I swear this is not an “I told you” moment, but a real discussion I think is worth having and learning the most from (plus would love help on strategy at the end). (Or, maybe it is and I’m doing this subconsciously just to try and repair my ego, or maybe worse, a 2nd chance at posting my link lol… or at least get advice for my dilemma at the bottom…) Either way, hoping it’s interesting enough to be worth a post. So last week I asked you guys to critique my page and I was buried. 100% of responses were BAD. https://www.reddit.com/r/copywriting/s/RrAeCkikuL However posting the page elsewhere I’m getting really good responses, and in fact, getting leads even from unexpected sources. Example: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeHomies/s/BRU4UL4dLl This ^^ random, obviously self-promoting comment on a busy thread on an unrelated sub, got 12 great responses, 0 bad responses, and 2 leads so far (one in a comment, one in dm). This is mirrored in my network. Sent it to a bunch of friends - all my dumb friends love it, all my marketing friends hate it 😂 So copywriters hate my page, but readers love it. On the one hand, tempted to call this a win. On the other hand, 50-80% of the criticism I get from the pros is “correct”. The page is confusing. There’s no headline. I’m breaking rules. Value isn’t clear. Etc etc etc. But if it works, who cares, right? My “dumb” friends have no idea it sucks, and they are getting me clients. I’m tempted to say “hey I’m good enough that I can break the rules and find my own way”. Isn’t that what we all want to be? Or did we just come here to compete l in a Gary Gary Halbert’s lookalike contest? or a “who can better turn Ogilvy into a playbook and follow it to the dot” contest? These guys experimented and explored and found out what worked, something we can’t usually afford to do when we work for clients… so we criticize each other based on the rules we’ve all been taught blindly and rarely challenge. But here I had a chance to be irresponsible with my own project, took it, and possibly learned something new I can turn into a new playbook of my own (and I will). Or maybe my ego was burned this week and I’m grasping at straws trying to explain it in any way other than admitting I did a bad job. # The real problem though. At the end of the day, while it’s cool to get compliments, this page was made for the pros, not the hoes. And the pros hate it. My copywriting and marketing friends who are supposed to help my by referring potential clients don’t like the page, aren’t impressed by it, won’t forward it, and are either threatened by it or get genuinely concerned for my mental well being which causes them to just send back feedback instead of getting me referrals. So the people who should be helping me are now gatekeepers. I have to say i do appreciate how they all send detailed feedback and put in the time trying to help, rather than just “this sucks man” - but there’s a caveat. See below. At the same time, my non marketing friends rave, forward, and already putting me in touch with potential clients. So is this a win or a lose? “Discuss”. 😂 The strategy on my part: “Main funnel”: I’m moving to phase two. The expected result was “man this is cool, I have someone in mind for you but I can’t forward a page that starts with “I’m fucked”, so you have a clean version?” Got 5-6 of those, so now building 2 clean versions, one for each service, hoping to start sending tomorrow. “Pro funnel”: here is where I need to adjust course. My best ambassadors should still be marketing people and copywriters. Im wondering if this is winnable. I see 3 options: Option 1: Try to build a “proper” page. Something less challenging/weird they can just say “oh got it, let me see if I have anyone for you” and possibly forward it. Option 2: Try to build something actually impressive and different so that a copywriter can be impressed enough by. And want to get me referrals. Option 3: Build a boring stupid “follow all the copywriting rules” page where I implement every single one of the advice I got from all these friends (I can probably do this without even reading because we all know the rules by heart anyway) just so I can go “hey mate, thanks so much for the feedback…” get their egos pumped and then maybe they will help. [CarrieBradshawLaptop.gif] As I write this, I can’t help but wonder if #1 and #2 are even possible. Are these guys really looking out for me with their advice? Or just protecting their inner stories? Can a copywriter ever get a peace of copywriting and just forward it without sending back feedback? Is it just what we do? :-) Which of the 3 strategies would you go for? #3 seems the most likely to get them to actually help.   submitted by   /u/hungryconsultant [link]   [comments]