An easy way to produce content without being creative or original

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I’m entering hour 72 of running various levels of high fever which means one thing:

My mind is empty and not in good shape to write my daily email.

“Wouldn’t it be nice,” I thought to myself, “if there were some easy way to create content that doesn’t require coming up with a new email idea?” Of course, I respect your time, dear reader, so whatever this easy way is, the result would still have to be interesting and valuable.

So there I was, burning feverishly, when almost by accident, I came across a blog post by Colin Theriot.

You might know Colin as the creator of the popular Cult of Copy Facebook group. What you might not know is that Colin regularly publishes articles on his site, and they are often interesting and motivational.

Well, today, Colin wrote something that was perfect for me.

It’s a way of producing content that doesn’t require you to say anything new or original, but still builds a good relationship with your audience, and gives them value, too. In fact, it’s probably the easiest way to create content. And yet, some big name influencers out there have created giant brands by doing this one thing alone.

Colin’s post explains it nicely and simply, and even gives you a 7-step checklist for how to produce this kind of innovation-free content. I think it’s worth looking at. If you want to give it a peek, here’s the link:

https://cultofcopy.com/creation-and-innovation-are-not-the-only-way-to-provide-value/

Midnight Run pattern interrupt

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“Did you ever have sex with an animal, Jack?”

I’ve been running a fever for the past 48 hours. So I decided to download a movie to make the time pass.

The movie is called Midnight Run, and it’s a 1980s comedy starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. De Niro plays Jack Walsh, a bounty hunter who’s in charge of bringing in John “Duke” Mardukas, an accountant (played by Grodin) who stole $15 million from the mob.

At one point, Jack and the Duke are on a train. Jack decides he won’t talk to the Duke any more because it’s all business and because the Duke is annoying him.

It’s an awkward situation. Just silence in the air. And then, the Duke starts talking. But he’s not getting a response out of Jack. So he says:

“Did you ever have sex with an animal, Jack? Remember those chickens around the Indian reservation? There were some good-looking chickens there, Jack, you know, between us.”

Jack smiles.

“Yeah there were a couple there that I might have taken a shot at.”

And the next thing you know, the Duke and Jack are laughing and talking again.

That is an example of a pattern interrupt. In copywriting circles, this term is often used to describe a surprising first sentence to suck readers into the rest of your copy. But a pattern interrupt is something broader and more powerful.

It comes from NLP, or at least I think so, based on some Tony Robbins tapes I’m listening to. Says Tony, it’s easy to completely change how you think and feel, even about things that have been bothering you for years. All it takes are three steps:

First, you have to get leverage — in other words, you have to have a strong reason to want to change.

Second, you interrupt your current, negative pattern of thought or behavior by doing something unexpected.

Third, you create a new, more useful pattern for yourself.

It’s a simple process and useful if you’re trying to make yourself into a happier, more productive person. But it works just as well on other people as on yourself. So if somebody around you starts getting sucked into a negative pattern you don’t like, try asking them, for example, if they’ve ever had sex with an animal.

Blood-sucking Transylvanian copywriting secrets

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For the past week, I’ve been reading a book called The Land Beyond The Forest.

It was written in the late 19th century by a Scottish woman named Emily Gerard, who lived for a good part of her life in Transylvania (a section of today’s Romania). This book was one of the inspirations for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which was published about 10 years after Gerard’s book.

Anyways, I came across the following passage in the book, which has a lot of value if you’re a copywriter — or just trying to craft sticky messages. Gerard’s writing is in italics and indented, my comments in regular font:

“As in Italy, the recitatore (story-teller), called here provestitore, holds an important place among the Roumanians.”

People love a good story, and they always will. That’s why you should use stories in copy whenever you can.

“The stories recited usually belong to the class of ogre and fairy tale, and would seem rather adapted to a nursery audience than to a circle of full-grown men and women.”

Parris Lampropoulos once said we all believe in magic. It can be overt like these Romanian peasants and their fairy tales… but it’s true even of nerdy and rational 21st century science buffs.

