

Our competitors seem to get faster results.

Can we accelerate these results somehow?

We expect to see results in 3 months.

We need immediate wins to continue this investment.

As the term “marketing ROI” boosts in our general vernacular, many entrepreneurs feel pressured to demonstrate immediate positive returns – or feel like we’ve failed. And that’s simply not true. 

Different marketing functions and efforts have different ROI timelines. You’ll be able to measure your ROI a lot quicker on advertising versus branding, for example. 

As you look to understand your marketing ROI, there are several things you need to do:

  • Identify the KPIs you need to measure to calculate ROI
  • Measure those KPIs consistently (and don’t be afraid to adjust the strategy if something isn’t moving in a favorable direction)
  • Analyze which efforts deliver the highest returns and the quickest returns

When you do this, you make decisions more intelligently and strategically. It also forces you to focus on what works for your business rather than evaluating what everyone else is doing (which wastes time and resources if it will never work for your business in the first place). 

30-second videos, weekly podcasts, and coffee-themed newsletters (like our own) might work to boost your business. But it also might not. So it’s important to know more about the KPIs you must focus on to make your marketing work for you – not just what seems to work for everyone else.

Why You Should Prioritize Quality Over Quantity

As we look at this concept of stretching your marketing budget, we highly encourage you to prioritize quality over quantity. 

If you start with poor quality copy (regardless of how much content you produce), you’ll end up with poor communications and reduced conversion rates. What’s worse? Your business comes off as inconsistent, unclear, or even untrustworthy. In a crowded market, that can be the difference between a lead clicking to buy now versus bouncing without a second thought.

Well-crafted copy will always outperform high-volume, low-quality content. Plus, if it’s well-crafted from the get-go, it becomes so much easier to splinter and repurpose those words.

At FocusCopy, we’ve always prided ourselves in developing highly valuable blogs like this one. We do that because it’s much easier for us to scale our marketing when we start with long-form copy. From there, we’re able to splinter and repurpose every blog into at least:

  1. 1 newsletter (are you subscribed to our Copy Roast?)
  2. 2-3 new automated emails
  3. 1 nurture email for entrepreneurs
  4. 1 nurture email for agency owners
  5. 8-10 social media posts (but usually more like 15)

As a result, we engage with leads because they see us on multiple platforms and think of us first when they need copywriting.

But when you do not prioritize producing high quality copy, there are a lot of hidden costs, including:

  • Increased revisions
  • Brand damage (or even the inability to build a brand worth remembering)
  • Lost conversions
  • Increased stress
  • Frantic decision making (because you aren’t making the sales you need to)

3 Budget-Friendly High-Impact Copywriting Priorities

On a budget? Here are 3 budget-friendly copywriting priorities to explore:

  • Website Copy. Invest in your highest-traffic pages (or even the pages you want to be your highest-traffic pages) to optimize for conversion. You can also use this investment to increase traffic, build your brand, and start new relationships. 
  • Email Marketing. You’ve built your email list, but how do you keep them engaged and nurtured so that they are more likely to buy from you? Well-written email sequences can strengthen relationships, shape thinking, and increase conversions. 
  • Conversion Copy. Launching a new offer or product? Start with the right copy for your landing page. We’ll then help you transform your landing page copy into a multitude of other marketing assets. 

At FocusCopy, we equip you with the know-how to stretch the copy as far as possible – without diminishing its quality or impact. 

How To Create Your Strategic Marketing Roadmap

How do you prioritize efficiently? 

First, you need to audit your current content assets. Going back to those metrics…What assets are not performing as well as you’d like them to? What assets could be optimized?

Then, identify gaps and opportunities in your marketing. This is usually where leads fall through the cracks or where you should be able to re-acquire existing clients. 

Finally, create an ideal timeline for a phased implementation. You do not have to do everything at the same time. And if you need help figuring out these phases, we’d be happy to walk you through that process. 

