World Copywriting Blog

'In Search Of Heroes' - Here's the link to my interview on that Web site

My visionary friend, photographer par excellence Ralph Zuranski, just posted an interview with me that goes far beyond what I usually talk and write about.

One reason I opened up was his subject - heroism in everyday life.

Another reason: he was aiming it to kids, and kids, more than anyone, respond to emotional honesty and disclosure in a positive and curious way.

Ralph's program is called "In Search of Heroes."  He's honored me by calling me a hero.

You can read the freshly posted transcript of our interview here.

David Garfinkel
Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter

Do You Believe Your Own Copy? As Much As This May Go Against Everything You Thought Was So, You Damn Well Better

It's one of those moments that marks the change of a man's life.

In the movie Walk the Line, the actor playing country music legend Johnny Cash is stopped abruptly during an audition by the actor playing record producer Sam Phillips, with words that chill to the bone:

"I don't believe you."

The Phillips character goes on the scold the Cash character for singing a me-too gospel song with no passion, no intensity, no connection with the message of the music.

Johnny's not a quitter.  In the kind of magic transformation that we mostly only see in movies, the superstar-to-be sings another song that leads to a studio recording the same day... and launches a career.

Well, so much for the movies.  What about real life?

Not so fast there, my demanding reader.  First let's take a pit stop at a midpoint.

USA Today of October 13, 2005 reports that something very similar happened between actors themselves in the making of a movie.

Reporter Scott Bowles relates that during the making of Two for the Money, actor Matthew McConaughey got an unexpected acting lesson from master of the craft Al Pacino.

"'Once we were doing a scene, and suddenly, right in the middle of the take, he stops and looks at me and says "I don't believe you,"' McConaughey says. 'That'll stop you in your tracks.  When Al Pacino tells you that he doesn't believe you, you believe it.'"

Well, that's very nice.  Rich Hollywood stars, busting each others' chops.

But wait.  This really does have something to do with copywriting.

A lot, in fact.

I remember a quote from one of the greatest copywriters of the 20th century, James Webb Young:

"Every advertiser has the same problem: to be believed."

Indeed, isn't that the crux of the matter?

When you are reading copy, you like what you see, you want what is offered, you can somehow find a way to afford it, and you believe what you read... what's stopping you from going ahead and buying?

Nothing.

In fact, that's when you buy.

And so it is with your prospects.

The question is, how do you write copy that people really believe?

My view is that the answer is twofold.

Fold one is technical.

Fold two -- often overlooked, but vitally important -- is emotional.

There are many techniques that create believability in copy. Well-phrased testimonials from credible sources.  Proof in the form of test results, technical specs, media mention.  Personal credibility through professional degrees, books published, awards given.

That's the first half.

But the second half has much more to do with YOU, the copywriter.

Do YOU believe what you're saying?

Do YOU believe it's the right thing for your prospect to buy?

Do YOU believe it enough to give your all, push past your limits, hang out in the discomfort of being a little outrageous and otherwise extreme, to get your prospect to see and know how you really feel?

This, of course, would require that you actually believe in what you're selling.

What a concept.

Now I'm enough of a realist to know that for-hire copywriters don't always find themselves in that position.

Yes, you can still make your copy believable when you're in that position.  My only advice to you there is to find a way to free yourself from having to promote things YOU don't fully believe in.

And, you do the best you can with what you've got, where you are.

When I first started writing advertising sales copy 20 years ago, I was still strongly under the influence of my previous career as a journalist.

Because I went through rigorous fact-checking before I wrote articles for publication, I KNEW what I was writing was true.  (Or was it that I merely believed it, albeit very strongly?)

As a copywriter, it shocked me that people wouldn't necessarily believe me just because I stated the truth.

But as I learned the techniques of persuasion and I began to put more of my passion into my writing, I started to get the results I had expected all along.

As you go for better and better results yourself, keep these things in mind.  They really can change your outcomes in a positive new direction.

So...

Does believability make a difference in the effectiveness of your copy?

You better believe it does.

Cheers,

David Garfinkel
Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter

Passive Income from Ordinary Web Content: The Marketers Were Listening

A few days ago I posted about Michel Fortin's and Sylvie Charrier's new Context Cash program, which I am heartily endosring.  I saw them present about it live at Armand Morin's Big Seminar in Los Angeles earlier this month, and people were scrambling to get on board.

Anyway... one of this blog's readers made a long, detailed post asking why there wasn't any video on the site I referenced in my original post, demo'ing the product itself.

Michel took time out of his impossible schedule to provide a very gracious and reasonable answer.  And he said such a video was on the way.

Well, he wasn't bluffing.  It was, and this afternoon I got a nice email from Sylvie that the video has arrived on the Web site.  I just saw it myself (it's the second video on the page).

Take a look, because

a) I think you'll be interested in the program itself, and

b) It's a positive "textbook" example of how to do a video to demonstrate a product online

http://www.world-copywriting-institute.com/context

How Little Moments in the Real World Can Give You Huge Insights About What REALLY Works In Copywriting

On Wednesday I went to pick up my dry cleaning before the holiday weekend started.

