John Bejakovic

Top Gun and the future of marketing

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“You know what one of the greatest scripts ever written in the history of Hollywood is? Top Gun.”

There’s a 90s movie called Sleep With Me. I know just a single scene of it, but I know that scene well.

The scene shows a party where Quentin Tarantino (real-life Quentin Tarantino) is talking to some other guy. They are discussing Top Gun — my favorite movie of all time – and they give a new interpretation of it.

“The whole idea is subversion,” Quentin says. “You want subversion on a massive level.” That’s why Top Gun is so great.

“What is Top Gun?” Quentin asks. “You think it’s a story about a bunch of fighter pilots.” He shakes his head.

“It is a story about a man’s struggle with his own homosexuality.”

The other guy in the scene chuckles. He thinks it’s a joke.

But no. Quentin hits him with the proof…

… which won’t mean much to you if you’ve never seen Top Gun. If you’ve been deprived like that, you might want to take a 100-minute break right now to watch it (highly recommended) so the rest of this email makes sense.

You’re back already? Good to have you. So here’s what Quentin says about Top Gun:

Maverick is right on the edge.

On the one side, Iceman and his crew represent the “gay way.”

On the other side, Kelly McGillis represents heterosexuality.

But Maverick won’t have sex with Kelly. Halfway through their first date, he rides off on his motorcycle, leaving her frustrated.

So in the next scene, she dresses like a man — in a fighter pilot jacket and baseball cap — to pull Maverick back through subterfuge.

But it doesn’t work, not long term. By the end, Maverick joins Iceman and all the other fighter jocks.

They are fighting the MiGs. “They are this gay fighting force,” says Quentin. And then the movie ends with the climactic exchange between Maverick and Iceman, which Quentin caricatures only slightly:

Iceman: You can ride my tail any time.

Maverick: You can ride mine.

Do I hear you groaning? Maybe you think this whole scene is just tasteless 90s humor. Maybe you’re right. But get this:

I first heard about this scene some 20 years ago. It gave me a kind of thrill, and completely changed the way I see Top Gun. That’s why I often share this scene with other people. And many of them get a kick out of it too, and they remember it and they pass it on also.

So you think there’s something there?

I think so. At least that’s my takeaway for you — a check you can cash:

You might have heard that stories are powerful in marketing. And it’s true.

But like I’ve written recently, people might consume your story-based marketing… and still not want to buy your stuff. It takes a lot more than just fancy storytelling.

Because after your story, your prospect might feel like you tricked him into your pitch…

Or maybe he made up his mind long ago he won’t respond to any advertising, not even if it’s subtle…

Or he might have this stubborn belief, that even though your story tells him differently, your product can’t help him, not really, not him.

So I’d like to suggest that the future of marketing is going to be something like that Quentin Tarantino scene above.

Maybe you’re curious about the details of what I have in mind.

That’s classified. I could tell you… but then I’d have to kill you.

But it might be something I share in my top-secret newsletter. And soon. If you’d like to sign up for that, click here and fill out the form.

The parable of the idea sower

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Today I’d like to tell you about one of the two main engines behind my ability to produce. This engine is very simple, but it’s very powerful. And I believe you can get great use out of it if you also choose to use it.

But hold on.

Will you really hear me if I tell you straight up?

Perhaps. But I want better odds than that. So let me first tell you the ancient parable of the sower.

The sower went a-sowing. He threw down some seeds. A few fell by the wayside. A few fell on shallow ground. A few fell among thorns.

All of these seeds were wasted.

But a few seeds fell on good soil. And the upshot was a good harvest. The sower had an ROI of 3,000%-6,000%. And he said, “You know what? I might do this again tomorrow.”

Maybe you recognize this parable. And maybe you even know one interpretation of it.

But today I want to give you another interpretation. It might be new to you.

Because ideas you come up with — possible solutions to a problem — are like these seeds. A few ideas fall by the wayside because they are just nonsense and irrelevant. A few ideas take root in shallow ground — they are too predictable and unimaginative. A few ideas end up choked with thorns, because they are impractical.

