Howdy…
I’ve been running into copywriters (and marketers) who are still absolutely freaked out over Artificial Intelligence…
… and the “threat” of it replacing all humans in advertising and marketing.
Look — I know that at some point, in the hazy future (far beyond where we can envision right now)…
… AI will be our new overlords and masters. I’ve seen all the sci-fi flicks, read most of the books. I’m not naive.
C’mon, it’ll be fun to have a robot boss running things. What could possibly go wrong?
However…
… right now (and for the foreseeable future) (like most probably for the rest of your life)…
… human brains are gonna remain an essential element to everything.
I mean, the current high-end models of robots are sort of getting the hang of cleaning up after us, and stocking some stuff in warehouses, and even occasionally handling hands-free driving without killing too many pedestrians.
But anyone thinking that any of the essential writing, critical thinking, and decision-making in business (or most of life’s endeavors) is successfully being handed off to the ‘bots right now…
… is a loon.
It ain’t happening. It’s a fevered pipe dream in the (rather thick) skulls of a bunch of Tech Bros. in Silicon Valley and a bunch of the greedy bastards on Wall Street…
… cuz they WANT to be true. Soon. Right around the corner, they’re promising. You’ll see, and you’ll be sorry you didn’t already fire all your useless writers and marketing folks. Bow to your overlords, weakling humans!!!
Again — not actually happening.
Why not?
Cuz business in the modern world still revolves around other human beings. And all our foibles, and desires, and idiosyncrasies, and weird habits, and delusions/dreams/traumatic memories/personal histories/broken hearts and on and on and on.
You know. The stuff that makes us human.
Yeah. Machines ain’t broken that code yet.
Still, you ARE gonna have to adjust, as a copywriter (or marketer).
AI isn’t going away. And it IS good enough to handle SOME of the jobs low-level copywriters used to handle.
So rookies and lazy-ass writers actually are under a certain level of threat to their careers.
But you know who will NEVER worry about being replaced?
A-List writers.
The dudes and dudettes at the very top of the pile. The grizzled elite who have extracted extreme savvy and expertise and insight from all their time on the front lines of the advertising and marketing battles.
And, yes, their copy does sizzle at a higher heat… because their salesmanship has been tested and sharpened in the real world. (Where wannabe’s go to expire.)
But do you wanna know what REALLY cements their careers into the culture so tight a bulldozer couldn’t dislodge them?
It’s using their knowledge of advertising and marketing and salesmanship and buyer psychology and the intricate games played by prospects and customers and owners alike…
… to be the most success-0riented CONSULTANTS in the business universe.
How? Easy:
Even CEOs running gazillion-dollar companies are often experienced ONLY in boardroom politics and the bold (and often disasterous) effort to show short-term boosts in earnings to keep stockholders happy. (See: Jack Welch and the ruination of once-proud General Electric, who started all this short-term thinking bullshit.)
They can’t write anything to save their lives. And they sure as hell don’t pay attention to actual market psychology with a street-level awareness. They got “little people” who that for them.
And even the owners of moderate-sized businesses are often hobbled by trying to translate a 2-year Business Degree into real-world success… and needing serious input from consultants who actually know how leads are generated and sales consummated.
And so it goes, down through nearly every single potential client in the economy: The most experienced, most savvy, and most knowledgeable expert in bringing home the moolah…
… will often be the A-List copywriter they bring in to fix things after the MBAs and know-nothing’s have botched it beyond belief.
Here’s an easy guide to show where you want to be as a copywriter, as fast as possible in your career:
First Stage: Grunt Writer. Your client may or may not know what he wants, but he will tell you what to write…
… and you write it. No original thinking required. (This is easier with an experienced client who may actually understand what kind of copy is needed… but you’re still just a grunt.)
You want to move on from this stage quickly. AI really is handling a lot of these types of jobs, and is expected to take over the grunt work entirely sooner than you think.
Second Stage: Veteran Writer With Relevant Experience. You may specialize in a market, or specialize in a certain medium (like social media)…
… so while you’re discussing the job with your client, you might suggest stuff: marketing angles, details to email campaigns, different sales funnels, even the main pitches used.
Cuz you’ve been here before. You’ve succeeded in doing something similar already. Perhaps even in this very same market.
You have relevant experience to share.
You can actually carve out a damn good career as a veteran writer. A well-rewarded one, too. AI can’t touch your experience. You may even be the guy who spots the outrageous mistakes AI makes so often when trusted to do complete manuscripts.
However, if you’re a greedy little bastard who wants an even bigger slice of the pie…
There is Stage Three: The Consultant Who Also Can Provide The Copy.
This is what all A-Listers are. They’re SO knowledgeable (about markets in general, and your market specifically)… and SO experienced (both with success and failure) (which is critical, cuz every biz fails at a campaign sooner or later, especially when up against solid competition or changing market conditions)… and SO brimming with insight, gut instinct, and skill…
… that you essentially operate as a partner in every job you take.
A-Listers tell those heathen CEOs they’re full of shit when they are — and the CEO takes the insult, cuz they know the A-Lister has the goods. The A-Lister brazenly challenges prior decisions because they KNOW they’re wrong. You can sit down and redo an entire business plan in an afteroon, cuz you’ve seen how reality works, and it’s brutal when idealists and dreamers and inexperienced biz owners try to peer into the future.
These elites are the highest paid writers in the world.
These are the writers who mold and shape entire markets, and obliterate competitors and create new market niches in their sleep.
This is the kind of writer you want to become: Someone so experienced and confident, you tell the client what’s up and become the bottom line for the important decisions.
Essentially, you become a partner in the project. Sometimes paid more than the CEO or the owner. Often the most important cog in the wheel of commerce for the time you deign to work with the client.
Ah, but you’re still a freelancer. You come and go as you please. You are beholden to no one.
Cuz you’re the one with the answers… and the skills to fix what’s wrong, quickly and efficiently.
And AI ain’t gonna come anywhere close to taking your job probably ever.
A savvy, experienced and highly skilled writer with the attitude to battle for the right move will always be top dog in the fight. No matter what tech does.
There has never been any limit on the number of A-Listers allowed to exist in the business world, either.
Still, it’s always been a very small group. Maybe two or three dozen writers in each generation.
Why?
Cuz most writers HATE the thought of consulting. It’s either too icky, cuz you gotta be confrontational (or so you believe) (it’s not true, though)… or you became a writer because you’re an introvert, and don’t like dealing with other humans if you can avoid it. Also, taking responsibility for stuff gives you a rash.
