Let’s talk story. Experienced copywriters know that a story is the best way to introduce a product, bring a benefit to life, answer objections, and do a whole lot more.  Why?  Because stories galvanize the attention of your prospect. A story reaches deeper into the mind of someone, deeper than any other form of communication.  But somewhere along the way, Hollywood got in the way, as it has a habit of doing. Because the hero’s journey is the go-to template for movies and other forms of fiction, a number of people started solemnly proclaiming that all stories in copy should be hero’s journeys, only hero’s journeys, and nothing but hero’s journeys, so help you Hollywood.  Well… there’s only one problem with that idea.  It’s simply not true.  I’ve just written a book, just about to be released, called “The Persuasion Story Code,” where I identify and explain 25 different types of stories that work not only in copy but in all forms of persuasion, including face-to-face selling.  On today’s show, I went into a lot of depth about the kind of stories we cover in the book. Here what I said about one, to give you some context:  Persuasion stories are not entertainment. They’re stories that get results.  Here’s an example of a persuasion story that got a result:  A man walks up to the counter at the gate, 10 minutes before takeoff. The flight is full and everyone before him has been screaming a blue streak at the flight attendant staffing the desk.  “No,” she says to the man before he can say a word.  “I think I know what you’re going through,” the man says to her with a grimace. “I manage a store downtown, and the last three days before Christmas, our customers are just like the people here. Rude, impatient, and they won’t listen to reason. Sometimes you wonder why you took a job like this in the first place.”  The flight attendant looks at him for a few seconds. The hint of a smile dances at the ends of her mouth.  “May I see your ID?” she says.  He hands it to her. She types into the computer, prints out a boarding pass, and gives it to him along with his ID.  Then she says to him, almost in a whisper, “We had a cancellation in first class. I’m upgrading you. Get on the plane NOW.”  OK, so what did the man do?  Either very deliberately or more likely, simply out of compassion, the man told the woman a story—about what goes on in his store before Christmas, and how he understood what she must be going through—and, after she heard it, she changed her mind.  What he told her, whether or not he realized it, was a persuasion story. And, probably to his great surprise, he got a seat on what he thought was a fully-booked plane.  Now, people tell stories like the man did all the time. Most of the time, people telling the story don’t even realize it’s a story. And neither do the people hearing the story.  This is what I call a persuasion story. They make up the engine of persuasion in sales letters, and also in everyday life.   I’ve identified 25 kinds of these stories, and I’ve written a book about them called “The Persuasion Story Code,” organized into six chapters.  Here’s a short summary of what we cover:  • Origin Stories, which build confidence by showing how a person’s or company’s background makes them solid and worth doing business with   • Stories About Your Prospect’s Pain, which build trust by showing you understand the dilemma your prospect is in, thus creating valuable empathy   • Stories That Predict The Future, painting a compelling word-picture of how much better your prospect’s future can be   • Reassurance Stories are probably THE most effective way to deal with early doubts and worries that come up—especially when a prospect is really interested   • Stories That Explain walk the fine line between interesting but neutral explanations and persuasion that puts up prospect defenses. These stories persuade while explaining!   • Stories That Build Trust organize credentials, reviews, expert endorsements and case histories into powerful persuasion tools that eliminate last-minute doubts   This will change your copy and really all your sales efforts for the better. Here’s a link to get your copy of the book.  You can get your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ Download.

Let’s talk story. Experienced copywriters know that a story is the best way to introduce a product, bring a benefit to life, answer objections, and do a whole lot more. Why? Because stories galvanize the attention of your prospect. A story reaches deeper into the mind of someone, deeper than any other form of communication. But somewhere along the way, Hollywood got in the way, as it has a habit of doing. Because the hero’s journey is the go-to template for movies and other forms of fiction, a number of people started solemnly proclaiming that all stories in copy should be hero’s journeys, only hero’s journeys, and nothing but hero’s journeys, so help you Hollywood. Well… there’s only one problem with that idea. It’s simply not true. I’ve just written a book, just about to be released, called “The Persuasion Story Code,” where I identify and explain 25 different types of stories that work not only in copy but in all forms of persuasion, including face-to-face selling. On today’s show, I went into a lot of depth about the kind of stories we cover in the book. Here what I said about one, to give you some context: Persuasion stories are not entertainment. They’re stories that get results. Here’s an example of a persuasion story that got a result: A man walks up to the counter at the gate, 10 minutes before takeoff. The flight is full and everyone before him has been screaming a blue streak at the flight attendant staffing the desk. “No,” she says to the man before he can say a word. “I think I know what you’re going through,” the man says to her with a grimace. “I manage a store downtown, and the last three days before Christmas, our customers are just like the people here. Rude, impatient, and they won’t listen to reason. Sometimes you wonder why you took a job like this in the first place.” The flight attendant looks at him for a few seconds. The hint of a smile dances at the ends of her mouth. “May I see your ID?” she says. He hands it to her. She types into the computer, prints out a boarding pass, and gives it to him along with his ID. Then she says to him, almost in a whisper, “We had a cancellation in first class. I’m upgrading you. Get on the plane NOW.” OK, so what did the man do? Either very deliberately or more likely, simply out of compassion, the man told the woman a story—about what goes on in his store before Christmas, and how he understood what she must be going through—and, after she heard it, she changed her mind. What he told her, whether or not he realized it, was a persuasion story. And, probably to his great surprise, he got a seat on what he thought was a fully-booked plane. Now, people tell stories like the man did all the time. Most of the time, people telling the story don’t even realize it’s a story. And neither do the people hearing the story. This is what I call a persuasion story. They make up the engine of persuasion in sales letters, and also in everyday life. I’ve identified 25 kinds of these stories, and I’ve written a book about them called “The Persuasion Story Code,” organized into six chapters. Here’s a short summary of what we cover: • Origin Stories, which build confidence by showing how a person’s or company’s background makes them solid and worth doing business with • Stories About Your Prospect’s Pain, which build trust by showing you understand the dilemma your prospect is in, thus creating valuable empathy • Stories That Predict The Future, painting a compelling word-picture of how much better your prospect’s future can be • Reassurance Stories are probably THE most effective way to deal with early doubts and worries that come up—especially when a prospect is really interested • Stories That Explain walk the fine line between interesting but neutral explanations and persuasion that puts up prospect defenses. These stories persuade while explaining! • Stories That Build Trust organize credentials, reviews, expert endorsements and case histories into powerful persuasion tools that eliminate last-minute doubts This will change your copy and really all your sales efforts for the better. Here’s a link to get your copy of the book. You can get your copy here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ</a> <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1628&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

The Power of Persuasion Stories

When you are a copywriter, do you look at the world differently?  Old Master Clyde Bedell emphatically says yes.  Clyde Bedell is not all that well known these days. We featured his work last year in an episode where we talked about his seven keys to believability.  Though he’s not all that well known today, decades ago Bedell was one of the top guys you would turn to if you want to learn how to write copy that works. Besides being a highly successful advertiser, he was also a prominent teacher.   For example, he built a national sales training program for Ford Motor Company in the 1930s. When he was teaching copywriting at Northwestern University, he couldn’t find a suitable textbook, so he wrote one.  That textbook eventually turned into “How To Write Advertising That Sells.” It was first published in 1940—13 years before I was born. This book is 8-1/2 by 11 and a massive 539 pages. It’s pretty hard to find a copy these days, but I found one copy for sale on Amazon for $956.62. Lucky for me, I got my copy years ago when it was easier to get and not quite as expensive.  Today we looked at a chapter from this massive book called “Copy’s Point Of View.” It covers key points on how copywriters need to look at the world if they want their copy to convert.  We started with the understanding that what we’re going to talk about today is not how a copywriter necessarily sees the world 24/7. It’s not that you have a completely different way of eating breakfast… of buying shoes… or of dealing with annoying relatives.  This is about how you look at things when you’re writing copy.  I saw an interesting meme on Twitter, quoting Gary Bencivenga. It said:  “Copywriting is not a secret formula, it’s a way of thinking.”  That way of thinking is what today’s show is about.  We covered four big parts of the copywriter’s mindset. This will be useful to new and advanced copywriters alike, as guard rails on what to focus on when you’re writing copy.  In the show, we looked at some ads to illustrate some of the key points in what Bedell had to say. Bedell’s book is all but unavailable. However, here are two other books mentioned during the show:  Twenty Ads That Shook The World, by James Twitchell  https://www.amazon.com/Twenty-That-Shook-World-Groundbreaking/dp/0609807234  How To Write A Good Advertisement, by Victor Schwab  https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Good-Advertisement-Copywriting/dp/1648373143 Download.