But a few ideas land right where they should. And the ROI is tremendous.

Yesterday, a member of my Copy Riddles program wrote in. He said he could only come up with two bullets where I had suggested writing three. I told him that the solution to his problem might be to write 6 bullets or 9, instead of aiming for 3.

Because if you can’t get an idea to land right where it should, it’s not because your aim is not good enough. It’s because you’re not throwing enough seeds out. Throw more seeds out, regularly, and you won’t have to worry about your aim.

That’s what I’ve been doing for a few years already. 10 ideas. Every day. About something — personal, business, or fanciful. And I do it while working too. 10 subject lines. 10 hooks. 10 ways to illustrate a point that you should generate more ideas, including wasted ones.

By the way, this is something else you might recognize. I originally got this “10 ideas” idea from James Altucher. He’s also the one who had the smart insight that if you can’t come up with 10 ideas, you should come up with 20. Because you’re obviously limiting yourself too much in your thinking.

James has a little challenge for you. He promises to turn you into an idea machine. He’s also got a lot of how-to advice that might help you in this quest. You can find all of that on the following page, which has been worth tens of thousands of dollars to me, and might be worth more to you — if you only do what it says, starting today.

But before you go — do you want more ideas like this? Then sign up to my email newsletter. And then off you go, to become an idea machine:

https://jamesaltucher.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-for-becoming-an-idea-machine/

The urgent opportunity of the “reverse testimonial”

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“I’d like to tell you about a huge opportunity with no downside.” If that sentence got your heart pumping, then take a breath and calm down. And then listen to what I have to tell you, because it’s very much related:

A while back, I read a book called Biz Op. It’s a confessional by a guy named Bruce Easley. Back in the 1970s and 80s, Easley ran business opportunity scams.

I’m not much for scamming people and I don’t suggest you do it either. But it’s undeniable that opportunity marketing works like magic. I’ve seen it first hand a few times when I applied opportunity marketing ideas in this very newsletter.

So all I’m suggesting today is that you occasionally take a look at opportunity marketers like Easley, and see how some of these ideas could be used in what you’re doing. I’ll get you started with an innovative idea I call the reverse testimonial.

You can find an example at the link below. It’s a page taken from a bizopp pamphlet that was one of Easley’s standards. He sent out the pamphlet to all people responding to his classified ads. And you can bet each page, including the reverse testimonial page, has been heavily tested, and heavily proven by results.

So take a look at the link below. You’ll see just how reverse testimonials work, and how you might profitably integrate them in your marketing too.

Or don’t take a look. After all, maybe you’ve got a legitimate reason not to do it right now. Like this zen-monk reader who wrote me in response to an earlier email:

“I’ll take a look later. I only get a few emails in my inbox each day, and I make sure to reread all of them several times before I let them slip away. So there’s no fear I won’t get to this soon.”

Or this second reader, who’s working in a field unrelated to marketing, and who wrote:

“I don’t need this idea right now. But I will come back to it when I will need it. In my experience, links on the internet are eternal. It’s never happened to me that I tried to open a page and got a 404 error.”

Or like this very successful and stretched reader, who once dashed away the following message:

“You don’t understand how busy I am. Sure, clicking on this link would take only a half second, and looking over the page only 3-4 seconds more. But if I kept doing that all day long, it might really add up to a few extra minutes of learning. And who’s got time for that?”

If, like these readers, you’ve got a legit reason not to click below, forget I said anything. On the other hand… huge opportunity… no downside. All you gotta do is click here:

https://bejakovic.com/reverse-testimonial

2-year-old copywriter wants a deadline extension

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I’ve got an inspirational or perhaps sobering message for you today.

To tell you about it, let me first say that last week’s Copy Riddles launch was fantastic. Beyond all my expectations. It’s now time for people who signed up to see how I deliver on the promises in the sales letter.

