VeryGoodCopy is sponsored by Riverside.fm, the leading podcast and video recording platform used by Guy Raz, Hillary Clinton, Spotify, and The New York Times. Learn why it's beloved by world-class content creators and then try it with just your email — and if you like it, use "VGC" as a coupon code to get $15 off any subscription.
by: EDDIE SHLEYNER VeryGoodCopy, founder (Work with me)
Three content marketing pillars.
This is how I do each:
1/ Ideas: I collect elements.
For example, on VeryGoodCopy I publish micro-articles, a format that usually consists of two elements: the lesson and the story.
The lesson is almost always about a copywriting, marketing, or creativity principle I find valuable (and think others will, too). The story is usually a personal experience — or it can be an anecdote I saw on TV, or read in a book, or heard from a friend — and I use it to frame the lesson (so it’s more engaging and memorable).
Very rarely do both of these elements fall in my lap at once. I almost always have to put them together at different times — weeks or months or even years apart — and therein lies my point:
Ideas rarely come to you fully formed. So break your format into distinct elements, which you can easily identify, record, and eventually, combine.
2/ Storytelling: I write vignettes.
Vignettes capture a moment, a scene:
In college, a professor told me vignettes are like photographs — snapshots — but in writing. “Take a picture,” he said, “and then describe it using figurative language, sensory language. Make us feel the tone of the picture, the mood.”
“The mood?” I said.
“Yes.”
A vignette doesn’t need to have a structure, or a plot. It doesn’t need a beginning, middle, and end, or a conflict and resolution. It only needs to convey an emotion. So as a copywriter, writing vignettes is great practice: it teaches you how to zoom in on a moment, how to tighten that moment, or expand it.
A vignette is compelling on its face because it’s emotional. But it’s also practical, lending itself to the nature of social media: “quick, make me feel something.”
3/ Growth: I create loops.
A “growth loop” is when growth is built into the process of using a product.
In other words, leveraging your current users to create new users. I’ve done this by asking my VGC newsletter subscribers to amplify my reach on LinkedIn:
Step 1: I publish a micro-article on VeryGoodCopy dot com.
Step 2: I re-publish a version of that piece in a LinkedIn post.
Step 3: I send the original out in my newsletter with a CTA asking for engagement on the post (e.g., “Please support VGC with a quick 👍 and comment on LinkedIn”).
When my newsletter audience engages with the post on LinkedIn, their connections are notified, creating more engagement, more traffic to VGC, and more subscribers (adding to the audience I’m able to leverage in future posts).
It’s a virtuous circle — and if you’ve ever been a part of it, I don’t take it for granted. Thank you so much.
If you enjoyed reading this, please take a second to 👍 and comment on this LinkedIn post. It’s a great way to support the VGC newsletter and I promise, it never goes unnoticed. Thank you!
Join 2,308 waitlist members As a member, you'll be the first to learn more about MasterClass. And if you choose to buy it, you'll get a steep discount for being an early supporter. 🤝
You can unlock hidden VGC content right now:
Just copy/paste & share this link on Slack, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, via email, or anywhere else people share content:
This link is unique to you — and when just 1 person uses it to subscribe to VGC, you’ll immediately get an email with your first reward. There are 8 rewards in all, including essays, video tutorials, video courses, and even 1-on-1 strategy calls with me.
Share your link now to start unlocking — and as always, enjoy!
