Copywriters Podcast
375 episodes - English - Latest episode: 20 days ago - ★★★★★ - 89 ratingsCopywriting lessons from David Garfinkel
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Episodes
Episode 074 - The Biggest Marketing Mistake
September 17, 2018 06:00 - 23.4 MBTed Nicholas: You can go broke selling people what they need. But you can make a fortune selling people what they want. What did he mean? How do we apply this into what we do as direct marketers? But first… here’s something I want to tell you: Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims... and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like hea...
Episode 073 - Insatiable Curiosity
September 09, 2018 06:00 - 31.9 MBDr. Henry Heimlich story. When I first heard about this, what prompted me to research it more and get all the details? Insatiable curiosity. What insatiable curiosity is, and why it’s so important for copywriters – what we’ll talk about today. Now, you might be curious about what comes next. Well, the suspense is over. Because… Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme cl...
Episode 072 - Story Magic: The Secret Behind It Nobody Talks About
September 03, 2018 06:00 - 24.3 MBWhat a songwriting teacher says about how much writers hate to rewrite. It’s not just songwriters. And this reluctance is probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, copywriters never make it to the next level in their writing and in their career. We’re going to fix that today! -- Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offer...
Episode 071 - How This Copywriter Closes 80% Of His Qualified Prospects
August 27, 2018 06:00 - 34.1 MBWe had Joshua Killingsworth on a few weeks ago, when he talked about how his divorce and child-custody requirements virtually “forced” him to move quickly from another business to copywriting. We got a lot of response and appreciative comments on that show. Joshua also shared his empathy-map process, which gets the copywriter very much in tune with the prospect’s thinking and feeling. Something all copywriters need to do, but, sad to say, not all actually do. Today, Joshua’s going to tal...
Episode 070 - Email Copywriting with Justin Goff
August 20, 2018 06:00 - 26.3 MBJustin Goff has created from scratch three multi-million dollar direct response companies. His last one was a supplement company that him and his partners scaled from 0 to 23 million in sales in just under 3 years. Justin sold his stake in that company last year, took a year off, and is now helping the biggest direct response companies to boost their response and increase their average order size on their offers. He lives in Austin Texas with his 2 Great Danes, George and Dempsey 1. ...
Episode 069 - Beating The Control with Justin Goff
August 13, 2018 06:00 - 25.7 MBJustin Goff has created from scratch three multi-million dollar direct response companies. His last one was a supplement company that him and his partners scaled from 0->23 million in sales in just under 3 years. Justin sold his stake in that company last year, took a year off, and is now helping the biggest direct response companies to boost their response and increase their average order size on their offers. He lives in Austin Texas with his 2 Great Danes, George and Dempsey. 1. M...
Episode 068 - The Big Three – Part 2
August 06, 2018 06:00 - 24.1 MBOn today’s show, we’ll pick up where we left off last week. Friend requested I give a talk to his group of copywriters and business owners. One of the copywriters in the group asked me: what does it take for a copywriter to go from “good” to great? And what I do work on with people when I coach them. Six things I’ve found… We’ll talk about the first three in today’s show. Warning Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, commo...
Episode 067 - The Big Three – Part 1
July 30, 2018 06:00 - 31.6 MBA friend requested I give a talk to his group of copywriters and business owners. One of the copywriters in the group asked me: what does it take for a copywriter to go from “good” to great? And what I do work on with people when I coach them. Six things I’ve found… We’ll talk about the first three in today’s show. Warning Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… an...
Episode 066 - Copywriting When It's Crunch Time
July 23, 2018 06:00 - 25.3 MBImagine you like to ride a bike. Maybe you already do. So you ride every day, on mostly flat roads and paths and occasionally a mild hill. Then one day you decide to get in a race. You don’t learn much about it ahead of time. On the day of the race, it’s raining. There are oil slicks on the road. The competitors are going much faster than you are used to. Then gusts of wind kick up. And to top it all, there are hairpin turns on top of steep hills! Guess what – you’re in crunch time. It’s...
