There are a lot of intangibles that go into writing killer copy.
That’s a big word that simply means (in the idiosyncratic dictionary I keep near the top of my internalized Bag of Tricks) “you can’t quite put your finger on it”.
Much of the craft of writing sales copy involves easy-to-understand tactics… like the feature/benefit relationship.
(For every feature you write about, attach a benefit. Don’t ever force your reader to finish your thought, and NEVER assume he knows what you mean. Rookie writers think “4,000 horsepower engine” says it all… when the pro will finish the thought for the reader: “… which means your new car goes very, very fast, with a deep roar that scares horses and little old ladies, while impressing everyone you need to impress…”) (Okay, I’m laying it on thick, but you get the point.)
Ah, but you’ll never write at a world-class level until Read more...
Geez Louise!
Mostly, I’ve been able to resist becoming a sports zombie again. The last time I followed a team with any fervor was back when the Giants won 162 games and got shut out of the World Series with a humiliating final-game loss to the Dodgers. After the angst had eaten a hole through my heart, I vowed to never get so emotionally involved in sports anymore.
I still enjoy the occasional big game, and I still love the pageantry and circus atmosphere… but mostly, I am dispassionate about it.
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I just finished my latest issue of The Rant — number 53, if you’re counting — and had a few notes left over I couldn’t fit into the 8 pages I allow myself for each newsletter.
So let me share that insight here: I was discussing human nature and the bizarre “cult of common sense” most people spend their entire lives laboring under (most folks believe they possess common sense, despite glaring evidence to the contrary)… and I was tying it in with the basics of world-class salesmanship.
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Every so often, I make the alarming self-discovery that I’m taking things for granted.
It’s common, it’s understandable, and it’s forgiveable. But it’s not the way I choose to live.
I sometimes ask clients, while digging for USP material, why they’re doing what they’re doing. Most of the time, they don’t have a good answer. Especially the younger ones, for whom life is still a whirlwind of incoming stimuli and the years ahead still seem endless and fruitful.
And for those clients who answer “make a ton of money”, I know we are not destined for a long relationship. Because, if there’s one solid thing I’ve learned in my career… it’s that money isn’t a worthwhile goal. At best, it’s a sideline benefit.
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I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with other writers a lot lately.
Writing anything — fiction, ads, webstite copy, autoresponders, poetry — can be a very isolating experience. None of the best writers I know work with a single other co-writer, let alone a committee. At most, we have someone gather research info for us… but when it’s time to put words down, we go hide.
This solitude makes us dangerous social animals when we get around other writers. I call it “The Brotherhood of the Pen”, and this sense of shared-connection goes back to the dawn of civilization… which, by no coincidence, was spurred by the invention of a written language.
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I’ve been reading a lot lately about brain studies. The Germans and the Dutch are really going to town on this, tracking eye movement on ads and recording brain activity while subjects listen to radio ads.
They aren’t choosing ads as their material to help marketers. They’re choosing ads because advertising is very effective at lighting up the cerebral cortex and amydala and brain stem.
Everyone is affected by good ad copy in some way.
If they used, say, Moby Dick for their tests, they’d have to make allowances for the unfortunate fact that many people doze off in the presence of a book.
I’m not sure if this makes me proud to be an adman or not… but it sure emphasizes the power of salesmanship. Negative or positive, everyone has a reaction to copy.
Did you know that you can get some of my best biz boosting tips for FREE? Yep, it’s true. Just sign up for my report and emails right here.
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Whew.
Just flew in from San Diego, and boy are my arms tired.
Okay, scratch that bad joke. I’m exhausted. Forgive me.
Still, since getting back in the office and plowing through the thousand or so emails waiting for me after being gone for all of six days… I have noticed a very nasty trend among wannabe entrepreneurs. And I feel the need to discuss it.
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Quick post before I hop on a plane in two hours, bound for sunny So Cal and a couple of wild seminars:
It took me half a lifetime to figure out the secrets of honest discipline, because I am genetically lazy and never had that cool, hip uncle-figure to take me aside and reveal the secrets of anything about life.
I was all slacker and potential, with no honed chops whatsoever. A total waste of pre-frontal cortex.
Then, I discovered the joy of discipline, and got my act together.
That’s when life got interesting.
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I just have two things to say about the upcoming 9/11 anniversary:
1. I don’t care how much of a stud you are — this was an emotionally jarring event in everyone’s life. For all the turmoil it caused in business and politics and global stability, the lasting effect deep in our souls is just as damaging. Even if you skip all the cheesy TV specials (and I’m pretty sure every network we have will embarrass themselves), there will be vibrations throughout the collective unconscious.
Just be ready for a little emotional shockwave. We took a hit, and we absorbed the blow and held steady.
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This posting has nothing whatsoever to do with marketing or advertising.
It has everything, however, to do with your life.
Over the past few months, an ever-widening circle of friends and family have gotten sick. I come from hardy working-class stock that, in normal circumstances, is pretty stubborn about allowing illness to win. If anyone ever gets sick enough to admit being sick… then they are really friggin’ sick.
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