Copywriting Skill

A horizontal skill in the Problem → Solution → Communicate framework — applied wherever persuasive writing is needed across the Communicate phase.

Framework for writing copy that sticks, based on Harry Dry’s Marketing Examples methodology.

The Three-Question Test

Run every sentence through these filters:

1. Can I visualize it? Close your eyes. Can you see it? If not, it’s abstract wallpaper.
2. Can I falsify it? Is it provably true or false? If not, you’re just talking.
3. Can nobody else say it? Could a competitor sign this? If yes, dig deeper.

Three nos = rubbish. Three yeses = you’re onto something.

Rule 1: Make It Visual

Abstract words evaporate. Concrete words stick.

The memory test: “Seamless transition, charging pitbull, muscly Irishman, better way, leg of lamb.” You’ll remember pitbull, Irishman, lamb. You forgot the abstract ones.

The zoom-in technique:

1. Write the abstract word at the top of the page
2. Ask “what do I actually mean?”
3. Keep zooming until you hit something you can drop on your foot

Example:

• Abstract: “Regain fitness”
• Zoomed: “Getting off the couch to running”
• Concrete: “Couch to 5K” (most downloaded fitness program ever)

Example:

• Abstract: “Worn by pretty people and old people”
• Concrete: “Worn by supermodels in London and dads in Ohio” (New Balance)

Rule 2: Make It Falsifiable

Why it works: When you write true-or-false statements, you put your head on the chopping block. Ears prick up.

Galileo got house arrest for “the earth spins around the sun” (falsifiable). If he said “the earth has a harmonious connection with celestial objects” they’d have sent him to the pub.

The “don’t talk, only point” technique:

Imagine setting up a friend on a blind date:

• Talking: “He’s funny, smart, good values” (means nothing)
• Pointing: “6’2″, reads on the tube, looks like Ryan Gosling” (falsifiable)

For products: Don’t describe. Point at the graph. Point at the statistic. Point at the specific feature.

Volvo: “Your car has five numbers on the speedometer. Volvo has six.” Nobody else can say that. It’s falsifiable. It’s visual.

Rule 3: Make It Yours Alone

“Never write an ad a competitor can sign.” — Jim Durfee

Bad: “Don’t just get a job. Change an entire industry.” (Any recruiter could say this)

Good: “They don’t write songs about Volvos.” (Only Corvette can say this)

Good: “The dating app designed to be deleted.” (Only Hinge can say this)

The test: Swap in your competitor’s name. Does it still work? Rewrite.

The Writing Process

Piece 1: Who You’re Talking To

Snapchat spent $7M on a Super Bowl ad. Average Super Bowl viewer: 39 years old. If you use Snapchat at 39, something’s wrong. They forgot who they were talking to.

Coffee shop example: One cafe has a huge menu with 17 croissant options. The other says “Coffee and pastry = £5.” Everyone queues at the second one. Tourists walking by don’t need the full menu. They need instant clarity.

Piece 2: Something to Say (The Why)

What can you do that no one else is doing that people care about?

Dave Kitson (mediocre footballer) outsold Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, and Owen combined. How? He couldn’t write about his brilliant career. So he wrote as “The Secret Footballer” and exposed Premier League gossip. Something to say that only he could say.

Piece 3: Saying It Well

The Hinge brief was probably: “An app for people who want long-term relationships and are fed up with dating apps.”

The copy: “The dating app designed to be deleted.”

Techniques used:

• Alliteration (Dating, Designed, Deleted)
• Juxtaposition (who makes an app designed to be deleted?)
• Can’t be copied (Hinge owns this forever)

Speed Test

One Mississippi, Two Mississippi. Show someone your copy. If they don’t get it in 2 seconds, rewrite.

The Conflict Framework

Stories need conflict. Copy needs conflict.

Three types of enemies:

• A: Different approaches (how they solve it vs how we solve it)
• B: Beliefs (I believe this, you believe that)
• C: Competitors (Apple vs PC)

Practical application: Draw a line down the page. Write opposites.

Example ad structure:

• Left side: “Throw money and pray” (raise cash, hire staff, spend on ads, cross fingers)
• Right side: “Learn copywriting” (increase conversions 1% to 2% = 100% more growth)

The contrast makes both sides sharper.

Facts Over Adjectives

“When you say a fact, it guarantees you say something. Most people open their mouths and say nothing—wallpaper, word-shaped air.”

Bad sports commentary: “Tiger Woods just didn’t want it bad enough today.”

Good sports commentary: “Tiger usually hits 11 fairways. Today he hit 7. He compensated with 30% more greens in regulation.”

The Heinz example: Employees pour factory ketchup into Heinz bottles. Fact. Now write the ad: “Even when it’s not Heinz, it’s Heinz.”

Start with a fact. Build from there.

Writing Simply

You can’t write simply. You can only rewrite simply.

Kaplan’s Law of Words

“Any words that aren’t working for you are working against you.”

Harry’s corollary: You aren’t taking Kaplan’s law seriously enough.

This applies to words AND ideas. The word “and” on a landing page is usually bad. “We sell jeans and t-shirts and socks” < “We make jeans.”

The Burrito Test

A good paragraph is like a burrito. Throw it and it shouldn’t fall apart in the air. Pull one sentence out—if it still works, that sentence shouldn’t have been there.

Line Length

If a paragraph is 3 lines, it’s probably 2 lines. Keep cutting.

Version Everything

Copy-paste. Rewrite. Copy-paste. Rewrite. Show someone 3 versions. They can mix and match. “That sentence from version 2, but in version 1’s structure.”

Design and Copy Together

Never write in a Google Doc then transfer. Write where it lives.

• Newsletter? Write in ConvertKit.
• Ad? Write in Figma.
• Billboard? Mock it up with competing billboards around it.

If a line wraps awkwardly, you’ll catch it in context. You won’t catch it in a doc.

First Line, Second Line

The only job of the first line is to get you to the second line.

“It takes 3.1 seconds to read this ad” → Wait what? → “The same time it takes a Model S to go from 0 to 60.”

Hook. Payoff.

Newsletter Intros

Start with time, place, what’s going on.

“Hey, it’s Harry. It’s 3:47 a.m. I’m in the big smoke alone. Laptop, green tea, looking at the whiteboard like a dozy dog.”

You can’t get that from Twitter. It’s fresh bread, warm to touch. The specificity of lived experience.

What AI Can’t Do

AI lacks three things:

1. Taste — Ogilvy pulled “At 60 mph, the loudest noise is the electric clock” from a car magazine. That’s taste.
2. Conviction — AI doesn’t believe anything. Good writing comes from believing something.
3. Experience — Bukowski was a postman for 20 years before writing Post Office. Kerouac lived on the road for 7 years before writing On The Road in 3 weeks.

AI predicts the next word from everything already written. Good copy arranges words in ways they haven’t been laid out before.

Quick Reference Examples

Process Checklist

1. What’s the current attitude? What’s the desired attitude?
2. Who am I talking to? (Get specific)
3. What can I say that nobody else can?
4. Write 5 versions
5. Run each through the 3-question test
6. One Mississippi, Two Mississippi test
7. Cut everything that isn’t working for you
8. Show someone. Get feedback on versions, not just “good/bad”

Related Skills

Copywriting is a horizontal skill — these frameworks apply across the Communicate phase:

• mkt-content-briefs — Apply these copywriting principles when writing production-ready content briefs
• mkt-lp-optimization — Use these frameworks for landing page headlines, CTAs, and persuasive body copy
• mkt-imc — Sharpen pillar messaging and angle descriptions with copywriting techniques