A hot tip for copywriters and others

by

Get ready for some hard-as-headboards teaching. To set it up, let me give you some example headlines:

A. Retire in 15 years
B. How to have a cool, quiet bedroom
C. Key to fitness at any age

Decent headlines, right? All of them have a benefit, all of them are clear, all of them are short.

However, let’s say for the sake of argumance that you wanted to do better.

How might you tweak the above headlines to increase the number of grateful readers who fall into your ad and start reading your copy?

Take a moment and really think about it.

I’ll tell you in a second, but think about it first.

All right, thought some?

Well, here are alternate versions of the above headlines. All of these alternate versions outperformed the versions listed first. And if you look carefully, all of these alternate versions have something in common:

A. How a man of 40 can retire in 15 years
B. How to have a cool, quiet bedroom — even on hot nights
C. Key to fitness at any age for men and women

We know these alternate versions outperformed the originals because these were all case studies reported by the great John Caples in his book Tested Advertising Methods.

So what’s the lesson contained in Caples’s case studies?

Well if you look at the alternate headlines, you could slice the changes in different ways:

– calling out the audience
– addressing objections
– intensifying the promise

But I think all of these different slices can be put under the single, powerful, and shady umbrella of:

Specificity.

Sure, “Retire in 15 years” actually implies “How a man of 40 can retire in 40 years.”

But that’s not how people read ads.

You’ve got a fraction of an unconscious second to wake up your slumbering prospect and get him to hear what you have to say.

Don’t count on his tired brain to do any calculating in your favor.

Instead, use as much specificity as you can. Even if it’s redundant or not actually specific, such as saying “Key to fitness for men and women.”

So that’s my hot tip for copywriters.

Or others, such as business owners who hire copywriters.

​​And if that’s you, and you are looking for more specific copywriting tips (that have to do with increasing sales), then you might like the following:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/

Airbnb goes direct response

by

Last December, top-flight copywriter Dan Ferrari sent out an email about big changes he was seeing in the copywriting and direct marketing worlds. One part of it was the following:

So watch as companies with products and businesses that don’t really fall into our little world of internet direct response start to require the services of people that know how traffic, copy, and funnels work online, at mega-scale.

Even what you might think of as more traditional “brand” companies (if you have a keen eye, you’ll already have noticed this is happening with companies like Samsung, Bissell, etc…)

It’s going to be another area of HUGE growth and along with it, more big opportunities for the copywriters that have proven themselves.

This stuck in my head. But since I don’t go much on Facebook, since I refuse to download any apps on my phone, and since I live in a tiny eastern European country that doesn’t get too much ad targeting…

I hadn’t seen any examples of the big new players that Dan was talking about.

Well, until today.

Today, I opened up a Newsmax email. Newsmax is a massive newsletter that caters to aging baby boomers who love Trump, hate Obama, and worry about diabetes, immigrants, and race riots. Each Newsmax email has the latest-breaking news from a conservative standpoint, along with a few carefully placed links to long-form, very hard-hitting sales letters.

Except not today.

Today, the sponsored post in Newsmax was for Airbnb. The headline read:

“Earn while you’re away”

The pitch was that you could make money renting out your home on Airbnb while you travel. And the link took you to a regular Airbnb page for signing up hosts.

Now, I personally find it hard to imagine that a 65-year-old retired dentist, who’s afraid that El Salvadorean immigrants are coming to displace him from his castle of a home that he finally paid off after 30 years, will be thrilled with the idea of opening up said home to strangers while he goes traveling (where? to Bali?).

And even if he was curious about this offer, I’m not sure he would know what to do with the Airbnb page that the ad linked to.

In other words, I expect that the Airbnb Newsmax promo was a big stinkin’ flop.

But who cares? Airbnb is currently valued at $35 billion. They can afford to throw away a measly $20k or $50k on some failed ad tests.

But eventually, they will wise up, and they will ask their direct marketing to actually turn some kind of a profit.

And when that happens, you’ll see the situation that Dan was describing above:

“Big opportunities for the copywriters that have proven themselves.”

Just something to think about if you’re deciding whether copywriting is something you want to double-down on, or if you just want to keep dabbling in it from the sidelines.

If you are doubling-down, then you might like my upcoming book. It will talk about what I’ve learned over the past year while writing advertorials for some successful cold traffic campaigns. To get notified when I finish this book, you can sign up here:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/

Proof that Donald Trump is actually smart

by

Dan Kennedy once told a revealing story about Donald Trump:

Some years earlier, Dan was giving a talk at some kind of event. After his talk, he ran into Trump back stage.

​​”What are you reading these days?” asked The Donald.

Dan listed one book.

The Donald nodded.

Dan listed another.

The Donald nodded again.

Dan listed a third.

The Donald turned to his hanger-on and said, “Get me that, I haven’t read it yet.”

