Hey everyone! Starting a new series on the blog today where I answer a question that’s on your mind when it comes to copywriting for your business when you are a photographer, designer, or creative entrepreneur. I am so excited to share these answers with you and shed some light on writing effective, natural, genuine sales copy with you all. ← Yes, you totally can!
If you have a question and want to see it answered here, send an email to hello@jennyrothcopywriting with the subject line QUESTION.
Without further adieu, let’s get started.
Question: “I have four small kids, so anytime I sit down to write sales copy for my business I feel SO rushed. How can I make my copy effective and amazing in as little time possible?!”
Answer: This question is so close to my heart. When I started my business, I was a mom to three little girls under the age of four (yeah!! I know!!). Time? I had no time. Seriously. Whoever said, “You make time for the things that you really want to do” never had young kids. There were plenty of things I wanted to do, but literally, if I also wanted to eat, sleep, shower every other day, and survive, I could not do them because there weren’t enough hours in the world.
When you have little ones, the demands on your time are like nothing else you will ever experience. Your world feels like it was tipped upside down. In an instant, you go from a girl who has the luxury of deciding how she’ll spend her free time, to a girl whose time is no longer her own. You have no choice but to share it.
Losing your time like this is beautiful, humbling, and for me, it also came with a very real and very profound grief, even though I treasure and love my children more than anything.
This is not to say that my children came along and “stole” my time. No. I remember holding my first daughter and knowing and choosing that I wanted to be her mom first and most of all. I wanted to give my kids the best of me. The best of my time. Which meant work would not come in first. Which meant that I also deeply grieved losing this part of me – the ability to work and earn money whenever and however I wanted, and to have complete financial independence. I also felt an overwhelming amount of guilt. Guilt that we could afford for me to choose to be with our kids vs. work because so many people want that and do not get that privilege. And guilt that I didn’t actually want to be the career woman that I felt was expected of me. Women everywhere, in my family and in generations before me, had worked their butts off so I could get an education and have a job, and here I was, coming in all arrogant and declaring, “Thanks, but no thank you.”
Whew!
All this to say, sweet reader, is that I know what you mean when you say you don’t have time to write sales copy. So I will not lecture you on making the time or try to convince you otherwise, because when you tell me you have no time, I know what you’re saying is absolutely true.
Instead, I will give you the best tips I have for writing quickly and effectively, and what works for me when I’m fitting my writing into the cracks of a busy day.
1 – Niche down as much as you possibly can. This is the most important advice I can offer. When you know exactly who you are writing to, it becomes so much easier and quicker to do. You know that audience like you know your toddler’s favorite snack (peanut butter and jelly on repeat for daaaayyys). You know their questions, their wants, their thoughts. You don’t have to wonder so much about “what do I say?” when you have a narrow (but deep) niche with a narrow (but deep) set of topics you can discuss with them. Get as specific as you possibly can with who your audience is. This will save you a ton of time when you write.
2 – Hire it out. Seriously. If you can, hire a copywriter. I’m not saying that because I’m a copywriter, I’m saying it because anytime I’ve handed a task that I totally feel is a suck on my time off to someone else, I’ve gotten returns from that tenfold. You don’t have to write your sales copy to own a business. You can find someone to do that writing for you. Or, you can find an editor to go over what you write and polish it up. You are a successful business owner even if you hate writing sales copy.
3 – Repurpose your content. You are probably writing more sales copy than necessary. That social media caption that did well? Turn it into a Reel, an email, or a blog post. Add a new photo to it, freshen it up a little bit to update the wording if you need to, and re-post it. Repurposing old content and copy will save you a ton of time at the keyboard.
4 – Freewrite. This means you set a timer for 10 minutes and just WRITE. Do not edit your thoughts. Do not check for spelling or grammar errors. Do not worry about how you sound. Do not wonder what people would think if they read it. Just write until the timer is up. This is the best way I know to get out of writer’s block and into a flow of ideas. Once the timer is up, then you can go back in an edit things further.
5- Templates. Professional copywriters use templates. Please trust me when I say that no one is reinventing the wheel when they write a sales page, welcome email, web page, or social media caption. We are all starting with some kind of pre-made framework, outline, or template, and then filling that in as we go. You can find templates on Pinterest for just about anything you want to write. And, if you don’t feel like searching anywhere else, in my online shop, I have $27 resources for writing your sales page, email welcome funnel, and entire website!
6 – Do not underestimate the power of writing a little bit at a time. You only wrote half a caption today before your toddler woke up early from her nap? Sweet friend, you are further ahead than you were yesterday and it is more than enough for today. Little by little, a little adds up to a lot. Do not quit just because you are only getting small chunks of work/writing in. They count.
7 – Focus on one offer for one person. This will free up so much of your mental space and decision-making time when you go to write copy.
8- When in doubt, document. You don’t have to create this deeply heartfelt and impactful post or story every time you write. Sometimes the best copy is just you sharing about your process, your day, your work, or your latest client project. Tell your audience what you’ve been working on or up to in the same way you’d tell a dear friend.
That’s it! I hope this post was helpful to you in getting the most out of your copywriting minutes as a busy mom and business owner.
If you have a copywriting or content creation question you’d like to gain some clarity on, I’d love to hear from you! Send me your Q to hello@jennyrothcopywriting.com with the subject line QUESTION and I’ll let you know when your answer is live on the blog.💛
