Copywriting

How to write copy and influence people

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I recently read a personal story about Andrew Carnegie, one of the richest Americans of all time.

Carnegie had a couple of nephews who studied at Yale University.

These guys never wrote their mother, and they paid no attention to their mother’s frantic letters asking them if they are ok.

Andrew Carnegie wagered a hundred dollars he could get an answer from his nephews by return mail — without even asking for it.

So he wrote them a chatty letter.

In the postscript, he mentioned casually he was sending each of them a five-dollar bill.

But he neglected to enclose the money.

Sure enough, replies came from the two nephews, thanking uncle Andrew for his letter, and letting him know him he forgot to send them the money he mentioned.

By the way, I read this story in a book written by another Carnegie.

That’s Dale Carnegie, in his book How to Win Friends and Influence People.

And I think this story does a good job illustrating the fundamental principle behind the whole How to Win Friends book. I believe this principle is also the fundamental rule of copywriting — the first thing I would tell anybody who is looking to write sales copy, whether for their own business or for a client.

I won’t spell this rule out for you here.

But if you want to see how you can put it into action when writing your own copy — specifically your own sales emails — then check out hte following:

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/

How to hire a copywriter without falling into a trance

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“So if you aspire to be a good conversationalist, be an attentive listener. To be interesting, be interested. Ask questions that other persons will enjoy answering. Encourage them to talk about themselves and their accomplishments.”
— Dale Carnegie

Earlier this year, I wrote a book about how to succeed as a copywriter on Upwork.

And in my opinion, one of the most valuable tips in that book was how to handle interviews with potential clients.

​​When a client starts off an interview by asking me why they should hire me, I usually respond with something like:

“I’d definitely like to answer that for you. But I want to make sure I’m speaking to the things you care about. So can you first tell me what’s most important for you on this project?”

5 out of 6 times, this puts clients into a trance state.

They start talking…

And they keep talking…

And 20 minutes of talking later, without knowing anything about me, they will often say:

“John, it really sounds like you might be perfect for this job. When could you start?”

This is great for me. But what about the clients? Are they really making smart decisions in this half-drunken trance state?

I got to thinking about this today when I saw a question on Facebook from a guy named Dave. Dave asks:

“What is the best way to hire a freelance copywriter? What kind of questions should I be asking?”

One of the people in the comments responded by saying that clients should NOT ask questions — instead they should evaluate the copywriter based on how well he asks questions.

Like I said, I don’t think this is enough. Asking good questions — while it is an important sales skill — is not the the same thing as writing effective sales copy.

So I think clients should take a page out of Dale Carnegie’s book.

Yes, allow the copywriter to ask you questions, and see whether he understands your particular situation and goals.

But at that point, get genuinely interested in the copywriter. And ask your own questions to see if this is a person you would like to work with. Questions such as:

What’s your process for writing copy?
How do you do research?
What are you looking for when you do research?
What kinds of clients do you like to work with?
What similar projects have you worked on?
What kind of results can we expect?
What do you need from me?

I can’t give you specific right answers to look for here.

But I think asking these questions will help you figure out if this copywriter is experienced, competent, and trustworthy.

And if you want to ask me those questions — after you’ve told me all about yourself — then get in touch with me and we can find a time to talk.

8 heart-piercing fence posts of your customers’ emotional ranch

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I’ve been listening to a talk Perry Marshall gave about his “Swiss Army knife.”

This is Perry’s method for writing novel and effective pay-per-click ads (or really, any kind of copy).

The first step — or blade — of Perry’s Swiss Army knife is all about your customer’s big and broad emotional ranch.

As a marketer, you need to know the ambit of this ranch. And you do so by focusing on the 8 fence posts below. This helps you map the ranch out, so you can get to work writing the ads.

Let me give you an illustration using a market I’ve been researching lately, and that’s people with IBS:

Fence post #1: Your customer

My example market is a person suffering with IBS. Getting regular attacks of stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhea… Fatigued, anxious, and suffering from related problems such as lack of nutrients. Tried recommended solutions but hasn’t found a way to stop IBS.

Fence post #2: A negative force or belief

People in this market believe nobody can understand their problems. They are alone in having this issue. They can’t live a normal life. They think it’s embarrassing. They worry they will live with IBS for the rest of their lives.

