Copywriters Podcast

Does the world turn upside down when you are writing copy for prospects with money? The first time you do it, it sure seems that way. And there’s a good reason for that. The rules are different for writing that kind of copy. Does that mean that the core basic aspects of psychology are different for rich people than they are for everyone else? Absolutely not. The core basic aspects are virtually identical. They’re pretty much the same for all humans. But overwhelmingly, the mindset of a person with money is worlds apart from the mindset of a middle-class person and a working-class person. And, as copywriters, we’ve been trained with materials that assume we are selling to ordinary people, not the well-off, the rich, and the super-rich. Nathan was working on a personal development offer for high-end prospects, and it occurred to him that the copywriting rules are completely different when you write for them than when you write for middle-class or working-class prospects. What we want to do on today's

In this episode, we dive into the concept of transformation in marketing, revealing why it's the secret ingredient behind successful campaigns. We'll uncover the types of transformations—physical, emotional, and social—that resonate most with audiences. Learn how to identify the most compelling transformation your product offers and how to overcome the natural resistance people have to change by highlighting the significant benefits. Discover the art of simplifying your transformation story, making it easy to grasp and irresistible to your prospects. We'll provide vivid examples to illustrate the power of clear, concise storytelling, and share practical tips to help you create copy that paints a vivid picture of the life-changing impact your product can have. Join us as we dissect iconic marketing campaigns like Nike’s “Just Do It” and Apple’s “Think Different” to understand how these brands used transformation to captivate their audiences. We'll also look at how the "Got Milk?" campaign subtly but powerfu

In theory, AI should be able to do anything you tell it, including write good copy for you. In practice, AI does what you give it instructions to do. And finding the instructions to give it that will make it write in compelling, simple conversational English… looking for those instructions has been like the search for the Holy Grail. At least for me. Until now. Three weeks ago we had our returning champion on for the first time, Jason Parker. Nathan and I got so excited that we both signed up for his AI copywriting class. Not cheap, but worth every penny. I’ve been cranking out so much good writing since then, it makes my head spin. And I’m still getting my bearings. What Jason has done, that I haven’t found anyone else can do to nearly the same degree of proficiency, is give the AI prompts that precisely instruct the AI to write copy that sounds like a human talking. Nathan and I desperately wanted to have Jason back to talk about this, and Jason agreed to share his five favorite prompts today.

It is rare that we quote baseball players on Copywriters Podcast, but today we are going to quote a great one, Yogi Berra. He said, “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” But as intrepid copywriters, we do the difficult. Actually, stories about the future are very useful and effective in copy. They’re probably not exactly what you think, though. You may be using some of the stories we talk about today, but some of them will probably be new to you. Here’s the most important thing to remember: When you can get your prospect to imagine a future where they already own or have bought what you are selling, and they attach a positive feeling to it, closing the sale becomes so much easier. You can get better at all your stories with my new book The Persuasion Story Code. It’s available exclusively on Amazon—Kindle, paperback, and audible. Here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQDownload.

If your tank is empty and you’re looking for inspiration, you could do worse than to watch a little WWE wrestling. ¬ Our special guest today, Todd Jones, is quite a fan and an expert. He’s written a terrific article called “5 Lessons I Learned About Storytelling From Pro Wrestling.” Yesterday I read it. Because it’s online, it has videos to illustrate his excellent points, and I watched about half an hour of high points in the sport, dating back all the way to 1981. Most of the clips are much more recent, though. Todd is known as “the about page guy” and specializes in working with small and medium businesses with their content and copywriting. He’s a prolific writer with a unique point of view and lots of talents and skills he uses to help his clients. Todd has experience in a wide variety of things, from retail, grocery, vending, tech journalism and ministry. He’s great at building online communities. So we’re going to talk about all that and more today. Todd’s coaching: https://www.copyflight.com/coa

I really didn’t believe it was possible—that AI could crank out compelling copy in a conversational, persuasive voice. But I reconnected with my old mentoring client Jason Parker last week. By “old,” I mean it’s been over a decade since we worked together. He’s not all that old himself. Me, that’s another story. When he showed me what he’s come up with, I didn’t believe my eyes at first. But then he showed me how he was doing it. And, with no background material other than the book title, he had AI write a pretty decent sales letter for my book The Persuasion Story code in about two minutes. I found my way to Jason because the only other person in his agency, Brian Halpin, was online talking about a webinar 80% written by AI that generated just shy of $900,000 for a client. Talking further with Jason, I found out that his agency was scoring win after win. Over $4 million a month for Launch Medical. Half a million a month for A Caccia di Trader, an Italian financial publishing business. And other improbabl

When you talk about your product and you get that deer-in-the-headlights look, what gives? In the best of all worlds, it’s simply that the prospect doesn’t understand what you’re saying. And that very much could be because you’re the man or woman who knows too much. I’m talking about the curse of knowledge—when you’ve gotten all this expertise, which you needed, but you forgot to take the next step of simplifying it and putting it into appealing marketing language so your prospect can instantly understand and appreciate the value of what you’re offering. The curse of knowledge is real. But it’s curable. We’ll look at what it is and how to cure it on today’s show. There’s lots to learn, but I recommend my book, The Persuasion Story Code, as a way to use stories to break the curse of knowledge. Here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQDownload.

