Improvise to Great Copy

Sometimes you sit in front of a blank page. The task is clear. You know what you're looking for.

And great copy is just... nowhere.

No particular reason. No science to explain it. But improvisation can be your way out, even though it's completely unplanned.

Start filling the blank page with nonsense. Have a conversation with an invisible audience member. Say out loud what you'd tell someone who stopped you on the street and asked what your product does. You'll land on directions you hadn't considered.

The outcome might be an angle you never thought viable, a tone that's odd but refreshing, or a whole narrative that emerges from a fake conversation with someone who isn't even there. Whatever surfaces, it breaks something open.

I've done this more times than I can count. I'd write a new email to myself, playing the role of the audience: what would get their attention? What explains the value quickly? What would I say if they pushed back? And in a lot of those cases, the great copy just showed up. Not because I strained and thought hard, but because it appeared in the mess. An email subject line. A tagline. Even a new name for a startup.

Not every run produces gold. But every run gets you off the blank page, gets your thoughts moving, and opens up a direction you wouldn't have found otherwise. That's enough.