Stefan Georgi

General Patton and 4 top copywriters

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“The difficulty in understanding the Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European, but an Asiatic, and therefore thinks deviously. We can no more understand a Russian than a Chinaman or a Japanese, and from what I have seen of them, I have no particular desire to understand them, except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to kill them. In addition to his other Asiatic characteristics, the Russian has no regard for human life and is an all out son of bitch, barbarian, and chronic drunk.”
— General George S. Patton, August 8 1945

Why is Patton the most famous American military man, at least among those who never became president?

You might say it’s his wartime performance. That might be so. I’m not a history buff so I can’t say. But my guess is there were lots of other great generals in American history who never became household names. Why Patton?

Maybe it’s the Oscar-winning movie that was made about him, which had the Francis Ford Coppola golden touch. But this raises the question, why make a movie about Patton? I’ll tell you my theory.

Patton became famous because people perceived him as a true leader, and they perceived him as a leader because he was (among a few other things) so unflinchingly opinionated.

Look at the quote above. It’s so stupid. Not just by 2020 standards, but by 1945 standards. But the content of what you say doesn’t matter much as long as you say it with enough fury, conviction, and disregard for what others think.

I have another theory: I believe most people (myself included) have this empty socket in their brain. We are constantly looking for an authority to plug into that empty socket, if only for a little while. The appeal of strongmen like Patton is one manifestation of this… but so is our obsession with celebrities… or even the popularity of concerts and clubs.

All of which has clear implications for persuasion. While doable, it might be hard to get to Patton-like levels of opinionatedness and charisma in real life. But if you’re writing, say a sales letter, then you can definitely whip yourself up into the right kind of certainty and frenzy, and channel that across the page.

Speaking of writing sales letters and authority, I listened to an interesting discussion today between four top copywriters. They were Stefan Georgi, Chris Haddad, Justin Goff, and Dan Ferrari.

Odds are, you’ve already watched this discussion. But if you haven’t yet, it’s worthwhile. There’s nothing tactical being discussed on this call, but there’s a lot of behind the scenes thinking that might interest you if you’re into copywriting or persuasion. Here’s the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThUusBt1dIM

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/

10 fresh ways for freelancers to compete against cheaper rates

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A question comes via the Reddit copywriting group:

“How do you compete against people who can do the same work you can, but much cheaper because they live in a country where living is just cheaper (India for example)?”

I honestly don’t think it will matter much what I say.

Because most people who ask this question are too far gone.

Like R. Kelly, fighting against his evil urges but giving in inevitably…

These people are possessed by the evil urge to believe that freelancing won’t work out for them. And like R. Kelly, they will inevitably give in to this urge. They will prove themselves right and fail.
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Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way.

So in the interest of eternal glory and in the hope it might help someone somewhere, here are 10 fresh ways, which I’ve just baked up, to help you compete even against thousands of people who will charge much less than you:

#1. Have a track record of success. I just read that Stefan Georgi charges between $50k and $100k for a sales letter, plus royalties. His secret? The long track record of making his clients much more than he charges them.

#2. Be more likable. People will hire you just because they like you. Conversely, they will refuse to hire you just because they dislike you.

#3. Get there first. Be the first to apply for an opportunity. Or get in contact with clients that nobody else is approaching. Or that nobody else can reach.

#4. Offer a guarantee. Most freelancer copywriters don’t offer a guarantee. This includes me. I tell clients, “I guarantee I’ll work my ass off for you, and that’s it.” So if you are brave and smart and you offer a guarantee, you can stand out.

#5. Explain your service better. Like Claude Hopkins, who made Schlitz the #1 beer in America by saying it’s pasteurized after it’s sealed. Every other beer was pasteurized as well. But nobody else was explaining these facts.

#6. Explain why your service is better. Why do you deliver a better service than others — other than just trying hard?

#7. Be non-needy. There’s some magic in not worrying whether any particular client comes or goes. The best way to do this is by having other good options. You’ll be surprised how well clients will pay you when they realize you don’t need their money.

#8. Be famous. Start a blog. Get on a podcast. Get on a stage. Marry a Kardashian.

#9. Move into the profits column. Stop offering services that cost your clients money. Instead, start offering services that make your clients money, and take a share of the money they make.

#10. Let your clients sell themselves. I’ve talked about this before, but simply by asking your clients a few open-ended questions about their business, their problems, and their projects, you can often get them to sell themselves — without you saying much or anything at all.

Will these 10 tips help you? I hope so.

And if you have some more questions about the business of copy and how to make it work for you, you might like the following:

https://bejakovic.com/150-dollar-per-hour-freelancer

Justin Goff and Stefan Georgi critique my advertorial copy

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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/