World Copywriting Blog

Every Copywriter Needs To Know This

"It is not sufficiently recognized - especially by the critics of advertising - that romance in its broad sense is the most wanted product in the world."
-- James Webb Young, quoted in How to Write a Good Advertisement by Victor Schwab

This is so important, and many copywriters think there is no romance -- in selling tractors, or office machinery, or scientific measuring devices, or software.

But those copywriters are wrong.  Listen to what Vic Schwab has to say:

"Some products are literally bursting with romantic and emotional connotations.  Then it is wiser to stress the glamorous ideas assocated with them - to feature the fancies and subordinate the facts, using the latter only to buttress the copy when and if necessary."

Remember, "romance" doesn't just mean "love."  Or "sex."  It means fantasy of all type... excitement, danger, bliss, victory, dreams come true.

Believably (and legitimately) draw the connection between what you're writing copy about and this broad definition of romance, and watch your banker and your accountant get very lovey-dovey with you.

David Garfinkel
Producer of the romantic Breakthrough Copywriting seminar... in the broad sense, of course

An Amazing Change Ahead Favors Copywriters

If you want to see trends that even Faith Popcorn and John Naisbitt are too knee-deep in newspaper clippings and data scans to see themselves, turn to Dan Pink.

Dan's a friend of mine.  Former White House speechwriter, but he has changed his politicking ways to literary ones.  Wrote a powerful book called Free Agent Nation a few years ago.

Now he's come out with a new one, and there's a preview article in Wired Magazine that boggles the mind.

Because it's about the mind - the part that likes to be boggled.  The right brain.  Dan says, in so many words, that the world is falling more and more under the control of people who have mastered creative, contextual, conceptual thinking -- the province of the right brain.

This is very important for copywriters and copywriting because that's where we live - the good of us and the bad of us -- in creativity, context and concept.

Dan writes:

In a world upended by outsourcing, deluged with data, and choked with choices, the abilities that matter most are now closer in spirit to the specialties of the right hemisphere - artistry, empathy, seeing the big picture, and pursuing the transcendent.

Beneath the nervous clatter of our half-completed decade stirs a slow but seismic shift. The Information Age we all prepared for is ending. Rising in its place is what I call the Conceptual Age, an era in which mastery of abilities that we've often overlooked and undervalued marks the fault line between who gets ahead and who falls behind.

Yes, it looks like it's Our Turn.  If you are One of Us... someone who lives in the span of mind between Imagination and Next Possible Reality.

I'm very excited by what Dan's writing and thinking.  Why don't you take a look at the whole article?

David Garfinkel
And hey... if you haven't checked out the Breakthrough Copywriting Seminar yet... what are you waiting for???

Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Headlines

When Your Headline Sucks, It Doesn't Really Matter How
Good The Rest Of Your Copy Is. Here's What Not To Do:

1. Don't be clever.  Most of the time, the urge to be clever is a short-cut to avoid doing the work of creating an enticing promise that will prepare the reader to take the action you are looking for.  Resist the temptation; a straightforward headline almost always works better than a clever one.

2. Don't be boring.  Remember that ultimately, what you are looking for is action.  Action involves motion.  Motion is prompted by emotion.  And emotion is generated by excitement.  Don't settle for a headline that is more likely to produce a yawn than anything else.

3. Don't assume your prospect knows what you know.  It's easy to fall into the trap of forgetting all the time and effort you put into building the knowledge and expertise you have on the product, service or information you are marketing.  Make the effort to turn back the clock, in your mind, to when you knew far less.  Don't write your headline for sophisticated people; write for the person who needs to learn more.

4. Don't focus on your process.  The founder of Scott's, the company that sells lawn care products, once said "People aren't buying grass seed from us.  They're buying greener lawns."  What this means is, people are not interested, initially, in how the seeds are selected, or developed, or, for that matter, stored or shipped (the process).  People are interested in greener lawns (the end result).  Don't focus on your process; focus on what the prospect gets.

