Copywriters Podcast

If you’re a copywriter and you’re itching to build a business, what should you do? You probably have many options. But if you’d like to know whether building your own agency is the right way to go, we have some valuable information for you. Today’s guest, Andy Strote, has built two agencies. The first one, Fireworks Creative, grew from 2 to 30 people in five years. Andy and his partner sold the ag...

Once you can start using stories effectively in your copy, you have for all practical purposes developed a marketing superpower. But don’t stop there. Because the difference between a story and a STRONG story can be the difference between high-test gasoline and rocket fuel. One will get you there faster… but one will get you there a lot faster, and go a lot further! Strong stories are the rocket f...

If you wanted to build your own home from scratch, it would be a good idea to talk to someone who’s done that, right? Same thing with a sales funnel that generates a level of income you can barely imagine. How do you build one? My advice is: Listen to our returning champion, Aaron Gentzler. Because he’s been there and done that. Multiple times. For example, Aaron led a team in growing a newsletter...

Today we have a special edition of the Old Masters Series. I’ve convened a “board meeting” of six of our favorite Old Masters: David Ogilvy, Vic Schwab, Joe Sugarman, Gene Schwartz, Claude Hopkins and John Caples. If you’ve read Think and Grow Rich, you know how Napoleon Hill used to have imaginary meetings with dead presidents? Well, this one’s like that, but a little different. I’ve taken actual...

Last week we had A-List Copywriter Donnie Bryant on to tell us that the era of salesmanship in print is over for copywriting, to be replaced by showmanship in print. He added that knowing how to sell is still a top priority, but today it’s almost imperative that you do it in an entertaining context. Donnie’s right. We’re in an entertainment era, that’s for sure. A couple days ago I was watching a...

For years, copywriters have been bowing down to a pivotal moment in copywriting history when John E. Kennedy revealed to Albert Lasker that advertising is, in fact, nothing more than “salesmanship in print.” That happened in Chicago in the early 1900s. Today, a modern-day copywriting visionary from Chicago, Donnie Bryant, says it’s time to update the definition. Donnie is our returning champion. H...

If you’d like to know what goes on behind the scenes in the world of financial copywriting, our guest today has the inside story. Aaron Gentzler is CMO of Mauldin Economics, a major financial publisher based in Northern Florida. He’s been in the business since 2006 and tells us about his own journey, as well as some of the experiences he’s had training and advocating for younger copywriters. Just...

This is a Manifesto and an Exposé. People ask me all the time what I do in my mentoring of copywriters and business owners. I mean, what did I do to earn the tagline, “The World’s Greatest Copywriting Coach?” I’ve decided to come clean. It’s never been a secret, but now that I think about it, I just don’t talk about it all that much. In dribs and drabs, sure. But never the full monty. Until today....

These days, more than ever before, it’s not merely optional that you stand out in the marketplace. For the listeners of this podcast, that is true whether you’re a copywriter, a marketing consultant with a specialty, or a business owner. You need to stand apart from the crowd especially these days because the marketplace is so crowded and getting more so every day. You want to be known for somethi...

One of the first two books I devoured and then recommended to people who bought my course was by Old Master Joe Sugarman, who passed away two years ago. The book was called “Advertising Secrets of the Written Word.” Just about everything in that book is valid today, and Sugarman writes like a friendly human being, not an imposing overlord of advertising. It’s a very easy book to read, but it is ch...

Today we’re going to talk about an emotion that gets short shrift in copywriting, but I believe is the most powerful of all when it comes to motivating people. That emotion is: Envy. It’s controversial, because there are so many prohibitions against it. We’ll talk about those today. But it’s also widespread, from solopreneurs to marketing from the largest corporations in the world. Some observers...

How do you put together a seven, eight or even nine-figure promotion? (Just in case you weren’t sure, “nine figures” means north of 100 million dollars. And yes, you’re about to meet someone who has written a promotion that took in more than $100 million.) But in fact, there are precious few copywriters who have done all this and will tell you how. However, our special guest today is one of the fe...

