How to write copy the way Taylor Swift writes songs
First female artist ever to win Album of the Year three times at the Grammys? The only artist since The Beatles to have five albums at №1 on the Billboard 200? Yeah… It’s time to learn from her.
Look, life is too short to pretend you don’t like Taylor Swift. I could write for hours about Swift’s musical genius. But we’re here to talk about marketing. Also, this is the internet, and you have the attention span of a goldfish (not judging, so do I). So let’s get to it.
There are many reasons why Taylor Alison Swift is a marketing genius, but let’s just focus on one for now:
Masterful Storytelling
Every marketer wishing to incorporate storytelling into their copy should listen to All Too Well on repeat for at least a week. If after that they still don’t understand the art of storytelling, then I’d seriously consider a career change.
Now, let me explain. Taylor’s songwriting has been the subject of debate and admiration among fans for years. And, once you start to pay attention, it’s no surprise why. Since before she even had a career, Swift has been writing her own songs, and she has been very deliberate about how she does that.
Swift writes from emotion, and it shows. Her lyrics strike the perfect balance between generic enough to connect with anyone and specific enough that they do so on a personal level. Your copy should strive for that balance too. Because she writes from a place of honesty, Swift’s words are beautiful and tend to strike an emotional core in the listener.
Arguably Taylor’s biggest strength is how specific she gets in her descriptions of moments, places, and sensations, displaying an excellent use of that ancient-old writing advice “show, don’t tell.” She doesn’t just say, “oh, we were so in love”; instead, she sings:
There we are again in the middle of the night
We’re dancing ‘round the kitchen in the refrigerator light
Down the stairs, I was there
I remember it all too well
Thus, painting an emotional picture, putting the audience in the middle of a scene, and instantly turning it from happy to melancholic with a simple change of tense: there we are (present) turns to I was there (past).
Even when the writing isn’t about telling a story but about capturing a feeling, she’s still the master.
In the underrated bop Out of The Woods, for example, instead of telling you, “this relationship made me constantly anxious because I never knew where it was going,” she makes you feel that anxiety by singing the words “are we out of the woods yet?” thirty-eight times, and “are we in the clear yet?” twenty-six times in the span of 3 minutes and 55 seconds. The insistent bass, heavy drums, and brilliant production by Jack Antonoff add to the final effect.
So, tips for copywriters?
1. Use metaphors to write emotions
Stop telling your audience things and start making them feel emotions. Don’t just say “you feel sad,” actually describe what that sadness looks like in their everyday life.
Take the time to think of metaphors that will let your target know you understand what they’re going through, on a gut level. Let’s take a page from Miss Swift here. Instead of saying, “I was doing well after our breakup, but then you called me, and I felt sad again,” she sings:
You call me up again just to break me like a promise
Instead of “I was lonely and broken, but then you made me feel love again,” the song goes:
And when I felt like I was an old cardigan
Under someone’s bed
You put me on and said I was your favorite
Now ask yourself, what metaphors or images can you use to illustrate how your target audience feels?
2. Start with a bang: you
Brilliant copywriter (and my mentor) Kelly Diels says the purpose of your first sentence is to “keep them reading.” This is why she advises writing stream of consciousness until you “find the quotable” and then take it and place it right at the top of your copy. The first thing your audience reads or listens has to capture their attention and their heart.
Your target’s time is limited and valuable. Why should they spend it reading your copy? Have that first sentence be as strong as it possibly can, and let them know why. The key is to intrigue them and write directly to them. Involve them with the story you’re trying to tell.
Swift knows this, which is why her songs always start with a bang. Moreover, she uses this technique in combination with cleverly selected pronouns that automatically include the listener in the action (you, we):
We were both young when I first saw you (Love Story)
You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, she’s upset (You Belong With Me)
Nice to meet you, where you’ve been? (Blank Space)
I don’t like your little games (Look What You Made Me Do)
I promise that you’ll never find another like me (ME!)
All of these iconic first verses place the audience right in the middle of the action while speaking directly to them. These songs start telling us a story, but it’s a story about us, and that makes us want to keep listening.
Now, go out there and make sure your copy makes your target want to keep reading.
3. Write from different perspectives
Take the term “Storytelling” at heart. Paint pictures with your words. Ask yourself, what’s the story here? Who are the protagonists? And how does the story look like from their perspectives?
Not all stories need to be about you. Another effective way of emotionally connecting with your client is telling their story or the product’s.
Something Swift does often is writing from different perspectives. Blank Space, for example, is sung not by her but by the image of her the media created. The Best Album of 2020, Folklore, tells the same teenage love triangle story from all three perspectives. And I Wish You Would, follows that same premise on a micro-level, describing one scene from different points of view:
Take the chance to explore different points of view about the same subject. Surprise yourself and your target by changing the perspective every once in a while.
4. Details, details, details!
If you’re not that good at describing, “painting a picture” can be reduced to two sentences about a place, time, or situation. Brevity is also helpful in placing your reader in the story.
Taylor often does this by singing a couple of lines about very specific sensory details. Keywords here: very specific. Once those images, smells, textures, etc., place the listener in a particular time and place, she follows up with some emotional information about what is happening in that scene.
So stop banging your head against your keyword for “not being a good storyteller.” If six words can be a complete story, you can still write brief but powerful images for your business.
Take, for example, “End of the month, seas of coffee, deadlines on the horizon.” A short sentence like that will place your stressed entrepreneur in the middle of a familiar scene, where they would unironically LOVE to hear about how your services will make their lives easier.
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I hope you find these tips helpful. Storytelling and copywriting can seem daunting, but they don’t have to be. This is Part 1 of a series I’ll be doing about Swift’s marketing genius because her writing is just the tip of the iceberg. Follow me if you want to be notified when Part 2 is posted.
*youtuber voice*
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