How to Engineer Customers on Repeat with Joanna Wiebe
Mon Feb 02 2026
Most small business owners treat marketing like throwing spaghetti at the wall. You try Facebook ads. You update your website. You send out newsletters. Sometimes it works. Mostly it doesn't. And you have no idea why.
Joanna Wiebe has a different approach: treat marketing like an engineering system, not a creative guessing game.
As the founder of Copy Hackers, Joanna has spent years helping businesses build what she calls a "Copy Selling System". A repeatable assembly line that moves prospects from complete strangers to paying customers. No more random tactics. No more copying what worked for someone else's business. Just a structured, measurable process that works for YOUR customers.
The Fatal Flaw in Most Marketing
Here's the mistake almost every small business makes: they skip straight to talking about their product features.
You've got a great service. You know all the bells and whistles. So naturally, you lead with those details, right?
Wrong.
Your prospects aren't ready to hear about your features yet. They don't even know they have a problem you can solve. Or if they do know they have a problem, they're still exploring different types of solutions.
Joanna breaks down the journey every buyer takes through five distinct stages of awareness – and your message needs to match where they are in that journey. Jump ahead too fast, and you lose them.
The Single Question That Changes Everything
Want to know the secret to writing copy that actually resonates? Stop making it up and start listening.
Joanna's team uses a brilliantly simple system: a one-question survey that appears on confirmation pages right after someone takes action.
"What was going on in your life that brought you to [action] today?"
That's it. One question. But the responses? Pure gold.
People tell you their exact pain points, in their own words, at the exact moment they're most optimistic about solving their problem. This isn't feedback from angry customers on their way out. This is insight from engaged prospects who just voted with their wallet.
This voice-of-customer data becomes the foundation for every piece of marketing you create. You're not guessing what matters to your audience. They're telling you directly.
Make Your Solution Unforgettable
Here's a five-minute exercise that could transform your positioning:
Name the specific problem you solve. Not a general category, the exact issue your customers face.
Name the specific mechanism in your service that solves it. What's the unique approach, process, or "secret sauce" that makes your solution work?
Joanna calls these your "Unique Problem Mechanism" and "Unique Solution Mechanism." When you can articulate both clearly, you create a memorable, defensible position in the market.
Think about Lucky Strike's "It's toasted" or TurboTax's "Refund Calculator." These aren't just taglines – they're named mechanisms that explain exactly how the product solves a specific problem.
What's yours?
Why AI Makes This Even More Critical
With ChatGPT and other AI tools flooding the market with generic copy, standing out has never been more important, or more difficult.
AI can write copy. But it can't interview your customers. It can't identify the specific pain points that drive your buyers. It can't build a systematic process that fits your business model.
That's where you come in. The businesses that win in this new landscape won't be the ones with the fanciest AI prompts. They'll be the ones with the strongest systems, the deepest customer insights, and the clearest positioning.
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Most small business owners treat marketing like throwing spaghetti at the wall. You try Facebook ads. You update your website. You send out newsletters. Sometimes it works. Mostly it doesn't. And you have no idea why. Joanna Wiebe has a different approach: treat marketing like an engineering system, not a creative guessing game. As the founder of Copy Hackers, Joanna has spent years helping businesses build what she calls a "Copy Selling System". A repeatable assembly line that moves prospects from complete strangers to paying customers. No more random tactics. No more copying what worked for someone else's business. Just a structured, measurable process that works for YOUR customers. The Fatal Flaw in Most Marketing Here's the mistake almost every small business makes: they skip straight to talking about their product features. You've got a great service. You know all the bells and whistles. So naturally, you lead with those details, right? Wrong. Your prospects aren't ready to hear about your features yet. They don't even know they have a problem you can solve. Or if they do know they have a problem, they're still exploring different types of solutions. Joanna breaks down the journey every buyer takes through five distinct stages of awareness – and your message needs to match where they are in that journey. Jump ahead too fast, and you lose them. The Single Question That Changes Everything Want to know the secret to writing copy that actually resonates? Stop making it up and start listening. Joanna's team uses a brilliantly simple system: a one-question survey that appears on confirmation pages right after someone takes action. "What was going on in your life that brought you to [action] today?" That's it. One question. But the responses? Pure gold. People tell you their exact pain points, in their own words, at the exact moment they're most optimistic about solving their problem. This isn't feedback from angry customers on their way out. This is insight from engaged prospects who just voted with their wallet. This voice-of-customer data becomes the foundation for every piece of marketing you create. You're not guessing what matters to your audience. They're telling you directly. Make Your Solution Unforgettable Here's a five-minute exercise that could transform your positioning: Name the specific problem you solve. Not a general category, the exact issue your customers face. Name the specific mechanism in your service that solves it. What's the unique approach, process, or "secret sauce" that makes your solution work? Joanna calls these your "Unique Problem Mechanism" and "Unique Solution Mechanism." When you can articulate both clearly, you create a memorable, defensible position in the market. Think about Lucky Strike's "It's toasted" or TurboTax's "Refund Calculator." These aren't just taglines – they're named mechanisms that explain exactly how the product solves a specific problem. What's yours? Why AI Makes This Even More Critical With ChatGPT and other AI tools flooding the market with generic copy, standing out has never been more important, or more difficult. AI can write copy. But it can't interview your customers. It can't identify the specific pain points that drive your buyers. It can't build a systematic process that fits your business model. That's where you come in. The businesses that win in this new landscape won't be the ones with the fanciest AI prompts. They'll be the ones with the strongest systems, the deepest customer insights, and the clearest positioning.