Fence post #3: A thing your customer loves

These folks love the times that they don’t have IBS attacks. They love having normal bowel movements. Being able to go about their lives normally (dating, meeting friends, traveling…).

Fence post #4: A thing your customer hates

Of course, they hate IBS attacks. But many of them also hate eating. Or having to use public bathrooms. Or jokes about digestive problems or issues. Or claims that IBS is not a real disease or a big deal. Bullshit treatments or advice.

Fence post #5: A positive force or belief

They keep hoping that maybe somebody will invent a cure for IBS. Or that they will figure out what causes their own IBS.

Fence post #6: You (the advertiser)

Let’s say I’m a website providing info on various IBS treatments. And let’s say my offers include articles, newsletters, product recommendations, webinars, ebooks. The site is helpful, truthful, and supportive.

Fence post #7: Your customer’s best friend

Their actual friends. Their spouse. Their kids. Their dog. Other anonymous people online who also suffer from IBS.

Fence post #8: Your customer’s worst enemy

Their own digestive system. Trigger foods (onions, garlic…). Unsupportive doctors.

All right, we’ve just driven the emotional fence posts into the ground.

The next thing is to pick two of these fence posts and see if they jog any copy ideas in your mind. So for example, #4 and #8:

Is your doctor making jokes about IBS?
Don’t allow him to dismiss you
Free info on real IBS treatments

Or here’s another, with #2 and #7:

IBS Attack = Ruined Travel Plans
It doesn’t have to be embarrassing
How to help your friends understand

You get the idea. The more info you can pile on in each of the above categories, the easier the writing of the ads becomes.

Like I said, I’m doing a lot of research on this market and mapping these fence posts out — because I intend to make that website described in #6. But more about this later.

For now, if you want my help writing emotional and effective copy, send me an email, and we can find a time to talk.

Snatching defeat from the jaws of a large, aggressive dog

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I really love dogs but that would have helped me little last night, when a territorial black monster named Tony cornered me with apparent intent to tear out my liver.

Tony is the dog of a friend I’m visiting and is supposedly a German shepherd. I have my doubts about this lineage because

1) as mentioned, Tony is all black and not brown, and

2) Tony is about 50% larger than any German shepherd I’ve ever seen (he weighs around 100 lbs). In fact, if I ever ran into Tony in a dark forest, my first thought would be I’m seeing a wolf and I’m about to become a cautionary tale for naughty children.

Fortunately, I survived last night’s Tony attack because my friend, knowing Tony’s territorial tendencies, put a muzzle on Tony’s snout ahead of time.

So even though Tony charged at me repeatedly and got so close I could hear his jaws snapping, I was safe.

As I was lying in bed later, going over this exciting evening and trying to fall asleep, I summed it up as,

“Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” (suck it Tony)

This in turn reminded me of a great subject line technique I call inversion (others might have different names for it).

It’s when you take a saying, a well-known phrase, or a cliche and either turn it around (as with the “defeat” phrase) or take a key word and negate it (as in the Ben Settle subject line, “Why the customer is always wrong”).

This inversion style of subject lines works for two reasons:

First, it catches your reader off guard and it causes dissonance that the reader will probably want to resolve.

Second, it gives you an interesting angle to write about — assuming you write the subject line ahead of the email body.

Anyways, I’ll be staying with my friend — and Tony — for the next few days. And assuming Tony’s muzzle doesn’t slip off and I wind up in the ER, I’ll even try to get a bit of copywriting done. Specifically, some emails for a new health offer I will be promoting.

If you want to get a good idea of how I write such emails — and you can, too — then check out the following page:

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/

How to turn your business into a cult or a clan

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I’m currently passing through Budapest, Hungary.

Budapest used to be my home base, and so, for nostalgia’s sake, I sat down in my former number-one cafe.

It’s a bright, wood-paneled place right in the center of the city. And it’s called Madal, after an Indian spiritual teacher who for some reason was very popular in Hungary.

As you might suspect, the whole place has a kind of cultish feel. There’s light, chanting music playing in the background. A selection of books is there for customers to read, with titles such as “My life’s soul journey.” And a large picture of Madal himself is smiling beatifically at me from the opposite wall.

And yet, in spite of all this mind massage, the cafe is extremely popular. I suspect, more so than if they simply had the same offer (good coffee, decent croissants) and a more neutral decor.

And this reminded me of another, less beatific and peaceful business.