When you are a copywriter, do you look at the world differently? Old Master Clyde Bedell emphatically says yes. Clyde Bedell is not all that well known these days. We featured his work last year in an episode where we talked about his seven keys to believability. Though he’s not all that well known today, decades ago Bedell was one of the top guys you would turn to if you want to learn how to write copy that works. Besides being a highly successful advertiser, he was also a prominent teacher. For example, he built a national sales training program for Ford Motor Company in the 1930s. When he was teaching copywriting at Northwestern University, he couldn’t find a suitable textbook, so he wrote one. That textbook eventually turned into “How To Write Advertising That Sells.” It was first published in 1940—13 years before I was born. This book is 8-1/2 by 11 and a massive 539 pages. It’s pretty hard to find a copy these days, but I found one copy for sale on Amazon for $956.62. Lucky for me, I got my copy years ago when it was easier to get and not quite as expensive. Today we looked at a chapter from this massive book called “Copy’s Point Of View.” It covers key points on how copywriters need to look at the world if they want their copy to convert. We started with the understanding that what we’re going to talk about today is not how a copywriter necessarily sees the world 24/7. It’s not that you have a completely different way of eating breakfast… of buying shoes… or of dealing with annoying relatives. This is about how you look at things when you’re writing copy. I saw an interesting meme on Twitter, quoting Gary Bencivenga. It said: “Copywriting is not a secret formula, it’s a way of thinking.” That way of thinking is what today’s show is about. We covered four big parts of the copywriter’s mindset. This will be useful to new and advanced copywriters alike, as guard rails on what to focus on when you’re writing copy. In the show, we looked at some ads to illustrate some of the key points in what Bedell had to say. Bedell’s book is all but unavailable. However, here are two other books mentioned during the show: Twenty Ads That Shook The World, by James Twitchell <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Twenty-That-Shook-World-Groundbreaking/dp/0609807234" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/Twenty-That-Shook-World-Groundbreaking/dp/0609807234</a> How To Write A Good Advertisement, by Victor Schwab <a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Good-Advertisement-Copywriting/dp/1648373143" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Good-Advertisement-Copywriting/dp/1648373143</a> <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1627&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

How Copywriters Look At The World

Mike Pavlish

The quote you are about to read is from a letter not written by today’s special guest and returning champion A-List copywriter, Mike Pavlish.  This from a very controversial Old Master, the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. In a letter to author Marie Bonaparte, grand-niece of Napoleon Bonaparte, Freud wrote, “Despite my 30 years of research into the feminine soul I have never been able to answer the great question, ‘What does a woman want?’”  A lot of people think Freud didn’t understand much about women in any way.  Now our guest today does have an answer to that. Not a universal answer, but a proven answer to the more practical question, “What do women prefer in how you write to them in sales copy?”  Mike Pavlish has this answer because he has written more than 400 long-form sales letters and video sales letters to women, for products include health, diet, fitness and beauty. For 32 years.  Overall, Mike’s copy to male and female audiences has racked up more than $725 million in sales.  Today, he shared 12 tips with us, based on what he’s learned over many years, up to and including this year.  Mike told us that women and men respond VERY DIFFERENTLY to words, phrases, benefits, tone, personality and claims.  The default of a lot of copywriting, “dude copy” or “macho copy,” doesn’t work.  What does work?  Most important of all, you need to understand that men are much easier to sell to than women, Mike said. Men make more impulsive purchases, take more unproven risks, and buy for simpler reasons.  But women are far more complex in their buying behavior, Mike said. Women have a key primary need than most men don’t understand and appeal to when they write. Mike explained what this need is and gave good and bad examples to make it clear how to phrase winning copy in this regard.  Mike also shared specific, ready-to-use secrets about tone… wording… connecting with women’s conversational style… the importance of relationship… and many other key tips.  You can contact Mike at mike@mikepavlish.com.  Download.

The quote you are about to read is from a letter not written by today’s special guest and returning champion A-List copywriter, Mike Pavlish. This from a very controversial Old Master, the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. In a letter to author Marie Bonaparte, grand-niece of Napoleon Bonaparte, Freud wrote, “Despite my 30 years of research into the feminine soul I have never been able to answer the great question, ‘What does a woman want?’” A lot of people think Freud didn’t understand much about women in any way. Now our guest today does have an answer to that. Not a universal answer, but a proven answer to the more practical question, “What do women prefer in how you write to them in sales copy?” Mike Pavlish has this answer because he has written more than 400 long-form sales letters and video sales letters to women, for products include health, diet, fitness and beauty. For 32 years. Overall, Mike’s copy to male and female audiences has racked up more than $725 million in sales. Today, he shared 12 tips with us, based on what he’s learned over many years, up to and including this year. Mike told us that women and men respond VERY DIFFERENTLY to words, phrases, benefits, tone, personality and claims. The default of a lot of copywriting, “dude copy” or “macho copy,” doesn’t work. What does work? Most important of all, you need to understand that men are much easier to sell to than women, Mike said. Men make more impulsive purchases, take more unproven risks, and buy for simpler reasons. But women are far more complex in their buying behavior, Mike said. Women have a key primary need than most men don’t understand and appeal to when they write. Mike explained what this need is and gave good and bad examples to make it clear how to phrase winning copy in this regard. Mike also shared specific, ready-to-use secrets about tone… wording… connecting with women’s conversational style… the importance of relationship… and many other key tips. You can contact Mike at mike@mikepavlish.com. <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1625&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

Copywriting to Women, With Mike Pavlish

In an earlier part of this century, I produced an audiobook with my late friend and mentor Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the bestselling Guerrilla Marketing series. It was called “Guerrilla Copywriting.”  I’m sad to say Jay’s no longer with us, and neither is the audiobook. It’s out of print. So I’m free to share my half of the material.  This is the fourth and final installment of the tips. I’ve expanded them and added some examples to make them easier to grasp. Before, with the audiobook, you had a whirlwind tour of copywriting rules and techniques. Today, we slowed down the train down a little bit so you can take a look around and think about how you can use these in your own sales copy, landing pages and TikTok videos.  But here’s something you’ll never find on a TikTok video:  Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims... and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity... you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.  Of course, that may change if someone sees this as a TikTok Copywriters Podcast “Copy is Powerful” challenge. But that’s not what I was hoping for.  Now today we had some interesting techniques you can use, as well as super-important reminders, because even subscribers to Copywriters Podcast can get so caught up in their offers that occasionally they don’t give fundamentals the attention they deserve.  We talked about a way to use stories that most people never do: to anticipate and eliminate objections, before they ever come up. We also covered:  • The two jobs really great copy has  • Why you should never just “sell a product”  • Every prospect’s secret last name  • Why you should always build up the value of your offer to the max  Besides that, we talked about two writing techniques most people don’t know about: First, starting sentences with Seducer Words, and second, the enormous power of Hypnotic Stems. Download.

In an earlier part of this century, I produced an audiobook with my late friend and mentor Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the bestselling Guerrilla Marketing series. It was called “Guerrilla Copywriting.” I’m sad to say Jay’s no longer with us, and neither is the audiobook. It’s out of print. So I’m free to share my half of the material. This is the fourth and final installment of the tips. I’ve expanded them and added some examples to make them easier to grasp. Before, with the audiobook, you had a whirlwind tour of copywriting rules and techniques. Today, we slowed down the train down a little bit so you can take a look around and think about how you can use these in your own sales copy, landing pages and TikTok videos. But here’s something you’ll never find on a TikTok video: Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims... and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity... you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time. Of course, that may change if someone sees this as a TikTok Copywriters Podcast “Copy is Powerful” challenge. But that’s not what I was hoping for. Now today we had some interesting techniques you can use, as well as super-important reminders, because even subscribers to Copywriters Podcast can get so caught up in their offers that occasionally they don’t give fundamentals the attention they deserve. We talked about a way to use stories that most people never do: to anticipate and eliminate objections, before they ever come up. We also covered: • The two jobs really great copy has • Why you should never just “sell a product” • Every prospect’s secret last name • Why you should always build up the value of your offer to the max Besides that, we talked about two writing techniques most people don’t know about: First, starting sentences with Seducer Words, and second, the enormous power of Hypnotic Stems. <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1624&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

Guerrilla Copywriting Selections, Part 4

Steve Earl

If you’d like to find out about one of the largest and most lucrative niches in copywriting, today’s show is just for you. Supplement copy is that niche, and our guest today is an expert on writing copy and building offers for health supplements.  Steve Erl has written copy for some of the best-known names in the business. His clients include Newmarket Health, Dr. Al Sears, Pure Health Research, BioTrust, and many others.  Supplement companies can grow very quickly. Steve has been writing copy and developing offers for a skincare and pet brand that has grown from $5 million to $100 million in the last four years. With his help, of course.  Steve’s been writing copy full-time for nine years, and recently started a couple businesses himself he told us about on the show—mentoring, and a newsletter on supplement copy—which may be of interest to you if you decide to get deeper into this part of copywriting yourself.  First, though, Steve’s walked us through three of his most important experiences and lessons, to give you an idea of what the world of writing supplement copy is like.  Steve told us about a seemingly terrifying experience which was a blessing in disguise—copy that got sent back from his client after four weeks which had, in his words, “the heart ripped out of it.” But what happened next was jaw-dropping and eye-opening.  The next lesson came from a much bigger win. His copy was so good, the copy chief said, that it was outpulling the control. But oddly enough, it didn’t become the control. Steve shared the interesting information he picked up from that one.  Writing copy in the supplement field can make a writer gun-shy, because of all the compliance requirements and the knowledge that sooner or later, there will be a lawyer looking over your copy. But what Steve learned was, don’t write for that lawyer—write to sell the product, and let the lawyer do their job later. Third important lesson.  Steve just started an email newsletter called Supps Copy Chief. He told us about it, and you can find out more here: https://suppscopychief.com  Reach out to Steve here: steve@suppscopychief.com  Download.