But there’s one person who won’t see any of that. He wrote me about 3 hours before the deadline to say:

1. He only found my list two days earlier, so he doesn’t trust me.

2. He’s willing to give Copy Riddles a try since there’s a money-back guarantee.

3. He has read Gary Bencivenga’s Marketing Bullets. So unless he finds something new in Copy Riddles in the first few weeks, he will ask for a refund.

4. He’s been getting ready to start working as a copywriter for two years. If Copy Riddles gets him his first client, he will want to become an affiliate. Otherwise, again, refund.

5. Right now he only has cash on hand. He needs to go to the bank to deposit it. But his kids are asleep at home, plus the car is in the shop, and it’s near midnight anyhow. So he would like to sign up tomorrow, 12 hours after the deadline.

This reminded me of a girl I went on a date with once.

As soon as we sat down at the bar, she informed me that most guys are terrible — her last date put his hand on her knee. But she has a good feeling about me.

Then she launched into her education history (very smart)… work history (very successful)… current job (very important, yet underpaid).

She finished up her sales pitch by saying she is a great cook. In fact her father (she still lived at home) much preferred her cooking to her mother’s cooking.

She crossed her legs and she sighed. “I really feel like we have a connection,” she said with a smile. “When do you think we can meet again?”

On that date, as today, I glanced at the clock on the wall and calculated how many seconds separated me from safety.

Fortunately, the seconds today passed quickly enough. I closed down the Copy Riddles cart in time — at the exact time I said I would. I wrote back to the 2-year-old copywriter above. “The offer is now closed,” I said, “and it wouldn’t have been a good fit anyhow.”

So let me get to the sobering/inspiring thing I promised you:

Not long ago, I examined the things in life where I’ve succeeded. This includes copywriting.

“What were the common elements?” I asked myself.

There were three. I wrote about number one a while ago. I’ll tell you about number two today. It was this:

I had no other options. Maybe not in reality… but in my head.

And so it’s clear, this doesn’t mean I was shouting SPARTAAA as I charged off into battle. Or that I gritted my teeth and set fire to the boat that could take me home. Or that I staked my future first-born child on a lotto ticket… because “I’m all in.”

No, none of that.

Instead, all I had each time was a subtle and quiet voice, somewhere in the back of my head. I wasn’t even aware of this voice at the time. It whispered that the only possible way is forward. That I should focus my energy in looking for ways to succeed, rather than bracing myself against failure.

I’m not sure if this “forward only” voice is the only way to get what you want.

But I do know that every time I had the opposite of this voice in my head… like the guy above has about copywriting right now… every time like that, the end was always failure. A waste of time. A waste of money. A waste of emotional energy. It would have been better to recognize that early on and go do something else.

So that’s the sobering message. The inspirational message is this:

If you’ve got this subtle and quiet “forward only” voice whispering to you, or if you’ve got the self-discipline to cultivate it, then as Shakespeare said, the world’s yer erster.

There might be setbacks and humiliations and difficulties ahead. But you will succeed. At least that’s how it’s been for me, every time this blessed voice landed on me.

And on that note, I want to tell you about a book I won’t be offering much longer.

It’s my how-I-made-it-as-a-freelancer-on-Upwork book. I wrote it two years ago. It’s up on Amazon for a grand total of something like $5. And it’s got my best advice for the early years of being a copywriter, whether you’re on Upwork or not. Sometimes I still reread it, to remind myself of valuable client lessons I’d learned and since forgotten.

And like I said, I won’t keep this book available much longer. One reason is that the how-to info inside is underpriced by a couple of factors of magnitude. I’ve got other reasons too, and maybe you can guess them.

So to wrap up:

The book won’t go away today or tomorrow. But if you want to get it, I suggest you get it now.

Because if it’s gone, then no amount of “I was cooking spaghetti in the kitchen and so I couldn’t hear the deadline” excuses will work.

