Copywriters Podcast

We have an extra-special guest today, and I will tell you about him after I tell you about his book. Nine years ago, someone -- and I’m sorry I can’t remember who it was -- told me about this amazing book called “The Micro-Script Rules.” I went crazy when I got it and have been recommending it to people ever since. Fast forward to earlier this fall. My client Billy Broas emailed me, having recently spoken with the author of that book, Bill Schley. He wanted to introduce the two of us. Long story short, Bill is what I would call an expert in branding that sells. In fact, he’s the only person I know who has a pretty foolproof system for creating branding that rockets companies to the top of their niche. He’s been doing that for about 30 years -- companies of all kinds. I was able to get him to come on the podcast and talk about that. Normally we direct marketers are a little hesitant to listen when anyone talks about branding, but I promise this. You’ll want to hear what Bill has to say. That’s because he’s wor

We’ve got a very special guest today, Kenneth Yu. I really want to thank him for staying up very late to join us. As we’re recording this, it’s the middle of the night in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where Ken is based. He’s going to tell us about what he calls “the most persuasive story structure on Earth,” and he has a point. He calls it “the scalable parable,” and this refers to the way religious stories are structured. Now, from a sales point of view, the Holy Bible had sold five billion copies, according to the Guinness Book of world records, and that was 1995. More than any other book in the English language, and almost certainly more than any other book in the world. Scalable parables are great in religious texts, but what about in copy? We’ll find out today. Ken is going to tell how he used this religious story structure to get the number one biz-op Clickbank offer last year. More important, he’s going to tell you what you need to do to use this same structure in your own copy. Ken’s got some amazing copyw

We’re back with an episode in the Old Masters series -- four Old Masters, in fact. These four people are the co-authors of the book “The Principles Of Advertising,” first published in 1915. I ran across it while tracking down something else I had learned about from Copywriting Historian Sean Vosler, who has been on this show before. The authors are: Harry Tipper, Harry L. Hollingsworth, George Burton Hotchkiss, and Frank Alvah Parsons. It’s interesting to see how much has changed and how little has changed in the last 100 years. Of course the world has changed and the channels of communication are different. But people are pretty much motivated by the same things they always have been. And what works in ads hasn’t changed that much, either. So the book we’re going to look at today was published over 100 years ago. It was written as a textbook and that should scare anyone off. But the good news is, two of the authors are ad professionals, and two are professors. The language is a little old-fashioned, but the

When you need some good advice for your business, who you gonna call? My way of looking at is pretty simple: You need someone who knows it, not only because they’ve studied it, but because they’ve also done it. Successfully. In the best of all possible worlds, more than once. For instance, if you wanted to take a cooking class, would you choose a class given by someone who has read all the cookbooks… watched every episode of “Master Chef”… and knows where you can get the freshest ingredients in town… but has never cooked a meal for anyone besides himself? Of would you want to learn from someone who has a decent education in food preparation but has also cooked and served hundreds of meals to happy customers, friends and family? Me, I’d choose the second one. Because he’s not only a teacher, he’s a doer. Now, you may know Nathan Fraser as the announcer and co-confabulator on Copywriters Podcast, but today you’re going to discover another side to Nathan. He’s also an experienced entrepreneur and copywriter who

We’re back with our Old Masters Series, and this is the last part of a four-part series -- What Your Prospects Most Want To Know. I would add, what is it that they want to know right away, and whether or not you tell them might decide whether or not they keep on reading? The answer is still: What will your product, or service, do for me? But this time, we’re going to take it from a different angle. Up to now, we’ve talked about what your product can help them do, gain, and save. But this time, it’s what your product will help the prospect be. This is different and may in many ways go deeper than before, because this is about identity. So here’s what we’re going to do today. We’ll go over seven things Schwab found prospects want to know if your product can help them be. I’ll show you how and why. We’ll cover some examples you are probably familiar with in general, like product categories, or in specific, like promotions you’ve probably heard of. Again, let me remind you that Vic Schwab spent 44 years working