If you’d like to find out about one of the largest and most lucrative niches in copywriting, today’s show is just for you. Supplement copy is that niche, and our guest today is an expert on writing copy and building offers for health supplements. Steve Erl has written copy for some of the best-known names in the business. His clients include Newmarket Health, Dr. Al Sears, Pure Health Research, BioTrust, and many others. Supplement companies can grow very quickly. Steve has been writing copy and developing offers for a skincare and pet brand that has grown from $5 million to $100 million in the last four years. With his help, of course. Steve’s been writing copy full-time for nine years, and recently started a couple businesses himself he told us about on the show—mentoring, and a newsletter on supplement copy—which may be of interest to you if you decide to get deeper into this part of copywriting yourself. First, though, Steve’s walked us through three of his most important experiences and lessons, to give you an idea of what the world of writing supplement copy is like. Steve told us about a seemingly terrifying experience which was a blessing in disguise—copy that got sent back from his client after four weeks which had, in his words, “the heart ripped out of it.” But what happened next was jaw-dropping and eye-opening. The next lesson came from a much bigger win. His copy was so good, the copy chief said, that it was outpulling the control. But oddly enough, it didn’t become the control. Steve shared the interesting information he picked up from that one. Writing copy in the supplement field can make a writer gun-shy, because of all the compliance requirements and the knowledge that sooner or later, there will be a lawyer looking over your copy. But what Steve learned was, don’t write for that lawyer—write to sell the product, and let the lawyer do their job later. Third important lesson. Steve just started an email newsletter called Supps Copy Chief. He told us about it, and you can find out more here: <a href="https://suppscopychief.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://suppscopychief.com</a> Reach out to Steve here: steve@suppscopychief.com <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1623&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

Writing Supplement Copy, with Steve Earl

Our returning champion is Joshua Lee Henry, the high-powered copywriter and copy chief. He should be a familiar name and face to you by now, with his four great previous appearances on the show.  He’s talked about writing leads and offers. And he even did the first and only guest Old Masters Series on this show, about John Caples.  Joshua has a very impressive copywriting background and is currently copy chief for Money and Markets, an imprint of Agora’s Banyan Hill company.  Today’s show with Joshua is a little different. Instead of tips on writing copy, to be blunt, we’re talking about jobs.  As you may have noticed, the copywriting world is in a very uncertain state. A perplexing economy that is roaring along as more and more people are just hanging on by their fingernails is one reason for the uncertainty.  Another is the rapid growth of AI, especially ChatGPT. Will it replace human copywriters, many people wonder?  Well, not in the financial copywriting space, at least not this year. All you have to do is listen to what Joshua has to say. If you know what to look for and where to look, you’ll find there are opportunities galore right now.  Joshua begins by telling us about SEVEN financial publishers who are hiring copywriters right now. Some of these companies are huge.  He also tells us about a public financial newsletter company whose stock is up 60% since January.  So things are definitely popping in financial copywriting. Again, as I said, if you know what to look for and where to look.  The readers (or potential new readers) of these newsletters are numerous. In the tens of millions.  Joshua shares some hands-on, real-world tips for getting your foot in the door at the financial publishers.  And, for listeners and viewers of Copywriters Podcast only, he’s making a special offer for a training program called The World Of Financial Copywriting. As of today enrollment is closed, but they are opening up registration again for the next five days from the day we release this podcast. And you can get a big discount, using this link:  https://copychief.thrivecart.com/wofc/?coupon=DAVID Download.

Our returning champion is Joshua Lee Henry, the high-powered copywriter and copy chief. He should be a familiar name and face to you by now, with his four great previous appearances on the show. He’s talked about writing leads and offers. And he even did the first and only guest Old Masters Series on this show, about John Caples. Joshua has a very impressive copywriting background and is currently copy chief for Money and Markets, an imprint of Agora’s Banyan Hill company. Today’s show with Joshua is a little different. Instead of tips on writing copy, to be blunt, we’re talking about jobs. As you may have noticed, the copywriting world is in a very uncertain state. A perplexing economy that is roaring along as more and more people are just hanging on by their fingernails is one reason for the uncertainty. Another is the rapid growth of AI, especially ChatGPT. Will it replace human copywriters, many people wonder? Well, not in the financial copywriting space, at least not this year. All you have to do is listen to what Joshua has to say. If you know what to look for and where to look, you’ll find there are opportunities galore right now. Joshua begins by telling us about SEVEN financial publishers who are hiring copywriters right now. Some of these companies are huge. He also tells us about a public financial newsletter company whose stock is up 60% since January. So things are definitely popping in financial copywriting. Again, as I said, if you know what to look for and where to look. The readers (or potential new readers) of these newsletters are numerous. In the tens of millions. Joshua shares some hands-on, real-world tips for getting your foot in the door at the financial publishers. And, for listeners and viewers of Copywriters Podcast only, he’s making a special offer for a training program called The World Of Financial Copywriting. As of today enrollment is closed, but they are opening up registration again for the next five days from the day we release this podcast. And you can get a big discount, using this link: <a href="https://copychief.thrivecart.com/wofc/?coupon=DAVID" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://copychief.thrivecart.com/wofc/?coupon=DAVID</a> <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1622&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

New Opportunities in Financial Copywriting, with Joshua Lee Henry

Rob Freund

Long before there was even TikTok, there was a company called Sherwin-Williams. Their famous logo showed a planet-sized can of paint pouring onto a globe, with the tagline “Cover The Earth.”  They still use that logo today. But I think in spirt, if not in reality, they need to share their slogan with AI. Because AI is drenching its way into everything.  We have a guest today, and he’s our returning champion, attorney Rob Freund. Rob knows advertising and IP law for marketers as well as anyone I’ve ever met. And we’re going to have a wide-ranging discussion with Rob about AI and the law as it applies to copy and other topics of interest to you and me.  I am constantly impressed by Rob’s savvy posts on Twitter, and sometimes astounded by the stories and examples he comes up with. We’ll talk about some of them today. And I stand in the company of giants who are also impressed: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Law, Vox and Forbes. They’ve all quoted him.  Plus, he’s lectured about social media law at the University of Southern California and other major institutions, in the U.S. and in Europe.  We started by talking about an unusual and slightly disturbing thing that AI said regarding Ben Settle, which Ben posted on Twitter… and a really disturbing story about a lawyer who counted on AI in a way that may get him in trouble with the court. Rob found this story in The New York Times and posted it on Twitter as well.  We also tackled important issues like:   • Does using AI open a copywriter up to legal liability for plagiarism/copyright infringement? What can we do to make sure we’re on the right side of the law?  • From an intellectual property rights perspective -- if you use AI to help you write your copy, who owns the work?  • What are the legal implications of people using deep fake technology to create testimonials and phony images of celebrities? Or AI fake voices?  And, looking into the future, we asked Rob this question:  In the same vein as any developing technology that starts out with no regulation, like the wild west, but eventually starts to get regulated…  How do you see AI regulation, especially in the advertising and IP spaces, developing?   To connect with Rob:  Instagram @robertfreundlaw  Twitter @robertfreundlaw  https://robertfreundlaw.com Download.

Long before there was even TikTok, there was a company called Sherwin-Williams. Their famous logo showed a planet-sized can of paint pouring onto a globe, with the tagline “Cover The Earth.” They still use that logo today. But I think in spirt, if not in reality, they need to share their slogan with AI. Because AI is drenching its way into everything. We have a guest today, and he’s our returning champion, attorney Rob Freund. Rob knows advertising and IP law for marketers as well as anyone I’ve ever met. And we’re going to have a wide-ranging discussion with Rob about AI and the law as it applies to copy and other topics of interest to you and me. I am constantly impressed by Rob’s savvy posts on Twitter, and sometimes astounded by the stories and examples he comes up with. We’ll talk about some of them today. And I stand in the company of giants who are also impressed: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Law, Vox and Forbes. They’ve all quoted him. Plus, he’s lectured about social media law at the University of Southern California and other major institutions, in the U.S. and in Europe. We started by talking about an unusual and slightly disturbing thing that AI said regarding Ben Settle, which Ben posted on Twitter… and a really disturbing story about a lawyer who counted on AI in a way that may get him in trouble with the court. Rob found this story in The New York Times and posted it on Twitter as well. We also tackled important issues like: • Does using AI open a copywriter up to legal liability for plagiarism/copyright infringement? What can we do to make sure we’re on the right side of the law? • From an intellectual property rights perspective -- if you use AI to help you write your copy, who owns the work? • What are the legal implications of people using deep fake technology to create testimonials and phony images of celebrities? Or AI fake voices? And, looking into the future, we asked Rob this question: In the same vein as any developing technology that starts out with no regulation, like the wild west, but eventually starts to get regulated… How do you see AI regulation, especially in the advertising and IP spaces, developing? To connect with Rob: Instagram @robertfreundlaw Twitter @robertfreundlaw <a href="https://robertfreundlaw.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://robertfreundlaw.com</a> <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1620&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

AI And The Law, with Attorney Rob Freund

On December 1, 1975, a giant in direct mail died. That was Ed Mayer, who had written a definitive book on the subject 25 years earlier, called “How To Make More Money With Your Direct Mail.”  Mayer was a man of many hats—a practitioner, an industry executive, and a teacher. In his obituary, the New York Times reported that Mayer had taught more than 20,000 college students and business executives the hands-on secrets of direct mail.  Now you might reasonably assume the following: That was then and this is now. So much has changed.  Today, we found out. To prepare for the show, I combed through the book and found 10 great tips that apply whether you were doing direct mail in the 1950s or online marketing today. In some cases, I updated the tips. But more often than not, what worked then works almost exactly the same today.  I selected these 10 tips based on this simple idea:  Just leaving out ONE of these could crater your sales—or vastly reduce them, at the very least.  So even if you tell yourself you know these… ask yourself, are you doing the updated version of every one of these? Because if you’re not, you’re probably leaving money on the table.  Let’s take that money off the table and put it back in your pocket.   The tips we covered spanned the whole of direct marketing. Mayer knew it all: copywriting, offer creation, fulfillment, list selection and list management. He was truly an industry expert.  Our topics included: the one thing that stops sales from happening, more than anything else… the one thing every piece of copy needs to do… why research makes the difference between success and failure in direct marketing… the kinds of words you should never use in your copy… when it’s a good idea to use the same copy over and over again… and much more.  The book is called How To Make More Money With Your Direct Mail, by Ed Mayer. It’s out of print and extremely hard to find. Not on Amazon. A couple on eBay. Download.