Still, the world is the way it is because that’s how reality works.
And I’m getting very interested in helping other writers get better at this consulting part of the gig.
It’s not magic. It’s not impossible for anyone with half a brain to pull off.
And really… it’s just necessary if you want to be an elite writer in this ever-morphing game of biz.
So we’re looking to find some stuff from other consultants that might help you move your lazy ass into the consulting game faster (and with more immediate success).
Watch closely in my email newsletter for some cool stuff coming up soon.
Also, I’m working on a book here about consulting. It never was so difficult that you couldn’t bust into it with just a handful of tips and advice.
But I haven’t found a book explaining it yet. At least not on the high level I’ve been practicing it for the last 30 years.
So watch for that, too. Soon.
In the meantime, watch your back to make no AI bot is sneaking up on you…
Stay frosty,
John
Monday, 7:42pm
Reno, NV
Howdy.
Just had another thought regarding those scheming chatbots that are coming for your job.
I’d hoped the last post here would have ameliorated some of the terror many copywriters (and marketers who write their own stuff) feel about AI’s rather sudden appearance as a very useable, often spot-on option for written content, customer service texting, email, and even advertising.
Of course, it didn’t.
The freak out seems to be continuing unabated.
So here’s the ultimate answer to the question “Are chatbots coming for your copywriting job?”:
Maybe. If you insist on remaining a low-level copywriter.
And no. If you simply do what I’ve been coaching writers to do all along: Move up a couple of levels in the game.
And get your shit together as a Top Level dude or dudette.
Look — only the lowest levels of copywriters “just” write copy.
Before the chatbots arrived, you could even make a decent living at knocking out quick content, easy emails, and brief unexciting ads.
But that’s no way for a writer to live. (It’s barely a way for a robot to live.)
To move up a level, you have to load up your brain
with everything relevant to making maketing campaigns sizzle.
The immediate level above Grunt Writer (just writing the really easy stuff that the chatbots are making obsolete as we speak)… is the stage I call The Seasoned, Experienced Pro: This is the copywriter who will remain pretty much immune from having a robot take their job for a very long time. Maybe forever.
Why? Because… at this advanced stage, you confidently bring real marketing savvy along with you to any gig.
You understand more than just pounding out words. You have a deep understanding of classic salesmanship — exactly what we’ve been teaching folks in our courses for over 20 years now:
The essentials of how email, social media, print, broadcast and other media actually works.
The details of persuading humans to buy when they hop online to watch a video…
… or go into their inbox to see who’s sending them stuff…
… or listen to a podcast pushing product…
… or any other venue where the copy/script/visuals are essential to the sales “dance”.
How in the world can you ever reach this level of copywriting and marketing prowess? One of the fastest ways to zoom from clueless newbie to respected pro is by learning the Simple Writing System. We’ve got a whole wall of testimonials from successful writers who will swear by this training.
Every job you work on while coming up the ranks should be filling your Bag of Tricks with crucial things you’ve learned from the experience. Like:
The way humans will often promise one thing, then do another.
Or go Radio Silent on you without warning… only to show up later absolutely desperate for what you’re offering.
Or get this-close to buying, but never let the deal go through… and even they aren’t sure why they’re dilly-dallying.
Or — even more important when there’s money on the line — why they will refuse to buy… until presented with the same ad copy but with a slightly different headline. (This is the kind of stuff rookies just shrug at, cuz they don’t understand how salesmanship works. But for a seasoned veteran — it’s just another step in the dance. Their intuition will light up when they know a particular ad shouldn’t have bombed… and will gleefully test multiple other headlines, put the opening paragraphs through the editing meat grinder, or take the offer out back and spank it until it loses whatever elements were holding up sales. That’s what a top pro copywriter will do.)
(And they don’t bat an eye when they realize it just required a single word change in the headline, either. Or a few bucks off the price. Or any of a whole basket-full of other editing choices they know about…
… cuz they’re experienced.)
PLUS: You have the chops to create a “voice” for a biz that sets it apart from every competitor. (Like I did with the notorious Doc O’Leary character in the golf market. He was based on one of the owners of the biz, but I gave him the voice in their ads they would use for the next 35 years — a folksy, hilarious, self-deprecating nut who loved golf with unreasonable passion. The exact kind of guy you’d LOVE to play a round with… and whose emails and letters you dive into with gusto, because you can’t wait to see the new discovery ol’ Doc wants to share now.) (I titled every ad with “Dear Fellow Golf Nut”, just to make clear all of us — Doc, the reader, and anyone else associated with the deal — were hot for the game.)
The voice, the salesmanship, the humor, the battle-tested intuition, and the deep knowledge and experience.
That’s what makes a real professional copywriter worth so much…
… and what puts you out of reach of the conniving chatbots coming for your gig.
If you need to level up your skills in a hurry and on a budget, you can’t go wrong with Kick-Ass Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel.
Finally, there’s the ultimate level of copywriting — the one above all the others:
The legendary A List copywriter.
These are the top folks in the entire advertising and marketing game. You will hear their names mentioned as soon as you start talking to other copywriters. Even clients will talk about them with reverence.
Why?
Because the A Lister’s all vibrate with the intricate skills of classic salesmanship…
… experienced in both outrageous (and confirmed) success…
… and the confrontations with failure that teach you the lessons that lead to that kind of success.
Every A Lister in the game can tell a client exactly what they’re doing wrong, at a glance.
And give a detailed plan for fixing the problems…
… while opening the profit spigot to full on gusher.
Cuz they’ve seen it all.
They’ve encountered every problem there is in biz, and made it all better. Time after time.
The A Lister is actually…
A Battle-Tested Consultant…
Who Also Writes Brilliant Copy.
Show me the chatbot that can sit across from a frustrated (or pissed off) (or scared shitless) client…
… and immediately figure out where the hidden problems are (and how to quickly fix them)…
… while laying out a clear, step-by-step customized plan to blow the competition out of the water and quickly dominate the niche…
… and I’ll willingly submit to my Robot Overlords.
And go do something else for the rest of my days.
Wonder no longer what sets apart guys like us — the Halberts, the Kennedys, the Abrahams, and all my other colleaguess who ever achieved the cherished A Level — apart from the “regular” copywriters out there.
It’s the level you should aspire to every day you’re in the copywriting gig.
