Awai – Copywriting Academy

Awai – Copywriting Academy

COPYWRITINGACADEMY

Once accepted into AWAI’s Copywriting Academy, students are immediately and fully immersed in the art (and science) of persuasive copywriting.

You learn how to become a successful, in-demand, well-paid working copywriter from the ground up…

Everything from how the industry works, how writers get paid, and all the copy needs along the customer journey…

To the essentials of deep research… A-level methods for writing captivating headlines and leads… how persuasive messaging is structured… how to incorporate elements of proof and authority… write conversationally… create impossible-to-refuse offers… find, land, and work with clients… grow your writing business… and much, much more.

Upon completion of AWAI Academy training, students will have all the knowledge and writing skills they need to compete and succeed at the highest levels of our industry.

Academy’s Core Curriculum:
7 Levels of Accelerated Learning

Copywriting Academy starts with the core curriculum…

Over 270 lessons and assignments across 7 levels of incentive-based learning that you complete entirely at your own time pace.

You begin by gaining the deepest understanding of your role as a copywriter in today’s digital economy and the enormous opportunity ahead of you…

To where you’ll have skills to plan and write every element of a successful online marketing and acquisition campaign.

Along the way, you’ll get feedback on your writing… be tested on your knowledge… build a comprehensive portfolio… meet and interact with experts and fellow students… be invited to exclusive “Deep Dive” learning sessions — all as you work towards earning your highly coveted, industry-recognized Direct Response Copywriter Certification.

Here are some details and highlights of your seven levels of Copywriter Academy training:

COPYWRITING ACADEMY Curriculum & Syllabus

LEVEL 1 What Every Copywriter Needs to Know About Copy, the Industry, and the Copywriter’s Role in It

Copywriters who succeed faster are those who have a clear understanding of their role, the opportunity before them, how the money works, what clients expect from them, and what copy needs to achieve at every stage of the customer journey. You’ll learn:

Rebecca Matter

Pam Foster

Marcella Allison

• Why the industry needs copywriters, who needs them most, and why it pays so well…
• How copy is all about persuasion and immediate response…
• How marketing works and your role as a member of the larger marketing team…
• The Customer Journey and the Copy-Content Continuum…
• How Marketing Funnels work in business, and how to build one…
• Understanding the “language” of direct response…
• Understanding the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) copywriters need to know…
• Various ways copywriters help their clients attract customers, make more money, and all the ways you can be paid…
• What you need to be a successful copywriter — and what you don’t…
• Traits, habits, and daily routines of successful copywriters…
• How to start and build your own Swipe File — and why it’s important…
• And more…

— Level Summary —As a “Level 1” copywriter, you’ll be completely immersed into the “world” of copywriting and leave with everything you’ll need to know to start your new writing career.

LEVEL 2 Persuasion: What it Means and Why it’s the Cornerstone of Your Copywriting Success

The “power to persuade” is perhaps the most valuable and lucrative skill anyone can have, and to be able to do it in writing is — quite literally — a passport to unlimited riches. You’ll learn:

Mark Ford

Sandy Franks

Clayton Makepeace

• What persuasion really means and its crucial role in every piece of copy copywriters write…
• Understanding, finding, and transmitting “emotionally compelling and persuasive ideas” in copy…
• The secret of “clarity”…
• The secret of “specificity”…
• Understanding the “Rule of One” as a copywriter…
• The psychology of persuasion and Aristotle’s “Three Appeals”…
• Ways to inject persuasion into every sales message you write…
• How to make any writing — copy, content, emails — irresistibly and instantly compelling…
• Understanding the secret architecture of persuasion…
• The seven questions readers will have that your copy must answer…
• The invisible structure behind the world’s most successful sales messages…
• And more…

— Level Summary —As a “Level 2” writer, you’ll understand “persuasion” better than anyone on earth, ensuring it’s at the core of every writing project you take on.

LEVEL 3 Getting to Know Your Prospect — the Most Important Person You’ll Ever Know as a Copywriter

The best copywriters understand that readers are much more than “a potential customer.”

