[SHOW ME] 10 second copywriting tip- the “Hero’s Journey”framework to craft converting content.
A vital fundamental for copywriters.
Hero’s Journey is a classic story archetype, like “Rags to Riches” and “Overcome the Monster”. The Journey is a circle and the protagonist returns “home” changed.
It creates conversions when the reader is cast as the Hero and the writer plays the Mentor. Keep reading, you’ll see what I mean.
There’s 7 parts to the journey:
1. Ordinary life
Start’s with life before the journey:
“I was living a 9-5 Groundhog Day: fat, unhappy and my family, especially my brother, were worried about me and my future.”
2. Call to Adventure
Why did ordinary life change?
“I woke up one day to the news my brother was sick, really sick, and he was in hospital”.
3. Meet the Mentor
Who gave the Hero advice, needed for the journey?
“An old friend reached out and told me my brother couldn’t become another reason I stayed stuck; I needed to finally chase my dreams”
4. Trials, tests and enemies
The Rocky montage: taking action on the mentor’s advice.
“He was right. I wanted to be a writer. I had followed guys online before, wasting money and time, so I enrolled in real night classes to learn copywriting”
5. The ordeal
This is the defining challenge-
“After months of techniques and failures, I submitted my last assessment to finally find out: could I change my life with writing?”
6. The reward
How did the ordeal end?
“Turns out I can, and launching my career was the first step to reaching my dream, inspiring my bother and helping him recover”
7. Return home with the elixir
What’s the special sauce-
“I know it shouldn’t have taken my brother’s illness to chase my goals.
But I was pretending I was stuck, hiding behind internet copywriting guru’s instead of getting into the real world and just doing it ”
Written in 1st person or not, the audience identifies with aspects they relate to- (eg: feeling stuck, neglecting their dreams, avoidance behaviours)- and see the Mentor (aka you) having the insight needed to change.
How does the story become copy?
Hopefully this can clarify things:
Here’s what a copywriter’s pitch for their services looks like written as the Hero’s Journey.
Describe your ideal customer’s life- Ordinary Life
“in your business, you hire face-to-face sales people, the one’s looking after your customers and generating income. But, they go home. And your business can’t stay open 24/7.
Describe the problem your offer solves- Call to Adventure
It would be great though. Can you imagine the increase in profit, if you had a salesperson who never had to clock in or out? Even better, you only needed to pay them once, but they kept generating sales day in, day out, no break, no holidays, no days off.
Explain your solution- Meet the Mentor
That’s exactly what a copywriter can do for you. A copywriter crafts specific and unique sales copy for your website, email and advertising efforts. This form of writing consistently and successfully persuades your future customers to buy from your business. And it never stops working for you, whether your doors are open or not. I’m a copywriter, and I will get these results for you.
Explain what happens from not trying the solution- Trials, Tests and Enemies
Usually business owners post written content on their websites, like product descriptions or the information their future customers need to buy their services. If their website doesn’t generate any direct income, well, that’s okay. It’s just important there is a website, right?
Explain how fear of change is worse than your solution- The Ordeal
Put it this way: very few business expenses are more costly to owners than the amount of income you lose, daily, from hosting a website which has not been optimized with copywriting to generate sales.
Show them how they’ll feel after using it in their life- The Reward
Once you optimize your website and it starts working for you, you’ll understand what everyone really means when they say you must be online. Your website becomes the extra member of your sales force.
Help them become the hero, even if they are reluctant or sceptical now- Return Home With the Elixir
The investment you make from hiring a copywriter delivers huge returns. You can see, more than just content writing, a copywriter is creating copy designed to achieve your sales goals. It’s an investment all owners make to keep their business working, 24/7.
Remember to leave any questions about using the Hero’s Journey framework in the comments.