Copywriters Podcast

What a songwriting teacher says about how much writers hate to rewrite. It’s not just songwriters. And this reluctance is probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, copywriters never make it to the next level in their writing and in their career. We’re going to fix that today! -- Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time. -- - The two seemingly opposite puzzle pieces of putting together a magical story for your copy. When creativity meets implementation. Why they are like oil and water — they don’t mix, but most cars need both in order to operate. - What usually happens when a writer sits down to write a sales story for copy. Why faster is NOT better. What happens to make sure a good story never gets done fast with this approach. - What works so much better than the usual approach: Two stages of variation. These tricks come from world-famous writers, but they work just great for every copywriter who uses them. This could be just as fast, or faster, but it doesn’t seem that way until you actually try it. - Why writers normally do what they do — and what they miss, doing things this “normal” way. There’s a very good psychological reason for it. Too bad that, despite the good reason, doing things in this “normal” way leads to self-sabotage. - Why writers resist rewriting, and the heavy cost of this resistance. How totally understandable emotions work against writing good stories. - What to do instead of what people usually do. How to get past typical work-habit blocks to create great stories!Download.

We had Joshua Killingsworth on a few weeks ago, when he talked about how his divorce and child-custody requirements virtually “forced” him to move quickly from another business to copywriting. We got a lot of response and appreciative comments on that show. Joshua also shared his empathy-map process, which gets the copywriter very much in tune with the prospect’s thinking and feeling. Something all copywriters need to do, but, sad to say, not all actually do. Today, Joshua’s going to talk about something completely different. Something that should make him the envy of every freelancer listening to today’s show: How he closes 80% of the prospects he talks to. I’m really excited to hear what he has to say. But everyone should also be excited, as I remind you, that… -- Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time. -- 1. One thing you do in your process that seems very smart to me is you make sure your prospect has an offer that makes sense by itself before you’re willing to consider them as a client. This makes sense to me because, without a compelling offer, no client can be successful, no matter how good the copywriter is. Could you talk about how you evaluate their offer and what you look for? 2. Then there’s the client – the person you’ll be working with. We’ve all made the mistake of jumping into a project, only to discover we can’t actually work with the person on the client side. How do you evaluate a prospective client? 3. You have an intermediate step after they make it over your offer and can-I-work-with this client hurdles, and before you take them on as a client. Could you describe that step, how it works, and why you do it? 4. OK, you have a step called “ask the right questions.” Of course, anyone would want to do that. But you have a special purpose in mind. Could explain that? 5. Once you close the deal, you don’t wait – you get right on it. Not everybody does. What’s your thinking on that? 6. And finally, you have a follow-up step that is brilliant. And simple. Yet so many people just don’t take this step themselves. Want to talk about that? Download.

Justin Goff has created from scratch three multi-million dollar direct response companies. His last one was a supplement company that him and his partners scaled from 0 to 23 million in sales in just under 3 years. Justin sold his stake in that company last year, took a year off, and is now helping the biggest direct response companies to boost their response and increase their average order size on their offers. He lives in Austin Texas with his 2 Great Danes, George and Dempsey 1. Justin, you seem to have a very different view of emails for marketing from just about anyone else I know. I remember once on a webinar I heard you say you would pay $5000 for a good email. Could you tell us, how do you look at emails differently than most people do. 2. How did you use emails in the companies you built? Could you talk about some individual emails and the kind of results you saw? 3. The way you do emails – how do you decide what information to put in the email itself, and what to save for the sales page it leads to? 4. If you or someone working for you is doing daily emails, how often are they pitch emails, compared to “content” emails? Is the tone usually the same with both kinds of emails? 5. Effective subject lines in emails – How similar, or different, are they to headlines that work on a sales page? 6. Your emails go into a lot of depth and do a lot of selling. How does a sales letter it leads to, work, with the way you do things? Shorter sales letters? Repeat the info in sales letter? Or straight to an order page? 7. You’re doing some work for a small group of clients with emails. Want to talk about it? 8. How can someone get in touch with you?Download.

