The Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast

34 ⎸ The Secret to Your Marketing with Priscilla Parra

February 02, 2022 Serena Shoup, CPA Episode 34
The Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast
34 ⎸ The Secret to Your Marketing with Priscilla Parra
Show Notes Transcript

This week I'm interviewing a fellow Ambitious Woman, Priscilla Parra, the founder of Ambitious AF Copywriting. We connected on Instagram on the AmbitiousAF hashtag and worked together in the past, and I wanted to bring her on to share her insights from working with other bookkeepers and accountants on their social media and content creation.

She's giving some great advice around

  1. attracting the right clients based on your messaging
  2. how to start dialing in that messaging
  3. the number one thing you need in order to get clearer on that
  4. gives us somethings to start thinking about when writing all the words for your website

Connect with Priscilla on: Instagram

Thanks for listening. For more information about the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast or interest in our programs or mentoring visit our resources below:

Visit our website: ambitiousbookkeeper.com

Follow the Blog: ambitiousbookkeeper.com/blog

Connect on Instagram: instagram.com/ambitiousbookkeeper

Connect on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/SerenaShoup

Connect of Facebook: Facebook.com/serenashoupcpa

34 - The Secret to Your Marketing with Priscilla Parra

[00:00:00] Serena: This week I'm interviewing another fellow ambitious woman, Priscilla Parra, the founder of Ambitious AF Copywriting. We connected on Instagram on the Ambitious AF hashtag, and we worked together in the past and I wanted to bring her on to share her. From working with other bookkeepers and accountants on their social media and content creation.

[00:00:22] She's giving some great advice today around attracting the right clients based on your messaging, how to start dialing in that messaging, the number one thing you need in order to get clearer on that messaging. And she gives us some things to start thinking about when writing all the words for your website.

[00:00:42] If you're interested in working with Priscilla after you listen to this episode, I'll be linking her information in the show notes to this episode, but she also has this amazing, almost free resource for you. It's a list of captions and headlines to help you get started when it comes to creating content specific to bookkeepers and accountants. And you can also grab that in the link to the show notes. You can connect with Priscilla on Instagram. She's @ambitiousafcopywriting and without further ado, welcome to the Ambitious Bookkeeper Podcast, Priscilla.

[00:01:17] 

[00:01:17] 

[00:01:46] Serena: I'm so excited to have you today. We've worked together in the past and I know you are very involved in the bookkeeping and accounting community when it comes to marketing. So I'm super excited to have you on my podcast and as a fellow ambitious woman. So welcome. Welcome. Why don't you introduce yourself to our audience?

[00:02:09] Priscilla: Thank you so much Serena for having me on your podcast. Not too long ago, you were on mine and you totally inspired me as a working mama from home and building a business. So I always think about that episode we had together, cause it was very special. But yet, so as you said, my name is Priscilla and I am the founder of Ambitious AF Copywriting. And I'll leave it there right now. 

[00:02:35] Serena: Yeah, I would love to know because you've gone through a couple iterations of your brand and this will probably tie into basically what we're going to talk about today. Walk us through your journey of starting your business and the different iterations of your branding.

[00:02:53] Priscilla: Yes. So right now I am a copywriter and it took a minute to get to this point. So I'll just backtrack a little bit to the beginning. When I actually decided that I was just going to work for myself. So after 16 years of a love, hate relationship with the dental world, I decided that I wanted to do something a little bit more -- like more impactful, which was more than being an employee. I thought, you know what, since I have this love, hate relationship with these people, let's just work side by side with them instead of for them. So I became a dental consultant. And then after a couple of years of that, I didn't like what was happening. I didn't like the kind of clients I was working with. I wasn't making the money. I knew I should make, and I was struggling to find clients. So I decided it's time to do some marketing and. Time to expand into more than just dental world. 

[00:03:42] So as I was trying to figure out marketing, I realized I couldn't afford to pay anyone for it. And I think that's like a really common struggle for most of us who start our business from scratch with no capital. And then I realized that I didn't know what the hell marketing was. I was like, well, which one should I pay for emails? I don't know. And then I came across someone who knew social media marketing, and she decided she was going to help me. So she came on board on my team and started doing social media for me. 

[00:04:11] As I kept learning to do social media. I'm sorry, marketing on my own. I was reading books, podcasts, YouTube, everything, just like all of us do to try to learn as much as we can for free. And I was still struggling. I was still struggling with who am I talking to? I don't know who my messaging is going to. And so that's just where I got really stuck. 

