Copywriting

The 5 C’s of Indoctrination: Essential Website Elements To Welcome Cold Prospects And Convert The Curious

If you only sell to people who know the value of your product or service you’ll quickly run out of new customers, doomed to forever be a small fish flopping around in a shallow pool of revenue. To expand your market and increase sales you must indoctrinate new prospects. The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of indoctrination

The 5 C’s of Indoctrination: Essential Website Elements To Welcome Cold Prospects And Convert The Curious Read More »

Unleashing Your Inner Lazy B*stard – How Freelance Copywriters Can Get More Done By Working Less

As freelance copywriters, we’re at this weird intersection between ‘creatives’ and ‘craftspeople’… Because our working practices need to draw from both areas. Creatively, copywriters must be sensitive to human emotions and highly empathetic… We have to be regularly inspired to create and develop ‘big ideas’ that resonate with people and help sell our clients’ products…

Unleashing Your Inner Lazy B*stard – How Freelance Copywriters Can Get More Done By Working Less Read More »

How to tell your story like Tolkien (and stop losing prospects to your competitors)

If you had to tell me your story right this second, would you be able to do it … or would you choke? You’d think it’s easy explaining who you are and why people should care. But if this were true, nobody would need copywriters. Bad storytelling means we risk confusing or boring people …

How to tell your story like Tolkien (and stop losing prospects to your competitors) Read More »

David Bowie: The Ultimate Artist-As-Entrepreneur?

June 2017 marks 50 years since David Bowie released his first album. The title of this landmark record? Somewhat unimaginatively, it was called: David Bowie. Ironic, because nothing else in Bowie’s extraordinary life was ever that predictable again… The Ultimate Artist-as-Entrepreneur As a long-time fan, I was recently struck by just how well some of

David Bowie: The Ultimate Artist-As-Entrepreneur? Read More »

How Eugene Schwartz’s Branding Secret Ignites Direct Response Sales

Before I became a copywriter, I spent 29 years working with brands. The power of those brands allowed me to create multi-million dollar businesses around the globe. That’s a nice piece of change. It worked because each brand had a clear identity that resonated with certain consumers. In fact, the product itself was often secondary.

How Eugene Schwartz’s Branding Secret Ignites Direct Response Sales Read More »

Stephen King’s IT And The Secret To Creating Emotion-Driven Copy That Converts

It’s one of the most notorious openings to any novel… Shocking, gruesome… …and so very, very vivid. From Stephen King’s epic 1986 tale, IT: “A small boy in a yellow slicker and red galoshes ran cheerfully along beside the newspaper boat. The rain had not stopped, but it was finally slackening. It tapped on the

Stephen King’s IT And The Secret To Creating Emotion-Driven Copy That Converts Read More »

Here’s The Secret To Copy That Keeps Your Prospects Coming Back For More

Recently a writer wanted her copy critiqued for an email lead generation campaign. It was for a watch targeted to bodybuilders. The writing style was “upbeat and cheerful.” Hey, wait a minute. That feels off to me… I looked at the company name and wasn’t familiar with the brand. But “upbeat and cheerful” wasn’t what

Here’s The Secret To Copy That Keeps Your Prospects Coming Back For More Read More »

The #1 Way You’re Accidentally Killing Your Own Sales… And How To Fix It

As an entrepreneur in the self-improvement world, you’re pouring a ton of blood, sweat and tears into your business on a daily basis… You’re creating life-changing products and services and putting beaming smiles on people’s faces without them needing to gorge on an entire chocolate cake. You’d figure your work is done right there, and

The #1 Way You’re Accidentally Killing Your Own Sales… And How To Fix It Read More »

5 Steps to Transform Your Personal Stories Into Sales Machines

“Story sells…” “Your customers connect with stories, not features and benefits…” “Thou shalt not bore thy customers…” If you study sales copy, you’ve no doubt heard variations of the above…that you should be telling stories. Stories are what people remember, and the way to your audience’s heart. And you can probably name at least two

5 Steps to Transform Your Personal Stories Into Sales Machines Read More »

Conterintuitive Copy – Why this company reveals how to make their product on your own

There I am innocently perusing Facebook and then…  woah! Good copy alert. Yes, I’m a nerd, buuuuuut… Check it: So I did what completely normal people do (right?)… and broke this down quick by asking 4 questions: What are they saying? Who are they speaking to? What is the voice? Does it work? 1. Why are

Conterintuitive Copy – Why this company reveals how to make their product on your own Read More »

How To Use “Truthful” Copy To Win Over Your Reader (Or How A Politically Incorrect Film About Mental Health Teaches You How To Overcome Objections)

When I was a kid, I was an unashamed ad junkie. (I’d love to tell you I always wanted to be in advertising, but that wouldn’t be true. I wanted to be an airforce pilot.) In my ears, I can still hear every note of the catchiest theme songs and the excited delivery of ad slogans. But