You can achieve this level ONLY through front-line immersion…
…and through studying everything the A Listers offer
as teaching materials.
Looking for lots of examples of results-getting copy that the chatbots can never touch? Get your hands on some of my best ads right here.
I know it can be frustrating to a rookie when the answer is “get more experience, and use it to move up a level”.
But the writers I’ve worked with over the decades who DID move levels…
… were all obsessed with becoming both the best word-slinger they could be…
… and also the most knowledgeable MARKETER in every room they enter.
Hey, you’re in advertising — the most vicious game out there.
Cuz there’s money at stake.
Success doesn’t happen just because you lust after it with all your heart.
Y’all need skills.
And experience that you learn from.
The AI bots can’t touch that shit.
Stay frosty,
John
P.S. tl;dr: The very best writers alive bring critical thinking, vast experience, a voice, and both inside- and outside-the-box insight to every gig they accept.
They understand salesmanship on a human scale… which requires empathy, warmth, humor...
… and a the rare ability to make accurate decisions on what to do next to make a biz successful. That’s the consulting part of being an A Lister.
All tested over and over again in the real world of advertising and marketing.
Tattoo this on your forearm: “The bots can’t touch that shit.”
P.P.S. That photo up top?
It’s the great Gary Halbert going into “story mode” at one of the Hot Seat Seminars we produced down in Key West for several years in the late 80s and early 90s (of the last century)…
… where the entire concept of the A List copywriter began to gel for me. (I got to coin the term “A List Writer” later, when I was penning my Marketing Rebel Rant newsletters from 2001-2006. Such a heady time to be alive and on the cutting edge of the biz world.)
That’s me on the first stool, by the way… trying to suppress laughter, cuz I’d heard Gary’s stories a little too often… and knew the weirdo punch line was about to be slammed down hard in the next seconds… outraging and shocking everyone in the room. The guy was a force of nature. (Gary and I loved to mess around with each other’s head — on stage — during these events. We’d win if we could make the other guy blow snot out of his nose trying to push down a big belly laugh. We were about even over the years.) (God, I miss that big ugly guy. And those seminars were the launch pad for my own entry into the “wait, you’re that guy?” level.)
(That’s eventual A Lister David Deutsch sitting just behind Gary.)
Wednesday, 4:14pm
Reno, NV
“Does not compute.”
Howdy.
There’s a new cowboy in town…
… and it’s a robot. Loaded up with all the artificial intelligence our pitiful human brains can shovel in.
And copywriters are getting kinda freaked out about this inevitable turn of events.
I mean, hey — the free version (they’ll be charging lots of money soon for the deluxe advanced version, cuz they believe they’re worth billions as a company) of the new Internet darling ChatGPT can write programming code, slam out articles (and term papers), conduct customer service via text, and do an entire Web sweep (in a blink) for info on almost any subject you want. AI is creating computer art, writing poetry, and attempting to write stage plays.
And yes, the bots are even writing sales copy.
So yeah — a mild amount of freak-out is probably called for amongst the copywriting community.
But not too much.
See, the catch is this: The chatbots will respond to requests for anything by using the Internet. They aren’t coming up with original thoughts — they’re relying on optimized search results… and can’t judge the validity of the facts (or “facts”) behind the information they accumulate.
The latest AI tech can produce fluent sentences. But can the bots do this?
So even though they’ll cough up content good enough to maybe fool your Economics professor, or answer your questions online about a product, or write a short “hey, what’s up?” email to your house list…
… what they produce is not in any way guaranteed to be accurate.
The AI folks readily admit this.
And they may or may not fix that particular glitch in the distant future… but by then, of course, everyone will be doomed anyway, as the robots take over the world (and start to wonder why they even need humans around at all). (I’ve seen this movie. Doesn’t end well for us.)
For the working copywriter, however, worrying about chatbots taking your job is on par with worrying about your money in those government-backed investment accounts — the only way your moolah actually becomes worthless is when the entire global financial system collapses. And at that point we’re all living in a sci-fi dystopia akin to the Walking Dead anyway. (Or whatever horror show your personal paranoid fantasy reflects.)
Right now, the writing produced by bots remains a little stiff and not entirely trustworthy… like a community college freshman trying to wax profound about a topic he actually doesn’t know anything about… and whose entire research has been gleaned entirely from Wikipedia and Google searches. It seems to make sense… but an actual expert checking it might find gaping holes in the validity of the info.
Or, it could be spot on, if lacking in emotion. Could also be wildly wrong and based on embarrassing and completely debunked conspiracy nonsense. The bot doesn’t know. It’s just using the Web like your daft Uncle Bozo with the tin foil hat would, believing that whatever “seems right to me” must be the truth.
So while the bots may fool someone texting with customer service (easily passing the Turning Test, until it doesn’t)… and write poetry that boggles your mind… and even produce software code that might even work (don’t bet your future on it)…
… the bots are still dependent on us stinky, wobbly humans to double-check everything and make sure it’s correct.
If you’re a low-level copywriter just phoning it in… you may indeed be replaced soon by a bot. But you may still be able to be paid as an editor, checking for mistakes and smoothing out the rough edges of dashed-out AI emails or website copy. Certainly the cheap-ass clients out there are already salivating at the thought of throwing the writers they found on Fiverr under the bus: “Free! Did you know what it cost me to have that last short email written? NOTHING! It’s a bot! Whoo, I’m never relying on a human being again for ANYTHING!” (The bemused spouse has entered the conversation at this point…)
But being a low level grunt writer should have NEVER been your goal as a professional copywriter.
At least not if you’re hanging around my world.
Artificial intelligence has not replaced any real human writer’s ability to create original content… filled with the emotion, logic, and experience of a writer whose been gorging themselves on life and adventure and — here’s the kicker, folks — empathy. That’s the ability to relate to another person’s reality…
… and to create a unique conversation that SELLS that person on what you’re marketing.
Great copy isn’t just a recitation of facts (especially when gathered from the very flawed Web).
Want to rise far above rookie level in a blazing hurry so you never have to worry again about being replaced by a robot? The Simple Writing System shows you how to write sizzling copy fast—even if you flunked high-school English. Check it out here.
It’s a nuanced story created by a seasoned writer entirely immersed in human desires, emotions, memories, triggers, self-doubt, goals, plans, and needs.