I’m talking about the Wu Tang Clan, a bunch of rappers from Staten Island who adopted slang and imagery from old kung fu movies.

Yes, they had good beats and good rhymes.

And yet, I doubt they would have been such a worldwide sensation over the past 25 years‚ had it not been for the mystique of the Wu and the Shaolin behind the music.

That’s something to keep in mind if you have a fairly vanilla business.

Could you take your ordinary product and make it into a cult — or a clan — simply by weaving in elements of some little-known, mystical, or ancient ideology?

It’s something I keep thinking about for my own projects. And that’s why I’m always paying attention to news items involving archeologists, conspiracy theorists, and new age kooks.

Anyways, if you need some mystical copy written for your business, write me and get in touch. I’m traveling over the next few days (in fact, next few weeks), but we can still find a time to talk.

My mommy blogger envy

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Today I read an article about Heather Armstrong, the former “queen of the mommy bloggers.”

At one point, Heather’s blog was getting 8 million views a month and was pulling in $40k a month, mostly from banner ads.

This made me a bit envious. It also reminded me of something Mark Ford once wrote — that there are two ways to sell.

One is the traditional way, talking about benefits the prospect might care about.

The other is the charismatic way to sell. In other words, you make the sale based on your own personality.

This way, according to Mark, is the more powerful of the two.

Unfortunately, it’s not something that’s easy for me, because I’ve got as much personality as an ironing board.

Or maybe a sponge.

Which might mean I will never get to 8 million subscribers to this little email newsletter…

But it does have its advantages.

Such as for example, allowing me to imitate my client’s personality on demand in copy. If you want to see some examples of how I’ve done this — including examples that were very successful for some big-name health businesses — you might like the following offer:

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/

The limits of good copy

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“You can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all the time”
— Peter Tosh

I was approached by a potential client a few days ago. He wanted me to write some sales copy for a cryptocurrency mining company.

This company is trying to raise funds through a crowd sale, known as an ICO in crypto land.

The trouble, said the potential client, is that there have already been about 20 mining companies with ICOs. And they’ve all failed in various ways, taking investor funds with them.

So he wanted to know how I would deal with this poor reputation when trying to sell this new mining ICO. I gave him a simple 3-part plan:

1. Acknowledge the poor reputation of previous mining ICOs
2. List all the ways this new mining company would be different
3. Give reasons why this is true

As far as I can see, that’s about the limit of what sales copy can do in this case.

If this new ICO isn’t different enough from previous failed ICOs…

Or if there aren’t any tangible reasons to prove that it’s different…

Then no copy magic will fix this issue, just like Peter Tosh says at the top.

The thing is, I can think of several ways to deal with extreme market skepticism.

But these ways would require improving the actual product, or taking novel marketing approaches (rather than just relying on good copywriting).

Unfortunately, having me influence the product or change the overall marketing strategy is not something most of my clients are open to.

That’s one of the reasons I’m always working on my own side projects where I do have complete control.

And it’s also why I’m on the lookout for a profitable business, selling good products, that I could join as a long-term marketing partner.

If that’s a prospect that might be attractive to you and your business, then write me an email, and we can talk.

Why it pays to be a four-legged whale

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Earlier this year, paleontologists working in Peru discovered the fossil of a prehistoric four-legged whale.

This beast lived around 40 million years ago. It was about 15 feet long, looked something like a giant otter, and could both walk on land and swim in water.

While I was meditating on this prehistoric monster, I realized it’s a good metaphor for a real problem that many marketers, copywriters, and entrepreneurs face.

In fact, I heard a very famous and successful marketer, copywriter, and entrepreneur talk about this very issue.

The man I have in mind is the late and great Gene Schwartz. And the problem Gene was discussing was this:

As you become more successful, you lose touch with your customers — and that’s terrible.

Becoming successful requires certain things — discipline, hard work, optimism. It also brings certain things — money, freedom, a sense of achievement.

The thing is, unless you’re specifically catering to other successful entrepreneurs… then these are not characteristics that your market will share.

And as you become more successful, it will become harder and harder for you to connect with people in your market, to understand them, and to get them to buy whatever you’re selling.

In other words, you will become a sleek, powerful, self-contented whale, swimming gracefully under water and gorging on tons of freely available plankton each day…

While all your monkey and squirrel customers still live in fear, anger, and scarcity on dry land.