Justin Goff has created from scratch three multi-million dollar direct response companies. His last one was a supplement company that him and his partners scaled from 0->23 million in sales in just under 3 years. Justin sold his stake in that company last year, took a year off, and is now helping the biggest direct response companies to boost their response and increase their average order size on their offers. He lives in Austin Texas with his 2 Great Danes, George and Dempsey. 1. Many of our listeners know all about controls, but some don’t. So let’s start with this question: What is “a control? 2. Why do you need to try to beat a control? 3. How do most people typically go about trying to be a control? 4. What do you see as wrong with, or missing from, this approach? And what do you do differently instead? (Justin – here, could you go through the theory/process of working on the whole funnel? If you can and you’re willing to, mention some super-simple math. Like 2 or 3 actual or potential gains you’ve seen, that most people would miss entirely, using the more conventional, limited approach of just looking at the sales letter.) 5. Are there other things you can do that usually work to beat a control? 6. What happens when a control starts to fatigue and you can’t beat it anymore? 7. What should a copywriter expect to charge for this kind of work? 8. What should business owners expect to pay for this kind of work? 9. How can someone get in touch with you? Find Justin on Facebook.Download.

In this podcast, the host discusses how copywriters can go from good to great by focusing on confidence, targeting the right audience, and creating engaging headlines. They also emphasize the importance of thorough research and knowledge in crafting compelling copy. The episode offers valuable insights on mastering headline writing, killer bullets, and essential skills for copywriters.

In this podcast, the host discusses the key elements that elevate copywriters from good to great. They focus on gaining confidence, understanding the target audience, and overcoming challenges. The importance of developing real confidence and connecting with the audience on a personal level is highlighted. Stay tuned for more insights on unleashing creativity and crafting compelling ideas.

Dive into the chaotic world of 'crunch time' in copywriting, where pressure makes creativity soar. Discover the importance of preparation and how to turn stress into growth through personal anecdotes. Learn practical strategies for managing high-stakes situations, like routines and checklists, that can enhance your writing efficiency. Plus, explore the wild ride of podcast production and the balance needed to keep stress at bay while delivering quality work. This is where true transformation happens!

We have a special Report from the Field today that reaches deep into one man’s family. Our guest is Joshua Killingsworth, and while people’s last names usually have nothing to do with anything else, in this case, it holds a clue. Because Joshua Killingsworth’s copy is killing it. He’s got a webinar and sales page promo, for example, that converted 65% on a one-thousand-dollar product. He’s created a three-email sequence that is making over $20K a month for a client. With a tiny list, yet. And maybe that’s because he had no choice. Four years ago he was going to lose his share of joint custody of his daughter unless he was available on some weekdays. He became an “accidental copywriter” as a result. Today he’s going to share some of his secrets with you. 1. How did you get into copywriting and what is your background? 2. You have an avatar and empathy map you’ve developed. Something I’ve never heard of before! And you say that you believe the research that produces leads you to higher than normal conversions. Tell us about that. 3. What are the steps you use in your writing process? 4. Where do you get angles from, for your hook, your subject lines. 5. You mentioned you verify everything before the writing actually starts. Not everyone does that. Why do you and what’s your process? 6. A lot of copywriters aren’t sure how to size up a client ahead of time. You have a process for doing that – would you share it? 7. Finally, what takeaways can you give people who want to write their own copy? 8. And if someone wants to contact you, what’s the best way to do that?Download.