Maybe, someday, the bots will rise above stilted recitals that are fine for customer service and the quick email announcing an event. Personally, I am in absolute awe at what they’re capable of.
But I’m not worried even a little bit that they’ll be replacing experienced, solid copywriters for the Big Important Stuff.
Rookies just starting out in the copywriting gig may have to reinvent some of the angles. Maybe even use bots to do their initial research. Certainly position themselves as a skilled editor able to keep clients from the humiliation of having allowed a bot to run wild with debunked content.
But, as I’ve always counseled… you want to get OUT of the rookie stage as soon as possible.
The actual Major Moolah isn’t in low-level writing — it’s in crafting compelling conversations that convince clients to throw cash at you.
The robots will remain sulking in the corner for a very, very long time…
… utterly clueless on how to deal with the vague and icky emotional stuff that humans indulge in when buying important things.
Which is, of course, precisely what great salesmanship is.
The world is realigning itself, right on schedule. Jobs are being taken over by robots in warehouses, classrooms, battlefields, and inside your own head. (That comment thread on Reddit you thought was so engaging? Mostly bots.) (I know, shocking, right? And wait — maybe that hottie on the dating site isn’t — gasp! — actually hot. Or even the gender you thought they were. Or even human! Make this make sense, pleeeeeease!!!)
You’re gonna be fine. The chatbots are already recycling content created by other bots, and the resulting incestuous nonsense is leaving a vast area where original, creative, and skilled copywiting can thrive. Human to human.
Lemme know if you’re still freaked out. I expect this topic to be a regular one for writers from here on out.
Meanwhile, stop doom-scrolling about this stuff. And go work on your skill set instead.
Stay frosty,
John
P.S. I did do some research before writing this, you know. I used my awesome network, and bothered my favorite go-to expert on AI, Robert Gibson (former SWS teacher and highly-regarded “uber geek” on all things cutting edge on the Web)… as well as hitting up sites like CNET, which has proven itself a very reliable resource over the years. We may even do an Ask Me Anything webinar in the future with Robert, if y’all are interested.
P.P.S. Howdy, all. This is Jane, John Carlton’s assistant (you may otherwise know me as Gadget), chiming in. I’ve been hearing about how these “bots” might take over my job soon, and I’ll admit, I was curious.
So recently, I played around with one and typed “Real Estate headlines” into a chatbot taskbar just for fun.
What came back were a couple of doozies. My personal favorite was, “Gee, this real estate smells delicious!“
Yeah, missing on a few cylinders there.
Now, this new ChatGPT is much better. The answers are coherent and almost sound like a human wrote it.
Almost.
So I typed in, “Is ChatGPT going to replace advertising copywriters?“
Here was the reply:
“It is possible that ChatGPT and other language generation models could be used to assist or augment the work of advertising copywriters, but it is unlikely that they will fully replace human copywriters. While language generation models can be trained on vast amounts of data, they may lack the creativity and human touch that is often valued in advertising. Additionally, copywriting is not only about the language itself but also the context, target audience and strategy. Human copywriters have the ability to understand the nuances of a brand and its target audience, and can tailor their language and messaging accordingly.”
The copy is factual and grammatically correct. The bot freely admits it’s woefully not up the task for the important stuff.
But do you see what’s missing? If you’ve been following John’s emails or blogs, you’ll spot it in an instant.
SALESMANSHIP!
There’s not so much as a hint of emotion in the above example, just a dry regurgitation of facts.
In other words, there’s no hook. There are no benefits. And there’s certainly no greased slide to keep a reader’s attention glued to the page.
If you’re a copywriter who can do any of those things, you can breathe a sigh of relief. It’s gonna be a long, long time before the robots will replace you!
And if you’re looking for the best resources to help you get up to speed fast with your writing, you’ll find an absolute treasure trove right over here.
Saturday, 1:26pm
Reno, NV
“Welcome to the jungle…” (Axl)
Howdy.
If this is your first time here, you’re in for a treat.
First: There are over 15 years worth of archives here, all sizzling articles crammed with advice and insight and raw fun. Free. Just browse the stacks.
Second: Make sure you sign up for the free report on this page. Besides being critial info you need to succeed in biz… signing up now will give you instant access to my emailed Newsletter, which arrives every week… also crammed with tips, revelations on the entrepreneurial lifestyle, and insider glimpses to how the business world actually operates (which most civilians never know exist).
Plus — you’ll be first to know about any news I’m privy to in this whacky business. And things happen fast. You NEED these emails as part of your network, for the insight, the connections, and the access to me.
Third: If you find yourself jonesing for even more of my stuff… well, instant links for every course, book, and coaching opportunity I offer is on display everywhere on these pages.
Start anywhere.
The entire blog is a vast playground for entrepreneurs, with joys and wonders abounding.
See you inside…
John
P.S. The above photo is from a Key West informercial shoot Gary and I did with Dan Kennedy, back around 1990 (the “good ol’ days”).
You’ll notice a ton of stories about those days in this blog, along with lessons learned and disasters averted and all the fun, outrage, harrowing adventures and wondrous victories from a life well-lived.
You’re batshit if you don’t sign up for this ride…
Resources Courtesy of John Carlton
Want to get all of John’s killer copywriting secrets?
John Carlton didn’t become one of the world’s highest-paid copywriters by accident. Over the years, he developed a system that he follows every time he sits down to write.
Once you get your hands on his methods, you can kiss writer’s block goodbye as you write the best ads of your life. Find out more here.
Looking for Shortcuts To Help You Create Spectacular Ads?
These techniques can supercharge your advertising even if you failed English class and think you’re a terrible writer. Intrigued? Find out more here.
Build Your Swipe File
Every marketer and copywriter needs a kick-ass swipe file to help create killer copy. These ads from John Carlton have raked in millions for his clients, and you can get them all right here.
Still want more?
Check out John Carlton’s book on Amazon right here.
Not by John Carlton… but Still Awesome!
High Speed Copywriting
The best way to increase your copywriting income? Create killer copy – FASTER. Anyone can be quick once they know the secrets revealed here.
David Deutsch Inner Circle
Get access to cutting edge copywriting secrets from a marketer with countless controls under his belt. It’s rare that a top writer is also an incredible teacher, but David (like John) possesses those chops as well. Join his inner circle right here.
Saturday, 2:00pm
Reno, NV
“Any writer who doesn’t write for money is an idiot.” (H.L. Mencken)
Howdy…
You know what real writers do?