But if you’re working on that “forward only” voice, I guess I don’t need to tell you that. So let me just point you where to go for more information:

https://bejakovic.com/upwork-book

Deadline in the air tonight

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“You know the song by Phil Collins, ‘In the Air of the Night’
About that guy who coulda saved that other guy from drownin’
But didn’t, then Phil saw it all, then at a show he found him?”
– Eminem, Stan

I just found out that Phil Collins’s famous hit In The Air Tonight is not about a drowning that Phil witnessed. I thought it was for years, apparently like Eminem and millions of other people. But no. It turns out to be just an urban legend. Says Phil:

“So what makes it even more comical is when I hear these stories which started many years ago, particularly in America, of someone come up to me and say, ‘Did you really see someone drowning?’ I said, ‘No, wrong.’ And then every time I go back to America the story gets Chinese whispers, it gets more and more elaborate. It’s so frustrating, ’cause this is one song out of all the songs probably that I’ve ever written that I really don’t know what it’s about, you know?”

I know, Phil. It’s gotta be frustrating. Still, it’s a hell of a story… and maybe you should have kept quiet about the bland real origin of the song.

But whatever. Phil can’t hear me. Maybe you can. So let me admit why I bring all this up:

In The Air Tonight has been playing in my head all evening long. In part, because it’s getting late. In part, because I don’t want to be accused, like that mysterious person in Phil’s song, of standing by and not lending a hand to a drowning man.

So here’s me, making a last effort to help you out:

The deadline to enroll in my Copy Riddles program is nearing. The cart will close in a few hours, at midnight PST.

Maybe you couldn’t care less and you’re just fine, right where you are. But if you have any interest in enrolling in Copy Riddles, consider this a lifebuoy I’m throwing you. To grab it and use it while there’s still time:

https://bejakovic.com/cr

The business-changing magic of prepaying up

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Here’s a wealth attraction story from Dan Kennedy, which might benefit you whether you’re a pro or just starting out in business:

Dan used to work as a business and marketing advisor to lots of chiropractors. And one thing he always tried to implement is prepay.

In other words, get a prospect in the door… sell them a $10k package of treatments that last an entire month… and charge them up front for it.

“You could take a chiropractor who’s barely keeping the lights on and take him to $40,000 a month like this,” Dan said with a snap of the fingers. “Because he only needs four new patients.”

So that’s one thing to mull over if you’re established in business already. And here’s a second thing, which can benefit you even if you’re as new as a child:

Dan said that if the chiropractor was really good at the prepay sales pitch, he could close three out of four leads.

If the chiropractor was ok at the sales pitch, he could close two out of four.

And if the chiropractor was bad at the sales pitch… he could close one out of four.

So take that and conclude from it what you will.

​​What? You want to know what my conclusion was? Gah, all right:

I take from this story that it doesn’t matter if your inner game sucks. It doesn’t matter if you are raw and unskilled. Because if you have the willingness and bare capacity to follow a system, however awkwardly, you can see results. Not the best results possible… but results nonetheless.

And now let me remind you that enrollment for my Copy Riddles program closes tonight at midnight PST.

So if you’d like a last-minute reminder of what this program is about… or if you’d like to prepay for two months of intense copywriting treatments while I’m still taking on new patients… then here’s where to go:

https://bejakovic.com/cr

More pie: How to sometimes get what you want, even if you can’t afford it

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Before he became a master copywriter, back when he was still a young man, marketing legend Claude Hopkins tried to get a better paying job.

And he tried to do it by talking about his poverty.

No dice. The boss wasn’t moved. He thought struggle and poverty were good for a young man.

So Hopkins admitted his true ambition.

He wanted to eat more pie. There was a boarding house that served pie every night, but he couldn’t afford to live there.

Turns out, the boss loved pie. He couldn’t bear the idea of a man being denied pie. What’s life without pie.

So he hired Hopkins, at a better salary, and even invited the young man to his home — to eat pie, of course.

I mention this because over the past week, a few people have written me to get free access to Copy Riddles. They cited their poverty and bad circumstances.