First weekend in May, the #1 show on Netflix was an origin story. Not a real origin story, but a total fabrication for comedy purposes. It was a movie called Unfrosted. It’s important for copywriters for a couple of reasons. The first is the power of a product name. The movie was a totally fictional story about how Kellogg's popular toaster pastries became a hit in grocery stores. It's hardly a spoiler to tell you the name they settled on that led to the big bucks: Pop-Tarts. How they got there is a big part of the totally made-up plot. Also, there's a great cameo by actors Jon Hamm and John Slattery, who play two leading characters in the series Mad Men. In the new Netflix movie, they play out-of-touch New York admen who come up with totally wrong product names. Later in the movie, when they hear the name Pop-Tarts, one of ’em grumbles an admission of defeat: "That'll sell." So that’s the first important lesson for copywriters: Gotta get the name right! But there’s a second lesson that’s maybe e

Every day it gets worse–the struggle to get people’s attention. It’s always been hard, but never like this before. Too many things and people are competing for our attention at any given moment. This may seem like a particular problem for copywriters, since we’ve been trained to start every message with a headline or a subject line. Nothing wrong with that, but there is a way of using words that is scientifically proven to get and hold attention better than anything else. And that’s a story. We’re hard-wired at birth to blot everything else out, except a life-threatening emergency, when a good story is being told. So, how do you tell a story in a headline? Or in your lead? Or in your opening paragraph? Without, you know, launching into an old, tired, never-ending hero’s journey story or a nightmare story? Well there is a way, and it’s much easier than you think. Since you’ve already been exposed to it for years without realizing people were using stories that way. The Persuasion Story Code: https:/

Time to talk about a taboo subject that needs to be discussed: The truly awful clients copywriters inevitably get, and how to set things right with them (or make a Quick Draw McGraw exit)! We’ve all had them. That can’t be changed or avoided. But what to DO about them? That can be learned, from an expert who’s been there, done that, and figured it out! Our special guest today is A-List Copywriter Kim Krause Schwalm, author of the great new book Client Badassery Secrets: How Copywriters Can Earn MORE, Run A Thriving Freelance Business, And Cut Out The Client Bullshit I’ve read it and it’s really good. Kim’s just the right person to write this book, too. She’s worked as an executive with big direct-response publishers where she hired copywriters, and also someone who has written copy for some of the best-known publishers and supplement companies in the world. And plenty of other clients, along the way. Today she’s going to tell us about the seven kinds of clients you meet on the way to copywriting “hell,

After you’ve finished your copy, how do you know that you got everything right and haven’t left anything out? There are several good ways to double-check, but I don’t think there’s one more fun than Jack Turk’s Killer Copy Checklist. It’s an 8-page PDF, written and presented like a comic book. But it’s serious stuff, in an easy-to-take form. Today Jack’s going to tell us about the checklist and make it available to you free… free… free of charge. To understand why this is such a good checklist, you need to know a little bit about Jack. He’s our returning champion, and we’re really happy to have him back today! Jack has decades of experience writing for corporations like Microsoft and Kodak, as well as a number of small businesses including dentists, attorneys, even magicians. As the voice of Dan Kennedy at GKIC and many other high-profile thought leaders, his sales copy has generated millions of dollars in sales and he’s now known as the world’s FASTEST Copywriter. Jack was also host of the highl

If you’re a copywriter and you’re itching to build a business, what should you do? You probably have many options. But if you’d like to know whether building your own agency is the right way to go, we have some valuable information for you. Today’s guest, Andy Strote, has built two agencies. The first one, Fireworks Creative, grew from 2 to 30 people in five years. Andy and his partner sold the agency to a large company called Cognicase. Six months later, he started another agency with one partner and one employee. That agency is called Context Creative. After 15 years, the agency had grown to have a staff of 28, and Andy sold his shares to his partners and returned to freelancing. But he wrote a book about what he learned in 20 years of starting, managing, growing, and selling two agencies. The book is called How to Start a Successful Creative Agency, and of all the people I know, he’s the one to write that book! Andy’s going to share some of those lessons and secrets today. Andy’s book: How to Start

Once you can start using stories effectively in your copy, you have for all practical purposes developed a marketing superpower. But don’t stop there. Because the difference between a story and a STRONG story can be the difference between high-test gasoline and rocket fuel. One will get you there faster… but one will get you there a lot faster, and go a lot further! Strong stories are the rocket fuel in your sales copy. And we’re going to talk about 5 ways to make any story stronger today. Develop your superpower with The Persuasion Story Code: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQDownload.

