Copywriters Podcast

One reason it's hard to write copy is when you start out, you've got so much in front of you, it can seem overwhelming.
Not only that, but just one you get in the groove for writing copy for one part of the letter or VSL, you have to shift gears.
That's because different sections of what you're writing have different rhythms. Each one has a different feel.
For example, a story needs to have good momentum to it. But it's not nearly as fast-paced as good closing copy is.
Today we're going to talk about some ways you can overcome this problem, and it has to do with warming up to write each section.
Just like if you were going to warm up to work out or go for a run, you can warm up to write each section of your copy differently. This will help you a lot, especially if you've got a big project and you feel like you're facing a brick wall.
We talked about Gene Schwartz’s big concept of copywriting: That it’s not “writing,” but in fact is really “assembling.” He mentioned this at a talk he gave to people at Rodale, which used to be a big publisher based almost entirely on direct-response marketing. They closed their doors five years ago, after 87 years in business.
When Gene Schwartz talked about assembling, he meant you have a bunch of little parts, and then you put them together. When you do this, it helps if you first have a structure -- that is, if you have an idea of which part goes where, and why it goes in that particular place.
But don't worry if you don't have that sense when you start. Because often the structure, in the same way as your headline and your hook do, will "reveal itself" as you work through other parts of the copy.
In today’s show, we talked about six “parts” you assemble. And we’ll talk about them in the order that they usually appear in a sales letter.
You may or may not want to do them in that order. We'll talk about that as we go through them.
We covered six key parts of copy, and talk about how and why to warm up for each one when you're first writing. They are: 1) headline, 2) lead, 3) bullets, 4) story, 5) closing copy, and 6) testimonials.
The reason you want to warm up is the same as why you'd warm up when you're working out — to loosen your muscles (in this case, your mental muscles), and to get the momentum of FLOW going.
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Whether you’re running a business or running someone else’s Facebook advertising for them, it always seems like there are a million things to keep track of as far as advertising is concerned.
No doubt about it; there are.
But there are a few things that are truly make-or-break, day in and day out. A few crucial things that will define the line between profitability and losing money. A few things that determine sale or no sale. In other words, a few things that matter a lot more than the others.
Nathan Fraser calls these few things “Advertising Cheat Codes.” Now don’t get him wrong, the other things are important, too. But I’m going to say the difference is, you can slip on the other things a little now and then and they won’t tank your business.
But screw up regularly on the big things, and you could be in for some tough times ahead.
Fortunately, once you know what these few, very important things are, you don’t ever have to screw up on them. Nathan told us about three of the most important Advertising Cheat Codes today.
His first Advertising Cheat Code is “Stick the Landing.” The standard meaning of these words is to execute a perfect landing after an acrobatic move — especially in gymnastics — or, more generally, to accomplish an impressive feat successfully.
Nathan’s use of the phrase is not so far from the second definition, but of course it does have a very specific meaning when it comes to advertising. One that can make all the difference between failure and success.
His second Cheat Code is, Stand-Out Advertising. If you have a wild imagination, like I do, you might be picturing a guy walking up and down the sidewalk wearing a huge sandwich board. You know, where each side is a placard almost as tall as the guy himself.
While that could fit into Nathan’s overall definition, that’s not what he means by Stand-Out Advertising. But what he does mean could result in a lot of extra sales for your business.
And Nathan’s third Cheat Code is “Big, Beautiful Back Ends.” Now pull your mind out of the gutter -- he’s talking about something else!
What’s vitally important are two related concepts: How much it costs you to acquire a customer, and how well you determine the lifetime value of each customer. Nathan makes it easy for you with some pinpoint advice in this part of the show. The bottom line is, Big, Beautiful Back Ends = more revenue and more profits.
You can get more on each of these PLUS two additional Advertising Cheat Codes, here:
https://advertisingcheatcodes.com/
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Today, let’s talk about staying with big copy projects, once you get started. You know, they say “begun is half done.” That’s true, but then there’s the other half, and that’s where we run into trouble sometimes. The half that’s not done yet, but still needs to get done.
We’ve covered the steps of how to write a sales letter before and we’ll cover it again, but that’s not what I want to talk about today. This is more about how you need to prepare and what you need to do when you’re working to finish your project and have the best copy you can have.
I’ll give you a hint as to where we’re going. I’ve invented something called the Frustration-Flow Scale. All the way to the left is frozen in frustration. All the way to the right on the scale is floating in flow. Effortless and fun.
The trick is to get on the right side of the scale and stay there, for as long as possible, as often as possible.
So all the things we’re going to talk about today are ways to get to and stay on the right side of the frustration-flow scale as much as possible. Not so much so you have a nice day, as, if you are in a flow-state, you are much more likely to get your project done.
Look at it this way. You’re doing a jigsaw puzzle. You’ve got a round piece and a round hole where it looks like it should fit. Frustration would be struggling, pushing, scrunching, scheming to get the round piece in the round hole. Flow would be just slipping it in without so much as giving it a second thought.
That said, in what we’re doing today, getting to flow is the end result. It’s how we want our work to go, but you can’t just “drop into it” with being prepared. Frustration will derail you over and over again if you haven’t done things ahead of time to prevent it.
Think of frustration as a series of detours that keep you from arriving at flow. It’s much harder to keep going on a big project when you keep banging your head on the wall or get your momentum interrupted because there are things that need to be done before you can move forward.
Today’s show is about heading them off at the pass -- that is, clearing away the frustrations in advance. Or, doing what you need to do, ahead of time, to be prepared for steps in the process so they don’t turn into huge stuck points that mire you down.
