The Marathon Training Headline That Doubled Conversions | Messaging Case Study
The story-driven headline that doubled sales page conversions
How a single headline reframed the marathon journey—and launched a movement
Welcome back to Behind the Message, our summer series.
Today’s story takes us to 2014, when I got my first marketing client outside of my beer website.
His name was Matt Frazier, founder of the popular website No Meat Athlete. Matt had built a solid following around plant-based running and fitness.
We met through an online membership for business owners trying to grow their companies. I was there to help grow my beer brewing business, while Matt was working on No Meat Athlete.
I gave him some marketing advice in the forum, and he was impressed enough to hire me to help grow his business.
One of the projects was rewriting the sales page for his Marathon Roadmap course. The existing copy wasn’t converting well, and Matt knew it needed work.
At the time, I was in a year-long mentorship with David Garfinkel, a well-known copywriting coach. David was teaching me storytelling, and specifically, how to tell very brief but impactful stories.
When I brought Matt’s project to our sessions, David gave me a challenge: “Try writing a mini-story for just the headline.”
I’ll be honest—I was skeptical. The headline I wrote broke every “short and punchy” rule you’ve ever heard about copywriting.
But with David’s encouragement and Matt’s trust, I gave it a shot:
“If You Eat a Plant-Based Diet and You Really Want to Run a Marathon, but You Haven’t Because:
- You’re Worried about Injuries,
- You Don’t Have a Plan You Can Trust, or
- You’re Not Sure You Could Ever Do It…
I Can Relate.
I Went Through the Same Thing, but Now I’m a Boston Marathon Qualifier.
Let Me Show You How to Cross the Finish Line of Your First Marathon in Just 5 Months and with a
The new story-based headline I wrote for No Meat Athlete
My copywriting coach, David, was so proud of the result that he featured it in an upcoming presentation at a high-level mastermind. He was speaking to big players like Dave Asprey from Bulletproof Coffee about storytelling in copywriting, and he showed my headline to the entire group.
Looking back through the Five Lightbulbs lens, this headline is effective because it maps the complete customer journey.
It starts with Lightbulb 5 (the desired outcome: running a marathon), acknowledges the obstacles preventing them from achieving it (Lightbulb 1), and then positions Matt as someone who has been through the same struggle and found the solution (Lightbulb 3).
I also mentioned 2014 in the first edition of this series. I call it my turning point year because I was starting to realize that marketing success kept boiling down to messaging.
First, the beer recipe course, and now this marathon training.
While other marketers were chasing new channels and tactics, I was learning that messaging was the multiplier that made everything else work better.
That's when I went from being a generalist to becoming what they call a T-shaped marketer: broad marketing knowledge, but one deep specialty.
As my confidence grew, so did the opportunities.
Next week, I have two more messaging projects to share with you, and from very different industries.
Study these examples closely. These lessons were hard-earned through real projects and real mistakes, and you can apply what I learned without the headaches.
Rooting for you,
Billy