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Copywriting & Brand Voice
A practical copywriting course that teaches the persuasion frameworks behind high-converting ads, landing pages, and email, plus how to define and document a brand voice. You finish with finished sample copy and a usable voice guide.
Founders, marketers, and writers who want to write copy that converts and to define a brand voice they can keep consistent.
Course content
Workbook & downloads
Put the course into practice — a printable workbook plus editable templates you can fill in and reuse.
Preview the workbook
This workbook turns the course into finished, usable assets. Work through one section per module to produce a voice-of-customer research file, a headline bank, a full landing page outline, a five-email welcome sequence, and a one-page brand voice guide. Use the included templates to organize your research, draft your copy, and audit your voice across every touchpoint.
Foundations of Persuasive Copy
Pin down your one reader, harvest their own language, and choose the right persuasion structure.
Exercise: Voice-of-Customer Mining
Collect at least 20 verbatim phrases real customers use to describe the problem your product solves and the result they want. Pull from your reviews, support tickets, and sales notes, and from competitors' one-star and five-star reviews on sites like Amazon, G2, or Trustpilot. Paste each phrase exactly as written, then tag it as a pain, a desire, an objection, or a result.
- Which exact customer phrase is so vivid you could use it as a headline almost unchanged?
- What objection appears most often, and where on your page should you answer it?
- Where does the customer's own language differ from how your company describes the product?
Worksheet: The One-Reader Profile
Define the single person you are writing to. Be specific enough that you could picture them reading your copy on their phone. Then identify their awareness stage so you know where to start every asset.
- Reader name and age
- Their situation and daily frustration
- The desired result in their own words
- Awareness stage (Unaware / Problem Aware / Solution Aware / Product Aware / Most Aware)
- The single biggest objection they would raise
- Where they will most often read this copy (device and context)
Worksheet: Features-to-Benefits Ladder
For each of your top product features, run the so-what test repeatedly until you reach a real human outcome. The bottom rung is usually where your headline and benefit copy should live.
- Feature 1 — so what? (advantage) — so what? (benefit) — so what? (deeper benefit)
- Feature 2 — so what? (advantage) — so what? (benefit) — so what? (deeper benefit)
- Feature 3 — so what? (advantage) — so what? (benefit) — so what? (deeper benefit)
- The single deepest benefit across all features (your core promise)
Checklist: Research Done Before Writing
- At least 20 verbatim customer phrases collected and tagged
- One specific reader profiled by name, situation, and awareness stage
- Opening line for each asset matched to the reader's awareness stage
- Every key feature run through the so-what ladder to a human outcome
- Core promise written as one benefit-led sentence
- A swipe file started for strong phrases, headlines, and subject lines
Writing Copy That Converts
Draft the highest-leverage assets: headlines, calls to action, and a full landing page.
Exercise: Write 20 Headlines, Keep 3
Using the headline formulas from the course (how-to, number list, question, direct benefit, secret or reason-why), write at least 20 headline variations for one offer. Run each survivor through the 4 Us test (Useful, Urgent, Unique, Ultra-specific) and inject one concrete number or timeframe. Then pick your three strongest.
- Which formula produced your strongest headline, and why does it fit this offer?
- Where did adding a specific number make a vague headline suddenly believable?
- Read your top headline alone, out of context: would a stranger want the next line?
Worksheet: CTA and Objection Map
Write your primary call to action in the first person and around the benefit, then list every objection a real reader could raise and the exact rebuttal you will place on the page.
- Primary CTA button copy (first person, benefit-led, starts with a verb)
- Risk-reversal microcopy beside the button (free / no card / cancel anytime / guarantee)
- Objection: time — rebuttal and placement
- Objection: money — rebuttal and placement
- Objection: it will not work for me — rebuttal and placement
- Objection: I do not believe you — proof used and placement
- Objection: not right now — urgency or reason-to-act-now
Worksheet: Landing Page Block Outline
Outline a full long-form landing page section by section using the eight-block structure from the course. Write one line of intent for each block now; you will draft the full copy later. Keep the whole page focused on one action.
- Hero: headline + subheadline + primary CTA
- Problem and stakes: the pain and what inaction costs
- Solution and mechanism: the product and its unique angle
- Benefits section: the so-what outcome for each main point
- Proof: specific attributed testimonials, data, logos, results
- Objections and FAQ: the doubts answered head-on
- Offer and risk reversal: price, inclusions, guarantee, urgency
- Final CTA: repeated action + benefit reminder + P.S. nudge
Checklist: Conversion Page Ready to Test
- Page is built around exactly one action with navigation removed
- Benefit-led headline and primary CTA appear above the fold
- Every testimonial is specific, attributed, and ideally quantified
- All five universal objections are answered somewhere on the page
- Copy length matches the price and the reader's temperature
- Any scarcity or urgency used is genuinely real, not fabricated
- Headline identified as the first element to A/B test
Email and Channel Copy
Write subject lines, a full welcome sequence, and ad copy that survives a fast scroll.
