Copywriters Podcast

One of the first two books I devoured and then recommended to people who bought my course was by Old Master Joe Sugarman, who passed away two years ago. The book was called “Advertising Secrets of the Written Word.” Just about everything in that book is valid today, and Sugarman writes like a friendly human being, not an imposing overlord of advertising. It’s a very easy book to read, but it is chock-full of detailed, high-powered value. Today, as we continue our streak of Old Masters Series episodes, we’re going to talk about the book and talk about Joe. The good news is, the whole book is available for less than half of what I paid for it in 1999. And I marvel at how much good stuff he was able to get in there. We’re going to cover some of his most important points today. Resources: (same book, new title, better price): The Adweek Copywriting Book, by Joe Sugarman: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470051248 My new book, The Persuasion Story Code: http://shorturl.at/pzAEQDownload.

Today we’re going to talk about an emotion that gets short shrift in copywriting, but I believe is the most powerful of all when it comes to motivating people. That emotion is: Envy. It’s controversial, because there are so many prohibitions against it. We’ll talk about those today. But it’s also widespread, from solopreneurs to marketing from the largest corporations in the world. Some observers have suggested, for example, that Apple is expert in making its products objects of aspirational desire by creating envy, subtly, in its ads. We have a lot more examples of envy in marketing, some of them very concrete, in today’s show. To find out more about coaching: https://garfinkelcoaching.comDownload.

How do you put together a seven, eight or even nine-figure promotion? (Just in case you weren’t sure, “nine figures” means north of 100 million dollars. And yes, you’re about to meet someone who has written a promotion that took in more than $100 million.) But in fact, there are precious few copywriters who have done all this and will tell you how. However, our special guest today is one of the few who can, and will—and he’s Henry Bingaman. All told, Henry’s copy has generated well over $300 million. He’s written blockbusters for Newsmax, Natural Health Sherpa, and Money Map Press, as well as other top publishers. And just as important to me, Henry is both trusted and feared by those at the top. I can’t think of a better way to demonstrate trust than by what top copywriter Marcella Allison said: “I practically have Henry Bingaman on ‘speed dial’. Seriously. Whenever I’m faced with a difficult choice, or major business or career decision, he’s the first person I reach out to!” And as for fear, it’s the r

You can have the greatest product, the greatest headline, the greatest targeting, the greatest offer, and the greatest price. But you know what’s going to torpedo your entire promotion in a New York minute? It’s: if your prospect doesn’t believe you. We covered one aspect of believability last week, but we have some fresh tips today. Because believability is the pass/fail test every ad must pass in order to work. Period. But that’s not the end of the story. In today’s Old Masters Series episode, we draw on the considerable wisdom of the great John Caples, and a new book I just found out about. Unlike the classic Caples work Tested Advertising Methods, this book is readily available on Amazon for the low, low price of $8.86. And the Kindle is even less. It’s called Making Ads Pay, and it’s worth far more than the asking price. In this book Caples has a whole chapter on making ads believable. We’re going to talk more about that today. Making Ads Pay, by John Caples: https://www.amazon.com/

You can have the greatest product, the greatest headline, the greatest targeting, the greatest offer, and the greatest price. But you know what’s going to torpedo your entire promotion in a New York minute? It’s: if your prospect doesn’t believe you. Believability is the pass/fail test every ad must pass in order to work. Period. But that’s not the end of the story. In today’s Old Masters Series episode, we draw on the considerable wisdom of the great John Caples, and a new book recommended on twitter/x by a current copywriting master and friend of the show, Doug D’Anna. Unlike the classic Caples work Tested Advertising Methods, this book is readily available on Amazon for the low, low price of $8.86. And the Kindle is even less. It’s called Making Ads Pay, and it’s worth far more than the asking price. In this book Caples has a whole chapter on making ads believable. We’re going to talk about that today. Making Ads Pay, by John Caples: https://www.amazon.com/dp/048648601X Download.

What do the world’s most experienced, successful copywriters really think? What if I could get them all together in one room and ask them to share their best ideas and techniques on specific copywriting topics they know most about? If you’ve ever wondered those things, you’re not alone. Our special guest today, Jack Turk, wondered the same thing. And next week, he’s going to give you an answer, at no cost to you, to hear what some of the world’s top copywriters have to say. Including David Deutsch, Dave Dee, and another David, I can’t remember his name right now. Plus many more! Jack’s going to tell us all about it midway through the show. You should know he has decades of experience writing for the big guys, like Microsoft and Kodak. Plus many smaller businesses including dentists, attorneys, even magicians. As the voice of Dan Kennedy at GKIC and of many other high-profile thought leaders, Jack’s sales copy has generated millions upon millions of dollars. Plus, he’s now known as the world’s FASTEST C