There was a guy in front of me who had a much bigger order - sportcoats, slacks, and it looked like his whole closet full of shirts.

The bill was $65.  This may have been the first time in ages that he had had his clothes cleaned, because he was shocked.

"$65!" he sputtered.  "Am I buying a suit?"

(George Zimmer, you have done your job well.  Thanks to successful aggressive marketing of Men's Wearhouse, there's a whole generation of guys out there that think the going price for a suit is around $65!)

I made a crack that "the price of your suit is just the down payment."

He wasn't amused.

He paid his bill and I picked up my much smaller order.  (I've learned to avoid sticker shock by going to the cleaners on a more regular basis.)

OK, here's the kicker:

"Charge him $65!" he cackled to the cashier as he walked out with half his wardrobe in his hands.

Now... the copywriting lesson?

Michel Fortin might call it the Law of Contrast.

Me, I'd call it envy.  The guy was envious of me, that I was paying 80% less than he was.

Silly?  Sure.

Rational?  Not really.

Typical - of most human beings, most of the time?

You bet.

Never mind that I was only picking up a few items.  That didn't matter.  He was doing a mental comparison, and the green-eyed monster had him in its grips.

This is very powerful to realize when you're writing copy.

See, most of us writing copy, running our own businesses, pursuing personal growth, learning to think positive, have relegated "negative emotions" to the basement of our minds.

Big mistake.

No, I'm not saying we should dwell there.  We shouldn't.

But we should recognize that despite our own good choices and our relentless pursuits of higher emotional ideals, the world doesn't work that way.

People don't work that way.

In making decisions and in experiencing emotional reactions, the "lower emotions" rule.  More often than not.  Most of the time, in fact.

I've joked in seminars and with my mentoring clients that, when you're writing copy, the Seven Deadly Sins are your best friends.

In case, like me, you're not a stellar Bible student, here they are, for your quick reference:

1. Pride

2. Envy

3. Gluttony

4. Lust

5. Anger

6. Greed

7. Sloth

Now, I am not saying to embrace these emotions and hold them as your guiding lights.  Not if you want a pleasant life.

Hold to the higher standard yourself.  Seek a better experience; live a better life.

Be a better role model to your children, your employees, your students, your community.

Be someone others could conceivably enjoy spending time with.

But don't confuse all of that with what you need to be aware of when you are writing copy.  Namely, that where you could be worlds apart from where your prospects are... and, most importantly, from what motivates them to make decisions to take action.

It's a balancing act, for sure, living in two worlds.

But hey -- that's what copywriting's all about!

David Garfinkel
Publishing, World Copywriting Newsletter

Convention Wisdom About Becoming A Copywriter Could Be Hazardous To Your Wealth -- Dr. Harlan Kilstein Speaks Out

Just a quick note to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and alert you to a new controversy I thought you'd want to know about.

My friend Dr. Harlan Kilstein just released a short but disturbing teleseminar that challenges the conventional wisdom about breaking into professional copywriting.

It's gotten a lot of people upset.  Oddly enough, I happen to AGREE with what he's saying... although finding out from years of experience has been a rocky ride for me, to say the least.

If you haven't been notified about his "Copywriting Lies Exposed" teleseminar yet, sign up for it (he'll send you a link to an mp3 of the teleseminar, and it's free):

http://www.world-copywriting-institute.com/sixfigure

At the very least, it could save you a lot of heartache and wasted time.  At best, you'll get some ideas that will add to your income and your peace of mind.

I did.

David Garfinkel
Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter

Making Money While You Sleep - The Old Empty Promise Has Finally Been Filled (and I ain't kidding!)

You know Michel Fortin, the million-dollar-day copywriter... the terror of Internet sales?

Relax.  Michel's my friend.  He's incredible.

Well, the dude has finally met his match.

Her name's Sylvie.  Sylvie Charrier.  I just met her myself at Big Seminar in L.A. and boy, was I ever a tad jealous!  (That he got her to accept his marriage proposal.)

Anyway.  They're not only good love partners.  They're also tremendous entrepreneurial partners!

They've cooked up a perpetual Web cash machine that I truly think will work.  Long term.

If you are tired of working hard all the time and you would like to take a day off here and there and still bring in cash, take a look:

http://www.world-copywriting-institute.com/context

Where do you start when you are writing your copy? A surprisingly simple answer that often eludes even the best of us:

It's the question that's on everyone's mind when they sit down to write copy: "Where do I start?"

The answer is simple... but even when you understand it, this little bit of simplicity can easily escape you.

For our answer, I turn to page 70 of Vic Schwab's classic book "How to Write a Good Advertisement."  The master writes:

"... newspaper writers have a saying: 'Start where the reader is.'"

That's funny.  My mother, a retired social worker, says that social workers have a saying: 'Start where the client is.'