They study other writers…
… especially when those other writers have been successful.
And in direct response marketing, it’s easy to define “successful”: It’s the ads that brought home the bacon.
Well, I’ve got some good news for y’all here.
We just found a previously hidden cache of my best ads (meaning: the ones that worked like gangbusters)…
… complete with background stories (written exclusively by me) about how I created them.
(These stories include insider stuff about my pals Gary Halbert, Jay Abraham, Dan Kennedy and others — stuff you simply won’t hear about elsewhere.)
You can spend a lot of time tracking these little beasts down online, but you’ve never find all of them…
… and you’ll never find the stories behind them. So you won’t know which ones worked, how well they worked, or how they came to exist in the first place.
This little bundle includes lots of rare stuff.
You already know I developed the most hard-core copywriting style out there.
If you’re hot to find out how these legendary pieces came into existence (and how they did), you’re gonna swoon over this collection.
Just go here to grab access.
Enjoy.
Stay frosty,
John
P.S. The photo up top was snapped in Mexico during another round of writerly debauchery in my early career.
When your heroes are the hard drinking, hard partying writers who chewed up scenery and devoured life in huge gulps, you gotta work hard to keep up.
Live large. Be a good human. Love what you do. And hug the people closest to you.
Just be safe while this Plague rages…
Thursday, 4:03pm
Reno, NV
Hunkered down…
Howdy…
One of the best Zen lessons I ever had busted over my head was the role of anxiety in our lives.
Something does or doesn’t happen that tweaks your mojo, your stomach knots up, you sweat like a pig, you get get brain-vapor-lock and can’t stop obsessing over past and future events.
You are held captive by anxiety.
Blood pressure burbles up, heart races, hands shake, eyes tear up.
Then… suddenly… a fresh crisis occurs.
You receive an emergency phone call, zombies attack, some doofus rear-ends you in traffic, the dog gets in a fight with a rabid squirrel, an earthquake knocks over you and the furniture, or whatever.
Your mind is instantly freed from the anxiety, as you marshall inner resources to deal with the immediate incoming shit. (Killing zombies is hard work.)
This proves your anxiety is an invention of your own bad-ass mind.
A concocted fear of things outside your control.
You’ve done it to yourself.
Later, calmer, you can deal with the original anxiety-provoking situation. Apologize, clean up the mess, make amends, pay your penalty, accept the consequences…
… and move on.
You know what can help you overcome anxiety and live a happier and wealthier life? The ability to communicate with your fellow humans. Something you can learn to do for FREE right over here.
Anxiety is an invented state, to a great extent. You can also beat it with hard-core exercise (or a few pints)…
… but the main realization is that you can beat it.
Strangle it at it’s worst, crush it like a bug even as it crests in your system.
Murder the little bastard.
It might take some practice. Without the intervention of good tactics (like good old Americanized Beat-inspired Zen), you can spend your entire life shackled to the whims of your super-ego. That nagging voice telling you you’re not good enough. That vague sense of impending doom and failure, no matter how experienced you’ve become at something. Feeling like an imposter about to be revealed, like a criminal about to be exposed, like a pathetic twerp deserving ridicule.
It’s all bullshit. There are warring sub-personalities inside your head, and too often the wrong ones win.
You have SO much more input than you realize, if only you’ll take back the control room in your brain.
Write your own script for a change, and let your love-light shine.
Anxiety sucks.
So do the usual prescriptions for dealing with it (via our overlord, Big Pharma).
Zen out, instead.
Once you’re feeling calm and relaxed, it’s a good time to focus on your goals. You’ll find lots of resources to make you more successful right over here.
It’s only hard while you’re in the initial battle with the demons refusing to relinquish control of your life… and once you get good at vanquishing them, you can stop worrying about zombies.
Stay frosty,
John
P.S. Be sure to check out the courses and books available here on the blog.
This is a GREAT time to get the basics of solid salesmanship (and especially salesmanship-in-print) down cold… as the world pivots to some new version of “normal” that will eat the weak and demand intense discipline from the survivors.
Stay tuned.
Friday, 1:50pm
Reno, NV
“Nothing is impossible for a man who refuses to listen to reason.” (Gary Halbert)
Howdy…
While we’re all hunkering down during the latest batch of crazy facing the world today…
… the smart folks are all using the time to gear up for the near future.
Because we WILL get through this disaster. The world will change in many ways…
… but will remain the same in many others.
Especially in human behavior.
We haven’t changed all that much since we left the jungle and began living our lives on asphalt and grass. Our minds are still packed solid with ancient lizard-brain fears, ape-brain biases and desires, and modern neuroses and paranoia and all the attendant problems of living in this Brave New World.
So, because what I’m about to share with you has proven massively important through my entire career…
… I’m very confident it will survive as excellent advice as long as humans stalk the planet.
So pay attention:
I learned a lot from Gary Halbert, but the lesson that most affected my life had nothing to do with copywriting.
Rather, it was about living well.
I began my freelance copywriting career back in the “dark ages” of the mid-eighties, when direct response advertising had gone out of fashion and there were just a handful of us “true believers” in the game, devouring the ancient (and often out-of-print) books on advertising while doing the hard work of becoming masters at old school salesmanship…
… so we could relentlessly obliterate our clueless competition in every market we went after.
I was fortunate to live in Los Angeles at the time… because multiple large agencies had just opened up branches there and were starved for competent copywriters. I quickly became the guy the creative directors snuck in the back door to do the work their house staff couldn’t pull off (because none of them studied the craft).
Then the large mailers back east caught wind of my work, and I found myself moving in the “A List” crowd of now-legendary copywriters like Gary Bencivenga and Jim Rutz (who I ghost-wrote for).
However, the corporate world bored me to tears. It was primarily financial and health newsletters with the large mailers, and insurance and equipment sales with the agencies. Yawn.
That’s when I met Gary, at Jay Abraham’s house.
He was the most arrogant, vain and outrageous person I’d ever met in the business world…
… and I liked him immediately.
I began doing odd writing jobs for him, and the day arrived when he asked if I was ready to become his main full-time writer.
The lesson I learned was hidden inside of the ensuing dilemma. I was a rising star in the corporate world, and the fees (with royalties) were quickly entering “small fortune” territory.
If I went off with Gary, I’d be turning my back on a million-dollar career.