5. Don't merely try to arouse curiosity.  You have to do better than that if you want your prospect to get up enough of an emotional head of steam to be ready to buy, or take some other crucial action, after they finish reading your copy.  Curiosity at the outset won't do it.  Curiosity's good, but what's more important is desire.  And intrigue.

By the way, you'll learn how to write great headlines (in minutes) and a whole lot more at the Breakthrough Copywriting Seminar in Las Vegas February 18-20.  This small-group, high-powered, exclusive program is only for people who really want to take their copywriting to the next level... and are willing to learn (and do) what it takes to get them there!

If you're ready for a rocket-like learning experience taking you a quantum-leap upward, then check out the Web site right now:

http://www.breakthroughcopywriting.com/seminar

Punctuation, Matters

Let's not become sticklers for grammar-school prissiness. 
But sometimes, a misplaced comma can get you killed

Hey, it's only a joke.  But read it; you'll learn something, and you might even laugh.

The following story was reprinted in John Forde's excellent Copywriter's Roundtable Newsletter.  To subscribe, visit his website.

A panda walks into a café and orders a sandwich. He eats it, takes out a gun and fires it into the air, then gets up to leave the restaurant.

"Hold it," says the waiter. "What on earth was that all about?"

"I'm a panda," says the bear. "Look it up." And with that the animal tosses a badly punctuated book about wildlife on the counter and heads for the door.

The waiter flips to the relevant page and reads, "Panda: Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

"Groan if you want," writes John Forde, "but with this, writer Lynne Truss rallies punctuation 'sticklers' everywhere in her new diatribe against comma-and-apostrophe abuse, "'Eats, Shoots & Leaves: A Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.'"

John's whimsical.  And he's a damned good copywriter.  Try out his newsletter.  Really.  (It's free.)

David Garfinkel

Interesting News For Google AdWords Users

Take a look at what intellectual property attorney Martin Schwimmer has to say in his blog about search engine users.

The bottom line of his excellent post: most people don't know the difference between paid listings and "organic" search engine listings.  That bodes well for copywriters who know how to write interesting, believeable pay-per-click listings.

David Garfinkel
Check out the Breakthrough Copywriting Seminar
In Las Vegas, February 18 - 20

How to Write Much Better Headlines

The Difference Between A Good Headline and A Bad One
Can Spell The Difference Between Profit and Loss.  5 Tips:

1. Make it conversational.  Learn how people talk, and even how you talk when you’re not being self-conscious or trying to sound “professional.”  Strive to put that in your copywriting – especially your headlines.  The more it sounds like real conversation, the more engaging it will be for your reader.

2. Enter the conversation already going on in the customer’s mind.  This famous piece of advice from 1930’s copywriting legend Robert Collier may be the single most important thing to remember when you start writing copy.  It’s a more specific version of my rule: Start where the reader is, not where you are.

3. Remember “V.E.R.V.E” – Visceral, Emotional, Resounding, Visual, Empathic.  It’s a memory-jogger to help you build the kind of headlines that get results.  Point-by-point:

·        Visceral literally means having to do with your intestines – your guts.  A visceral headline is very physical and immediate.

·        Emotional means, the headline appeals to your reader’s feelings.

·        Resounding means it sounds like someone talking.  Your reader can “hear” you saying the headline, because it comes across as conversational language.

·        Visual means the reader can picture what your headline is about

·        Empathic means the reader feels you understand how he or she feels

4. Walk the fine line between fact and hype.  A timid headline won’t do you any good, but neither will one that is so over-the-top that no one will believe it.  Make the biggest claim you can make, and still prove in your copy.

5. Understand the ultimate purpose of your headline is to get your reader to read the next line of copy.  Don’t sum up everything you’re about to say later in your headline.  Create intrigue, curiosity and desire.  Leave ‘em hungry for more!

David Garfinkel
Check Out The Breakthrough Copywriting Seminar
In Las Vegas, February 18 - 20

Doesn't have much to do with copywriting, but...

... I'd like to personally salute the life and times of Johnny Carson, who left many of us yesterday with fond memories and an ideal to aim for, no matter what we do.  He died at age 79 in Malibu, California.

Next: since I am a blog writer and you are a blog reader (and maybe a blog writer yourself), did you know...

