Meet Maria — a Copywriting Mastermind Eliminating Passive Voice
Enter the mind of copywriting with a clearer voice and understanding.
Enter the mind of copywriting with a clearer voice and understanding.
Every week on the Full-Stack Feed, my goal is to continue to deliver resources, stories, and tools to help you achieve a well-rounded marketing approach to your brand or business.
This week’s feature is a special one!
I recently connected with Maria Marchewka on X, formally Twitter, and I asked her if she would like to be featured with my audience here on Medium and Substack.
She agreed!
When I asked Maria what she did, this is how she summarized her superpowers:
I write copy for marketing emails, blog posts, educational resources, and social media content.
Here’s a sample tip:
When writing copy, focus on clarity and brevity.
You’ll give your audience what they want…and quickly.
Here are three tips to try:
1. Use active voice.
Passive voice: The blocks were knocked over by the baby.
Active voice: The baby knocked over the blocks.2. Remove unnecessary words like “that” and “really”
“When you get rid of unnecessary words, you’ll realize (that) you (really) didn’t need them in the first place.”3. Keep it simple.
Example: Say “use” instead of “utilize.”
Read this part one more time:
When writing copy, focus on clarity and brevity.
You’ll give your audience what they want…and quickly.
^some winning advice right there.
As a weaker writer myself, I am happy to have a connection with Maria and start a conversation with her to learn more about her thought process when writing with a goal in mind.
This week’s conversation brings useful breakdowns and mind-mapping with copywriting.
Enjoy!
Maria, as a copywriter, you must come across various kinds of writing requests. How do you adapt your style to meet diverse demands, especially when dealing with topics that might be outside your area of expertise?
When I get a new project that’s outside my area of expertise, I take time to consume content from that industry.
I like to see what topics their competitors cover and their approach to that content. I turn to social media to listen to their target audience’s conversations and see the content they’re engaging with.
This helps me understand what makes their target audience tick so I can adjust my approach to meet their demand.
But, no matter the client, I always infuse some element of storytelling into the copy. Stories make things click for people, which helps improve their understanding.
People are more likely to act when they have that “ah ha” moment. And, when people are more likely to act, companies can capitalize.
You’ve emphasized the importance of clarity and brevity in copywriting. In your experience, how has this approach improved the overall effectiveness of marketing content? Can you share a specific example?
People value their time. It’s a non-renewable resource; when people feel your content wastes theirs, it leaves a bad taste in their mouths.
Here’s an example.
When you look for a recipe online, you know what you want.
You do a quick search and click one of the top results.
You want the recipe, not a long, drawn-out story about the author’s childhood on a rural farm.
When you see that, and there’s no “Jump to Recipe” button, you can bet you’ll jump from that recipe to the next option.
And I imagine that’s how people feel when they land on a blog searching for a specific answer, only to find it’s front-loaded with fluff content.
Yes, we should be mindful of SEO practices to optimize our blog, but that shouldn’t be at the cost of the reader’s experience.
Lean into writing more for humans instead of focusing on writing for robots.
You’ll write concise and impactful sentences. You’ll remove what’s unnecessary to put the spotlight on what’s necessary.
The results? People will come back for more because they’ll trust that you’ll serve them what they want to know without the fluff.
The Hemingway Editor seems to be a valuable resource in your toolkit. Are there other tools or resources you frequently use to streamline your copywriting process, enhance productivity, or ensure quality?
My go-to tools are:
Hemingway Editor — This helps me eliminate unnecessary words and use active voice. This helps me write stronger copy.
Grammarly — Super helpful yet humbling to see how many grammatical errors are in my writing. All joking aside, Grammarly is a great add-on feature to clean up your writing. — I’m also a huge fan, especially with branding rules for teams!
Monday.com — I love the user-friendly interface. It keeps everyone on the same page by mapping out a posting schedule and tracking documents, status updates, conversations, and more.
I’m a huge fan of Monday.com too!
It saves my team 47+ hours a week! See how →
Do Not Disturb — When I want to focus, I turn my phone on “Do Not Disturb” mode to block any notifications. I do this every morning to break the habit of looking at my emails and social media and instead focus on my writing projects. — I love this mental hack. I notify my team when I’m going on DND for better workflow.
Canva — As marketers, we tend to wear many hats. There were many times when I had to put on my “graphic designer” hat to get things done. Canva made it a lot easier to do so.
The use of active voice over passive voice is a common suggestion in writing guides. In your experience, how does this transform the impact of marketing copy, and are there ever instances where the passive voice might be more effective?
For the longest time, my default was passive voice.
It’s a habit I’m working to break!
Active voice in marketing exudes confidence. It removes the fluff and makes content easier to read and consume.
If someone has to reread something to understand, you missed a golden opportunity.
The brevity of active voice promotes understanding.
Now, in my opinion, there are times when passive voice makes content more personable. Most people don’t speak in short and to-the-point sentences. We often say more to explain things, and if you’re trying to create a layer of relatability and humanization, passive voice can help.
In a world where consumers are bombarded with marketing content, how do you ensure that your copy stands out and effectively engages the audience? Can you share some strategies that have worked well for you?
A strategy that’s worked well for me is treating the first sentence of the caption as a headline.
Your goal is to get people to thumb their screens and stop their scrolls.
Here are some tips to improve your first line of copy:
Extract and emphasize. Is there a statistic you found while doing research or an anecdote that’s ACTUALLY interesting? If so, use it as your intro to set the stage for the rest of your post.
Ask a question. Curiosity might have killed the cat, but it’ll draw attention to your content. As humans, when we see a question, we likely want to know the answer. Starting with one will pique people’s interest.
Sharing is caring. Lead off with the takeaway of your post. For example, “Go from “meh” to “yeah!” with these five copywriting tips.” With a first sentence like that, users will know exactly what they’ll get when they consume your content.
Use a quote. Sharing a quote from a conversation you had or a quote from a famous person can help humanize your post and improve the flow of your content.
Keep it sensational not sensationalized. A sensational intro will create excitement, while a sensationalized intro will have people rolling their eyes so hard they could do a somersault. There’s a fine line when playing to people’s emotions. To avoid overdoing it, lean on the “too much meter” to check yourself. If you hesitate to hit “publish” on your post because the first sentence feels “too much.” That’s your sign to rewrite it.
One last thing…Yes, the first line of text in a post matters. But don’t obsess over it. It’s better to post and get your thoughts out than to work yourself into a tizzy only to hit delete.
Copywriting is a skill that takes practice. The more you write, the more comfortable you’ll get. — this resonates with me so much, as I continue to practice this craft. What are you currently working on for your writing? Leave a comment!
Given your expertise in writing for various formats — emails, blogs, social media, etc., have you observed any specific strategies or writing styles that work better for certain platforms? Could you share some insights into the nuances of writing for different digital mediums?
I always say, “Don’t make the platform fit your content. Make your content fit the platform.”
This means you have to pay attention to the platform’s vibe, for lack of a better term.
Creating copy for different platforms is like reading the room in real life.
Think about it. You wouldn’t interrupt the vow exchange at a wedding to propose to your significant other. And you wouldn’t attend an important business meeting in a Speedo.
But, I mean, if that’s your thing…go for it!
Anyways, the idea here is that you need to understand the platform to create content that packs the greatest punch.
The best way to understand what works and doesn’t, no matter the platform, is by testing and analyzing your results. If you find something that works, double down. When that well starts to run dry, test something else. Rinse and repeat.
Thank you Maria for taking the time to answer some of my top questions on her copywriting approach and sharing our insight!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading her responses (multiple times!) and look forward to hearing your thoughts about her copywriting technique and your takeaways.