Copywriters Podcast

The Tyranny of “Show, Don’t Tell” If you take it too far, you’ll end up drawing pictures and using no words at all. How do we profitably apply this to copywriting? 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. The origin of “Show, Don’t Tell.” Why you don’t need or want to do it all the time. Where you do need to use it: 1. How your prospect feels now. 2. How your prospect will feel, once the benefits of the offer kick in 3. The experience of using your product or service 4. (Sometimes) What others will say about the prospect after the benefits of the offer have kicked in, and how the prospect will feel 5. How to order the product. The main rea

Dynasty quote How does that square with the reality about wealth? What does this mean for copywriters? 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 the numbers say about billionaires. What the numbers say about the wealthy. What about copywriters and direct-response company entrepreneurs? Most successful copywriter/business owner 2 founders Top Copywriters Going to college / not going to college What all successful people I know have in common Taking responsibility for your own education – college or not What I did Don’t buy into the rebellions teenager/cowboy myth But don’t expect degrees or past successes to carry your bags for you T

The folly of trying to get better at “copywriting.” “Inch by Inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life’s hard.” Nobody but a fool would honestly claim that copywriting’s a cinch. But the way a lot of people go about learning it, they make it a lot harder than they need to. Today we’ll take a look at all the things people do that just too hard. Things that take much longer than they need to. Then, we look at what’s faster, easier, and works SO much better. 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. Muscle memory for copywriters. - what it is - why all the top copywriters have it. Most don’t realize it. I’ve never heard anyone talk about it bef

Our guest today is Tim Burt, who’s going to give you the inside story about writing copy for radio and TV commercials. In the last 26 years, Tim has written, recorded and/or produced more than 30,000 commercials worldwide. His clients range from small businesses to global corporations to presidential campaigns He’s the founder of TimBurtMedia.com and has created programs including Broadcast Ad Secrets, The Restaurant Marketing Series, and Broadcast Ad Secrets. Among the publications where Tim has been featured are: Radio Ink, Huffington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. Before we get into the good stuff, I have to tell you something that you’ll almost certainly never hear on the radio: 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

Ted Nicholas: You can go broke selling people what they need. But you can make a fortune selling people what they want. What did he mean? How do we apply this into what we do as direct marketers? But first… here’s something I want to tell you: 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. • A fatal mistake of many marketers (hopefully not you): Trying to sell people something you want to sell them, that they don’t want themselves (i.e. Something you assume they need, or hope they will want). • What works better: Selling people something they are actively aware that they already want. Just offering them a better version. • How to find out what p

Dr. Henry Heimlich story. When I first heard about this, what prompted me to research it more and get all the details? Insatiable curiosity. What insatiable curiosity is, and why it’s so important for copywriters – what we’ll talk about today. Now, you might be curious about what comes next. Well, the suspense is over. Because… 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. • Curiosity is how you get motivated to find the interesting tidbits that make your copy shine, and keeps your readers reading. • Three types of people – and, depending on which kind you are, here’s how you should approach your own sense of curiosity. • What insatiable cu

What a songwriting teacher says about how much writers hate to rewrite. It’s not just songwriters. And this reluctance is probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, copywriters never make it to the next level in their writing and in their career. We’re going to fix that today! -- 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. -- - The two seemingly opposite puzzle pieces of putting together a magical story for your copy. When creativity meets implementation. Why they are like oil and water — they don’t mix, but most cars need both in order to operate. - What usually happens when a writer sits down to write a sales story for copy. Why faster is

We had Joshua Killingsworth on a few weeks ago, when he talked about how his divorce and child-custody requirements virtually “forced” him to move quickly from another business to copywriting. We got a lot of response and appreciative comments on that show. Joshua also shared his empathy-map process, which gets the copywriter very much in tune with the prospect’s thinking and feeling. Something all copywriters need to do, but, sad to say, not all actually do. Today, Joshua’s going to talk about something completely different. Something that should make him the envy of every freelancer listening to today’s show: How he closes 80% of the prospects he talks to. I’m really excited to hear what he has to say. But everyone should also be excited, as I remind you, that… -- 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