How To Maximize Your Copywriting Investment

In order to maximize your copywriting investment, you need to first find a copywriter or copywriting team that understands your vision, needs, and goals. When you find the right person, it makes everything flow from there. As you work with that copywriter, it’s crucial to:

  • Put all your cards on the table (even if you don’t think it’s relevant to the copy)
  • Be direct in your communications (tell us exactly what you like or don’t like)
  • Trust that we know what we’re doing (but also, don’t be afraid to clarify or ask questions if you want to know why we make a certain decision)

From there, gather all your marketing assets, prepare yourself to dive deep into your brand, and prioritize your time to provide timely feedback. 

The FocusCopy difference doesn’t necessarily rely on the writing itself. It’s our process that sets us apart from something you can create using generated copy or copy developed by a department outside of your marketing. Our process probes your business and its pain points. Then it analyzes who you are to ensure a maximum ROI. We don’t simply understand language – we understand how people make decisions. And what motivates them to click, call, or commit.

Ready To Stretch Your Marketing Impact?

Copy that converts isn’t accidental. It’s strategic, deliberate, and crafted with you and your business in mind to resonate with your audience at precisely the right moment.

If looking at your website copy and blogs or previous newsletters and email campaigns leaves you feeling meh, you need a well-rounded copywriting strategy to better achieve your goals.

Ready to put your words to work? Schedule a discovery call with FocusCopy to create a customized copywriting strategy that fits your budget.

Why Inconsistency Is Your Biggest Adversary

Why Inconsistency Is Your Biggest Adversary

Is your Goliath yourself and your inconsistency? 

Over the last 2 years, I’ve been on a personal mission to root out my own inconsistency…In life, in marriage, in motherhood, and in business. 

And if you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you know that I love to flip the script to a more positive light. So my focus has been on how to infuse more consistency into my life. 

And that focus has turned into a belief that consistency is a severely underrated goal. 

“Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity.” – Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee’s quote sounds simple enough, right? But what’s really essential to understand here is…

When you consistently show up in your marketing, it builds trust and momentum – whether or not it’s perfect or 100% polished. 

Mistakes happen. 

And that’s totally fine. 

The key here is to consistently (ha!) defeat your biggest enemy or adversary – inconsistency. 

What Inconsistency Indicates

Why are we calling inconsistency your biggest adversary? It’s because it indicates a whole host of other issues including: 

  • Lack of boundaries that enable clients to push you beyond what you want to do
  • Inability to make a decision and stick with it, making you appear wishy-washy
  • Misguided direction that leaves you spinning in circles and not getting anywhere meaningful (especially as it relates to your goals)

At the end of the day, inconsistency indicates that there is a sense of chaos in your life. And like you evacuate for hurricanes or take cover for tornados, people will leave or avoid you. 

3 Things That Happen To Your Business When You’re Inconsistent

It’s no secret that you’re personally affected when you’re inconsistent in your behavior or output. But you’re one person and what you do outside of your business will almost always seep into your business. So how does it impact your company?

Stress Increases For All

Overall stress increases between you, your employees, and your clients. 

Your entire team is recreating the wheel every single time because there’s no documentation. They know they are being measured on their performance. But with no rules, uncertainty (and stress) is high for everyone involved. 

Your clients don’t know what to expect from you as every time they engage with you, they have a different experience. They don’t know if they are getting what they were promised. And their confidence in you chips away. 

And finally, you’re uncertain where your leads are coming from, how to convert those leads into clients, and how to turn clients into raving fans. There is no method to the madness – only chaos. 

Trust Is Reduced Over Time

With increased stress, you often find that your employees and clients alike start to lose trust in you and in your ability to keep the business afloat and deliver on your promises. 

That lack of trust seeps into your reputation in the marketplace. Prospects start to pick up on the stink and turn to other options before you can even open your mouth. 

Remember, it’s easy to destroy your reputation. It’s also expensive and timely to rebuild it. Don’t let a lack of personal accountability dilute your offerings. 

Lower Efficiency Rates Become More Apparent

When you start to see lower efficiency or productivity rates, what you really need to read here is…Lower profitability. Lower value. And an unlikely chance of long-term survival. 