[00:04:33] So I was helping people with social media marketing at the time, because I was able to create content and I was understanding how to build a brand and everything else. I was doing this for everyone else, except for me. So I wasn't applying what I was preaching. And so then I found myself like still trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with my freaking marketing, how come it's not working. 

[00:04:55] So as, as I reevaluated things, I just kept reading so many books and I was just like, Hold on. There's a common theme here that I'm getting and it, everyone keeps talking about the words you're using and the messaging that you're using and have you, I was reading like different kinds of books. It was not just marketing, but there's also like psychology involved. And then I found copywriting and then I realized, okay.

[00:05:22] Everything boils down to words and triggering thoughts and emotions. So that's when I was like, holy ****, can I cuss here? 

[00:05:30] Serena: Yeah. 

[00:05:32] Priscilla: I was like, oh my God, it's me. It's my messaging. I don't know what the hell I'm talking about here. I don't know who I'm talking to. And so then that's when I took a step back and like things started changing for me and I was focusing more on the copywriting and then I was like, I need to help people know this, like, people need to know that this is the hardest part is getting that message that you want to get across to the people that you actually want to work with. So that's kind of how I ended up here and the evolution of my business. This is now my third name change and logo. 

[00:06:09] Serena: Okay. So I have some questions and I'm sure our audience also has questions about this. So you're saying your branding and your social media isn't really going to gain traction unless you know exactly who you're talking to. So what is the first step to figuring that out? I'm sure you've come up with a process now for your clients. So, yeah. 

[00:06:33] Priscilla: Yeah, definitely. So one of the first things that I, and you and I have had this conversation too, because I did help you with your content and you already had a lot of this down, which made working with you a lot easier than it is with some. But knowing who you're talking to doesn't necessarily mean that it's a particular business that you're working with or a particular niche in that way, it could also be the kind of people you want to work with.

[00:07:00] What are their qualities? What do they care about? What the, the funniest part about it is that everyone tends to want to work with people who are like themselves. And so sometimes when we don't know where to start. I say, start with you, and what would make you pay attention to your own message?

[00:07:20] Serena: Yeah, I think that is that that's an area that can be helpful, but also make things harder because you might be severely limiting the people that you're working with or yeah. I mean, it's, it's easy to be like, I can just figure out my persona if I just basically duplicate myself. Right? But You might not help the right people or all the people that need your help. Right. So that can be a tricky one. 

[00:07:47] Priscilla: It is tricky. And honestly, like one of the biggest things that I found, in the long run is that the more you know yourself, the more, you know who you want to work with and the more you understand your own offer as well.

[00:08:01] Serena: Yeah. The offers is a really big one too. Like it's really hard to have the right messaging if you don't know exactly what you're offering. And that's why it's so hard at the beginning of anyone's business, right. Bookkeeper, accountant, any other client that I've worked with, I've seen the same struggles of them not having their offer really dialed in. So they don't really know how to talk about it or talk about themselves or their business. So it does take time. Right. 

[00:08:29] Priscilla: Yeah. And I think that's one of the things that when you first start your business is that you're not going to get this right, right away, especially if you're doing it all on your own. And so doing exercises, for example, I just created a video for YouTube that I'm explaining to people that if you work on your mission, that would be a really good place to start so that you can start building around what your mission is, so that you can start developing the right message. I guess I could break that down a little bit.

[00:09:00] So when it comes to your mission, you basically want to say. What is your offer? I tell people, break this down. This is an exercise. What is your office? What are the things that you offer to people? How do you deliver that offer as well? So once you have that in writing, then later on, you can go back and you can start refining it. The other thing that you want to include in that is who is that offer meant for? So you already have a picture in your mind as to who is going to use your service. You might picture an actual person that you know, or someone that you think you could help. And that's a good way to. Really start developing, like who do you help? You know, the, the qualities that you will appreciate. So for example, I want to work with people who appreciate the value of money well spent. So they understand that this stuff is not easy, but they also understand that it's not cheap and it takes, you know, it's quality that you're going to pay for. So it's like, okay, I want to work with people who appreciate high quality, who are not beginners in marketing, who are not beginners in their business, someone who's well-established already. So these are just like little things to help start building that persona of who you're talking to. 

