Copywriters Podcast

Our guest today is famous in digital marketing circles as an online advertising expert. His name is Justin Brooke and I’m so happy he can join us. Justin is the founder of Adskills, a great training company for online advertising. He’s also a super-experienced media buyer, having spent more than $10 million for lead generation as well as eCommerce campaigns. While Justin could give us super-valuable information on a lot of things, there’s one topic he knows a lot about where I’ve found it’s really hard to find any other expert who is also a good teacher. Justin is both – that is, an expert, and a really good teacher, and that topic is advertorials. It’s great that we get to talk to him about that today. Here’s what we ask him in today’s show: 1. For people who don't know -- What are advertorials, and how are they useful in marketing? 2. How did you get into writing, and teaching about, advertorials? 3. What are the key differences between an advertorial and... - content/articles - sales letters/ads? 4. Could you give us an example of a successful advertorial? 5. What are some mistakes people make when they try to do advertorials, but mess up instead? 6. What are some of your best go-to tips to creating successful advertorials? 7. If someone wants to learn more about advertorials, what would you recommend? AdSkills.comDownload.

In just about every copywriter’s life, there comes a time when you ask yourself, “Why on God’s green Earth are all my clients making money hand over fist, day after day, month after month — and I just get paid just once?” It’s a fair question because, more often than not, as copywriters, we end up essentially inventing our clients’ businesses. With our copy. With our ideas. With our expert guidance. To create a money machine. Our guest today has a solution to this problem copywriters have. His name is Jason Moffatt, and his nickname is “profit Moffatt” for a reason. He’s figured out how to do profitable deals, both for his clients and for himself. He started his copywriting career reading books and courses while waiting in his spy van during private investigation stakeouts. After 17 years in Internet Marketing, Jason teaches digital marketers and copywriters how to get their slice of the pie by acquiring significant equity chunks on any project they work on. He spends most of his time on Hawaii’s famous island of Maui, playing guitar and helping fellow entrepreneurs and copywriters get paid far better. We started out talking about what Jason calls “The Inception,” which is his term for the great opportunity right under the nose of most copywriters. But there are a few changes you need to make to your mindset to see the opportunity, and take advantage of it. Jason explained that clearly and in useful detail. Most copywriters have a million-dollar talent that most of them are unaware of, and Jason talks about how to recognize it and how to leverage it in your business negotiations. Also, why even though you have other talents of great value, your ability to write copy that converts is disproportionately valuable to a prospective business partner. Jason then talked about some first steps, but probably the most important one is selecting the right partners for an equity deal, and keeping your distance from the ones who are highly unlikely to work out. He had some great info on finding partners, negotiating terms... and sealing the deal. For more, here’s Jason’s course on getting equity deals: https://equity5000.com/davidDownload.

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.Download.

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/Download.

Explore strategies for overcoming frustration and enhancing copywriting efficiency with the 'frustration flow scale'. Learn to navigate writing projects and master mindset for efficiency, emphasizing audience understanding. Discover benefits of meditation, flexibility, and efficiency in copywriting. Explore recommended books for copywriters and advertising professionals.

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: bond@thegaryhalbertletter.com 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 Download.

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: bond@thegaryhalbertletter.com 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 Download.

Every year, between 20 and 30 lucky people get a phone call that goes something like this: "Congratulations! The MacArthur Foundation has determined that you are a GENIUS, and we'd like to send you some Mo-NAY! Unlike my parody of the actual phone call, the money is serious — these days, $625,000, paid over five years. To use however they want. Now that's great for them, but so what? How does this have anything to do with copywriting? It's simple. These people get the award because the foundation gives it to them explicitly because of their creativity and originality. Something every good copywriter wants to get better at, too. Now… stay with me here… What if you could travel around the country interviewing these people and coaxing from them their creativity secrets? Well, maybe you could. But someone already did. And she wrote a great book about it. Denise Shekerjian interviewed 40 MacArthur fellows, as they are officially called. The book she wrote is titled "Uncommon Genius: How Great Ideas Are Born." I cherry-picked some of the best revelations. Especially those thought would help us copywriters increase our own personal creativity. So, here's what we're gonna do. I selected three categories that all of us can relate to: intuition vs. judgment… luck… and staying power. The last one being, what motivates you to stick with a problem or a project that is giving you a hard time? And for each of the three categories, I shared insights from three MacArthur geniuses. Nine in all. There's no one answer that the author got from every genius on every topic. Which makes sense, since these people are unusual individuals. They range from movie directors to composers to anthropologists to professors. And who knew that professors could be so creative? But some of them really are. We'll take a tip from each genius and then look at how some of their ideas could prove to be a boon for a copywriter or other creative entrepreneur. link to the book: Uncommon Genius: How Great Ideas Are Born, by Denise Shekerjian https://www.amazon.com/dp/0140109862 Download.

