Why Long Form Copy > Short Form Copy
The Longer You Write, The More They Bite. A Lesson On The Magic Of Writing Persuasive, Long Form Marketing Material.
“Long copy sells more than short copy. People read long copy if it’s well-written, and if they’re interested in what you’re selling.”
- David Ogilvy
Do you want to know a fun fact that will either make or break your business…
Depending on what you choose to do with it?
Social Media has now been donned ‘the most consumed product of all time’.
The average person WORLDWIDE spends 2.5 - 3 hours PER DAY on Social Media.
That’s 1/8th of someone’s ENTIRE EXISTENCE.
And 1/5th of their WAKING EXISTENCE is spent on these platforms.
Meaning the average person probably spends more time consuming the lives of others, rather than going and creating their own reality.
And as a business owner, I want to ask myself…
How did this happen so quickly?
What are the causes of this?
And more importantly, what are the consequences of this?
Because when we are talking about the ENTIRE WORLD, the chances are, we are also talking about OUR market too.
First, the causes:
The platforms are free.
They are open 24/7.
They never stop, and they never end.
Their algorithms get BETTER over time.
They are PERFECTLY designed for consumption.
Everyone CAN create content.
Everybody WANTS to create content.
It taps into our deepest human desires - both as creators and consumers.
And the consequences are as follows:
The average person has a medical-grade addiction to this.
People’s emotions are all over the place.
Everybody is in a constant state of stress and quiet dissatisfaction.
And the one line that is most frequently referenced among our community of online entrepreneurs…
“Everyone’s attention spans are f**ked.”
But despite ALL of this, there are STILL people out here trying to sell their products, their services, their info offers, their SaaS…
By ONLY using short form, and stopping their marketing assembly line there.
Now, if you ask me - I don’t believe this makes any sense.
“If your prospect needs 10 pages of copy to make the sale, give them 20.”
- Dan Kennedy
Why would I want to compete in a domain that requires little barrier to entry?
Why would I want to limit myself and box myself in to make the AVERAGE consumer happy?
Why would I want to rely on the media and leave the success of my business at the mercy of an algorithm?
I wouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean we disregard short form altogether.
I myself use short-form content, as well as paid advertising, to promote our expertise and our services.
But in my opinion, the only way to TRULY utilise the power of short form content is to make sure we are taking the eyeballs we are getting, and directing them towards something LONG FORM.
“The more facts you tell, the more you sell.”
- Eugene Schwartz, Breakthrough Advertising
Because if people’s attention spans WERE truly cooked…
Then why are podcasts so popular?
Why do people sit for hours and watch streamers fuck around?
And why do people sit through the 90-minute, uninterrupted webinars that we do for clients every single week?
It doesn’t add up.
And to give a recent and up-to-date perspective on this…
In a recent video, Alex Hormozi was talking about how he frequently speaks with Mr Beast about the creator economy.
They said in their latest conversation, Mr Beast had just played at a Charity Football Match, and the first wave of players who came out were the ones who blew up from short form.
The crowd applauded when they came out, but nothing over the top.
Then came those who create YouTube videos, and the crowd’s applause was significantly louder, and their reception was far more welcoming.
But then came the streamers.
And the crowd are on their feet, going absolutely wild and screaming their heads off as the streamers run onto the pitch.
So what did Hormozi do the next week?
Started streaming on YouTube and doing the ‘Mozi Hotline'.
And now, many other entrepreneurs are following suit and going live.
Now, I’m not saying you need to go and create a Kick Account, or start going live on YouTube every day - you can if you wish…
But the point is clear.
Long-form content trumps short-form content every single day of the week.
We see this with Iman, Tai Lopez, Charlie Morgan, Hormozi & every other top creator in their respective niches.
Their YouTube is their steam engine working 24/7 for their business.
Their long-form content is the thing that gives them their leverage.
You could even have a longer, 20-30+ minute VSL on your funnel and direct your traffic towards it if you so please.
