Find Your Big Idea

Lesson Details:

This course is brought to you by Appy Pie as part of our academy series in this video we're gonna be talking about finding your big idea now this part of copywriting is more art than science so instead of explaining thanks to you and talking about theory and ideas I think it's much more effective if I show you real-world examples and we talk through their big idea so what the big idea is is it's the one thing that you want to communicate to your reader through your copy through your messaging so I mentioned this in the first video inside of this module but if you think back to some of the best books that you've ever read and the ones that have stuck with you and made a real positive difference in your life odds are that there was one maybe two big ideas that have stayed with you and usually those books have one big idea and then everything in that book is about that big idea or convincing you why you should integrate that big idea into your life if you watch TED videos or TED talks you'll notice this as well these are talks that are revolved around a big idea and the reason why I believe TED talks have become so popular and famous is because they're the most efficient way to share a big idea but it's only the people that have a big idea worth sharing that actually get the opportunity to give a TED talk so all this is to say that finding a big idea is powerful and if you take the time to think through your big idea before you start writing copy it's gonna pay you so many dividends as far as how effective your copy is and even how easy it is to write so it's the big idea that is the foundation to the copy that you write so here's an example of a book on the Kindle Store where I like this big idea where it's everybody writes everyone can be a writer and then it says your go-to guide to creating ridiculously good content but I can already tell without reading this book that that's the main idea that the author wants to get across so many of us think that we either are gifted at writing or have the potential to be a good writer or we don't and this message here is pretty bold it's saying that everybody has the ability to write and that in itself is a really powerful idea and that makes me interested in reading the book and maybe it makes you interested as well before you've even gotten into it and you could say that all this is a great headline they followed the formulas for running great headlines there's a lot of psychology in the headline and some of that may be true but it's based on a really really solid foundation which is it's an awesome big idea so here's another YouTube video does life feel too short get off your ass this is the thumbnail to YouTube video and if you've ever been on YouTube you know that all these thumbnails and titles are competing for your attention when you go to the YouTube homepage there's immediately 30 videos that you can click on so it's through this copy that they're either gonna grab you or not which means the success of a video on YouTube is largely dependent on the headline and the image and in this case they're trying to communicate their big idea so if you're interested in that idea you're gonna click on their video so the idea here is very clear do you feel like life feels too short and if you do feel like it's too short then the solution is to get off your ass now that's a whole idea in itself it's complete you can click on the video if you're really interested in this idea and you want to learn more about it or hear someone's perspective on it but you immediately get it just by reading that short title that's a big idea and I actually haven't even watched this video myself I was just pulling examples but I would strongly guess that if you were to click on this video whatever it is that the person is talking about they're gonna keep reinforcing that main big idea that if flight feels too short the solution is to get off your ass so next up is this woman that I've seen a lot of her stuff online and I think it's another great big idea she's Melissa and the idea is she helps heart-centered high achievers grow their income and impacts online so the big idea is if you're a heart-centered high achiever then you can grow your income and your impact now I would say that this is a little less trying to think of the right word it's not clear but it's less just immediately out there like it has more of it implied in it it's implied that if you're a high achiever you can both grow your income and your impact in the world at the same time now personally as someone that wants to help a lot of people and grow my income at the same time this is a very attractive big idea and that's why I was drawn to this this immediately makes me want to sign up for her list because I'm on board with her big idea so ask yourself with whatever target market that you are writing for or you're thinking about are some big ideas already percolating in your mind are some big ideas starting to come for you and if you ever feel inspired and a new big idea comes whether you're in the shower watching this video or going on a walk write it down make a note of it because these big ideas are so powerful they can be so simple but yet they make our copy way more effective and if someone from your target audience resonates with your big idea they're much more likely to become your number-one raving fan so now let's take a look at some examples where there is no big idea this is a course that I found on you to me where it's intro to abstract painting number one and number two and then if we read the subtitle it says find your creativity with easy-to-follow demos on how I create popular abstract paintings now this isn't to say that this is bad copy but I think it would be way more powerful if it had one clear big idea in the headline so the headline is the main title of this course which is intro to abstract painting number one and number two honestly that means nothing to me even if I'm an abstract painter unless I'm missing something with number one and number two and only the abstract painters would get that reference there's no big idea here and so this could grab a lot more of people that are interested and in that target market if the big idea was made clear in the headline or even if there is a big idea now you could say based on the subheading that the big idea is to find your creativity but that doesn't feel like a powerful big idea this could use some work so next up is another example I found from a running blog on the internet and it's 52 do's and don'ts of running an ultramarathon now this post is probably doing pretty well based on the traction that I saw on the site and also these listicles tend to do pretty well people are interested in numbered lists like fifty two things do you do when you don't do of running an ultramarathon so I'm not saying that this copy isn't good but it could be even more effective if it had one being idea what is the one big idea that this author is trying to communicate about running an ultramarathon through these fifty-two do's and don'ts and it's that underlying common thread that can make your copy so powerful and most copy has it so I haven't personally gone through this entire article but my guess is this is a strong guess if you were to read through this article there would be one underlying big idea that runners running an ultramarathon should know and if they were able to identify that big idea and put it directly in the headline they're gonna get a lot more people interested in what they have to say now this is a local hairstylist website that I saw close to where I live I just did a Google search for hair stylist in the area and this is an example of a local business and how they could grow their business using these principles so you don't have to write a blog or teach online courses in order to take advantage of this idea of finding your big idea so right here their big idea is customized solutions for beautiful hair and glowing skin now the way I see that is not the strongest big idea they offer customized solutions but what does that mean what is the one main message that they want to get across to all their clients now I'm sure if you were to go and either interview the owner or even just get your hair styled here and talk to the people that worked there you would immediately get a sense of what their vibe is what the values of the company are what their big ideas are for how one should keep their hair healthy and beautiful and glowing and if you were to put that big idea into a single underlying thread the single big idea that this person believes in or this company believes in and put that on their website on the homepage that would make it way more effective and then their target market is more likely to buy into their message and book an appointment and become their number one fan so those are all the examples for you bear with me because I know unlike some of the other videos inside of this course this is all art so this is my opinions on things but it's opinions based on experience and hopefully by now you realize how valuable it can be to find your big idea it doesn't mean it's gonna make or break your copy but if you write copy with one single big idea in mind it's gonna make it way easier to write and it's also going to make it more effective so in this video we looked at real-world examples to help you learn how to find your big idea.