Justin Goff has created from scratch three multi-million dollar direct response companies. His last one was a supplement company that him and his partners scaled from 0 to 23 million in sales in just under 3 years. Justin sold his stake in that company last year, took a year off, and is now helping the biggest direct response companies to boost their response and increase their average order size on their offers. He lives in Austin Texas with his 2 Great Danes, George and Dempsey 1. Justin, you seem to have a very different view of emails for marketing from just about anyone else I know. I remember once on a webinar I heard you say you would pay $5000 for a good email. Could you tell us, how do you look at emails differently than most people do. 2. How did you use emails in the companies you built? Could you talk about some individual emails and the kind of results you saw? 3. The way you do emails – how do you decide what information to put in the email itself, and what to save for the sales page it lead

Justin Goff has created from scratch three multi-million dollar direct response companies. His last one was a supplement company that him and his partners scaled from 0->23 million in sales in just under 3 years. Justin sold his stake in that company last year, took a year off, and is now helping the biggest direct response companies to boost their response and increase their average order size on their offers. He lives in Austin Texas with his 2 Great Danes, George and Dempsey. 1. Many of our listeners know all about controls, but some don’t. So let’s start with this question: What is “a control? 2. Why do you need to try to beat a control? 3. How do most people typically go about trying to be a control? 4. What do you see as wrong with, or missing from, this approach? And what do you do differently instead? (Justin – here, could you go through the theory/process of working on the whole funnel? If you can and you’re willing to, mention some super-simple math. Like 2 or 3 actual or potential gains you’

On today’s show, we’ll pick up where we left off last week. Friend requested I give a talk to his group of copywriters and business owners. One of the copywriters in the group asked me: what does it take for a copywriter to go from “good” to great? And what I do work on with people when I coach them. Six things I’ve found… We’ll talk about the first three in today’s show. 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. The Big Three When I start working with a copywriter, 3 questions 1. What do you want? 2. How are you gonna get it? 3. What’s standing in the way? Coaching is based on the answers to these three questions. First two – different

A friend requested I give a talk to his group of copywriters and business owners. One of the copywriters in the group asked me: what does it take for a copywriter to go from “good” to great? And what I do work on with people when I coach them. Six things I’ve found… We’ll talk about the first three in today’s show. 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. The Big Three When I start working with a copywriter, 3 questions 1 What do you want? 2 How are you gonna get it? 3 What’s standing in the way? Coaching is based on the answers to these three questions. First two – different for every copywriter. Third one – nearly always, there are s

Imagine you like to ride a bike. Maybe you already do. So you ride every day, on mostly flat roads and paths and occasionally a mild hill. Then one day you decide to get in a race. You don’t learn much about it ahead of time. On the day of the race, it’s raining. There are oil slicks on the road. The competitors are going much faster than you are used to. Then gusts of wind kick up. And to top it all, there are hairpin turns on top of steep hills! Guess what – you’re in crunch time. It’s that special moment when all hell breaks loose and you have to follow through with whatever you started. How do you deal with that? Today we’ll talk about • What crunch time is • Why you need to prepare for it • How you need to prepare for it • And what to do when it actually happens Now hear this: 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 indust

We have a special Report from the Field today that reaches deep into one man’s family. Our guest is Joshua Killingsworth, and while people’s last names usually have nothing to do with anything else, in this case, it holds a clue. Because Joshua Killingsworth’s copy is killing it. He’s got a webinar and sales page promo, for example, that converted 65% on a one-thousand-dollar product. He’s created a three-email sequence that is making over $20K a month for a client. With a tiny list, yet. And maybe that’s because he had no choice. Four years ago he was going to lose his share of joint custody of his daughter unless he was available on some weekdays. He became an “accidental copywriter” as a result. Today he’s going to share some of his secrets with you. 1. How did you get into copywriting and what is your background? 2. You have an avatar and empathy map you’ve developed. Something I’ve never heard of before! And you say that you believe the research that produces leads you to higher than normal conversions.