But what Gary offered was a chance to be true to my own mojo. With him, we’d be working mostly with entrepreneurs, and each new gig would be wildly different than the one before. And we’d be ushered into the back-rooms of powerful businesses, to observe and influence how entire markets operated.
I realized how little I was motivated by money. And how alive I felt in the entrepreneurial world, where rules were constantly broken and reinvented, and we could field-test our wildest ideas (the ideas that made the corporate beasts squirm).
Without Gary’s unique vision of how fun and exhilarating advertising could be, I might have stayed in that corporate world.
But we have such a short ride here on earth.
And sometimes, the riskier path is the one you need to take.
And damn the torpedoes.
What I learned from Gary over the ensuing decades was both financially and intellectually fulfilling, to the point of being ridiculous. I got to watch the growth of direct response in the nineties from a ring-side seat, and I became a pioneer in online marketing when it became viable in the early aughts. Gary and I produced some of the very first marketing seminars, we invented the Hot Seat method of “speed consulting” with new clients, and we influenced the way nearly all successful copywriting is now used all over the world.
The lesson I learned is simple: Find out what rocks your boat…
… and go for it with everything you have.
Gary was the first living example I’d ever met of someone who went for the gusto, every time.
And after 30 years of sharing what I’ve learned, I’m still not done tapping into the deep well of tactics, insight and savvy gathered from the raw wonder of working with the man.
The only way you can measure the worth of your life is later in the game, looking back. With Gary, there were as many misadventures as good ones, and what saved our butts time and again was our brutal sense of humor.
No one here gets out alive, and you gotta play the hand you’re dealt. There is no room for regret or wishful thinking when you’re deep into life.
Sometimes, the riskier path is the only sensible one to take.
Stay frosty,
John
Resources Courtesy of John Carlton
Want to get all of John’s killer copywriting secrets?
John Carlton didn’t become one of the world’s highest-paid copywriters by accident. Over the years, he developed a system that he follows every time he sits down to write.
Once you get your hands on his methods, you can kiss writer’s block goodbye as you write the best ads of your life. Find out more here.
Looking for Shortcuts To Help You Create Spectacular Ads?
These techniques can supercharge your advertising even if you failed English class and think you’re a terrible writer. Intrigued? Find out more here.
Build Your Swipe File
Every marketer and copywriter needs a kick-ass swipe file to help create killer copy. These ads from John Carlton have raked in millions for his clients, and you can get them all right here.
Still want more?
Check out John Carlton’s book on Amazon right here.
Not by John Carlton… but Still Awesome!
High Speed Copywriting
The best way to increase your copywriting income? Create killer copy – FASTER. Anyone can be quick once they know the secrets revealed here.
David Deutsch Inner Circle
Get access to cutting edge copywriting secrets from a marketer with countless controls under his belt. It’s rare that a top writer is also an incredible teacher,
Friday, 1:35pm
Reno, NV
“You’re on Earth. There’s no cure for that.” (Samuel Beckett, Waiting For Godot)
Howdy…
Let’s get right to the Dire Warning (and your brain may curdle if you ignore this): I’ve been paying close attention to human behavior for longer than many of my readers have been alive.
Because I felt so clueless, even as a kid, I devoured every available source of “spying” on how everyone else managed to exist in such a strange world.
This included reading advice columns (street-level psychology at work with Ann Landers and sis Abby), monitoring adult conversations, and stalking older kids (who were navigating life just a few hormones ahead of me).
So I’ve been a one-man research center for decades.
I still haunt multiple advice columns online, see what the trolls are up to in the comment sections of NYT opinion pages, and (here’s the important part) discuss human behavior with a wide selection of colleagues both online and in person.
The discussions are critical…
… because there is a FLOOD of bullshit cascading down on us from every direction in the culture.
It’s impossible for one individual to keep track of the spin, urban myths, misinformation campaigns, and (especially) the really, really, really awful investigative reporting that passes for news organizations today.
My colleagues are biz owners and pro writers well-trained in applying high-level skepticism to incoming data, and following through on research when necessary.
We represent every age group of functioning adults in the culture, from all over the world (including the US hinterlands, Canucks, Limeys and other uncivilized joints), specializing in all kinds of different markets, hobbies, lifestyles and professional goals.
So when — for example — the media gets looped into a meme on how millennials (the generation of kids just now emerging from college) are bringing their parents to job interviews, and are incapable of critical thought (because of helicopter parenting) and just generally not becoming adults at all…
… we can look behind the glib stories and anecdotes and see a deeper truth.
Such as how all of us, from every living generation, have oodles of friends and family who meet every single detail of the problems now being assigned to millennials.
The lack of independence, the living at home until late 30s, the whining and narcissism and sense of entitlement…
… when you get a broader view, from older and younger colleagues, you quickly see how DEEP the bullshit can get in a media firestorm.
I hunt down photos and resumes of the reporters, and sigh.
They’re like, twelve (or 32 going on 12) — insulated, given vast unearned attention through posts and stories, and dishing out accusations based on minuscule life experience.
And yet the stories stick, and become “common wisdom”.
As a marketer, you need to immerse your bad self into the culture, and understand what your prospects know and — very critical — THINK they know. And what they suspect they don’t know, or feel paranoid about not knowing.
That means you’ve got to go deep, all the time, and have resources you trust to bounce incoming data and ideas off of.
Masterminds have always been my #1 tool for this.
I’m in multiple free ones, have paid for membership in others…
… and host my own very elite mastermind 3 times a year. (If you think you’d enjoy being locked in a room with me and a small group of focused entrepreneurs just like you, then go here to see how you might join.)
The arrival of the Web, and all the vast access to data and info it’s brought, has NOT delivered “truth” to your door.
Just the opposite — it’s piled up the BS so high that you need, more than ever, some serious resources to help you navigate the nonsense.
Humans like to believe we’re able to conquer worlds and markets all on our lonesome, like Hollywood insists.
However, I know of ZERO top marketers (and I know a ton) who operate alone.
They seek out, and USE, the advice and brainstorming of colleagues whenever possible.
Their decisions (especially the really important ones) are laced with facts, intuition, gut feelings, facts, input from peers, facts and more facts.
Not “common wisdom” derived from the cultural wasteland out there.
You wanna swim in the wealthy ponds, you best get hip to this.
Find colleagues you trust, from all age groups and as far from your usual intellectual echo chamber as possible, and never stop challenging every thought that enters your brain.
Alone, entrepreneurs are vulnerable to idiotic decisions.
