Maximizing Writing Efficiency through Planning and Preparation

I started teaching writing 30 years ago, and one of the biggest challenges my students always seemed to face was the amount of time it took to write. This of course was especially true for people who had to do writing as one of a few or many tasks in their businesses or their lives.
Over the years, I've developed systems and techniques that help people write faster. But I've never before shared the system for writing copy faster than I'm going to share today. This one is based on some of the same ideas I used 30 years ago for doing other kinds of writing, that worked so well.
We'll move on in a minute.
But first, there's this:
Copy is powerful. You're responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you're writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.
We'll cover five steps. These steps take the hard work out of writing, which is the fifth step. By concentrating only on each step when you do it, you cut way down on distractions and not knowing what to do next. This doesn't make writing copy easy as pie, BUT it makes it a lot easier, and faster, than most people do it.
Step 1 - Get all your research done in advance and ORGANIZE it for yourself so it is easy to access later on. Three types of research:
- product (or service)
- customer (avatar)
- competitors

Step 2 - Write out your offer: the best possible version of features and benefits so you could sell a primed customer what you have just with your description of your offer alone. You'll be dropping this into your copy later.
Step 3 - write out bullets. Anywhere from 20 (niche offer without a huge price) to 100 (for high-ticket offers in very competitive markets)
- the THINKING involved in writing bullets is the hardest part of writing copy, if you're writing your bullets right
- that's because you're translating your features into appealing, even tantalizing, benefits, that are very concrete and highly appealing
- while you're doing this, you may get copy ideas. Even headline/hook ideas. Jot them down on a separate sheet of paper, or a separate computer document.
Step 4 - Outline your copy - as bare-bones or as detailed as you like.
Here's a nine-step formula to start with
1. Headline/hook
2. Lead
3. Introduce yourself or your client
4. Talk about the problem you're solving or the opportunity you're presenting up to…
5. Your offer. Make it here. Add copy for bonuses if you have some.
6. Present your guarantee
7. Make a clear but not overly aggressive call to action
8. Give believable reason for urgency
9. Strong call to action

OK. Now you've got
- your research
- your offer
- your bullet-point thinking done, and
- a roadmap for your letter.

you're ready for step 5:
Write!
Important concept - Gene Schwartz - you're not writing so much as ASSMEBLING.
As you get more experienced with this method, you can cut your time by up to 90%. There are certain types of sales letters now I can write in an hour or two. They would have taken me weeks or months in the past.
Not everything. Some copy still takes a long time. But with methods like this, I've cut time on everything down to the bare minimum to still get high quality and results.


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