​​I don’t know about you, but to me this doesn’t sound like the dolt that the media likes to portray.

Anyways, in spite of the pulling power of Donald Trump, I actually want to talk about Dan Kennedy tonight. In case you haven’t heard, the man is either dead, or very close to dead.

Now, I’m not sentimental about death in the least. But a few things are undeniable:

1) Dan Kennedy was a big name in the direct marketing space, and a big influence on many.

2) He had tons of interesting and entertaining stories, like the one above.

3) He was smart, and he was successful.

So even though I’m not personally saddened by Dan Kennedy’s death, I do respect what the guy did and how he did it.

And so, today I’d like to point you to a Dan Kennedy talk that I go back to regularly, because it’s got so much marketing value.

This talk was the keynote speech to Brian Kurtz’s “Titans of Direct Response” event, which sold for $2k while it was still available.

Brian made this presentation of Dan’s available for free online for some reason.

And if you’re interested in learning more about direct marketing and copywriting, from a guy who clearly knew what he was doing, then I think this video is worth a look. Or two. Or ten.

(Plus, it’s where Dan actually tells the Trump story above.)

In case you’re interested, here’s the link:

https://vimeo.com/user41807591/review/132998983/eacabe46f6

Opening the doors of marketing perception

by

A few weeks ago, I found myself at an open-air club in Barcelona, talking to Tony the drug dealer.

Tony didn’t speak very good English.

When he couldn’t find the right word, he would shake his fist at the sky and yell, “TEACHER!!!”

In spite of his habit of selling drugs for a living, Tony didn’t do too many drugs himself.

“Just a little ketamine right now,” he told me. “It opens up the pineal gland.” He pointed to the back of his head to illustrate where the pineal gland is.

Now, from my previous readings, I know the the pineal gland is supposed to be the seat of the soul.

If it gets clogged up, then you find it hard to see God.

When it gets cleansed, say with a bit of ketamine, then you start to see the true nature of reality.

Maybe you don’t believe in any of this.

So let me tell you about marketing instead.

I just had my first call with my new marketing and copywriting coach.

Earlier this afternoon, I was thinking to myself how I’m already a pretty good writer and I know a lot about marketing.

I wonder what this guy is gonna be able to tell me,” I thought.

Well, I’ve just had my pineal gland opened.

And I feel like I got a short but powerful glimpse of the true nature of marketing reality.

I had a similar though less powerful experience the first time I started hand-copying successful ads many years back.

There’s such a big difference between reading about copywriting theory online and seeing real ads that actually made millions of dollars.

And there’s an even bigger difference between working on moderate copywriting projects, and seeing behind the curtain of someone who works on some of the most successful current promotions.

So if you’re wondering what this has to do with you, here’s all I can say:

Find​ some way of cleansing your own doors of marketing perception and opening up your own pineal gland.

Maybe you can start by looking at historically successful ads.

Maybe you can find a mentor or a coach, like I’m doing now.

Or maybe you can get a job in a fast-moving and successful marketing organization, where you can get a lot of experience very quickly.

Speaking of which, a past client of mine, Josh Dunlop, got in touch with me a few days ago.

Josh runs a very big and successful photography instruction website called Expert Photography.

I wrote some emails for Josh in my first year as a copywriter. He’s now looking for somebody to hire full-time.

I’m not interested. But you might be. So in case you want to find out more about the copywriting position that Josh is advertising, check out the following page:

https://expertphotography.com/careers/copywriter/

Copywriting and luck

by

I just saw a cute video of a frustrated husky.

The husky is having a fit because his owner is pretending to eat one of the husky’s milk bones.

I saw this video in a Reddit post titled, “No, that’s not for you!” The post currently has 21K points and over 200 comments.

​​And the interesting thing is hiding down in one of those comments. It’s a table that somebody put together of the 24 other times this exact same video was posted before.

Those other posts of the same video range from having 29 points and 1 comment…

To having 81.5K points and 938 comments.

Maybe these fake Internet points don’t mean much to you.

So let’s multiply by 10 and change it into cold hard greenbacks. By that math…

The least successful husky post would have earned you $290, enough to buy a Kindle Oasis, Amazon’s “most advanced Kindle ever with a 7” screen and sleek ergonomic design.”

Not bad. On the other hand…

The most successful husky post would have earned you $815,000, almost enough to buy yourself a McLaren Senna, an “extremely track-focused hypercar” and “McLaren’s most calculated masterpiece.”

Keep in mind, the video was the same in both cases.

The substance was identical.

The only difference came down to title (“”WTF, that’s not yours” vs. “GIMME GIMME DARN :(“) and the time of the posting.

In other words, a bit of copywriting…

And a lot of luck.

So what’s the point of all this?

Well, I actually intend it to be inspirational.

