Posted by:
Doug D'Anna
May 1, 2008
Issue #408
As I’ve mentioned many times, I’m a big collector of old advertising and copywriting books.
Why? Because many of the techniques these masters discovered years ago hold true today. I have used many of them in the past and still refer to these ideas today.
However, as John Caples, Claude M. Bristol, Robert Collier, and John E. Kennedy would tell you if they were still alive, simply copying their techniques will never give you the breakthroughs you’re looking for or set you apart as an A-list copywriter.
To be sure, I’m not going to say that those tested ideas won’t work for you. But they were designed for specific products at that time – and not necessarily for what you are trying to sell now.
Why is this important?
Because when you send your copywriting samples to publishers, marketers, and entrepreneurs, you will not be perceived as an original copywriter. They will see you as someone who may be a good mimic, but that is not what they are looking for.
They are looking for original copywriters with their own ideas, experts who may have mastered the techniques of the past – and didn’t just copy them.
One of my clients recently told me that he receives so many "Caples wannabe" packages from copywriters that he doesn’t even bother to read them. He throws them directly in the trash.
Can you blame him?
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Posted by:
Doug D'Anna
March 13, 2008
Issue #373
Today I’d like to declare the word FREE officially dead as a marketing hook.
That’s a bold statement, to be sure. But anyone who is in the business of building readership lists by offering FREE reports, FREE teleconferences, and other Freebies knows exactly what I’m talking about.
FREE is no longer the big incentive hook that it once was. And offering more FREEBIES is no guarantee of greater results. It’s not surprising–especially when it comes to online marketing. The Internet is suffering from FREE fatigue/breakdown.
It was bound to happen.
We have two forces to blame: 1. The explosion of free e-zines and blogs, and 2. Spam. Today everybody and their brother is a publisher. There must be millions of people on the Internet that have both an e-zine and a blog to share their thoughts. They offer a free report to sign you up.
After all, offering a FREE incentive is Direct Marketing 101. I have to chuckle when I say this, but to me, in some ways, the Internet has become one giant Times Square. But instead of barkers in front of a sleazy joint trying to entice you to step inside, there are GIANT FREE SIGNS that, of course, are going to make you rich, help you lose weight, or enjoy bliss for the rest of your life.
And of course, "You get it all in our FREE report!"
But that’s only the half of it. The real reason FREE is dead is SPAM.
Thanks to spam, people are more skeptical than ever to sign up for your FREE e-zine or blog, because they don’t want to be spammed.
As my many publishing clients will tell you, it’s much easier to cross-sell to an existing customer than to bring a new FREE e-zine reader into the fold. The barrier is much higher. New customers are not swayed by FREE, and they are skeptical, expecting that you’re going to hit them with hundreds of offers.
Just look at your declining open and conversion rates and you’ll know exactly that what I’m saying is true.
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Posted by:
Doug D'Anna
December 27, 2007
Issue #318
If there is one word that you should keep in the back of your mind as you develop your sales copy, this is it.
It’s a long word, to be sure. And you will seldom ever use it. Yet, this one word is not only key to your copywriting success but to the success of every direct mail piece that you write.
In fact, I would venture to say this word has been my guiding star throughout my copywriting career. The ultimate force that has taken me from $0 to more than $500,000 in annual income.
Today, I want this to be your guiding star as well.
What, exactly, is this word?
Let me spell it for you now: R E L A T I O N S H I P.
That’s right. Relationship.
The reason should be obvious not just when you’re writing copy but in virtually every area of your life.
From this day forward, don’t think of yourself as a copywriter – you would be better served to think of yourself as a people-writer. We don’t write copy, really. We write to people. Real people. People like you. People like me.
Of course, you will not go far if you think of yourself as only a people-writer.
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Posted by:
Doug D'Anna
November 1, 2007
Issue #270
Today, you will learn my simple three-part formula that could make your copy almost unbeatable in any direct, head-to-head copywriting test.
That’s a huge claim, I know.
But the fact is, I’ve been using this formula for nearly two decades and have one of the best track records in the newsletter publishing industry, beating existing controls (or even my own) close to 70 percent of the time.
The times I lost – guess what? – I was beaten by other top writers who had mastered this formula too. The difference? They simply had mastered it more effectively than I did on that assignment. So there’s no question that this simple selling formula works.
Today I’m going to show you how to make it work for you.
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Posted by:
Doug D'Anna
August 9, 2007
Issue #199
Have you ever thought of using the news appeal to promote your product? The reason I mention this is that the news appeal has worked very well for me over the years.
In fact, it’s worked so well that 90% of the direct mail packages and email messages I write use the news appeal.
Why do I like news?
Because it cuts through the clutter of messages that we are bombarded with every day. Most people don’t realize this, but your mind automatically cuts through the cacophony of messages to get to
the news.
As a result, the closer your message resembles the news, the greater your chance of opening your prospect’s mind to your sales message.
In other words, the news angle helps you bypass your prospect’s mental spam filter.
Think about it.
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