How To Become a Master-Level Copywriter

“DG: you can’t call yourself a marketer and not have this book in your library.”

That’s the first line of a hand-written note I got a few years ago from Ryan Deiss.

Ryan is the founder of DigitalMarketer.com, a best selling author, founder of multiple companies collectively employing hundreds around the globe, and one of the best speakers about marketing I’ve seen in my career.

The note was in the middle of a book called Breakthrough Advertising, written by Eugene Schwartz. The book was originally published in 1966 and became a cult classic and one of the most sought after books about direct marketing. I had never heard of this book until Googling it and finding it retails on Amazon for $400. 

Dang! I guess Mr. Schwartz was a heck of a copywriter in his day. 

Ryan’s note said that “State of Awareness, Chapter 2” and “States of Sophistication, Chapter 3) will get anyone 80% of the way to master-level copywriter.” 

Here are those lessons from Eugene Schwartz.

State of Awareness:

You must know the “state of awareness” of your market; e.g. how well do your potential customers know you and what you can do? And you need to speak differently to prospects/customers depending on their stage.

“In its natural development, every market’s awareness passes through several stages,” Schwartz says. “The more aware your market, the easier the selling job, the less you need to say.”

Though in 2023 in B2B SaaS, I’d argue it’s not easier the more they know…it’s more technical and product oriented...and sometimes that’s where the fiercest competition happens. But I digress. 

As a copywriter, you must tweak your copy to match each level of awareness. Writing to someone that is the “most aware” of your products/services is going to be different than writing to someone who has no idea you exist. 

The awareness scale is as follows:

• Unaware - the customer doesn’t know they have a problem, doesn’t know they need help for this problem, does not know you’re the solution. This message is going to be very brand oriented, potentially a bit of an aspirational message, maybe even fear based etc. It’s hitting on broad human emotions, but not really communicating how you’ll get them there. It’s the MAGA of marketing, if you will, or Salesforce's “No software” message. 
• Problem Aware - the customer knows they have a problem, but they don’t know it can be solved, and they don't know it can be solved by you. Think late-night TV infomercials. Some random man with a spray tan saying, “Don’t you hate it when…” YES we do hate it …and we didn’t know we could fix it. They might be Googling how to do something faster/better/cheaper. They feel the pain, and they’re looking for a solution to their problem, but not a specific one. So if they land on your page, you have a brief moment to convince them that your specific solution is the one that will solve their problem.
• Solution Aware - the customer knows they have a problem, they know it can be solved, but they don’t know you can solve it. This is when people are googling for software solutions - they know that they can demo a CRM software, and they’re looking for that type of solution.
• Product Aware - the customer knows they have a problem, they know it can be solved, and they know you can solve it (but they need help to buy). This ranges from supporting people when they land on your site looking to request a demo - they seek you out specifically in the hopes you’ll assist them. I’d say its scope includes product marketing, and anything required to convince multiple people in the buying comittee that they should take action with urgency. 
• Most Aware - the customer knows of your product, knows what it does, knows they want it. The deal is nearly sealed…think of this as supporting your sales team with content. 

States of Awareness help answer “how much does your marketing know about your product?” and helps you understand which angle to approach your copy from.

But there’s also another layer to factor in: sophistication. How many similar products have they been told about before?

If you’ve ever purchased software on behalf of your company you may have experienced this yourself. Your first time seeing ABM software you’re sort of taking it all in, getting a broad strokes understanding of what it does. You hear about different features and you’re wrapping your head around how they address the challenges broadly. By the 7th demo you know the patterns, already know about the different features that are possible, and have an opinion on which functionality within features will meet your needs.

Here are the different States of Sophistication:

• First in market - no competition. You’re the first company they’ve heard of that does this thing. You can make general claims about what you do and people won’t have anything to compare it to, to know whether or not it’s true. 
• Second in market - some familiarity. This is the stage where you have to differentiate yourself against another player or two. Your claims need to be supported with how you’re better.
• “The Third Sage of Sophistication” - other competition has established why they’re better as well. At this stage, you have to explain now just how you’re better, but why that is. This is when you’re really explaining how you solve the differentiation issue. For example - our email automation tool has better deliverability rates than the other guys, because we have XYZ process to avoid going to spam. The prospects in this level may have bought a solution like yours before, and they won’t be fooled. 
• “The Fourth State of Sophistication” - months after the Third Stage, the Fourth Stage, where the questions are focused on facts of the product, rather than the promise. These buyers will want a trial, or a free version of the platform because they need to see it in action to believe. 
• “The Fifth Stage” - this one isn’t really a stage, it’s more like a blood bath. The space is super crowded, prospects know how the category works, and they have informed opinions on what the best options are. Weirdly you sort of circle back around, and the main differentiator is knowing your audience the best, providing the best experiences, you’re back in the softer stuff.  You need the technical information to back yourself up. But you might be differentiated by brand again. 

This is not the easiest of marketing books to read, but if you can pound your way through it you’ll come out the other side as a better copywriter. And if you’re not willing to dish out the $400 like Ryan did for me, I hope this little explainer gives you a helpful taste for free and will probably lead to some “Eugene Schwartz” Googling for later. I also came across this article on LinkedIn where someone went deeper on the sophistication stages. Shoutout to fellow copy nerd Liam. Keep fighting the good fight. 

My main takeaway is this: understanding your customer and your market is the real secret to becoming a great copywriter. 

It’s not about being the best writer, using the most creative and descriptive language or having the punchiest copy. Alliteration and metaphors won’t hit as well as copy that says exactly what your prospect needs to hear, at the perfect time. 

The CMO at one of my earliest marketing jobs handed me a fortune cookie paper that said, “Good writing is clear thinking made visible.” 

I think about this a lot. We focus so much on the writing, that we forget the framing, outlining, knowing the customer, etc matters more. The ideas are way more important than the words. Great copywriting really is just great research and the ability to edit and rearrange to tell the right story for your customer and for your business.