When you’ve got to make a pitch to a prospect, whether in person or in writing, you face a weird paradox: The more successful the prospect, the less time they have for you. Cramming a ton of benefits into a short pitch tends to work against you. Who can process all that data in such a short period of time. Lucky for you, there’s another way. It’s called “stacking microstories.” Today I’ll show you how to put together a complete pitch that takes less than five minutes to deliver. You can use this for any product or service. You could put it in an email or on a sales page. And you could deliver it in spoken form to a prospect. I’ll give an actual demo of a microstory stack that takes far less than 5 minutes, so you can see for yourself how this works. Get The Persuasion Story Code here: ‪ https://www.amazon.com/Persuasion-Story-Code-Conversational-Storytelling/dp/B0CFCVDZ7T Download.

If you’re thinking hiring a copywriter OR you’re considering getting a coach, you might be wondering: What can a copywriter do for me that a coach can’t? And vice-versa: What can a coach do for me that a copywriter can’t? Coaching and copywriting are two professions that have grown impressively over the last 20 years. The Internet and a fast-changing world have a lot to do with it. But a lot of people are unclear on what they do and what kind of results they provide. Because while both copywriters and coaches are in the business of helping people get what they want, the ways they go about it are as different as night and day. Today our special guest is Sean McCool. He’s been writing hard-hitting, high-earning sales letters for large publishers like Agora and Stansberry Research for 15 years, plus he’s worked for a lot of smaller direct-response oriented businesses, too. The important thing to know up front is Sean is also a life coach with clients including actresses, children’s book writers, entreprene

When you start a launch, do ripples of fear tie your stomach up in knots, because you feel like you’re starting from zero and you feel you’ve got way too far to go, and not enough time to get there? It’s a common problem, and one today’s guest set out to solve. Brenna McGowan is a launch strategist, copywriter and the creator of what she calls “Anticipation Marketing.” She’s developed a system so the water is warm even before you jump in to start your launch. She has a complete pre-launch strategy that comes before the launch, and her clients have tripled and even quadrupled sales as a result of using the pre-launch approach Brenna recommends. I was introduced to Brenna by Joshua Lee Henry, who you’ll remember from many shows he’s been on here. Joshua Lee told me that Brenna read my book The Persuasion Story Code and told Joshua Lee that many of story types mentioned in the book were central to her pre-launch strategy, which she’s going to tell us about today. To get Brenna’s pre-launch cheat sheet, go h

When you sit down to write an email, you are presented with a barrage of questions and problems. Not only how to get it opened, but how to get click-throughs. An even bigger problem which most people don’t deal with is, how does your subject line affect the number of sales you ultimately make? Our guest today, returning champion Donnie Bryant, has spent a lot of time thinking about these questions—and a lot of time rigorously testing different approaches to come up with some definitive answers. Donnie has written a great new book, “Subject Line Science,” which we’ll talk about today. To refresh your memory, since it’s been three years since Donnie was on the show, Donnie has generated over $130 million for his clients, which include Agora Financial, Dan Kennedy's GKIC and Early to Rise. He's shared the stage with copy legends like Parris Lampropoulos, Clayton Makepeace and the other David, David Deutsch. Today Donnie is going to zero-in on his current focus, which is email subject lines. I’ve read his boo

What do you do when copy is coming in fits and starts… or, worse than that, you are staring at a blank page, which is staring back at you? Our returning champion today, Dr. Doug Pew, has some answers for you. What he has to say is information and specific steps you’ve probably heard nowhere else before. And Doug should know. He’s written music performed at Carnegie Hall and an opera that was featured at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He’s also written a lot of other sophisticated music. And plenty of six- and seven-figure copy, too. Doug has developed a can’t miss method for getting out of “stall” and into flow. I’m really grateful and amazed that he’s agreed to share it with us today. You can contact Doug by email: doug@dougpewcopywriting.com Download.

When you’re writing a long-form sales letter, you’ve got to cover a lot of info, and some of it is quite detailed. The problem is, how do you keep your reader engaged and keep the excitement building all the way through? And suppose you know you need to use stories but you are so tired of worn-out hero’s journey stories? Our returning champion today, Joshua Lee Henry, recently solved those problems and wrote a home-run promo featuring a very exciting expert, a veteran of high-level military intelligence. He ended up using a number of persuasion stories and he’s agreed to come on the show today. To tell us what he did, why he did it, and how he did it. RESOURCE: My book, The Persuasion Story Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ Download.

