Bucket Brigades: The Near-Magic Technique that Keeps Eyes on Your Content for Longer

I’ll have to admit, I didn’t learn what a Bucket Brigade was until several years into my copywriting career.

In my defense, though, I’d been employing this copywriting tactic all along — I just didn’t know there was a term for it.

In copywriting, Bucket Brigades are phrases that re-hook the audience throughout a piece of writing to maintain engagement.

It’s actually a pretty cool psychological marketing tool. It increases your conversions and it keeps readers on your page for longer, which is really good for decreasing your bounce rates.

So, how can you implement Bucket Brigades in your copywriting?

Let’s talk about it.

How Do You Use Bucket Brigades in Copywriting and Content Writing?

Bucket Brigades are meant to maintain the flow in your writing. A piece of content that uses Bucket Brigades is structured intentionally to keep your eyes on the page, leading you from one sentence to the next.

Before you know it, you’ve read the entire piece.

For example, chances are that if you’ve made it this far in this article, you’ll keep reading.

See what I mean?

Now, we’re going to explore what is considered a Bucket Brigade, where you can put them, and why they’re especially important in modern marketing.

Examples of Bucket Brigade Phrases

Bucket Brigades in content writing and copywriting are never one-size-fits-all, nor is there a concrete list of Bucket Brigade terms, but I’ll give you a good starting point.

Some common Bucket Brigades include:

• In other words
• Not so fast
• Meanwhile
• In my experience
• Even better
• By now
• And it doesn’t stop there
• By the way
• What does this mean for you?
• Think about it
• Oh, and

While these are pretty cliché phrases when it comes to using Bucket Brigades in copywriting, you probably see we’re I’m going with this.

Where Do You Place Bucket Brigades?

Bucket Brigades are great for conversational marketing, sales letters, and email marketing, among many others.

These phrases are often used to tie paragraphs together, but you can start your content with a Bucket Brigade, or even close out the content with one.

It’s also common to place Bucket Brigades on their own lines, where they stand out.

It’s all about engaging your audience.

The Need for Bucket Brigades in Digital Marketing

Bucket Brigades are useful in virtually every imaginable format, but as our society becomes increasingly mobile-dependent, Bucket Brigades are even more necessary.

Today’s internet users are consuming more content via their mobile devices than ever before, and that number is only expected to rise.

What does that mean for content writers and digital marketers?

Everything needs to be optimized for mobile.

Take, for example, smartphone users. The average smartphone is 5-5.5” in length, with the width being less than half of that. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for big blocks of text, nor do today’s consumers have that kind of attention span.

Bucket Brigades aren’t just for retaining your audience’s attention; they’re equally important for user experience.

Combine a waning attention span with the need for easily accessible information, presented in a visually appealing way for a mobile audience, and there you go.

Just another reason you need to use Bucket Brigades in your copywriting.

Why are They Called Bucket Brigades?

Originally, a Bucket Brigade was a line of people who passed a bucket of water from person to person to put out a fire.

In copywriting, Bucket Brigades act the same way, but instead of water, it’s engagement.

Another term for this magnetic writing tactic is Grease-Slide copy.

Bucket Brigades: Use Them, Love Them

Now you know almost everything you really need to know to start using Bucket Brigades in your own content writing.

Once you see how Bucket Brigades play into the success of your content, you’ll never turn back.

Guaranteed.