Posted by: Carline Anglade-Cole
April 10, 2008
Issue #393

I’m suck-awesome!
(Sometimes I suck
and sometimes I’m awesome)

What to do when your copy doesn’t beat the control
– or when it does!

I just got an e-mail from a client.

“I’m sorry to tell you that your copy didn’t beat the control.”

Man, I HATE those “dear loser” e-mails!

I mean, I really hate them! Especially since they don’t give me any information besides telling me I suck!

So I sent off an e-mail asking for specific results. How close was I? How did the package perform in revenue over cost, percent response, etc … I needed more concrete info to wrap this bad news around my brain!

While I waited for the response to my e-mail – the negative thoughts started popping up in my head.

“Man, I really suck.” “No one is ever going to hire me again.” “I might as well dust off the application to Wal-Mart and schedule an interview – maybe they’ll hire me as a greeter!”

As I was contemplating my career change, I got another e-mail. From another client. This one was just as short:

“Carline, your new package is a home run winner. We’re thrilled with the results. Congratulations.”

What? I’m awesome? Me? Yee ha!

So I sent off an e-mail asking for specific results. How badly did I clobber the control? How did the package perform in revenue over cost, percent response, etc … I needed more concrete info to wrap this great news around my brain!

That’s the story of my life. I suck. I’m awesome. And sometimes I’m suck-awesome in the same day!

So I figured I’d let you know how I deal with the yo-yo existence of a copywriter. To keep me off bi-polar meds, I’ve come up with a way to deal with the bad news of not getting a control – and with the good news of beating the pants off an existing control.

Trust me, I have to refer to these notes constantly, so I thought I’d share them with you …

Some things are out of your control

Did the client dictate the theme for your package? Were you assigned a format? Did the legal department butcher your copy? Was the copy written by “committee”? Did you get more than one cover test? Did a war erupt right in the middle of your mailing?

All these (and more) could have a negative impact on your copy. Here are a few examples of what I mean.

Theme:

Sometimes a client is convinced they have the perfect theme and hire you to write copy. And because you’re hungry for the experience (and cash), you agree to write for their vision. For example …

… Early in my career, a client asked me to write a health promotion combining “the best of both worlds.” They were convinced their doctor – a medical doctor and a naturopath – was the all-in-one solution to satisfy their market’s desire. So I said, Ok. And I wrote the package. The result?

I got a “Dear loser” e-mail saying, “your package bombed.” Notice now that it’s MY package – not “ours”!

Lesson learned: Unless you’re convinced the theme is strong and really bought into the client’s vision, don’t take the assignment. What I didn’t know was that the client offered that same theme to several other, more experienced copywriters who turned it down! Man, THEY were smart!

Format:

The format you use can also affect your results. Another client wanted me to write a package for an oversized tabloid. What they didn’t tell me was that the price difference between the new format they wanted and their current 2-color, report style control was 35%. In other words, I would have to beat the control by 35% just to BREAK EVEN. The result?

My package lost. But there’s good news here. The client was smart enough to retest my copy in the cheaper format – and my copy whooped the control!

Lesson learned: Find out printing costs before you decide on a format. Why pick a format that’s going to make you work harder just to break even? And if your package is testing against another copywriter, why put yourself at a disadvantage from the get go? If your package becomes a control, you can always test the higher priced format later. Be smart. Find out your costs in advance.

Creative committee:

I do my very BEST work for clients who realize they’re paying a lot of money for me to write their copy – and they leave me alone and let me do my job. This is actually a scientific fact for me. I did the research, no kidding.

A few months ago, I reviewed my 9-year history as a freelancer. I looked at all my successes and losers. There was one common thread: minimum interference = maximum success.

Getting a client to back off is easy to accomplish when you’re working with small to mid-size clients. It’s nearly impossible when working with the larger companies. That’s because larger companies assign marketing managers, directors, publishers and a legal team to give their “input” into the copy. Have you heard the saying “too many cooks spoil the broth?”

When I work with creative committees, it’s almost a guarantee there’ll be several drafts, revisions and cuts to my package. The finalizing process is long and tedious. My ADHD kicks in and I lose interest in the package.

Here’s a true story: A few years ago, I received a printed sample of a health package I wrote. I didn’t recognize the headline. When I called to find out why, the marketing director told me they decided to change it while the package was at the printer. No one contacted me (hello, the writer!) about an alternate headline. Somebody in the “committee” came up with a new headline. The result of the mailing?

They told me MY package bombed! Heck, that wasn’t MY package. By this time, MY package was on the cutting room floor along with MY headline!