BUT…
And it’s a big BUT…
There is a core, fundamental problem with this strategy.
Because at the end of the day, the goal of content is CONVERSION.
And if you were to tell everyone who makes YouTube videos that they can keep making YouTube videos…
But the caveat is that NOBODY who watches your videos will actually end up converting…
Obviously, they wouldn’t do it.
I wouldn’t do it either.
And this is one of the issues we find with those who focus on ‘content’.
We don’t want to create content; we want to create conversions.
And we create conversions by writing COPY, not creating content.
This video by Nicholas Verge breaks down this concept tremendously.
Because you are not a content creator, you are a business owner.
Your goal is to give the market a solution to a problem and receive payment in exchange for your product / service.
Your goal, I assume, is not to be poor and famous.
And one of the big things that lets down long-form CONTENT (key word) is that the consumption of it isn’t urgent.
It isn’t forced.
There’s no reason for someone to watch it now, versus watching it tomorrow.
And not only is it not forced, or urgent…
You have other external factors that are vying for your prospects’ attention at the same time they are meant to be consuming your content.
Unless people are ACTIVELY searching for your long-form content - either via the YouTube Search feature, or via Google Ads, they have no incentive to keep watching.
Most people FIND your long-form content because it has been SERVED to them.
Not because they have put their hand up and said “Yes! I’m interested!”
Example: YouTube
Someone finds your latest video on their home page.
They choose to click on it over the other videos on there, which is another battle in and of itself.
They watch the first few minutes of your video.
They get distracted and look at the comments.
Maybe they even click around with the links in your bio in different tabs.
You’ve got advertisers popping up multiple times throughout the video.
And in most cases, they end up clicking off to watch another video on the ‘suggested’ tab on the right-hand side.
Consumption is not forced, nor urgent.
Example: VSLs
Someone is mindlessly consuming content on Instagram, Facebook or YouTube.
They see an ad, maybe a short-form clip you’ve posted.
They are in a consumer mindset.
They click on the landing page.
The hook in the VSL doesn’t do its job the first time.
They press X in the top left-hand corner.
And they continue with their scroll.
Now, maybe they will see the ad again and take action after a while.
But the problem is still there, as you can see.
There is no REASON for someone to consume the material you are putting in front of them right now.
Which leaves you in a tricky situation, because the success of your funnel, and therefore your business, lives and dies in the hands of your copywriter - their ability to hold attention determines everything.
“Every element of your copy has one job — to get the next line read.”
- Joseph Sugarman
So, how can we mitigate this?
How can we leverage the advantages of long-form content and optimise for conversion, not just consumption?
Well, let’s look at it through the following lens.
We need something THEY choose to watch, not something that is served to them while they are in a consumer mindset.
We need them to COMMIT to watching it, not just rely on their chimp brain to choose to watch it, and fight their biology that wants instant reward.
We need some sort of URGENCY, which means we can’t use a type of media that will be there tomorrow for them to watch.
And we need an element of DIRECT RESPONSE, so we get conversions, not just people consuming, because we are running a business.
And if you are looking for all of the above…
There is only one type of media that accomplishes all of this, time and time again, for different businesses, in different markets, regardless of external factors…
And this is a webinar.
“The only purpose of advertising is to make sales. It is not for general effect. It is not to aid other salesmen.”
- Claude Hopkins
A webinar IS the most superior form of long-form media.
It is the perfect alchemy of content and copy.
It gives us all the benefits of educational content (YouTube), with the money-making direct-response principles of a VSL - all in one.
Having a great webinar provides you, and by extension, your business, with a moat around what you do.
It prevents you from becoming a commodity.
It allows you to show all of your best cards - from expertise, to offer and beyond all in one fell swoop.
You can communicate every fact, figure and anecdote that your audience needs to make a buying decision from you - all in one sitting.
You can do it to cold traffic, you can do it to warm traffic.
You can promote it to your list, or you can leverage other people’s lists.
You can market, and you can sell.
And personally?