• at least 8 million Americans currently have blogs?
• at least 32 million Americans have read blogs?
• and the numbers are expected to keep growing, faster and faster?

(and those are just Americans!  Like everything else on the Web, blogs are a World Wide phenomenon.)

Those are just a few facts I learned today in a fairly good roundup article in The San Francisco Chronicle.  Recommended reading.

Finally: Watch for my emerging premier Podcast later this week!

David Garfinkel
... and what's more, check out the Breakthrough Copywriting Seminar, coming up next month in Las Vegas!

Checklist for Copywriters

Here are five questions that can help you
go over your copy to know that you're done

This is the week I'm going to launch my first Podcast... more about that later.

(If you want to be sure of being notified, sign up for the World Copywriting Newsletter, by clicking here.)

Meanwhile, here's something I think will be useful: A list of five questions you can use to check any copy you write:

1. Is copy conversational (does it read smoothly, out loud)?

2. Is it relevant to the prospect, where they are now?

3. Does it make a logical case to take action?

4. Does it make a compelling case to take action?

5. Did you remember to ask for action?

That's it for now... see you back here soon.

David Garfinkel
World Copywriting Institute
Check out our Breakthrough Copywriting Seminar
Las Vegas, February  18 - 20

Beer Ad Wars: Great Theatre, Bad Example

It's OK To Drink Beer, But Don't Drink
The Kool-Aid Of Beer Advertising on TV

It's a sudsy fight-fest on the boob tube.  Comedians dressed up like football referees are doing silly, and technically illegal, things with bottles of Bud Light and Miller Lite.

Ah, such fun and games.  Oh, such laughter and delight.  As Anheurser-Busch spokeswoman Francine Katz told Jim Shur of the Associated Press:

"I can tell you that people tell us our ads are hysterical, and people love them.  We look to entertain consumers."

Now what's wrong with that?

Nothing -- as long as you are a multi-billion-dollar corporation selling a product that itself essentially entertains consumers (like beer)... and... you're not really counting on your ads to produce any sales...

... since you have: branding at bars, product placement on TV and movies, concessions at sporting events, NASCAR drivers promoting your product with what they wear and drive, and dozens upon dozens of other ways of encouraging consumption of your product.

But if you are an entrepreneur, you could get a very wrong message from slapstick referees who interrupt intimate father-son moments on a lake, or steal beer from people they are "refereeing" under the guise of "fairness."

Why?  Because...

Breakthrough Copywriting Seminar

With All The Buzz About This Event Next Month
In Las Vegas, I Owe It To You To Come Clean

Last night it was mentioned twice on Mark Victor
Hansen's Platinum Group teleseminar. Tomorrow
Craig Perrine is hosting a big teleseminar about
it, and Thursday Michel Fortin is doing the same.

Roger Parker, director of the weekly Guerrilla
Marketing Association teleseminar, asked me
yesterday for some information about the event,
since Dr. Melissa Andersson and I will be
guests on the teleseminar a week from Wednesday.

Because I can't answer individual emails about
the Breakthrough Copywriting Seminar as they
come in, I'm posting the answers I gave to Roger
by email here:

Roger: So, can you send me some info or URLs
I should go to?

Me: here's a URL with all the info:

http://www.breakthroughcopywriting.com/seminar

Roger: I can pick some from your newsletters,
but would like more specific info, including:
correct spelling of participant names,

Me: Here's a list:
David Garfinkel
Dr. Melissa Andersson (breakthrough coach)
Michel Fortin
Craig Perrine
Mike Stewart
Jim Van Wyck
"Secret" Speaker (can't reveal)
Randall Blaum
David Scotland

Three days, in Las Vegas.  Designed to
give people the knowledge, know-how, tools
and breakthrough experience to be
able to write much stronger copy
and move into realms with their business
they never could before.

Feb 18 - 20, 2005

Roger: ... whose seminar it is...

Me: It's my seminar.  I'll be teaching about 65% of it.
We'll also be doing Mastermind Hotseats and
Mastermind Workgroups, where seminar participants
will work on copy, projects, their businesses, new
ideas, new promotions for current projects, products
and services.