“Sometimes in verse, sometimes in prose, these stories oftenest set forth the adventures of some prince subjected to the cruel persecutions of a giant or sorcerer. The hero has usually a series of tasks allotted to him, or difficulties to be overcome, before he is permitted to enjoy his father’s throne in peace and lead home the beautiful princess to whom he is attached.”

A perfect 2-sentence summary of the hero’s journey, which is one good template you can use to tell a compelling story in copy.

“The tasks dealt out to him must be three at least, sometimes six, seven, nine, or twelve; but never more than this last number, which indeed is quite sufficient for the endurance even of a fairy prince.”

Same thing in copywriting. When you’re giving proof, arguments, or examples, it’s common and effective to give three of the bunch. Plus, if you swap out “task” and put in “bonus” or “premium,” you get the structure of a good offer.

“When the tasks are nine or twelve in number they are then grouped together in batches of three, each batch being finished off with some stereotyped phrase, such as, ‘But our hero’s trials were not yet over by any means, and much remains still to be told.'”

“But wait, there’s more!” Some phrases are so valuable that they keep surfacing across cultures, across media, and across centuries.

“As a matter of course, these trials must always be arranged crescendo, advancing in horror and difficulty towards the end.”

This reminds me of something I heard in a video by copywriter Kyle Milligan. Kyle quoted Agora Fiancial chief Joe Schriefer, who apparently says, “The magic show must always get better!” In other words, the proof must improve, and the results too.

And that, young Nosferatu, is the quote I wanted to share with you.

You probably know this already, but there are predictable ways to get into people’s heads and influence them. Direct marketing copywriters have figured out many of these tricks for themselves.

​​But if you look around, there are other disciplines, or even folk traditions, that can give you good ideas for how to craft sticky, influential messages. And this passage from Gerard’s blood-sucking Transylvanian book is just one good example of that.

Jumpcut and the future of video sales letters

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A few weeks back, top-shelf copywriter Dan Ferrari sent out an email with 35 direct response lessons he’s learned in his 35 years on the planet. At no. 29, there was the following:

29) The best copywriters are able to work in really high-production formats. You’re now a creative director. Get used to it.

Honestly, I didn’t really know what the hell Dan was talking about here. But fortunately, I listened to a podcast a few days later, with another copywriter, and it all became clear.

The second copywriter is named Brandon Shrair. Brandon is all of 23 years old. In spite of that, he has a nice, deep, resonant voice and more importantly, he also has high-level marketing experience as the Director of Marketing at Jumpcut.

Never heard of Jumpcut?

They are an online training portal, started by the guys who ran the popular Simple Pickup YouTube channel. They sell $1k+ courses that teach people how to become successful YouTubers.

Anyways, the interesting bit is the kind of marketing that Jumpcut is doing. That’s what Brandon is responsible for, and that’s what he talked about on the podcast that I listened to.

Jumpcut is using long-form video sales letters to sell their courses. This, in spite of the fact they are targeting 20-something-year olds, who grew up on the Internet, who are supposed to have the attention span of a horny goldfish, and who are immediately allergic to anything that has a faint whiff of salesy stank.

So how does Jumpcut do it?

How do they sell 8 figures’ worth of information products to broke millennials who don’t wanna watch ads, much less a 45-minute VSL?

Well, they use the fundamentals of copywriting and direct response marketing. And they wed this to high-production formats, just like Dan Ferrari wrote above. Here’s what I mean.

If you listen to a Jumpcut VSL, it will sound much like any other bizopp promotion. “I was broke… I was doubting myself… then by accident, I discovered a powerful secret that I’ll tell you about in a moment… and good God, look at me now… so much freedom it’s practically pouring out of my pants.”

But here’s the thing. If you watch that same Jumpcut VSL, it won’t look anything like your run-of-the-mill bizopp offer.

There are actual people talking on screen, and not just a series of typed-out sentences. It’s professionally edited, with multiple camera angles. Most importantly, it’s shot on location, such as a fancy villa or a yacht, giving credibility and color to the big claims in the VSL script.

So is this the future of video sales letters? I think so, at least if you want to work with big brands or with businesses that have the potential to make lots of money.

