Why Clever Speaker Copywriting Is Costing You Bookings (And What to Do Instead)
The Business Behind the Keynote | featuring Trudi, Positioning and Messaging Strategist, Copywriter for Pibworth PS
Quick Answer: Clever speaker copywriting backfires when buyers have to work to understand it. The speakers who get picked fastest are the ones whose copy is clear about who they help, what changes, and why it matters, all before the visitor has scrolled past the first screen.
There is a specific kind of speaker copy problem that is almost impossible to see from the inside.
It doesn’t announce itself. Nobody sends you a rejection email that says “your tagline confused me.” Buyers just move on quietly, and you never know they were there.
Trudi and I have been calling it the invisible speaker problem. You’re out there. You’re findable. Your stuff looks good. But your copy is working against you in ways you can’t see because you’re too close to it.
Trudi is the messaging strategist behind some of the sharpest speaker copywriting we’ve produced for our clients. Before joining us she spent years at a prominent speaker bureau, which means she has watched buyers make decisions from the other side of the table. She knows exactly what makes someone click away, and she’s not afraid to say it out loud.
This conversation is about the difference between clever and clear, why speakers keep landing on the wrong side of that line, and what to do about it.
What you’ll take away from this conversation:
- The real reason clever copywriting often backfires (1:08)
- A live example of a brilliant copywriter whose own site confuses her buyers (3:10)
- What Mel Robbins does instead, and why it works (11:07)
- Where clarity matters most on a speaker’s website (8:01)
- A real client example: one word that changed everything (13:50)
- How Lauren rewrote her own positioning from “more stages” to income and impact (15:14)
- How to know when it’s time to bring in a professional (20:02)
The quest to be different can make you invisible. (1:08)
Trudi’s take on this is worth sitting with.
Sally Hogshead’s famous line, “different is better than better”, is good advice. But in the rush to be different, a lot of speakers land somewhere else entirely: cute, convoluted, and confusing.
As Trudi put it: if you need two or three sentences to explain the clever thing you just said, cut it. Kill that baby. It’s out.
Lauren’s version of the same idea: you shouldn’t have to explain a joke. If I have to tell you what I mean by penguin, penguin is the wrong word.
The goal of speaker copywriting isn’t to showcase how inventive you are. It’s to make the buyer feel, within seconds, that you are exactly who they need. Clever gets in the way of that.
Watch this part: 1:08 https://youtu.be/[video-id]?t=68
A brilliant copywriter with a confusing website. (3:10)
Trudi shared a live example in this conversation that illustrates the problem better than any theory could.
This particular copywriter is successful, funny, and genuinely talented. Her website is called Talking Shrimp. Her about page opens with “I eat words for breakfast. They stay crisp in milk. Want some?”
Trudi’s reaction, and mine, was the same: I have no idea what you do.
There are FAQs explaining what Talking Shrimp means, long sections of witty copy, and a lot of scrolling. And by the time you get to the actual service, most buyers are gone.
Here’s the thing Trudi made clear: She can get away with this because she built her audience through a massive existing platform with a well-known influencer as her benefactor. Her following already knows who she is and what she does.
The rest of us don’t have that runway.
If your buyer has to spend 20 minutes on your about page to understand what you offer, you are asking for more than most buyers will give. And the irony, as Trudi pointed out, is that she would probably have a lot more speaking engagements if her website just said what she does.
Watch this part: 3:10 https://youtu.be/[video-id]?t=190
Clever copywriting that actually works: what Mel Robbins does differently. (11:07)
This is the part I don’t want you to miss, because Trudi is not saying don’t have a personality.
She pulled up Mel Robbins as an example of clever done right. And the difference is immediately obvious.
Mel’s about page doesn’t open with a pun or an inside joke. It opens with: “You’re probably here because you want to learn about me, but before I hit you up with all this…” and then it goes straight into a real, warm, human moment about her life not always being glamorous.
Trudi’s point: that’s clever. Not ha-ha clever. The connection kind. Mel knows her superpower is intimacy. So she uses it. Every photo, every caption, every aside is doing the job of making you feel like you know her, without a single line of copy that requires explanation.
That’s the standard. Personality that serves clarity, not personality that replaces it.
Watch this part: 11:07 https://youtu.be/[video-id]?t=667
Where clarity matters most on your website. (8:01)
Trudi is a copywriter, and even she will tell you: people don’t read.
They scan headlines, catch subheadings, and read calls to action. Those are the places where your speaker copywriting has to be completely unambiguous.
Your value proposition needs to be right there. Not buried, not wrapped in a metaphor, not saved for the third paragraph.
As Trudi said: you could be cutesy with “ask me about shrimp”, but no one is clicking on that. “Want to grow your fan base by 125% like I did in 30 days” is what gets the click.
