Today our special guest is Debbie Owen, who has her own podcast, The Sales Page Podcast, and is a book-launch strategist and freelance copywriter. She’s agreed to give us a crash course for business owners in writing copy that brings in business. Here are the main topics she addresses: 1. What is the most important thing a business owner should start with when they think about writing copy for a sales page? 2. Many business owners try to write copy that creates a desire for the product or servic...
Oct 22, 2018
The Tyranny of “Show, Don’t Tell” If you take it too far, you’ll end up drawing pictures and using no words at all. How do we profitably apply this to copywriting? Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims... and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity... you may want to get a legal review after you wri...
Oct 15, 2018
Dynasty quote How does that square with the reality about wealth? What does this mean for copywriters? Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims... and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity... you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do...
Oct 07, 2018
The folly of trying to get better at “copywriting.” “Inch by Inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life’s hard.” Nobody but a fool would honestly claim that copywriting’s a cinch. But the way a lot of people go about learning it, they make it a lot harder than they need to. Today we’ll take a look at all the things people do that just too hard. Things that take much longer than they need to. Then, we look at what’s faster, easier, and works SO much better. Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for ...
Oct 01, 2018
Our guest today is Tim Burt, who’s going to give you the inside story about writing copy for radio and TV commercials. In the last 26 years, Tim has written, recorded and/or produced more than 30,000 commercials worldwide. His clients range from small businesses to global corporations to presidential campaigns He’s the founder of TimBurtMedia.com and has created programs including Broadcast Ad Secrets, The Restaurant Marketing Series, and Broadcast Ad Secrets. Among the publications where Tim ha...
Sep 24, 2018
Ted Nicholas: You can go broke selling people what they need. But you can make a fortune selling people what they want. What did he mean? How do we apply this into what we do as direct marketers? But first… here’s something I want to tell you: Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims... and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finan...
Sep 17, 2018
Dr. Henry Heimlich story. When I first heard about this, what prompted me to research it more and get all the details? Insatiable curiosity. What insatiable curiosity is, and why it’s so important for copywriters – what we’ll talk about today. Now, you might be curious about what comes next. Well, the suspense is over. Because… Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims... and/...
Sep 09, 2018
What a songwriting teacher says about how much writers hate to rewrite. It’s not just songwriters. And this reluctance is probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, copywriters never make it to the next level in their writing and in their career. We’re going to fix that today! -- Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highl...
Sep 03, 2018
We had Joshua Killingsworth on a few weeks ago, when he talked about how his divorce and child-custody requirements virtually “forced” him to move quickly from another business to copywriting. We got a lot of response and appreciative comments on that show. Joshua also shared his empathy-map process, which gets the copywriter very much in tune with the prospect’s thinking and feeling. Something all copywriters need to do, but, sad to say, not all actually do. Today, Joshua’s going to talk about ...
Aug 27, 2018
Justin Goff has created from scratch three multi-million dollar direct response companies. His last one was a supplement company that him and his partners scaled from 0 to 23 million in sales in just under 3 years. Justin sold his stake in that company last year, took a year off, and is now helping the biggest direct response companies to boost their response and increase their average order size on their offers. He lives in Austin Texas with his 2 Great Danes, George and Dempsey 1. Justin, you ...
Aug 20, 2018
Justin Goff has created from scratch three multi-million dollar direct response companies. His last one was a supplement company that him and his partners scaled from 0->23 million in sales in just under 3 years. Justin sold his stake in that company last year, took a year off, and is now helping the biggest direct response companies to boost their response and increase their average order size on their offers. He lives in Austin Texas with his 2 Great Danes, George and Dempsey. 1. Many of ou...
Aug 13, 2018
On today’s show, we’ll pick up where we left off last week. Friend requested I give a talk to his group of copywriters and business owners. One of the copywriters in the group asked me: what does it take for a copywriter to go from “good” to great? And what I do work on with people when I coach them. Six things I’ve found… We’ll talk about the first three in today’s show. Warning Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is...
