Copywriting

Copywriting for cavemen

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A while back, some scientists at Cambridge University studied a bunch of hunter gatherer tribes, and they came up with an inspiring conclusion:

Hunter gatherers do not work very hard.

In fact, when you add up all the hunting and gathering they do in a typical week, it adds up to about 20 hours.

Compare that to the typical work week of a human being in agricultural society (30 hours) or in an industrial society (40+ hours).

The point being that maybe we’re not evolved to be all gung-ho about non-stop sweat and toil.

And so if you feel a little lazy sometimes, blame it on tens of thousands of years of evolution that our ancestors spent hanging around caves and watching the caveman equivalent of Netflix.

Now, here’s a bit of good news.

If you aren’t all that crazy about long work—weeks, then copywriting might be a good career choice for you.

Some of the top copywriters out there — including Gene Schwartz, Gary Bencivenga, and Parris Lampropoulos — have stated that a good day for them consists of three hours of solid writing.

Pretty cavemannish schedule.

Plus it gets better.

If you’re easily distracted on top of being a little lazy, you’ve got an additional leg up (three legs down?) on all those other monkeys who want to write successful copy.

Because much of copywriting — 60% according to top copywriting coach David Garfinkel — often goes to research.

Ie. reading.

Following random links.

Kicking rocks around.

And looking for that great idea that will help you sell this weeks copy assignment.

So maybe you’re wondering where I’m going with this.

And it’s simply to give you a bit of encouragement in case you’re wondering whether you have what it takes to be a copywriter.

Odds are good that even the things that you might blame yourself for — such as apparent laziness and distractability — might help you in your journey to get to that top level of marketing and writing copy, if you know how to use them.

Of course, there are lots of other things you’ll need as well.

So if you have questions about succeeding as a copywriter, and if you want my opinion on the steps you need to take besides not working very hard and clicking on lots of seductive links, here’s where to go:
https://bejakovic.com/upwork-book-notification-list/

Are your headlines missing these 10 must-have ingredients?

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Real quick today, I wanted to share 10 ingredients for better headlines, along with some examples from advertorials I’ve written recently:

#1. The no. 1 headline driver

When in doubt, go with a “how to” headline. Why? because people have problems and are always looking for solutions to those problems. In other words, use benefits and appeal to self-interest. Example:

“How to prevent ticks from biting and infecting your dog”

#2. “In search of”

I remember some famous direct response copywriter once saying that a decent headline should, at the very least, flag down the correct audience. Even if you don’t talk about benefits or problems, make sure you laser in on the person you want to attract. Example:

“Women with large breasts lecturing me”

#3. Sea salt for headlines

You can’t live by eating salt alone. But it sure makes many dishes taste better. Same with curiosity in headlines. Use it in combination with self-interest and watch the sales drip in. Example:

“I started a new gym habit — then almost gave it up for this stupid reason”

#4. Sticking a spoke in your reader’s mental wheel

I’ve written about this before — using juxtaposition/contrast/paradox is like sticking a spoke in your reader’s mental wheel. It forces him to stop and pay attention in order to resolve the apparent confusion. Example:

“Canine projectile”

#5. The Hallmark approach

If you turn on the Hallmark Channel at any time of day, what will you see? Sappy, human-interest stories. And it works in advertorial headlines, too. Example:

“My family was being devoured by mosquitoes — but this little gizmo saved us”

#6. “The Real World” secret

“Next week, on The Real World…’ Drama. Sex. Conflict. Some things seem to appeal to us on a primal level and don’t need any added justification. So work them into your headlines. Example:

“How I wash blood stains out of my clothes WITHOUT laundry detergent”

#7. A mysterious origin story

As a species, we seem to love reading about accidental and improbable discoveries. If your product has such a mysterious origin story, feature it in the headline. Example:

“The plantar fasciitis secret of an Orangetheory Fitness freak”

#8. Trash talking the competition

If you’re selling a new product to fix an old problem, highlight that fact in your headline by separating yourself from the existing solutions. Example:

“Why security cameras can actually invite robberies — and how I defend my home instead”

#9. Addressing objections

“Yeah, I know I have to take care of my dog’s teeth. But I hate doing it so much. Wait, what? I don’t have to go through the hassle?” If you’re solving a problem that raises a knee-jerk objection, address that in the headline. Example:

“Why your dog should brush her own teeth”

#10. Headline Kryptonite

Prices should never go in the headline of long-form copy, right? Wrong. At least if you do your own testing, and see what works in your specific case. Example:

“How this $14 alarm saved me from a creep at 2am”

And there ya go. 10 ways to write better advertorials headlines along with some examples ot get your headline juices dripping. Mix and match them for best results.