Of course, Jumpcut isn’t the only company that’s already using this style. But they are a good example of it. And if you want to see what the direct marketing of the future looks like, you can get it delivered to your inbox by signing up below:

https://jumpcut.com/viral-academy

Kanye shows you how to win the sticky message victory

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Last Sunday, Kanye West appeared alongside Reverend Martin Short at the 18,600 seat Lakewood Megachurch in Houston, Texas.

Kanye was there to give testimony. He announced the arrogance and cockiness that people know him for is now in the service of God.

At one point, Reverend Short asked Kanye to speak about worshiping fame and money. To which Kanye replied,

“It’s like the Devil stole all the good producers, all the good musicians, all the good artists, all the good designers, all the good business people, and said, ‘You gotta come over and work for me.’ And now the trend, the shift, is going to change. Jesus has won the victory.”

Did you catch that?

Did you see how Kanye instinctively crafted a sticky message?

Rather than talking about vanity, and fame, and riches, all of which are abstract concepts that the mind can’t really latch onto, Kanye wrapped them all up in a single, crystal-clear, memorable character:

The Devil.

Which brings to mind an action-packed and high-value talk I heard by a guy named Fred Catona. Catona, who called himself the “father of direct response radio advertising,” was a high school gym teacher who first made a small fortune by selling Philly cheesesteaks by direct mail.

​​Somewhere along the way, Catona figured out the power of radio for driving traffic to his cheesesteak business. He then launched a little agency to help grow other businesses through direct response-style radio ads.

Catona’s giant breakthrough came around 1995. A guy named Jay Walker called Catona up, and asked for his help in launching a little startup in the travel space.

​​Catona took the job on. He hired the cheapest relevant celebrity he could find (an out-of-work William Shatner), and started running radio ads. 18 months later, thanks in large part to Catona’s radio ads, that little travel startup had a valuation of $20 billion. It’s still around. It’s called Priceline.

Anyways, Catona once gave a talk about his experiences and the lessons he’s learned from his massive radio campaigns. One thing he said is that you should always ask yourself, “Who is your enemy and what does he do?” Your enemy doesn’t have to be a competitor. It can simply be a way of doing business or living life, like Kanye illustrated in his testimony above.

Anyways, Catona unfortunately died a few years ago. But his talk is worth listening to. And even though it was part of Brian Kurtz’s $2,000 Titans of Direct Response, you can watch it for free once you get a copy of Brian’s Overdeliver book.

​​The book is apparently on sale now, and you can get it for $10 and with free shipping. And along with the Fred Catona talk, it’s got about $1,213 worth of other bonuses, including some rare direct marketing gems you can’t find anywhere else. In case you want to find out more, here’s where to go:

https://overdeliverbook.com/

The “daily email marketing” starter pack

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There’s a popular subreddit called starterpacks where people post made-up starter packs like…

“Every cheap Italian restaurant” starter pack
“1960s American scientist in a film” starter pack
“The “every Chevy commercial” starter pack

So here’s one for daily sales/marketing emails. Some of the following starter pack items are genuinely stupid practices, others are just overused. In any case, I’m guilty of having exploited all of them at some point. So I’m not pointing fingers. I’m just putting this starter pack together for your use and abuse.

The first daily email starter pack item is perhaps the most obvious. In fact, a friend who reads these emails called me out on it just a couple of weeks ago. So let me show you:

Daily email starter pack element #1. VSL formatting

You know what I’m talking about…

Or maybe you don’t…

But in any case…

The point is…

That a line in an email…

Can’t hold…

More than a sentence fragment.

Even a short sentence…

Is apparently too much.

Daily email starter pack element #2. Outlook 1997 styling

A daily email has to look just like a friend sent it to you, right?

Right. And that friend is writing to you from a murky past, back when email couldn’t contain html, certainly no embedded images, or any colors or markup. But even though you’re hearing from a close friend, he still feels the need to include a…

Daily email starter pack element #3. Mandatory signature

There is a girl I know who got her name tattooed on the back of her shoulder. I guess to help out one-night stands in case they forget her name. There must be some similar reasoning for people who sign each email they send out, day after day. And if signing your first name and last name isn’t enough, then you can always spice it up with…

Daily email starter pack element #4. Your made-up nickname in quotes

I first saw Andre “Whatever happened to ya?” Chaperon writing his name with a nickname jammed halfway in between. It’s a cool trick. Made less cool each time somebody copies it.

