An Interview with Lucy Bedewi (Video Podcast)
In the 60th episode of the On Branding Podcast, Arek Dvornechuck interviews Lucy Bedewi, and they talk about how to create a memorable brand voice.
You can also watch this interview on my YouTube Channel
Table of Contents
*PS. Below you will find an auto-generated transcript of this episode.
Intro
Arek Dvornechuck: What’s up, branding experts? Arek here at Ebaqdesign and welcome to On Branding Podcast. My guest today is Lucy Bedewi and Lucy runs her own business, My Write Hand Woman, where she specializes in writing copy with personality and copy that converts. So she’s the writer behind international corporations, but also fast growing startup.
World famous Bakeries, 7-figure coaches and other creative entrepreneurs. So Lucy’s a copywriting expert and she joins us today to share with us some of her tips on onto how to write a memorable copy, and how to create a memorable voice. Hello Lucy. Thanks for joining us.
Lucy Bedewi: Hi. Thank you for having me.
Arek Dvornechuck: Thank you so much.
What is a brand voice?
So today we are gonna talk about copywriting since you have a lot of experience with copywriting and and especially the importance of developing a unique brand voice, right? So I must say that I really like the, the copy on your website. It’s, you know, it has all those things that you talk. It’s, it has a unique personality. It’s fun. It’s sweetie. So maybe we can start with a simple question. What is a brand voice?
Lucy Bedewi: Absolutely, and thank you for that. So when it comes to a brand voice, it’s really the personality that you have behind all of the written messaging and marketing in your brand. So you can think of it like if your web copy is speaking to your ideal client when they’re landing on your website, your brand voice or your brand tone is how you sound in their head.
Arek Dvornechuck: Right. Okay. So it makes sense.
How to find your voice?
So it’s basically our selection of words, right? The way we, you know, we can convey the same idea using different, you know, using different tone of voice, right? So now, I took your quiz, right? And it, it says that I, my tone of voice should be casual, uplifting, and empathetic, right?
So maybe it can just guide us through the process of so obviously you can take, we can take your quiz, but what are some of the other ways that we can, you know, really find or discover or define our brand voice?
Lucy Bedewi: Absolutely. So the quiz really takes you through that process as you experience firsthand of finding some adjectives that would be helpful for your brand voice based on a few answers to questions. But you can also think about your personality. Adjectives that you naturally feel like you have as a person.
So things like if you are a little bit more on the funny side, or even if you’re more intimidating or serious, those are great starting points. And then what I recommend you do is look at your ideal client base. Do you notice that they’re a little bit more casual or rebellious, or are they a little bit more on that serious, more conservative side?
They kind of keep a low profile. So when you kind of put these two circles together, who you are and who your ideal client is, that’s where you’re able to find those adjectives and those tone of voice words that can really draw people in and make your brand what you want it to.
Arek Dvornechuck: Right. It don’t make sense. So basically, just to sum up for our listeners some of my key takeaways. So basically first we, we try to define. Our, you know find the adjectives that would describe our brand voice and then look at our clients, at our audience and figure out are they more casual, more serious, and so on. And see where the, where it overlaps, right? Where is the overlap And that’s the one way of doing so.
How to write brand copy?
So, So once we’ve defined some, you know, we’ve, we found some adjectives we have some more clarity about what direction we should, you know, move. Like where, where should we, should we go? So, and what’s the next step? How to write brand copy.
Like for example, we need to revise our website, let’s say, or we want to create a compelling description of our offering, you know, whether it’s about products or services.
So where to start? Do you have like any specific, like a specific process that you go through?
Lucy Bedewi: So when I’m working with a client, the first place I start is defining their brand voice with adjectives as we’ve already talked about, and then I move into implementing those adjectives to convey the emotion that we’re looking to convey. So some easy, quick tips that people in the audience can use is if you are more casual than using short, quick sentences and using some.
