Tag Archives for " copywriting "
The Quiz, Resolved. And Prize Awarded…
Tuesday, 4:06pm
San Francisco, CA
“I left my heart…” (Tony Bennett)
Howdy.
By the time you read this, I’ll be back home in Reno… a better man for having spent a week in San Francisco.
Even though it was all business, I still get invigorated just from hanging out in that city by the bay. It’s one of the few things California did right (though they’re working hard at ruining it). (Bastards.)
And while I was gone, the last blog post went freaking bonkers. Nearly 200 comment posts (most of them well-thought-out and elegantly delivered, too). (With the occasional funny disruptor, of course. It wouldn’t be a good Quiz without a big healthy dose of irreverence.)
So, a big “thanks” once again to Robert Gibson (SWS veteran teacher and all-around good dude) for being ring-leader while I was off.
And congratulations to the winner. Who we’ll announce here in a second.
First, though, let’s clarify what the answer is.
The question was: What’s the 4th big observation about money that changed my life so dramatically… that an avalanche of good stuff followed (including the phat opportunities to work with Gary Halbert)?Read more…
Money, money, money, money…
Sunday, 4:24pm
Reno, NV
“… keep your hands offa my stash…” (Pink Floyd)
Howdy…
Let’s talk about money.
Do you have enough?
Do you know how much “enough” is, for you?
Most folks are pretty clueless about moolah. They desire it, they fear it, they respect and hate and love it… and they assign all kinds of magical powers to it.
So here are a couple of observations… from a dude who’s been broke, been rich, and seen the awesome potential as well as the destructive nightmares that money can wield:
Big Damn Observation #1: Money really can’t buy you happiness.
But you know what? It’s still more fun to find this out for yourself, rather than take someone’s word for it.
For me, it was well worth keeping this nugget of wisdom on a note tacked to my office wall. Because happiness was definitely on my wish list of life-long goals… but so was success.
So I kept track as I moved up the socio-economic ladder from slacker, to decently-paid freelance writer, to obscenely-paid “A List” professional.
And guess what?Read more…
Congratulations, And Now Stop Being A Wuss
Monday, 7:55pm
Reno, NV
“But it’s all right… in fact it’s a gas…” (The Stones, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash“)
Howdy…
Nobody’s ever asked me to give the commencement speech for a graduating class.
That’s probably a good thing. I’m pretty pissed off at the education system these days, and I might cause a small riot with the rant I’d surely deliver.
See, I have a university “education”. A BA in psychology. (The BA stands for, I believe, “bullshit amassed”.) I earned it several decades ago…
… and while I had a good time in college (height of the sex revolution, you know, with a soundtrack that is now called “classic rock”), made some lifelong friends, and got a good look at higher learning from the inside…
… that degree provided zilch preparation for the real world. Didn’t beef me up for any job, didn’t give me insight to how things worked, didn’t do squat for me as an adult.
I waltzed off-campus and straight into the teeth of the worst recession since the Depression (Nixon’s post-Vietnam wage-freeze, record unemployment, gas-lines, near-total economic turmoil)…
… so, hey, I should have a little empathy for today’s grads, right?
Naw.Read more…
Takin' It Too Far…
Thursday, 11:49pm
Reno, NV
“Qu’est-ce que c’est?” (Talking Heads,”Psycho Killer”, ca. 1979)
Howdy.
Quick lesson today, which should help you understand one of the fundamental truths of kick-ass marketing.
That truth: There is almost always a way to fix or solve a marketing problem.
Actually, that truth is also functional in every-day life…
… but that’s a much longer lesson.
Here’s the quickie version, for marketers: I was just delivering this story in one of the Simple Writing System classrooms, and thought I’d share with you here, too.
As any decent marketer knows, the Prime Directive of a sales process is to discover your best possible prospect… and “reach” him with your sales message.
Seems simple enough. Sometimes, it is. If you’re selling hamburgers near a starving crowd, you’re set. Just open your doors and tell folks to line up.
For a while (back in the Good Old Days of Internet marketing), all you had to do was:
Step One: Be the first into a hot niche…Read more…
Night Of The Living-Dead Sales Letter…
Thursday, 8:06pm
Reno, NV
“Here come Johnny Yen again…” (Iggy Pop, “Lust For Life”)
Howdy…
Oh, my God!
They killed the sales letter again!
Will this horror never stop?
Actually, you can relax. Just like Kenny in South Park, the traditional sales letter is on some kind of perverse “Permanent Hit List”…
… where every marketer trying to claim he just invented a new fad stands astride the image of a quaking letter…
… and slays it.
Huzzah! Death to you, vile long-copy sales letter! Take that… and that…
… and that.
This latest round is clever as hell, too. The new trend is putting your sales letter in a video, and reading along with it.
