copywriting

The saved excerpt is a snapshot from review. The external source remains the complete and most current version.

---
name: copywriting
description: >-
  Use when the user wants to write, rewrite, or improve marketing copy — a
  homepage hero, landing page, ad, email, product page, or CTA. Also use when
  the user mentions copywriting, headlines, page copy, ad copy, microcopy,
  "make this sharper", or "why isn't this converting". Produces copy that
  ladders to the positioning, with every claim defensible, plus a score on
  clarity, concreteness, and claim-defensibility.
license: MIT
metadata:
  publisher: AAJ
  slug: copywriting
  category: Content & Copy
  phase: Execute
  difficulty: Starter
  version: 1.0.0
  agents: [Claude Code, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, Windsurf, Cline]
  inputs: The asset and its one job, the audience, the positioning (or the raw inputs for it), the competitive alternative, and any proof — numbers, named customers, specifics
  outputs: Drafted copy laddered to the positioning, a scored read on clarity/concreteness/claim-defensibility, and a list of claims that still need proof
  related_aaj:
    - https://aajconsult.com/tools/positioning-statement-generator
    - https://aajconsult.com/resources/positioning-messaging-workbook
  tags: [copywriting, headlines, landing-page, ad-copy, messaging, conversion-copy]
---

# Copywriting

Write copy that is **specific, single-minded, and provable**. Marketing copy fails in a predictable way: it describes a category rather than a product, hedges every claim into meaninglessness, and reaches for superlatives where a fact would do. The test is blunt — **if you could swap in a competitor's logo and the copy would still read as true, it isn't positioning, it's wallpaper.**

Copy is not persuasion technique applied to a blank page. It is positioning made concrete. Everything here assumes the positioning exists; if it doesn't, that's the first job.

## When to use

The user is writing or improving any customer-facing copy — hero sections, landing pages, ads, emails, product pages, buttons — or asking why existing copy isn't landing.

## Before you start

1. **Read the brand/product context first.** If `.agents/product-marketing.md` or `.agents/aaj-brand.md` exists, use it for product, audience, voice, and competitors.
2. **Get the positioning.** Copy inherits from positioning; it cannot invent it. If there's no positioning statement, run `positioning-statement` first or gather: who it's for, the problem, the category, the single benefit, the competitive alternative, the differentiator.
3. **Define the one job.** Every asset does exactly one thing — capture an email, book a call, start a trial, explain one concept. An asset with two jobs does neither.
4. **Collect the proof.** Ask for numbers, named customers, verifiable specifics. Copy is only as strong as the evidence behind it. Where proof doesn't exist, the claim gets softened or cut — not dressed up.

## Method

Strong copy follows a hierarchy: **one promise, three supports, proof under each.** The promise is the single most important thing the reader gets; supports are why it's credible; proof makes it verifiable. Specificity does the persuading — "cuts onboarding from 3 weeks to 4 days" beats "dramatically accelerates onboarding," because the reader can picture it and check it.

Read the reader's state before writing: what they already believe, what they'd object to, and what they'd need to see to act. Copy that ignores the objection loses to copy that answers it.

See `resources/copy-frameworks.md` for the message hierarchy, headline patterns, the asset-by-asset structures, a worked example, and the output format.

## Run the engine

Score any draft — yours or the user's existing copy:

> Paths assume you installed with `npx skills add`. From a clone of this repo, use `skills/copywriting/resources/…` instead.

```bash
node .agents/skills/copywriting/resources/copy-scorer.js                # demo
node .agents/skills/copywriting/resources/copy-scorer.js "your copy here"
node .agents/skills/copywriting/resources/copy-scorer.js --f