On December 1, 1975, a giant in direct mail died. That was Ed Mayer, who had written a definitive book on the subject 25 years earlier, called “How To Make More Money With Your Direct Mail.” Mayer was a man of many hats—a practitioner, an industry executive, and a teacher. In his obituary, the New York Times reported that Mayer had taught more than 20,000 college students and business executives the hands-on secrets of direct mail. Now you might reasonably assume the following: That was then and this is now. So much has changed. Today, we found out. To prepare for the show, I combed through the book and found 10 great tips that apply whether you were doing direct mail in the 1950s or online marketing today. In some cases, I updated the tips. But more often than not, what worked then works almost exactly the same today. I selected these 10 tips based on this simple idea: Just leaving out ONE of these could crater your sales—or vastly reduce them, at the very least. So even if you tell yourself you know these… ask yourself, are you doing the updated version of every one of these? Because if you’re not, you’re probably leaving money on the table. Let’s take that money off the table and put it back in your pocket. The tips we covered spanned the whole of direct marketing. Mayer knew it all: copywriting, offer creation, fulfillment, list selection and list management. He was truly an industry expert. Our topics included: the one thing that stops sales from happening, more than anything else… the one thing every piece of copy needs to do… why research makes the difference between success and failure in direct marketing… the kinds of words you should never use in your copy… when it’s a good idea to use the same copy over and over again… and much more. The book is called How To Make More Money With Your Direct Mail, by Ed Mayer. It’s out of print and extremely hard to find. Not on Amazon. A couple on eBay. <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1619&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

Direct Mail Secrets Updated—Old Masters Series

When you’re being bold and aggressive with your copy, there’s a three-word question you really need to ask:  “Is it legal?”  That’s because, very simply, you’re putting your business at risk if it’s not.  Today we have an expert who lives with this question all the time, and helps his clients get the best answers. Robert Freund is an experienced advertising attorney who focuses his practice on social media marketing and e-commerce issues. His clients include direct-to-consumer brands, marketing agencies, and individual creators.   I am constantly impressed by Rob’s savvy posts on Twitter, and sometimes astounded by the stories and examples he comes up with. And I stand in the company of giants who are also impressed: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Law, Vox and Forbes. They’ve all quoted him.  Plus, he’s lectured about social media law at the University of Southern California and other major institutions, in the U.S. and in Europe.  So as you can see, Rob really knows his way around the most important issues involving advertising and the law. I was grateful he agreed to share some of his wisdom.  Here are the questions we asked him:  1. Let’s start, as they say, at the beginning. A lawyer has so many specialties to choose. How was it that you came to specialize in advertising law?  2. Could you run us through a few basics  - things people should know, but either don’t know, or do know but ignore?  - Especially, where do people push the line with claims and promises, when it turns out they’re also tempting fate?  3. You had a very interesting tweet a couple weeks ago. Let me quote from it.  “The lesson for brands: your policies are not just boilerplate—they can save you from potentially devastating liability exposure.  “And it’s not enough to write a good policy; you must also carefully consider how the terms are presented to your users to ensure you can enforce them.”  What this says to me is every promise you make online has weight and consequences, or at least might. Could you talk about that?  4. Let’s take this one step further: Do you have a horror story for someone who went over the line? What were the consequences?  5. And, on maybe a happier note, can you tell us about someone you’ve taken out of the fire and away from the host stove, thus avoiding them a trip into the frying pan? What did they do and how did you help them back to safety.  6. Tell us more about your practice, who should get in touch with you with what kind of problems, and what’s the best way to reach out?   To connect with Rob:  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/robertfreundlaw/  Twitter https://twitter.com/robertfreundlaw https://robertfreundlaw.com Download.

When you’re being bold and aggressive with your copy, there’s a three-word question you really need to ask: “Is it legal?” That’s because, very simply, you’re putting your business at risk if it’s not. Today we have an expert who lives with this question all the time, and helps his clients get the best answers. Robert Freund is an experienced advertising attorney who focuses his practice on social media marketing and e-commerce issues. His clients include direct-to-consumer brands, marketing agencies, and individual creators. I am constantly impressed by Rob’s savvy posts on Twitter, and sometimes astounded by the stories and examples he comes up with. And I stand in the company of giants who are also impressed: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Law, Vox and Forbes. They’ve all quoted him. Plus, he’s lectured about social media law at the University of Southern California and other major institutions, in the U.S. and in Europe. So as you can see, Rob really knows his way around the most important issues involving advertising and the law. I was grateful he agreed to share some of his wisdom. Here are the questions we asked him: 1. Let’s start, as they say, at the beginning. A lawyer has so many specialties to choose. How was it that you came to specialize in advertising law? 2. Could you run us through a few basics - things people should know, but either don’t know, or do know but ignore? - Especially, where do people push the line with claims and promises, when it turns out they’re also tempting fate? 3. You had a very interesting tweet a couple weeks ago. Let me quote from it. “The lesson for brands: your policies are not just boilerplate—they can save you from potentially devastating liability exposure. “And it’s not enough to write a good policy; you must also carefully consider how the terms are presented to your users to ensure you can enforce them.” What this says to me is every promise you make online has weight and consequences, or at least might. Could you talk about that? 4. Let’s take this one step further: Do you have a horror story for someone who went over the line? What were the consequences? 5. And, on maybe a happier note, can you tell us about someone you’ve taken out of the fire and away from the host stove, thus avoiding them a trip into the frying pan? What did they do and how did you help them back to safety. 6. Tell us more about your practice, who should get in touch with you with what kind of problems, and what’s the best way to reach out? To connect with Rob: Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/robertfreundlaw/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/robertfreundlaw/</a> Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/robertfreundlaw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/robertfreundlaw</a> <a href="https://robertfreundlaw.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://robertfreundlaw.com</a> <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1617&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

Legal News For Copywriters, With Attorney Rob Freund

Joel Klettke

One of the most powerful forms of stories for copywriters is the case study, and I think it’s fair to say most of us don’t use as many of them as we should. Today we’re going to talk to an expert who has vast and successful experience in this kind of marketing.  Our guest today, Joel Klettke, is the founder of Case Study Buddy, a business that helps companies like HubSpot and Loom to scale up their case study production and include it in every segment of their marketing—from lead generation and upsells to outreach and nurturing. Overall his company has done more than 2,000 case studies for more than 300 clients.  Joel’s also a copywriter and a proud dad of two. I believe his one regret in life is being a fan of the Calgary Flames hockey team. I don’t blame him one bit. The last time the Flames won the Stanley cup was in 1989, and I suppose we should just leave that there.  But lucky for us, Joel knows a lot about case studies and he’s generously agreed to share some great tips and insights with us today.  Here’s what we asked Joel:  1. What are case studies, the way you look at them?  2. What are the different types of case studies?  3. Why do case studies work, and how do they work?  4. How did you get into specializing in case studies?  5. What does Case Study Buddy do for your clients?  6 . Could you give us an example of a good case study?  7. What would be an example of a bad case study?  8. What are your top tips for writing great case studies?  Joel’s company has a newsletter you can get for free:  https://casestudybuddy.com/newsletter-sign-up/ Download.

One of the most powerful forms of stories for copywriters is the case study, and I think it’s fair to say most of us don’t use as many of them as we should. Today we’re going to talk to an expert who has vast and successful experience in this kind of marketing. Our guest today, Joel Klettke, is the founder of Case Study Buddy, a business that helps companies like HubSpot and Loom to scale up their case study production and include it in every segment of their marketing—from lead generation and upsells to outreach and nurturing. Overall his company has done more than 2,000 case studies for more than 300 clients. Joel’s also a copywriter and a proud dad of two. I believe his one regret in life is being a fan of the Calgary Flames hockey team. I don’t blame him one bit. The last time the Flames won the Stanley cup was in 1989, and I suppose we should just leave that there. But lucky for us, Joel knows a lot about case studies and he’s generously agreed to share some great tips and insights with us today. Here’s what we asked Joel: 1. What are case studies, the way you look at them? 2. What are the different types of case studies? 3. Why do case studies work, and how do they work? 4. How did you get into specializing in case studies? 5. What does Case Study Buddy do for your clients? 6 . Could you give us an example of a good case study? 7. What would be an example of a bad case study? 8. What are your top tips for writing great case studies? Joel’s company has a newsletter you can get for free: <a href="https://casestudybuddy.com/newsletter-sign-up/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://casestudybuddy.com/newsletter-sign-up/</a> <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1616&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

The Power Of Case Studies, With Joel Klettke

Nathan Fraser

We’ve been talking about AI on this show for a while, and today we’re going to roll up our sleeves. Well, Nathan is, anyway. I may ask a few questions or make some comments, but Nathan is center-stage today.  That’s because he has figured out how to use ChatGPT to assist him with writing his emails. They key word is “assist.” It does require work and thought on the human’s part. But, the good news is, AI is helping him save time and become more productive.  There are some caveats, which Nathan will cover. Meaning that you can’t just push a button and get fully-finished copy, ready to mail.   Here are some notes Nathan prepared for the show, which includes an amazingly generous full set of working prompts to get an AI started writing emails for you.  Nathan’s notes for today’s show:  This is made for use with the FREE version of ChatGPT. There are paid tools out there that can get close to duplicating this process. I wanted to make this accessible to everyone.  What you'll get at the end is a way to crank out emails to send your list and increase your sales. All you need is to be able to copy and paste nine prompts.   If you're not great at writing emails, this will make you decent. If you're great at writing emails, this will make you a lot faster and a lot more valuable to your clients.  To get the full list of prompts and marketing data sheet template, Go to https://advertisingcheatcodes.com/ai-emails/  Or Contact Nathan at AdvertisingAlchemist.com Download.