It’s an unfortunate event, but it’s a reality you need to be aware of. 

Before I made a concerted effort to be more consistent, I dealt with:

  • Major feast or famine cycles
  • Chasing and putting out client fires
  • Stressing about making payroll
  • Forgetting what rules, concessions, or agreements I made
  • Lack of consistent growth

And I don’t want that for you. 

Why Consistency Should Be Your Best Friend

Here’s your sign to make consistency your new best friend with several tools or resources to access to help you get there:

  • Implement a project management software (like ClickUp). As you implement this, create recurring tasks and automation. This will help you be more consistent. 
  • Adopt a new planner. I personally love the Full Focus Planner. This has helped me so much to be more on top of things in my business and personal life. 
  • Read Atomic Habits and FurtherFaster to learn how to stack habits and implement life principles. 

Befriend the David in the story of David and Goliath. Consistency will knock out any of the enemies coming towards you!

Infuse Consistency Into Your Brand Messaging

Now when it comes to your marketing, consistency is key to developing trust, growth, and reputation. But how do you do that if you lack documentation? You build that documentation with tried, tested, and proven tools. 

We’ve developed a process to capture your brand voice, build your brand message, and key up all your copy to resonate with your target audience. And you can find all of it inside our Fundamentals Package

If the idea of building your brand package alone doesn’t jive, you can now access it through Done-For-You, Done-With-You, and Do-It-Yourself options – designed to fit your pace and preferences. This means spending less time crossing out the days in your calendar without a direction for your messaging and more of it spent creating content that aligns with your brand, beliefs, and the systems you’ve built for ongoing success.

Need to develop your brand’s messaging in one easy-to-use package (finally)? Get it done with the Fundamentals Package.

Done-For-You vs. DIY Copywriting: Which Is Right For Your Business?

Done-For-You vs. DIY Copywriting: Which Is Right For Your Business?

With economic uncertainty, ever-changing consumer expectations, and countless automated integrations, business owners are being pulled in a multitude of directions. This leaves many entrepreneurs wondering when they’ll even have time to write and market their business.

As a service-based entrepreneur, you know that compelling copy is essential for attracting clients and growing your business. Yet one question consistently emerges: should you write your own marketing materials or hire professionals to do it for you?

This isn’t just about saving money or time – it’s about determining the right approach for your unique business needs. On one hand, DIY copywriting gives you complete control over your message and builds an in-house skill. On the other, professional copywriting services deliver expert results without consuming your limited bandwidth.

But what if there was a middle ground that combined the best of both worlds?

In this blog, we’ll explore the true costs and benefits of both DIY and Done-For-You copywriting approaches. We’ll also introduce a third option that many service-based entrepreneurs find strikes the perfect balance between quality, control, and resource management. By the end, you’ll have clarity on which copywriting solution aligns with your business stage, available resources, and growth objectives.

Let’s dive in and find the perfect copywriting approach for your service business.

The DIY Approach To Copywriting

Is your brain spinning with ideas and fingers itching to tap away on the keyboard? DIY may be the route to go. With this, you have complete control over: 

  • Your messaging
  • Opportunity to further develop your writing skills
  • Cost savings potential
  • Gaining a deeper understanding of your brand and customers 

On the flip side, there are several downsides to be aware of, including:

  • A high learning curve
  • Increased time commitment
  • Consistency issues
  • Limited external perspective

High Learning Curve

Writing words that work requires more than just running through a quick spelling and grammar check. It’s about understanding your audience, crafting a clear voice, knowing how to structure content for conversions, and aligning every word with your goals. Because of this, it takes time to master persuasive techniques, test what works, and write with both strategy and clarity.

Increased Time Commitment

Mastering the art of writing for your business takes preparation, strategy, and sheer brain power. On top of testing the words that work, you must also be able to commit to blocking off time in your schedule to get down to the writing part of it all.

Consistency Issues (Especially If You Don’t Have Systems)

Every finished piece of writing should come with clear next steps to ensure consistency across one or several platforms. Unless it’s documented and taught to your other team members, even your most valuable employee won’t know exactly what to do with your copy or how to track its progress. 