Instead, the best writers and marketers see their readers as our good friend and writer Seth Godin sees them: As people who simply want to become better versions of themselves — and you’re there to help them. You’ll learn:

Ann
Handley

Carline
Anglade-Cole

Bob Bly

• How to know who your true prospect is…
• Beyond demographics — why it’s much better to have a real-life image of the person you’re writing to… and who it should be…
• How to learn how to speak your reader’s language…
• How to connect the solution you’re offering to the emotion your reader connects to it…
• The theory of resistance and how to overcome it…
• How to ensure every piece of copy or content you write is 100% focused on your reader’s wants, needs, and desires…
• A simple three-step formula for matching your headline to your reader’s emotional desire…
• How to strike the right balance when writing conversationally…
• Finding your unique voice as a copywriter…
• Using “story” to connect with your reader…
• How to leverage curiosity as a copywriter…
• The most important question you can ask (and answer) in copy to understand what your reader really wants…
• How to keep your readers riveted…
• How to command attention in a “cluttered” world…
• And more…

— Level Summary —Level 3 is all about understanding why the great writers genuinely care about their reader… want to help them… and how you “create” that relationship before you even write a word of your letter.

LEVEL 4 The Power of Research: Your Key to Big, Emotionally Compelling Ideas and Strong Body Copy

Few writers reach the top levels of our industry without a passion for research. Thanks to the internet and AI, that part of the copywriter’s job just got a whole lot easier.

In Level 4, you learn to leverage all the tools available to writers today to unearth exciting, compelling ideas that will captivate your reader and form what another good friend of AWAI and founder of StoryBrand, Donald Miller, calls “the controlling idea” of every sales message:

Guillermo Rubio

David Deutsch

Mike Palmer

• The best places to find breakthrough “Big Ideas”…
• Beyond the Google search: How to research like a pro and unearth gems that lead to winning copy every time…
• How to record and organize the research you find so it can be easily incorporated into your copy…
• How to use research to find the “controlling ideas” for your promotions…
• Research you can do that practically lets you “read your reader’s mind”…
• It’s all about new — how to take old ideas and make them seem fresh and new in the eyes of your reader…
• How to harness the power of AI — the copywriter’s new and most powerful research tool…
• How to spot “hidden gems” of research most copywriters will miss…
• How successful copywriters view the world around them differently… and how you can follow their lead…
• And more…

— Level Summary —Level 4 is about equipping you with the most powerful “secret weapon” all great copywriters have — the power to see the world as a marketer, find and identify new and powerful ideas, and set your writing apart in dramatic fashion.

LEVEL 5 Writing a Sales Letter — Using AWAI’s “Deconstructed Flow” Method

The ability to write a complete sales letter is one of the most important — and lucrative — skills a copywriter can have… and one that’s missing from the repertoires of so many “B-level” writers.

Why? Because it’s the one copywriting project that has all the elements of persuasion — from an attention-getting headline… to a strong promise… to proof and credibility… to irresistible offer and close.

Throughout Level 5, you’ll learn to write ALL the elements of a professional sales letter from beginning to end… and in the process, write a sales letter of your own — with feedback — which will later become a core component of your Capstone writing project. This includes:

Bill Bonner

John Forde

Brian Clark

• Headlines that break through the clutter and noise, grab your reader by the lapels, and instantly connect with your reader’s needs, wants, and desires…
• Leads that make a strong promise while keeping your reader engaged and wanting to read more…
• Body copy that builds trust by delivering undeniable proof that your product can deliver on its core promise, while “layering in” additional benefits that make your offer even more compelling…
• Offers and price propositions your reader simply can’t resist…
• Closes and Calls-to-Action that summarize product benefits, justify pricing, create urgency, give your readers a clear action to take, and make clear the downside of not taking action…
• Ironclad resistance breakers that address any additional “logical” barriers a reader might have to responding to your offer…
• Order forms that clearly and concisely summarize your main promise, core product benefits, price, offer… and make it easy for your prospect to buy…
• And more…

— Level Summary —The ability to write a cohesive, persuasive sales letter is the “holy grail” for copywriters. Not only is it one of the highest paying projects in the direct response world, once you can write a sales letter, you can write anything!