I turned them away. You can probably guess my reasons:

1. I like to get paid, and even people who are in bad circumstances can often pull together the money for things they really really want.

2. Letting in people for free because isn’t very cool to people who pay.

3. There’s a lot of truth to the idea that, unless you pay for something, you don’t value it.

You’ve probably heard all these arguments before. The only extra thing I can add is to suggest that, if there’s something you really really want, and you absolutely 100% can’t afford it, then talk about your lust for pie — or whatever your true ambition is — rather than about your poverty. It might open more doors.

That however, is not an invitation to write to me about your love of pie. It won’t get you an invite to my house for dinner, and it won’t get you into Copy Riddles for free.

In fact, nothing will get you into Copy Riddles for free, at least for this next round, which kicks off on Monday. But enrollment ends even sooner, tomorrow, Sunday night, at midnight PST.

So if you’d like to join and you can afford to do so… or even if you can’t afford it, but you can somehow scrape together the money because it’s really really important to you… then here’s where to go:

https://bejakovic.com/cr

Unavoidable price increases that leave you sick in your stomach

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“Who will ever hire me after this?”

When I started working as a copywriter, I was charging a mighty $15 an hour.

“No matter,” I told myself. “It’s shit money. But I won’t stay here for long.” Because I had a plan. After I completed the first five jobs, I would raise my rate to $20/hr. Then I’d be living large!

So the first five jobs came and went. I raised my rate. Nobody noticed. I still found work, even while charging more for the same.

After five more jobs, I raised my rate again, to $25/hr. This time, I felt a little uneasy. Still, nobody noticed. I found work at the new rate.

Things were going ok for a while…

But then, I did something that felt borderline illegal. 10 new copywriting jobs came and went. And that meant, according to the price increase schedule I’d set for myself, I should go from $25/hr… all the way to $40/hr.

“That’s like an $80k a year salary! For the same work I was doing only two months earlier! At less than 1/3 the rate!”

I was nervous. Almost sick in my stomach. “Who will ever hire me after this?” I thought. I imagined all the copywriting clients of the world folding up their arms… banding together in a picket line, and saying… “Enough is enough! $40 an hour! For clacking on a keyboard! Who do you think you are — Stephen King?”

But no picket line ever formed.

Instead, within the space of about two and a half years, I went from $15/hr to $150/hr.

After every price bump, I still got work. I ended up making more money. And I found better clients than I had been working with until then.

Today, I no longer have an hourly rate. But the point stands:

You have to raise your prices regularly.

And if you’re anything like me… and you’d rather work on developing your skills than on growing your business… then set an unavoidable price increase schedule for yourself. And then stick to it, without thinking, delaying, or wavering.

Because odds are there will never be a good moment, a moment where you feel worthy of getting paid more.

Of course, maybe this is not relevant to you.

Maybe you’re ready to get paid as much as you can, as soon as you can, and you have no mental blockages about that.

But if you are a little skill squirrel, the way that I am, then set a schedule for yourself. It worked great for me. And it continues to work great.

And on that note, I would like to bring the conversation gently to my Copy Riddles program… which is open for enrollment, at the current price, until this Sunday.

This is the third time I’m running this program.

Each time I’ve relaunched it so far, the price has gone up.

That’s because I have a simple strategy. “Did I make more money than last time?” Then up goes the price.

And since I made more money this time than last time, the price of Copy Riddles will go up again, the next time I run it, some time in early 2022.

I’ve got a feeling it will be worth it at that higher price also, and people will still buy.

In part, because other copywriting courses are still way more expensive, and people are buying those.

In part, based on the feedback I’ve gotten from people who have gone through Copy Riddles, who say it’s full of copywriting aha moments.

In part, because I know first hand the effort and thought I put into creating this program… and because I know I would have gotten value out of Copy Riddles earlier in my copywriting career, or even now, had somebody else thought to create it instead of me.

But none of that is really a proper pitch for Copy Riddles.

For that, check out the link below.

