Life and Writing

Abbey Woodcock

Your Guide to Voice: Stand out from the noise in 5 steps

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Mush cookies and maniacal villains… the power of voice

Last week I met two people who’d been on my “must meet” list for awhile.

Ryan Lee and Ben Settle.

When it comes to voice, these two couldn’t be further apart.

From their writing voice…

Ryan is the eternally optimistic, friend at the bar.

Ben is the anti-establishment, authoritarian.

To the first meeting…

Ryan gave me a hug as soon as he met me and said he already felt like we were good friends because of our email exchanges.

Ben immediately asked me to try my best to impress him because he wanted to know if I was worth the hype.

And on stage…

Ryan teared up as he told us how his family is his “why” for building a successful business (completely with happy pictures on the beach).

Ben called Ryan a “mush cookie” and then handed out copies of his new book “Persuasion Secrets of the World’s Most Charismatic & Influential Villains”

ryanlee_bensettle

They were the Odd Couple of email.

But here’s the strange part… this morning I was looking back over my notes from the event and these two… opposites in every way had the EXACT same business strategy.

They believed in the same things. They gave the same advice. And, the result was the same.

Both have raving fans.

Both have an extremely profitable business.

And, both live a lifestyle on their terms. Ryan spends time with his beautiful family and Ben– well, I’m not sure what Ben does there in Oregon, but he’s quite happy with it.

There is no “right answer” to voice. There’s no voice that works versus one that doesn’t.

The right answer is owning it. What these two have in common is they are far from vanilla. And they are both authentic. Ryan’s fans don’t want him to be any other way. And, Ben’s masochistic fans love the abuse.

So whether ye be a mush cookie or a maniacal villain… be it. And don’t let anyone tell you to be anything else.

About Abbey

Abbey Woodcock has been a direct response copywriter since 7th grade when she wrote a 30-page sales letter asking her crush to the dance with dismal results. Since then, she's converted better... writing sales pages and emails you've probably read from some of the biggest names online. Now she helps other copywriters build and grow amazing businesses.

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Recent Musings

  • Why people hire marketing consultants
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  • Copy school drop-out (or that time I quit Parris)
  • Working for a dying print newspaper made me a better digital marketer
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What people say

I’ve made it one of my missions to find that next generation of superstars…and one of the copywriters I am placing a big bet on is Abbey

After working with some of the best copywriters who have ever lived throughout my career, I came to the realization that it was not a “given” that there would be a next generation of copywriters who understood direct response like their predecessors. I’ve made it one of my missions to find that next generation of… Read more “I’ve made it one of my missions to find that next generation of superstars…and one of the copywriters I am placing a big bet on is Abbey”

Brian Kurtz
Former Executive VP of Boardroom
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Huge, ‘beyond expectation’ wins for some of the most famous names in our industry

Abbey Woodcock is one of my favorite copywriters – both to work with and recommend – for 3 reasons:

  1. She has a deep understanding of direct response marketing AND how it fits into modern mediums like social and email.
  2. She has a deep understanding of human psychology and how to speak to different markets… Read more “Huge, ‘beyond expectation’ wins for some of the most famous names in our industry”
Kevin Rogers
Copy Chief
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“The systems she created to hire, train, and evaluate writers are now a daily part of operations.”

Abbey was a key member of my team during a time of explosive growth. I needed to grow my content team and leaned heavily on Abbey to conceptualize, build, implement, test and improve our backend processes. The systems she created to hire, train, and evaluate writers are now a daily part of operations. Writing great… Read more ““The systems she created to hire, train, and evaluate writers are now a daily part of operations.””

Ramit Sethi
I Will Teach You To Be Rich
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