Additionally, you may find that certain messages are contradictory to your overall brand – ultimately leaving a bad taste in your target customer’s mouth. 

Limited External Perspective

Being the ultimate backbone of your business can sometimes leave your vision blurry when it comes to your messaging. This is often because business owners are too close to the details to sift through what actually matters to their customers. They focus more on how to position the brand, leaving conversions on the table.  And without the eyes of an expert to review your copy, you’re prone to making common copywriting mistakes, producing copy that:

  • Is feature-focused without highlighting the benefits for your customers
  • Uses assumed knowledge or jargon your audience simply won’t get
  • Skips what matters by not answering key questions or addressing challenges
  • Is written for you, not your ideal customers

Do you remember A&W’s Third-Pound Burger or the 1958 Ford Edsel? Neither do we. These offer launches both flopped because these companies were focused on developing a better product. But they didn’t take into account how their target audience would perceive the offer. Like many believed that a quarter-pound burger was actually bigger than a third-pound burger!

What you say matters, so take your copywriting as seriously as you do your business for the best results.

The Done-For-You Copywriting Solution

Are you a busy entrepreneur who either dislikes writing or doesn’t have the time to write? You may be a perfect candidate for done-for-you copywriting. 

With this, you access professional expertise, massive time savings, a fresh perspective on your brand, and proven techniques that you’d otherwise miss out on. To access this, there are several challenges, including:

  • Higher upfront investment
  • Finding the right copywriter (who has the right processes to capture your voice)
  • Communication of brand voice
  • Dependency concerns

To build a good partnership with a copywriter or copywriting, it’s important to communicate all your expectations – including those that you don’t think is pertinent to their work. Explore how we can support you as your copywriting partner. 

Ready for copy that energizes instead of exhausts?

The Third Option: Systematic DIY Copywriting

Ideally, if you are going to go with the DIY option, you need to do it systematically. This third option is the “best of both worlds” approach because you’re not having to reinvent and create systems from scratch. When you implement and use copywriting systems, you cultivate more consistency in your messaging, build scalability in your potential, and grow long-term value. 

With this approach, we developed Copy Systems – a membership that contains all of the systems we’ve designed to help over 150+ clients with their copy. (Plus, there’s more in the works!)

Copywriting systems should contain…

  • Brand messaging
  • Brand voice
  • Customer avatars
  • Content pillars
  • Copy frameworks

…At the very minimum. And Copy Systems not only helps you understand each of these but also how to use them throughout your marketing.

Finding Your Perfect Match

When considering writing for your business, are you also thinking about…?

  • What your competitors are doing
  • What’s trending
  • How to use the latest technologies
  • What your messaging has looked like in the past

Slow your roll because you’re likely overstressing, overthinking, and overcomplicating the entire process. Pull back from playing the constant game of comparison, and focus on yourself and where your business is currently at.

Looking at the table below, which one feels like your best fit?

DIY CopywritingDone-For-You Copywriting
Stage of BusinessStart-up and early-stage businessesEstablished businesses and businesses invested in their long-term success
TimeTime-intensiveMinimal time investment long-term
BudgetTypically affordable and low budgetDepending on who you hire and their experience, you’re looking at a higher budget
TeamSolo or young teamsSolo or teams who are don’t have copywriting expertise
PrioritizationCopywriting supports other effortsCopywriting is central to marketing efforts
Growth GoalsQuick winsSustainable systems

Still unsure where you stand or how to get started? Thankfully, we have solutions ready for you – no matter where you land. 

Transform your marketing from overwhelming to energizing

Let’s chat about how the right copy strategy can give you back your time and confidence.

Copy Systems: Your All-In-1 Wordsmith Studio

Copy Systems is a membership designed for business owners and marketers who want to build scalable and consistent messaging but struggle to do so. Like Canva for digital design and Hootsuite for social media marketing, Copy Systems for copywriting is jam-packed full of systems, tools, and resources to make copywriting for your business more effective and less time-consuming. Whether you are writing your copy yourself or relying on AI to help you write, this membership helps you achieve your goals – getting you there faster than staring at a blinking cursor on the page. 

