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Copywriting Tips: “Can I borrow a cup of content?”

Cathy Goodwin
4 min readDec 8, 2020

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We used to hear about neighbors who’d knock on the door and ask to borrow a cup of sugar. Frankly, I don’t know anybody who ever did, although my statistics may be skewed because I’m a city dweller. Nowadays most people I know wouldn’t (a) admit to owning sugar in any form, or (b) knock on people’s doors without notice.

After all, your neighbor might be holding a webinar at that very moment!

But what if you want to borrow a cup of content?

I’m not trained or licensed as a lawyer, so I can’t comment on what’s legal. But here’s the right way to borrow other people’s content and make it work for you.

(1) Borrow The Recipe, Not The Cake

Your friend just ordered a lovely custom cake to celebrate her anniversary. Would you swipe the cake and use it for yours?

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.

Apart from the legal and moral aspects of stealing, you won’t get much value out of that cake. It’s not your style. It doesn’t represent the feeling you want to create for your anniversary, which isn’t like anyone else’s.

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Cathy Goodwin
Cathy Goodwin

Written by Cathy Goodwin

Create a compelling marketing message that attracts your ideal clients through your unique selling story. http://cathygoodwin.com

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