All I really want to say is that, if you’ve ever wanted to buy something, but the price shot up before you got it… leaving you feeling uneasy, or maybe even a little sick in your stomach… well, here’s a chance to save yourself from that feeling in the future.

Assuming that is, that you have interest in joining Copy Riddles. Enrollment closes this Sunday at 12 midnight PST. To grab it at the current price, or for more info:

https://bejakovic.com/cr

The secret swipe file of the ages

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Today I’d like to tell you about the wisdom and the mysticism hidden inside a marvelous swipe file.

You just have to command this swipe file to serve you, and you will soon carry riches, fame, and power in the hollow of your hand.

Maybe you’re wondering what I’m on about. So let me reveal an age-old truth:

All commerce is fundamentally based on mysticism. On secrets. On magic.

Maybe you find that hard to believe. So let me tell you that’s an idea from direct marketing legend Dan Kennedy.

​​To prove his point, Dan once pulled out a page of the local newspaper. He started reading the direct response ads — the ones that have been proven by repeat sales.

“Let’s see… we’re giving away free coins… we’ve got some whizzbang new device that is the secret key to weight loss… we got a smart clock that uses a satellite on the moon to correct itself…and then it’s a weight loss product, PATENT LEAN, which of course has magic patented ingredients that nobody else has… from Kuala Lumpur… that burns off the fat while you sleep and makes you not want to eat and grows hair.”

Who knows? Maybe Dan has a point. Maybe, once you dig deep down into successful offers and copy, it all boils down to mysticism and magic.

​​But if that’s true, what does it mean for you? ​​How do you profit from it? ​​​Here’s another insight from Dan, which transformed how I do marketing:

Look to the extremes.

​​In other words, if you want to harness a valuable copywriting technique or marketing approach… then look to the folks who specialize in this approach — and nothing else.

For example, if you want to frame your offer as a huge opportunity… then look to opportunity marketers. The real estate infomercials… the business opportunity classifieds… the Joe Karbo’s of the world.

And if you want to create an aura of magic and mystery in your copy… well… then look to the swipe file below.

Because on page 35 of this swipe file, you can find a magical ad I’ve been seeking for a long time. But until a few days ago, I could never find it.

This rare ad was written by Robert Collier.

It’s called The Secret of the Ages. As you probably realize, I swiped that headline for my headline today. And I did more than that.

Throughout this post, I also sprinkled in a few of the appeals and phrases from Collier’s copy. Because there’s some real magic in that ad.

Not only did it run for years… not only did it sell an ocean of Collier’s books… but it even foretold much of $40-billion self-development industry that was yet to to come.

Rub the lamp that is Collier’s ad, and out pops Tony Robbins’s “The Giant Within”… Earl Nightingale’s famous “Acres of Diamonds” story… and even the subliminal genie that A-list copywriter Gary Bencivenga summoned, every time he was writing one of his blockbuster sales letters.

But that’s not all. ​​

There’s copywriting power in this ad that transcends personal development. These are subtle ideas you can use to sell people health and happiness, power and riches.

That’s just one of the treasures you can find in the swipe file below.

And of course, since this is a newsletter about direct response ideas, this entire swipe file, 101 Greatest Ads of All Time, is yours free.

​​How is this possible?

Magic.

Well, not really. In truth, Matt Bockenstette is giving away the 101 Greatest Ads as the lead magnet for his Copy Legends newsletter.

But if you need a magic analogy to help you out, you can think of opting in to Matt’s list as whispering a secret phrase… one that gets you inside the cave of copywriting treasures.

So if you could use some mystery… power… success… in your copy and your business life…

Then peek inside the 101 Greatest Ads here, before the gates of the cave are sealed for good:

https://bejakovic.com/copy-legends

How I manipulated you, and how I might do it again

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It’s true. I shamelessly manipulated you. I might do it again. The worst thing is I’m so jaded I don’t think it’s a big deal any more.

