# Copywriting Human Guide

## What This Is For
Write or edit marketing copy for blogs, emails, landing pages, ads, social posts, and case studies. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for content production: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Copywriting agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for copywriting.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Copywriting guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- **Title**: lead with the core benefit or topic; keep under 60 characters for search engine display; weave in the target keyword naturally
- **Sections** (3-5 with H2 headings; use H3 for nested topics): each section delivers one distinct idea backed by evidence, examples, or data
- **Wrap-up** (75-100 words): distill the main insights, reinforce the central argument, and direct the reader toward a next step
- **Meta description**: stay under 160 characters; incorporate the primary keyword; make it compelling enough to earn the click from search results
- **Opener**: arrest attention in the first line with a question, a number, or a bold assertion
- **Middle**: deliver 2-4 tight points or a brief narrative arc
- **Action prompt**: tell the reader exactly what to do next (reply, click, share, save)
- **Tags**: include 3-5 contextual hashtags, adapting to platform norms
- **Subject line**: cap at 50 characters; lean on curiosity, urgency, or obvious value
- **Preheader text**: extend the subject line's promise without repeating it
- **Visual anchor**: a hero image or banner paired with a single benefit statement
- **Body blocks**: 2-3 scannable sections, each introduced by a bolded lead sentence

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Channel Formats and Anatomy, Blog Articles, Social Media Posts, Email Campaigns, Conversion Pages (Landing Pages), Press Announcements, Customer Success Stories, Channel-Specific Writing Principles, Social Platforms, Email.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Avoid jargon unless the target audience expects it
- Never sacrifice readability for keyword density — always write for the human reader first

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Copywriting human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the vm0-ai/vm0-skills skill entry for `copywriting`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

## Channel Formats and Anatomy

### Blog Articles

A well-structured article follows this progression:

1. **Title**: lead with the core benefit or topic; keep under 60 characters for search engine display; weave in the target keyword naturally
2. **Opening paragraph** (100-150 words): immediately establish relevance through a provocative question, a data point, a counterintuitive claim, or a vivid scenario; declare what the reader will gain; place the primary keyword early
3. **Sections** (3-5 with H2 headings; use H3 for nested topics): each section delivers one distinct idea backed by evidence, examples, or data
4. **Wrap-up** (75-100 words): distill the main insights, reinforce the central argument, and direct the reader toward a next step
5. **Meta description**: stay under 160 characters; incorporate the primary keyword; make it compelling enough to earn the click from search results

### Social Media Posts

- **Opener**: arrest attention in the first line with a question, a number, or a bold assertion
- **Middle**: deliver 2-4 tight points or a brief narrative arc
- **Action prompt**: tell the reader exactly what to do next (reply, click, share, save)
- **Tags**: include 3-5 contextual hashtags, adapting to platform norms

### Email Campaigns

- **Subject line**: cap at 50 characters; lean on curiosity, urgency, or obvious value
- **Preheader text**: extend the subject line's promise without repeating it
- **Visual anchor**: a hero image or banner paired with a single benefit statement
- **Body blocks**: 2-3 scannable sections, each introduced by a bolded lead sentence
- **Single CTA**: one unmistakable action per message
- **Footer**: unsubscribe option, company details, social profile links

### Conversion Pages (Landing Pages)

- **Primary headline**: communicate the chief benefit in fewer than 10 words
- **Supporting line**: add nuance or specificity beneath the headline
- **Hero area**: combine headline, subline, main CTA button, and a visual or demo
- **Benefit blocks**: 3-4 sections organized around outcomes, using icons or imagery
- **Proof elements**: customer quotes, partner logos, performance statistics, mini case studies
- **Objection resolution**: FAQs or trust indicators addressing common hesitations
- **Closing CTA**: restate the primary action at the bottom of the page

### Press Announcements

- **Headline**: factual and newsworthy, under 80 characters
- **Supplementary line** (optional): provides additional context
- **Dateline**: city, state/country, and date
- **Lead** (2-3 sentences): cover who, what, when, where, and why
- **Supporting paragraphs**: expand with detail, quotations, and background
- **Company boilerplate**: standardized organizational description
- **Press contact**: name, email address, phone number

### Customer Success Stories

- **Title pattern**: "[Client name] achieves [measurable outcome] with [your product]"
- **Overview box**: client name, sector, company size, product used, headline metric
- **Problem**: describe the business challenge the client was facing
- **Approach**: explain what was deployed and the implementation method
- **Outcomes**: present quantified results with precise figures
- **Client quote**: a direct testimonial from the customer
- **Next step**: prompt the reader to explore a demo, contact sales, or browse more stories

## Channel-Specific Writing Principles

### Blog Articles
- Target an 8th-grade reading level for general audiences; raise complexity for specialized readers
- Keep paragraphs to 2-4 sentences
- Insert subheadings every 200-300 words for scannability
- Alternate between prose, bullet lists, and numbered steps to vary rhythm
- Back every section with at least one proof point — a statistic, an example, or a quote
- Favor active constructions and front-load each section's key takeaway

### Social Platforms
- **LinkedIn**: maintain a professional yet personable register; use line breaks generously; personal anecdotes and professional reflections perform well; the "see more" fold appears around 1,300 characters
- **Twitter/X**: be sharp and direct; lead with the strongest words; use threads to develop longer arguments; engage in replies
- **Instagram**: write visually-oriented captions; open with storytelling hooks; use line breaks for readability; place hashtags at the end or in the first comment
- **Facebook**: adopt a conversational register; questions boost comment engagement; posts under 80 characters tend to outperform for link shares

### Email
- Subject lines should provoke curiosity, signal urgency, or promise tangible value
- Personalize where data allows — name, company, past behavior
- A single, visually prominent CTA per message drives higher conversion
- Optimize for scanning: bold key phrases, short paragraphs, bulleted lists
- Treat mobile as the primary viewing context