Episode 065 - Copywriting to Keep the Kids
July 16, 2018 06:00 - 28.3 MBWe have a special Report from the Field today that reaches deep into one man’s family. Our guest is Joshua Killingsworth, and while people’s last names usually have nothing to do with anything else, in this case, it holds a clue. Because Joshua Killingsworth’s copy is killing it. He’s got a webinar and sales page promo, for example, that converted 65% on a one-thousand-dollar product. He’s created a three-email sequence that is making over $20K a month for a client. With a tiny list, yet....
Episode 064 - The Secret To Thinking Bigger
July 09, 2018 06:00 - 24.6 MBA few weeks ago, we had Joe Schriefer on the podcast in a special “Reports from the Field” episode. Joe said something that changed my life, and I’ve been thinking about ever since. As you may remember, Joe heads up Agora Financial, and he was one of the key players in growing it from $25 million a year to $250 million a year. The show as about how to scale up a business dramatically the way Joe has. What Joe said that kept ringing in my mind was: To grow a business big, think like the b...
Episode 063 - Copywriting Grad School
July 02, 2018 06:00 - 26.3 MBI was looking at a new online MasterClass by Judd Apatow, a film director who specializes in comedies. His bio said he got started in the business at age 15 as a dishwasher at a comedy club… and, you know how the story goes… the rest is history. You’ll hear lots of stories like that – but few in copywriting. Why is that? And what can you do instead? That’s what we talk about today. Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, comm...
Episode 062 - Accessing Emotion Part 2
June 25, 2018 06:00 - 28.3 MBDetectives today have a powerful tool in their toolkit – DNA analysis. Except for identical twins and maybe in the future human clones, every person’s DNA is unique, as far as we know. So if there’s a drop of blood, a hair, a small piece of skin, or any number of other tiny little pieces of a person’s body at the scene of a crime, the detective who finds DNA has struck gold. That’s because DNA leaves clues. There’s another kind of DNA you might not have heard of yet. It’s called Breakthro...
Episode 061 - Accessing Emotion Part 1
June 18, 2018 06:00 - 26.5 MBDirect marketers usually hate TV commercials, because they give a bad name to advertising as we see it. That is, they don’t truly sell. But sometimes I like them – not as advertising, really, but as works of art. There’s a very intriguing commercial running right now for Alfa Romeo, the luxury Italian sports car. What intrigues me the most is their tagline. In Italian, it’s La Meccanica Delle Emozioni. And, it’s trademarked. A close translation of the phrase is: “The Mechanics of Emotion....
Episode 060 - Copywriting Your Resume with Donald Burns
June 11, 2018 06:00 - 30.9 MBDonald Burns once helped the world's most hated man find a job. How'd he do it? By using copywriting methods while writing his resume. After all, what is a resume, if not a sales pitch for yourself? Donald gets into what works and what doesn't when it comes to resumes. He's written them for some of the most successful people out there. He even has some tips for copywriters on how they can better promote themselves. This one is a little bit off the beaten path, but jam-packed with gems t...
Episode 059 - Copywriting and Content with Daisy Luther
June 03, 2018 06:00 - 34.6 MBDespite what the rock group the Buggles told us, video did NOT kill the radio star. Our guest in today's special Report from the Field, Daisy Luther, appears regularly on 830 stations through the Genesis Radio Network. But to many people, Daisy is even better known as The Organic Prepper. She runs a very popular and profitable website. I met Daisy personally in late April, at a private dinner in Baltimore for former journalists who have embraced copywriting. Daisy, we’re honored to have y...
Episode 058 - The Amazing Power of Surprise In Copy
May 28, 2018 06:00 - 27.3 MBSurprise is the “magic excitement dust” of entertainment - Music “High Time,” Grateful Dead. Circa 1970. Very touching country-rock kind of song about a misunderstanding that ended a relationship, and all the self-doubt that followed. Melancholy. Goes where you wouldn’t expect: surprise. Vs. my rewrite (Corny AF) “You said goodbye and held me tight You know I found it heartwarming Yeah, sure, I’ll miss you tonight But I’ll see you in the morning.” : not that surprising Beatles ...
Episode 057 -The Secret of Instant Understanding
May 21, 2018 06:00 - 21.8 MBMy girlfriend has a dog named Sheila, and Sheila’s an Australian Shepherd. Now, Australian Shepherds are working dogs and they always seem to need to have a job to do. Last Tuesday, Deb was sitting down to write some copy on her computer and she told me that Sheila was guarding the door for her. I thought that was interesting. Sheila didn’t know what to do, but she figured out Deb didn’t want to be disturbed. So, Sheila gave herself the job of guarding the door. Smart dog! OK, I’m tel...
