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1. Read my new copywriting/advertising books 2. Put beautiful new fabric on computer chair 3. Make glass coasters with grandma's old lace pieces 4. Clean out closet! 5. Antique shopping--find vintage train case for cosmetics 6. Take new Pumas out for a spin
At some point in our professional lives we’ve all heard or been told by an employer to leave personal business at home. I have always agreed with this philosophy as personal business can severely affect productivity and overall performance. This way of thinking is probably older than most of us...
What's Your Copywriting Breakthrough Story?Here's Mine...Add Yours... “A primal termite knocked on wood. He tasted it and found it good. And that is why your cousin May Fell through the parlor floor today.” Sage words from my friend, mentor and guru, Ogden Nash, who was born on the same day as...
Social media. It's the buzzword in marketing web2.0. Explore this new craze with some fun blogging copywriters at The Write Blog.
[Sales Letter Link] We left off yesterday in a section where Kennedy is hammering home the headline. Reiterating that it is the most valuable skill, and that if you possess it, which he proved you surely can, you will work less and less. Until your sole occupation is climbing in and out of your...
Rosser Reeves was known for ugly advertising. He believed that the USP, a term he invented, was in the product itself, and not created by the advertising. Once he had the USP, he repeated it ad nauseum. Some might argue that his 'in your face' style wouldn't work today. People have become too adept...
Anyone remember the first time we met the 'GoDaddy Girl'? She made quite a splash back in '05. Created a lot of buzz, garnered a fair amount of praise. But was it effective? As much fun as it is for me to sit down and rattle off old tales of copywriting lore, we should never forget the point. The...
Today's post, following on the heels of yesterday's, traces its origin to the Gilded Age of capitalism. Robber Barons and railroads. Americans were moving into the cities, finding work in factories. In 1902, a telegraph cable crossed the Pacific Ocean, effectively encircling the globe. And there was...
It so happened once, not too long ago, that I needed new tires for my car. So I headed down to Goodyear, owned by a longtime friend of the family. This guy does a pretty good job of keeping his customers entertained while we wait to get our cars back. 'Customers', here in east Tennessee, refers to...
My last post was packed with info, but there really wasn't anything new. We've at least mentioned every part of the analysis. And, notice that this great sales letter layered all these tactics. Technically it is very dense, but the sales message remains unencumbered. As you write, just keep these...
In my next post we will look at a method of camouflaging your sales letter. But today, I thought we might take a broader look at what makes Ken McCarthy's sales letter effective. First, consider its placement in his overall marketing strategy. Months of promotional "Pre-System" emails have qualified...
In the days of direct mail, when a letter went out, the prospect might never have heard of the company before. Or the product. Consider also that much of direct mail's development occurred over a period where the U.S. was saving money. It was under these difficult circumstances that the sales letter...
The path to greatness is not always easy. It's not always clear or well marked. Copywriting is no exception. I know of people who got lucky with they're first promotion, but without exception, the very best are hard workers who have put in a lot of hours studying and perfecting their craft. I have...
Let's pause for a moment. Looking back over our time together, we've developed enough copywriting tools to create a compelling sales message. From scratch. From market research to bullets to storyboarding. With narrative copy, the old AIDA model, a bit of history. And if we examine our sales letter,...
Some posts back I quoted Claude Hopkins. It was in his writing that I first encountered it. But as far as I can trace it, "Advertising is Salesmanship in Print" actually originated in the mind of another. Pour yourself some Scotch, get settled in your favorite leather wing chair. Here's the story:...
You may have heard of the AIDA model for copywriting. Attention, interest, desire, action. It is antiquated, and incomplete. But still, as a point of reference, it's worth going through briefly. Our headline, which we've slaved over, functions to get attention. To stop your prospect in her tracks....
There you are, a thousand things to do. People and projects competing for every minute every second of your time. The deadline for this promotional piece looming, and – even with all the work we've done so far – you come up with nothing. Seconds tick by, turning into minutes. Minutes turn into...
Over our long series of lessons on copywriting, we've discussed numerous techniques to keep you on track. To keep you organized. To streamline. You have a number of tools to take your basic sales message, and encapsulate it in a compelling headline. And techniques to multiply the response to that...
Hope you enjoyed the break we had from headlines in my last post. (Actually a clever ruse to get you warmed up for writing copy, which we begin tomorrow). Today is the final installment in our headline series. More fun stuff ahead. We already have a good idea, actually a system of sorts, for how to...
So a couple of days ago, I had one of my quarterlife crisis moments. I was really down and out about the future. I just didn't know if I wanted to be a reporter anymore. I don't think I can live and breathe news. I really wanted to be a broadcast reporter so that I could melt in my grandma's wish...
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