Aug 06, 2018
A friend requested I give a talk to his group of copywriters and business owners. One of the copywriters in the group asked me: what does it take for a copywriter to go from “good” to great? And what I do work on with people when I coach them. Six things I’ve found… We’ll talk about the first three in today’s show. Warning Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if y...
Jul 30, 2018
Imagine you like to ride a bike. Maybe you already do. So you ride every day, on mostly flat roads and paths and occasionally a mild hill. Then one day you decide to get in a race. You don’t learn much about it ahead of time. On the day of the race, it’s raining. There are oil slicks on the road. The competitors are going much faster than you are used to. Then gusts of wind kick up. And to top it all, there are hairpin turns on top of steep hills! Guess what – you’re in crunch time. It’s that sp...
Jul 23, 2018
We have a special Report from the Field today that reaches deep into one man’s family. Our guest is Joshua Killingsworth, and while people’s last names usually have nothing to do with anything else, in this case, it holds a clue. Because Joshua Killingsworth’s copy is killing it. He’s got a webinar and sales page promo, for example, that converted 65% on a one-thousand-dollar product. He’s created a three-email sequence that is making over $20K a month for a client. With a tiny list, yet. And ma...
Jul 16, 2018
A few weeks ago, we had Joe Schriefer on the podcast in a special “Reports from the Field” episode. Joe said something that changed my life, and I’ve been thinking about ever since. As you may remember, Joe heads up Agora Financial, and he was one of the key players in growing it from $25 million a year to $250 million a year. The show as about how to scale up a business dramatically the way Joe has. What Joe said that kept ringing in my mind was: To grow a business big, think like the business ...
Jul 09, 2018
I was looking at a new online MasterClass by Judd Apatow, a film director who specializes in comedies. His bio said he got started in the business at age 15 as a dishwasher at a comedy club… and, you know how the story goes… the rest is history. You’ll hear lots of stories like that – but few in copywriting. Why is that? And what can you do instead? That’s what we talk about today. Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense ...
Jul 02, 2018
Detectives today have a powerful tool in their toolkit – DNA analysis. Except for identical twins and maybe in the future human clones, every person’s DNA is unique, as far as we know. So if there’s a drop of blood, a hair, a small piece of skin, or any number of other tiny little pieces of a person’s body at the scene of a crime, the detective who finds DNA has struck gold. That’s because DNA leaves clues. There’s another kind of DNA you might not have heard of yet. It’s called Breakthrough Cop...
Jun 25, 2018
Direct marketers usually hate TV commercials, because they give a bad name to advertising as we see it. That is, they don’t truly sell. But sometimes I like them – not as advertising, really, but as works of art. There’s a very intriguing commercial running right now for Alfa Romeo, the luxury Italian sports car. What intrigues me the most is their tagline. In Italian, it’s La Meccanica Delle Emozioni. And, it’s trademarked. A close translation of the phrase is: “The Mechanics of Emotion.” Today...
Jun 18, 2018
Donald Burns once helped the world's most hated man find a job. How'd he do it? By using copywriting methods while writing his resume. After all, what is a resume, if not a sales pitch for yourself? Donald gets into what works and what doesn't when it comes to resumes. He's written them for some of the most successful people out there. He even has some tips for copywriters on how they can better promote themselves. This one is a little bit off the beaten path, but jam-packed with gems that you d...
Jun 11, 2018
Despite what the rock group the Buggles told us, video did NOT kill the radio star. Our guest in today's special Report from the Field, Daisy Luther, appears regularly on 830 stations through the Genesis Radio Network. But to many people, Daisy is even better known as The Organic Prepper. She runs a very popular and profitable website. I met Daisy personally in late April, at a private dinner in Baltimore for former journalists who have embraced copywriting. Daisy, we’re honored to have you here...
