7 Daily Exercises to Become a Skilled Copywriter 🏋🏻♂️
Don't know where to start practicing? This is what you should do.
Many copywriters get stuck in the learning phase. Reading more about copywriting or watching another video is easier than practicing it.
If we don’t combine learning with writing and solving copywriting problems, we will never become great copywriters.
Kobe Bryant used to watch tapes to prepare for a game, but he also had three training sessions a day!
Below are 7 proven ways to practice copywriting.
Since these exercises cover different skills required to become a great copywriter, I do one exercise every day. This is my schedule:
Sunday: Complete 3 prompts ℹ
When people asked legendary copywriter Joe Sugarman for advice on how to practice, he answered, “Just start.”
He believed that it was best to write anything and everything to become a successful copywriter: emails, landing pages, letters, books.
Prompts are the easiest way to “just start.”
Using Copywriting Prompts, you can quickly generate 3 writing exercises and get going.
Monday: Deconstruct 1 product 🧱
Great copywriters know that turning features into benefits is what sells.
The customer doesn’t care about the product's specs. He wants to know how this product is going to affect his life.
However, to understand the product's benefits, we must first analyze it:
Choose a product (look around the room / think about your favorite apps / look for random products on Amazon)
Name its features.
Describe the ideal customer for this product.
Write down the benefits of the product to the target customer.
Product features → Ideal customer → Product benefits.
Tuesday: Add 2 ideas to your swipe file 📁
Swipe files are collections of great copywriting examples. They include Ads, Landing pages, Sales letters, and every persuasive text available.
Copywriters use swipe files to get inspired and apply great copywriting done elsewhere to their own work.
You will encounter great copywriting pieces passively (like when scrolling social media), but you also want to actively look for ideas to add to your swipe files.
Check out Swiped or Marketing Examples and add at least two pieces of copywriting that resonated with you.
Wednesday: Breakdown 1 piece of copywriting 📝
After adding pieces to your swipe files, you should dissect some of them to understand what makes them good.
What grabbed your attention in that Facebook ad? Why did you read this landing page all the way to the end?
Breaking down pieces of copy will soon become a habit, and you’ll start deconstructing every text you see.
*Note: Every few weeks, I break down a great piece in the history of copywriting.
Subscribe for FREE so you do not miss the next breakdowns!
Thursday: Do the headline challenge 🗣️
The headline is the most important part of your content. If the reader doesn’t like your headline, it won’t read the rest of the copy.
The headline challenge will make you a master at writing headlines in no time:
Take a blog post you read recently (look for good ones on Medium or write your own piece) and write 10 great headlines for it.
It might be challenging at first, so if you need help, check out Neil Patel's Ultimate Headline Swipe File.
Friday: Handwrite 1 sales letter 💰
This is a controversial method, but some great copywriters swear by the technique of handwriting great sales letters.
I did it myself, and it forced me to spend more time and attention on each piece and learn it thoroughly.
It was also refreshing to write copy by hand instead of typing it on a laptop.
Experiment with this method once, then decide whether it’s good for you.
Saturday: Journal 📖
Journaling helps you download your thoughts and organize them on paper.
It helps with mental clarity, generating ideas, and results in a clearer writing style.
I journal before bed to clear my mind and in the morning to come up with article ideas. I also journal when I want to reflect on a life event or when I want to make a big decision.
A simple journaling format for when you wake up:
Write 3 things you are grateful for.
Write your top task for today (only one!).
Brain dump 5 ideas (anything: article ideas, reminders to yourself, random thoughts).
Bonus: Publish something every day 📢
The Book “Show Your Work” highlights the importance of creative people sharing what they do.
He suggests we shouldn’t work in solitude. The most creative people in the world work in groups and constantly bounce ideas off each other.
Sharing your work allows you to receive feedback on it (and improve as a result), and it’s a genuine way to meet other creative people.
It’s the ultimate opportunity vehicle.
Try it:
Choose a platform (X, Substack, LinkedIn) and share one piece from what you did that day.
Try these exercises and create your own schedule.
Subscribe to become a better copywriter. One week at a time 🤩
Thank you for this Ido.
I’ve been MIA on Substack for a few weeks but I’m glad I read your post this morning.
You really took your time to put everything together.