The faculty will be working with people individually
on a pinpoint basis.  As you know, one concept,
headline, product name, process, etc. can skyrocket
a business to a much higher level of productivity
and profit.

Roger: ... what people will get...

Me: Before I tell you, first let me tell you
what problem we will solve for people.

Most people have dreams much bigger than they
are able to bring to fruition.  When copy is involved,
and it usually needs to be, this often boils down
to not having access to the inner resources that
power the message and propel the individual
past limitations that no longer serve them.

This seminar sets out to eliminate the underlying
cause of this "arctic hammerlock" people have
on themselves, by helping them free up energy --
and, by learning specific techniques they can
use to ratchet up to much higher levels of business.

How?

First, my new Breakthrough Copywriting System:
4-Part Breakthrough Model
    - Thinking
    - Feeling
    - Insight
    - Energy

The last three are dynamic factors that come in large
part through experience and breaking through barriers,
usually internal ones, emotional and psychologic
barriers.

Melissa will be offering an array of techniques to
instantly eliminate overwhelm, dissolve writer's
block, heighten energy, increase total brain access,
identify and pulverize fears, increase access to
emotion.

These are specific, learnable, repeatable, unique
(she developed them just for this seminar) and
highly effective techniques.  I would say without
a doubt she's the best peak performance coach
I've ever met.

Highly talented, hard working, innovative, and she
has studied with the best people in every field.

I'll talk about 7 strands of Breakthrough Copywriting
DNA.  I've identified the pattern behind most of the
most profitable copy promotions we know about.
I'll share them and show people what they are.
(I'll share one on the call if you like).

I'll also talk about 11 Breakthrough Copywriting
Emotional Triggers.  These are ways of presenting
information in copy that triggers the emotions of
the reader, making them much more likely to buy.

I use these all the time, and finally took the time
to identify, categorize and explain them.

We'll also cover important basics:
- Headline
- Hook
- Offer
- Bullets
- Building Value

I'll be sharing templates to help people get through
the initial stages of copy in record time.

Then, each of the faculty will drill down on a specific
aspect of copywriting.  For example, Craig Perrine
will talk about 27 techniques to make email copy
much more profitable.

He specializes in online list building, and has taken
in as much as $49,500 in a month from a series of
three emails.

Michel Fortin is a living legend -- he had the million-dollar
day with his copy, selling John Reese's Traffic Secrets
product last summer.  Also a fanatical tester.  He'll
share loads of specific secrets.

Jim Van Wyck is a professional tennis coach and
ran several businesses on his own with his wife,
including a  $2-million plus hypnosis center in
Calgary.  He'll talk about the 10 steps of momentum
in any project - from writing a sales letter to
writing a book to building a business.

After the seminar, participants get a 10-session
teleseminar with him to keep their own momentum
going.  I'm also paying him to do a private one-on-
one session with each participant.

Randall Blaum is known as "The Hollywood Marketing
Mogul."  He specializes in using publicity to build
businesses.  He's done it for major Hollywood studios
and movies, and many non-H'wood businesses.

David Scotland has some pretty neat languaging
things (for elevator speeches, pitches, media
interviews, etc.) he calls "copy-speak."  He's going
to talk about that and teach people a 12-part
formula for putting together intriguing statements
and pitches.

Randall and David will provide two after-seminar
bonus teleseminars where participants can
email in press releases or publicity concepts
and R & D will critique and refine them over
the phone.

Mike Stewart has quietly been using Google
AdWords, Audio and Video on Web sites
to bring in monthly windfalls in the five and six
figures for retail businesses, and significant
new sales for his own audio/video and equipment
business.

He's going to share these techniques, show
how he does it.  Never has before.

And of course we'll be working with people individually
in Mastermind Hotseats and Mastermind Workgroup
sessions to integrate and apply the concepts, throughout
the weekend.

That's it in a nutshell.
-----------

That's what I wrote to Roger.

For more information about the seminar, February
18  - 20 in Las Vegas, go to

http://www.breakthroughcopywriting.com/seminar

David Garfinkel