Direct Response Marketing Copy & Strategy
11:33am
Saint Paul
“Batting 1000!” I say to my young son Sam.
See, last night was his first-ever baseball game.
The Rookie League.
And from the time he woke at 6am… until we left for the ballfields at 6pm… he very much did NOT want to go.
His team had only held two practices. He was worried that he didn’t know the rules well enough.
Continue reading “Final score: 203 to 205”A few years ago, I wrote to Direct Response Copywriter Denny Hatch.
He wrote the book “Secrets of Emotional, Hotbutton Copywriting” (summary here) and I was trying to get a copy.
Denny told me that he’s got a guy working to get it republished.
I checked in with Denny again last month. I asked if he was open to record a podcast.
You know, dig for a little gold, here in the Goldmine.
Denny responded:
Continue reading “Digging for Denny Hatch’s Gold”12:43pm
Saint Paul
One of the challenges with writing copy… is providing your audience with enough detail to sell them on the idea, product, or service you want them to buy.
See, in test after test, long sales copy tends to sell better than short.
This of course depends on your market, the product, the price-point, the market saturation, awareness of your solution, the business’ reputation, and the copy itself. And probably more things too, like the economy.
Now, toothpaste is $3. That’s not a huge purchase, and people always want it. So there isn’t a ton of effort to put in there.
But if you hook a reader… and you have something expensive that they want… then you’ll want to answer questions and handle objections in your copy.
Continue reading “Multiplying Words for Profit”12:49pm
Saint Paul
One of the worst feelings is when you’re stuck for new ideas or motivation.
As a direct response copywriter I’m tasked with creating copy for new promotions, emails, websites, social media posts and more… multiple times a day.
And while I’m usually on track, sometimes I just feel behind.
Ring a bell for you, *|FNAME|*?
Here are three tricks I use to get myself moving.
Continue reading “3 Ways to Get New Ideas FAST”I can barely feel my fingers. The wind whips while I work in the wintry 6° weather. Fahrenheit.
My car’s alarm won’t stop sounding since I tried, and failed, to jumpstart the car. It’s a constant blast of the horn.
Now I’m trying to silence the alarm with some key trickery that the dealership is suggesting over the phone. I can barely hear anything over the car’s alarm.
“Turn it left for ten seconds,” he says. “No, wait, try turning the key to the right.” Continue reading “Reciprocity at the Car Dealership”
Kanye West is persuasive. As Scott Adams has noted, he’s rocketed to success in industries where he wasn’t expected to succeed. Kanye may be running for President in 2020.
Hear Kanye talk about Emotional Intelligence here.
Kayne West, fashion designer and hiphop mover, recently interrupted his San Jose, California show to tell his audience that Trump is a Genius.
Amid boos from his fans, Kanye spent about 20 minutes discussing the election and current events. Kanye said he supports Trump’s non-political history and his communication style. He also suggested people need to focus less on racism.
If you read the headlines and Twitter reactions, you’d think Kanye had joined the KKK. People think that Kanye no longer believes racism is a problem. Their cognitive dissonance is showing:
Kanye 10 years ago: GEORGE BUSH IS RACIST! #Kanye 2 years ago: THE FASHION INDUSTRY IS RACIST! #Kanye now: STOP TALKING ABOUT RACISM!
— Illest (@trillest_snake) November 18, 2016
Of course, the headline is never the true story. It’s an emotional hook — you click because you can’t believe that’s really what happened. And it’s not. Continue reading “Kanye West Reminds Us He’s Running for POTUS 2020”