We’ve been talking about AI on this show for a while, and today we’re going to roll up our sleeves. Well, Nathan is, anyway. I may ask a few questions or make some comments, but Nathan is center-stage today. That’s because he has figured out how to use ChatGPT to assist him with writing his emails. They key word is “assist.” It does require work and thought on the human’s part. But, the good news is, AI is helping him save time and become more productive. There are some caveats, which Nathan will cover. Meaning that you can’t just push a button and get fully-finished copy, ready to mail. Here are some notes Nathan prepared for the show, which includes an amazingly generous full set of working prompts to get an AI started writing emails for you. Nathan’s notes for today’s show: This is made for use with the FREE version of ChatGPT. There are paid tools out there that can get close to duplicating this process. I wanted to make this accessible to everyone. What you'll get at the end is a way to crank out emails to send your list and increase your sales. All you need is to be able to copy and paste nine prompts. If you're not great at writing emails, this will make you decent. If you're great at writing emails, this will make you a lot faster and a lot more valuable to your clients. To get the full list of prompts and marketing data sheet template, Go to <a href="https://advertisingcheatcodes.com/ai-emails/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://advertisingcheatcodes.com/ai-emails/</a> Or Contact Nathan at <a href="https://advertisingcheatcodes.com/advertising-alchemist/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AdvertisingAlchemist.com</a> <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1614&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

Getting ChatGPT To Write Emails, with Nathan Fraser

The question is: How do you bring your prospect right there when they are reading words you have written, maybe thousands of miles away?  The answer was revealed 99 years ago, but it’s not widely talked about in copywriting. Until today. In this special episode of our Old Masters Series, we look at a book by George Hotchkiss published in 1924.   He has some ideas about using techniques novelists and hypnotists use. But using them in your copy, to bring your offer to life. To get your prospect to see and experience the best of what you have to offer.  All through the words you choose.  The book is simply called Advertising Copy. To the best of my recollection, superstar copywriter David Deutsch told me about this book many years ago. So thanks, DD!  Now the author, George Hotchkiss, was both a successful copywriter and a major educator in copywriting. He started out as a newspaperman, and then went on to become a copywriter for the George Batten Company, which later became the giant ad agency BBDO.  Also, he joined the faculty at New York University in 1908 and went on to start NYU’s Department of Advertising and Marketing. And stayed with them for decades. Guy knows how to write copy and how to teach.  On this podcast, we talked about something else from the book Advertising Copy in a show three years ago. The topic at that time was Reason-Why Copy. But what we’re going to talk about today appeals to a different part of the prospect’s brain, and in many ways may be more important.  On the show, we talk about six great techniques to amp up your copy. For now, though, let’s look at the power of what we’re about to explore.  Let’s say you accidentally cut your finger with a knife, and you’re looking for some sympathy. You could say, “I injured a part of my hand in an accident.” Not very powerful.  Or, you could say, “I cut my finger with a knife by mistake.” OK, that might work better. But let’s take it to the next level.  How about: “I was cutting up some onions for soup I was making. The knife slipped and wouldn’t you know it, I cut my index finger. It hurt like hell. Felt like an electric shock that came out of nowhere. I howled, and then, suddenly, blood was spurting all over the place. I had to wash it and put some ointment on it, and wrap it up tight with a gauze bandage until the bleeding stopped.”  There you go. Now you’ve got a much better shot at getting some sympathy.  Why? Because you brought your senses and emotions into the description. And, along the way, your listener’s senses and emotions, too.  That was a gory example, so let’s turn to something a little more pleasant.  Your sweetheart buys you some fine Swiss chocolates for Valentine’s Day.  What do you say to your friends, to make them jealous?  You could say, “Dylan bought me some chocolates for Valentines.”  OK. That’s nice, but it’s a little vague, right?  To make your statement more evocative, you might say, “Dylan got me some Lindt dark chocolate truffles for Valentines.”  Better. But how about, “I was so happy with what Dylan got me for Valentines. Lindt dark chocolate truffles. They are so smooth and creamy, and I get a jolt of pleasure each time I eat one.”  Again, the description of emotion -- happy -- and sensory experience -- smooth, creamy -- makes it all seem so much more real.  And sometimes you want to take your prospect right into the experience of your offer. That’s what we’ll talk about today.  Everything we’ve just looked at and cover today is based on an important rule:  Demonstration is the most powerful form of selling. We’re going to talk about how to demonstrate, in your copy, the specific things that make people more likely to buy.  For this kind of verbal demonstration, Hotchkiss uses three different terms at different points in the chapter we’re taking this from. Those terms are mostly interchangeable, and they are: “Descriptive Copy, Human-Interest Copy, and Direct Sense Description.  The best copywriters all use these techniques at key points in their copy. Some of them do it on purpose, knowing how and why they’re doing it. But I suspect most of them just do this by instinct, because they know intuitively that these techniques work.  One top copywriter, my good friend John Carlton, is very deliberate and explicit about this. His copy is filled with examples worth studying. And in his teaching, he talks about power words. A lot of them, especially the strong verbs he suggests, are very evocative of specific images, feelings and emotions.  So today, we look at what descriptive copy is, why it matters, when it works and when it doesn’t, and how to use it.   Download.

The question is: How do you bring your prospect right there when they are reading words you have written, maybe thousands of miles away? The answer was revealed 99 years ago, but it’s not widely talked about in copywriting. Until today. In this special episode of our Old Masters Series, we look at a book by George Hotchkiss published in 1924. He has some ideas about using techniques novelists and hypnotists use. But using them in your copy, to bring your offer to life. To get your prospect to see and experience the best of what you have to offer. All through the words you choose. The book is simply called Advertising Copy. To the best of my recollection, superstar copywriter David Deutsch told me about this book many years ago. So thanks, DD! Now the author, George Hotchkiss, was both a successful copywriter and a major educator in copywriting. He started out as a newspaperman, and then went on to become a copywriter for the George Batten Company, which later became the giant ad agency BBDO. Also, he joined the faculty at New York University in 1908 and went on to start NYU’s Department of Advertising and Marketing. And stayed with them for decades. Guy knows how to write copy and how to teach. On this podcast, we talked about something else from the book Advertising Copy in a show three years ago. The topic at that time was Reason-Why Copy. But what we’re going to talk about today appeals to a different part of the prospect’s brain, and in many ways may be more important. On the show, we talk about six great techniques to amp up your copy. For now, though, let’s look at the power of what we’re about to explore. Let’s say you accidentally cut your finger with a knife, and you’re looking for some sympathy. You could say, “I injured a part of my hand in an accident.” Not very powerful. Or, you could say, “I cut my finger with a knife by mistake.” OK, that might work better. But let’s take it to the next level. How about: “I was cutting up some onions for soup I was making. The knife slipped and wouldn’t you know it, I cut my index finger. It hurt like hell. Felt like an electric shock that came out of nowhere. I howled, and then, suddenly, blood was spurting all over the place. I had to wash it and put some ointment on it, and wrap it up tight with a gauze bandage until the bleeding stopped.” There you go. Now you’ve got a much better shot at getting some sympathy. Why? Because you brought your senses and emotions into the description. And, along the way, your listener’s senses and emotions, too. That was a gory example, so let’s turn to something a little more pleasant. Your sweetheart buys you some fine Swiss chocolates for Valentine’s Day. What do you say to your friends, to make them jealous? You could say, “Dylan bought me some chocolates for Valentines.” OK. That’s nice, but it’s a little vague, right? To make your statement more evocative, you might say, “Dylan got me some Lindt dark chocolate truffles for Valentines.” Better. But how about, “I was so happy with what Dylan got me for Valentines. Lindt dark chocolate truffles. They are so smooth and creamy, and I get a jolt of pleasure each time I eat one.” Again, the description of emotion -- happy -- and sensory experience -- smooth, creamy -- makes it all seem so much more real. And sometimes you want to take your prospect right into the experience of your offer. That’s what we’ll talk about today. Everything we’ve just looked at and cover today is based on an important rule: Demonstration is the most powerful form of selling. We’re going to talk about how to demonstrate, in your copy, the specific things that make people more likely to buy. For this kind of verbal demonstration, Hotchkiss uses three different terms at different points in the chapter we’re taking this from. Those terms are mostly interchangeable, and they are: “Descriptive Copy, Human-Interest Copy, and Direct Sense Description. The best copywriters all use these techniques at key points in their copy. Some of them do it on purpose, knowing how and why they’re doing it. But I suspect most of them just do this by instinct, because they know intuitively that these techniques work. One top copywriter, my good friend John Carlton, is very deliberate and explicit about this. His copy is filled with examples worth studying. And in his teaching, he talks about power words. A lot of them, especially the strong verbs he suggests, are very evocative of specific images, feelings and emotions. So today, we look at what descriptive copy is, why it matters, when it works and when it doesn’t, and how to use it. <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1613&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

Bring Your Copy Alive - Old Masters Series

Colin Chung

In the great financial meltdown of 2009, Colin Chung lost his job with eBay.  Despite having no experience in copywriting, he decided that was the next part of his career path.  In 18 months, he doubled his eBay income and was earning six figures for the first time in his life. As a freelance copywriter. In one year, he doubled it. Before long after that, Colin was making really big bucks.  Not only that. He ended up writing for major clients, including Jay Abraham, Clayton Makepeace, Mike Dillard, Agora, and even a Shark Tank investor!  Also, from 2014 to 2020, Colin was the primary coach for John Carlton’s Simple Writing System, where he coached many freelancers, business owners, and other aspiring copywriters.  After all this, Colin has decided to reveal his secrets. And I say “secrets” because his approach, as he describes it, is different from the approach any other successful copywriter I’ve ever talked to or heard of.  Colin has coached individual copywriters and managed teams of copywriters for clients. His experience goes far and wide. But only recently has he decided to go public with this.  Colin also has a very modestly-priced course to help you ramp up your own freelance business. Check it out here:  https://garfinkel.thefederation.io/ Download.