The market research company Ipsos recently did a poll that found 46% of Americans believe in ghosts. I found that annoying because they didn’t ask Americans how many of them believed in monsters. It’s so important which words you use when you’re taking a survey. Ipsos also found that 7% of Americans believe in vampires, and 6% believe in zombies. With Halloween coming up, I thought this would be a good time to do a show about monsters. Specifically, the Five Monsters of Copywriting. Especially for all the copywriters who can’t go trick or treating because they are locked in a room on a deadline. Now, look. The Ipsos poll also found that 88% of parents eat their kids’ Halloween candy. So I guess being a copywriter on deadline isn’t as bad if you’re a parent. But let’s talk about these Monsters. They are the very things that keep us from writing. I saw this sad plea for help on Twitter on in late September, from newspaper humor columnist Alexandra Petri. She wrote: “Friends if you see me on here next week, plea

We’re back with a special Gold Edition of Copywriters Podcast. The reason it’s a Gold Edition is because we are taking a deep dive into the gold mines of copywriting history. The two men who invented copywriting as we know it are Claude Hopkins and John E. Kennedy. And the man who hired them was Albert Lasker. I came across this book, The Man Who Sold America, which has information I’d never seen anywhere else before. That was probably because one of the authors, Arthur Schultz, is the former CEO of the ad agency Foote, Cone and Belding — which gave him and his co-author Jeffrey L. Cruikshank access to private papers and other information that was not available to anyone else. You see, Foote, Cone and Belding used to be called Lord and Thomas. That was the agency Albert Lasker ran when he hired Claude Hopkins and John E. Kennedy. I probably never would have even known about this book if I hadn’t been told about it by Brad Nickel, one of my mentoring clients and a previous guest on Copywriters Podcast. It’s a

We’re back with Mike Pavlish for part two of $10-million-plus sales letters, especially in the supplement industry. As we mentioned last week, Mike is a superstar copywriter. He has written promotions for health supplements for some of the most successful supplement companies in the world, including Agora, Dr. Al Sears, Healthy Directions and many others. Mike has also written for smaller entrepreneurs who sell supplements online. All told, Mike’s sales letters and VSLs have sold more than half a billion dollars worth of supplements. Half a billion dollars. Last week, Mike shared with us some incredibly valuable information about how to prepare before you start writing, and some insider tricks for getting your copy read and acted upon. But there’s so much more he has to share that we asked him to come back for a second show, and he agreed. Today talked about a new set of really valuable techniques and ideas, including: • How to use stories to draw in your prospect • TWO types of mechanisms (first we’ve ever h

Get ready for a master class in creating eight-figure sales letters, from a copywriter who has done it… over and over and over again. I’m really excited that today, we have Mike Pavlish on the show. He has written promotions for health supplements that have in many cases brought in more than $10 million apiece. And he’s done this for some of the most successful supplement companies in the world, including Agora, Dr. Al Sears, Healthy Directions and many others. Mike has also written for smaller entrepreneurs who sell supplements online. All told, Mike’s sales letters and VSLs have sold more than half a billion dollars worth of supplements. Half a billion dollars. It’s not often we get someone at this level of accomplishment on the podcast. Mike shared with us how he does what he does… in considerable, incredibly valuable detail. That is, how to develop and write supplement promotions that bring in $10 million or more. Here are some of the things we covered: • How to know if your niche is good • What to look

We’re back with our Old Masters Series, and this is part 3 of a four-part series -- What Your Prospects Most Want To Know. I would add, what is it that they want to know right away, and whether or not your tell them might decide whether or not they keep on reading? The answer is the still: What will your product, or service, do for me? But this time, we’re going to take it from a different angle. Up to now, we’ve talked about what your product can help them do and help them gain. But this time, it’s what your product will help the prospect save. Some things will be familiar, but I suspect you’ll hear some things you’ve never thought of before. So here’s what we’re going to do today. We’ll go over all seven things Schwab found prospects want to know if your product can help them save. I’ll show you how and why. We’ll cover some examples you are probably familiar with in general, like product categories, or in specific, like promotions you’ve probably heard of. Again, let me remind you that Vic Schwab spent 44

