80% Stop at the Headline: Kelsey Formost’s Top Tips for Headline Hits

Hello and welcome to this episode of The Unnoticed Entrepreneur. Now, you know, this is the show for any entrepreneur that really deserves to get more recognition for what they do, and one of the best ways to do that is with copywriting. But it's, it's an art and it's a science. It's not something that very many of us can do properly. So I'm really delighted that today I have a guest who is a professional copywriter. Actually, she's an actress Big, big-time, big-screen actress turned copywriter, Kelsey Formos, joining us from Santa Barbara today. Welcome to the show.

Thank you so much, Jim. Happy to be here.

Well, we're happy to have you. You've got a company called Magic Words Copywriting, and according to, you know, to you, Kelsey, people can increase their conversion rates by 300% with good copywriting. Some of us are verbal vomiters, you said, which sounds very polite. Some are deers in the headlight. I think I might be that person. So you're gonna help us to understand what makes great copy, converting copy, maybe help those of us that are in either one of those categories become a high-converting copywriter and more than that. So Kelsey, welcome to the show. Tell us, how does copywriting make a difference to a business?

Oh my goodness, what a wonderful question. I believe that copywriting is the unnoticed skill for entrepreneurs. It is a skill that you can have for life. Once you learn the principles, they don't change. It's not based on an algorithm. It's not based on an outside thing. It is based on human psychology. And when I work with entrepreneurs, one of the most surprising things to me is that they don't actually know the definition of copywriting. And as you said, copywriting is the art and science of getting a reader to take a desired action. So copywriting isn't just writing words, it is words with a purpose, and that purpose is the action that you want a reader to take. Some examples of actions could be to buy a product— that's the most obvious— but they also could be to keep reading down the page, to click a button, to subscribe to an email list, to follow you on social media. Any action that you want a lead to take, you need copywriting that A, convinces them to take that action, but B, shows them exactly how to do it. And that is something that gets missed on so many websites, social media posts, email campaigns. Copywriting touches everything. When you think about everywhere that there are words that represent you, your brand, or your business, that's your copy. And you have an opportunity to use that copy to get your ideal customer to take the action you want them to take.

Kelsey, that's a wonderfully articulate definition of copywriting. And when I listen to you, I go, well, sounds simple. I, I can't believe I'm not doing that. But, but, but I'm not. Plainly, I'm not doing it correctly. So what are, um, some of the hallmarks and some of the techniques that we can use, especially as most of us are not wordsmiths? You know, most of us are not former, you know, actresses and, and have backgrounds in scripts and so on. What can we do to get close to writing copy that gets people to take action?

I love that. So you mentioned earlier verbal vomiters versus deer in the headlights, and that is a great place to start, is by identifying which of those you are. 100% of people fall into one of those 2 categories. A verbal vomiter, which is most people, is someone who, when they sit down to write, they feel anxious and they feel like they never quite get what they want to say out. And so they overcompensate. They write too much. They write too many words. Um, they write bigger paragraphs, which nobody reads, and we'll get to that. And those people, I have a wonderful trick for you that I will share in just a moment. Deer in the headlights, which is fewer people, but just as potent of an anxiety, which is, I don't know what to say. I'm sitting here and I don't know what's going to convert. So I'm just going to like write something really quick. It's not going to be a lot. And I'm just going to post it because I have to have something up, but it's usually much, many fewer words. Um, The minimalist, if you will. Uh, you have maybe an issue with being consistent. That's a big thing for deer in the headlights. Like, you don't write very many emails. There's also usually an element of, I don't want to bother people with deer in the headlights. I don't want to oversell myself. I don't want to be annoying. If that resonates with you, then you're probably a deer in the headlights. So here is some tricks, uh, some tips and some tricks for both of these groups. Verbal vomiters, I want you to let your vomit fly. And I want you to remember that there are 2 people who sit down with you at the computer every time you write. There is the verbal vomiter writer, copywriter you, and there is the jerk editor you. When you sit down to verbal vomit, the jerk editor you is not allowed in the room. They can go outside, they can have a drink, they can take a walk. Let yourself verbal vomit all over the page. Then, if you can physically print, that's the best thing to do. Um, but you can also do this virtually on the computer. Then once you're done verbal vomiting, take a break. Take a break from the screen, go take a walk, go watch a show, be with your family, whatever, pet your dog. And then when you're ready, the editor you is allowed to come back in the room and they can sit down and highlight just the most important points. And you'll notice that you're repeating yourself. That is one of the most incredible tools to see what am I actually getting to? What am I actually trying to say? Highlight only the most important points. Don't repeat yourself and take those highlighted pieces. And that is the copy you publish. So that's a really good tip for verbal vomiters, especially if you are writing a website or writing a more lengthy email sequence. So that's the verbal vomiters, uh, trick. For my deer in the headlights folks. For my deer-in-the-headlights folks, you are going to love prompts and formulas. I highly recommend— I have some templates, I have some prompts, I have some formulas. Of course, you know, contact me if that's something that you need, but also you can do your own research. You can find people who can help you with this. Prompts and formulas will just jumpstart your engine and get you thinking differently. get you thinking, okay, how can I communicate this idea that is inside of me and put it into a formula that I know is going to convert? That is something that is going to be extremely valuable for you.

