Copy Love #8: Statamic

You can't please everyone 💅

Hey there copy lover,

Edition eight already, can you believe it? Where is the year going? After edition ten, I’m going to take a short break before coming back for Copy Love Round Two. Which leads on to a special announcement:

🥁🥁🥁

Copy Love: Community Edition

To celebrate the end of Copy Love Round One, I’m opening up edition ten to community submissions. Got a favourite bit of copy you’d like to tell the world about? Now’s your chance. 

To be featured, please send the following bits and pieces to hello@felicitywild.com:

• A reasonably good quality screenshot of the copy you love

• A link to view the copy in-situ (if possible)

• 100 words (max) on why you love it

• Your name, what you do and a link to somewhere people can find out more about you 

The submission deadline is the end of the day on Wednesday 14th April—I’ll remind you again next week. I can’t wait to see what you send me! 

What is Statamic?

Statamic is an open source CMS designed for building beautiful, easy to manage websites.

The love list

Statamic’s website is the sort I love to stumble upon—creative, fresh and with a keen eye on their target demographics. It was hard to limit myself, but here are my top three copy picks:

• Radical differentiation with words

• Pick-your-own personalisation

• 100% transparency

Radical differentiation with words

One advantage to being a challenger brand like Statamic (cleaner, leaner and cooler than WordPress) is they have license to get creative with their copy. The dream!

Their tone of voice is personable and sincere, peppered with unconventional word choice to liven things up. 

Compare this to the language used by WordPress.

The message is clear—WordPress is the everyman’s done-for-you CMS “solution”. The safe choice. Statamic is for creators and agitators looking to push things forward “into the unknown”.

As Peep Laja says, subtle differences won’t cut it in a crowded market—you need radical differentiation. Statamic achieves this with a laser focus on their core market and it works like a charm.

Pick-your-own personalisation

Continuing last week’s theme of discovery and delight, Statamic’s “choose your own adventure” homepage concept is sublime. 

Shameless plug—I wrote copy for a website built around a similar idea for an independent school last year. Check it out on my website.

I love this concept because not only does it encourage engagement and exploration, it’s also a neat way to show each browser information that is 100% relevant to them. No drowning in detail or droning on about lower priority features.

There’s the super-technical stuff for the devs and designers.

While the writers and creators can learn about Statamic’s publishing and collaboration tools.

Bonus points for the extremely satisfying noise when you switch between “adventures”. 

100% transparency

Transparency is a tricky fish. So many brands claim to be “committed” to it, but so few provide any real evidence of this in action.

Not Statamic though, they’ve gone all-in. 

Take their direct and honest WordPress comparison page, for example. They are frank and pragmatic about exactly what Statamic offers, and why this suits certain needs. 

They don’t pretend to be perfect for everyone (*cough* WordPress *cough*). But, their product fits some specific use cases well and by being completely honest about this, they will attract precisely the right customers.

You’ll remember back in Copy Love #5 I liked Podia’s comparison pages too.

This approach calls to mind one of David Ogilvy’s most famous quotes:

"The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything. She wants all the information you can give her.”

Room for improvement?

Call me fickle and contrary but as much as I love the features neatly categorised by persona on Statamic’s homepage (and I really do), I’d also like to see a full overview of everything on offer.

Then again, it’s free to sign up so maybe the idea is you get stuck in and work it out for yourself?

The final verdict

Professional-envy inducing and practically perfect in every way. File under “you can’t please everyone, so don’t waste your time trying”.

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Up next Friday: Pupford 🐶