In today’s episode, we are joined by Holly Murray. Holly is a certified conversion copywriter who helps successful women create elevated high converting copy that truly reflects their brand’s heart, mind and mission. As a former counselor and coach, Holly has logged 1000s of hours face to face with women, which means when she writes for you, she brings over a decade of deep dive market research. She approaches copy with a blend of creativity and strategy to help you see the results you desire.
Tune in as we dive deep into conversion copywriting, brand messaging, and so much more.
In this episode, we discuss:
- [2:22] What Holly enjoys most about her business
- [4:05] How a copywriter can help you elevate your brand
- [7:28] How Emma and Holly originally connected
- [8:29] Why it’s so important to attend both virtual and in person events
- [14:39] What conversion copy is and why it’s important for businesses
- [18:40] Holly’s best advice to stop playing small and start showcasing your work through your copy
- [23:08] How talking about your results can help you secure more clients
- [24:13] How to share your client’s results without feeling “icky”
- [32:06] How to hone in on your brand voice
- [40:41] Surprising moments for Emma and Team Ninety Five Media when going through the brand messaging process
- [49:18] One thing Holly wishes everyone knew about copywriting
What keeps her going every day
What keeps Holly going every day in her business is the entire writing process. She loves getting to play with words and enjoys the creativity and strategy of it all. Holly likes to gamify the copywriting process and see how she can help her clients get their message across in a way that’s going to be easy for their audience to understand.
How a copywriter can help you elevate your brand
Holly is able to help her clients take a step back, acknowledge their achievements, and talk about themselves and their brand in a way that doesn’t feel “icky”. This helps them better connect with their audience. One of the most valuable aspects of hiring a copywriter is that they can come to the table with a third party perspective. When you are so deep in the weeds in your business, it can be hard to convey your message in a way that connects with your audience. In a nutshell, Holly helps you get all of your brains on paper so that you can easily connect with your ideal audience.
How Emma and Holly originally connected
Emma and Holly have worked together in the copywriting capacity for Ninety Five Media for some time, however, they first met at an in person event in Austin, Texas. At the conference, they were paired up to do some breakout session exercises together and ended up hitting it off.
Why it’s so important to attend both virtual and in person events
When Holly attended that event, she was newly postpartum and sleep deprived – so being in a room full of adults was a welcomed experience for her. Holly believes that networking is so crucial, no matter if it’s in person or virtual. People often forget the importance of tapping into their local community; so don’t forget to prioritize local in-person events if they make sense for your business.
Even if the people you meet at the event are not ideal clients, you may be able to form a friendship with them because developing friendships is challenging as an adult whether you are working in corporate or in the online space. Beyond friendship, you never know what kinds of referrals that person could send your way. Networking in person can help boost your social life in addition to helping your business grow. It allows you to develop relationships that go beyond a transaction, which is extremely beneficial.
After the pandemic, most of us have been craving in-person opportunities after not having many over the past few years. Changing up our every day routine can help us feel inspired once again after being heads down in our work.
What conversion copy is and why it’s important for businesses
Conversion copy is just a fancy way of saying that you are trained to write copy that generates sales. The current industry standard is about 2 – 6% for conversions, so if you are in a room of 100 people, that means that 2 to 6 people will convert to a sale. When you start optimizing your copy for conversions you are able to go above and beyond those industry standards.
Once someone decides to follow you on social media or visit your website, they already have an interest in you, so taking it a step further by optimizing your copy for conversions, can take them from just being somewhat interested in what you have to offer to actually booking a call with you.
Holly’s best advice to stop playing small and start showcasing your work through your copy
As a generalization, women are taught to not share our successes with others because it can be seen as “braggadocious”. By going against the grain and talking about our achievements, we can be both humble and confident in our abilities. Helping us do that in a tactful way is one of Holly’s superpowers.
How talking about your results can help you secure more clients
A lot of people are afraid to share their client’s results in their marketing because they are afraid of how they may come off if they are talking about money or results. Although talking this can be challenging, it helps convey the value that we bring to the table and the ROI that our clients get by working with us. In turn, it makes it easier for us to sign new clients because they can see the value that we are bringing to our current clients.
How to share your client’s results without feeling icky
If you are unsure of how to relay your message or share your clients results, the first step is to write it all down. Once you have it written down, you can easily see the value you are bringing to your client’s lives.
When people see tangible numbers, it is much easier for them to visualize themselves working with you because our brains love numbers. For example, let’s say that you are marketing to moms. Moms are often busy, so they are likely very interested in getting time back in their day to day. When you are able to speak to your audience’s paint points, you are able to attract the right people to your offers.
As CEOs, we are very driven and always pushing forward to the next big thing which means we often forget to celebrate our successes. We should always make a point to schedule in some time to reflect on the present moment so that we can convey that in our messaging and better verbalize our accomplishments.
We do not need to work with a professional copywriter to do this. It could be really helpful to sit by yourself and ask yourself some thoughtful questions about your accomplishments and work, where you started and where you are today, etc. This can really help you start to look at how you can share your message in a way that connects with your target market.
How to hone in on your brand voice
Holly’s biggest piece of advice for honing in on your brand voice is to ask your audience instead of just making assumptions. Market research is crucial to creating high converting copy. To figure out your brand voice, you need to figure out exactly what sets you apart and makes your ideal audience want to work with you specifically.
Not all buyers are the same so it is important to know your audience and cater to their needs. Some people may just need to read a quick paragraph and know that they are ready to make the investment, whereas others want to read your entire sales page from top to bottom before making their decision.
A lot of corporate brands struggle to humanize their brand while personal brands struggle with making it too much about themselves. Including common connectors across your branding can help your target audience feel a spark with you and get to know you on a deeper level.
In the beginning when you have more time, you can take advantage of that extra time by investing in market research and hopping on 20-30 minute calls with your ideal audience and getting inside their head. This ensures that you are not just shooting in the dark and are able to make strategic decisions based on your audience’s input.
Surprising moments for Emma and Team Ninety Five Media when going through the brand messaging process
A year or so ago, Emma had the idea to expand their target audience beyond just small businesses. After mulling on it for a bit, she realized that it did not make sense to try to talk to multiple audiences. By niching down, you are not saying no to certain people by saying yes to others. You are just focusing on one audience, and if it attracts people who are not a part of that audience, then that is okay too.
Another thing that Emma has learned is that copy isn’t always just speaking to your target audience that you’re trying to sell. Within Ninety Five Media’s job application, Emma included a descriptor in the “this is for you if” section that reads “your fridge might not have any groceries, but it’s stocked full of wine”. Having fun descriptors like this across your brand can help you weed out anyone who may not be a good fit to work with you, as a client or otherwise. These small personal details can sometimes make the biggest impact.
One thing Holly wishes everyone knew about copywriting
Holly wants everyone to know that copywriting does not have to be complicated. Get your phone out, turn on your voice memo and just talk through it. Think about what you would say if you were out to coffee with a dream client, what would you say to them?
Take that recording, run it through a transcription service, and then clean it up and you have got your copy. From there, you can use that on your social channels and anywhere else you want to. This really helps you get your brand messaging nailed down, especially when you are new. If you can talk, you can write copy.
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