In the great financial meltdown of 2009, Colin Chung lost his job with eBay. Despite having no experience in copywriting, he decided that was the next part of his career path. In 18 months, he doubled his eBay income and was earning six figures for the first time in his life. As a freelance copywriter. In one year, he doubled it. Before long after that, Colin was making really big bucks. Not only that. He ended up writing for major clients, including Jay Abraham, Clayton Makepeace, Mike Dillard, Agora, and even a Shark Tank investor! Also, from 2014 to 2020, Colin was the primary coach for John Carlton’s Simple Writing System, where he coached many freelancers, business owners, and other aspiring copywriters. After all this, Colin has decided to reveal his secrets. And I say “secrets” because his approach, as he describes it, is different from the approach any other successful copywriter I’ve ever talked to or heard of. Colin has coached individual copywriters and managed teams of copywriters for clients. His experience goes far and wide. But only recently has he decided to go public with this. Colin also has a very modestly-priced course to help you ramp up your own freelance business. Check it out here: <a href="https://garfinkel.thefederation.io/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://garfinkel.thefederation.io/</a> <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1612&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

Contrarian Freelance Strategy, with Colin Chung

About a month ago we did a selection from my half of the no-longer-available Guerrilla Copywriting audiobook. It was so popular, we thought we’d do it again.  Here’s some background:  Sixteen years ago, in 2007, I produced an audiobook with my friend and mentor Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the bestselling Guerrilla Marketing series. Jay  and I originally thought about doing a book together, but that never happened.  However, we did do an audiobook. It was called Guerrilla Copywriting. Unlike a lot of things he did and I lot of things I’ve done, this one didn’t sell that well. I don’t think either of us had the bandwidth to promote it, but there may have been another problem -- we tried to jam too much good information into too little time.  We had sixty really powerful tips for writing copy. Jay would do one, then I would do one. It ended up being 60 tips in 60 minutes. Plenty of value, but maybe we would have been better off slowing down and taking some time to talk about each tip.  Well… the audiobook is out of print now, so I’m free to share my half of the material. I took a look at it the other day and, I gotta admit, it’s pretty good. A couple things needed to be updated -- a lot has happened in 16 years. But for the most part, we’ve got eternal principles that are completely workable today.  OK. Today we cover a third quarter of my part, and we’re going to take 25 minutes to half an hour to discuss. You’ll see why it makes more sense to do it that way. I’m starting to think the original was four times as fast as it should have been!  Some of this you’re familiar with but you’ll probably see in a new light. And you may hear a few things that are new to you. Everything’s useful, and it stays true to one of the main goals Jay and I had when we did this originally: It’s designed to make you more profitable, and it’s information you can put to use right away.  A lightning tour of what we talk about:  What to sell people more of… The one kind of humor that always works in sales copy… The Guerrilla Copywriting Four-Point Fail-Safe Copy Formula… How to extract some winning techniques from journalists and use them in a copy context… A golden rule for graphics… The important difference between prevention and cure… and, how to create urgency. Download.

About a month ago we did a selection from my half of the no-longer-available Guerrilla Copywriting audiobook. It was so popular, we thought we’d do it again. Here’s some background: Sixteen years ago, in 2007, I produced an audiobook with my friend and mentor Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the bestselling Guerrilla Marketing series. Jay and I originally thought about doing a book together, but that never happened. However, we did do an audiobook. It was called Guerrilla Copywriting. Unlike a lot of things he did and I lot of things I’ve done, this one didn’t sell that well. I don’t think either of us had the bandwidth to promote it, but there may have been another problem -- we tried to jam too much good information into too little time. We had sixty really powerful tips for writing copy. Jay would do one, then I would do one. It ended up being 60 tips in 60 minutes. Plenty of value, but maybe we would have been better off slowing down and taking some time to talk about each tip. Well… the audiobook is out of print now, so I’m free to share my half of the material. I took a look at it the other day and, I gotta admit, it’s pretty good. A couple things needed to be updated -- a lot has happened in 16 years. But for the most part, we’ve got eternal principles that are completely workable today. OK. Today we cover a third quarter of my part, and we’re going to take 25 minutes to half an hour to discuss. You’ll see why it makes more sense to do it that way. I’m starting to think the original was four times as fast as it should have been! Some of this you’re familiar with but you’ll probably see in a new light. And you may hear a few things that are new to you. Everything’s useful, and it stays true to one of the main goals Jay and I had when we did this originally: It’s designed to make you more profitable, and it’s information you can put to use right away. A lightning tour of what we talk about: What to sell people more of… The one kind of humor that always works in sales copy… The Guerrilla Copywriting Four-Point Fail-Safe Copy Formula… How to extract some winning techniques from journalists and use them in a copy context… A golden rule for graphics… The important difference between prevention and cure… and, how to create urgency. <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1610&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

Selections from Guerrilla Copywriting, Part 3

You can’t go a day in copywriting without someone bringing up AI. It may not have taken over copywriting yet, but it has definitely taken over the conversation.  In case you haven’t gotten your feet wet yet with GPT 4, Jasper, Copy AI or any other one of the handful of AIs people are currently using, I can tell you, people ARE using it, in predictable and unpredictable ways.  Today Nathan and I discussed what we’re hearing and what we’re doing. We started with a really interesting discovery Nathan made that not only saves massive amounts of time on a project, but also slashes the learning curve on how to get AI to do exactly what you want it to do.  I shared what I’ve heard from two clients who have an unusual amount of expert knowledge about AI… as well as being top-notch copywriters on their own.  You’ll be surprised about one expert’s prediction on who will thrive and who will suffer in copywriting, thanks to AI. Different probably than what you’ve heard before.  And another expert solved a tough business problem of his own… in about 10 minutes!  Beyond that, a little bit of AI news that may surprise, scare or delight you! Download.

You can’t go a day in copywriting without someone bringing up AI. It may not have taken over copywriting yet, but it has definitely taken over the conversation. In case you haven’t gotten your feet wet yet with GPT 4, Jasper, Copy AI or any other one of the handful of AIs people are currently using, I can tell you, people ARE using it, in predictable and unpredictable ways. Today Nathan and I discussed what we’re hearing and what we’re doing. We started with a really interesting discovery Nathan made that not only saves massive amounts of time on a project, but also slashes the learning curve on how to get AI to do exactly what you want it to do. I shared what I’ve heard from two clients who have an unusual amount of expert knowledge about AI… as well as being top-notch copywriters on their own. You’ll be surprised about one expert’s prediction on who will thrive and who will suffer in copywriting, thanks to AI. Different probably than what you’ve heard before. And another expert solved a tough business problem of his own… in about 10 minutes! Beyond that, a little bit of AI news that may surprise, scare or delight you! <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1609&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

AI and Copywriting Update

Today we look at bullet points in an exciting new way. Now, in copy, bullet points in copy are specialized and different from bullet points everywhere else. Because in most forms of writing, bullet points condense facts and offer a summary.  Not in copy, though.  See, in copy, bullet points are condensed, emotionally driven, focused statements or promises that are sometimes powerful enough, by themselves, to make the sale.   A few episodes ago, Nathan mentioned that when he’s looking at sales copy, he looks at the bullet points first. I’d never heard anyone say that before, and I thought it was interesting. I gave it some thought. I realized that bullet points do a lot more for Nathan—and for nearly everyone else reading copy—than most people realized.  Then I went through three classic ads—one by Ted Nicholas, one by Gene Schwartz, and one by Mel Martin, all hall of fame copywriters. I hand-copied more than 60 of their bullet points onto a giant sheet of paper. That was quite an emotional roller-coaster ride, all by itself.  In the process, I realized these master copywriters were doing a lot more with their bullet points than what we usually think of when we write our own bullet points. I’ll tell you about my findings and share the exact bullet points the greater copywriters wrote.  To get us started, so we can all remember the enormous sales power of bullets, let me share with you a story I told six years and two months ago, on one of the earliest episodes of this podcast:  An Afghanistan vet and his wife went to the housewares department of a “big box” store. They were looking for an electric can opener. The vet was an amputee. He only had his right arm. The salesman showed the man and his wife the best model, and started rattling off all the features: U.L. Approved, cordless operation, easy to clean, 5 star reviews online. The couple listened politely but didn’t say a thing.  This made the salesman nervous. “Are there any questions I can answer for you?” he said.  “Just one,” the vet said with a smile. “If I get this model, can I open a can with just one hand?”  The salesman was embarrassed that he had failed to mention this, but he recovered quickly enough. He said yes—and the couple happily bought the new can opener.  Every customer is like the vet. I don’t mean that every customer is an amputee. What I mean is that there’s usually one performance, or benefit, that towers in importance over all others. Maybe they don’t realize they’re looking for it, but when they find out, that alone may be enough to get them to buy.  Bullet points are where you highlight individual benefits. Usually not features, but benefits.  It’s worth getting good at them, because better bullets mean more sales.  We covered some major highlights of all bullet points, and then dug into the copy of the three great copywriters: Ted Nicholas, Gene Schwartz, and Mel Martin. We looked at how each of them used the following types of bullets:  1. Bullets that answer objections  2. Bullets that assert benefits  3. Bullets that create curiosity  4. Bullets that stun and fascinate  5. Bullets that deliver a warning Download.