We’ll definitely portray you as more casual if you are trying to show up as the expert. Using testimonials and maybe even speaking in the third person might help you show up as an expert more than if you were to speak in the first person. So there’s those little tiny things you can do to implement your brand voice.
But the number one thing I tell people, especially if you’re DIYing your copy, is make sure you’re writing. Same voice every time you’re writing something for your brand, whether it’s your website, an email, a social media caption, because really the magic is in the consistency.
Arek Dvornechuck: Right. So you always need to be consistent. So you would basically advise pe, you know people to really define the bro the tone of voice early on, and so that we can stay consistent rather than just, you know, trying, experimenting a lot and then you know, figuring this out over time. So do you have any any general tips?
I, I, I, I know that you post a great content on Instagram. So I have some, some, I have taken some notes, and these are actually great tips, so I just wanted you to like perhaps, you know, give us, so, so our audience can also. Understand, you know, what are some of the common things, things that people struggle with, or maybe you have like general tips that you know on writing or writing the copy.
Lucy Bedewi: Absolutely. So when it comes to writing your web copy and your brand, The first thing I think everyone in the audience should know is that it’s an intentional process of curation. No one stumbles into a brand voice or copy. That sounds good. It’s an intense amount of planning and research and market research and going back.
And looking at your analytics and see where you’re losing people on your website so that you can create something that’s just absolutely perfect for your needs. So that would be my number one tip is a big pitfall I see is people not doing the research before they start writing their copy. It’s so important to know what you’re going into things with so you can go in with a clear mind and you can really write something that will resonate.
And then I think another big tip for writing your web copy. To really relax into it. I think sometimes it can be tough to to write, especially if it’s not what you’re used to. You’re not able to hire a copywriter. But the main thing you can do is just let your words flow and you can always edit later.
Arek Dvornechuck: Yeah, that’s a great tip. And especially I think we can relate to that as creatives, you know, usually, like you are on the other side, right? You are good with words. We are good with visuals, so that, that’s where we compliment each other. Right? But yeah, for designers it might be hard to come up with, you know, right words, but as you are saying, you need to be relaxed. But what I really like is, is the tip that you give us. You have some Instagram with tips for copywriting. I just wanted to say, say to our listeners so you advise us to record ourself. Explaining, you know, our product or service, our offering, and then transcribe it so that we can become, you know, more, our copy can be more conver conversational.
So rather than it, it’s sounding like like an English teacher, I think it’s a great advice and I always, like, I work with writers. For, for my blog. And I always recommend them to do, like, read out loud what you’re writing, at least read out loud a few times, and then you’re gonna get an idea of what is, like, what you can improve, right?
It’s not about, you’re not gonna get things at write at once. You, you will have to rewrite this again and again, right?
Lucy Bedewi: Yes, and I think really reading things out loud, we often are told to do that, to catch typos. And while it’s great to catch typos, you can also read things out loud because it’s a way of you being able to think, How is this gonna play in my customer’s head when they’re. Site, how is it gonna sound? And oftentimes people will tell me, Okay, well I have a casual brand voice, or I want my website to seem like you’re talking to a friend.
And I’ll read their site out loud and it will be so formal and it’s not their fault. I think a lot of us know how to write formally more than we do casually. But it really goes to show when you read something out loud, the kind of emotion that you’re convey.
Arek Dvornechuck: Yeah. Another great tip I think is to use a lot of U form. So you recommend people instead of, because we are used to, saying something like I help my clients with or we help our clients with, right? So you would rather suggest, you know, using u Formm more often than just talking about ourselves. Right? And, and another third key takeaway I have here is about grammar. So you are saying that grammar is less than readability, and I couldn’t agree more here with you. You know from my own experience as, as, as a blogger you know, I even like, I even go to the to the extent to divide just have a one sentence per paragraph.
