Copywriters Podcast

Chances are very good you’ve seen and heard our guest before. Maybe on ABC News, or CNBC, or Howard Stern. Or somewhere else on the radio. And, if you’ve ever called Citibank, hers is the familiar voice you hear before you get to a live person. Chances are just as good you’ve heard at least one of her students and clients, too. In fact I know you’ve heard at least one of them on this very podcast, because Agora Financial, which Joe Schriefer heads up, is one of her clients. But that was before Susan started to work on him -- and I thought he was already pretty damn good. Now, there are a lot of speaking coaches and voice coaches. I know, because I used to be one of them. Not nearly as good as Susan, I’ll quickly admit. But precious few speaking coaches these days who are also masters of persuasion, and, more important, masters of teaching others to be persuasive. This is important especially to copywriters and direct marketers who are involved in any form of copy that goes audio or video. Like: Webinars, v

Without a good roadmap, most copywriters are just flying blind when they sit down to craft a sales letter. Sure, having a template can help, but even that doesn't get at the underlying problem. In order to write persuasive copy, you need to understand what each section of the copy is supposed to do. This week, David and Nathan break down the job of many essential parts of your sales letter. From headlines to P.S. sections, we get deep into the psychology behind each part and how to go about writing them. Tune in and you'll discover: • How great copy is like a full-course meal • Why most copy ends up muddying the point • Whether you should start your copy with an outline or not • How to write a killer headline • Why most headlines don't grab attention (and how to fix it) • Why a great "Pattern Interrupt" might actually be hurting your sales message • How to fix your testimonials and make them more convincing • What testimonials are meant to do in your reader's mind • 5 secret messages you need to be implantin

Einstein said: “Imagination is More Important than Knowledge.” It’s a quote that has led a lot of people to think they don’t need to know anything… all they need to do is “be creative” by using their imagination, and all their dreams will come true. That’s just not true. Because that quote, while accurate, is taken way out of context. Einstein needed to add just one word to it so the quote would stand alone and capture the meaning of the sentence in context, without the words that came before it and after it. He probably had no idea, even in his wildest imagination, that the sentence “Imagination is more important than knowledge” would become a social media meme to justify that self-defeating habits of the lazy and the self-indulgent. But nevertheless it has, and we’re going to set things straight in this show, at least for copywriters. The missing word We reveal what the missing word from that quote is, right here on the Copywriters Podcast. My holiday journey learning about Brian Wilson Brian Wilson of the

Million Dollar Mike Morgan is a top copywriter currently working for a major division of the world’s largest financial publisher, Agora Inc. As a copywriter for Agora’s Money Map Press division, Mike’s in charge of promoting newsletters and other financial advisory services. His promotions that have made as much as $17 million apiece. Mike doesn’t like to do many interviews, but he’s one of my closest personal friends and so I was able to convince him to share some valuable inside secrets with you about what it’s really like to write for the big guys. Mike’s also one of my copywriting mentoring clients and I couldn’t prouder of him. And, he’s a Gary Halbert All-Star, one of a handful of top copywriters who Bond and Kevin Halbert invited to read and comment on one of Gary’s letters for their special audio series. 1. So tell us how you got here. Everyone’s path to the top is different, and I know for a fact yours is interesting! 2. It seems like everyone I talk to wants to write for Agora. Give us some highligh

We’re back with Meron Bareket, who’s known as the “Sherlock Holmes” of funnels and conversions. He has the unique background and ability to find the “murderous leaks” in your online sales process — and fix them. When he combines that with his copywriting, you get outsized conversions and record profits. I know this because Meron is a mentoring client of mine. I’ve seen the kind of detective work he does and the massive sales results he’s gotten for clients. Meron can do what he does because he’s a dedicated student of buyer behavior during every step of the sales process. He uses software skills to track how buyers respond to each part of a sales funnel, and he makes adjustments accordingly. Today he’s going to talk about the just one horrible crime against marketing he sees people committing all the time. Often not knowingly or intentionally, but the results are the same. No matter how you kill the sale, you miss out on a lot of money you would have otherwise made. In this episode, Meron talks about what he

Meron Bareket, who’s known as the “Sherlock Holmes” of funnels and conversions. He has the unique background and ability to find the “murderous leaks” in your online sales process — and fix them. When he combines that with his copywriting, you get outsized conversions and record profits. I know this because Meron is a mentoring client of mine. I’ve seen the kind of detective work he does and the massive sales results he’s gotten for clients. Meron can do what he does because he’s a dedicated student of buyer behavior during every step of the sales process. He uses software skills to track how buyers respond to each part of a sales funnel, and he makes adjustments accordingly. But today he’s going to talk about the horrible crimes against marketing he sees people committing all the time. Often not knowingly or intentionally, but the results are the same. No matter how you kill the sale, you miss out on a lot of money you would have otherwise made. In this episode, Meron talks about the seven serial killers tha

