I can define copywriting in two words: applied psychology.
A good copywriter is a great communicator. Very, very simple. And copy is like oxygen, it can breathe new life into any marketing campaign, take any business off life support ... anyone listening right now, if you’re finding yourself working harder and harder each day, only to get fewer and fewer qualified leads, learn to become a direct marketing copywriter.
If you can’t distinguish your marketing methods from your nearest competitors, learn to be a direct marketing copywriter.
If you’re trying to squeeze out the last ounce of profit from a dying business model, learn to become a direct marketing copywriter.
On and offline. On the web or off the web. You owe it to yourself as a direct marketer ... which means getting a direct order, it does not mean going to a store and picking up something to purchase, this is directly. I’m communicating with you and I’m giving you a way to purchase from me directly.
You owe it to yourself and your business to use copywriting as a secret weapon for the next campaign that you launch, and it will seriously make your response rates soar. Increase the pulling power of every ad that you have.
That may sound like a commercial, but it’s been indelibly etched in my mind. I didn’t read it from anywhere. It’s just there to know because I remind myself how important it is to write copy.
If I’m not communicating with my reader I don’t have a sale and I’m not giving them the opportunity to buy. I’m confusing them. That’s what it means to be a great copywriter and it can be easier than you think if you just record yourself, just like Eugene Schwartz one of the greatest copywriters of all time, he’s no longer with us but he is my idol. He’s my favorite copywriter of all time.
He took a tape recorder with him, he interviewed Martin Edelston I believe it was in New York at the time, he interviewed him and 30 minutes into that interview the idea of Boardroom Reports which is the largest consumer publication newsletter that goes in the mail, was born. From what Martin told Eugene that historic date.
So all you have to do is record yourself or have someone interview you like you’re doing me right now Louis, and take those words about the subject at hand or maybe call your best sales people and ask them "Why do you do so well? Tell me how you go about selling all those customers?"
Take those words, transcribe them, and you have about 80% of the research you need. You don’t have to be a great writer, but you do have to be a great communicator.
