The struggle with writing copy

How often does this happen to you when writing copy for social media…

You have a killer session with a beautiful client, you grab your favorite image from the session and edit it, then you upload it to social media and your brain goes blank. You’re sitting there staring at a blinking cursor, maybe you even type something and delete it over and over again. Now you’re thinking “what amazing copy can I write to do this photo justice!?” Then you just search Pinterest for a quote to put on there and call it a day.

What a bummer right? Well, I’m here to help you out friend.

We live in a content heavy digital world. Beautiful images aren’t enough to stand out among the ever-growing crowd of photographers. Especially when cell phone cameras are getting better by the day.

I know you want to be able to reach your ideal client without having to scream loudly into the social media void, and be heard over all the other photographers with beautiful images. Great copywriting on your images is the BEST way to speak quietly and directly to your ideal client in a way that makes her think “she’s talking about me! It’s like she knows me!”

I’ve got my formula for writing content that resonates with my clients and has them dying to reach out to me. And the great news is, I’m going to share it with you.

 

Hook, line, sinker..

A great post has 3 things

1. A quick hook that catches their eye and draws them in.
2. Feeling words that speak directly to their pain points
3. And a solution or a lesson for their pain point.

The hook:

When clients are mindlessly scrolling their feeds and come across your image you only have 8 seconds to grab their attention and hold them. This is where the hook comes in. The hook is what grabs them by the cheek and makes them click read more.

**It’s important to note here there in order to nail your content you NEED to know who your ideal client is. You need to know what she struggles with, what she craves, what she needs. What is going to make her stop scrolling**

Here’s an example:

My ideal client often wishes she could do more in her life, but she is paralyzed by fear of the unknown, she feels guilty and selfish about it because she’s a mom. I need to talk to her about leaving her comfort zone.

If I just said “Today I’m going to talk to you about leaving your comfort zone…” I guarantee she would keep scrolling.

Instead I said:

“Today I shoved a woman out of her comfort zone…”

Now that makes you want to click on and read more right?

The Pull:

After you’ve hooked them you need to show them that you get them; that you’re in their head and you understand their fears, their worries, their pain. In that same post about comfort zones I talked about being a mom:

“Mom’s are hard workers. Whether they stay at home wiping hiney’s and perpetually picking up toys, or if they work away from the home and still need to come home to do all that work too, they bust their asses!”

Tell the story of their life, let them see that you know them and understand them, and they’ll begin to trust you! We’ve all heard of KNOW, LIKE, TRUST.

The Grab:

Last, you need to show your reader that you can help them with their struggle. Now, you could just say “a boudoir session is a great way to get out of your comfort zone” but that’s a little boring and pretty salesy. Instead you want to paint the picture of how what you do is going to help them.

“I’m never going to push you further than I think you can handle, but I’m always going to make sure your comfort zone is just a little bit bigger when you leave me.

Get ready, I’m not a Pinterest photographer. I’m a photographer that’s going to find you at your core, I’m going to let you show it off so you can see what I see, and you’re going to leave me wondering what the hell took you so long.”

My client already knows that I am a boudoir photographer because of the photo. I don’t need to tell them that I am talking about a boudoir session. I’m painting the picture of what we’re going to do and how they’re going to FEEL when we are done.

 

Creative juices

Often, when I am in a bit of a copy creative rut I will turn to Pinterest. I’ll type in words that I associate with my ideal client to get the creative juices flowing. I search things like guilt quotes, brave quotes, shame quotes, body positive quotes.

This helps me to do a bit of a deep dive into my ideal clients struggles and really hone in on what I want to speak to her about.

 

A boost..

Lastly, maybe you need a little help getting your copy content train started. I have created a guide of my very best posts for you to simply copy and paste. No more staring at a blinking cursor, no more backspacing, no more wasting precious time! I’ve got posts covering fears, comfort zones, body positivity, payment plans, confidence issues, self-love and more. You can grab your guide of Confident Copy right here and finally feel confident that you are reaching your client and drawing her in. In the end, it’s about helping your client to feel like you are personally connected and speaking directly to her. Imagine she’s right in front of you and tell her what you want to say!