I’ll explain everything. Let me start with this question I got two days ago, when I announced that enrollment for Copy Riddles is open again. A reader named Fanis wrote in:

I just read your entire sales page word-for-word and I love the concept!

The only thing that concerns me is you often talk about “getting away with extreme promises”, selling “uninteresting products”, “make up stuff”, and similar things. Now I am not against any of those, it’s just that my style of copy relies very heavily on bold honesty and staying away from over-hyping. Do you think Copy Riddles will still work for me? I really don’t want to be asking for a refund later (I’ve done it once and I hated it, because I hate it when they do it to me 😝)

It’s a fair question. Fanis is referring to these two bullets in the Copy Riddles sales letter:

* How A-list copywriters shamelessly make up facts and figures. Yep, they make up stuff, and you can do it too. It makes your copy more persuasive… and, as long as you follow what the A-listers do, the FTC won’t come a-knocking.

* The sneaky 7-word phrase Gary Bencivenga used to get away with making extreme promises. Gary was famous for providing proof in his copy… but this has nothing to do with proof. It’s pure A-list sleight-of-hand.

As I replied to Fanis, the objections he raises go to essence of what copywriting is. And that’s controlling attention and creating heightened emotions.

This means 1) stripping out details in your copy that don’t help your case (ie. not telling the whole truth)…

And 2) using reliable ways to get people more amped up than they would be normally.

That’s exactly what’s happening in those bullets above.

For example, it’s true that A-list copywriters sometimes make up facts and figures in a special way. But in every case I’ve seen of this technique, there was nothing devious or criminal about it. (Well, there was that Gary Halbert bullet with the “world-famous sex therapist”… but there’s a story behind that.)

In fact, the technique I’m describing in that bullet is worthwhile, solid, and maybe even unexciting. So of course, to sell that technique, I chose to omit those unhelpful details. And not only that.

I also chose to amp up the language and make it as dramatic as possible. “Shamelessly make up facts and figures.” What’s to be ashamed of, if you’re not doing anything criminal or devious? Nothing. Hence shameless, which is a powerful word to use in copy.

Because as you may have heard, people make decisions at an emotional level. Yes, you may have heard it. But you may still not get it, not deep in your gut.

So let me give you a second example, which might make you feel it:

Maybe you wouldn’t be reading this right now. Maybe not, had I written a less dramatic headline for today’s post. “How I heightened your emotions, and how I might do it again.”

“Sounds interesting,” you might have said. “Maybe later.”

That’s why I chose to use a more emotionally laden phrase. Manipulated you. It says much the same thing, but with negative connotations. And so, here we are.

Perhaps you’re inclined to shrug this example off. Perhaps you give me a free pass. After all, you’ve read halfway through this post already. Or maybe you kind of trust me.

But you shouldn’t discount what I did in today’s  headline. Because like I said, it goes to the essence of what copywriting is.

Like it or not, you’ve gotta poke, prod, jolt, shock, creep out, and unsettle people. You’ve gotta highlight what you want them to see, and hide everything else.

At least, that is, if you want to write sales copy… if you want to make decent money at it… and if you want to avoid struggling against the powerful current of human psychology.

Perhaps you’re not ok with that.

Perhaps, like Fanis above, and like me once upon a time, you’re still hoping you can write copy that “relies very heavily on bold honesty and staying away from over-hyping.”

If so, all I can say is godspeed. Maybe you will prove me wrong. Or maybe we will see each other again one day, after the market has broken your back.

But if you’ve made peace with consciously manipulating other people, both so you can 1) make money for yourself and 2) get solid, worthwhile, if unexciting solutions into the hands of people you’ve manipulated…

Then you’ll find that bullets are the #1 copywriting tool in more situations than you would ever believe.

And if you meditate on that sentence, you might be able to suck out a valuable persuasion lesson. But if you can’t get it, you can find it explained in round 6 of Copy Riddles, which you can sign up for until this Sunday, at 12 midnight PST. For more info on that:

https://bejakovic.com/cr