Exercise: Subject Line Sprint
For one email, write 10 subject lines across the five types (benefit, curiosity, urgency, personal or story, number or list). Pair your best two with preview text written deliberately, not auto-filled. Assume the line is cut around 30 to 40 characters on mobile, so front-load the important words.
- Which subject line creates curiosity without overpromising what the email delivers?
- How does your preview text add to the subject rather than repeat it?
- Which two would you A/B test, and would you judge them on opens or on clicks?
Worksheet: Five-Email Welcome Sequence Planner
Plan each email in your welcome sequence with its timing, single idea, and one call to action. Email 1 sends immediately and delivers whatever signup promised. Write a strong P.S. for the selling emails.
- Email 1 (immediate): deliver the asset — subject, one idea, CTA
- Email 2 (day 1-2): brand or founder story — subject, one idea, CTA
- Email 3 (day 3-4): pure value / quick win — subject, one idea, CTA
- Email 4 (day 5-6): the offer with proof — subject, one idea, CTA, P.S.
- Email 5 (day 7-8): objections + urgency — subject, one idea, CTA, P.S.
- Next automation to build (abandoned cart / post-purchase / win-back)
Exercise: Ad Hook and Message Match
Write three scroll-stopping first lines for one ad, each using a different device (a pain, a bold claim, a question, or an open loop). Then write the matching landing page headline so it echoes the ad's exact promise. Confirm the first line still works when the rest is hidden behind a See more cutoff.
- Which hook would stop you mid-scroll if it appeared in your own feed?
- Does your landing page headline repeat the ad's promise closely enough to avoid a bounce?
- Is there exactly one idea and one CTA, or is the tight space holding two competing messages?
Checklist: Channel Copy Shipped
- Subject line and preview text written together as a pair
- First email sends instantly and over-delivers on the signup promise
- Each email holds one idea and one call to action
- A strong P.S. restates the offer or deadline on selling emails
- Ad opens with a scroll-stopping hook in the first line
- Ad promise and landing page headline match almost word for word
- Copy judged by clicks and conversions, not likes or cleverness
Brand Voice and the Self-Editing Craft
Define and document a brand voice, then edit your copy until it is clear and on-brand.
Exercise: Place Your Brand on the Voice Dimensions
Mark your brand on each of the four voice dimensions from the course. For each one, write a single sentence about your product two ways: one on-brand at your chosen point on the scale, and one off-brand at the opposite end, so the rule is unmistakable.
- Where did you place the brand on funny-versus-serious, and what made that the right call?
- Which dimension was hardest to commit to, and what does that reveal about the brand?
- Reading your on-brand and off-brand sentences side by side, is the difference obvious to an outsider?
Worksheet: Brand Voice Statement and Archetype
Distill your voice into a statement and a character. Base these on real audience research, not only the founder's taste. The statement and archetypes become the north star a new writer reads first.
- Voice statement: we sound like [trait], [trait], and [trait], never [trait]
- Primary archetype (e.g. Sage, Hero, Jester, Outlaw, Caregiver, Everyman, Explorer)
- Secondary archetype
- Position on funny–serious
- Position on formal–casual
- Position on respectful–irreverent
- Position on enthusiastic–matter-of-fact
Exercise: Run the Five-Pass Self-Edit
Take one finished piece of your copy and run the five editing passes in order: clarity, concision, specificity, voice, then read-aloud. Trim at least ten percent of the words, swap vague adjectives for numbers, and check the result against your voice chart. Read it out loud last to catch rhythm problems.
- How many words did you cut, and which filler phrases appeared most often?
- Where did a specific number or name replace a vague claim and strengthen the line?
- What did reading aloud catch that your eye had skimmed past?
Checklist: Voice Documented and Copy Polished
- A position chosen and justified on all four voice dimensions
- Voice statement and primary plus secondary archetype written down
- Voice chart built with trait, meaning, a do example, and a do-not example for each trait
- Recurring mechanics settled: contractions, Oxford comma, emoji, capitalization
- Favored-words and banned-words list created, including clichés to ban
- Copy trimmed by roughly ten percent and checked against a grade 6 to 8 reading level
- Final copy read aloud and confirmed on-brand against the voice chart
Your Action Plan
- Mine at least 20 verbatim customer phrases and tag each as a pain, desire, objection, or result.
- Profile one specific reader and pin their awareness stage so every asset opens in the right place.
- Run each key feature through the so-what ladder and write your core promise as one benefit sentence.
- Write 20 headline variations for your main offer, test them against the 4 Us, and keep the best three.
- Outline a full long-form landing page in eight blocks, focused on a single action, and draft the copy.
- Map your primary CTA and a rebuttal for all five universal objections, placed where each doubt arises.
- Plan and write a five-email welcome sequence, with the first email delivering value immediately.
- Write ad hooks for one campaign and match the landing page headline to the ad's exact promise.
- Define your brand voice on four dimensions plus archetypes, and build a do-and-do-not voice chart.
- Assemble a one-page voice guide, then run the five-pass self-edit on every asset before it ships.
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