You can have the greatest product, the greatest headline, the greatest targeting, the greatest offer, and the greatest price. But you know what’s going to torpedo your entire promotion in a New York minute? It’s: if your prospect doesn’t believe you. We covered one aspect of believability last week, but we have some fresh tips today. Because believability is the pass/fail test every ad must pass i...

You can have the greatest product, the greatest headline, the greatest targeting, the greatest offer, and the greatest price. But you know what’s going to torpedo your entire promotion in a New York minute? It’s: if your prospect doesn’t believe you. Believability is the pass/fail test every ad must pass in order to work. Period. But that’s not the end of the story. In today’s Old Masters Series e...

What do the world’s most experienced, successful copywriters really think? What if I could get them all together in one room and ask them to share their best ideas and techniques on specific copywriting topics they know most about? If you’ve ever wondered those things, you’re not alone. Our special guest today, Jack Turk, wondered the same thing. And next week, he’s going to give you an answer, at...

When you’ve got to make a pitch to a prospect, whether in person or in writing, you face a weird paradox: The more successful the prospect, the less time they have for you. Cramming a ton of benefits into a short pitch tends to work against you. Who can process all that data in such a short period of time. Lucky for you, there’s another way. It’s called “stacking microstories.” Today I’ll show you...

If you’re thinking hiring a copywriter OR you’re considering getting a coach, you might be wondering: What can a copywriter do for me that a coach can’t? And vice-versa: What can a coach do for me that a copywriter can’t? Coaching and copywriting are two professions that have grown impressively over the last 20 years. The Internet and a fast-changing world have a lot to do with it. But a lot of pe...

When you start a launch, do ripples of fear tie your stomach up in knots, because you feel like you’re starting from zero and you feel you’ve got way too far to go, and not enough time to get there? It’s a common problem, and one today’s guest set out to solve. Brenna McGowan is a launch strategist, copywriter and the creator of what she calls “Anticipation Marketing.” She’s developed a system so...

When you sit down to write an email, you are presented with a barrage of questions and problems. Not only how to get it opened, but how to get click-throughs. An even bigger problem which most people don’t deal with is, how does your subject line affect the number of sales you ultimately make? Our guest today, returning champion Donnie Bryant, has spent a lot of time thinking about these questions...

What do you do when copy is coming in fits and starts… or, worse than that, you are staring at a blank page, which is staring back at you? Our returning champion today, Dr. Doug Pew, has some answers for you. What he has to say is information and specific steps you’ve probably heard nowhere else before. And Doug should know. He’s written music performed at Carnegie Hall and an opera that was featu...

When you’re writing a long-form sales letter, you’ve got to cover a lot of info, and some of it is quite detailed. The problem is, how do you keep your reader engaged and keep the excitement building all the way through? And suppose you know you need to use stories but you are so tired of worn-out hero’s journey stories? Our returning champion today, Joshua Lee Henry, recently solved those problem...

Have you ever written a really good sales page or video sales letter script, and you’re sure you’ve done everything right, but it’s still not converting the way you know it should? Sometimes it all boils down to that final push. More than a call to action, the final push is a collection of simple but crucial elements to help your prospect get across the finish line. These tips were discovered from...

Have you ever been working for a client on a project where you know exactly what hook and offer will convert in the market, but your client has a different opinion and is strongly opposed to what you want to do? By the same token, have you ever had a client urging you to promote their product a certain way, when you have strong evidence or knowledge that it’s not what the market wants? Every exper...

If you’re haunted by low open rates, dismal click-through rates, miserable engagement and pathetic conversions, there’s almost certainly something you’re not doing enough of—or maybe not doing at all—that could increase your numbers dramatically at every turn. And that’s writing in a much more visual way. Picture copywriting, we call it. Which is not as hard to do as you might think it is. The bes...

The confused mind buys nothing. So if you are confusing the reader, they’re not going to buy. How does this play out? When you are selling a course, a technology, or a health supplement, you often run into a familiar brick wall: This thing is so complicated. I know it works, but how do I explain it so the average consumer can quickly grasp it? Today we kick around some little-known (yet completely...