So what’s the fix for this?

Well, Gene advised immersing yourself in trash pop culture and constantly talking to your prospects.

I’d personally take it a step further.

I’d advise growing a set of hairy whale legs and using them to crawl around on land every now and then.

So for example…

Allowing yourself to waste time…

Wallowing in controlled negativity…

Making an occasional impulsive decision…

Or blaming others for your problems instead of taking responsibility for yourself.

Of course, these aren’t good behaviors. They will not in themselves lead you to success.

But indulged carefully and sporadically, they can help you understand how most people live, what they want, and how you can give it to them.

At least that’s how I justify my own whale legs.

And if you want to take advantage of all of the time I spend reading trash pop culture and making impulsive decisions — so you can have more effective marketing for your successful business — then you might like the following offer:

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/

Successful, in-demand copywriter wants to find a profitable, sexy business that sucks at marketing

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“Are you the founder or owner of a profitable business that could explode if you had constant access to a great copywriter? If so, read on.”

The sentence you’ve just read was supposed to be the lead of an ad. It’s an ad​​ I started to write — to sell myself. Here’s the background:

Earlier this month, I got my copy of the April issue of Ben Settle’s Email Players.

As you may know, Email Players is Ben’s paid print newsletter. It comes out each month and it sells for $97 a month.

In this month’s issue, Ben revealed some big news:

He is starting to sell ad space — one page of it — on the back cover of his 16-page newsletter.

The price?

A low and introductory $5,000.

Whoa, you might say. That seems like an awful lot. But since my goal for this year is to become a top-paid sales copywriter who’s booked months in advance, my “red shirt” detector went off.

In other words, I realized this might be an opportunity I should take seriously.

After all, if I get just one good client out of this promotion…

I would easily make back my $5k investment.

And if I got two or more such clients, I’d be on my way to reaching that goal of becoming booked months in advance.

In the end, I decided not to run the ad — for reasons I might talk about another time, but not today.

But the whole thing popped up in my mind again last night because I re-read a famous classic ad, from another copywriter looking to sell himself.

The copywriter in question is the Prince of Print, old Gary Halbert.

Thing is, Gary wasn’t fishing for copywriting clients in his ad. Instead, he was looking for love, or at least sex and adventure with the right woman.

So he wrote a three-page ad and ran it in the Los Angeles Times. And he got hundreds of responses, and (I believe) a long-term relationship out of the deal.

If you’re a copywriter and you’re thinking of writing an ad to promote yourself, you should check out Gary’s ad. After all, it’s not easy to write a personal ad (or a “looking for clients” ad) and not seem desperate. ​​

And yet it can be done. If you want to see how, here’s the link:

​​https://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/13Ad%20PDF.pdf

Fake, unrealistic, and profitable

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I was just re-reading chapter 3 of Vic Schwab’s How to Write a Good Advertisement. That’s the chapter that talks about different kinds of proof.

At the end of the chapter, Vic throws in some grab-bag comments about how to make your ads more credible and effective.

Among these: use real photos in your ads, and not illustrations.

It’s been tested, says Vic, and photographs outpull drawings.

I’ve heard this advice from other sources as well, and I’ve taken it for granted. Until, that is, a few days ago.

That’s when I got a note from one of my clients who sells ecommerce products through Facebook ads. He wrote to say that they’d tested using custom-made illustrations in their FB ads.

These images aren’t trying to be hyper-realistic.

They are also clearly fake, in the sense they illustrate an idealized product-use scenario.

And yet, they are profitable — with higher clickthrough and conversion rates than regular product shots.

So what’s going on?

My guess is that it’s a matter of contrast.

Now that everybody is using photos, and even high quality photos are cheap to make, a drawing catches more attention and engages the consuming mass mind better.

Which might be a useful tidbit for you to know. But I think it’s also an illustration of the basic formula for effective marketing. And that’s to find a way to make the same promise — more money, less pain, a bit of respect — in a new and attention-grabbing way.

Which coincidentally, is what daily sales emails or blog posts are also about. Like what you’re reading right now.

New day, new angle — but same fundamental offer. Speaking of which:

​​If you’re looking to write daily emails for your business, which tirelessly promote your product or service in always new and fresh ways, then you might get some good ideas in the following:

https://bejakovic.com/profitable-health-emails/