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What do you do when your offer stops working? First step: Keep breathing. An offer that stops working may feel like a disaster. But you need more information so you can decide whether it is indeed the end of the world, or, a problem you can fix. In other episodes of this show, we’ve talked about a sales letter that lasted 40 years… and comic-strip sales letter that lasted more than 50 years… things that seem to have had nearly eternal life. These days, the life-cycle is much faster. Because things are changing all around us so quickly, and ultimately, those changes affect our offers. I’ve got a whole lot of proven techniques to tell you about, to fix an ailing offer… as well as a couple of situations where the fix is to replace it completely. Resources: Breakthrough Advertising https://breakthroughadvertisingbook.com/ Chris Dyson’s Post https://x.com/ChrisLDyson/status/2105928385289388519 The Persuasion Story Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

What are the little things we do in our copy that have an overly large impact on our sales? It’s a good question, because it’s so easy to get caught up in headlines, stories, offers and bullet points that sometimes we don’t pay enough attention to all the little roadblocks we might be putting up for ourselves. All of which has to do with the question: How easy is it for the prospect to actually READ our copy? Today we’re going to review a number of simple ways to make our copy as easy to read as possible. But then we’ll go further. We’ll look at some little-known, high-quality scientific research I uncovered that gets right to the heart of how readers respond unconsciously and are more likely to buy, because of certain easy-to-control X factors in our copy. Stuff most people weren’t even aware of. Article by scientists in The Psychologist magazine: https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/if-its-easy-read-its-easy-do-pretty-good-and-true Earlier Podcast: How to Make Your Copy Easy to read: Youtube: https://youtu.be/RmNZSlF4644 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6WQ3Gbwt25Lqrs3r1VjaSp My book, The Persuasion Story Code:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

A couple weeks ago, we did an entire show to answer the question: “Are there eternal truths of advertising copywriting that are as true today as they were 40, 50, even 100 years ago?” It turns out, there are.  In fact, we were only able to cover about half of them on that show. Today we’ve got seven more for you, with easy to understand examples from the past as well as from this decade–sometimes, this year. You’ll be impressed with how little has changed in terms of human nature and what we respond to. Resource: The Persuasion Story Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

A powerful mindset forces you to write scripts for TV and movies that compel viewers to watch. Keeps them glued to the screen, in fact. There’s a nearly identical mindset like that for writing copy. We’re going to look at both today, and how you can put the copywriting mindset to work for you right away. This all stems from the prolific and controversial playwright, screenwriter and author David Mamet. He’s written tons of stuff but you may be most familiar with his devastating movie about sales, “Glengarry Glen Ross.” Well, in 2006 Mamet adapted a memoir from a special ops soldier into a breathtaking TV series called The UNIT.  He wrote a memo to his writers room on the show that was leaked and became legendary in Hollywood. A little later on in the show I’ll share important insights from the memo–important for copywriters–and tell you how you can get a free copy for your own use and enjoyment. I’ve also pulled out 5 rules for writing drama from one of his books, and these rules are easily adapted to writing compelling copy. RESOURCES: Book: 3 Uses of the Knife, on the Nature and Purpose of Drama https://www.amazon.com/dp/037570423X The famous Mamet memo to writers of The UNIT https://www.slashfilm.com/508254/a-letter-from-david-mamet-to-the-writers-of-the-unit/  The Persuasion Story Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

