If there’s one piece of copywriting advice I can pretty much guarantee you’ll benefit from, it’s this:
You should make your message more specific.
Specificity is the number one reason that most copy falls flat. That’s because vague promises (like these) have been overused to the point that readers are oblivious to them.
Not to mention the fact that they don’t make us feel anything. You want your copy to grab your ideal students by the eyeballs (gross image, sorry) and make them laugh, smile, jump for joy or feel weightless with relief at the sight of your words.
That may sound a bit dramatic, but scroll on and you’ll see just how much of a difference specificity can make to your copy.
Hold on… what do we mean by ‘specific’?
Specificity is, essentially, the process of making sure your message is clear, concrete and tangible.
So, instead of saying something vague and subjective, like ‘take your English to the next level’, you explain exactly what that means. (Examples to follow, don’t worry.)
Why should you make your message more specific?
When I speak to teachers about making their copy more specific, I’m often met with quite a bit of resistance. If successful schools and teachers are selling their courses with copy like this, why should you make the effort to explain what you mean?
It’s simple: they could be selling more if they wrote in more specific terms, and so could you.
Now we’ve cleared that up, let’s take a look at 7 of the easiest tweaks you can make to write a stand-out message.
1. Replace adjectives with verbs
Adjectives are to copy what umms and ahhs are to language. They weaken your message and make it far less convincing.
And yet, so many of us think that better adjectives equal better copy.
We’ll describe our courses as excellent, comprehensive or complete, but as for what that means? Well, that’s open to interpretation.
As the business owner, it’s your responsibility to explain what you mean. Not only will this make your copy stronger, but it will also ensure that students buy your course knowing *exactly* what they’ll get.
So, instead of saying your service is wonderful, show them why:
Before: A convenient way to learn a new language.
After: Our app sends new lessons to your phone every morning, so you can learn 5 new phrases before the day begins.
2. Avoid superlatives
Superlatives are much like adjectives – their presence dilutes your message by hiding what you really mean.
Students are becoming wise to marketing tricks and inflated promises that make courses sound far better than they are. So, slapping on a ‘best’ or ‘most effective’ or ‘number #1’ will do nothing but raise their suspicions.
If your course really is the best speaking course to grace the planet? Explain how you know!
Has it consistently ranked first on a third-party review system?
Has it received an award or two?
Concrete details like these make your message more convincing and trustworthy.
Before: The best English language course on the market.
After: As trusted by {Company One}, {Company Two} and {Company Three}.
3. Use concrete nouns
In the words of Grammarly, concrete nouns are ‘physical things that can be seen, touched, heard, smelled, or tasted.’
Think: people, objects, places, sounds or smells.
Abstract nouns, on the other hand, are more like concepts. We know what they represent, but we can’t see or touch them. Like confidence and fluency, for example.
Because abstract nouns don’t exist in a physical sense, their meaning can be harder to grasp. They open your message up to interpretation, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.
What does fluency actually mean? Something different to everyone.
Replace that with something tangible, however, and suddenly your reader can picture exactly what you mean:
Before: Get fluent in Spanish.
After: Laugh when your colleague cracks a joke instead of nodding and pretending you get it.
4. Describe the process or experience
Knowing our services inside out often means we skim over the details. We assume the reader also understands how easy our course platform is to use or how quickly they can access the resources they need.
But they don’t.
You need to explain it.
Before: The course is hosted on a super easy-to-use platform
After: Schedule your lessons, download resources and submit your homework straight from the course platform.
5. Speak to a single audience
I won’t bore you with the lecture on why you need to find a niche, but I will say this:
The clearer you are on who you’re targeting, the easier it will be to write specific copy.
Because instead of trying to write sweeping statements that anyone and everyone will relate to, you can paint a vivid picture of what life will be like for the people you really want to work with. (Example three shows that)
6. Add specific, relatable details
This all comes down to how well you know your audience.
How do they spend their time? What do they really want to learn the language for? When they’re not studying, what are they doing?
Knowing these small, seemingly insignificant details makes writing words that make them smile so much easier.
Let’s say you’re speaking to busy mums who struggle to find time in their day to learn a new language.
A generic piece of copy could say:
Learn anytime, anywhere.
But what would speak more clearly to them is something along the lines of:
Stop waiting for quiet moments that never come. Mandarin for Mums’ 10-minute lessons fit into the chaos of motherhood—so you can squeeze in your speaking practice while glugging your coffee, preparing dinner or enjoying the calm after the bedtime storm.
7. Add a timeframe – make it tangible
As much as we may hate the promise of getting fluent in 90 days, this tagline has one strong advantage: it includes a concrete timeline.
It tells the reader exactly how long it will take to achieve their goal, setting clear expectations and building credibility.
Ironically in this case, it can actually erode trust because the claim is so ludicrous.
But the point stands: timeframes make your copy exponentially stronger.
Before: Study English level A2
After: Pass your A2 exam by Christmas.
8. Zoom in on the result
Marketing gurus may encourage you to promise something big and bold with your offers. They’ll use words like ‘transformation’ to refer to the outcome, which sounds as though it *should* be something revolutionary.
But that often leads to unrealistic claims (see above) that you don’t feel comfortable making. Not only that, but they’re also often super vague and subjective.
One of the most ethical and impactful ways you can bring specificity into your copy is to zoom in on the result you offer. Instead of making empty promises like:
Before: Take your French to the next level
Try something specific like:
After: Read ‘Le Petit Prince’ from start to finish
The result may sound small, but it’s more honest, more believable and achievable for your students – which can serve to attract more people.
I mean, who wants to spend every waking moment for the next 90 days in some kind of torturous fluency boot camp? Not me.
Ready to write more specific copy?
Writing more specific copy really just comes down to questioning your own writing. I always start my first drafts with vague, surface-level claims like some of the ones I’ve mentioned here. It’s only during the editing phase that I question what I really want to say.
It takes time and patience, but I *promise* the results are worth it.
I hope this post has shown you what copywriters mean when we tell you to be more specific. But if you’d like some guidance with your own examples, check out my Power Hours.
In these sessions, I tell you exactly what changes to make to strengthen your message. No more guessing what to write or backspacing your way through a Google document. We’ll figure it out together in 60 minutes flat.
(See what I did there? 🙃)
August 15, 2024
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