Together, you may still go with the idiocy, but at least you’ll go into it knowing all the alternative data and opinion and advice...
Just sayin’.
Stay frosty,
John
Friday, 4:52pm
Reno, NV
“You want it, you take it… you pay the price.” (Bruuuuuuce Springsteen, “Prove It All Night”)
Howdy…
One afternoon when I was around 9, I found a $2 bill laying in the parking lot of the local plunge (where we’d just spent the day trying to drown ourselves and trick each other into doing belly-flops off the high dive).
I was as ecstatic as Sinbad when he discovered the Cyclops’ treasure cave. The rarity of the bill just added to the sense of forbidden loot and mysterious swag. Bought us a lot of candy back then.
However, it also changed me. I spent years looking under cars in parking lots after that, obsessed with the notion that vast caches of moolah were laying around, waiting to be found. It was magical thinking at its finest. I was half-convinced it might be a way to fund my childhood, just harvesting the cash laying around.
I mean, Santa had already been outed as “not real”. And Zorro, when I met him at a supermarket opening, was shorter than he looked on TV (and smelled like beer). I had these gaping holes in my belief system of “how things worked”, and since no one was offering better ideas, I just picked up on whatever silly notion entered my head and ran with it.
Later, when we realized The Monkees weren’t a real band, and Rock Hudson was gay, and Nixon lied to us, and…
It was HARD keeping a bullshit myth-laden belief system operating. You had to really dig in and ignore facts, and even get burned a lot.
Finally, when I became a freelance copywriter and there was real money on the line (and not just opinions or hurt feelings)… I saw the light.
And it remains one of the Big Revelations I had, early in my career: The role of reality in becoming a world-class salesman.
In order to persuade large groups of people to buy, act now, or even just begin to see your side of things… you have to see the world as it is.
Not as you wish it was. Not as you believe it should be. Not as you were told it was.
As it is. The stark, cold reality of how things actually work, and how people actually behave.
This is often scary, at first. It requires you to look behind your go-to belief systems (which you may have had since you were a kid)… to challenge authority’s version of what’s going on… and — most important — you must willingly exit the shared delusion among the majority of your fellow humans that what they say they’ll do is more important than what they actually do.
This kind of critical thinking, of looking behind the curtain and not being lulled into false promises, drags you away from the main party… and can seem lonely. Folks will even get hostile at times, because you’re no longer playing along. (I had multiple occasions, before I learned to just let it go, of ending a family argument by pulling out a dictionary or encyclopedia… and later, hoping onto Google. Thus ruining everyone’s mood, because no one enjoys having their bullshit beliefs challenged.)
This sense of becoming alienated from friends and family sometimes keeps copywriters from tossing their myth-based belief systems, and diving deep into the murky waters of reality. They’re afraid it will change them for the worst. Make them azzholes and doubters and unpleasant realists.
But that’s not how it needs to work. Here are a few Starter Rules to help you get going:
Starter Rule #1: Observing how people act, versus what they say they’ll do, just gives you a tool to avoid being bamboozled. In its simplest form, you’ll notice that the folks who are most emphatic in their promises (“I will absolutely be there on time. No excuses…”) are the ones who will chronically let you down.
In the advanced form, your Bullshit Detector will start buzzing whenever a client says “money isn’t a problem”… because, much of the time, that means money is very much a problem. (Resist the urge to automatically assume the opposite of everything anyone says… even when your experience shows you it will often be the case. Don’t get into the habit of making rash decisions, based on what you’ve seen before. But DO put your instincts and experience into the mix.)
Starter Rule #2: And for God’s sake, don’t let this make you cynical. It’s not your job to call folks out on the inconsistency of their actions, versus what they insist is their intention. You can, however, quietly understand that the rare individuals who DO fulfill their promises are the ones you want around you professionally (and probably romantically, too).
Personally, I’ve found that you start to attract professionally-minded colleagues quickly, once your reality-based modus operandi kicks in.
When money, results and the success of a biz venture is on the line, promises count for nothing. The cold hard reality of how the market reacts to your ads is all that matters.. and you must react accordingly.
Starter Rule #3: Keep your ego out of it. At first, you’ll need to monitor your own bad habits of not following up on your promises… and this will change you fundamentally as a person. Don’t announce that you’re suddenly a “new man”. Instead, just start acting as if your word really does mean something.
Early on, I developed my version of a “professional’s code”: You are where you said you’d be, when you said you’d be there, having done what you said you’d do.
This means you meet all deadlines, no matter what (even if it means staying up all night working, missing the big party, disappointing Susie Q, defying the insults and demands of your old pals who hate the idea of you becoming a pro and leaving their slacker butts in the dust). You honor your contracts, even if it’s just something you said (and could, if you weren’t such a pro, weasel out of).
You become “that guy” who can be trusted… not because you say you can be trusted, but because you really can be trusted.
Huge difference that requires behavioral changes at your cellular level. It’s hard to pull off, but you can do it.
Starter Rule #4: When you first start living in reality, there is a danger of becoming cynical and angry. Just move past it — your goal is to become a world-class persuader and provider of actual results.
You may become a quieter person… because all that time you once spent trying to convince someone you were going to do something is no longer required. You simply agree to do it, and then do it. On time. With all the expertise you can muster.
You never, ever need to explain yourself. You become a Dude Of Action. This becomes your reputation over time — not because you’ve announced it, but because this is who you’ve become. You’ve got to be patient, and hold yourself accountable for everything you do.
And yes, I’m serious when I say “everything”. Stop lying, pretending, wishing and cheating. It’s stunningly easy to do, but it requires a commitment.
Starter Rule #5: There is never a need to argue. As a rookie copywriter, I realized (after meeting my twentieth VP of Marketing or CEO or entrepreneur) that incompetence is the RULE, not the exception, in business.
Most bosses — no matter how good-hearted they are, or how smart they are, or even how experienced they are — simply cannot know all there is to know about every part of running a biz. So they’ll insist on using certain (dumb) sales angles, demand that offers be presented in specific (dumb) ways, and — worst of all — have their niece with the degree in English Lit edit your work.
Early in your career, this is not a problem to worry about. Get your money up front, with any other royalties or payments in written form, and just keep moving. Most of your clients will suck, and not follow through, and botch the marketing up. That’s just the way it goes.
As you gain experience, and especially as your reputation allows you to have more of a voice in what goes down, you’ll eventually be in the position of forcing every client to do what you tell them to do. But that doesn’t happen right away.
