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Writer's pictureJohn Brandt

Shocking news: Men and women are different

Got some controversial, “hateful,” and truly disturbing news for you today:


Men and women are different.


“Gasp!!!!”


I know, I know.


I’m probably going to get cancelled for this one. Especially in the current year. Smh. I can hear the crazy SJWs hollering at me to “do better!” already. It’s probably best you unsubscribe right now before you read one more word of my propaganda.


(Okay, now that we’ve got rid of all the weirdos on the list… let’s, uh, get down to bidness, shall we?)


Of course, it’s obvious that men and women are different. Well, if’n you’re a sane mf like your humble narrator here.


But here’s the thing…


Many copywriters don’t write specifically for men and specifically for women. Myself included.


And I get it. Segmenting your lists by gender is harder than it sounds. The truth is, asking for a lead’s gender is kinda weird for most ecom brands. Unless there’s a specific reason to gather gender information, of course.


Not to mention, if you use Klaviyo’s predictive gender tool—and accidentally confuse a male lead with a female lead—you’re shooting yourself in the foot.


And even if your gender data is correct, there’s still the chance that the wife uses her husband’s email address to sign up for marketing emails. Or vice versa.


To make matters worse…


All the weirdos who unsubscribed from this email without reading won’t be satisfied until there is only one gender — i.e. realizing all 69,420 genders are actually one and the same.


And it could even become “sexist” (or any other derogatory word ending in -ist) to ask your audience what their gender is.


Laugh now. But idk, this reality might be more truth than fiction over the coming years.


Anywho…


That said, there are many businesses with obvious gender divides. Turns out, men ain’t interested in female fashio… uh, well, idk maybe I’m wrong. A bunch of famous dudes do wear dresses a bit too much.


But you get what I’m saying.


Some brands are set up for a male audience. Others are set up for a female audience.


Here’s the point in me blabbering on about all this:


Coupla years ago, I wrote a bunch of emails for one of the biggest dating and sex coaches around.


He had two flagship services and products:


One catered to men.


One catered to ladies.


He sent back a glowing testimonial for the copy I wrote catered to his men’s offer. It required almost zero edits from him. He even told me that he’s worked with other writers where he made their copy bleed with red ink because he edited it to death.


As for the copy I wrote for the ladies?


It was too masculine. To the point where he couldn’t even use most of the emails I wrote for him.


And here’s the weirdest part of this story:


My main source of inspiration for writing the “lady copy” (besides the usual market research suspects) was…


*drumroll*





His own content geared towards women!


Yes, this dude had an endless amount of blog posts, dating back 10 or more years. And whenever I got stuck, I turned to his content as my guiding star.


(Lesson in there…)


Yet…


He couldn’t use any of it (even though a LOT of it was his own words).


Oof.


But it uncovers an important lesson:


You need to write different copy for men and women.


And with the ladies?


What you wrote to them last week, last year, or 5 years ago might offend them today.


Sum thought for food.


On the flip side…


My girlfriend received a package in the mail the other day. Inside said package was a corny little message from the founder talking about family, community, love, connection, yada yada yada.


And you know what?


She broke down in tears because it was so beautiful.


Me?


I thought it was kinda corny. But it made her bawl.


Understand this and prosper.


Anywho:


If’n you need help promoting your offers via email and making the feds think you’re slanging drugs because of all the new cashola hitting your bank account…


And you have a proven offer and a list…



John


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