[00:10:18] Serena: It doesn't always mean like the industry, right? So sometimes you're thinking I'm just really limited on like what industry and how much revenue they make and maybe where they're located and things like that. But. it goes deeper, right? You have to go deeper with like their values. Like you said, they value high quality work. Like that's what I hope all the bookkeepers here, listening are thinking the same thing. Like I want clients who have integrity, want to do things the right way. I want to work with clients who are at a certain point in their business, so you know that they can afford you.

[00:10:52] Priscilla: Yeah. So the other thing is how do you explain your value? And that's the tough one that I think, you know, I definitely don't want to cover that here, but that's something that I help people get through as far as like, let's discover who you are, because. You are the reason why people want to work with you. They don't want to work with like a blank page in like robot. They want to work with you because they liked you for some reason and tapping into what it is that makes people like you is like it's, it's fun work. And once you realize what it is, then it's so much easier to get it out in your messaging.

[00:11:27] Serena: Absolutely. 

[00:11:28] Priscilla: Yeah, there was this thing that happened and I highly recommend this for people. So when I was doing all my learning and my, you know, oh, copywriting, it's the messaging. Then I realized words, then with words comes the word trigger. And so one of the exercises that I did when I was first, like trying to figure all this out was okay. So there are certain words that cause emotion. And so I made a list of those words, like, okay, sad, happy, angry, greedy, whatever. Like there's a whole list of emotions. Right. Then you start linking words under those words that you can trigger. So like what can make someone sad? So I started just creating all these different lists of words so that I knew these are the kinds of words I need to use in my marketing to get the message out for. Whoever I'm trying to trigger. Cause it's always about what are you trying to invoke in somebody's mind because there's something already going on in all of our minds. And now we just got to meet that person there with our message so that they can pay attention and know like, oh wow. They have a solution for me. So that's like the overall thing of our message is getting that emotion to trigger the people that you want to work with so that they know that you have something for them.

[00:12:45] Serena: Absolutely. That's awesome. So your process for that, like you would recommend using that kind of language and going through that exercise to apply everywhere, not just social media, but on your website, even in your, about you, I'm like a huge believer in like your, about me section of the website. Should it be completely about you. It should be more about your customer, your client, right? 

[00:13:12] Priscilla: Right, right. That's a good point. And that's the other thing that I've been helping people do is like their biography. Becausea biography can persuade someone to work with you, if it's written in a way that it's attractive to them. Because obviously, like you said, it's not just about you because you're trying to say stuff that will attract your ideal client to you. For example, I did one for a bookkeeper recently. She's amazing. And her-- well, I'm not going to promote her cause that's not fair, but that's okay. She has a really cool name and the name alone sometimes like for like even mine, Ambitious AF you know, our business name can attract people sometimes too.

[00:13:54] And so we have to think about what is it. We want to attract so that we're using that in the words that we're choosing again, it's it triggers stuff. So this, this bookkeeper I wrote for it, you know, the same thing I always hear I'm kind of boring, you know, I don't really have a story to tell, like I hear this all the time from bookkeepers and accountants and stuff, and it's like, that's not true. There's something special about you. Something that people love about you and there's stuff that people hate about you, but we're going to focus on the stuff that people love. And so we focus on the fact that, you know, she attracts women that are of a certain income bracket. She attracts those kinds of people and she always has advice for them. Like she's always willing to help and provide advice, even if it's just a family member or something. So we used that in her biography because it's something like not everyone is approachable. So obviously she's approachable. 

[00:14:49] So, you know, it's like you're searching within yourself to find like, how do you describe yourself so somebody will say, oh, I would love to work with her? So that is definitely something to develop, which also is in the beginning where I would tell you if you're doing this yourself, start working on your mission and then start working on you and what makes you special. And one of those things could be ask several people that you've worked with. Tell them, to give you three to five words to best describe you. That is a really good way to start getting an idea of what others think about you. Because obviously we think of ourselves a certain way. Sometimes we don't realize how other people see us. And so using that in the beginning, building blocks of your branding and your messaging, again, that's super helpful because it's giving you more words to describe.

[00:15:37] Serena: Yeah, that was going to be, my question would you suggest when you are doing the work for somebody or helping them with it, do you do that market research or do you ask them to do that homework? So you do it. 

[00:15:48] Priscilla: Some people have already been through it because for example, they maybe had a branding coach or something like personal brand coach which is allways-- like, I can help you do that without the coaching part. I think the coaching part is pretty good because then you know it yourself and you can like eat, sleep and breathe your own brand, which is you. 

