Broadly speaking, as businesses, there are two types of copy: the type that you spend hours labouring over, where every word has to be perfect, like your homepage. And the type I want to talk about today. The type you send out regularly. Maybe daily or weekly. The type that is a bit more ephemeral. It exists for a moment, serves its purpose and then sinks to the bottom of minds and devices. For you, it might be LinkedIn posts or subscription renewal reminders. For breast cancer awareness charity, CoppaFeel!, it’s text messages.

CoppaFeel! exists to “educate and remind every young person in the UK that checking their boobs isn’t only fun, it could save their life”.

Great mission statement there, by the way. Because we learn so much about their organisation in just a few words. We instantly know that:

1. Their job is to educate and remind people about cancer and the importance of checking yourself

2. They are targeting young people

3. They have a sense of fun

CoppaFeel! offers an SMS subscription service. If you sign up, they’ll send you a monthly reminder to check your chest. And they’re a pleasure to receive.

Screen shot of text messages from CoppaFeel. White background with light blue speech boxes and black text.

Why does it work?

CoppaFeel! has a very specific target audience and they’re not afraid to go after it. They nail the fun and friendly tone of voice consistently. But they do something different each month to keep the messages fresh. You’ve got:

o Word play: “Did we catch julying down?”

o Cultural references: “Barbie & Ken have a message for you”.

o Rhymes: “On this fine day in September / We come to you with our checking agenda”.

They stop the fun from feeling cheesy by avoiding exclamation points. And there’s a slightly messy, slightly ‘undone’ air about everything they write. They include little traces of the fact these messages have been written by a human: “We write text reminders to get you to check your chest. Doing so could save your life. Also it makes us look great to our boss”. It makes the messages feel more irreverent.

And most importantly, they don’t overthink it. Are these messages the best copy you’ll ever see? No. But do they remind you to get your baps out and have a rummage? Yes. Job done.

Make it work for you

Know your niche. Think your target audience is small? Try halving it again. Write social posts for different segments of your audience, post them on different days and measure the results.
Be consistent. It lets people get to know you.
Cultural references make your brand more relatable. They help your customers realise you exist within the same universe as them.
Show your human side, prove you’re not a robot. A little bit of imperfection is endearing.
Don’t reinvent the wheel – keep your eye on your goal and save yourself the time labouring over every word of a ‘disposable’ message like a LinkedIn post or text message.

If you’d like to chat more about writing for your business, I’d love to hear from you.