Episode 056 - Growing a 9-Figure Business
May 14, 2018 06:00 - 33 MBToday we’ve got another Report from the Field, and our special guest, our returning champion, is Joe Schriefer from Agora Financial. Joe, thanks for coming back! So here’s what we’re going to talk about today: Few people will ever get the chance to grow an eight-figure company into a nine-figure company. And far fewer still will ever do this with a company that’s 100% driven by direct response copy, as Agora Financial is. I’ve had the privilege of watching up-close, and maybe adding a ...
Episode 055 - The Big Idea, the Agora Financial Way
May 06, 2018 06:00 - 36.9 MBFeaturing Joe Schriefer We’ve talked about the Big Idea on the show before, but we have a report from the field today with the best expert I know or know of on this topic, Joe Schriefer. Just on the slight chance you’ve never heard of him, Joe heads up Agora Financial in Baltimore, which consists of five publishing companies, or “imprints,” as they prefer to call them. When you put them all together, in my opinion, Agora Financial as a whole makes up the biggest, and most profitable, Big...
Episode 054 - Reports from the Field with Nathan Faser
April 30, 2018 06:00 - 31.5 MBThere’s an old concept in direct response called “dry testing.” Basically, it means you sell the product before you have it. I’ve heard questions about whether it’s legal to do this with physical products, but it seems to me it’s perfectly OK to do that with a course you’re planning to do. People pay now and take the course later. After all, that’s what every single university does, and some of our universities in America, like Harvard, Yale, and the College of William and Mary, are actua...
Episode 053 - Fear and Greed
April 23, 2018 06:00 - 24.6 MBMeeting with editor from large subscription newsletter publisher in 2006, at conference. Editor didn’t understand copy all that well – joked that “In our copywriting department, we have two divisions: The division of fear, and the division of greed.” This is a commonly accepted assumption among many copywriters AND among many copywriting gurus… fear and greed are IT. True? We’ll look at that today. Here’s something that’s definitely true: Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how yo...
Episode 052 - The Giant Trust-Builder
April 16, 2018 06:00 - 27.4 MBA friend with a dog problem – biting. Found a training way to completely eliminate the problem. Product. Lead-genAd was very powerful: Biting dog? First thing they do is try to put your pooch down. Get a much happier solution! He was getting a lot of clicks on the ad. But very few conversions. Turned out the reason was his copy struck a very different tone. While the ad was scary and energetic (Tone 4), his copy was depressed and low-energy (Tone 5). Once he matched the copy to his ad, c...
Episode 051 - Dressing Up Your Offer
April 09, 2018 06:00 - 26.1 MBSo, I recently bought a new piece of music equipment. It came with a lot of bells and whistles, including: Opening – Eqs and Compressors Supercharger GT 99 Passive EQ 149 Vari Comp 99 Enhanced EQ 149 Solid Bus Comp 99 Solid Dynamic 99 Solid EQ 99 VC 2A 99 VC 76 99 VC 160 99 Total: $991 Doesn’t include other special effects, like reverb and overdrive. Second one, passive EQ – a Manley Massive Passive sells for just over $5K. That’s what a producer is buying something to subs...
Episode 050 - Copywriter Plus
April 02, 2018 06:00 - 25.5 MBShow’s today about what I’m calling “Copywriter-Plus.” As things have become very competitive in the world of copy, this is a new strategy I’ve discovered that could help every copywriter who takes advantage of it. Also - new technology, originally developed in radio -- including recorded brief comments from people mentioned during the show. “Copywriter-Plus” is something you and I, Nathan, have been using for a long time without maybe fully realizing it. I’ll explain what it is, give so...
Episode 049 - Reports from the Field - Victor Urbina
March 26, 2018 06:00 - 28.1 MBToday we’re starting a new special feature of the Copywriters Podcast. It’s called Reports from the Field. These are interviews with people who are not merely EXPERTS – they are also practitioners. Right now they are implementing what they are talking about. We can all learn so much from people who are in the field and taking action successfully. Our first guest on the Copywriters Podcast Reports from the Field is Victor Urbina. I know Richard well because he is in my business owner’s me...