The thing I love the most about webinars, and one of the reasons I decided to build my company around them, is that they are difficult for the average person to do.
I don’t want my clients to compete with the general public, like their competitors are doing on social media platforms. I want them to have a moat and to stand out.
I don’t want to compete with complete beginners using ChatGPT to spit out dozens of pieces of short-form copy or ad creatives.
Because in my opinion, the easier something is to do, the less of an advantage you have in that field.
You aren’t competing with AI, because AI can produce short-form and ad creatives for anyone. The easier it is to do, the less of an advantage you have.
Because if you ask the average competitor in your market to sit down for 90 minutes and explain to people why they should choose their offer…
The majority of them would crumble and fall, and be exposed for their lack of results, expertise and ability. It would be a car crash.
And from the customer’s perspective?
They love it!
Because they are given a choice throughout the whole thing.
They aren’t being served it, they are choosing to be there.
It’s pull marketing.
And the commitment levels in the funnel steps make it perfect from our perspective if our goal is conversion.
Commitment #1: Click On Ad / CTA.
Commitment #2: Sign Up To Event
Commitment #3: Show Up To Event.
Commitment #4: Watch All Of The Event.
Commitment #5: Fill Out The Application For The Offer.
Commitment #6: Qualify To Book A Call, And Book In.
Commitment #7: Show Up To Call.
Commitment #8: Close.
“Good copy can never be too long — only too boring.”
- Gary Halbert
Some people might look at that and say there are too many steps…
But I ask you…
Why would we want to work with people who can’t even complete those steps?
Do you think they are good clients?
Would you want to take calls with them if you were closing?
I’m not suggesting that you SHOULDN’T do…
VSLs
YouTube
Short Form
You absolutely should.
But ask your sales reps which calls they like to see on their calendar the most.
They will probably tell you…
#1: Referrals
#2: Webinar Calls
#3: YouTube Calls
#4: LT Funnel Calls
#5: Warm Traffic VSL Calls
#6: Warm Traffic DM Calls
#7: Anything Cold, Without Proper Conversion Mechanisms
It is the best form of copy you can write and present to the market.
So…
How much money is your business leaving on the table by NOT doing webinars?
Because we made Callum Carver £180k in NEW REVENUE using his existing organic audience and his email list from webinars.
What do you think your monthly revenue WOULD look like if you started doing this once a month?
Because we helped Harun Arli go from £7k a month to £43k a month, running his monthly webinar operation.
How much ad spend would you recoup?
Because we consistently see 4-5x ROAS, all the way up to 12x from these campaigns that we do with clients.
How many extra calls do you think you would book?
Because we’ve booked over 72 calls for clients with 5,000 followers on TikTok.
How much better would the clients you work with be?
Because the refund rate from webinar clients on a high-ticket offer is negligible, and their results are better because they are more bought in.
And if you have made it to this point in this essay, my point is proven.
I have used these same principles to keep you reading until this point, and this is the same kind of persuasive storytelling that you should be doing every single week.
This is exactly what we do for our clients.
Every week, we write, build and run the A-Z of webinar campaigns that leverage the long-form copy principles we spoke about today.
From writing the presentation to setting up the automations, and handling all of the marketing systems that make the whole thing work.
It’s completely done for you. You just show up and deliver.
And I want you to leave and ponder what you think would happen if we built one for you?
What would your business look like 30 days from now if you stopped creating content and started creating conversions?
If the thought of this excites you, and you would like to learn more.
Click here and book a free strategy call with me and my team.
We’ll build you a custom one-to-many selling plan, backed by our triple guarantee:
You either love the plan and implement it yourself. If it works, we’d love to hear about your results.
You love the plan and decide to become a client — DFY or DWY.
You don’t like it, and if you feel your time was wasted, we’ll send you $100 immediately.
You literally can’t lose.
Click here to learn more.
The path of least resistance is also the path of least reward.
You deserve to show the world who you are, and what you can do — and you deserve for them to listen.
The Webinar Wizard