How the 80/20 rule applies in short-form copywriting

Happy Wednesday! Welcome back to The Copywriting Gig.

I'm Jim Hamilton. Over the past 7 years, my copy has contributed to 30m+ in sales for clients across health, biz opp, and B2B.

Each week, I share 1 actionable tip to grow your business.

Hierarchies of influence reveal what elements really move the needle.

They explain how the 80/20 rule (where 20% of your efforts produce 80% of your results) actually applies in short-form copywriting.

One of the most common ones is L-O-C.

This stands for List-Offer-Copy.

In other words, if you don’t have a hungry audience and an offer they badly want…

Not even an A-List copywriter can turn that into a home run.

But there’s another “hidden” hierarchy of influence I see many copywriters, ghostwriters, and solopreneurs ignoring all the time.

So today, I’m breaking it down to help you pump out more persuasive short-form copy.

Let’s dive in.

Read time: 3 minutes and 2 seconds

Together with The Curiosity Chronicle

Discover the step-by-step frameworks & mental models behind health, wealth, and success

They say success leaves clues.

Good news is, you don’t have to put on your best Sherlock Holmes outfit to go find them, because The Curiosity Chronicle does it for you.

In his free newsletter, entrepreneur and investor Sahil Bloom breaks down frameworks, mental models, and step-by-step playbooks for high-performance in all areas of life twice a week.

So if you’re serious about upleveling your health, wealth, relationships, and business…

Join 500,000+ high-performers and subscribe for free today.

Why This Hierarchy of Influence Hides in Plain Sight

Your attention is drawn to what you see.

And it’s human instinct to judge things based on surface-level appearance.

But there’s a reason they say not to judge a book by its cover…

Because it can blind you to what’s really happening underneath.

So when you come across a high-performing ad, email, or social media post…

It’s natural to assume the cause is visible.

But 9 times out of 10, it’s not.

Fundamentally, there are two dimensions to any piece of short-form copy.

(and any piece of writing in general, frankly)

And one is much more important than the other.

Let me explain…

1) What you say (substance)

“What you say” is the meat of your message.

It’s the substance.

This dimension includes:

• Offers

• Hooks

• Angles

• Beliefs

• Problems

• Desired outcomes

• Positioning vs competition

• Introducing a unique mechanism

• Disagreeing with mainstream wisdom

These are the key ingredients to any persuasive message.

You can’t craft copy that converts without them.

A great example of this is your LinkedIn tagline.

You’ve got very limited real estate to communicate WHO you help, WHAT you help them achieve, and HOW you help them achieve it.

Split-testing this can yield a massive increase in profile conversion rate.

Next up is…

2) How you say it (style)

“How you say it” is the seasoning you use to spice up the dish.

It’s the style.

This dimension includes:

• Bullets

• Emojis

• Punctuation

• Declarations

• Word choice

• Metaphors & analogies

• Varied visual & auditory flow

These can amplify the impact of your message…

(sometimes dramatically, in the case social media)

But if there’s no meat on the plate, no amount of seasoning and spice is going to turn that into a tasty meal.

Sticking with the LinkedIn example…

A nicely-formatted post may get lots of likes and comments, but it won’t drive leads, booked calls, or clients if the message has no substance.

How to apply the 80/20 rule for more persuasive copy

Always think about “what” before you worry about “how.”

For example, if you’re writing a social media post to drum up leads for your ghostwriting business…

Ask yourself:

• What’s the angle?

• What painful problem am I solving?

• What desired outcome am I promising?

• What’s my unique process for going from A to B?

• How am I positioning myself vs the competition?

This is the 20% of the work that will be responsible for 80% of your results.

(also known as the Pareto Principle)

Ben Settle’s a great example of this…

His business is built almost entirely on email, and yet he often “breaks the rules” with big words, run-on sentences, bizarre turns of phrase, and long paragraphs that don’t look very inviting on mobile.

This hasn’t stopped him from building a 7-figure publishing business.

Why not?

Because he’s a master of offers, angles, positioning, and challenging the mainstream.

Now, I’m not encouraging you to ignore the “how” dimension altogether…

(as you can see by how I’ve formatted this email)

Instead, I’m advising you to be strategic about how you deploy your time and energy when writing.

Don’t major in the minors.

Putting It All Together

2 dimensions to any piece of short-form copywriting:

1) What you say (substance)
2) How you say it (style)

Always focus on substance over style.

This is how the 80/20 rule applies.

That’s it.

Thanks for reading!

See you next week.

Jim Hamilton

P.S:

Some recommended reading if you want to go deeper on this:

• $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi

• Great Leads by Michael Masterson

• Take Their Money by Kyle Milligan