Episode 048 - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
March 19, 2018 06:00 - 32.1 MBThis week's episode is a little bit different. David and Nathan do a bit of a freestyle rant on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, as it pertains to writing your sales copy. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with the topic, here's what we'll be covering. Physiological needs * consumer goods * food * clothing * shelter Safety needs * personal security * financial security * health and well being Social belonging * Fitting in * Trends * Identity brands Esteem * Status symb...
Episode 047 - Direct vs. Indirect Leads
March 12, 2018 06:00 - 27.1 MBAs a journalist, I was trained to do “news stories” and “feature stories.” A news story started with a quick, curiosity-provoking sentence hinting or outright telling what the story was about. A feature story would start with an anecdote, or a startling fact, or something other than the direct subject of the story. Same as direct / indirect leads. What we’ll talk about today. Because which one you use can have a dramatic impact, positive or negative, on your sales. You need to know whic...
Episode 046 - Monster Creativity
March 04, 2018 07:00 - 27.2 MBStory about recent critique client: a couple good ideas; 20. Mandy’s question about my creativity, from her podcast interview: Question 2: One other thing I noticed about reading your testimonials… your clients are impressed with how fast you come up with great ideas. He also has this ridiculous talent for coming up with copy, like, effortlessly. It would take me at least 30 minutes to come up with what he comes up with in 30 seconds. —Fran Rengel, CEO, Enrich Marketing, Inc., Austin...
Episode 045 - Increasing Perceived Value
February 25, 2018 07:00 - 24.9 MBNative Instruments purchase - $1200 for a hard drive filled with music software and virtual instruments. This cost me more than a lot of my guitars! I called my sales engineer at Sweetwater, Brian. What he explained to me. What I’d be able to do… what I would not have to spend… or take time learning. Suddenly, it didn’t seem that expensive. Think about what it would have cost to do that in real life. Rent Davies Symphony Hall. $2500 minimum – already more than twice what I paid for th...
Episode 044 - Writing With Muscle
February 18, 2018 07:00 - 25.7 MBI got this small rubber ball to squeeze to strengthen the muscles in my left hand, when I started playing guitar again a couple years ago after a 40-year “break.” You want your copy to be as strong as possible, too. Remember that good copy has a job to do… to move qualified prospects to take action. That takes muscle! Today’s episode tells you how to make your copy more muscular. Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common ...
Episode 043 - Finding Your Hook
February 12, 2018 07:00 - 32.7 MBOn June 23, 1965, a group out of Detroit called The Contours released a record which became a big hit. The tune was written by written by Smokey Robinson and Bobby Rogers, and it was called “First, I Look At The Purse.” Many other groups covered this song afterwards, including the Jay Geils Band. It’s a very interesting song… but, when it comes to critiquing copy, I have my own version. Actually, I don’t have a whole song, just a title at this point. Maybe someday I’ll write the song and ...
Episode 042 - Copywriting and Magic
February 05, 2018 07:00 - 32.4 MBCopywriting is a lot like magic. With good sales copy, you can hold a reader captive. You can take them on a journey and open them up a world of opportunities. You can spell out some words and cast a spell on your readers. David Allan is both a copywriter and a magician. He joins the podcast this week to share some of his knowledge with our listeners. We talk about the overlap between his two worlds, including the skills he's been able to bring over from one to the other. David reveal...
Episode 041 - Copywriting and Sales Funnels with David Allan
January 28, 2018 07:00 - 29.4 MBHow does copywriting apply to a sales funnel? David Allan joins us to break it down. We start with the 5,000-foot view by exploring what funnels are and how they work. Then, David goes over some simple rules to follow when building your sales funnels. We cover some of the most common mistakes people make when crafting their sales funnels. And David shares some of his favorite resources for people to learn more. If you're trying to build out a full-fledged marketing machine for your ...
Episode 040 - Seven Deadly Sins
January 22, 2018 07:00 - 40.9 MBWhen I first started copywriting, I had a real disadvantage. I had been a journalist, and the underlying belief -- at the time -- was that people are rational: You simply give them the facts, for and against, and they will make a reasoned decision. So when I started to see promotions that were working based on emotional appeals that seemed foreign and bizarre to me, I didn't understand. It took a while. But eventually, I came to realize what every successful copywriter realizes: that pe...