The famous English writer George Orwell is best known for his book 1984, which is a bestseller and a major cultural signpost in the English-speaking world. But lesser known is a book he published three years before. 1984 was published in 1949. But Politics and the English Language was published in 1946. In this book, Orwell lays out six iron-clad rules for writing, which are pretty good for copywriters, too — with some notable exceptions. We’ll get to those in a few minutes. But first, let me show you what Orwell was worried was happening to the English language. He gave this comparison in his book: From the Bible, Ecclesiastes, 9:11 “I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.’ Translated into the worst of modern English: “Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success

Simulmedia, a 10-year-old company based in New York and LA, helps businesses use TV advertising to get better results by bringing in data analytics. Recently Simulmedia launched a marketplace called D2Cx. It’s especially interesting for direct marketers who want to reach consumers on TV without all of the old hoops that you used to have jump through. I reached out to Matt Collins and invited him to come on the Copywriters Podcast to explain this. Some listeners are not ready for TV, but I’m pretty sure some will embrace the opportunity, since the opportunity to scale your business rapidly is simply unmatched by anything else. And it’s more affordable, as I understand it, than any other big-league TV ad opportunity. Matt will set me straight if I’ve got that wrong! Matt, welcome. Matt is Senior Vice President of Marketing at Simulmedia in New York City. Previously, he was VP of Marketing and Communications at Ampush, in San Francisco, which was involved in big-time Facebook marketing. Before we start, I’d like

A rocket scientist describes how a spacecraft takes off. There’s a big difference between the energy and controlled chaos of the lift-off and the regular, cyclical path of the orbit around the earth. What can we learn about this description when it comes to the two basic types of people necessary to make copywriting make money? Plenty. Two conversations started this all. The first one – one of those accidental things about something else entirely, that really sparked my thinking about this. The second one, with a legendary copywriter, really blew it up to get us to this point. What creative people need to know about implementers. It’s almost like the people who write the copy and the people who “get things done” are from another planet. But they’re not. They’re really two sides of the same coin. What does the “implementer” side of the coin look like? What implementers need to know about creative people. For many practical, “get ’er done” people, asking them to understand creative people is akin to asking som

A story about my mother and the vacuum cleaner. What objections are and why it’s so vitally important that you know them and overcome them. The best way to find objections. What to do if you can’t find objections out first-hand Handling objections in your copy: • Overcoming copy with a headline • Overcoming copy with a guarantee • Overcoming objections in your bullet points • Overcoming objections in your FAQs • Two powerful ways to overcome objections that many people overlook • How to reduce the strength of objections before they ever occurDownload.

Parris Lampropoulos is one of the few true A-List copywriters in the world, and he is a much sought-after teacher of copywriting as well. This special one-hour session with Parris is a veritable masterclass. He reveals the subtle psychology and strategies behind a sales letter that trounced the previous control and went on to run for over 7 years. At the bottom of this page, you’ll receive a link to download this historic piece of copywriting excellence that Parris explains in granular — yet, easy-to-understand — detail. Never before on the Copywriters Podcast have we had such an intricate and valuable breakdown of a multi-million-dollar winner. Every copywriter and marketer should pay close attention to the wisdom and street-smarts Parris reveals here, for you can use some or many of the techniques he explains, to vastly improve the performance of any promotion you have currently running, or planned for the future. Download the PDF HereDownload.

Show starts with an editorial in a business magazine that condemned negative thinkers. Warning: Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims... and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity... you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time. Why positive thinking is so important for copywriters — and, really, anyone in business — most of the time. Why it’s a mistake to never allow negative thinking into the copywriting process — and where you should. Three important activities for copywriters that require negative thinking: 1. Mac Ross’s “Four W’s” Here are four questions most copywriters — and most business owners — never dare to ask. But they really must ask them (as painful as it may be) if they want their ads to work. 2. “What could possi

What I didn’t start learning about people until I was 40. Warning Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims... and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity... you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time. What “human nature” means How understanding it at the behavioral level makes a difference when you’re writing copy… and you need to get specific behaviors from people reading your copy What happens when you live in an idealized world (read: “should”) about people and how they behave… and how that affects your copy (you’re screwed, your copy’s screwed) Four surprising things about human nature I learned only in copywriting • What people are really more concerned about, as opposed to what they’re “supposed to be” concerned about… • Wh

The newsletter publisher that made more money with people who swiped his newsletter than he did from subscriptions. Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims... and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity... you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time. What swiping is The difference between swiping and stealing (plagiarism) Why swipe files are important How to build a swipe file How to use a swipe file The three levels of creativity (Gene Schwartz, Breakthrough Advertising, p59) 1. Word-Substitute Technique (“the shallowest”) 2. Through Formula (“deeper and more difficult”) 3. Analytical approach (“It means a solution which has cost you days and weeks of painful effort, and which has done its job perfectly—can only be used once.”)Dow