Kelsey, okay, there's a lot of great content there. The idea of sort of projectile vomiting, I'm trying to get over that, that you'd then print that verbal vomit. But they do say that you write first and edit second rather than Yeah, writing it at the same time. So that's great, great advice. What about for the, you know, for me sometimes I look at it and I go, well, what is the most important point that I'd like to communicate? You know, so I'm working on a course for podcast guests, for example, and you, well, what's the most important? Is it that the, the podcast guests might feel more confident about going on to podcasts? Is it they might feel that they understand the technology? Is it that they will understand how to How do you help people to determine which message is the most important? Because we've often got more than one, and that's part of the problem, isn't it?

Yes. Okay. So, oh, there's so many ways I could take this. I will start by saying, define your entire business's value proposition. If you don't know what a value proposition is, the definition is the number one thing that you do or sell that your ideal customer already wants, that your competition doesn't offer or doesn't offer in the same way you offer it. That is the thing that I recommend people spend the most time refining. You're not going to get it right the first 5, maybe even 10 times. But answering that question, the number one thing you do or sell. So when people come to me, they're like, but I do 5 things. Great. What's the number one thing you do? But my ideal audience wants 10 different things, or like people have different pain points. Great. What is the number one thing they come to you with? What's the number one problem? What's the number one most frequently asked question? What's the number one thing that people are typing into Google to find your business? I have so much competition. There are so many copywriters. Great. What sets you apart from them? And that can just be the tone. That can just be you. That can be the way people feel when they interact with you. Mine is that I help people who hate writing. That's my differentiator, right? That people come to me because they hate writing, they feel intimidated by writing, and they're usually a small business owner. So I promise you, you can get there. You just have to sit with it. The number one thing you do or sell, the number one thing that your ideal customer already wants that your competition doesn't offer or doesn't offer in the same way. That's where I would start. And I could expand on that, but I want to give you an opportunity to respond.

No. Well, Kelsey, and also you've mentioned, um, you've got some giveaways. And at the end of the show, we will give a link to Kelsey's website and some freebies that she's very generously offering to all of us to learn how to write either, you know, so that we're not a vomiter or a headlight avoider.

That really stuck with you, Jim.

Yeah, I know. I'm, I'm being fixed on that, even though we really talk about other, other greater things than that. Kelsey foremost, as you know, Magic Words Copyright over in Santa Barbara. It sounds as though copywriting is, you know, part business strategy, uh, part technique, art, and part psychology. Um, entrepreneurs on the whole are almost too busy. They may be making sales or worried about cash flow. Which one should they, should they focus on, or how did they get clarity on, on which parts to focus on?

Which parts of copywriting to focus on or which parts of their business?

That's right.

Yeah, which parts of—

which parts of the— which parts of copywriting? Because great, they'll be busy. Um, yeah, and you've articulated what people should focus on in the copy, but you've mentioned sort of different skills there, haven't you?

Yes, absolutely. So the number one place I recommend people focus is headlines, and here's why. 80% of people only read headlines. They don't even look at the body copy. They just read headlines. That goes for social media. That goes for websites. That goes for sales pages. That goes for emails. It goes for everything. 80% of people only read headlines. So when you know that, you can use that to your advantage and focus on your headlines, answering the question that is in your reader's mind What's in it for me? If you can think in that way, that is a way to think like a copywriter that has nothing to do with fancy formulas or scary technology things. This is just you sitting down and thinking as your ideal customer, what's in it for me? And you answer that question in the headline. You can also call that a hook if you want to. This is really applicable for subject lines of emails and the first thing you say on social media, whether it is a video or a written post. The first thing that you say is the way that you capture attention. You have to focus on your headlines. If you can just get your headlines right, you're golden.

Wow. Okay, Kelsey, I think it was David Ogilvy as well talked about the power of headlines in advertising, didn't he? And that you've got to get—

yeah.

Is there a formula or a tool that you recommend for people to structure those headlines? Because saying, oh, focus on the headlines, oh, well then I'll just focus on headlines, but then we'll go away and go, hmm, so how do I do that? Guidance please, maestro, on how to create headlines.