And if you want a more thorough look at how to research, write, and publish profitable story-based advertorials, you might like the following:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/

When to accept “touch up” copywriting jobs

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Last week, after a disappointing run-in with my hairdresser, I wrote about 10 additional services copywriters can offer to their clients.

Copywriter Leah Luong wrote in to get some clarification on strategy #8:

“As a newbie copywriter, I really enjoyed this email. At least they don’t make you into meat pies these days! (Sweeney Todd reference).

“I have a question about #8 The Dreaded Touch Up – How do I know if I should take the gig? In what situations should I run for the hills?”

The Dreaded Touch-Up is when the client comes to you and says, “We have this copy… It’s great, just needs to be touched up a bit.”

Like I wrote in that post last week, I normally avoid this kind of job — but there are cases when it makes sense to take it on. And Leah is asking what those cases are.

Before I give you my opinion, let me tell you about the four types of copywriting clients.

This comes from A-list copywriter Bob Bly, who says clients can fall into one of four categories: arrogant, ignorant, both, or neither.

Says Bob, it’s ok to work with arrogant clients. They know just as much or more about marketing as you do.

It’s also ok to work with ignorant clients. They defer to your opinion and let you take the lead.

What’s NOT ok is working with clients who are both arrogant and ignorant. These folks don’t know much about marketing (“This hairball of a sales letter is almost perfect, just needs some jazzing up”) but they are inflexible in their ignorance (“It absolutely shouldn’t take you more than 2 hours MAX to fix this mess up”).

So the first step of the Acceptable Touch-Up is to make sure you’re not dealing with clients who are both ignorant and arrogant.

Which, by default, leaves you with clients who are just ignorant.

Not ignorant in general.

Just ignorant of what needs to be done to fix their existing copy.

That’s why you, as the copywriter, should take charge and set expectations.

So in the case I referred to last week, I looked over the sales letter, and I found the few things — headline, lead, a couple of bullets — that I thought would make the biggest improvement if changed.

And I told the client, “I’ll write a new headline, new lead, and change these bullets for you, all for the reasonable price of whatever. Does that work for you?”

They agreed. So it made sense for me to take the job. And they were happy with the result, because it was exactly what I said I would do.

That’s my best advice when it comes to dealing with the Dreaded Touch-Up.

In case you’ve got other questions about how to deal with copywriting clients in various situations, you might be interested in the following:

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

Science, Skrillex, and sexy sales copy

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I killed three mosquitoes this afternoon. The little bastards are suddenly everywhere.

I wish some secret government agency would fly planes overhead and spray a cloud of toxic dust over my house to keep me from getting bitten and buzzed.

But until that happens, I guess I’ll have to blast some Skrillex.

No joke.

A science paper from 2016 found that Skrillex’s “Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites” prevents mosquito bites.

The scientists think it’s the way high pitched and low pitched frequencies change in the song.

They found that mosquitoes listening to Skrillex wanted to have less mosquito sex… Communicated less with mosquito neighbors… And were less hungry for mosquito food ie. human blood.

(I just listened to the song. It’s annoying. I can understand why it would make mosquitoes lose their instinct for living.)

Anyways, here’s why I bring this up:

I found out this bit of mosquito knowledge a few days ago while writing an advertorial for a “hypersonic mosquito repellent bracelet.”

People love a scientific explanation backed by research. It’s one of those things that taps into an automatic human response, just like sex.

So I use scientific research whenever possible in my copy.

Thing is, ya can’t always do it, not with the random ecommerce products like the ones I’ve been promoting.

But when it is possible, like with the mosquito bracelet, I make sure to make the scientific research the nail from which I hang the rest of the advertorial.

If you are writing sales copy, even advertorials, this is something to try as well.

By the way, I am still (slowly) putting together my upcoming guide on how to write successful story-based advertorials. If you wanna get notified when it’s out, you can sign up here:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/

Old people in ridiculous t-shirts

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I was a little shocked when my grandfather opened the door.

He was of mixed Croatian and Italian heritage, as white as they come, and at the time of this story, probably well into his 70s.

When going outside, he would usually wear a suit and a tie. But on this occasion, he opened the door wearing his home outfit — sweatpants and a t-shirt.