Part 2 of 2 For today’s special Report from the Field, I literally met our guest “in the field,” at the Platinum Mastermind Group a few weeks ago. His name is Ted Prodromou, and he’s known as America’s leading LinkedIn coach. That would be good enough if Ted knew how you could get a job on LinkedIn better than anyone else, but I was extremely impressed that he knew a lot more than that. He knows how copywriters and entrepreneurs can use LinkedIn to make large amounts of money, as he does for himself every month. Ted’s the author of Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn for Business, and the third edition will be released by Entrepreneur Press next March. I’m so delighted that he’s agreed to come onto the Copywriters Podcast and share some of his secrets. Welcome, Ted! Before we get into the questions, let me share my one and only secret for this podcast: Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims... an

Part 1 of 2 For today’s special Report from the Field, I literally met our guest “in the field,” at the Platinum Mastermind Group a few weeks ago. His name is Ted Prodromou, and he’s known as America’s leading LinkedIn coach. That would be good enough if Ted knew how you could get a job on LinkedIn better than anyone else, but I was extremely impressed that he knew a lot more than that. He knows how copywriters and entrepreneurs can use LinkedIn to make large amounts of money, as he does for himself every month. Ted’s the author of Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn for Business, and the third edition will be released by Entrepreneur Press next March. I’m so delighted that he’s agreed to come onto the Copywriters Podcast and share some of his secrets. Welcome, Ted! Before we get into the questions, let me share my one and only secret for this podcast: Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims... an

Brian Cassingena helps businesses build out their customer acquisition funnels to create major breakthroughs in their sales and profits. He is a former Mindvalley chief copywriter. Brian’s responsible for at last count more than $4 million in revenue coming directly from his copy over the last 3 years. Last year, more than $1.3 million, just for Mindvalley alone. Brian has rolled out more than 20 major funnels, and some of these are making 6 or 7 figures per year on autopilot. Brian’s back with us from last week. Today, he’s going to talk with us about making money with daily emails. 1. Could you describe what sending a daily email means? Is it literally every day? How long are they typically? 2. When was the first time you started or took over a daily email program? Are there any results you can describe? 3. To many business owners, the idea of sending out an email to customer everyday borders on the unimaginable. What do you say to clients to reassure them what they send will be welcomed by customers, and

Brian Cassingena helps businesses build out their customer acquisition funnels to create major breakthroughs in their sales and profits. He is a former Mindvalley chief copywriter. Brian’s responsible for at last count more than $4 million in revenue coming directly from his copy over the last 3 years. Last year, more than $1.3 million, just for Mindvalley alone. Brian has rolled out more than 20 major funnels, and some of these are making 6 or 7 figures per year on autopilot. Today, Brian’s going to share some of his MindValley funnel secrets with us. 1. To start with, could you give us a quick summary of who MindValley is, when you worked for them, and what you did for them? 2. Now, before we get into your MindValley funnel secrets, please give us a brief, basic definition of a funnel, so even the least experienced listener will understand what we’re going to be talking about. 3. What was your best-performing funnel for MindValley? Could you walk us through the pieces/steps? 4. The most successful people g

Today our special guest is Debbie Owen, who has her own podcast, The Sales Page Podcast, and is a book-launch strategist and freelance copywriter. She’s agreed to give us a crash course for coaches and consultants in writing copy that brings in business. Here are the main topics she addresses: 1. What’s the biggest mistake coaches and consultants make when writing their own copy? 2. Everyone knows you’re supposed to write down such things as, “What keeps them awake at night? What do they fear? What do they desire?” What else can make a difference in writing copy for a coaching business, when it comes to knowing your avatar, or perfect client? 3. There are so many coaches out there; the competition is stiff. How do you fight that in your copy? 4. Let’s talk about the messaging in your copy. How do you compare yourself to your competition? 5. Many coaches either procrastinate about writing their sales page because they’re afraid of a blank page, or they just sit down and start writing without a plan. What’s a p

Today our special guest is Debbie Owen, who has her own podcast, The Sales Page Podcast, and is a book-launch strategist and freelance copywriter. She’s agreed to give us a crash course for business owners in writing copy that brings in business. Here are the main topics she addresses: 1. What is the most important thing a business owner should start with when they think about writing copy for a sales page? 2. Many business owners try to write copy that creates a desire for the product or service they offer. What’s wrong with this approach? 3. How do you write copy for a sales page that addresses the prospect’s level of problem awareness? 4. What are some typical sales page copy mistakes business owners make when they write their own copy? Debbie's WebsiteDownload.