It, it was, I know it sounds ridiculous. It’s easier that way for people to read and people who don’t read everything anyways, they scan. And so it must be easy for them to scan and, and read some content and then if they, they want to read and dive in, they’re gonna read the, the whole thing, right? But so you just recommend to let it go Sometimes.
Don’t use so many commas and break it down into smaller pieces.
Lucy Bedewi: Yes, especially those smaller pieces. You definitely hit the nail on the head with that one because truthfully, so many people are gonna skim, and especially when it comes to your headlines. I say use fragments, put the period, start a new sentence, use words like, and, and, but at the beginning of the sentence, And just make it read like you would if you were speaking to someone, going back to that recording yourself.
And oftentimes we don’t have these long literature like sentences when we’re talking. We’re just getting out our words and our thoughts, and then people are able to digest them so much faster.
Arek Dvornechuck: Right, Alright. So so again, just to sum up. It’s, it sounds easy, but it’s not really easy. Right? So here are some of the tips for, you know, if you want to do it yourself, but obviously you work with entrepreneurs, you work with companies who need copywriting services and so, so you just mentioned that, you know, it require, it’s, it’s actually a lot of research and planning that comes before actual writing.
So, Maybe you have some also tips for, for us, you know, because as, I mean, either creators who want to do this for their clients, right? So for example, there’s a web designer who wants to also offer, you know, website writing copy for the website, for example, right? Or entrepreneurs who want to hire, you know, copywriters like yourself.
So maybe some tips for those entrepreneurs who are looking for a good writer. How to find the right, Right. You know, a brand copywriter who knows, or, or, or who knows, you know, what he’s doing or what she’s doing.
Lucy Bedewi: Yeah, so there’s definitely a few ways to go about that. The first thing I would do is read their writing, go through their portfolio with a fine tooth comb and think, Well, can I read this easily? Am I getting bored? Would I buy what they’re selling? That’s such a great litmus test because you’re able to see are they compelling as a writer, and that’s a really great first step.
The second is to look at their packages and the industries that they’ve worked with and see if they’re aligned there. And then the third thing would be make sure that they have a personality, whether it’s talking to them in the sales call or in their writing, that you feel aligned with. If you feel like they have a lot of really great energy that they bring to their writing, chances are they’ll be able to bring that same energy to your writing.
So it’s just making sure that your writer is really aligned with how you want to.
Arek Dvornechuck: Right. No, that makes, that makes total sense. So as we are approaching the dent of our episode perhaps you have some extra tips or, you know, some common mistakes that you see people often make when it comes to copywriting or something specific like copywriting for, for websites?
Lucy Bedewi: I think the biggest mistake I see is people are a little bit wordy, so if you struggle with words, usually the issue is not that you don’t write enough, it’s that you write too much. You try and oversell your offer and say, Look, you’re gonna get this, this, and this and this. And truthfully, People don’t really care about that.
What people wanna see is a transformation and that you can take away their problems and that you have the solution. So if you can hit on those three points, the rest of the stuff, the the tiny little details that they’re gonna get in that package with you, that can be told to them after the sales page, because that’s not why they’re buying or why they’re hiring you.
Arek Dvornechuck: Right. No, that’s an awesome tip. Yeah, I can definitely, I see, see it myself with my clients. Most of the rebrands I’ve done for my clients, usually the old website is like overloaded with the amount of content, right. Awesome. So I just wanted to ask you how to connect with you for, you know, those entrepreneurs who wanna work with you or just for creatives who just wanna connect with you.
I know that you are very, you are on Instagram, you’re very active on Instagram. Right?
Lucy Bedewi: Yes. Instagram’s my favorite.
Arek Dvornechuck: Okay. And your website is mywritehandwoman.com. Spelled not RIGHT, but W R I T E. Okay So we’re gonna link to your website, to your Instagram. Thank you so much for coming on the show.
Lucy Bedewi: Perfect. Thank you.
Arek Dvornechuck: Thank you. I appreciate that.
