Entrepreneur Alex Cattoni, who started her career at MindValley, and has now worked with me in our company since 2013. After almost a decade’s worth of experience writing copy for many high-level brands, primarily in the personal development space, founded Copy Posse.
In 2011, when Alex left MindValley, as the creative director, she then started freelancing, and consulting, and building funnels, along with writing email campaigns for other brands. Seeing a lot of the sale sales tactics and douchiness on the Internet she didn’t agree with, caused her to become jaded.
So, in 2020, Alex started Copy Posse, and has since built an audience of a few hundred thousand people. Alex says it’s her mission to teach people the modern marketing techniques that she sees the direction of copywriters going in today’s climate.
Copywriting is a word that’s used a lot, because it’s unregulated, and anybody can take a course and call themselves a copywriter. Alex says that anybody can learn copywriting, which makes it really a great way to make money, and fast-track your freelancing, and entrepreneurial journey. According to Alex, great copywriters are also marketers, because marketing can solve everything, with positioning and strategy. In addition, great copywriters have the added ability to craft messaging, and critically think about the messaging they’re using to be able to persuade people with words, not just written text, but video scripts, and things like that. Copywriting is the translation of that marketing into words and videos on the Internet and offline.
Alex learned, when interviewing entrepreneurs that, the number one skill they credit to the success of building their business is, copywriting and marketing. There are different types of writing that Alex distinguishes between, and that is book writing versus content writing, which would be more for writing blog posts, and more content for the sake of starting conversations and engagement and collating a lot of information in one place. Then there’s copywriting, which is more strategic. It’s more directional. It’s guiding people to point A, to point B, to point C, through the buying experience, from the very first touchpoint, all the way to the final sale.
Alex has had students who have started from scratch, and then built multiple six-figure copywriting businesses. Then that becomes the foundation for them starting other businesses down the road, for partnering with businesses for leveling up to be marketing executives, or marketing directors, or chief copywriters at organizations. So, the options are endless for people who learn that skill.
You can’t operate a business without copywriting. A huge part of copywriting is asking who your target audience is. What is it they’re struggling with? Then, how can I write a hook that’s so compelling, that they’re going to buy my product? Next, how do I keep opening loops? An open loop is a concept that forces the brain to naturally want to seek out some form of conclusion. So, you usually omit a bit of information.
Then of course, you have content creation, which is landing pages and sales pages and video sales letters. The advice that Alex gives to business owners is, you do not have to write every single word of your own copy, for forever. But, in the beginning, you need to know what it is you’re trying to say. You need to know how it is you want to say it, so you can get a really good handle on your marketing, and what direction you want to move in. Then you can hire copywriters who know how to write compelling messaging, and who can help you take your business to the next level.
AI tools are being used to propel businesses forward, to better connect with audiences, and to better serve your customers. Alex quotes senior advisor, mentor and investor, Karl Kummenacher as saying, “AI plus HI, which is human intelligence, equals ROI.”
Alex looks at AI tools as a shortcut to ideation, first drafting, strategizing frameworks and concepts, but not just relying on them. Despite knowing, when it comes to content generation, specifically AI for copywriting, Alex knows that there’s going to be a whole lot of bad content published on the Internet over the next year, because now anybody with just a few prompts can create content.
True business owners will utilize these tools to streamline their process, to increase productivity, and to help with that first draft. So, it should be used as a tool, but not a shortcut to building a brand people trust, but it is a shortcut to helping to streamline a lot of the content creation process.
Along with all the advantages that good copywriting brings to businesses, there are also mistakes that Alex sees people making in copywriting, things that are outdated. One of which is the idea of linear marketing. Alex explains that you still have funnels that convert. You’ll still have traffic that you’ll buy, that will go to a landing page, that will sign up for a lead magnet, that will then purchase your course.
Alex says that the average person interacts with her brand 34 times before they make that first purchase. She says it’s because people are taking longer now to decide, because there’s so much great content on the Internet. There are so many mentors they can learn from, or it’s a lack of trust. They want to take more time to get to know who you are, make sure you’re the real deal.
Well, what are you doing on other platforms? Are you showing up with your community? Are you answering questions on TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram? The average person is interacting with brands in a lot more places, and a lot more often, before they make a purchase. Alex’s customers typically purchase after 60 days. If they haven’t bought anything in the first week, don’t count it as a deal lead.
Alex sees a lot of new business owners have a fear of polarization. They’re afraid of sharing their truth or speaking up about what they see in their industry, or ruffling feathers, because they want to appease everybody. But people are looking for strong voices to communicate their values, and what they’re all about. This will make your audience want to rally behind you even more. First of all, every audience on every different platform interacts with content a little bit differently. So, it’s important to think about how you can make sure they’re having the best experience with you, and not making an offer.
So, with Alex’s content strategy, so much of what we create is, asking how we can give a lot of free content. How can we give the what, but sell the how? When you look at her YouTube channel, her Instagram, and her lead magnets, she is giving you everything. She’s giving you the roadmap. She’s giving you the checklists. She’s giving you the tips and strategies. In addition, Alex says she’s always seeding and talking about her communities. She very strategically and nonchalantly lets her audience know what she has available.
Alex believes that community building is huge. She thinks it’s important to focus on building a community outside of your paid programs. You want to be able to connect with your audience, offer value, and then take them through to the next level.
According to Alex, one of the things that’s changed the way she thinks how she creates programs and runs her business, is she thinks of the roadmap that someone needs to go through, from going from point A, which is what she calls the aggravating status quo to B, which is their big dream, and mapping it out step-by-step.
Once you have started creating content for one platform, repurposing is easy. Alex thinks that the future of marketing is video marketing. YouTube is the number two most trafficked website in the world after Google. So, really think about how you can use these evolving tools and trends to get in front of the people who are looking for the solutions you can provide.
When it comes to repurposing content, Alex and her company, Copy Posse, follow a video first approach to content, meaning the YouTube script that is written is the first piece of content. So, about once or twice a month, Alex goes into her studio to record YouTube videos. The YouTube script then gets published on Alex’s blog. That exact same script is published on LinkedIn. Anyone who has a personality-based business should be repurposing their content on LinkedIn as newsletter. Anyone who subscribes, every time you publish, an email goes to their inbox. So, it’s basically another form of email marketing.
Alex has a program called Own The Inbox, which she recommends for all business owners who are looking to deal in their email marketing. Part of the program’s repurposing strategy is, everything they create for social media, they’re also creating to send as emails to their email list. Own The Inbox is all about building an audience by creating great content, and then creating a sales campaign to convert those engaged leads.
For more information on Alex Cattoni, and her company Copy Posse, visit her website www.copyposse.com or Copy Posse on Instagram.
