📂 The Five Lightbulbs copywriting framework

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Today's newsletter is proudly supported by 42/Agency 🙌

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When you're in scale-up mode and you have KPIs to hit... the pressure is on to deliver demos and signups. And it's a lot to handle: multi-channel strategy, remarketing, landing pages, email sequences, revenue ops, conversion rate optimization.

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Today's newsletter is by my friend and copywriting pro Billy Broas.

Billy works with creators and SaaS companies to improve their landing pages, emails, and launch sequences.

And for the Swipe Files audience only, he's sharing a super practical framework to help you with copywriting.

As a marketer and copywriter who works with entrepreneurs, I kept running into the same problem: My clients have amazing products, but they’re not marketers, and they struggle to describe their product’s value.

Writing compelling copy is one of the thorniest tasks for startup founders. It’s also one of the most important. I’ve tweaked one headline and seen conversion go up by 2X, and even 5X.

When you change your words, you change your results.

So, how can non-marketer founders write high-converting copy, quickly, and without being expert copywriters, or hiring one?

Enter: The Five Lightbulbs.

It’s a framework I created a little over a year ago, and the results have been astounding.

Since rolling out The Five Lightbulbs, it’s now been used by hundreds of entrepreneurs across the world, helping them:

• Fill in the gaps in their marketing message, making it bulletproof
• Organize and align every piece of their marketing material
• Communicate more efficiently within their team and get everyone on the same page

The Five Lightbulbs is an ancient marketing code. More than that, it’s a marketing language that is rooted in the human experience. Not some B.S. fluff like you see from all those gurus in their YouTube ads.

Once you see the Lightbulbs, you can’t unsee them. (Fair warning)

Let’s quickly run through the Lightbulbs, what do you say?

This framework is incredibly simple.. But don’t let its simplicity fool you.

Just as the entire material world is made of atoms with three simple particles (proton, neutrons, and electrons), your entire marketing engine can be build upon these five simple elements.

Ready to meet the Lightbulbs?

Meet The Five Lightbulbs: A Secret Marketing Language

The 5L’s work because they map to the basic human struggle.

A person (or customer) faces a problem, they’re tempted by different paths for solving that problem, they choose a path, and they (hopefully) achieve a sweet victory.

Now let’s look at each Lightbulb individually.

LIGHTBULB #1 - Your Customer’s Status Quo

Lightbulb #1 represents messaging around your customer’s current, undesirable situation. You can easily understand it by the old marketing adage, “If you can describe your customer’s problem better than they can, they’ll assume you have the solution.”

This is the language of empathy. It’s the language that tells the customer, “I get you.”

Scan most websites and you’ll see the copy is all about ME, the company. Lightbulb #1, on the other hand, is about YOU, the customer.

LIGHTBULB #2 - Things They’re Trying

As much as we’d like to believe our customers don’t have other options, and we’re the only game in town, that’s not realistic. Customers are always looking for the best solution, the most attractive offer.

Lightbulb #2 asks, “What else is tempting my customer? What other promises are being made to them?”

Ignore Lightbulb #2 at your own peril. But speak to Lightbulb #2, invalidate those other solutions, and you’ll gain a level of trust from your customer that will position you not only as a vendor – but a faithful advisor.

LIGHTBULB #3 - Your Approach

This is your secret sauce, your special ingredient, your unique mechanism.

When you “sell” your ideal customer on your approach, you remove the friction in the buying process. Customers stop asking so many questions and instead say, “I’m in, just tell me how to sign up.”

In our experience, when we shift messaging from Lightbulb #4 (explained below) to Lightbulb #3, we’ve seen entrepreneurs suddenly stand out from the pack – even in the most crowded industries.

LIGHTBULB #4 - Your Offer

If you do your job correctly, by this point, it’s finally time to talk about your offer. I deliberately call this your offer, and not your product.

Yes, it includes your product. But it also includes your pricing terms, your guarantee, and any bonuses or add-ons that come along.