Lesson learned: Know myself. Of the clients who allow me to do my best work, I have an 80% to 100% success rate. For my “committee” clients, my success rate tanks to 45% to 55%. Since success equals higher royalty checks – it’s a no-brainer who I’m putting on my copywriting dance card!

Test panels:

For the life of me, I can’t understand how a client will shell out $25,000 for a package, another 10 grand or more for design, and thousands more for printing and mailing lists – and only allow me ONE shot at getting a success! It’s just plain ole crazy!

The way I look at it, test panels are like getting 2 … 3 … or even 4 new packages for the price of one! My clients who realize this are making boatloads of money from their creative packages!

I have a couple of clients who allow me up to 5 test panels for every new package! The result? They usually get 2 or 3 strong covers off the bat.

That means, they can rotate those covers and keep that original package mailing for years! They’re happy because they need fewer new packages. And I’m happy because I’ve got a royalty income stream that turns into Niagara Falls!

The truth is: your headline and your cover copy are the most important elements of the promotion package. You can change the feel of the package simply by changing your cover. So, why not give a new package several opportunities to become your new control?

The best time for a copywriter to come up with new cover tests is while she’s working on the project – not 3 or 4 months later when that excitement has dwindled!

Lesson learned: In the initial hiring conversation, ask for at least 2 cover tests. Then do your best to make those covers look very different from each other.

Legal department – and other natural disasters:

In this day and age, the legal department is a necessary evil. But a smart client will never give their legal department authority to cut or revise copy.

Legal should make notes on the problem area and the client needs to give those notes to the copywriter to make the appropriate revisions. I don’t offer to try a case and I don’t want the legal department offering to re-write my copy.

And lastly, if a war breaks out … a hurricane devastates an area or a beloved figure unexpectedly dies – no copy is strong enough to overcome that! Your prospect will be distracted and it will affect the results of your package. It’s completely out of your control. Here’s an example of bad timing:

I had a #10 (envelope) health package that tested very strong. Right in the mailing of the first roll-out mailing, the Anthrax scare occurred. Nobody was opening envelopes! The mailing TANKED.

Fortunately, my client quickly converted the #10 package into a special report format and went back out in the mail. The results of the second and subsequent mailing were much better!

A few more things to remember:

Very seldom does your copy truly suck. Even if you don’t beat the control, all is not lost. Here’s what I mean …

1. Your copy generated new customers. And these new customers will purchase other products from your client and their names will be sold as list rentals. So your client is making money.
2. The best copywriters are losers too. Clayton Makepeace loses. Gary Bencivenga loses. The difference between them and you is they have FEWER losers!
3. Take it like a professional. Own your mistakes. Don’t whine and complain. Offer to tweak the copy, provide more headlines for a future test or whatever else is reasonable. Don’t let the disappointment ruin your career. You can be disappointed for a day, but after that, move on.
4. The client will call you again. Clients know you can’t win them all. If you had a good working relationship with them and they liked your copy, they’ll give you another shot later on.

Now, here’s how to handle good news …

As you can see, I can be pretty hard on myself when my package loses. Although a client may say, I was only 10% or 20% behind the control, in my mind, I SUCK.

That’s why I use these coping skills to get my head back on straight and overcome my failures. But it’s also important to know how to handle your successes too.

I used to dismiss my winners as “flukes” – thinking that the next promotion will bomb. Now, I’ve learned to acknowledge my successes – and I want you to do the same thing! So try these …

• Go out and buy yourself a present! The more the royalty potential – the bigger the present! Treat yourself – you worked hard and it paid off. CELEBRATE!
• Review your new control! Look at what you did right. You picked a great theme and the market responded favorably to your hard work. Enjoy re-reading your package. Savor the moment. And see what you could do to make the copy even stronger in the future. This is a good time to think of new cover test ideas!
• Share your success with other clients! I put my controls up on my website. That way competitors and other prospects can easily see my latest controls, too. If you don’t have a website, call up prospects and say you want to send them your “latest control.” Remember, copywriting is a business – and success sells!

And finally, remember Babe Ruth

You probably know Babe Ruth was a home run king. But did you know he was also the strike-out king, too? Every time he went up to bat, he went for the home run and he failed more often than not.

The truth is, nobody really remembers your failures (except you) – most clients want to know about your successes.

So every time you start a writing assignment, give it your BEST. That way, whether the package beats the control or not, you’re still a winner!

Here’s to Creating Success Your Way!

Carline Anglade-Cole
Guest Contributor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE™

Looking for resources related to this article? Try some of these.

Looking for more guest articles? Check these out.