[00:16:06] Serena: My other question was when it's a team of people. Cause you said someone wants to work with you. They're attracted to you. And so you have your about me section on your website when it's a team and you're actually trying to build a business or a company like an asset and have multiple people on your team. So you're not doing everything. It can, you can do it one of two ways. Right? And I want to get your take on this too, is you could still be a personal brand and have a team behind you. That's kind of like hidden, right, right. To me, that for me, in my situation, that feels out of integrity because I want everyone to know that there's a whole team helping me, but you can still have that personal brand effect. Right. And then the other, the other option. And this is where I kind of wanted your input. And hopefully this helps someone else too. Is if there is a team, do you still, like, do you have an about me section about each team member that's just shortened or like, how do you present the company as a brand rather than like, as a person.

[00:17:08] Priscilla: So if you're going to do like a team, then I do recommend that you, especially, like you said, if you're going to showcase them as part of the team, now you have to build the idea of what is your brand as a company instead of a personal brand. And that is a little bit different because it's more like what's the culture?

[00:17:28] Serena: Yeah. 

[00:17:28] Priscilla: And that that's a little bit of a different feeling. So like for example, yours, ambitious bookkeeping, that word in itself is like, okay, we're going to get stuff done and we're going to make **** happen. And like, it's just, it already triggers a bunch of ideas in someone's mind. So that kind of brand is very easy to grow. Like look at this other ambitious bookkeeper who's on board. So everyone has a really cool story, but it all all aligns to the core theme of the brand itself. 

[00:18:00] Serena: Oh, cool. 

[00:18:02] Priscilla: Yeah. 

[00:18:02] Serena: Awesome. Hopefully that helps someone else too. Cause I feel like that's a question cause you'll see it around. I'm sure you've seen it too. There's some accounting websites that have no personal touch whatsoever. There's no pictures of actual people. It's all stock images. And it's like, for me, if I'm a potential client. To me, that's a turnoff because I want to know who I'm working with. Even it is a team of people. 

[00:18:27] Priscilla: Yeah, I agree. And that's why, like, I, it's huge for me that I, anyone I work with understands that I'm actually helping you with the copywriting for your personal brand. I really suck at generic stuff. And I tell this to people, I'm like, yes, I'm a copywriter, but I'm focused on personal branding because there's something so much more unique, so much more special. As opposed to, like you said like generic photos and this and that. Like, I do not know how to do that. I honestly don't. And so-- 

[00:18:58] Serena: I don't think it works. I totally don't think it works.

[00:19:01] Priscilla: But some people make it work like obviously like Coca Cola doesn't have a face to it, but there's-- 

[00:19:06] Serena: That's true.

[00:19:07] Priscilla: So it's like, there's going to be someone who can help you with that. I'm not that person, 

[00:19:12] Serena: But I think it still boils down to like the culture, because even like those big brands that are able to do that without a face behind it. I don't think you really need to think about that when you're a small business, right. But you can still, you can still sprinkle in things about the company culture, even if it is a decently sized team. And but yeah, I think for bookkeepers who are starting definitely need to go down the path of personal branding and you can always expand it. I mean, I started out as a personal brand with both my businesses and like now I'm expanding them and we'll see where it goes. But yeah, you've got to start out with that personal touch, especially in our industry because it's built on trust. 

[00:19:56] Priscilla: Right. And so I wanna like kind of touch a little bit on when you are building your personal brand and like your content and all of that. The basic foundation of copywriting is really your messaging. And so everything really boils down to that. If you don't have the message right, then you're not going to attract anyone. And that's what my mistake was in the beginning was I was so general because I didn't know who I wanted to work with. I didn't realize that there were certain qualities I could appeal to or whatnot. And so it was so general that I wasn't getting leads. And that's one of the things that happens when people start doing their marketing is that they don't know who to talk to. So it's very broad. And so like nobody's paying attention to it because they're like, oh, cute picture. All right. Like, you know, keep going where they're not like the message didn't attract them at all. Who you talking to in this message? So trying to get really clear on who you're talking to is the best way to actually attract clients. 

[00:20:53] And sometimes, and this is really hard for people to hear. You just have to pick, just pick out of your experience of who've you've already worked with what kind of people, whatever. Just pick a few, maybe just for now an industry or two that you want to at least try to get messaging down with, and you'll see the difference because if you know exactly what kind of issues that kind of industry has and like common questions and things like that, then it's so much easier to answer those questions for people you've already worked with. 