Have you ever written a really good sales page or video sales letter script, and you’re sure you’ve done everything right, but it’s still not converting the way you know it should? Sometimes it all boils down to that final push. More than a call to action, the final push is a collection of simple but crucial elements to help your prospect get across the finish line. These tips were discovered from rigorous testing and study by an old Master, Clyde Bedell. We’re going to share some of his best ones on today’s show. So, we’ve done a couple of different Old Masters series episodes before on Clyde Bedell. To refresh your memory, besides being a highly successful advertiser, he was a prominent teacher. For example, he built a national sales training program for Ford Motor Company in the 1930s. When he was teaching copywriting at Northwestern University, he couldn’t find a suitable textbook, so he wrote one. That turned into “How To Write Advertising That Sells.” It was first published in 1940—13 years befor

Have you ever been working for a client on a project where you know exactly what hook and offer will convert in the market, but your client has a different opinion and is strongly opposed to what you want to do? By the same token, have you ever had a client urging you to promote their product a certain way, when you have strong evidence or knowledge that it’s not what the market wants? Every experienced copywriter has faced one of these problems, or both of them at the same time. It’s very frustrating when you can’t do the job you were hired to do, if that job is to get sales for your client. Today we’ll break this down and look at how to get past these problems and to a solution that works for everyone. Download.

If you’re haunted by low open rates, dismal click-through rates, miserable engagement and pathetic conversions, there’s almost certainly something you’re not doing enough of—or maybe not doing at all—that could increase your numbers dramatically at every turn. And that’s writing in a much more visual way. Picture copywriting, we call it. Which is not as hard to do as you might think it is. The best visual storytellers in the world are comic book artists and filmmakers, and today we’re going to take a few of their most powerful techniques and show you how to easily include them in everything you write to get better results all-around. RESOURCES: Understanding Comics, by Scott McCloud https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Comics-Invisible-Scott-McCloud/dp/006097625X Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, by Sean Howe https://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Comics-Untold-Sean-Howe/dp/0061992119 Download.

The confused mind buys nothing. So if you are confusing the reader, they’re not going to buy. How does this play out? When you are selling a course, a technology, or a health supplement, you often run into a familiar brick wall: This thing is so complicated. I know it works, but how do I explain it so the average consumer can quickly grasp it? Today we kick around some little-known (yet completely common-sense) techniques to go from “incompressible” to “I want it!” Resource: My new book, The Persuasion Story Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ Download.

Whenever you’re about to roll out a huge campaign on Facebook or Youtube, you’re facing a huge risk. How do you know your ad is optimized in the four most important ways to get you the biggest bang for your buck? For most people, it’s a roll of the dice. Or time to call in an expert in statistics. Because optimizing is so complicated that most people don’t know how to do it—or get it right without taking weeks and weeks and spending hundreds of dollars in ad spend, just to test and get it right. The four things you need to optimize are 1) your hook, 2) your headline, 3) your pain point, and 4) your call to action. Lucky for you, Nathan has gone through weeks of testing and tweaking to come up with a method to do it fast, do it cheap, and do it right. What do I mean by that? What Nathan figured out allows him to figure out what’s going to work in his main copy before he writes a word, for about $8-$15 a day. In three or four days. He calls it Sprint Testing, and he’s going to lay it all out for you today.

We’ve talked about the path of mastery in copywriting before, and a key part of moving ahead in your skills as a copywriter is regular practice. But how do you practice your skills if you don’t already have lots of work to keep you busy? Today’s guest, Wendy Ann Jones, confronted that important question herself when she first started writing copy. She couldn’t find a good answer in anything available, so, created the solution herself. It’s a terrific book called The Copywriter’s Workout and Wendy really thought through what copywriters need to work on. Using this book you can even create a portfolio to show off your practice work to prospects, so they can at least get an idea of what your writing’s like. But most important to me is that this book can serve as a lifetime desktop companion for a copywriter who wants to stay in shape. Wendy has agreed to join us today and tell us all about it. On the show, Wendy explains what went into creating the book, and how other copywriters have used it to their advant

What does testing your online ads at a nine-figure level look like, and how do you think about it? Our special guest today, Walter Burch, is CEO of Envoy Media Group, a performance-based marketing company. Envoy has spent many, many millions of dollars of its own money on Facebook, Google and YouTube ads over the last 18 years. His company has generated more than $1 billion in sales for national clients, using their own money and developing their own methods through imagination, testing, refining. Walter has some unusual ideas about copy and how to partner with the company you’re promoting, that he’ll share with us today. Needless to say, these are gargantuanly SUCCESSFUL ideas, so you may want to take notes! Download.

It’s a common mistake copywriters make, but it’s one you MUST not make, because it can be fatal. And that’s: writing copy that’s boring. Sometimes copywriters make the mistake of trying to put something funny in the copy that draws attention away from what you’re trying to sell. You definitely want to keep the tension going while you focus on the problem you’re promising to solve. But there are ways to do it that don’t detract from the sales appeal of the offer itself, and that’s what we talk about today.Download.