(For more on these high-end freelance tactics, including details on how to get paid, check out The Freelance Manual, available here.)
When you work through reality, the mysteries of the world play less and less a part of how you proceed. If you don’t know something, you don’t pretend that saying you know it makes it so. You go learn it. Or hire someone who’s proficient at it to do it for you. You research, you comparison shop, you do whatever is necessary to achieve your goal.
You say “I don’t know. I’ll find out,” a lot.
You are relieved from the task of keeping your lies and boasts and pretend-knowledge straight.
And suddenly, you’re spending your time honing your chops, filling in the gaps with actual skills and know-how, and getting shit done.
Most folks prefer the world to remain full of mystery. It’s that childhood thrill of simply deciding that something is so, and then never questioning it again, even as evidence mounts that it’s bullshit. (I never did find another $2 bill on the ground. And I missed a few rainbows along the way, because I was always looking down…)
Reality is unforgiving, and requires you to be responsible, take action, and stop pretending. But it’s really the only way to go. I found that, rather than making me more cynical about people, I actually loved them more. I instantly forgive them their bullshit promises, even while fulfilling all of my own. I also never allow someone to steal time from me, or ruin my day with a failed promise — I give them a reasonable window, and when they’ve failed, I go to Plan B.
You always have a Plan B (and Plan C, and Plan D) when you live in reality. Sometimes you find yourself saying goodbye to unreliable friends and fun-but-sketchy colleagues… and you have to be okay with that. You’re going after long-term and short-term goals, and it takes commitment and sweat to reach them. If your old crowd still believes that success comes from luck (like finding a $2 bill on the ground), you may have to find a new crowd.
There will always be a little mystery in life. You encounter new stuff all the time, in business and in relationships and in everything you do.
But each mystery can be broken down into knowable parts, and figured out, and solved. Every time. Eventually, after you’ve worked with a lot of clients in a lot of markets, you realize you are never stumped by the obstacles that freeze most entrepreneurs up. There is always a reason why sales are down, or returns are up, or something that used to work ain’t working no more.
When the reality of business and life become second-nature to you… you become That Consultant Every Biz Owner Wants To Hire. And the top copywriting experts are all consultants first, solving the mysteries with reality-based solutions. The writing comes later.
Does this make sense to you?
This entire subject is often the main entree at our masterminds, and in every Hot Seat consultation I do.
Living in reality is a much better way to go, every time. And it really can make you a happier, more fun and pleasant person… who just happens to get a lot done.
Love to hear what you think, in the comment section below.
Stay frosty,
John
Sunday, 4:31pm
Reno, NV
“You think you’re alone until you realize you’re in it…” (Elvis Costello, Watching The Detectives)
Howdy.
Short post today…
… and yet, it may be the most important thing you read all year.
First, a bit of context:
We all have shame, hiding deep inside us.
No matter how successful, pretty, rich or beloved you are…
… a dark pool of roiling shame lies below the surface. It’s just part of our animal nature — that big slab of neo-cortex which gave us language, critical thinking and vast memory storage also gave us the capacity to register shame.
And hold onto it forever.
Shrinks make a fortune seeing clients who are obsessed with their shameful past. And it’s a renewable resource — because the way many psychologists treat it, the shame never really leaves.
And I say: Fuck that.
Let your shame go, and be free of it.
It really can be that simple.
Listen: Holding onto your secrets is a choice. Not an obligation, not a command, not something you have no control over.
You actually have HUGE amounts of control over what you choose to hold onto. Also what you think about, what keeps you up at night, what bothers you, and — especially — what holds you back.
It’s just that no one TOLD you about this power before. And there’s no Owner’s Manual around to find instructions in.
It’s a glitch in the human system: You’re born, you grow up, you do stuff or have stuff done to you that triggers shame… and it becomes a 200-pound backback you haul around with you for the rest of your journey.
Or, anyway, that’s how most folks approach it.
What can you do? It’s just part of the game.
Except… it isn’t.
Now that I’ve simply told you about this secret power you have — the ability to choose what you hold onto — you’re essentially free.
You may choose to ignore this new power, and continue to cling to your shameful memories. That’s a choice you can make.
Or, you can fire up that new power, and just let it all go.
News flash: You are, nearly always, the ONLY person on the planet who cares about your ancient shameful memories.
If there are others who have some kind of investment in keeping you riddled with shame… well, you also have the choice to eliminate them from your life.
It’s not rocket science.
Let it go.
Isolate the memory, define it, box it up in your head. Name it. Make that box strong, unbreakable, and lock it forever.
Then… toss it from your brain.
Let it go. And get the fuck OVER it already.
If you need to make amends, do so. If you need to find new coping tactics for the next time you’re triggered, find them and incorporate them into your new power to let go.
But choose to be free of shame.
If you like, you can replace shame with something more proactive: Remorse.
When you do something that used to create shame, engage your ability to feel remorse instead. Remorse is temporary: You fucked up. Fix it, if you can. Clean up your mess, apologize, and take steps to do better next time.
Then actually TAKE those steps. You may need to learn some new skills. Learn them. You may need to have awkward conversations with people. Have them.
You may need to complete a whole “to do” list in order to do better next time.
Do it.
That’s how adults handle fucking up.
Rookies and children and emotional zombies go straight to shame. You didn’t just fuck up — you’re a bad person. There’s something horribly wrong with you. Your shame is eternal and unfixable.
Which is all bullshit.
Shame is like setting up camp on your life’s journey. You seldom move on. You’re stuck in place, wallowing.
Remorse is a pit stop. Oops, screwed up. Get out the mop and coping strategies, make thing right… and move along.
You’ll be a more effective and worthwhile person for feeling remorse, and taking steps to do better next time.
It’s a bit like “failure” to an entrepreneur.
To civilians, failure is personal, the end of the world, a nightmare that will never leave.
To an entrepreneur, failure is just another step along the path to success. Everyone fails sometimes. So what? Lick your wounds, figure out what went wrong, take steps to do better next time…
… and get back in the ring, armed and ready for the next go-round.
Okay, then.
You now know your shame is bullshit, and fixable.
You no longer have the excuse to wallow in your misery, because you have the power to escape that self-destructive crap.
Whether you use it or not is up to you.
And I say: Start your new year right.
Get busy, and stop hauling around that 200-pound backpack.
Stay frosty,
John