Because if you’ve got decent copywriting (can you guess which of the two titles was the winner and which the loser?) and if you simply keep plugging away until you get lucky, then you too might get a husky post that gets tens of thousands of fake internet points.

Or if that’s not your game, maybe you will come up with a for-real offer that makes hundreds of thousands of dollars overnight. If you need help figuring out how to write decent copy to promote that offer of yours, you might like the following:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/

Justin Goff and Stefan Georgi critique my advertorial copy

by

Do you know the old chestnut about the drunk copywriter?

He was standing under a flashing neon sign that said ADVERTORIAL.

A passing policeman noticed this strange scene.

“What’s going on here?”

“I lost my keys,” said the copywriter.

“Right here, under this flashing ADVERTORIAL sign?” barked the cop.

“No,” the copywriter said softly. “Somewhere out there.” And he waved his arm into the darkness of the night.

Today, I got a copy critique from Justin Goff and Stefan Georgi.

​​Both Justin and Stefan are multi-million dollar marketers and copywriters. And today, they actually critiqued a bunch of different pieces of copy, mine being one of them. They had lots of insightful and valuable things to say.

So for example, I submitted an advertorial I’d written earlier this summer. According to the client I wrote this for, this offer is “profitable at the moment, although not doing crazy numbers.”

Justin was the one who did most of the critiquing for my copy.

“The advertorial copy is pretty good,” he said. “You could tweak it but it won’t bring in a massive win.”

And then he pointed out some opportunities, specifically in the upsell pages and the actual order page. These were things that would take a small amount of work to do, but could yield a 2- to 5-fold increase in profits. At least that’s what the two experts thoughts.

I won’t spell out these proposed changes here.

I just want to point out that if you’re doing a decent job with copy, then that’s probably not where your lost keys are hiding.

I mean, that’s not where your biggest improvements lie.

And that’s why it doesn’t make sense to keep looking for them under the flashing ADVERTORIAL sign, even though the light is best there.

Instead, you might have to wander out into the darkness that is the rest of your sales funnel. ​​In case you want some help with that, and you want to know the advice that Justin and Stefan gave me, you might like my upcoming guide on writing advertorials. To get notified when it’s out, here’s where to go:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/

The riddle of the digital coupon

by

I’ve got a riddle for your Sunday:

In the olden days of marketing, marketers would run ads in magazines. And if they were smart, then in the corner of the ad, they would put a coupon:

“YES, I DO WANT THIS AMAZING BATCH OF SEA MONKEYS SHIPPED TO ME STAT!”

The coupon worked for several different reasons.

First, it drew attention.

Second, it summarized the offer and did its own bit of selling.

And third, and perhaps most powerful, it was an ongoing reminder.

Coupons were cut out. They stuck around. They encouraged immediate action and they had permanence.

So here’s my riddle to you:

How do you mimic this in a digital setting?

How do you get online shoppers to have an ongoing reminder of you, your business, and your offer, that acts like a coupon?

I don’t have a definitive answer to this riddle. I’m trying to figure it out myself.

But if you have a solution, write in and let me know.

The best answer gets a free copy of my revamped “How to become $150/hr freelancer on Upwork” book, along with the 5 new bonuses I’m adding to it.

Copy is never too boring, only too irrelevant

by

“Long novels often become best sellers, but even short books of logic rarely do.”
Victor Schwab, How to Write a Good Advertisement

True story I heard today:

Million Dollar Mike Morgan, an A-list copywriter I mentioned a couple of days ago, once wrote a 64-page sales letter.

Mike looked at his creation in horror and thought, “This really is too much. Who the hell would read 64 pages of promotion?”

Back then, Million Dollar Mike worked with copywriting coach David Garfinkel.

David read over the copy, and told Mike to run with it.

Which Mike did. The copy made sales. And afterwards, at an event where he was speaking, Mike actually got to talk to some people who bought the $1k product his sales letter promoted.

“Let me ask you something,” he asked all the folks who had bought. “Did you actually read that whole sales letter?”

All of the buyers did. The whole thing. One even read it twice.

It’s often said that a sales letter is never too long, only too boring. But here’s the problem with that:

If you’re writing to the wrong person, then no matter how long or short your sales letter, how entertaining or deadly dull, you won’t make the sale.

And if you’re not an actual prospect for what you’re selling, you can’t tell whether they will be bored or not.

So what do you do?

Well, you rely on the fundamental basics of direct response copywriting, which have been more or less proven over the last 100 years. And you apply them to your sales copy, blind if you have to.

If you need a primer on these fundamental basics of copywriting, specifically as applied to sales advertorials, then check out the following:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/

7 low-key marketers who are worth your attention

by

Below you will find a list of 7 un-famous men.

Odds are, you won’t know all of them, or maybe even most of them.

At least that’s how it was for me, for a good number of years into my copywriting and marketing career.