Today we look at bullet points in an exciting new way. Now, in copy, bullet points in copy are specialized and different from bullet points everywhere else. Because in most forms of writing, bullet points condense facts and offer a summary. Not in copy, though. See, in copy, bullet points are condensed, emotionally driven, focused statements or promises that are sometimes powerful enough, by themselves, to make the sale. A few episodes ago, Nathan mentioned that when he’s looking at sales copy, he looks at the bullet points first. I’d never heard anyone say that before, and I thought it was interesting. I gave it some thought. I realized that bullet points do a lot more for Nathan—and for nearly everyone else reading copy—than most people realized. Then I went through three classic ads—one by Ted Nicholas, one by Gene Schwartz, and one by Mel Martin, all hall of fame copywriters. I hand-copied more than 60 of their bullet points onto a giant sheet of paper. That was quite an emotional roller-coaster ride, all by itself. In the process, I realized these master copywriters were doing a lot more with their bullet points than what we usually think of when we write our own bullet points. I’ll tell you about my findings and share the exact bullet points the greater copywriters wrote. To get us started, so we can all remember the enormous sales power of bullets, let me share with you a story I told six years and two months ago, on one of the earliest episodes of this podcast: An Afghanistan vet and his wife went to the housewares department of a “big box” store. They were looking for an electric can opener. The vet was an amputee. He only had his right arm. The salesman showed the man and his wife the best model, and started rattling off all the features: U.L. Approved, cordless operation, easy to clean, 5 star reviews online. The couple listened politely but didn’t say a thing. This made the salesman nervous. “Are there any questions I can answer for you?” he said. “Just one,” the vet said with a smile. “If I get this model, can I open a can with just one hand?” The salesman was embarrassed that he had failed to mention this, but he recovered quickly enough. He said yes—and the couple happily bought the new can opener. Every customer is like the vet. I don’t mean that every customer is an amputee. What I mean is that there’s usually one performance, or benefit, that towers in importance over all others. Maybe they don’t realize they’re looking for it, but when they find out, that alone may be enough to get them to buy. Bullet points are where you highlight individual benefits. Usually not features, but benefits. It’s worth getting good at them, because better bullets mean more sales. We covered some major highlights of all bullet points, and then dug into the copy of the three great copywriters: Ted Nicholas, Gene Schwartz, and Mel Martin. We looked at how each of them used the following types of bullets: 1. Bullets that answer objections 2. Bullets that assert benefits 3. Bullets that create curiosity 4. Bullets that stun and fascinate 5. Bullets that deliver a warning <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1607&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

5 Kinds of Bullet Points

Alex Osborn

Today we return to Old Masters Series with a guy I’m going to call The Godfather of Creativity, Alex Osborn.  He’s best known for inventing brainstorming, which was first used at his advertising agency BBDO (the O was for Osborn). But he has done a lot more than that. For example, in 1954 he co-founded the Creative Education Foundation.  And he’s written a number of books. The best-known one was the bestseller Your Creative Power. However, a lesser-known book, Wake Up Your Mind: 101 Ways To Develop Your Creativeness, is what we’re going to use today to get into some really interesting, practical ideas about creativity and writing copy.  First, we went over over a few things about creativity as we define it. First of all, creativity is not coming up with harebrained ideas like lizards that play golf to sell life insurance. Not in the way we’re talking about today.  Creativity is finding better ways to get a prospect excited about and committed to buying what you are selling. No lizards required or desired.  Second, in his book, Osborn says something dear to my heart: Schools teach the wrong things for creativity. This was back in the day; this book was published in 1952. I don’t know what schools teach these days, but, if the main purpose of school is to teach kids to score high on standardized tests so they can get into a platinum-level college, that works against developing creative abilities.  Someone named Burdette Ross Buckingham wrote a book in 1926 called “Research for Teachers,” and Osborn says ever since that book came out  “educators have increasingly leaned on statistics. This has led to accumulation of facts, and deprecation of the generation of ideas.”  He goes on,  “Creativity necessarily lacks exactness.”  One of the guiding questions of schools is, “Can it be tested?”, and Osborn  says this question gets in the way of schools developing creativity skills.  That is, since creativity is not exact, so you can’t test or measure it.    Now science, technology, engineering and math are survival skills in the jobs economy these days, but remember that the people who built the companies that hire all those people, had far greater imaginations than most of their employees. That is, they have much better practical creativity skills, among other things, than your average bear. Something to think about.  The third thing that’s really important before we got into these seven steps of creativity: In real life creativity may not work this way exactly, and Osborn says so in his book. Sometimes you take these steps out of order. Sometimes you don’t take all of them.  He writes:  “The more I study and practice creativity, the surer I feel that its process is necessarily a stop-and-go, a catch-as-catch can, a ring-around-the-rosie; and the more I doubt whether it can ever be ‘exact’ enough to rate as scientific.”  Osborn says, “The most we can honestly say is that it usually includes some or all of these phases.”  I would have to agree. There’s no set formula for creativity, but knowing these seven steps will put you in a better place to come up with profitable creative ideas than not knowing them will.  Osborn had an unusual comment about the importances of mental and emotional effort in creativity. He says  “Writers recognize as ‘rhythms of creativity,’ the ups and downs of their power to produce. Since each person’s talent is the same from day to day, those cycles must be solely cycles of energy—a fact which helps prove how dependent upon our drive creativity can be.”  We then proceeded to go through Osborn’s Seven Steps, and added a tip about reading books a special way to increase your creativity. A good show, well worth taking in.  Link to the out-of-print 1952 book this podcast is based on:   Wake Up Your Mind-100 Ways To Develop Creativeness, by Alex Osborn  https://www.amazon.com/Wake-Your-Mind-Develop-Creativeness/dp/B0000CI7JO Download.

Today we return to Old Masters Series with a guy I’m going to call The Godfather of Creativity, Alex Osborn. He’s best known for inventing brainstorming, which was first used at his advertising agency BBDO (the O was for Osborn). But he has done a lot more than that. For example, in 1954 he co-founded the Creative Education Foundation. And he’s written a number of books. The best-known one was the bestseller Your Creative Power. However, a lesser-known book, Wake Up Your Mind: 101 Ways To Develop Your Creativeness, is what we’re going to use today to get into some really interesting, practical ideas about creativity and writing copy. First, we went over over a few things about creativity as we define it. First of all, creativity is not coming up with harebrained ideas like lizards that play golf to sell life insurance. Not in the way we’re talking about today. Creativity is finding better ways to get a prospect excited about and committed to buying what you are selling. No lizards required or desired. Second, in his book, Osborn says something dear to my heart: Schools teach the wrong things for creativity. This was back in the day; this book was published in 1952. I don’t know what schools teach these days, but, if the main purpose of school is to teach kids to score high on standardized tests so they can get into a platinum-level college, that works against developing creative abilities. Someone named Burdette Ross Buckingham wrote a book in 1926 called “Research for Teachers,” and Osborn says ever since that book came out “educators have increasingly leaned on statistics. This has led to accumulation of facts, and deprecation of the generation of ideas.” He goes on, “Creativity necessarily lacks exactness.” One of the guiding questions of schools is, “Can it be tested?”, and Osborn says this question gets in the way of schools developing creativity skills. That is, since creativity is not exact, so you can’t test or measure it. Now science, technology, engineering and math are survival skills in the jobs economy these days, but remember that the people who built the companies that hire all those people, had far greater imaginations than most of their employees. That is, they have much better practical creativity skills, among other things, than your average bear. Something to think about. The third thing that’s really important before we got into these seven steps of creativity: In real life creativity may not work this way exactly, and Osborn says so in his book. Sometimes you take these steps out of order. Sometimes you don’t take all of them. He writes: “The more I study and practice creativity, the surer I feel that its process is necessarily a stop-and-go, a catch-as-catch can, a ring-around-the-rosie; and the more I doubt whether it can ever be ‘exact’ enough to rate as scientific.” Osborn says, “The most we can honestly say is that it usually includes some or all of these phases.” I would have to agree. There’s no set formula for creativity, but knowing these seven steps will put you in a better place to come up with profitable creative ideas than not knowing them will. Osborn had an unusual comment about the importances of mental and emotional effort in creativity. He says “Writers recognize as ‘rhythms of creativity,’ the ups and downs of their power to produce. Since each person’s talent is the same from day to day, those cycles must be solely cycles of energy—a fact which helps prove how dependent upon our drive creativity can be.” We then proceeded to go through Osborn’s Seven Steps, and added a tip about reading books a special way to increase your creativity. A good show, well worth taking in. Link to the out-of-print 1952 book this podcast is based on: Wake Up Your Mind-100 Ways To Develop Creativeness, by Alex Osborn <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wake-Your-Mind-Develop-Creativeness/dp/B0000CI7JO" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/Wake-Your-Mind-Develop-Creativeness/dp/B0000CI7JO</a> <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1605&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

Creativity Tips from Alex Osborn - Old Masters Series

Three weeks ago we did a selection from my half of the no-longer-available Guerrilla Copywriting audiobook. It was so popular, we thought we’d do it again.  Here’s some background:  Sixteen years ago, in 2007, I produced an audiobook with my friend and mentor Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the bestselling Guerrilla Marketing series. Jay  and I originally thought about doing a book together, but that never happened.  However, we did do an audiobook. It was called Guerrilla Copywriting. Unlike a lot of things he did and I lot of things I’ve done, this one didn’t sell that well. I don’t think either of us had the bandwidth to promote it, but there may have been another problem -- we tried to jam too much good information into too little time.  We had sixty really powerful tips for writing copy. Jay would do one, then I would do one. It ended up being 60 tips in 60 minutes. Plenty of value, but maybe we would have been better off slowing down and taking some time to talk about each tip.  Well… the audiobook is out of print now, so I’m free to share my half of the material. I took a look at it the other day and, I gotta admit, it’s pretty good. A couple things needed to be updated -- a lot has happened in 16 years. But for the most part, we’ve got eternal principles that are completely workable today.  OK. Today we cover about quarter of my part, and we’re going to take 25 minutes to half an hour to discuss. You’ll see why it makes more sense to do it that way. I’m starting to think the original was four times as fast as it should have been!  Some of this you’re familiar with but you’ll probably see in a new light. And you may hear a few things that are new to you. Everything’s useful, and it stays to true to one of the main goals Jay and I had when we did this originally: It’s designed to make you more profitable, and it’s information you can put to use right away. Download.