Yes, of course. Okay, so there are many headline formulas. There are so many hundreds of headline formulas that we could be here for hours. Um, I do have a subject line generator that people can find on my website. It's under the templates page on my website, kelseyformose.com/templates. If you just want the formulas, download them. It's probably my least expensive thing in my shop. I really recommend though, instead of getting stuck on formulas, to really think about the most asked questions from your ideal customer and answering them in one sentence. Also, it really depends on what type of, um, form of communication that you are focusing on. So right now I'll just talk about websites, because if your website isn't accurately portraying who you are, who you serve, and how you serve them, then nothing else is going to work. You need somewhere to send people where they immediately understand who you are, what you do, and why they should care. So let's talk about websites for a second. So headlines on a website, without getting into the specifics of the formulas, because that's something that anybody can look up, you can think about a funnel of awareness when it comes to your headlines. Here's what I mean by that. If you picture a funnel, right, it's, it's big at the top and it's small at the bottom. At the top of the funnel, which is the very first headline on any page, they have a low level of awareness of who you are and what you do. So that headline needs to be clear over clever. It needs to be like really, really specific. This is who I am. This is who I help. This is why you should care. And then each headline, as you move down the page, read back just the headlines. And if someone just read those 5 headlines, would they know who you are, what you do, who you help, and how you help them? If you answer those questions on, in your headlines on your webpage, at the bottom of the funnel, they will have a high level of awareness. They will know this person is for me or is not for me, and they will have a clear call to action at the end of that page, a big old button that tells them exactly what to do. Great. So now I'm aware of who this person is, how they help, what are— what they do, who they are, how they help, and who they help. And now they're telling me I can subscribe to their email list because they're perfect. Or now they're telling me I can enroll in this program because it solves my problem. That's the most sort of 30,000-foot view of headlines that I can give you without getting into like the exact formulas, because you guys—

Yeah, Kelsey, I think that's a fabulous formula. And maybe also we just sort of write the headlines first and do the body copy later. Kelsey, now, as you know, unfortunately we don't have too long and you've got a huge wealth of experience. We'll guide people to your website at the end and you kind of got some freebies there. But you're also an entrepreneur. You've managed to make a transition from being an actress, um, and you're even on Rotten Tomatoes. I mean, it's amazing, right? So you're proper famous.

Yeah, yeah, you're proper famous.

Yeah. And, um, so, but now you've got a new business from 2018. Just take us through what was the challenge and how did you solve that from a getting noticed perspective? And maybe you already had enough fame that you were able to transition to the new business without any challenges?

Oh, what a great thing to talk about. So I started out as an actress, however, and I was successful on paper. I had the very glamorous life. I was on American television in shows like Modern Family and New Girl, if anyone has ever heard of those. I starred in a movie with Zac Efron. I had the on-paper successful life that many actors never see the success, like a 10th of the success that I had at that time. However, I was sitting on the set of an Emmy-winning Netflix show with a starring role, creating a character from scratch. It was every single thing on my bucket list that I said that I wanted, and I still wasn't happy. And I really think it's important for me to acknowledge that the reason I became a copywriter was because I was unfulfilled in my previous career. And I believe that that is the common thread with most entrepreneurs. Something in a previous life or a previous career was unfulfilling to them, and they set out to very bravely To start something from scratch that was fulfilling to them. So I came to copywriting with nothing. I had no clients. I had no—I mean, I had written scripts before. I had written screenplays, but I had never written for businesses. And the reason that I got into copywriting in the first place was I actually took about a year deciding what is it that I want to do? What is the direction I want to go? And I had a friend who was a copywriter for a very fancy, famous business coach who I can't name because she has an NDA. And I was in awe because what she was doing was she was helping mostly women entrepreneurs gain financial freedom and start their own businesses and do the thing that I was exactly trying to do, which was create a fulfilling life for myself. So I came to copywriting from that place. And I think it's really important to acknowledge that, that I started with nothing, from square zero, totally blind, only knowing that the core of what I wanted to feel was fulfilled and helping people. From there, I did— I built a business really quickly of one-on-one freelance copywriting work, and it was mostly small businesses, mostly, as I said, women entrepreneurs. And my calendar was full. I was so burnt I, by the end of the year, I was just like, I can't write any more words. I'm so burnt out. And yet what I'm noticing is these people are hiring me over and over and over again because they feel too intimidated to sit down and write their own copy. They just don't know how. They just don't know the basics. But if they learned the basics, they could be doing 80% of this themselves. So I decided I was going to create the course that I wish that I had had. As an entrepreneur of what is the most important information I need to know, not to teach me how to become a copywriter, but to teach me how to write copy for my business, that— and to teach me how to think like a copywriter when I write emails for my business so that I, the business owner, don't have to spend $10,000 a year on a professional copywriter. And also, I want to put a little asterisk here about AI because that is something that I'm getting a ton of questions about right now. And I think AI is great. Use it by all means. A lot of copywriters are scared of it. I am not. But what I will say is you still need a human being to know if it's good. You, the entrepreneur, need to know if the copy being written, whether it's by you by a professional human copywriter or by an AI copywriter, you still need to have the skill to know if it's good and if it sounds like you. So I built an entire business going from freelancing to one-to-many, which is courses, templates, and then I have a membership as well. So that's it in a nutshell.