And so it is for coaches, psychotherapists, lawyers, doctors, and any number of other professionals who have to reach people and guide them on a path to a better place.

It's the answer for copywriters, too.  But how often do we forget to do this?

Persuasion of the Spoken Variety

I'm planning an article on persuasive public speaking, and I was discussing it the other day with my good friend and colleague Jim Van Wyck.  The article will have a five-point formula for making your case to an audience. 

The first step of the formula is a speaker's version of the concept: "Start where they are."  I ran it by Jim and asked him if it was too basic, too obvious... just too much old news.

"David," he said, with a pregnant pause I have come to learn means something profound is ahead, "how many people start where their listener is... ever?"

How many, indeed?

The question stopped me cold.  I didn't know.  When I thought about it, I realized the answer was "few to none."  I knew my article was on track.

Why Is This So Hard To Do?

You've probably heard of my good friend Joe Vitale as a famous author, but some of us know Joe is also a terrific and highly accomplished copywriter.

He has a pithy and profitable saying he uses when talking about copywriting: "Get out of your own ego, and into your customer's ego."

I think that nails it pretty well.  It's so easy to be concerned about what's important to YOU, and in the heat of the moment assume the same thing is important to your customer (when almost always it's NOT)...

... and when you do this, you can easily (and mistakenly) assume your customer is starting in the same place, mentally, that you are... and end up writing copy that misses the mark by a country mile.

The Case of the Revised Contract

Just this evening I was talking to my book publisher David Hancock of Morgan James Publishing.  He casually mentioned that he had been keeping track of the questions his authors kept asking over and over again about his publishing contract, and he had his lawyer rewrite the contract... brace yourself here... in PLAIN ENGLISH... to address those questions before they had to be asked.

So there's a clue.

You learn where your customer is by paying close attention to the questions that keep cropping up over and over again.

Why Does It Matter?

If you have a good product, and you describe its benefits clearly and compellingly, then what difference does it make whether you start where you are... where your customer is... or where the man in the moon is?

I mean really... why should it matter?

Here's why.

Because, as a copywriter, you have a tremendous disadvantage going against you, compared to, say, a Danielle Steel, or a Tom Clancy, or a John Grisham, or a J.K. Rowling.

Unlike with the works of popular authors, when it comes to copy, PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO READ WHAT WE WRITE.

I wish I could claim credit for that insight, but it goes to Ted Cooper, a friend of mine who writes copy and whom I greatly admire.  (And *I* want to read what he writes, even if nobody else does. :)

Ted's point is this:

THEY DON'T GIVE A HOOT ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT.

Your offer.  Your bullet points.  Your guarantee.  Your price.  Your bonuses.  Your special discount.

Not at first.

They care about...

... themselves.

They care about what's on their minds.  The words they mumble to themselves, or think silently as they struggle with their problems and drool over their dreams.

They are wrapped up in their own lives.

Just like you.

And so if you want to reach them right from the git-go, what better way than to get into their world... talk about their thoughts... their feelings... their present-moment experience of life?

And that's called, "Starting where they are."

Cheers,

David Garfinkel, Publisher
World Copywriting Newsletter

Old Headlines Never Die, They Just Come Back With Minor Alterations

On Friday I was driving back from a haircut and climbing the ramp to the Golden Gate Bridge when a radio commercial brought a big smile to my face.  It began:

"They laughed when I told them I was studying French, but when I said to the waiter, 'Je voudrais le poulet rotî ...'"

("I would like the roast chicken...")

Of course students of headline history will recognize the spoken opening to this commercial as an almost exact re-run of John Caples' second use of the "They laughed when... " as a print-advertising headline. 

After succeeding wildly with the better known headline and ad about sitting down at the piano, he wrote a second very successful ad for a correspondence school offering French lessons using a headline he swiped from, basically, himself.  Many, many years ago.

And here we are in 2005.  Rosetta Stone language-learning software has picked up a classic and wisely put it back to work, on the air.

David Garfinkel
Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter

Copywriting Teleseminar: How to Make Six Figures A Year Writing Copy (Hurry!)

I just got off the phone with my friend Dr. Harlan Kilstein. In case you don't know about Harlan, he has catapulted to the top of the field in less than a year.  (For example, the copywriter everyone is in awe of, Gary Bencivenga, recently deemed Harlan "a star.")

The reason I'm posting this today is over the weekend, Harlan announced a free teleseminar where he will reveal six-figure copywriting secrets.

(Yes, he knows whereof he speaks... he's deep into that income level this year himself.)

Right after I got off the phone, I put this note together. I want to make sure you have the opportunity to get in. 500 people have already signed up for Harlan's teleseminar!

To get your name on the list, go to:

http://www.world-copywriting-institute.com/sixfigure

He's also giving away an amazingly valuable bonus... a "look" inside legendary copywriter John Carlton's mind!

Check it out:

http://www.world-copywriting-institute.com/sixfigure

David Garfinkel
Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter