How Negativity Can Help You Stand Out When Writing Your Copy

If you’re a marketer, entrepreneur, or small business owner… you’re probably writing a lot of copy. Whether you’re writing a headline or hook for your website, a sales letter, an authoritative blog post, or a social media post — there’s a simple technique that not a lot of your competitors are using right now.

If you want to write engaging and captivating copy, here’s why you should consider using a little negativity.

Why Negativity Works

We tend to write copy that blatantly expresses the benefits of what we offer. We write headlines that include phrases like “Book More Clients” or “Increase Revenue.” It’s the obvious, common thing to do. There’s nothing wrong with including these phrases in your copy, but it doesn’t help you stand out from the competition. Instead, you end up blending in with everyone else.

In fact, a negative spin could work in your advantage when it comes to writing copy.

Imagine This…

Say you’re selling social media management services for dentists. These dental professionals and practices are your target audience, so you’ll probably write a headline like this:

“Discover how to generate 20 new patients every month using these simple Facebook techniques”

This isn’t a bad headline at all. It will stimulate curiosity and maybe land you a few dental clients. The problem is your competitors are writing copy that look just like this. And your target audience (dentists) are probably used to seeing and being pitched to with types of headlines. Sooner or later, you’re going to be lumped in with everyone else they come across.

It’s All About Standing Out

This is where you’ll be able to use a negative spin to help you stand out from the crowd. Using that same headline, you could reword it like this:

“these 3 common mistakes cost the average dentist at least 20 patients every month. How many patients are you losing out on?” Or “how many patients are you losing?”

This isn’t a perfect example, but you can already see a huge difference.

There’s a reason why this headline is making you slightly anxious. You may even be feeling a sense of urgency.

Reframing That Same Concept in a Negative Light

That one simple change shifted the focus on a loss instead of a potential gain.

Negativity is a simple and powerful tool to intrigue and engage with your target audience, because the fear of loss is often more motivating than the idea of a possible gain.

Fear of loss, or fear of missing out (FOMO), is an extremely powerful motivator. And to be honest, I don’t see this technique being used often enough.

If you aren’t utilizing negativity in your copy, you’re missing out on capturing more of your audience’s attention. You’re also lumping yourself in with the rest of your competitors. Start implementing this simple, yet powerful technique to your copy. Not only will it help you stand out, it will help you increase conversions as well.

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