We don’t usually give out formulas on this show, but today I’m going to start with one: Empathy = $80 million. I got that -- actually, I created it -- from looking at the work of our guest today, Emily McGuire. She’s a big-time specialist in email marketing. And her email campaigns have earned clients over $80 million in revenue. The reason I put empathy in the formula is that Emily says her guiding principle is “Leading with empathy… figuring out where your prospects and repeat customers are in their buying cycle, or customer journey… and re-engaging them when they start to cool off.” In her business, Flourish and Grit, Emily has worked with consumer brands, health and wellness businesses, and Software-as-a-Service companies in the tech space. Her most famous client is probably Adam & Eve, the adult toy store. She used the empathy approach to increase their profits by 36%. Here’s what I asked her: 1. Emily, I’m just betting you polarize audiences when you tell them that if they want to sell more with their emails, they should stop pitching a product or including a “buy” like so often. First, do I have that right? And secondly, if I do, why do you say that? 2. Could you walk us through some examples of how you have helped companies improve sales and strengthen their communities, using your approach? 3. Let’s delve into the kind of copy you write and the framework it fits into. Could you share a few paragraphs from a couple different emails, and tell us about the overall email it fits into? 4. This has been great, Emily. How about some tips for writing the kind of emails you’ve been talking about? To get Emily’s report on Action Guide on increasing email open rates and join her email list: https://www.flourishgrit.com/openDownload.

Today’s show is part of our popular Old Masters series, and we’ve got some unusual info and ideas from a copywriter of old, John Starr Hewitt. This comes from a book we’re pulled from before, from 1925, called “Masters of Advertising Copy.” From everything I’ve seen in this book, Hewitt is the only contributor who gets down to cases when it comes to what it takes to become a master in copywriting. His ideas are decidedly different, even for today. He talks about the subtle skills a copywriter needs to develop, and the subtle changes that occur as you get better and better. I agreed with most of what he said. I didn’t have an issue with any of it. Some of it was a little hard to understand and apply for copywriting today, but most of it translates very easily. And all of is interesting. More than how to structure an ad or how to do your research, this chapter by Hewitt focuses on awareness. What you need to pay attention to both with your product and regarding the world at large. Since this is new information, the way he presents it, I think you’ll find it useful and maybe give you some new ideas. So let’s talk about John Starr Hewitt and his chapter. I couldn’t find out much about him personally or career-wise, except it looks like he was from New Jersey. His main idea is: What you see and what you feel is a major set of factors in your success as a copywriter. It's interesting that this was from 100 years ago, when only recently have authenticity and deep empathy become so important, maybe again or maybe for the first time, for copywriters. Because he was writing almost 100 years ago, every copywriter Hewitt refers to is a “he.” I hope you can look past that and understand that for the sake of accuracy and not adding awkward extra language to the quotes, you can assume “he” means both “he” or “she” for today’s show. OK, let’s get started. Hewitt begins by saying: “The more one sees of the difficulties of copywriting, the deeper grows the conviction that really great copy depends even more on seeing and feeling than it does on writing. “The man who sees and feels can hardly help writing sincerely. … “To express fully a fine, deep feeling calls for a writing skill possessed in the highest degree by only a few in each generation.” I agree. There will only be a few who are truly at the top of their game. But that doesn't mean it's game-over for everyone else. Because in copywriting, you can make a really great living, even make millions, without being one of the few very, very best. However, you still have to really home in on some key skills and get as good as you can at them. And Hewitt sounds more than a little like John Carlton when he says: "So it behooves the copywriters to grow up, get his work-bench in order, and learn to practice his art as a mature and conscious craftsman.” Link to free download on GoogleBooks, Masters of Advertising Copy: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Masters_of_Advertising_Copy/ufQiAQAAMAAJDownload.