I’m thrilled that our guest today is Daniel Throssell, a very unconventional and highly successful copywriter from Perth, Australia. He’s the driving marketing force behind the blockbuster bestselling book The Barefoot Investor. Daniel has a slew of very impressive testimonials on his site, to give you and idea of what other top people in copywriting are saying about him: Our friend Ben Settle calls Daniel, “One of Australia’s top copywriters.” Andrew Campbell, Harmon Brothers Ad Agency, writes, “In my role, I work with some of the best writers in the world. When I saw your copy, I knew you were one of the best, too.” And our friend Justin Blackman characterizes Daniel this way: “A wacky, wacky man of tremendous talent.” There’s one more person I’d like to mention in this intro, and that’s Copywriters Podcast subscriber Stuart Marmorstein. Stuart reached out to me personally and recommended Daniel. Stuart also helped us get in touch, and thanks for that. Stuart was particularly impressed by Daniel’s Parallel

We’re back with our Old Masters Series, and this is part 2 of a four-part series -- What Your Prospects Most Want To Know. I would add, what is it that they want to know right away, and whether or not your tell them might decide whether or not they keep on reading? The answer is the same as last time: What will your product, or service, do for me? But this time, we’re going into entirely new territory than we did last time. First let me say that this show is the Old Masters Series because it comes from a very special book: “How to Write a Good Advertisement,” by Victor Schwab. And I’ll remind you: Schwab identifies four categories of things a prospect wants a product to do for them: 1) help them gain something, 2) help them be something, 3) help them do something, and 4) help them save something. Last time, we talked about what your product will help them do. This time, it’s what the prospect will gain. And you might be surprised some of things old Mr. Schwab came up with. So here’s what we’re going to do tod

We’re back with Craig Dave Carbol and today we’re going to really dig into his secrets about writing exceptional copy for eCommerce landing pages. Craig was with us last week. He has written for such well-known clients as Jon Benson and Mind Valley. But what really sets him apart are his accomplishments in eCommerce, where he has written for big brands in consumer markets like apparel, athletic gear and outdoor living. His copy has raked in more than $33 million in sales in the last year and a half. Craig has come up with a system for writing copy just like he’s writing. The system is teachable, and it’s called Cashvertorials™. He’s told us about it today and walk through a promotion he did using this very renegade and very profitable form of copy. To get free access to Craig’s course, go to: https://www.cashvertorials.com/Download.

As some viewers have noticed, I wear a Pinky and the Brain hat. In the excellent cartoon where this comes from, when the Brain bonks Pinky on the head with a big hammer, it’s just another event in the day. No harm, no foul. The action continues like nothing happened. We’ll get to why I bring this up very soon. But I think you are in for a jolt of a very different sort with our guest today, power copywriter Craig Dave Cobol. He specializes in copy for eCommerce sites and his copy has racked up an astonishing $33 million in sales for his clients over the last couple years. He’s done this using a system he developed called “Cashvertorials™,” which is based on some carefully researched and tested neuroscience and persuasion material that he’ll share with us today. I should also mention that, like Nathan and myself, he’s a musician. One thing that sets him apart is he speaks Swedish, as does the world’s current top songwriter, Max Martin. Craig shared with us a slightly frightening and totally compelling account o

So, you’ve probably heard the old but very true saying that goes like this: “Writing is rewriting.” And you must know by now that it means, you rarely get it 100% right on the first draft. All well and good. But the question is, how do you know what to rewrite? How do you even know what to look for? That’s what we covered in last week’s show, but we only got through half the list. Today, we’ll get through the other half. You see, I realized, every time I critique copy, I look for the same things. There are certain things that any piece of copy needs to have -- certain tests it needs to pass -- if it’s going to work in the marketplace. Previously, on Copywriters Podcast, we covered these first five qualities of copy you must look at. Now, we’re going to cover the last six. A lot of what we talk about today has to do with your prospect’s experience reading your copy. We get into three factors that keep people engage. But we’ll also cover three factors that are crucial in deepening your prospect’s understand of