Custom Messaging That Reflects Your Voice, Brand, & Business

Don’t want to do it yourself? We collaborate with you to craft the perfect message to reach your marketing goals. You can expect to share your heart for your business and customers, then let us do all the heavy lifting. 

We’ve worked with over 150+ clients in almost every industry, covering everything from blogs, scripts, brochures, email campaigns, and beyond. And our ability to write for them is based on the exact systems you’ll find in Copy Systems. Because in a world of AI-generated content, you deserve to have your business’s copy stand out, align with your brand, and, ultimately, make an impact on your specific goals.

Not sure where you land? Let’s pour over the details.

How Strategic Copywriting Brews Success For Service-Based Businesses

How Strategic Copywriting Brews Success For Service-Based Businesses

As business owners, we want to see our businesses grow and thrive. 

It’s what keeps us up at night, worrying about whether we’ll make payroll next month, meet our sales goals, and build a legacy for ourselves and our families. 

And those stresses are time-consuming. 

They convince you that you need to spend all hours working on your business. 

But do you have something in your business that is working for you

As a service-based business, you owe it to yourself, your offer, and your business to position it in the best light possible. And that starts with the words. Have doubts? You may not call yourself the best copywriter in the world, but you know when words resonate and when whatever you’re reading looks like a mess.

So how exactly does strategic copywriting transform a service-based business? And what type of copywriting should you invest in first? Let’s explore that together in this blog. 

Different Types Of Copywriting

You may hear “copywriting” and think it’s all the same. But in reality, you most likely underestimate the diverse arsenal of copywriting styles at your disposal, depending on your goal.

Growth copywriting focuses on expanding your audience through compelling SEO content and lead magnets that address pain points and build awareness. This is what attracts leads to get to know you and your business. A content study revealed that long content receives an average of 77.2% more backlinks than short articles. (Backlinko

Conversion copywriting, on the other hand, is laser-focused on turning prospects into clients through persuasive sales pages and email sequences that overcome objections. Remember, you cannot convert any leads if you don’t have any to start with. So it’s important to consider how many prospects you have the potential to actually convert. Personalized calls to action (CTAs) are 202% more effective and increase conversion. (Hubspot

Brand copywriting crafts your unique voice and story, helping you stand out in a crowded marketplace while building trust and recognition. While branding doesn’t have an exact conversion rate, it is not something to sleep on. 86% of B2B marketers increased brand awareness through content marketing initiatives. (Content Marketing Institute Study

Creative copywriting brings freshness and personality to your communications, making your services memorable through clever hooks and emotional resonance. Understanding these distinct approaches allows you to deploy the right copywriting strategy at each stage of your client’s journey, creating a cohesive experience that guides prospects seamlessly from discovery to loyal customer. Storytelling can boost conversions up to 30%. (BusinessDasher)

At the end of the day, you need all of this. But where do you start? 

Tired of staring at blank pages when you should be serving clients?

5 Ways Investing In Copywriting Grows Your Service-Based Business

Depending on the stage of your business, you may need to prioritize one type of copywriting over another.  The right words at the right time can transform your business trajectory—from struggling to find clients to having a waitlist of eager prospects ready to work with you.

1. Attract Your Ideal Customer To Your Business

Wish you could have qualified leads lining up at your door? Don’t we all! Fortunately, strategic growth copywriting can make this a reality by producing the right words to generate the exact leads you want.

For example, a business coach who previously used generic messaging like “I help businesses grow” transformed their homepage headline to “I help service-based entrepreneurs escape the 60-hour workweek while doubling their revenue in 90 days.” This specific promise attracted precisely the overwhelmed but ambitious entrepreneurs they excelled at helping, resulting in a 40% increase in qualified consultation bookings.

Remember, people love seeing numbers to communicate a transformation. Give it a try!

Copy Tip: Identify your ideal client’s top 3 pain points and incorporate their exact language into your website headlines, social media bios, and ad copy.