Which is odd, because all of these guys are very successful, either as copywriters or marketers or both.

The thing is, most of them don’t do a lot of self-promotion. But I believe they are worth your attention. And that’s why I advise you to track down everything they may have put out into the public sphere, whether paid or not.

​​Anyways, here goes:

#1. Travis Sago

I’ve mentioned this guy multiple times in my emails. He started out as an affiliate marketer 15 years ago, then became one of the leading Clickbank sellers in the “Get him back” space, and today earns millions of dollars by teaching other marketers his clever and very simple techniques.

#2. Dan Ferrari

I’d first heard of Dan as a success story for the Copy Hour course. Since then, Dan went on to be one of the top copywriters at the Motley Fool, and when that wasn’t enough, he started his own marketing agency providing marketing and copywriting to some of the biggest names in the health and financial spaces.

#3. Michael Senoff

Michael doesn’t fit 100% in this list, because he still does a reasonable amount of self-promotion. But as a marketer from a pre-Facebook generation, he might not have crossed your radar yet. My main reason for putting him in this list is that his site is an incredible rabbit hole into other very successful copywriters and marketers you have probably never heard about (it’s through Michael that I first heard of Travis Sago).

#4. Ted Nicholas

Ted Nicholas is supposed to be the most successful direct marketer in history, responsible for $6 billion in sales — more than even Jay Abraham. But he did all of this a generation or two ago, and while he has written several books about his strategies, they don’t get the same adulation that other copywriting classics (eg. Joe Sugarman’s books) get today. Still, do you think he might teach you a thing or two?

#5. Parris Lampropoulos

One of the most successful copywriters of the past several decades and somebody I’ve written about frequently, Parris mostly focuses on his work and doesn’t do almost any self-promotion. But if you search around, you can find a few podcast interviews he’s done — and each is packed with really A-list copywriting secrets.

#6. Million Dollar Mike Morgan

Mike is another very successful copywriter, who has a public online footprint that might even be smaller than Parris has. But if you search around, you might find an offer Million Dollar Mike is running right now (I think it’s still up), where he’s sharing some of his biggest insights and secrets in exchange for a donation to a good cause.

#7. Mark Ford

Mark Ford has written a dozen books about copywriting and marketing, plus he started and ran one of the biggest business and self-improvement blogs on the Internet (Early To Rise). Oh, and he helped Agora become a billion-dollar company. So why is he on this list? Well, because in my experience, in spite of all that Mark Ford has done and all the great info he has shared, many people still don’t know who he is.

That’s all I got for today.

But if you have more questions on how to become a successful copywriter or marketer, you might look here:

https://bejakovic.com/upwork-book-notification-list/

The copywriting commandment that top copywriters all violate

by

Q: You go back to the same actors frequently?
A: I have to. It’s a tax thing.
— Christopher Guest on the Charlie Rose Show, 2003

In my opinion, Christopher Guest is one of the most talented entertainers in history.

You know who I’m talking about.

He acted, sang, and played guitar as Nigel Tufnel in This Is Spinal Tap (“This one goes to 11”). He also directed and wrote Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman. He even had a role in The Princess Bride, as the soft-spoken but sadistic Count Rugen.

In spite of all these achievements, Christopher Guest is even more impressive in real life.

For example, he was interviewed on Charlie Rose some 15 years ago.

He was subtle and funny in almost every second of the live interview.

That’s rare.

Because most comedians, even the ones I love the best, are a big disappointment when they have to improvise.

They don’t have the same delivery.

They don’t have good punchlines.

They are simply not very funny, especially when compared to their stage or movie persona.

And this is yet another connection between the world of comedy and the world of sales copywriting. Because one of the biggest and most sacred sales copy commandments is:

“Write like you talk!”

Sure, this is good advice for people who are terrified of writing.

Or for those who are used to writing in a nonsense, corporate tone (“Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion…”)

But “write like you talk” is not something that top copywriters actually do themselves.

Don’t believe me?

Go on YouTube and find some video of Gary Halbert speaking.

See how slow and ponderous the man was. It’s nothing like the crisp, funny, energetic writing in his newsletter.

And that’s not a coincidence.

Top copywriters make their copy more than “just how they talk.”

I won’t give away the secrets of the trade here.

Suffice to say that most copywriters, just like most comedians, simply aren’t that persuasive or funny in real life.

We’re not all Christopher Guest, unfortunately.

Fortunately, there is a simple fix.

It’s called hard work and unrelenting toil.

In other words, if you’re not naturally an incredible storyteller or an irresistible salesman, you can still write top-level copy.

And all it will take are dozens of passes over what you’ve written the first time around, until you revise it into something that really pulls.

Of course, there are checklists and shortcuts that can make your job easier. And if that’s what you’re looking for, then you might like the following:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/