Lightbulb #4 is simply the vehicle for your Lightbulb #3. When you combine the two, you get a powerful, conversion-boosting effect.

LIGHTBULB #5 - Your Offer

Your customer is attempting to cross a bridge. On the left hand side of the bridge is their unhappy place (LB1). On the other side of the bridge is Lightbulb #5, their happy place.

Lightbulb #5 is language around your customer’s new life. It’s language that paints a pleasing picture of their future, a future only attainable after using your awesome product.

The entrepreneurs I work with are often so close to their product, they forget to explain what their product can do for their customer. And they fail to describe it in a way that matters to the customer.

That’s it. Those are The Five Lightbulbs. Simple, right?

Here’s the cool part...

When you flip the switch and illuminate each Lightbulb, you activate your most powerful marketing message.

Failure to switch on even one of these Lightbulbs means bringing a less-than-optimal message to the marketplace. If you’re in a competitive industry, this is like fighting with one hand tied behind your back.

Want to see The Five Lightbulbs in action? Let’s use an example.

EXAMPLE

I’m an avid home beer brewer, so let’s use an example from that niche.

In homebrewing, brewing software is extremely popular. Beer brewing is filled with numbers, complex calculations, and managing an endless variety of ingredients.

Beer brewing software can help alleviate these challenges and make brewing more fun (and more delicious).

Let’s whip up some landing page copy using The Five Lightbulbs as our guide.

Product: A home beer brewing web app.

Target customer: Serious homebrewers who compete in competitions.

We’ll call our app Gold Medal Brewing.

Now let’s construct our messaging using The Five Lightbulbs.

Lightbulb 1

• The brewer is losing competitions
• Their recipes are disorganized
• They’re never able to match the vision in their head to what’s in their glass

Lightbulb 2

• Using free and paid apps that don’t have the competitive homebrewer in mind
• Winging it and not using any apps at all
• Using pencil and paper

Lightbulb 3

• The Gold Medal Beer System®

Lightbulb 4

• $19.99 per month
• Free 30 day trial
• A vault of 50 pre-loaded, proven recipes you can customize to your liking

Lightbulb 5

• Winning brewing competitions left and right
• A vault of winning recipes
• Consistent batches every time

Armed with the raw materials of our marketing message, we can now whip up a high-converting landing page in no time.

HEADLINE

Tired of losing beer competitions (LB1)? Brew medal-winning beers every time with the new app homebrewers across the world are raving about (LB5).

BODY

A serious brewer like you needs serious brewing software.

Pencil and paper? Sure, that works. Until you spill an IPA all over your notebook and your recipes are gone forever. (LB2)

Those free brewing apps? Nothing is more annoying than being in the middle of a complicated triple-decoction, where every second matters, only to have an annoying popup ad appear on your screen. (LB2)

Not using software? All hope is lost. If you don’t track your recipes, how could you possibly improve them? (LB2)

You need Gold Medal Beer, our patented homebrewing app for brewers who want to enter the winner’s circle – and stay there.

It’s based on our Gold Medal Beer System®, designed specifically for competitive homebrewers.

CTA

Join now for a 30-day trial of Gold Medal Beer. You can use it over the web or on mobile. Plus, it comes preloaded with 50 proven recipes, spanning all styles of beer, from hoppy IPA’s to decadent, chocolatey stouts.

Testimonials

“Thanks to Gold Medal Beer, I’ve finally got my recipes dialed. In fact, I just received an email from a large regional competition, and my IPA took first place!”

Do you see how The Five Lightbulbs acts as an algorithm for writing compelling copy? And that only scratches the surface of what the framework can do.

My goal is to have every startup and company using The Five Lightbulbs. It makes marketing easier by providing a universal marketing language.

Use it, and profit.

—Billy

Thanks again to Billy for sharing the case study.

What did you think?

—Corey

p.s. do you want to be able to compare your marketing metrics with other SaaS companies? Fill out the State of SaaS Marketing Survey →​

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