In the fall of 1925, a 25-year-old Naval Academy graduate read the 4-Hour Work Week.
The book changed his life. He quit his boring engineering job, took an evening course in copywriting, and started working at a mail-order agency.
In the first few months of his new career, the young man already wrote a string of major winners. Among them was one that became the most famous ad of all time:
“They larfed when I sat down at the piano. But when I started to play!”
The young man’s name was John Caples. That Christmas, just a few months after starting his new job, Caples headed home to visit his family. He packed some of his winning ads under his arm so he could show them off to his mom and dad.
At home, Caples’s mom started reading those winning ads out loud in the kitchen. She became increasingly concerned. “Baldy?” “Fat men?” This was not what she expected from her son. “You better not let your father see this,” she said to young John.
Fact is, direct response copy is not very reputable. You’re not writing poetry. You’re trying to persuade.
The result might be unreadable to anybody who’s not in your target market. This probably includes your parents (though my mom, an inveterate direct response customer, is always supportive).
But so what? You win either way. If your friends and family are horrified by the schlock you write, at least you have a good story you can use in your next ad. Because like John Caples showed almost 100 years ago, stories featuring embarrassment, self-doubt, disapproval — and eventual triumph — are evergreen sellers.