Need help to brew up the right copy to bring the leads you want into your “shop”? Let’s chat over a hot cuppa.

2. Engage Your Prospects Until They Are Ready To Buy

Just because you attract prospects doesn’t mean they’re ready to buy immediately. With conversion-focused copywriting, you can convince them that waiting is no longer an option. Effective copy communicates the opportunity costs associated with delay and creates a sense of urgency without being pushy.

For example, a financial consultant created a “Cost of Waiting Calculator” landing page that showed prospects exactly how much money they were losing each month by postponing their investment decisions. This tangible demonstration of opportunity cost increased their service adoption rate by 35% among prospects who had been “thinking about it” for over 3 months. This type of messaging communicates a sense of urgency.

Copy Tip: Create a sequence of 3 educational emails that address common objections while highlighting the hidden costs of inaction in your industry.

3. Build Long-Lasting Relationships

The best client relationships aren’t one-and-done transactions. It takes time to build trust and rapport, so how do you do that? Through relationship-focused brand copywriting that makes multiple emotional deposits into the account. This means telling stories, pulling emotional strings, and reconnecting on a regular basis with content that provides value.

If you find yourself constantly hunting down new customers instead of finding opportunities to do repeat business with your existing client base, then you may want to investigate how you’re building relationships through your communications.

For example, a web designer implemented a “Client Success Story” email series that showcased the journey and results of past clients every month. By highlighting these stories and including personal notes about their work together, they maintained warm connections with past clients, resulting in a 65% referral rate and 42% returning customer rate for website refreshes and additional services.

Copy Tip: Launch a variety of targeted email campaigns – from monthly newsletters with industry insights, personalized networking follow-ups, and strategic nurture campaigns that gradually reveal your expertise and methodology. Even a simple quarterly “checking in” email can keep you top-of-mind.

4. Convert Your Ideal Customer On Autopilot

Sales shouldn’t be so hard. Yet it often feels that way if you don’t have the right words to communicate your value. Craft conversion-focused copywriting that clearly articulates your: 

  • Value proposition
  • The transformation you offer
  • How you handle common objections
  • Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs)

All questions and answers should emphasize the severity of the pain points you address to prime your target customer for conversion.

For example, a corporate wellness consultant who struggled with long sales cycles created a detailed case study page showcasing exactly how their program reduced employee sick days by 32% and increased productivity metrics by 27% for 3 different company sizes. This concrete demonstration of ROI allowed prospects to self-qualify and shortened their sales cycle from 5 weeks to just 12 days on average.

Copy Tip: Create a comprehensive sales page or proposal template that follows the PASTOR formula (Problem, Amplify, Story, Testimony, Offer, Response) to systematically walk prospects through the decision-making process. Explore other copywriting formulas here. 

5. Retain Your Customers For Additional Or Repeat Services

You’ve converted them once, but can you convert them again? Investing in retention-focused copywriting reduces your customer acquisition costs and increases the lifetime value that each client brings to your business.

For example, a marketing agency implemented an “Achievement Report” email template sent to clients quarterly, highlighting key metrics, wins, and opportunities they’d identified through their work together. These personalized reports concluded with a “Next Steps Recommendation” section that naturally suggested logical service extensions. This approach resulted in a 78% service upgrade rate among existing clients.

Copy Tip: Create a “What’s Next” guide customized for each of your service offerings, outline the natural progression of work clients might need after working with you once. Send this at the 75% completion mark of your current project, paired with a case study of a client who successfully followed this path. Don’t worry about getting too technical. Focus on telling success stories naturally for more organic connections.

Ready To Say The Right Things At The Right Time?

By strategically investing in different types of copywriting throughout your client journey, you create a seamless experience that not only attracts the right clients but also nurtures them into loyal advocates for your business. 

Remember that effective copy isn’t just about sounding good – it’s about saying the right things to the right people at exactly the right time in their decision-making process. Explore what to say to your target customers and start to transform your business.