If you wanted to build your own home from scratch, it would be a good idea to talk to someone who’s done that, right? Same thing with a sales funnel that generates a level of income you can barely imagine. How do you build one? My advice is: Listen to our returning champion, Aaron Gentzler. Because he’s been there and done that. Multiple times. For example, Aaron led a team in growing a newsletter business by a factor of 12, from $4 million to nearly $50 million a year. Another example: Aaron wrote a promo in 2008 resulting in tens of millions of sales. His promo was so good that others in the company used his copy as a template, resulting in tens of millions of more sales. More than 10 years ago, when Bitcoin was trading at about $500, Aaron published research urging investors to learn more about crypto and speculate prudently. Anyone who took his advice in 2013 would have increased their investment by more than 100 times. As we’re recording today at the beginning of April, Bitcoin closed yesterday

Today we have a special edition of the Old Masters Series. I’ve convened a “board meeting” of six of our favorite Old Masters: David Ogilvy, Vic Schwab, Joe Sugarman, Gene Schwartz, Claude Hopkins and John Caples. If you’ve read Think and Grow Rich, you know how Napoleon Hill used to have imaginary meetings with dead presidents? Well, this one’s like that, but a little different. I’ve taken actual quotes from these six featured Old Masters and organized the quotes into three categories, to answer the question: How can you improve the quality and response of your video ads on Facebook, youtube and TikTok? You’ll be surprised and maybe delighted to find out that these guys had some wisdom they published before there even was an internet that applies 100% today—and we’ll show you how. Because some things never change. Download.

Last week we had A-List Copywriter Donnie Bryant on to tell us that the era of salesmanship in print is over for copywriting, to be replaced by showmanship in print. He added that knowing how to sell is still a top priority, but today it’s almost imperative that you do it in an entertaining context. Donnie’s right. We’re in an entertainment era, that’s for sure. A couple days ago I was watching a Pulitzer-prize-winning reporter from the Washington Post describe some major breaking news with her prediction of how it would play out in the future in a movie. She started her description by saying, “In the Netflix version… ” Let’s just for a moment go back to the 1970s, when I was a journalist myself. Can you Imagine the summer of 1974, after Nixon resigns, Woodward and Bernstein on with Walter Cronkite, saying, “I think in the movie Robert Redford should play Woodward, and Dustin Hoffman can play Bernstein.” Never woulda, coulda or shoulda happened. In 1974. But that was then and this is now. And here we

For years, copywriters have been bowing down to a pivotal moment in copywriting history when John E. Kennedy revealed to Albert Lasker that advertising is, in fact, nothing more than “salesmanship in print.” That happened in Chicago in the early 1900s. Today, a modern-day copywriting visionary from Chicago, Donnie Bryant, says it’s time to update the definition. Donnie is our returning champion. He was on a couple months ago to talk about his great new book, Subject Line Science. But this time, he’s got a new idea that may stop you in your tracks. Donnie knows whereof he speaks. He has generated over $130 million in sales for his clients, which include Agora Financial, Dan Kennedy’s GKIC and Early to Rise. And he has shared the stage with copy legends like Parris Lampropolous, Clayton Makepeace and the other David, David Deutsch. We take a deep dive into Donnie’s stunning new idea today. Donnie’s Book, Subject Line Science: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPRRS2LKDownload.

If you’d like to know what goes on behind the scenes in the world of financial copywriting, our guest today has the inside story. Aaron Gentzler is CMO of Mauldin Economics, a major financial publisher based in Northern Florida. He’s been in the business since 2006 and tells us about his own journey, as well as some of the experiences he’s had training and advocating for younger copywriters. Just as important, he’ll let you know what he has seen that spells bad news for people trying to get their foot in the door in the first place. Plus, he shares in-the-trenches insights about what works and what doesn’t work with stories in copywriting. My book, The Persuasion Story Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQDownload.

This is a Manifesto and an Exposé. People ask me all the time what I do in my mentoring of copywriters and business owners. I mean, what did I do to earn the tagline, “The World’s Greatest Copywriting Coach?” I’ve decided to come clean. It’s never been a secret, but now that I think about it, I just don’t talk about it all that much. In dribs and drabs, sure. But never the full monty. Until today. Today’s show is for two types of people: First, anyone who’s interested in the kind of mentoring I do and might want to bring me on as a mentor. But second, anyone else who mentors copywriters or wants to. Look, there are far more people who want to be mentored than I’ll ever be able to work with one-on-one. So if you can take my 10 rules of copywriting mentoring and put them to use with your own clients, have at it. This is an open invitation. To learn more about my mentoring, go to: https://garfinkelcoaching.com Download.

These days, more than ever before, it’s not merely optional that you stand out in the marketplace. For the listeners of this podcast, that is true whether you’re a copywriter, a marketing consultant with a specialty, or a business owner. You need to stand apart from the crowd especially these days because the marketplace is so crowded and getting more so every day. You want to be known for something specific. In the best of all possible worlds, you want to be the “go-to” person for what you do. Brenna McGowan, who is our returning champion today, figured that out and did something about it. Even though what she does is relatively innovative and not the most crowded part of our field, she found a way to stand out, big-time. Brenna’s specialty is pre-launches—warming up your market by letting them get to know you even before your launch begins. That’s what she told us about when she was on the show a couple months ago. But now she’s back to talk about a multi-day virtual event she hosts every few months, c