LEVEL 6A-Level Editing: Taking Your Copy from Good to Great

With a draft of your sales letter written, time to apply one of the most valuable and important skills a professional copywriter can have — the ability to take your copy from good to great through high-level editing.

And once you have these master editing techniques under your belt, you’ll apply them to the first draft of the sales letter you’ve just written… run it through the special “copy checklist” we’ll give you… apply feedback… until you’re confident enough to submit your sales letter as part of your Capstone writing project.

Mike Ward

Richard Armstrong

Mike Palmer

• How to train your brain to recognize winning sales copy…
• Style guides and what to know about writing for different industries…
• How to use the FK score to make your copy more readable…
• How to polish copy by putting it through a “Punch List”…
• Words and phrases that have no place in persuasive copy…
• How to write concise but powerful transitions that let you move seamlessly from one idea to the next…
• How to use AWAI’s “peer review” and C.U.B.A. copy processes…
• How to eliminate confusing, unbelievable, and “boring” copy…
• How to use the “Four-Legged Stool” to ensure your sales letter has all the copy elements needed to make it thrive…
• How to craft a writing and editing process that works for you…
• How professional copywriters edit their copy (a “First-to-Final” case study)…
• And more…

— Level Summary —Editing is about far more than finding grammatical errors and typos — it’s about ensuring your copy is readable, engaging, and connecting with your reader at the highest level. Level 6 training not only shows you how, but gives you the tools, checklists, and filters professional writers use every day.

LEVEL 7 Copy Elements of the Customer Journey: How to Write a Complete Online Acquisition and Sales Campaign

In Level 7, you’ll learn to write all the smaller copy projects needed to support and drive readers to the sales letter you’ve written and polished in Levels 5 and 6, including:

Heather Robson

Bob Bly

Paul Hollingshead

• Space ads for Google and social media designed to generate immediate interest in what you’re selling to the market you’re targeting…
• SEO content that engages a prospective buyer by offering real and useful solutions based on what they’re searching for…
• Emails that encourage readers to click to and read your sales letter…
• Landing pages that offer free reports or other giveaways in exchange for the name and email address of a new potential customer…
• “Stick” emails that welcome new customers where you can start building long-term relationships…
• And more…

— Level Summary —While the sales letter you write and edit in Levels 5 and 6 put into practice your newly formed skills of persuasion — Level 7 will ensure you know how to carry over those skills to smaller “collateral” projects all businesses need… and can offer you additional billing opportunities.

All Encompassing, Fully Immersive Learning Experience

Academy leaves no stone unturned when it comes to helping you achieve ultimate, long-term success as a professional direct-response copywriter…

From ensuring you have the foundational skills you need… to starting your writing business and landing clients… to the resources that’ll help you overcome any challenge as a writer… to giving you every opportunity to grow your knowledge at every stage of your career.

Who Is AWAI’s
Copywriting Academy For?

While Academy’s resources have been geared to writers looking to have lucrative freelance careers, Academy is truly for anyone who needs or wants to be a better, more persuasive writer:

• Entrepreneurs — either active or aspiring — who want the kind of high-level persuasive writing skills that can get their businesses launched on the right footing… or make their current businesses more profitable…
• Company employees who want to become stronger and more persuasive writers overall, and thus more valuable to their firms…
• Marketers who work with copywriters day to day or are asked to write copy from time to time… and want a better grasp of what effective “in the trenches” copywriting is all about…
• Staff writers who never got a foundational education in true persuasive writing and want to become more effective in their jobs and more valuable to their employers…
• Professionals and business owners who want to open up new revenue streams for their businesses using proven copywriting techniques…
• Essentially anyone who wants to put the power of persuasion to work in all aspects of their lives!