The 3 Systems Every Entrepreneur Needs To Write Effective & On-Brand Copy

The 3 Systems Every Entrepreneur Needs To Write Effective & On-Brand Copy

Over the last 5+ years, we’ve talked to hundreds of entrepreneurs, and there’s one consensus that we all agree with…Copywriting is the most time-consuming task in the marketing suite. And most people really don’t enjoy it.

With the need for more time, it highlights the critical importance of systems. 

When I first started my career as a digital marketer (and eventually copywriter), I learned a lot from Ryan Deiss. And this quote sums up how I view systems and processes – especially when it pertains to copywriting. 

“Instead of thinking about our business as a series of disconnected checklists, we now saw it as an orchestrated flow where one activity moved seamlessly to the next like a beautifully choreographed dance.”

Ryan Deiss, Get Scalable: The Operating System Your Business Needs To Run and Scale Without You

Now, I want you to replace “business” with “marketing”. 

You need effective and on-brand copy to attract the right leads into your pipeline. But how do you accomplish that without spinning your wheels and spending a ridiculous amount of time and money doing it? 

Simple.

Systems. 

But we’re less here to talk about our systems because we want to focus on yours.

Ready for copy that energizes instead of exhausts?

Why Entrepreneurs Need Systems

When you have systems, you are more consistent. When you are more consistent, you’re able to scale – whether that be adding new processes to the mix or simply doing more of the same. And when you can scale, you have more flexibility with your time, money, and resources.

You didn’t become an entrepreneur to be a slave to the business. 

That’s why having systems should be a priority as a service-based entrepreneur. 

Dream of taking a month off for that vacation? Balancing raising your children and your business simultaneously? Focusing more of your time on the business rather than in it? Selling or getting acquired? 

It all starts with creating systems based on your proven practices. 

Already wondering whether our team can do this for your business instead? Let’s put it into action.

What Systems Every Entrepreneur Needs So They Can Write Better Marketing Copy

Let’s go back to your marketing for a minute. You need to start at the core of it – your message. Yes, colors, logos, fonts, and design are important for your brand. But it all starts with the words. Especially if your work hasn’t gotten the spotlight it deserves – yet. 

Here are the 3 systems every entrepreneur must have if they want to write, produce, and/or publish better marketing copy. 

1. Brand Messaging

The foundation of your marketing systems – your Copy Systems – is your brand messaging. This should consist of your:

This information is critical to give you and your marketing team (whether it be in house or outsourced) direction of how to describe your brand. Even the best wordsmiths will struggle to write clear messaging for brands without an identity.

2. Brand Voice Guide

Now, they know what they are saying, they need to know how to say it. And that comes with your brand voice. An entrepreneur simply does not have enough time to write it all – nor do they have the brain space. Trust me, I’ve tried. But a brand voice guide is an effective way to tell a marketing team exactly how you speak and/or write. 

Consider describing your brand’s voice, tone, varying situations where the voice may shift, and examples you want to use as reference. 

Feeling stuck on this one? Revisit your best and worst-case client stories while considering what was said, how you responded, and the results of those communications. 

3. Customer Avatars

Finally, you have the most important system – your customer avatars. This isn’t your age-old avatar that is solely based on demographics. We want you to dive deep into the psychographics – their values, challenges, pain points, objections, questions, viewpoints, etc. All to uncover who your customers truly are. 

From there, you can start to evaluate whether your content pillars are something they’d be interested in, what benefits they respond to, and how to best convince them to buy into what you’re selling. Because you’ve done this work and understand who you speak to regularly, it makes it easier to produce content they would engage with or respond to most.

Put all 3 of these detailed sections together, and you get a solid snapshot of who you are, what you do, and how to best convey your messaging. 

Ready To Create A Memorable & Energizing Brand?

It starts with the right messaging. Are you looking for…?

  • More continuity, consistency, and scalability in your marketing?
  • A better way to communicate your value? 
  • Strategies on how to create better and stronger relationships with your audience?
  • On-brand AI-generated and human-generated copy?

Explore how our Fundamentals Package can establish the foundation for you to grow leaps and bounds.