A few weeks ago, we had Joe Schriefer on the podcast in a special “Reports from the Field” episode. Joe said something that changed my life, and I’ve been thinking about ever since. As you may remember, Joe heads up Agora Financial, and he was one of the key players in growing it from $25 million a year to $250 million a year. The show as about how to scale up a business dramatically the way Joe has. What Joe said that kept ringing in my mind was: To grow a business big, think like the business is small. In other words, don’t get grandiose. Just do the normal things you do, but do them increasingly better. Don’t get private jets and a yacht. You would think a quarter-billion-dollar business should have a private plane, right. But that’s not how they do things. And that’s important. So it got me to thinking. There are so many people urging others to “think big.” And so many people who have these wild-ass plans that almost always disintegrate into dust. Why is that? What are those people misinformed about? And what can we all do differently so we can think bigger and actually profit long-term from our thinking and our actions? Probably the first thing is to listen to this message: Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time. 1. What “Thinking Bigger” Means In copywriting and entrepreneurship, it means expanding your vision – the scope of what’s possible. - most common example: increasing your revenue/income - other examples - increasing the number of clients at the same time - increasing the number of different products you sell 2. Why It’s Important Business only moves in one of two directions. Up – it gets larger, or down – it gets smaller. If you try to stay the same size, it’s really a series of episodes of getting larger, then smaller, then larger, then smaller. What a waste of time and energy. If you keep getting smaller, you eventually go out of business. So the only logical way to go is to get larger. To grow. And you need to think bigger to do that. But you need to think in the right way. 3. The Mistake Most People Make - Think of a road trip. You have a map, you have a destination, you think that’s enough. - The thing most people overlook, and this is the big mistake, is they don’t prepare for - what to do when you get a flat tire - how to deal with a road that’s washed out - what happens when you get lost - That is – they don’t know how to solve all the nitty-gritty problems and unexpected events that occur along the way - So, they end up doing what they call “failing,” and give up - There’s a way to avoid this common mistake, and that’s what we’ll talk about today. 4. The True Path - Foundation - You need to get good at the basics - If you’re a copywriter, there are a few skills you need to have under your belt before you venture into the “big time.” Like.. - Research - Coming up with creative hooks - Writing in a persuasive way - Negotiating and maintaining relationships with clients - Meeting deadlines - If you’re a business owner, there’s also a set of core skills you need to have at a certain level of proficiency - Don’t expect you will pick these up “later” after you start to “think bigger.” You need to have them in your toolkit wherever you are now, before you start to go for big, massive goals - You may have heard different. I’ve never seen it end well when someone’s reach exceeds their grasp. Like the old saying goes, you need to prepare, to win. - Why You Can’t Think Bigger Until You Can Sweat The Small Stuff - Large is just a multiplication of small - As hard as it is for most people to come up with good ideas, coming up with ideas is the easy part. - Many people who are good at ideas think implementing is the hard part. - But implementing is easy compared to solving problems that occur, especially problems you weren’t expecting. - Solving problems when the heat is on is really the primo skill - And the only way you’re going to do that confidently and competently in a big way is by getting repetitive practice doing it in a small way. - What I’ve Observed In Big Thinkers I Know Personally - They’re obsessed with details – the right details - They draw on their own experiences and advice they’ve gotten from others who have at least as much experience as they have. Not too much on theory or other kinds of abstract ideas - They’re great problem-solvers. Very creative in that way even if they’re not like your typical creative personality. - They’re decisive. And once they make a decision, they take action. - They’re not huge braggarts or overly humble. More like, matter-of-fact, but just in the larger picture that they see. - My Own Path - I started very “big” – as the news editor of a national magazine in New York, and, I was told, the ambassador for McGraw Hill to Asia, as San Francisco Bureau Chief - It was all a bunch of bullshit. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time. - Because: I knew how to report and write articles, and edit articles. I was really good at those things. But… I really didn’t know how to solve problems, manage teams, motivate individuals, or bring in revenue. All of which you really need to do to grow a business, even if the teams and individuals are outsourced contractors and organizations. - I started over when I was 40. I built skills from the ground up and started very small. I had to. I was broke and I didn’t know what I was doing. - These days, I focus on tiny little details my former self would have scoffed at. Not all the time. But I’ve learned to identify and focus on what’s important, and when it comes to solving a problem at the granular level, I’m right there. - To give one example: Often when I do a critique, I’ll find four or five crucial things that can keep a client out of trouble and lead to a huge increase in the conversion from the copy. Being able to identify and suggest that small number of things comes from having worked with hundreds of businesses and having reviewed thousands of sales letters over the last 25 years.Download.

Exploring the journey of successful professionals in various fields, the podcast discusses the absence of similar stories in copywriting and introduces the concept of 'copywriting grad school'. It highlights the value of practical experience, market feedback, and choosing the right courses led by industry experts like John Carlton and Kevin Rogers. Emphasis is placed on continuous education, mastermind groups, and mentorship for aspiring copywriters seeking advanced skills.