The good news: clever still has a place. Just not in the headlines and calls to action. The personality lives in the details: a word choice here, a photo caption there, a line that makes the right person smile without making everyone else confused.
Watch this part: 8:01 https://youtu.be/[video-id]?t=481
One word made all the difference. (13:50)
We looked at a website we built recently for Matthew, an AI keynote speaker. His headline: “Future proof your teams and transform your organization.” Clear, direct, specific. If that’s your problem, you know immediately he can help.
But the line that Trudi flagged was a small one. In his bio, we called him “the crowd’s favourite AI nerd.”
Just one word: nerd. And as Trudi pointed out, that single word does more work than a paragraph of credentials. It’s self-deprecating. It’s warm. It signals that he’s smart but not intimidating. It makes people smile without confusing anyone.
That’s the right use of clever in speaker copywriting. One word that opens the door, not a concept that requires a FAQ to explain.
Watch this part: 13:50 https://youtu.be/[video-id]?t=830
Getting out of your own head: Lauren’s own positioning story. (15:14)
I’ll share something from my own experience here, because I think it matters.
My site used to be about helping speakers get on more stages. And for a long time, that made sense. But as the speaking business evolved, I kept noticing that the clients I most wanted to work with weren’t actually chasing more stages. Some were tired of travelling. Others wanted 20 gigs a year at premium fees, or to build something bigger than a keynote calendar.
What they wanted was income and impact. Those two things together. Not more bookings, but more of the right bookings, and more of what comes after them.
So we changed the language. And the right clients started showing up.
That’s what good speaker copywriting does. It doesn’t describe what you do. It reflects back what your ideal client is actually looking for, in words they would use themselves.
Watch this part: 15:14 https://youtu.be/[video-id]?t=914
How to know when it’s time to bring in a professional. (20:02)
Trudi’s honest answer to this: you probably already know.
You know when the bookings have slowed. You feel it when you’re embarrassed to send someone to your site. And when a peer looks at your materials and can’t tell you what you do, that’s the clearest sign of all.
Her suggestion: before you hire anyone, do a simple test. Ask someone who knows your industry: a colleague, a recent buyer, someone who has seen you speak, to tell you what they think you do based on your website alone. If what they say back doesn’t match what you thought you were saying, that gap is costing you bookings.
One of Trudi’s clients did exactly this. She looked at her own site through fresh eyes and said: “I have a bunch of cute and funny stuff on there and it doesn’t say anything to anyone. I’m so embarrassed.” The moment you can say those words out loud, Trudi says, it’s time to bring someone in.
The professional’s job isn’t to make your copy sound better. It’s to see you from the outside, understand what your buyers actually need, and close the gap between the two.
Watch this part: 20:02 https://youtu.be/[video-id]?t=1202
The clarity checklist for speaker copywriting
Before you publish anything, whether it’s a homepage headline, a talk abstract, or a speaker bio, run it through these questions:
- Can someone tell what you do within 5 seconds of landing on your page?
- Does your headline speak to the buyer’s outcome, not your methodology?
- If you removed your name and photo, would your copy sound like 10 other speakers?
- Are there any words or phrases you have to explain in the next sentence?
- Does your clever line serve clarity, or replace it?
- Would a buyer in a hurry know exactly what to do next?
- Have you asked someone outside your head to tell you what they think you do?
If any of those give you pause, that’s where to start.
Yes, in the details. Photo captions, a single word choice, a moment of warmth in a bio. Clever earns its place when it opens the door without making the buyer work. It loses its place when it becomes the main event.
If you need more than one sentence to explain your tagline, concept, or brand name, it’s too clever. If a peer in your industry can’t immediately tell you what you do from your homepage, it’s too clever.
Your headline and your call to action. Those are the two places buyers actually read. Everything else can have personality, but those two have to be completely clear.
You can absolutely start yourself. Ask buyers what they actually look for. Ask colleagues what they think you do based on your website alone. Use those words, not yours. When you’ve done that work, and you’re still stuck, that’s when a professional earns their fee. They can see you from the outside in a way you simply can’t.
If a copywriter feels out of reach right now, the Speaker Essentials System is a great place to start. It walks you through the foundational clarity work you need before any copy can do its job, so when you are ready to bring someone in, you’re not starting from scratch.
Branding is the look, feel, and identity. Copywriting is the words. You need both, but copy does the selling. A beautiful brand with vague copy still loses the booking.
Trudi and I are both available if your copy needs a fresh set of eyes. If you are sitting here thinking “I think mine might be a little muddy”, that instinct is usually right.
Book a positioning audit with Lauren
Other Resources
Custom Websites https://pibworthps.com/custom-speaker-websites/
Marketing for Professional Speakers https://pibworthps.com/strategic-consulting/
Resource Toolkit https://pibworthps.com/marketing-for-professional-speakers/
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