[00:21:26] Serena: Yeah. 

[00:21:27] Priscilla: And then along with that, websites are huge. Websites are very big way of communicating your value, but what most people are doing when it comes to their website and all the writing on the website is again, they're being generic. And they're kind of saying the same thing, everyone else does. And in your case with bookkeeping, I see this constantly, and it's so hard for bookkeepers and accountants to say, like, this is what's different about our company. I don't see that anywhere in these websites. And so what you want to do in your website instead of saying, oh, this is what I do. This is what we do. You actually want to start answering questions that your potential clients are going to be asking, like, what are the most important things they want to know? How does it work? Right. How does bookkeeping work starting off your website with just answering that question alone will already get a reader to be more inclined, to want to work with you.

[00:22:24] So think about when you're putting out information, it's not about what you want to say. It's about what these people that are your potential clients want to know. And hopefully that helps people with like the direction of their messaging. 

[00:22:38] To give you an example, I would say if you are, let's just say you want to work with a marketing firm. You know that they have issues where they have maybe coaching programs versus done-for-you services. Right? Then you can actually say, do you offer done-for-you services and coaching? This is how you can help, or this is how you can price or whatever, whatever you want to say, but you're speaking their language. So now they're going to pay attention to whatever advice you're going to give or whatever. So now this establishes your authority and now you look like someone that they could potentially want to work with. 

[00:23:16] Serena: Yeah. And I know people get really hung up on this because I got really hung up on it at the beginning too. And Essentially every industry has pretty much the same problem when it comes to their finances. It's just a matter of, like you said, talking about it in their terms. So if it's like, for instance, the main industry that we work with as course creators and coaches online, so mainly online business. So copywriting on our website. We talk about monthly debriefs, which a lot of course creators understand what a debrief is like a launch debrief. So it's like after your launch, you sit back and you look at what happened, what went well, what didn't go so well. And so we've changed some of the things that we say on our website. And the reports that we deliver, we call it a debrief because we're debriefing you over your month. Right? So it can be around a launch or it can just be around your monthly numbers. But like little things like that, that if they are experienced in the industry, they should understand what a debrief is. And if not, we get to educate them on that.

[00:24:23] Priscilla: There you go. 

[00:24:23] Serena: Little things like that, just taking language from the industry. So I'm trying to think of another example. Maybe restaurants, for instance, if you work with restaurants, is your menu pricing profitable or something like that? So figuring out what the cost of all of your food is versus the, you know, the pricing that you have, like we can help you with that kind of stuff. So figuring out certain KPIs that different industries track against will, will be helpful as well. 

[00:24:50] Priscilla: And I think you've said it before too. You think you're going to lose out on all the potential clients that you're going to get by narrowing down, but that's actually not true. People still know you're a bookkeeper and if for whatever reason they were attracted to you, they're going to ask you for help, whether they're in that industry, that you were marketing or not. Somebody is paying attention at that point. And that's what I want people to focus on. Your messaging has to talk to somebody. So if you don't know who you want to talk to, then you should do some exercises on as to like, who have you worked with? Who have you enjoyed working with? What were you good at? What do you already have experienced doing obviously? And you've you teach all this stuff. So I don't even want to repeat everything that you say, because you're so thorough with everything that you provide.

[00:25:34] Serena: Yeah well, you've seen inside of my programs, but not all of our listeners have, so that's a little sneak peek of like, I do walk you through that to figure out what kind of clients you want to start attracting, and it's not like we've talked about before. It doesn't even necessarily mean an industry. Although if you do have experience with a certain industry, that's helpful because then you have sort of something to guide you in your decision. 

[00:25:58] I mean, it's a, problem that I even see across some of my clients where it's like, they're trying all these different things, they're changing their services, they're changing their program. They're launching something else and they're doing this, that, and the other thing. And I'm like, if you would just pick one, but figure out your messaging-- 

[00:26:16] Priscilla: And be consistent. 

[00:26:18] Serena: And just keep tweaking your messaging related to that one service or that one product. You'll see attraction at some point. And if not, you'll get the information that you need to make an adjustment.

[00:26:31] Priscilla: Right. And, you know, I want to give as much value as I can. It's so hard to do it. Cause I feel like I'm just throwing random topics out there, but like, I'm just thinking about what are the common things that I see people struggling with?