Looking for past issues of The Total Package? Click here for our archives.

Want to share or reprint this article? Feel free. Just give us full attribution and a link to our Home Page when you do.

Attribution Statement: This article was first published in The Total Package. To sign-up to receive your own FREE subscription to The Total Package and claim four FREE money making e-books go to www.makepeacetotalpackage.com.

Related posts

• Courage Matters
• Breakthroughs in The Making Two innovations with the power to boost your response as much as twenty-five times over
• Lessons From A Persian Rug Merchant in Jaipur
• How to Navigate the Body Copy Minefield Without Being Blown to Smithereens
• A Conversation With the Legendary Copywriter GARY BENCIVENGA Part ll

---

8 Comments »

1. Comment by Bill — April 10, 2008 @ 1:43 pm

   Carline,
   As usual, you rock again!  Your comments are so true for just about anything in life.  Whether it is sports, copywriting, selling, or anything else, it is: you lose - boo, you win - yea!
   Thank you for another, ‘kick-butt’ article!!!!

   Bill
   ‘Til we meet again, my the good Lord take a likin’ to ya

2. Comment by David Grebow — April 10, 2008 @ 2:26 pm

   Your Words Put Therapists Out Of Business

   At least they can comfort one another
   at the Unemployment Bureau
   
   Carline:

   You just saved my day…

   My week has been "I’m suck - suck -suck -awesome -suck".  I’m new to copywriting, got into it because in ALL the other jobs I had - many in Marketing - everyone would say what I great writer I was.

   So when I was fired, er RIF’d (Reduction-in-Force), from my job just three days before this last Christmas, I decided I agreed with Bob Dylan and it was time to sing "No, I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more." …

   ‘A’ List Copywriting here I come … right up there with Clayton and Derek and Gary and Bob and Carline.  So I hung out my business card, and the work started to drib and drab it’s way in and …

    I was off and limping.

   This last week felt like a disaster until I read you Words of Wisdom. And remembered to remember several important things -
   It’s not just me that has ups and downsThe downs were not necessarily what I wrote and I need more informationThe home run was an over the wall and out-of-the-park hit that increased product sales by 108% since it was mailedYou can only learn and grow from your successes, not your so-called failures. And you’re right,  I really DO need to celebrate the hits,  not just shrug and say "That’s right, that is what your’re suposed to be doing." It’s what I need to do more often, to let me - and my family - know that I can still swing for the bleachers and knock one over the wall.

   So thanks. Your words do a lot more than control and convince people to buy stuff. They can also can put Therapists out of business. They remind us struggling and aspiring to be ‘A’ list copywriters that even Carline Anglade-Cole and The Babe could say they were "I’m Suck-Awesome."

   Thanks again!

   Cheers,

   David Grebow
   http://www.thefourthwave.typepad.com/knowledgestar/

3. Comment by Carline — April 10, 2008 @ 2:42 pm

   Thanks Bill!
   That’s the beauty of copywriting – you can use the skills to make money and the lessons to enhance your life!
   Carline

4. Comment by Larry Mekus — April 10, 2008 @ 2:58 pm

   Carline -
   I absolutely love the way you write. So down to earth, so natural. Almost like it’s your best friend talking to you. Don’t know how you craft articles so -so well, but I admire it - a lot. You need to sell your expertise (I have to be first in line) and train the rest of us to be experts like yourself. Until that happens (soon I hope), we need to have more posts from you - a lot more! I am sure I speak for many others on this, but getting and reading an article from Carline is like opening a Xmas present - it’s exciting! Keep them coming.  - Larry

5. Comment by Chad — April 10, 2008 @ 2:59 pm

   That’s the best article I’ve read all week (and I’ve read a lot)!

   Forget the suck…this is awesome!

6. Comment by Alexis Dawes — April 10, 2008 @ 10:30 pm

   Carline, I can truly appreciate a pro who admits that there are in fact potholes in the road of life. I think a lot of people look at the success stories and assume it’s always a party. Thank you for showing an accurate representation of copywriting in the real world.

7. Comment by Jason Parker — April 10, 2008 @ 10:43 pm

   Hey Carline,

   You’re one rockin’, hard-hitting copywriting chick! 

   Thanks for this half-fun, half-useful article. 

   You really know how to engage a reader.

   All the best,

   Jason

8. Comment by Bobby Perrine — April 10, 2008 @ 11:50 pm

   Thanks for showing us how to be smart about approaching our copywriting assignments.

   This is the sort of intimate knowledge other gurus are unwilling to share.

   Well done m’lady ! You have a great heart for your readers