A few weeks ago, we had Joe Schriefer on the podcast in a special “Reports from the Field” episode. Joe said something that changed my life, and I’ve been thinking about ever since. As you may remember, Joe heads up Agora Financial, and he was one of the key players in growing it from $25 million a year to $250 million a year. The show as about how to scale up a business dramatically the way Joe has. What Joe said that kept ringing in my mind was: To grow a business big, think like the business is small. In other words, don’t get grandiose. Just do the normal things you do, but do them increasingly better. Don’t get private jets and a yacht. You would think a quarter-billion-dollar business should have a private plane, right. But that’s not how they do things. And that’s important. So it got me to thinking. There are so many people urging others to “think big.” And so many people who have these wild-ass plans that almost always disintegrate into dust. Why is that? What are those people misinformed about? And

I was looking at a new online MasterClass by Judd Apatow, a film director who specializes in comedies. His bio said he got started in the business at age 15 as a dishwasher at a comedy club… and, you know how the story goes… the rest is history. You’ll hear lots of stories like that – but few in copywriting. Why is that? And what can you do instead? That’s what we talk about today. 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. Let’s go over what you need to learn first, and then we’ll talk about putting together an advanced program for yourself. 1. “College” – or, basic training - Basic programs. Two I recommend and have seen consistent results fro

Detectives today have a powerful tool in their toolkit – DNA analysis. Except for identical twins and maybe in the future human clones, every person’s DNA is unique, as far as we know. So if there’s a drop of blood, a hair, a small piece of skin, or any number of other tiny little pieces of a person’s body at the scene of a crime, the detective who finds DNA has struck gold. That’s because DNA leaves clues. There’s another kind of DNA you might not have heard of yet. It’s called Breakthrough Copywriting DNA. This kind of DNA leaves clues, too. For example, the first type of Breakthrough Copywriting DNA we’ll talk about today left the clue of $2 billion in the Wall Street Journal’s bank account. In short, Breakthrough Copywriting DNA is a collection of seven themes that have proven themselves to be big winners for copywriters across a wide variety of industries. A few of them are featured as Emotional Action Sequences in today’s episode. But first, let’s feature this: Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for h

Direct marketers usually hate TV commercials, because they give a bad name to advertising as we see it. That is, they don’t truly sell. But sometimes I like them – not as advertising, really, but as works of art. There’s a very intriguing commercial running right now for Alfa Romeo, the luxury Italian sports car. What intrigues me the most is their tagline. In Italian, it’s La Meccanica Delle Emozioni. And, it’s trademarked. A close translation of the phrase is: “The Mechanics of Emotion.” Today we start our occasional series called Accessing Emotion. And for today’s show, I don’t want to step anywhere near Alfa’s trademarked phrase, but I’m inspired by it. So we’ll call what we’re going to talk about today: Emotional Action Sequences, Part 1. Emotional Action Sequences are proven templates for adding sales-enhancing emotion to your copy. They’re easy to use and I’ll share some powerful ones with you today. But first, and I hope I don’t get too emotional about this: Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for ho

Donald Burns once helped the world's most hated man find a job. How'd he do it? By using copywriting methods while writing his resume. After all, what is a resume, if not a sales pitch for yourself? Donald gets into what works and what doesn't when it comes to resumes. He's written them for some of the most successful people out there. He even has some tips for copywriters on how they can better promote themselves. This one is a little bit off the beaten path, but jam-packed with gems that you don't want to miss. Donald's Website Executive Promotions LLC Find Donald on LinkedInDownload.

Despite what the rock group the Buggles told us, video did NOT kill the radio star. Our guest in today's special Report from the Field, Daisy Luther, appears regularly on 830 stations through the Genesis Radio Network. But to many people, Daisy is even better known as The Organic Prepper. She runs a very popular and profitable website. I met Daisy personally in late April, at a private dinner in Baltimore for former journalists who have embraced copywriting. Daisy, we’re honored to have you here and welcome to the Copywriters Podcast! Today, Daisy will share details of her business and whatever else we can convince her to share with us. As we begin, let me remind you of something: 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