One of the things people ask me for the most is copy critiques. Whether it’s an A-Lister with multiple controls for a big publisher… a B-Lister gunning to become an A-Lister… or a business owner who wrote their own copy, I look at the same things. It’s interesting, because the better the copywriter, the harder I have to look. The guys who are really good make everything appear to be smooth and perfect. There’s usually a handful of tiny, almost hidden flaws. Once those flaws are fixed, the copy gets supercharged to a new level. Even so, no matter who wrote the copy, I look for the same things. There are certain things that any piece of copy needs to have -- certain tests it needs to pass -- if it’s going to work in the marketplace. Today I’m going to share five of those things, and show you how I look at them, so you can do the same for your own copy. I’ve got six more, but they’ll have to wait until we do another show. So today’s episode is not about how to write a sales letter or a VSL. Either you already kn

We’re back with our Old Masters Series, and this topic is so big and so important that we’re going to take four shows to do it. The question is: When your prospect starts to read your copy, what is the one thing your prospect wants to know, more than anything else? I won’t keep you waiting. The answer is simple. What your prospect wants to know is: What will your product, or service, do for me? It sounds like a simple question. Maybe even a stupid question. But it is neither stupid nor simple. Because the answer you give, and the way you put your answer together, will make all the difference for how long your prospect keeps reading. And, at the end of the day, whether or not your prospect actually buys. This show is in the Old Masters Series because it comes from a very special book: “How to Write a Good Advertisement,” by Victor Schwab. I’ll tell you more about the book in a few minutes. For now, Schwab identifies four categories of things a prospect wants a product to do for them: 1) help them gain somethi

We’ve got a very good show today, because our special guest is Thomas Dean Donnelly, an experienced Hollywood screenwriter. He’s also a teacher of writing all across the country, ranging from back east at Long Island University to here out west at the University of Southern California. The Hollywood Reporter ranks USC as the top university in the world for studying film. But Tom’s screenwriting credits are even more mind-boggling. He’s been at it for over 25 years, and projects he’s written for have grossed in excess of a billion dollars around the world. He’s worked on franchises ranging from Marvel’s Doctor Strange to The Walking Dead. He’s adapted the classic works of writers including Ray Bradbury, Stan Lee and Robert E. Howard. So it’s a bit of an understatement to say that Tom’s been around the block and he knows what he’s talking about. Today he’ll share some of his adventures in the film world with us… give us a few powerful screenwriter story secrets… and reveal the best single solution for writer’s

Elmer Wheeler may have been the best-paid copywriter of all time, on a dollars-per-word basis. In the 1930s, Texaco paid him $5000 to come up with the question “Is your oil at the proper level today, sir?” In 2021 money, that was the equivalent of about $95,000 — for nine words. Or, more than $10,000 for each of those nine words. But those nine words had some other dollars attached to them as well. Texaco estimated gas station attendants who asked customers that question ended up opening one-quarter of a million car hoods — and, you can bet, selling lots and lots of extra motor oil soon after they did. By 1938, Elmer Wheeler had worked out tested selling sentences for 5000 products, according to an article about him in the New Yorker. One of those sentences, for Barbasol shaving cream, reportedly increased sales by 300%. In 1940, he wrote a book called “Sizzlemanship: More than 2,000 Successful Selling Pitches to Command Instant Attention and Buying Action.” It is out of print today, but there’s a Kindle edit

We’ve had really good responses for our Old Masters Series shows, where we look at one important copywriter from the past, and people were literally falling all over themselves when we brought on Sean Vosler a few weeks ago to talk about the founding fathers of copywriting. We had to send out the special writers unit of the Copy Patrol to pick those people up off the floor. But my friend and client Jason Parker made a suggestion that kicks things up a notch even higher. The idea involves finding the best single idea from the greatest copywriters, that we can all use today. I really appreciate Jason’s suggestion and want to give him a shout-out right here and right now. I should also say that I spent a lot of time mulling this over, and today’s show is what I came up with. We’re going to look at five “keepers.” A keeper in this case is an idea you want to carry with you for the rest of your life, because it’s so good. Five keepers from five of copywriting’s greats. They range from the early 1900s to the last 2