For as long as I remember, new people coming into direct response marketing believe that the old rules no longer apply, and they are in an entirely new game. It’s just human nature. As bestselling author Robert Heinlein told the Washington Post in a 1984 interview, “every younger generation that has ever come along thinks they invented sex.” This comes to mind because of a comment I saw the other day on social media, where a successful young copywriter was asking with some annoyance where he could find some up-to-date social feeds on present-day copywriting info, and not on stuff on what worked 40 years ago. That got me thinking, because a lot of what we do here on Copywriters Podcast is go over Old Masters material which is even MORE than 40 years old. Now, to be sure, 40 years ago they didn’t have video sales letters online, or Facebook ads, or lead magnets… or really, any kind of Internet marketing. That didn’t start until the late 1990s. There are certainly new technologies and techniques that we all want to keep up to date on. And sometimes we cover those here. But as I was thinking about all of this, my question was more fundamental: “Are there eternal truths of advertising copywriting that are as true today as they were 40, 50, even 100 years ago?” It turns out, there are. Today I’ve got seven of them for you, with easy to understand examples from the past as well as from this decade–often, this year. You’ll be impressed with how little has changed in terms of human nature and what we respond to. RESOURCE: The Persuasion Story Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

It’s kind of unusual when someone you work with bursts into your office with an urgent problem, and then you proceed to develop a solution to that problem and simplify it over the next 10 years, and then your solution ends up becoming one of the most important books in business history. But that’s what happened with our Old Masters Series selection today. Its origin story, nearly 100 years ago, begins when James Webb Young is working at ad agency J. Walter Thompson in Chicago. A frantic ad sales manager for a magazine shows up out of nowhere and asks Young the following question: “You have produced a lot of advertising ideas. Just how do you get them?” No one had asked Young that question before, and he didn’t know the answer himself. At first. At least, at a conscious level where he could explain it. He had to think about the question for years, but by 1940 he had the answer and he published it in a book. It’s the shortest book ever in our Old Masters Series, and really, considering how important and valuable it is, one of the least well known. How short is it? Just over 5300 words. About 15-20 pages in regular-sized books, but around 50 pages in the smaller printed books it’s sold in today. You can easily read it in less than an hour. Most people want to read it more than once. I’ve lost count myself but it’s at least a dozen times I’ve read it. Because it’s so precise and so powerful. It’s easy enough to read. And the book will only cost you a few dollars. But what James Web Young came up with over the decade while he was pondering the question, is, well, priceless. And that’s what we’ll cover today. Resources A Technique For Producing Ideas, by James Webb Young https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D4XRLVPJ/ The Persuasion Story Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

It turns out in the larger world of culture and fashion, we’ve reached a breaking point. This is important for copywriting because of something we’ve always known and practiced, and today we’re going to take a wide-ranging look at the opposing forces of perfection, which is not real, and authenticity, which is not perfect. Both perfection and authenticity have been used to sell stuff. And we’ve seen a lot of people, especially in social media, stretching notions of perfection about as far as it can go. So the perfection trend seems to have reached the breaking point I was just talking about. I saw this in an interesting article exploring the trend in Bloomberg Businessweek:“We’ve been looking at perfect faces and vacations and homes on Instagram for more than 15 years, and on TikTok for most of a decade, during which time creators have pursued new audiences by pushing what already works further toward a logical extreme—the uncanny perfection of everything. “At this point so little is left to upgrade, they’re now positing ways to improve the color of one’s armpit skin.” The article is titled “The Optimization Backlash Has Begun,” and it’s all about how people are really getting tired of having images and standards of false perfectionism rammed down their throats. Writer Amanda Mull took a good look at the new trend: Showing your flaws as part of marketing, movies and social media. We’ll go much further than the recent past to set the stage, and then burrow into some great ways you can take advantage of this trend in your copy and video marketing. RESOURCE: The Persuasion Story Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

He is known for one of the most famous sayings in copywriting: “Enter the conversation already going on in the prospect’s mind.” Yet most copywriters don’t know much about him, or even who he is. That would be Robert Collier, who introduced the concept to copywriting 90 years ago, when he published The Robert Collier Letter Book. I first learned about the book from Gary Halbert, more than 30 years ago. Halbert said it was one of a handful of books every copywriter needs to read. Robert Collier himself used direct mail to sell all kinds of stuff. He sold raincoats for $14.65 by mail. Made-to-measure suits for $37.50. Sets of books. Magazine subscriptions.  And Collier tested everything. When a letter worked, he wanted to know why. When it flopped, he wanted to know that, too. The Robert Collier Letter Book is where he showcased his work. You get a chance to look at what he wrote, and read about the reasoning behind his decisions. We went through the book and pulled out seven lessons. Each one starts with Collier's own words and then we'll talk about what each lesson means for you, today, whether you’re writing Facebook ads, youtube scripts, or full-fledged sales letters. RESOURCES: The Robert Collier Letter Book https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GKQPG89G   The Persuasion Story Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