Daily email starter pack element #5. Stupid deliverability tricks

Now that I’ve got your attention, here are three things I want you to do right now:

1. Add me to your contacts
2. Drag this email out of the spam folder and into your inbox
3. Hit reply so I know you’re getting my messages. No need to write anything, because I won’t read it anyhow.

Daily email starter pack element #6. Telling it like it is

Look, unlike all the other bozos out there writing daily emails, I’ll be straight with ya. I’ve seen other people do it, and I like how tough it sounds. So even if I really have nothing to say, you can count on me to dispel myths. As soon as I actually spot one.

And there you have it. I got more of these, but these are the most widespread ones. If you want more, just hit reply. But don’t write anything.

And I’ll be right back…

In your inbox…

Same time, tomorrow.

And in just in case you forgot…

My name is…

John “Starter pack lover” Bejakovic

The inspirational and brutal truth about copywriting

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I’m a tad exhausted and with good reason.

I’ve just handed in the VSL I’ve been working on for the past month.

It’s been a huge pile of work. In fact, an amazingly huge pile. Contributed in part by the fact it’s also the first project I’ve done while working with my copywriting coach, a copywriter himself, and somebody who’s much more successful (and better at writing copy) than I am. All of which is making me reminisce…

Specifically, to a moment about a year after I started writing copy.

At that point, I had read a couple of copywriting books. I had raised my rates to respectable levels. And I had done some small- and medium -sized projects for various clients, mostly with positive feedback (“Wow this looks great”) and even with some positive results (“We used your copy and it made 30% more sales than what we were using before”). And I remember thinking to myself then,

“Well, that’s it. I’ve arrived. I’ve read those two books. I’m making decent money. I have good feedback and results. And I guess I’ve mastered all there is to know about this copywriting thing.”

Well, it’s now about three years later. And I’m amazed by how complex and complicated copywriting really is.

When you read copy, that’s not obvious.

It seems simple or even simplistic. And if you have any pretensions to being a writer, you think to yourself, “Pff, I could do this myself easy.”

What you don’t see is all the hidden high-level work that goes into choosing exactly those arguments, presented in that order. You also don’t see all the hidden low-level work, polishing each sentence, and possibly each word, in a 30- or 50- or 80-page promo. In other words, what you don’t see are the hundreds of other permutations of this exact sales letter that existed either on paper or in the copywriter’s head.

Now depending on how you look at it, that can either be inspirational or brutal.

Brutal, because the fact is, copywriting continues to require a lot of work. As you get better, you just see different things (and more of them) that can be improved.

Inspirational, because if you’re looking for a craft that you can really work on for years to come, then this is it. Plus, it apparently pays royalties as well.

Nicolas Cage’s shamanic sales secret

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I read today that Nicolas Cage has a hot new movie coming out.

It’s unlike any movie he’s done before.

And frankly, it’s unlike any movie anybody has ever seen.

But can that really be true?

Because it seems like in each movie, Nic Cage is basically playing himself. He screams, makes faces, gets mock-serious. And while the costumes and makeup are different in each movie, the audience is basically coming to see Nic Cage, making a spectacle of himself.

It’s an acting system Cage has described as “Nouveau Shamanic.” And his new movie should take this to the 3rd power. Literally.

The movie is called The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. It will be about Nic Cage, and will star Nic Cage, playing Nic Cage. If that’s confusing to you, here’s a brief description from an article in The Independent:

“In the film, Cage apparently talks to an egotistical Nineties version of himself, who mocks his future self for not being famous, as well as for making too many low-budget films.”

Who will go see this stupid new movie? ​​Probably lots of people will. Maybe even I will, because, over many years and many ridiculous movies, I’ve gotten comfortable with Nic Cage and his antics, and I can look at the guy and feel better about myself.

​​As on the big screen, so on the little screen. What I mean is, the same thing that holds for Hollywood stars is true for any other kind of business too — including online businesses.

The fact is, your customers aren’t really buying the product or service that you’re selling. Your customers could just as well buy one of a number of alternatives, which would probably work as well or better than what you’re selling.