And not just any t-shirt.

It was FUBU — “For Us, By Us” — the Afrocentric brand that flourished in the U.S. thanks to being plugged by rappers such as LL Cool J.

This wasn’t the only case of senior clothing mismatch I’ve seen in Croatia.

A few weeks ago I saw an ancient woman, probably born in the Austro-Hungarian empire, wearing a t-shirt that read, “FETISH.”

And around the same time I saw a grey-haired, middle-aged man with a t-shirt that said, “Bitch better have my money.”

Now, I think these cases are all funny.

And I guess I am not the only one. Because juxtaposition — basically putting two things together — is an almost-mechanical way to create humor out of nothing. A shirt that says FETISH is at best trashy. An 80-year old woman wearing a shirt that says FETISH… well, that’s content.

Two points I wanna bring up:

Juxtaposition doesn’t always make for humor. But if you juxtapose things that are different enough, you’re at least going to get some shock or wonder (“The unique world of gay rodeo”).

Second: humor, curiosity, shock, wonder, and juxtaposition are all great things to include on occasion in your sales copy.

They will make people enjoy reading what you have to say, so your audience forms a stronger bond with you.

But they are not a crutch you should rely on endlessly.

And except in personality-based emails or blog posts (such as this one), they are still best paired with that most fundamental direct response driver — self-interest — in order to be effective.

And with that, let me juxtapose an important final point:

If you want to see some examples of serious sales copy that uses light juxtaposition in an effective and sales-producing way, you might like the following offer:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/

The quick and easy marketing lesson hiding under Harry Potter’s robes

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A few days ago, I watched Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone for the first time.

Odds are, you know all about Harry Potter.

But just in case, let me summarize the first 20 minutes of the movie for you:

Harry is an unloved and unlovable dork. He’s 12 years old and the most distinctive features about him are his John Lennon glasses and his Ringo Starr haircut. In other words, this kid ain’t going nowhere.

And then he gets a letter in the mail.

“You are a wizard, Harry Potter”

Within a whirlwind few days, Harry suddenly comes into talent, money, connections, plus he’s famous and good at sports. Oh — and he gets to wear some snazzy black robes.

So what’s the lesson hiding under all this?

Well, this Harry Potter fantasy is the human condition.

We are all unloved and unlovable in different ways.

We trudge on through life, smiling and putting on a brave face. But deep down, we all keep a bit of hope that we too will get a letter in the mail saying:

“All your problems have been solved, starting NOW! By a magical accident, you are now beautiful and talented and admired and by the way all your money problems have been solved from here to eternity!”

Admit it.

That would be a sweet letter to get, if you could at all believe that it’s true.

Trouble is, Hogwarts is full up for the year.

And probably next year too.

And that’s where direct marketers come in.

Because the best direct marketers will send you just such a letter, promising to take away your biggest problems, starting now — and in a perfectly quick and easy way.

So if you’re trying to sell something, think of poor bespectacled Harry Potter living under the dusty stairs in his aunt’s house, and imagine him receiving your sales pitch.

Will it transform the little dweeb into a magical wizard overnight?

Will it get him excited enough to scrape together his meager allowance so he can send for your “From Weirdo to Wizard” course?

Because if not, you’ve got some work to do, fashioning a better offer or some better marketing.

I can’t help with the offer. But if you want help with the marketing, then I’ve got a quick and easy solution for you:

https://bejakovic.com/advertorials/

The latest bad news for direct response copywriters

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Here’s a fair warning to any copywriters out there:

I just read that Chase Bank has signed a 5-year contract with Persado.

Never heard of Persado?

Neither had I.

It turns out they are a provider of AI-generated marketing copy.

In other words, instead of hiring a marketing agency or in-house talent or (gasp!) even freelance copywriters, Chase Bank will be getting their copy (at least some of it) done by tireless, uncomplaining, non-unionized software robots.

“Pff,” you might say, “good luck to them. I’m sure the copy will be terrible and they’ll just waste their money.”

Not so fast. Chase didn’t just choose Persado because AI is hip or because AI-generated copy is cheap. No. It also performs better. Here’s a test for you:

A: “Access cash from the equity in your home”

B: “It’s true—You can unlock cash from the equity in your home”

Who wrote what and which headline won?

Think about it and then read on.

The first ad headline was written by a red-blooded human copywriter. The second was written by a pale and pasty AI sprite. The AI sprite got the better response.

I think this is a sign of things to come.