Three weeks ago we did a selection from my half of the no-longer-available Guerrilla Copywriting audiobook. It was so popular, we thought we’d do it again. Here’s some background: Sixteen years ago, in 2007, I produced an audiobook with my friend and mentor Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the bestselling Guerrilla Marketing series. Jay and I originally thought about doing a book together, but that never happened. However, we did do an audiobook. It was called Guerrilla Copywriting. Unlike a lot of things he did and I lot of things I’ve done, this one didn’t sell that well. I don’t think either of us had the bandwidth to promote it, but there may have been another problem -- we tried to jam too much good information into too little time. We had sixty really powerful tips for writing copy. Jay would do one, then I would do one. It ended up being 60 tips in 60 minutes. Plenty of value, but maybe we would have been better off slowing down and taking some time to talk about each tip. Well… the audiobook is out of print now, so I’m free to share my half of the material. I took a look at it the other day and, I gotta admit, it’s pretty good. A couple things needed to be updated -- a lot has happened in 16 years. But for the most part, we’ve got eternal principles that are completely workable today. OK. Today we cover about quarter of my part, and we’re going to take 25 minutes to half an hour to discuss. You’ll see why it makes more sense to do it that way. I’m starting to think the original was four times as fast as it should have been! Some of this you’re familiar with but you’ll probably see in a new light. And you may hear a few things that are new to you. Everything’s useful, and it stays to true to one of the main goals Jay and I had when we did this originally: It’s designed to make you more profitable, and it’s information you can put to use right away. <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1604&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

Selections from Guerrilla Copywriting

Corey Haines

People outside of marketing and copywriting might think “swiping” is something you do on your phone with a dating app, or maybe that it’s slang for shoplifting.  Not wrong, but today we’re talking about what copywriters and marketing strategists mean when they say “swiping.” And that is, taking a proven form (whether that’s actual words or something a little more conceptual) and finding a way to use it yourself.  It could be word-substitution in a headline. For example, we’ve seen countless examples of headlines that have swiped the originals:  Who Else Wants A Whiter Wash?  and  Who Else Wants A Beach Body?  Swipes would be  Who Else Wants A Six-Pack That Gets Admiring Stares?  Who Else Wants More Free Time Than You Ever Dreamed Of?  Our guest today has a much broader and, I would say, more profitable vision of what swiping is and what it can be. His name is Corey Haines and he has a lot of experience in SaaS marketing. In case you’re not familiar with the term, SaaS stands for “Software-as-a-Service.” He also writes a weekly newsletter on SaaS marketing with more than 18,000 subscribers.  Corey’s also cofounder of SwipeWell and has a whole lot of knowledge and wisdom on swiping than I’ve ever heard from anyone else.  Here are the questions we covered on the show:  - How do you definite “swipe file”? - Where did the concept of a swipe file come from? - Why is a swipe file valuable to a marketer and copywriter? - Where do you find good marketing inspiration to swipe from? - What are some examples of using a swipe file day to day? - What are some examples of taking inspiration from other industries to come up with creative marketing campaigns?  To get a free trial of the software, go to: https://swipewell.app  To find out more about Corey, go to: https://corey.co Download.

People outside of marketing and copywriting might think “swiping” is something you do on your phone with a dating app, or maybe that it’s slang for shoplifting. Not wrong, but today we’re talking about what copywriters and marketing strategists mean when they say “swiping.” And that is, taking a proven form (whether that’s actual words or something a little more conceptual) and finding a way to use it yourself. It could be word-substitution in a headline. For example, we’ve seen countless examples of headlines that have swiped the originals: Who Else Wants A Whiter Wash? and Who Else Wants A Beach Body? Swipes would be Who Else Wants A Six-Pack That Gets Admiring Stares? Who Else Wants More Free Time Than You Ever Dreamed Of? Our guest today has a much broader and, I would say, more profitable vision of what swiping is and what it can be. His name is Corey Haines and he has a lot of experience in SaaS marketing. In case you’re not familiar with the term, SaaS stands for “Software-as-a-Service.” He also writes a weekly newsletter on SaaS marketing with more than 18,000 subscribers. Corey’s also cofounder of SwipeWell and has a whole lot of knowledge and wisdom on swiping than I’ve ever heard from anyone else. Here are the questions we covered on the show: - How do you definite “swipe file”? - Where did the concept of a swipe file come from? - Why is a swipe file valuable to a marketer and copywriter? - Where do you find good marketing inspiration to swipe from? - What are some examples of using a swipe file day to day? - What are some examples of taking inspiration from other industries to come up with creative marketing campaigns? To get a free trial of the software, go to: <a href="https://swipewell.app" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://swipewell.app</a> To find out more about Corey, go to: <a href="https://corey.co" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://corey.co</a> <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1602&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

Next-Level Swiping, with Corey Haines

David Ogilvy

We’ve got a very special episode today in our Old Masters series—featuring some wisdom from David Ogilvy.  He was legendary in advertising during the Mad Men days. Kenneth Roman wrote a book about Ogilvy called “The King of Madison Avenue.” I believe his book “Ogilvy on Advertising” was the only book on the subject to reach widespread bestseller status, far outside the reaches of the industry. Over 100,000 copies sold. For a business book, that’s like over 1 million sold for a novel or general-interest book.  Ogilvy was more of a team leader and team builder than a solo operator. More like a Joe Schriefer or a James Patterson—Patterson was an executive for J. Walter Thompson before he became a best-selling novelist—Ogilvy was more like those guys than like a Gene Schwartz or a Gary Halbert.  But don’t get me wrong. Ogilvy was also a terrific copywriter. He started out in direct response and understood the principles of that kind of copywriting inside out.  I found something the other day, paging through Ogilvy’s autobiography, that’s a perfect fit for this podcast. Ogilvy had 11 rules for copywriting. Four of them are more focused on big ad agencies, but seven of them are great for us, and that’s what we’ll cover today.  So what talked about today comes from is “David Ogilvy: An Autobiography.” This guy had quite an adventurous life, and after he retired he moved to live in a chateau in France. Here on the cover of the book you can see him staring menacingly at you, smoking a cigar.  There are swans in the background. Ogilvy had this thing about trumpeter swans, which have the largest wingspan of any swan known to man. I don’t know if those are trumpeter swans on the cover, but there’s a really good chance they are.  Ogilvy was an eccentric man with wide-ranging interests and an adventurous spirit.   But when it came to copy, he was straightforward, and serious. And he was focused on getting results, even when he was writing consumer advertising with no response mechanisms.  The rules we covered today come from his years of hard work, both writing copy himself and leading other copywriters. We talked about Ogilvy’s stance on studying advertising throughout your career, how much difference in response you can get when you improve the copy in an ad, whether a Big Idea matters or not, and a lot more.  A link to get the book “David Ogilvy, An Autobiography”:  https://www.amazon.com/David-Ogilvy-Autobiography-Trailblazers/dp/0471180025 Download.

We’ve got a very special episode today in our Old Masters series—featuring some wisdom from David Ogilvy. He was legendary in advertising during the Mad Men days. Kenneth Roman wrote a book about Ogilvy called “The King of Madison Avenue.” I believe his book “Ogilvy on Advertising” was the only book on the subject to reach widespread bestseller status, far outside the reaches of the industry. Over 100,000 copies sold. For a business book, that’s like over 1 million sold for a novel or general-interest book. Ogilvy was more of a team leader and team builder than a solo operator. More like a Joe Schriefer or a James Patterson—Patterson was an executive for J. Walter Thompson before he became a best-selling novelist—Ogilvy was more like those guys than like a Gene Schwartz or a Gary Halbert. But don’t get me wrong. Ogilvy was also a terrific copywriter. He started out in direct response and understood the principles of that kind of copywriting inside out. I found something the other day, paging through Ogilvy’s autobiography, that’s a perfect fit for this podcast. Ogilvy had 11 rules for copywriting. Four of them are more focused on big ad agencies, but seven of them are great for us, and that’s what we’ll cover today. So what talked about today comes from is “David Ogilvy: An Autobiography.” This guy had quite an adventurous life, and after he retired he moved to live in a chateau in France. Here on the cover of the book you can see him staring menacingly at you, smoking a cigar. There are swans in the background. Ogilvy had this thing about trumpeter swans, which have the largest wingspan of any swan known to man. I don’t know if those are trumpeter swans on the cover, but there’s a really good chance they are. Ogilvy was an eccentric man with wide-ranging interests and an adventurous spirit. But when it came to copy, he was straightforward, and serious. And he was focused on getting results, even when he was writing consumer advertising with no response mechanisms. The rules we covered today come from his years of hard work, both writing copy himself and leading other copywriters. We talked about Ogilvy’s stance on studying advertising throughout your career, how much difference in response you can get when you improve the copy in an ad, whether a Big Idea matters or not, and a lot more. A link to get the book “David Ogilvy, An Autobiography”: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/David-Ogilvy-Autobiography-Trailblazers/dp/0471180025" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/David-Ogilvy-Autobiography-Trailblazers/dp/0471180025</a> <a href="https://copywriterspodcast.com/audio/listen.php?f=1590&amp;m=download" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Download.</a>

7 Copywriting Rules from David Ogilvy - Old Masters Series

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