[00:26:44] Let's just talk about content for a moment, social media content. So when it comes to social media content, again, we need to know who we're talking to, but we also like, if we are solving particular problems, we can talk about that solution to the problem. For example, and this is something that I'm going to put out there later, but I have some like, captions, right? Like the headline of your caption, the headline of your caption is super important because it's basically, like if you're going to read a newspaper or a magazine, they put a headline there, that's going to grab your eyeballs and you're going to want to see what it says. And there's a teaser in that within just a few words. And it's usually a question, right? 

[00:27:26] So for me, I hate doing taxes. I hate when tax time comes because I have to scrounge and put all my **** together and do all the math. And I hate it because for the longest, I haven't been able to afford a bookkeeper, but that's changed already. So but my point is that the social media captions that you use, you have to have a good hook. Like, do you have. Getting ready for taxes at the end of the year. Like, I'd be like, yes, me, I do. And then I'm going to want to read what the rest of your post says. So if you work on your posts in that way, where you're triggering some pain that someone's feeling, then you're going to get more readership. You're going to get more attention. And if you get to the point-- try not to make these posts too long people, cause I'm seeing too many long posts. People don't read, people are bored, people are lazy and we get distracted. So you have just a few seconds to. Get that headline right, address the problem and then direct them with a call to action.

[00:28:20] That is like as simple as I can put it for you guys to create your posts on social media. And it's the same thing with your email newsletters, a good subject line is going to make people open. Now if the rest of it, isn't good. I'm not going to guarantee anything else, but at least your headline is going to get people to click and open that. So a good place to start. If you're struggling with your content is work on just headlines. 

[00:28:44] Serena: Yeah, that's a really good point too, because when you share somebody's post and you allow it to have the caption on there, it'll only show like the first line. So whatever fits in that little area is what you really need to focus on. And then build the rest of it out. But yeah, like you said, the Instagram posts are getting really long. Some of mine have been long, but I've noticed the way they've changed the platform is that if the caption is too long and you're trying to like scroll down and read it, it just like goes on by like, have you noticed that it just like flip on my phone? It does all, I can be trying to read the caption and start scrolling up and then whoop all of a sudden it's to the next post. And so I can't even finish reading the caption unless I hold my finger, like on the phone screen. So I'm like, That's a bad thing for people with long captions. Cause then my attention is already on to the next post without even trying, you know?

[00:29:37] Priscilla: I'll give a couple more tips on this, because I feel it's helped a few people that I've talked to just when they're like, can you just give me a little direction on how to write my newsletter? How should I write a post or whatever? So first think about, obviously we just said the headline, right? The job of the headline is for people to want to keep reading that next line should also want people to keep reading. So you want to keep that one interesting too. So what's the number one thing that we all want to know when we're about to read or engage in something 

[00:30:06] Serena: What's in it for me, 

[00:30:07] Priscilla: What's in it for me! Exactly! So if you are looking at this stuff from the point of view of your reader, then it actually makes you stop writing so much. Because nobody wants to read a whole paragraph on Instagram. We pretty much are like double tappers and move on. But if you have enough on there, that's going to catch my attention, then I'm going to want to keep reading.

[00:30:32] So always think about what's in it for the reader. What are they going to get out of it? Are they going to learn something? Are you going to direct them to go somewhere else or are they going to laugh? Are they going to cry? What are they going to get out of it? If it's going to solve a problem, which is hopefully what you're working on. That's what you want to get to the point really quickly and show that value. It's probably too much to go over here on this podcast episode, but you know, just-- 

[00:30:54] Serena: No, we've got time. No, I think some of this is really important because like I take it for granted the knowledge that I have around it, but I also. Like you said, I try to put myself in my consumer or my client's shoes and think about like, when I see a post, what, what helps me engage with it? First of all, like little, these seem really little, but for some people it's really important. Number one is not to use scripty fonts that are hard to read because first of all, people with dyslexia, can't even read cursive very well, so like be cognizant of that and like some of us with like add can't even like really focus enough to concentrate and see what it's actually saying. And so we'll scroll on by and then creating just like space between the paragraphs. 

[00:31:45] Priscilla: Yeah. So don't drag on your posts and just keep writing sentence after sentence. You want to break it up into small little chunks. Definitely. 