Headlines might be the first to go, since they might be easier to write than entire paragraphs and sales arguments and whatever else.

But at the same time… haven’t you heard that the headline is 80% of the ad?

So if computers are writing better headlines than humans, human copywriters might not be getting so well paid in the near future.

Now at this point, maybe you are getting a little nervous. I know I am.

And so I want to tell you that this news doesn’t have to spell doom.

For one thing, in any crisis, it seems that many people suffer, while a few rise to the top and profit even more than before.

Maybe that can be you, if you can really hone your persuasion and copy skills and rise to being in the 1% of all copywriters out there.

The second thing is that copywriting, while it is a noble and profitable profession, maybe should not be your end goal.

Instead, maybe copywriting should simply be a kind of “Trojan horse” that you use to embed yourself within a successful business — AI revolution be damned.

That’s something to think about — even if you’re a rank copywriting newbie.

Anyways, if you’ve got questions about how to succeed in the business of copy, then I have something you might like. It’s a report that summarizes my experience getting well-paying clients during the first few years of my freelance copywriting career.

In case you want to know more about this report, check out the following:

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

10 additional services copywriters can sell to their clients

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I just got my hair cut. Unfortunately, hair-cutting is all the hairdresser offered to do.

It makes me yearn for the good old days when a respectable barber would cut your hair, trim your mustache, and even pull your rotten tooth out for you.

Oh well. Too bad for hairdressers.

Copywriters can do better, though. Here are 10 additional services that I’ve used (or tried to use) to up-sell and down-sell and cross-sell clients:

#1. The Oliver Twist

This is when the client comes to you, soup bowl in hand, and says, “Please sir, I want some more.” In other words, you simply sell them the same service again. For example, last summer, I wrote one sales email for a guy with a big Clickbank product in the men’s health niche. He liked it, so he hired me to write a new such email every day.

#2. The top of the slide

This is writing copy for one part of the sales funnel, and then for an earlier part. Example: a couple of years ago I was hired to rewrite a VSL. When that was done, I kept in touch with the same client. Eventually, we agreed that I would also rewrite the emails he was using to drive traffic to the VSL.

#3. The after-party

This is just the opposite of no. 2. Example: I once had a job to write headlines for native ads. That job ended. But after a bit of back-and-forth, I was hired to also write the actual advertorials that the native ads led to.

#4. A second tunnel through the mountain

If you’ve done a good job for a client on one project, odds are good they have another very similar opportunity — another product, another funnel — which needs almost the exact treatment.

So just recently I was asked to rewrite a product page for a new supplement company. I did. the client was satisfied with the work, and I immediately got the chance to do another product page for another product in the exact same style.

#5. Oranges instead of apples

Sometimes it pays to stand up to clients. Last autumn, I was contacted by a client who wanted me to write a VSL. After a bit of talking, I told him he needs to pick a segment of the market he plans to target. And so we agreed that, instead of the VSL, I would write emails to his existing list to figure out which segment might sell the best.

#6. Outsourced kaizen

This is when you handle the optimization of the copy or of the funnel. Right now, I’m talking to a client who got in touch regarding an advertorial. So I asked him a question straight out of Jim Camp’s playbook: “Who do you have in your corner who can help you optimize this thing to ensure it performs well?” We’ll see if he has someone, or if he’s interested in having me handle this.

#7. Mouth flapping

Parris Lampropoulos, who is famous as an A-list copywriter, once said he actually makes most his money from consulting with his clients rather than the actual copywriting — in spite of the massive royalties he’s typically paid.

But you don’t need to be a marketer of Parris’s stature to get paid for consulting (aka flapping your mouth). Back in my dark and early Upwork days, I had a difficult client. However, one good thing was he would pay me simply to get on the call and brainstorm, or more often, to shoot his ideas down.

#8. The dreaded touchup

When asked to “simply fix up” existing copy, I usually run like I’m being chased by a bunch of angry bees. But I have done it in the past, and sometimes it proved to be good money for little work. For example, I once rewrote the lead (the first page and a half) of a pretty messy sales letter for a live event about investing, and I got paid what was a princely sum for me at the time.

#9. Money for nothing

This is an idea I got from Travis Sago: you take a client’s “trashcan asset,” turn it into risk-free money, and split the profits. I haven’t done this yet, but not for want of trying — I keep talking to all of my current and past clients about it.

