Eddie Shleyner's copywriting process for VeryGoodCopy

In today’s Marketing Powerups:

• Eddie Shleyner’s copywriting and creative process for VeryGoodCopy.
• Google is removing 4 attribution models for Google Ads and GA4.
• My bestselling book Product-Led Onboarding is now free online!
• Calendly’s product marketing messaging guide.

Ready? Let’s go!

Before we dig in, I’d like your opinion on something…

I’m planning on doing a live event series where two marketers “debate” a hot topic (e.g., is AI for marketing just a fad? Should all B2B companies have a podcast?)

The goal is to help marketers make smarter decisions by learning from both sides of a hot marketing topic.

I have some ideas about the name of the event series. Which event name do you like  best below?

Thanks in advance!

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✨ Product-Led Onboarding for free: You can now access my whole book for free online to help you turn more of your users into lifelong customers. There’s no catch. No email is required. Think of it as going "freemium." The online version is free forever. You pay for it if you want a physical or digital copy. Enjoy!

✨ Google is removing four attribution models for Google Ads and Analytics: Get ready for major changes in Google Ads and Analytics attribution modelling starting in May 2023.  They’re getting rid of the first click, linear, time decay, and position-based.  Ginny Marvin, Google Ad’s product liaison, explains why they’ve made this move.

✨ Calendly’s product marketing messaging guide: Robert Kaminski, founder of Fletch PMM, breaks down Calendly’s PLG messaging across the 6 stages of their user journey. The takeaway: Good product marketing messaging is about meeting the customer where they are with a focus on maximizing their value (not your revenue).

⭐️ Eddie’s copywriting process for VeryGoodCopy

Creativity—people think it hits you like lightning when a genius idea appears out of thin air.

So, when inspiration doesn’t strike, it can feel frustrating.

But is that really how creativity works?

Eddie Shleyner, Founder of VeryGoodCopy, says NO!

A better word for creativity is connectivity. The word “creativity” doesn't tell you anything about the creative process. Connectivity is a better way to think about it because it tells you exactly have to do—to put things together. Anyone can be creative when you can put disparate things together.

You don’t have to be an Einstein, Van Gogh, or Beethoven to be a creative genius. There’s a process and some predictability to it.

Today, Eddie reveals his creative and copywriting process for VeryGoodCopy.

1. Create a "well" of ideas. 💧

Eddie's creative process starts with what he calls The Well. It's a repository of Google Docs of ideas. Each idea has 4 components:

1. A working headline or title.
2. A narrative or anecdote.
3. A copywriting lesson or tip.
4. A word count.

By training himself to jot down any ideas he has, Eddie's built out a list of about 20 to 25 ideas he hasn't published yet.

2. Select an idea from the "well." 🍜

When he revisits his well to select an idea to work on, he asks himself, "Do I get the same feeling when I wrote this idea down? Am I as excited, joyful, delighted, or crazy about it?" Eddie has an intuition now about what's going to work and what's not.

Another rule of thumb is if he can't stop thinking about an idea after jotting it down many days later, it's a good indication that he should go back and work on it.

One test I use is if I look at an idea and I'm excited about it as when I wrote it. That's usually a good indication that it's something I should work on. My mom gave me the advice when shopping that if you're looking at a piece of clothing and you can't stop thinking about it after leaving, that's a pretty good indication that you should go back and buy it.

3. Write quickly. ✍️

Once Eddie selects an idea to work on, he writes it relatively quickly compared to how much he edits it. He typically takes an hour to write 300 to 500 words.

It's important for Eddie not to take too much time editing and cutting the first draft. The goal here is to put down on paper the idea, emotion, or feeling in his head.

Parkinson's law states that if you give yourself a year to write a book, you will take a year to write that book. But if you give yourself 3 weeks, you'll finish it in 3 weeks. By writing quickly, you don't give yourself time to complicate and overthink things.

4. Incubate the writing. 🐣

From there, he incubates his writing. He'll go off, work on something else, or take a break. Then, he comes back to it the next day to chisel, model, and craft it to the way he wants it to be.

"After I get the first draft done, I take a break. I let it sit, go outside, and do something to get my mind off it. Then I come back with fresh eyes. While I was away, my brain was incubating the idea in the background. I'm letting my brain have a lightbulb moment."

5. Work on multiple projects. 🤹‍♀️

While working in the office at G2, Eddie couldn't just get up and go for a walk every time he finished the first draft of an email or landing page copy. So one way he lets his work incubate is by working on multiple projects.

"While my attention is diverted to another project, my brain is incubating the other piece of content I just wrote. When I found that I had bounced back to the first project, I came back with fresh eyes."

🔖 Today’s powerups cheatsheet

Eddie digs deeper into his copywriting process in the latest episode of the Marketing Powerups show, where you’ll learn:

1. Why being creative does NOT mean being original.
2. How to connect the dots to create something new.
3. Why it’s important to work on multiple projects at once.
4. How to come up with better creative ideas on a deadline.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcast and Spotify now, or watch it on YouTube.

As an exclusive free perk for Marketing Powerups subscribers, I’ve created a powerups cheatsheet you can download, fill in, and apply Eddie’s copywriting process.

You can download and make a copy of it here (a direct link with no email required).

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That’s all for now, friends!

Have a powered-up day,

Ramli John

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