What your customers are actually buying is you. And if you can build up a strong enough fan base, or brand, or “Nouveau Shamanic” spectacle, then you will be able to keep selling people tickets to your show, for many years to come, just because you’re you.

Master this 2-bit magic trick for a conversion boost

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I got a marketing email today with the subject line:

“Add THIS To Your Coffee For A Memory Boost”

The email explains: “It’s not sugar or cream, and it’s not anything that will affect the taste… But it’s clinically shown to improve your memory starting in just 1 hour.”

​​Hmmm… interesting.

Almost as interesting as a Penn and Teller magic trick I watched involving a disappearing chicken. Penn announces he will make the chicken disappear from its cage through the use of misdirection. “That’s a magical term,” Penn informs you, “a term of art. It’s a curating of attention… giving the audience a story they can tell themselves that lets them not really know they were distracted.”

Penn keeps explaining how he’s going to fool you as he lowers a velvet cloth over the soon-to-be-disappeared chicken. And then suddenly, a man in a gorilla suit jumps out from backstage, banging some cymbals. Meanwhile, Teller, the quiet half of the duo, sneaks behind the cage, takes the chicken out, and walks off.

Eventually, the commotion settles down. ​​

“How many of you saw the gorilla?” Penn asks the audience. Everybody raises their hand.

“And how many of you saw Teller take the chicken out?” Almost all hands go up again.

“Now, how many of you saw him sneak the gorilla into the cage?” Penn asks. And he strips away the velvet cloth to show the gorilla struggling in the cage, right where the chicken was only a few seconds ago.

Pretty impressive. But getting back to marketing… What is this non-sugar, non-cream coffee additive that will boost your memory in just one hour?

Well, if you click on the link, and have the patience to watch the VSL, you’ll find out it’s a run-of-the-mill supplement, specifically, a capsule containing some standard herbs that are supposed to make an old and tired mind sharper. It’s not in any way connected to coffee, though I guess you can plop it into your coffee, much like you could plop a pair of keys into your coffee so you don’t forget them.

Maybe you see my point.

​​Misdirection is a clever magic trick to use in copy. It works well to get attention, and probably, to increase sales as well. But be careful.

​​Unlike with a magic show, people won’t be pleased to be fooled like with the coffee/supplement example. Your misdirection should be subtle and, unlike in the marketing email I got, at least a little plausible. Nobody likes to feel like a gullible ass, and they probably won’t give you a second chance.

How is your vagal tone?

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“Well I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?”
– Leonard Cohen, Hallelujah

Gary Halbert once wrote that if you’re in the marketing business, you always have to do two things:

1) Keep the fundamentals in mind
2) Keep an eye out for what’s working right now

Well, right now, one specific health offer seems to be working like crazy. I’m assuming this because I’ve gotten dozens of emails promoting this offer over the past two months.

Many of these emails came from various Agora health brands (the offer in question also seems to come from an Agora brand). Others came from 3rd party newsletters that I suppose are affiliates. And I’ve even seen email drops in Newsmax promoting this offer.

I’m listening to the VSL right now, and two things stick out as possible reasons why this offer is doing so well at the moment.

First, it has a unique “problem mechanism” (that’s a term that I first heard from top-flight copywriter Stefan Georgi). In this case, the problem mechanism is “low vagal tone,” which as the VSL will tell you, will do everything from shriveling your nuts to corroding your cells and even burning out your brain. Do you have a health problem right now? Maybe it’s time to get your vagal tone checked.

But how do you check your vagal tone? Well, the VSL has an answer for you. It’s even got a solution in case you find that your vagal tone is low.

And that’s the second possible reason why this VSL seems to be killing it right now. The “solution mechanism” (your run of the mill, Gene Schwartz mechanism) is not a pill, not a supplement, and not even a newsletter. instead, it’s a special sound, or as the VSL says, a “healing frequency discovered between 85-255 Hz.”

Maybe that’s the secret chord that David played to increase the vagal tone. Anyways, if you’re in the marketing business, and you’d like to see this offer that’s working so well right now, here’s the link:

https://pro.donovanhealth.com/p/OV6SSSPKG1I/EOV6VB48/