Somewhere near you, right now, there's a store with a whole aisle of spiral notebooks marked down to 79 cents. The gargantuan engines of the big yellow buses are getting tuned up or are already tuned up and ready to roll.  Pencils are getting sharpened.  And millions of kids are about to get something most adults never get anymore: A fresh start. A new year of learning. Think about that. Students get new supplies, new subjects, new teachers. All kinds of fun, and discovery, and spitballs from the back of the class. Meanwhile, what do we get? Nothing. As copywriters and business owners, we just keep working. Sadly, for us, there's no first day where everything smells like fresh pencil shavings and great possibilities. Unless, of course, we build that first day ourselves. So today, we're going back to school, but in a WAY different way than you did when you were a kid. Everything on the agenda is designed to do one of two things: either sharpen a skill you use to make money, or refresh your imagination that is so vital to the work we do. SUMMARY 1. Recess - Buy something fun from an ecommerce site and take notes on every piece of messaging. - Buy something else and enjoy it without taking a single note. - Take a real walk with no phone, no podcast, no earbuds. If you are a fan of situational awareness, you would be in condition yellow. 2. School Supplies - Pay for at least one AI subscription and actually use it. - Start a swipe file, or clean out the one you already have. - Get a real notebook and a pen you actually like to use. 3. Books - Read Obvious Adams, by Robert Updegraff.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T14VCJE - Read a bestseller — something easy and fun. - Read one of my books: Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00513MQ2G/Breakthrough Copywritinghttps://www.amazon.com/dp/1548706957 The Persuasion Story Codehttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ 4. Extra Curricular Activities - Go out to a movie and pay attention to the people, the film, and the marketing. - Hand-copy some pages of fiction and some great copy, to get a sense of the rhythm and feel. - Interview one real customer and write down their exact words. 5. Free Time - Learn to turn your brain off from work. - Binge-watch something on Netflix. - Listen to a new kind of music just to rattle or soothe your brain.

How do you make the transition from having a job to being a freelance copywriter? Or, maybe more to the point, if you’re already a freelancer, how do you do what you do and get all the advantages of being a business? Most copywriters don’t know. It took me years to find out and figure it out myself. Today we’re going to drastically shorten the learning curve for a lot of listeners. Our returning champion is Kim Krause Schwalm. Not only has she made this transition–from Publisher to freelancer–herself, getting established as a top A-list copywriting and making millions of dollars for her freelance clients… But Kim has also mentored dozens of copywriters, marketers, and business owners. She knows what it takes to get the best of both worlds–having a job, and having your own business–and she has helped many other people enjoy those advantages. Today, she’s going to share those secrets. Resources:Kim’s book Client Badassery Secrets is available in print or as an e-book from Amazon and other online booksellers.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGV7MZ8P And to find out more about Kim’s copywriting trainings or to get on her email list, go to www.KimSchwalm.com.

Nathan came up with the idea for this show, and it started, of all places, in his mom’s kitchen. Here’s what happened:  If Mom says dinner will be ready in 30 minutes, Nathan is much less likely to go digging through the fridge. So if she wanted to stop him from digging through the fridge, she wouldn’t have to say a word about the fridge. She could just start cooking dinner. Think about that for a second. No argument. No lecture. No “get out of the fridge.” Just one piece of information—and an entire behavior stops in its tracks. When Nathan told me this, I had one of those moments where you realize you’ve been looking at something really important your whole career, without ever really seeing it. By that I mean, the insanely simple power of copy to STOP you from doing something. Here’s why I didn’t see that: Every copywriting formula out there is built to do the opposite. To get someone to START a behavior. To push people toward taking action. But there’s a whole nother side of influence that almost nobody in our business talks about.  Not because it doesn’t work. It does. People don’t talk about it because it’s never been named and explained. Today, we’re gonna change all that. We’re talking about using copy to DISsuade people – to STOP a behavior that’s standing between your prospect and the sale (or between your son and his dinner). We’re going to look at how this technique works, why it’s so powerful, and how you can add it to your skill set, today.