Look, brilliant. What an amazing transition and you know, hats off to you and respect to and gratitude for what you're doing for my fellow unnoticed entrepreneurs. It's wonderful that you've come on and shared all this wisdom. If there's one thing, um, as that you might have called out as even sort of a mistake— I, you've had what seems to be sort of a fairy tale journey here as an entrepreneur, but is there one thing, Kelsey, foremost Um, that you'd share that on reflection you might have done differently or you'd recommend other people do differently when it comes to getting noticed?

Yes. So many entrepreneurs are creative at heart. I certainly am. And I struggle with consistency because, and perfectionism, because I have this idea in my head of what I want it to look like. And I have a hard time relinquishing control to somebody else and hiring out. So if I could name one mistake, I would say if I could go back and redo something, it would be hiring people to do the tasks I hate doing earlier, because there was a good chunk in the middle of building my business where I was not consistent. My podcast was all over the place. I wasn't, because I wouldn't hire an editor. Um, my emails weren't very consistent because I was so precious about like, it has to be perfect. Um, I wasn't doing consistent market research because again, I wouldn't let go. Um, there were— this applies to so many different little places, but it adds up and it adds up and it adds up. And then before you know it, you've really lost control of the cart. Right? So I would say if there was any mistake that I would go back and correct, it would be to put systems in place that would keep me consistent and keep me in my zone of genius and let other people do things that is their zone of genius.

Well, Kelsey, it sounds like a very large zone of genius to me. So, um, you know, that's brilliant. Thanks for letting us inside your zone. If people want to find out more about you, Kelsey, and Magic Words Copywriting and, and look at your movie back catalog and so on as well. Or join your community. We've got over 8,000 people, uh, who are interested in writing copy for their own businesses. Where can people find you, Kelsey?

Yes, I would start with kelseyforemost.com/freebies. So on that page, you will see 3 main freebies that I have that will help you with specific aspects of writing copy. The first one is my signature freebie. It's 3 Copywriting Tricks to 3x Conversions. And I don't remember if we said or not, but copywriting, um, on average increases conversions by 300%. So that's triple the results just by changing the words, just by changing the words on your website, 300% average better results. Amazing. I love that. Um, so that is my signature freebie. The second one is all about how to start and grow an email list. Because that is something a lot of entrepreneurs really struggle with. And then the third is how to write an Instagram bio. And honestly, that can translate to many different types of bios, but because the Instagram bio is such an important aspect of business, Instagram is basically your business card now. Um, I was featured in Refinery29 on an article about that. I think it's so true. People don't ask for business cards anymore. They ask, what's your Instagram? If your Instagram bio is not buttoned up, you are losing business. Like it's not just followers, you're losing money, you're losing business. So that is another freebie that I really recommend people download and check out. And then, uh, if you want to join me on Instagram, that's where I really let my freak flag fly. You get to know me more as a person as well as an entrepreneur, and that's @kelsey.writes. on Instagram.

Kelsey Formos, well, thank you. That's, that's education. I didn't realize Instagram was so important. I shall have to, I shall have to take the picture of my dog and myself off Instagram and try and upgrade mine. Kelsey Formos, thank you so much for sharing so much wisdom, uh, and an amazing story on lots of levels with me and my fellow Unnoticed Entrepreneurs. So thank you for joining us from Santa Barbara.

Thank you so much for having me.

Well, hasn't it been a pleasure? And not every day do we get to meet, you know, movie stars. Uh, but this show, we bring it all. We, we bring it all. So look, thank you to Kelsey for joining us, and thank you for joining Kelsey and me today on the Unnoticed Entrepreneur Show. I'm sure that you've taken a huge amount away, and there's actually, to be honest, so much that she's included today. But, you know, think about headlines is one of the main points that I've taken away, and the simplicity. And thinking about what's in it for the person reading it is another key part. We're so often writing about what we want people to know about us that we forget about— it's actually what they're looking to find that we need to share. So that and much more. Thank you for tuning into this episode of The Unnoticed Entrepreneur with me, Jim James. Hope you've enjoyed it. If you have, please do follow the show and please do review the show. And until we meet again, I just do encourage you to keep on communicating.