Crazy busy here at AmyHQ with new clients, workshop preparations and trying to work from the park to take advantage of the sun. Don’t worry though, there are more free copywriting and content marketing resources and AmyTV episodes going live shortly.

Next week I’ve been asked to do a webinar for FullQuota content marketing, about writing killer headlines (it’s free – want to join us?)

Going through the materials today I realised I’ve not written before about how adding small, simple words can have a dramatic effect on your copywriting.

And just as the hottest chillies are unassuming, some of these spicy words look so ‘normal’ they’re easy to miss.

So, read through this article, note the ones most suitable for your business and create some hot copywriting!

The unexpected

One challenge you face in copywriting is making your customer believe you have something new and interesting to tell them.

Let’s take a headline for example:

8 Social Media Marketing Tactics Successful People Use

Not bad. It’s directed at the interests of the customer, [social media marketing tactics] suggests you’ll learn valuable tips for your success [if successful people use them, you should too right?]

But we could beef it up a little by making it relevant to our customer, important AND unexpected.

For example:

8 Unusual Social Media Marketing Tactics Successful People Use

That’s your first unexpected word, now have 9 more:

• Bizarre
• Odd
• Strange
• Shocking
• Surprising
• Abnormal
• Weird
• Rare
• Freakish

Powerful pain and danger

Your customer is in trouble and you can help.

But whether it’s not filing their tax on time, or missing sales because of weak marketing, it’s your responsibility to make them realise HOW BIG their problem really is.

Because that is just one way to increase your value in their eyes.

So when you’re talking about the problem your customer faces, and you’ve written “are your frustrated with…” for the 26th time, try one of these to save your sanity.

• Danger  – Do you know the dangers of…
• Risk – Why you are at risk of…
• Toxic – The toxic problem plaguing [target market]
• Killing / Kills – Why [problem] will kill your [business]
• Panic – Stop the [problem] panic now
• Fail / Failure – Worried that your [dream / business] is doomed to fail?
• Sick – Is [problem] making you sick?
• Never – 8 things [target market] should never do
• Scary – The scary truth about…
• Fear – The fear of [problem] that grips [target market]

The remarkable joy of what you do

You’ve caught their attention, talked about their pain, now we need to spice up the benefits of what you offer.

Too many business owners simply state what they have to offer. If your competitors are also offering more money, more time, more leads, more sales, more happiness etc, how can you stand out?

Well some words amplify the effects of a promise. As I’ve mentioned before, just one word can dramatically change the impact of your copy. So it’s worth trying some of these in your own writing.

• Never-ending – leads / sales / referrals etc
• Explosive – results / growth
• Massive – email list / media coverage
• Dominate – your niche / industry / local areas
• Quickly / Fast / Instantly
• Fortune – how [product] can reveal a hidden fortune by…
• Breath-taking – views / moments / realisation
• Crush – see ‘dominate’
• Sizzling – Write a sizzling sales page

How about you? Are you naturally using these words to spice up your copy or do you find yourself struggling to find the right word at times? Let me know in the comments below. You may also enjoy reading The Copywriting Phrase Book.