I was rummaging around on youtube when I came across this video with an outrageous claim: “This book literally teaches you to think like a Harvard lawyer.” My skepticism shot into high gear, but when I watched the video, from a youtube educator named Stephan L. Petro, I saw he was on the level. I’ll tell you about the book in a minute. It’s really valuable for any copywriter, because it will help you sharpen up your sales argument quite a bit. But more important, it has one idea called “the bridge” which most experienced copywriters do automatically but most beginners miss out on–and this idea can make all the difference between whether your copy works. Now, we’re not lawyers, but in some ways we do the same thing, so it will be worthwhile to find out more about this book and what it means to us as copywriters. Resources The Uses of Argument, by Stephen E. Toulmin https://www.amazon.com/Uses-Argument-Stephen-Toulmin/dp/0521534836 The Persuasion Story Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

This week I had a great conversation with a Hollywood screenwriting coach and screenwriter himself, and it reminded me about how much people in Hollywood know that copywriters can learn and use. One of his most important points was there are structures that make stories work. Not rigid formulas or two-dimensional templates, but guidelines with benchmarks that have proven time and time again to act as a container for great stories. I was reminded that we’re not always talking hero’s journey when we look at stories. I went back into some of my own research and found some more micro-story structures that we as copywriters can adapt to make our own copy that much more compelling. We did this a couple months ago when we talked about The Dark Knight, Inception and Rocky. Today I’ve got three new story types that will add a little Hollywood intrigue to our sales letters, sales funnels, websites and VSLs.  Really, to any type of copy. RESOURCE: The Persuasion Story Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

Today we’re continuing with Part 3 of our Old Masters Series, focusing on the contributions of Albert Lasker.  That’s because in 1898, Albert Lasker arrived in Chicago to work at Lord and Thomas, which he took over in only a few years. And what Lasker and the copywriters he hired would do over the next 10 years would change the course of advertising. We’ve covered lessons in Parts 1 and 2 of this Old Masters Series. Particularly, lessons for direct-response marketers. Today we’re going to cover the last four lessons and then broaden our lens, because Lasker in fact had major and lasting impacts on our CULTURE, and he hasn’t gotten all that much credit for it as far as I’ve been able to tell. So now’s the perfect time, since I think you’ll find some of the most important changes he caused to be interesting and possibly very useful in your own world. Resources: The Man Who Sold America, by Jeffrey L. Cruikshank and Arthur W Schultz  https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Sold-America-Advertising-ebook/dp/B003SNJYTY The Persuasion Story Code https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

The world of copywriting and ecommerce almost changed forever last September 29, when Open AI launched something called Instant Checkout. This new service was designed to let you seamlessly buy something right from Chat GPT. Instant Checkout crashed and burned over the next six months for a number of reasons. One, the infrastructure wasn’t there to let it happen. It was launched before there were enough figurative runways, air traffic control towers, connections between Chat GPT and merchants, and other things like that. Two, the cost to merchants was really out of line:7% per transaction, more than double what they were paying when customers came directly to their site. They shut it down in March. Not forever; just, for now. So Instant Checkout was an early attempt at what’s called Agentic Shopping, where you order right from the AI and an AI agent does a lot of the heavy lifting for you. We’re most likely 3-5 years out from Agentic Shopping becoming a widespread reality. But when it does, our world as copywriters will change. In a big way. We’re going to look at how, and what you can do to prepare for this inevitable future, today.