A couple days ago, I revisited two “control” sales letters by copywriter Dan Ferrari. Dan wrote these sales letters while he was a star in-house copywriter at The Motley Fool. The headlines for the two sales letters read:
HEADLINE 1: What Every American Wishes They Knew Before Filing For Social Security
HEADLINE 2: Warren Buffet’s Shocking Advice to Americans Who Hope to Retire in the Next 5-7 Years
Now maybe I hear you saying:
“That’s it? Those are the winning headlines that a ‘star A-list copywriter’ writes? Pff. I could write that back when I was in 3rd grade!”
And I’m sure you could. And you could probably also write it now, as long as you remembered just two simple but powerful things.
(I’m telling you these two things because I myself often forget them. Whenever I forget them, sales plummet and promotions fail. Whenever I remember them, sales stay healthy and clients come back for more.)
So thing one is that your #1 asset as a copywriter is to know your audience well, and know exactly what they worry about and want. Maybe you’ve heard that before. That’s because it’s true.
Thing two is to realize that… as valuable as fancy copywriting tricks can be in some situations… good copywriting is most often simple. Simple and clear. As Dan himself said once:
“In many places, clarity trumps everything else. It trumps misdirection. It trumps trying to create readership because clarity will create readership.”
And now, here’s a shockingly simple offer:
I write an email newsletter about marketing and copywriting, both from my own experience and from stuff I’ve learned from people like Dan Ferrari. In case this is something you could benefit from, you can try out the newsletter by signing up here.