[00:31:53] Serena: Yeah. So little things like that, that you can. Right away to just help with the readability of your playlists and keep people's attention. And approach it from the perspective of like what pain points they have and if you were in their shoes, what would make you keep reading? And when you're scrolling Instagram or whatever platform you like to use, when you stop and read somebody's full posts, kind of analyze: why, why did that call to me? And like, why did I stop and read this whole entire thing? And what can I do? That's similar. Not ripping them off, but like the style, right?

[00:32:34] Priscilla: There's a framework. There's always a framework. And in copywriting, when we look at someone's copy and we want to dissect it or see why it was so good, we, we save it for later and we call that a swipe file. So that you can actually say, oh, wow, this was a really good post. I want to use the framework that they used. Right. Because a lot of times that is what copywriting is, where there is a framework that's going to take you through the emotional process of purchasing, because there is a psychology behind buying and everything we buy is based on emotion. I didn't agree with that at first, because the first time I read it, it was like, oh, everything you bought at the grocery store was based on an emotion. I was like, that's ****. I was hungry. Like I just, it made me--

[00:33:18] Serena: Exactly, but that's kind of an emotional thing for a lot of people. 

[00:33:21] Priscilla: It is an emotional thing. And so like, there's that process that takes a buyer. It's like, oh, I'm hungry. I'm at the grocery store. So that's like all marketing right there. Right. But what what's going to appeal to me at the moment, is it, do I want to eat healthy? Do I want to eat? You know, it depends on what I'm going through at the moment. Right. But it is all emotional. And so you save these posts because if I just switched a few words here and there, I still have a great post. And it's not the same post it's about something else. So that's kind of like a framework of copywriting. There's that for sales pages, there's that for websites. There's that for pretty much everything that we create, there's just a formula for it. 

[00:34:01] And of course, a lot of the marketing that you see out there, like all the posts that are like. Let's just say Amy Porterfield, for example. Right? A lot of people know who she is. She started off like writing her own copy, but she took copywriting courses because it's like, once you know how to trigger people, then it's like, boom. Now you start making sales because that is the overall bottom line of our business is to market it. And in order to market it properly, we need the right messaging. And that's just, I'm going to keep going back to that. Cause that's the core. That's just the core. And so there's a lot more to learn about copywriting, but if you guys are just doing the very bare basics, figure out who you're talking to, figure out what your offer is and what your value is. Get those headlines right. And keep it short to the point and make sure that whatever you're writing, there's something in it for your reader. So hopefully that helps a little bit. 

[00:34:55] Serena: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So if somebody is like, okay, I get, I get what I need to do here, but I need guidance. Do you help with this? And if so, how can people reach out to you? 

[00:35:11] Priscilla: Absolutely. So I have all kinds of stuff going on right now. More than anything right now, I'm doing a lot of done-for-you to type of work. Because I haven't gotten into, I know I probably should start coaching, but I'm just not there yet. But I collaborate with people that help you get your branding, right. And stuff like that if anyone wants to know, but you can find me on Instagram @ambitiousafcopywriting. Then I also started my YouTube channel where I have some very short, short videos because I know that nobody likes watching long videos. So they're super, super short and to the point, and I just, I'm starting to build on those. So I'm giving tips out on those two. That's Ambitious copywriting. And then my website is in progress. It's not available yet, but it will be ambitiousafcopywriting.com. And then you guys can email me cause I'm so happy to help. Or if you guys are seeing this on Instagram on Serena's page, then just like, send me a DM. I am so happy to talk to people and like answer questions. And I have no problem with giving advice because ultimately if I'm giving advice, you're the one that has to do the work. Not me. 

[00:36:16] Serena: Yeah. Oh, awesome. So thank you so much for sharing all of your wonderful insight. It's going to be really helpful for a lot of people. I can alreadytell. 

[00:36:28] Priscilla: I hope so. That's all I want to do. I love helping them.

[00:36:32] Serena: Yay. So yeah, all of her information is going to be linked in the show. And until next time, because I know we'll have you on here again, at some point, we'll talk to you later. Thanks for coming on. 

[00:36:45] Priscilla: Thanks for having me Serena. Have a great day. 

[00:36:47] Serena: Bye. 

[00:37:19] Thank you to everyone who helps make this podcast possible. Content and interviews are produced by me. Cirina Shoop our intro and outro music is written and performed by my brother. Ian Gilliam editing is also by Ian using his awesome sound engineering skills along with Descript software hosting and publishing is by Buzzsprout.

And you can check out the show notes for links to all of these amazing resources and resources mentioned in the episode.

Podcasts we love