elite-copywriting
Elite Copywriting
Copy that consistently converts — through three sequential decisions, in order: position (what we sell, in whose mind, against what alternative) → audience (who exactly, at what awareness stage, in what market sophistication) → words (the actual copy, in the right framework, the right voice, on the right channel).
Most "bad copy" is bad upstream thinking. The canonical laws of the field all say the same thing in different words:
- Halbert: Market > Message > Media
- Wiebe: Research > Wireframe > Copy
- Dunford: Positioning is the INPUT to messaging, not the output
So this skill is not just about words. It's about everything upstream of words, then words, then everything downstream (testing, iteration, objection pre-emption).
The Three Phase Lens (always start here)
- Position — Run positioning.md. Dunford 5+1 components. Schwartz awareness and sophistication stages. (Optional B2B) Andy Raskin strategic narrative.
- Audience — Run audience-research.md. Mom Test interviews. VoC mining (reviews, transcripts, support, Reddit). Persona × awareness × sophistication matrix. Voice constraint card.
- Words — Frame the work using frameworks.md, channels.md, and voice-tone.md. Draft, edit, audit, test.
The single highest-leverage diagnostic is in awareness-sophistication.md — Schwartz's 5 awareness stages × 5 market-sophistication levels. Always diagnose stage and sophistication before writing. Most underperforming copy targets a Stage-4 audience with Stage-1 copy, or vice versa.