The irony: The dude selling you the “Magic Box” product that kills the sales letter forever…
… uses a sales letter to do the killing.
Hey — don’t get me wrong. I love video. Been using it in marketing since… well, since it was actual videotape on reels. (Yeah, shocking, I know. We were so backward in the last century.)
In fact, the “Magic Box” product I’m talking about is, I’m guessing, an excellent solution for many marketers who can’t figure out how to make a video sales letter work.
And all’s fair in love, war and advertising. So all the dudes out there telling you the sales letter is dead, and you can sell without selling, and the Web has changed everything…Read more…
There Are 2 Kinds Of People In The World…
Monday, 3:29pm
Reno, NV
“You’re either on the bus, or off the bus…” (Ken Kesey)
Howdy…
Quick lesson here I thought you’d enjoy.
The phrase “there are two kinds of people” is used by comics, politicians, and just-plain-folks trying to set up a point with an easily-understood little story.
It’s an over-simplification, most of the time, of course. Life is too nuanced and complex to fit into just two tidy categories.
However, sometimes you can make a damn good argument behind the two-groups thing.
In selling, this is what we’ve called “the dichotomy of futures”…
… meaning, you can make two distinctly clear divisions:
1.) The “in” group, which is your target market…Read more…
Buzz And Awe
Friday, 3 a.m.
Reno, NV
“Is there gas in the car? Yeah, there’s gas in the car…” (Steely Dan, “Kid Charlemagne”)
Howdy…
First…
… what are you doing up this early? Or late?
You need your beauty snooze, don’t you?
I know why I’m up, though.
It’s from excitement. I just cannot sleep.
Why?
Here’s why: Those of you in the loop know we’re launching the coaching program of the Simple Writing System again.
This is Number 7. We only offer this hand-holding, personalized, one-on-one mentoring rarely. The 6th one was all the way back in the Fall of last year. (They’ve all sold out, too, quick.)
No idea when Number 8 will come around… if it even does.
We take this one program at a time.
It’s extremely interactive. Perfect for anyone who knows that hands-on mentoring is the best way to learn the simplest possible system (crammed with short-cuts) for creating all the sales messages needed for a profitable business…
… including all your ads, websites, video scripts, emails, AdWords, blogs and other social media broadsides…Read more…
Who’s Watching Your Back?
Thursday, 7:41pm
Reno, NV
“Please allow me to introduce myself…” (Stones, Sympathy For The Devil)
Howdy…
This is one of those lessons that arrived accidentally…
… and I had to stop and ruminate about it for a while before it made sense.
I’m lucky I learned it early, too.
It’s provided me with a home base of sanity when the chaos has reached shuddering crescendos and it was hard to think straight (let alone make snap decisions when crisis loomed).
You may find it obvious.
That’s fine. Just don’t go thinking it’s obvious to the rest of the mean ol’ world out there… cuz it ain’t.
Here’s the story: One of my first jobs working for Gary Halbert was to fly to Detroit… and interview a guy who’d just lost 750 pounds.
Yeah, you read that right.Read more…
Are You Freakin' Kidding Me?
Tuesday, 9:18pm
Reno, NV
“He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had failed.” (William James, the Godfather of modern psychology)
Okay, let me get this straight…
You are seriously going to ignore one of the most amazing opportunities of your life…
… because…
… well, I can’t even begin to fathom what your “because” reason might be.
I’m sure it makes some sort of sense to you… but it’s probably an illusion.
I understand the weird, twisted way humans look at opportunity… because I nearly allowed the Big One to get away from me.
Like most folks, I sorta resented opportunities. They never appeared at convenient times, it was seldom clear what was involved, and there was always some change required if I wanted to pursue it.
I had learned — as most people do — that if I just looked the other way, that pesky opportunity would vanish…Read more…
Have A Good One…
Thursday, 11:42pm
Reno, NV
“You’ve got to be digging it while it’s happening, cuz it just might be a one-shot deal.” (Frank Zappa)
Howdy…
Today, I want to say “Thanks” to all the wonderful people in my life.
And I hope you’re having a great holiday.
Sure, the airports are clogged with sneezing, coughing mobs enraged by delays and the prospect of being locked in a house with relatives they can’t stand for a week.
And yes, the politics of this country continue to crawl ever deeper down the rabbit hole leading to Bat-Shit Crazy Land.
And everywhere you look, greed and fear and suspicion lurk.
And yet… the world spins on, and if you can just let your mind settle for a few moments, the raw gorgeous beauty of everything can still take your breath away.
There’s a clever Chinese toast that carries both a curse and a blessing: “May you live in interesting times.”
As all wordsmiths know, that word “interesting” embraces both the good and the bad, the yin and the yang, of life.
Danger, excitement, and adventure. The kind of events that will either kill you or make you stronger.Read more…