We’re going to move quickly through three sets of skills and knowledge that will help you get the dang thing DONE: First, mechanics. Second, market knowledge. And third, mindset. And I’ll suggest some resources along the way to help you with these things.
Here’s a cheat sheet for after you’ve listened to the show, to review all of these skills, and the kind of knowledge you need to line up.
1. Mechanics: Learn to do the little things extremely well (learned from Guy Michelmore).
Breaking a complex idea into smaller, simpler parts
Mapping out your sales letter into chunks
Getting human stories
Writing compelling headlines and subheads
Using picture words
2. Market Knowledge
Historical knowledge
Real-time knowledge
Human nature knowledge
3. Mindset
Focus
Flexibility
Faith
Flow
Resources mentioned in the podcast, with links:
$100 MM offers, by Alex Hormozi
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1737475731
The Brilliance Breakthrough, by Eugene Schwartz
https://brilliancebreakthroughbook.com/
Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich, by David Garfinkel
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1683501454
Scientific Advertising, by Claude Hopkins
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0844231010
How to Make Your Advertising Make Money, by John Caples
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083C548ZZ
How to Write a Good Advertisement, by Victor Schwab
https://www.amazon.com/dp/162654963X
Triggers, by Joe Sugarman
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O3QEFSK
https://www.brain.fm/
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We’re back with the legendary Bond Halbert, who I am proud to call my friend.
On the last show, Bond talked about better ways to get started in copywriting. On today’s show, Bond will share with us some crucial insights about what working copywriters are doing wrong, and how to fix those problems.
Bond’s father, of course, was the famous copywriter Gary Halbert, and Bond is among Gary’s first very successful students. In fact, Bond was closest to his dad in both a personal and professional relationship. More recently, after copy chiefing some of the largest financial promotions of our time, Bond pioneered many tactics for getting the highest email open rates in any industry.
After Gary passed away, Bond and his brother Kevin took over TheGaryHalbertLetter.com and the brothers have put out great copywriting products, including the Halbert All-Star Audio Series, which I am proud to say I was invited to participate in.
Bond and Kevin also have started the Gary Halbert Copy Club Facebook group, which has an astounding membership of more than 21,000, as of the day of our recording. That is HUGE for a copywriting group on Facebook!
Bond mentors copywriters and we’ll give you contact info for him at the end of the show.
Today, Bond talks about the biggest mistakes copywriters are making, starting with how to know if you’re talking to the wrong audience. This happens a lot more than most copywriters realize, and Bond has some quick and accurate ways to find out if there’s a problem, and if there is, how to fix it.
Besides that, clients make fundamental marketing mistakes all the time. Bond provides time-tested ways to correct their mistakes so your clients can get better returns on their advertising.
More than that, Bond shares some insider tips on easy ways to make light bulbs go off in your client’s head, so they start to see your as more valuable... and, of course, pay you more.
Timing issues: Bond shares the hilarious but vitally important “porcupine in heat” theory, as well as how to know when you’re mailing too much and when you’re not mailing often enough (it’s not the same for every type of business).
Also, some ninja research tips to help you multiply client profits, and get paid higher royalties from clients as a result!
This is a great show for copywriters at all levels.
Here’s how to get in touch with Bond, and a couple of resources:
[email protected]
important blog post: https://bondhalbert.com/bond-halbert/something-most-marketers-get-wrong/
Gary Halbert Copy Club on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/garyhalbertcopyclub
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We’re so lucky to have Bond Halbert on the show today. Bond is my friend and has been a great supporter, professionally, for years. Bond’s father, of course, was the famous copywriter Gary Halbert, and Bond is among Gary’s first very successful students. In fact, Bond was closest to his dad in both a personal and professional relationship. More recently, after copy chiefing some of the largest financial promotions of our time, Bond pioneered many tactics for getting the highest email open rates in any industry. After Gary passed away, Bond and his brother Kevin took over TheGaryHalbertLetter.com and the brothers have put out great copywriting products, including the Halbert All-Star Audio Series, which I am proud to say I was invited to participate in. Bond and Kevin also have started the Gary Halbert Copy Club Facebook group, which has an astounding membership of more than 21,000, as of the day of our recording. That is HUGE for a copywriting group on Facebook! Bond mentors copywriters and we’ll give you contact info for him at the end of the show. What we talk about during the podcast is something we get a lot of questions about all the time, and that is, how do you get started as a copywriter? Bond began with a brilliant and intriguing idea for every copywriter — but particularly for those of us just at the beginning: How to earn as you learn. And there’s more to this than making money. When you follow these tips, you’ll be able to prove — quickly — that you’re a professional copywriter, and work your way up the pay scale much faster than most people do. Now, this may sound silly until you face this problem head-on. And believe me, it’s already happening. What to say when a prospective client wonders why you’d be a better choice than using AI to write copy instead. It’s a compelling argument, and it will help you save jobs you otherwise would have lost out on. Bond also talked about the number-one thing that keeps copywriters from moving up to the A-level. No matter how good your copy gets, unless you follow this advice, you may be stuck at a lower level for much longer than you’d like. One more thing you’ll love: How to dramatically increase your value to any client by only writing a few words. It’s a brilliant idea... I know it will work... and, I’m a little embarrassed to say, I’ve never thought of it or heard it anywhere else before. Plus a lot more! This is one show you’ll really want to give your full attention to. To get in touch with Bond, here is his email and a couple of weblinks: [email protected] important blog post:https://bondhalbert.com/bond-halbert/something-most-marketers-get-wrong/ Gary Halbert Copy Club on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/garyhalbertcopyclub
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