Jun 03, 2018
Surprise is the “magic excitement dust” of entertainment - Music “High Time,” Grateful Dead. Circa 1970. Very touching country-rock kind of song about a misunderstanding that ended a relationship, and all the self-doubt that followed. Melancholy. Goes where you wouldn’t expect: surprise. Vs. my rewrite (Corny AF) “You said goodbye and held me tight You know I found it heartwarming Yeah, sure, I’ll miss you tonight But I’ll see you in the morning.” : not that surprising Beatles – used a lot of ha...
May 28, 2018
My girlfriend has a dog named Sheila, and Sheila’s an Australian Shepherd. Now, Australian Shepherds are working dogs and they always seem to need to have a job to do. Last Tuesday, Deb was sitting down to write some copy on her computer and she told me that Sheila was guarding the door for her. I thought that was interesting. Sheila didn’t know what to do, but she figured out Deb didn’t want to be disturbed. So, Sheila gave herself the job of guarding the door. Smart dog! OK, I’m telling that s...
May 21, 2018
Today we’ve got another Report from the Field, and our special guest, our returning champion, is Joe Schriefer from Agora Financial. Joe, thanks for coming back! So here’s what we’re going to talk about today: Few people will ever get the chance to grow an eight-figure company into a nine-figure company. And far fewer still will ever do this with a company that’s 100% driven by direct response copy, as Agora Financial is. I’ve had the privilege of watching up-close, and maybe adding a little fue...
May 14, 2018
Featuring Joe Schriefer We’ve talked about the Big Idea on the show before, but we have a report from the field today with the best expert I know or know of on this topic, Joe Schriefer. Just on the slight chance you’ve never heard of him, Joe heads up Agora Financial in Baltimore, which consists of five publishing companies, or “imprints,” as they prefer to call them. When you put them all together, in my opinion, Agora Financial as a whole makes up the biggest, and most profitable, Big Idea pr...
May 06, 2018
There’s an old concept in direct response called “dry testing.” Basically, it means you sell the product before you have it. I’ve heard questions about whether it’s legal to do this with physical products, but it seems to me it’s perfectly OK to do that with a course you’re planning to do. People pay now and take the course later. After all, that’s what every single university does, and some of our universities in America, like Harvard, Yale, and the College of William and Mary, are actually old...
Apr 30, 2018
Meeting with editor from large subscription newsletter publisher in 2006, at conference. Editor didn’t understand copy all that well – joked that “In our copywriting department, we have two divisions: The division of fear, and the division of greed.” This is a commonly accepted assumption among many copywriters AND among many copywriting gurus… fear and greed are IT. True? We’ll look at that today. Here’s something that’s definitely true: Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what...
Apr 23, 2018
A friend with a dog problem – biting. Found a training way to completely eliminate the problem. Product. Lead-genAd was very powerful: Biting dog? First thing they do is try to put your pooch down. Get a much happier solution! He was getting a lot of clicks on the ad. But very few conversions. Turned out the reason was his copy struck a very different tone. While the ad was scary and energetic (Tone 4), his copy was depressed and low-energy (Tone 5). Once he matched the copy to his ad, conversio...
Apr 16, 2018
So, I recently bought a new piece of music equipment. It came with a lot of bells and whistles, including: Opening – Eqs and Compressors Supercharger GT 99 Passive EQ 149 Vari Comp 99 Enhanced EQ 149 Solid Bus Comp 99 Solid Dynamic 99 Solid EQ 99 VC 2A 99 VC 76 99 VC 160 99 Total: $991 Doesn’t include other special effects, like reverb and overdrive. Second one, passive EQ – a Manley Massive Passive sells for just over $5K. That’s what a producer is buying something to substitute for. Reviews an...
Apr 09, 2018
Show’s today about what I’m calling “Copywriter-Plus.” As things have become very competitive in the world of copy, this is a new strategy I’ve discovered that could help every copywriter who takes advantage of it. Also - new technology, originally developed in radio -- including recorded brief comments from people mentioned during the show. “Copywriter-Plus” is something you and I, Nathan, have been using for a long time without maybe fully realizing it. I’ll explain what it is, give some real-...
Apr 02, 2018
