Posted by:
Daniel Levis
June 25, 2008
Issue 445
Dear Web Business Builder,
Whether you’re an established or aspiring freelance copywriter looking for an edge … or an independent entrepreneur trying to hone your copywriting chops and light a sales bonfire under your business … you’ll never reach your full potential in sales, profits, and personal satisfaction until you wrap your head around this:
Killer Copy = 20% writing, 80% strategy
Creating the conversion breakthroughs you’re looking for as an online marketer … or making your career take off like a ballistic missile if you’re a freelance copywriter … begins long before a single word hits the page … and ends well after the first sale is made.
It’s a process. And because most copywriters don’t understand this process, they end up blowing it. Freelancers get bullied by fee-balking, dumb ass clients who neuter your copy with endless revisions. And do-it-yourselfers throw up their arms in frustration because their copy falls flat.
So let’s cut to the chase, and I’ll give you that process …
Successful online marketing and copywriting is nothing more than effective communication. It’s simply a matter of positioning the right person … communicating the right message … to the right audience … at the right time … and in the right way.
That’s it.
If you’re struggling with your marketing … if you’re not having the success you deserve selling your products online … if you feel you’re not making nearly enough bling bling as a freelance copywriter … it’s because you’re missing something in one or more of these five areas.
Either you’re targeting the wrong market … your message is wrong … you’re not positioning yourself properly … you’re saying the right things in the wrong order … or your copy is boring, confusing, and people just don’t believe it.
If you can systematically strengthen a promotion in these five areas, it almost always leads to blockbuster results. I call that my 5R System.
Suppose you’re a fledgling freelancer copywriter. I want you to STOP RIGHT NOW and ask yourself something:
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Posted by:
Carline Anglade-Cole
June 24, 2008
Issue #444
Right now, I’m about to get naked.
Yep, I’m stripping down and revealing one of my deepest, most darkest secrets.
Many of my closest friends (and even my husband and family) don’t even know what I’m about to tell you. Are you ready? Can you handle it? Ok, here it is …
I am petrified of writing copy.
Phew! There I said it. Did the world end? Wait — let me open my eyes to peek and see … nope, it’s still here. I guess it’s safe to continue.
Are you surprised that a million-dollar copywriter who writes scores of controls (a dozen so far this year – and it’s only June!)…
… Makes millions of dollars for her clients …
… Writes copywriting books (three so far!)…
… Publishes a copywriting e-zine called of all things, CopyStar …
… And appears as a guest speaker at prestigious copywriting conferences (including Clayton’s!)…
… Would be a scaredy cat when it comes to copywriting?
Well, it’s true.
When I start a copywriting project, the negative tapes (or CDs for the under-30 crowd) start playing:
“What are you doing? You’ve bitten off more than you can chew! They’re gonna find out you’re a fake this time! You suck!”
Yikes! Pretty scary stuff.
I’ve often contemplated taking the royalties from one of my controls to hire a full-time shrink!
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Posted by:
Gary Bencivenga
June 19, 2008
Issue #441
Ask this simple 5-word question,
stand back and watch
your breakthroughs — and response — erupt.
Dear Marketing Top Gun:
In this Bullet, you will learn a simple five-word sentence that gives you an almost unfair advantage in boosting your response, outselling your competition and triggering an ongoing stream of creative breakthroughs.
Asking this simple question is the easiest way I know to get yourself and your staff to think outside the box. It can literally make you wealthy and establish your reputation as a marketing visionary with a Midas touch.
This is true whether you’re an entrepreneur, infopreneur, copywriter, marketing manager, CEO — anyone with anything to do with marketing.
Shameless overpromising? Not at all, as you’ll now see.
Here’s the question:
What are we really selling?
Just five little words. But let’s explore their revolutionary power, first on a basic level, then advanced.
A Little-Known Secret of Master Closers
First, always remember that advertising is nothing more than salesmanship multiplied by a mass medium. This is why it can unleash such powerful leverage in making you rich and successful. It is a persuasive salesperson able to close thousands or even millions of sales at once. And then do it again tomorrow and the next day.
Knowing this, the happiest hunting ground I’ve ever found to uncover new ways to explode response is to learn the secrets of master salespeople and then apply them to direct response.
What follows is easily one of the most powerful.
Early in my career, a wizened old Copy Chief taught me that one of the shrewdest questions master closers always ponder is, "What are we really selling?"
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Posted by:
Daniel Levis
June 18, 2008
Issue #440
Dear Web Business Builder,
Seems some people have a lowly opinion of us copywriters who write to sell …
There I was working away, minding my own business, when for some reason I became distracted and opened up an e-mail from Brian Clark — a.k.a. Copyblogger.
The subject line, “Warning: Narcissistic Marketing Can Be Dangerous to Your Business Health” caught my attention.
The article was what’s known as a “hit” in blogger parlance. Brian was challenging the point of view of another blogger, Julie Rubiner.
It seems Ms. Julie (BA in Creative Writing and Literature) had detected an editorial emergency on my website. I had been singled out as the lead poster boy, (ahead of Ron Popiel even) for everything she detests about hard hitting direct response copy that sells.
She says my copy is jivey … says I sound like a fair barker or used car salesman … and implies I must not care about my customers or have any desire to create long term relationships with them. Ouch!
Of course anybody who recognized where the copy in question came from could see that Ms. Julie was misrepresenting it to make her point.
She had deliberately taken bits and pieces from different parts of a 5,000 word sales letter and strung them together to make them look asinine. And then went on to say that putting numbers in your headlines is bad … implying there are “secrets” is wrong … exclamation points should never be used … ditto for dollar values and limited time offers … and other erudite nonsense.
Like Narcissus, (who died of thirst because he was so in love with himself he couldn’t bare to disturb his own reflection in the water long enough to drink) … people like Julie who are in love with the kind of copy they like to read would starve in a heart beat if their copy was judged by the sales it made.
They’re all about making an image. If their copy strokes their client’s ego, then it’s good copy. Whether it makes sales or not is immaterial.
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Posted by:
Carline Anglade-Cole
June 12, 2008
Issue #437
While I’m researching a project, I’m always on the lookout for “the big idea” … “the hook” … or for you English teachers out there – “the theme” – for my package.
One way I hone in on my big idea is to answer this simple, yet powerful question:
So what?
In other words, what’s so great about your product? What makes it unique … desirable … and a MUST HAVE – RIGHT NOW? Usually when I can answer that question, I’ve found my big idea.
For example …
A few years ago, when I was researching a Co enzyme Q10 product, I discovered statin drugs drain your Coq10 levels. And CoQ10 is especially critical for your heart. So people taking statin drugs to prevent heart problems were actually DROPPING DEAD from heart attacks!
Kapow! Now, that’s what I call an answer to a “So what”!
This became my big idea which led to this headline:
“The shocking truth about
cholesterol-lowering drugs”
Rob Davis, one of my all-time favorite designers, came up with a cover where you see the soles of a man’s shoes while he’s lying on the floor. It was a brilliant design – and the package KICKED BUTT!
Sometimes you gotta dig really deep to find a powerful big idea. Last year, I worked on a product called “DIM” – a natural hormone balancing nutrient.
There was all kind of great scientific research on this product. So I thought I would go with that angle. But …
… then I started reading the testimonials.
There was one emotion that just kept rising to the surface: Fear.
These folks were scared to death of hormones. They didn’t understand what they were or why their bodies were out of whack.
Aha!
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