How To Use “Truthful” Copy To Win Over Your Reader (Or How A Politically Incorrect Film About Mental Health Teaches You How To Overcome Objections) Read More »

Beating Copy Blindness: Weaving story into every part of the sales letter

In today’s hyper-connected cyber world, we’ve become “copy blind.”   People are reading so much copy… they tune out, go numb, and become blinded by the sheer number of ads they encounter day after day. The New York Times reported that, 30 years ago, people saw up to 2,000 ad messages a day. Today, people

Beating Copy Blindness: Weaving story into every part of the sales letter Read More »

How to sell beyond emotion and logic (Melanie Saladino’s safety and excitement scale)

During World War I, the British Army believed high morale was the key to victory. And what builds morale better than love notes and care packages from home? So they developed an efficient way to deliver 12 million heart-wrenching letters to active-duty soldiers… every week. Here’s an excerpt from a real letter sent home during

How to sell beyond emotion and logic (Melanie Saladino’s safety and excitement scale) Read More »

How Cards Against Humanity Writes Emails Their Customers Can’t Wait to Open

Many business owners I know cower at the prospect of emailing their customers. If they don’t have something to sell, they’re not sure what to say. When they do have something to sell, they don’t want to annoy them. And if they have any type of subscription model, they’re afraid an email will only serve

How Cards Against Humanity Writes Emails Their Customers Can’t Wait to Open Read More »

How To Sell Like The UFC

You may have seen the mean looking lady at the top of this article on TV before. Or maybe on YouTube. She’s the lady who’s always in those cage fights, crushing some other girl in a “no-holds barred” blood contest. She normally ends up winning, brutalizing her opponent in a matter of seconds. Her name is Ronda Rousey. Now, how you

How To Sell Like The UFC Read More »

Trump: The Art of Division and Persuasion

Love him or loathe him, there’s one accusation that can never be levelled at Donald Trump: he’s dull. You can roll out any number of metaphors for the billionaire and reality TV star’s impact on this presidential race. A tour de force, a whirlwind, whatever… But beneath the grandstanding and deeply controversial statements, there are

Trump: The Art of Division and Persuasion Read More »

The danger in presuming you know what your prospects are thinking

Picture it: June. Southeast Texas. HOT. I’m talking swamp-in-the-seat-of-your-pants HOT. I’m on the hunt for a new car because after my car accident, I’d been stuck driving my stepdad’s old Ford pickup truck. The one with the bench seat, the loud engine, and the open-all-windows variety of air conditioning. I arrive at the 5 billionth

The danger in presuming you know what your prospects are thinking Read More »

How to use the Hollywood Sequel technique to keep prospects coming back

“We’re doing a sequel That’s what we do in Hollywood And everybody knows that the sequel’s never quite as good!” So sings Kermit and friends in the latest instalment of the Muppets movie. Why is it that movie sequels have such a bad rap and infuriate movie critics so? There’s a sneering attitude of looking

How to use the Hollywood Sequel technique to keep prospects coming back Read More »

Secrets Smuggled Out of John Carlton’s Action Seminar 2011

Hi Friends, Just back from John Carlton’s Action Seminar – a torrid 3-day affair between the sharpest minds in marketing and the most elite group of copywriters ever assembled. I realize that statement reeks of hyperbole, so let’s briefly consider the players: John Carlton and Stan Dahl The all-star faculty of Top Dog Simple Writing

Secrets Smuggled Out of John Carlton’s Action Seminar 2011 Read More »

The greatest benefit of a freelance career

When I was a skinny, punk-ass 16 year-old… my step-dad, Scotty, ran a construction crew building new homes in Tampa. He was a tough-as-nails, but fun-to-be-around guy (picture Willem DaFoe and Jeff Spicoli merged as one) who had one rule on the job site: Never get outworked. That summer, rather than sit around broke watching

The greatest benefit of a freelance career Read More »

THE AMAZING 60-SECOND SALES HOOK THAT CREATES
AN INSTANT BOND WITH YOUR BEST PROSPECTS

PLUS: Get fill-in-the-blank templates that instantly establish “Know, Like, and Trust”

THE AMAZING 60-SECOND SALES HOOK THAT CREATES
AN INSTANT BOND WITH YOUR BEST PROSPECTS
PLUS: Get fill-in-the-blank templates that instantly establish “Know, Like, and Trust”
THE AMAZING 60-SECOND SALES HOOK THAT CREATES
AN INSTANT BOND WITH YOUR BEST PROSPECTS
PLUS: Get fill-in-the-blank templates that instantly establish “Know, Like, and Trust”
 
100% Secure. We Never Share Your Email

100% Secure. We Never Share Your Email

100% Secure. We Never Share Your Email