#10. Trousers and britches

Sometimes clients need different formats and they are willing to pay you for it. Example: I once wrote a 2,000 word script for a Facebook lead-gen video. But is 2,000 words the right length? The client wasn’t sure. So I took that same script, pared it down to 600 words, gave him that as a second piece of copy, and earned a bit of extra money.

If you make a bit of an effort to suss out what your client might need, and then pick and choose from the above list, you won’t just make yourself more money.

Instead, you will also solidify your relationship with a client, help them be more successful, and profit doubly down the line. And if you want more advice on how to succeed in the business of copywriting, you might like the following:

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

Awkward high-school dates with copywriting clients

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“I’m supposed to invite you to hang out with us on Friday.”

It was 10th grade, and I had just started a new high school. There was a group of proto-hipsters there who thought I showed some promise. So one of them was sent as an emissary to invite me to a concert with them.

I went.

The concert was terrible, in one of those rat-infested Baltimore slum-houses.

But afterwards, we went back to the safe suburbs.

Now, the key to this story is that there was a girl in the group who was like a breastier version of Audrey Hepburn.

Quiet, pretty, and apparently interested in me.

“Would you like to go on the porch and get some air?” she asked me when we got back to the suburbs.

I mumbled something and followed her out.

So there we were, in the early October night, staring at the moon, occasionally looking over at each other, and saying…

Nothing.

I don’t know how long this went on but I guess between two minutes and two hours.

Eventually she got restless.

And then resigned.

“I’m gonna go back inside,” breasty Audrey said.

And that was it.

She went on to date a sequence of local bad boy rock stars and then she became a painter or a potter or maybe a basket weaver.

That night was the closest I got to her. And even though she was making herself as approachable as could be, I was simply too dimwitted to know what to do.

I bring this story up for two reasons.

First, because I like to rub salt into my wounds and remind myself of the many times I’ve managed to miss a wide-open goal.

The second reason is more practical and perhaps more relevant to you.

Because a similar scenario to the above plays out every day  on platforms such as Upwork.

Most Upwork clients are on there because they don’t have any other place to find copywriters.

They’ve never worked with a copywriter before.

They don’t know what they should expect of you.

They don’t know what they should do themselves.

It’s much like dating early on in high school. Both sides are nervous. Neither side really knows what to do except what they’ve overheard from their not-much-more experienced older brothers and sisters.

So what should YOU do?

Well, you have to take charge of that awkward date.

I’ll talk about specific ways to do this in a little bonus report I’m preparing for the relaunch of my Upwork book. In case you want to get notified when this book is out, you can sign up here:

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

Top Gun II: Mystery Upwork Bogey

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The big news for me over the last week is that we finally have a trailer for Top Gun II: Maverick.

I don’t have high hopes.

The original Top Gun, which came out some 30 years ago, is my favorite movie of all time.

But I can’t imagine that today’s metoo Hollywood could make a worthy sequel to that hyper-chaddy, testosterone-dripping circle jerk.

Even so, I’m sure I’ll go see the movie when it comes out in 2020.

For today, I have the original Top Gun in mind.

Because a few days ago, I was talking to a a fellow freelance copywriter who lives in the fine city of Manchester.

He was asking what I thought of the recent changes on Upwork.

In a nutshell, freelancers now have to pay around $1 to apply for a job.

I’m not on Upwork any more, but if I were, I wouldn’t care about this.

Because of my “bogey.”

No, it’s not a MIG-29 that suddenly blipped up on the radar. Instead, a bogey in direct marketing is the maximum price you are willing to pay for a customer.

Let me give you an example:

Many summers ago, when I was starting out on Upwork, an average first-time client would net me around $200.

At the same time, I’d get on average 3 new clients from each 30 applications I sent in.

If my math is right, that means each targeted and smart application I submitted was effectively worth $20 in business for that month.

In other words, $20 was my “bogey.”

And so, if Upwork had been charging me $1 to apply to a job, it would basically be a no-brainer to keep applying to any jobs that I thought were a good fit.

And that’s not even counting knock-on effects such as repeat business, a plumper portfolio, spontaneous referrals, or awakening the Upwork recommendation algorithm.

So here’s my tip for you for today:

Whether you are on Upwork or you are after other clients or customers, it makes sense to calculate your bogey.

And if it’s at least as great as your cost of acquiring those customers or clients…

Then get in that dogfight and engage, Maverick.

By the way, I still haven’t put up my Upwork book for sale since taking it off Amazon. While it’s in the hangar, if you do have any Upwork questions, send me an email and I’ll help if I can.