Episode 039 - Interviewing Tips for Copywriters
January 15, 2018 07:00 - 39.9 MB1 Bob story "Like my family's kitchen." My experience was a little different - Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford. I knew how to ask questions - but still hadn't learned how to ask engaging questions that helped people to open up. That's what I've spent the last 40 years learning, and I'll share what I can today with you. 0.1 Warning Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims...
Episode 038 - The USP Shortcut
January 07, 2018 07:00 - 37.7 MBI remember when I was a kid, I asked my dad about the cigarettes he was smoking. Very sarcastically, he repeated words from a commercial: "For the best combination of filter and good taste, Kent satisfies best!" I smiled, but he could tell I didn't get his little joke. Then he said, "Seriously, David - it's because Kent has this Micronite filter. It filters out the harsher parts of the smoke." Dad, being a nuclear physicist, really bought into Kent's so-called "logical" Unique Selling Prop...
Episode 037 - Getting Into Copy Flow
January 01, 2018 07:00 - 31.3 MBHave you ever see a musician who's like this unimpressive guy, sort of could fade into the background at the drop of a pin. Then he picks up an instrument, and he's like in a different universe. What happened? He'd tell you, "I got in the pocket" or "I slipped into the groove." Another way to say that is, "I got into flow." What's what we'll talk about today. Advisory Copy is powerful. You're responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense i...
Episode 036 - Sales Skills For Copywriters
December 23, 2017 07:00 - 26.7 MBI was at a marketing conference and ended up sitting next to a woman named Maya who had the most unusual briefcase I'd ever seen. I asked her about it and she said, I got it at the Coach store. I was planning to spend no more than $300 but the Fashion Advisor asked me some questions, and she recommended this one, based on my answers. I nodded. Then she said, I ended up spending $700. And I really hate the salespeople at the OTHER stores. But Connie wasn't a salesperson at all. She just ...
Episode 035 - Comedy and Copywriting with Kevin Rogers
December 17, 2017 07:00 - 32.8 MBThey say that laughter is the best medicine. It can uplift the soul. It can make people fall in love with you. But it's one of the hardest things to accomplish in writing. And that's doubly so when it comes to copywriting. Kevin Rogers is back to join us this week. Kevin has a long history of both copywriting, and stand-up comedy. He knows what works and what doesn't when it comes to injecting comedy into your sales copy, and he's spilling the beans for you to gobble up. There's a ...
Episode 034 - Going Pro with Kevin Rogers
December 11, 2017 07:00 - 36.2 MBGetting started is often the hardest thing for a new copywriter to do. That's why we invited Kevin Rogers on the podcast to shed some light on the topic. Kevin is the head of the Copy Chief community, an online resource for copywriters of all experience levels. And he brings a wealth of knowledge for newbie copywriters to the table in this interview. We cover: How to get clients when you're first starting out Classic mistakes new copywriters tend to make How to join the Copy Chief c...
Episode 033 - Copy For AFTER The Sale
December 03, 2017 07:00 - 32.1 MBMy friend Michael owns a sushi restaurant in my neighborhood in San Francisco. His place is one of a dozen, maybe dozens, in the neighborhood - I've never taken time to count all of them. Even though the restaurant has much more seating than your typical sushi bar, it's always nearly full at dinnertime. One day I pulled Michael aside and asked him how he got so many customers. "David, it's not all that many customers," he said. "It's that the customers I have, keep coming back." Does a...
Episode 032 - How to Cut Your Writing Time In Half
November 26, 2017 07:00 - 28.5 MBI started teaching writing 30 years ago, and one of the biggest challenges my students always seemed to face was the amount of time it took to write. This of course was especially true for people who had to do writing as one of a few or many tasks in their businesses or their lives. Over the years, I've developed systems and techniques that help people write faster. But I've never before shared the system for writing copy faster than I'm going to share today. This one is based on some of ...
Episode 031 - What Copywriters Should Read, Part 2
November 20, 2017 07:00 - 30.3 MBCopywriters are solitary creatures who spend large amounts of time alone. Yet the good ones understand quite a bit more about human motivations and behaviors than almost anyone else, including most professional psychologists. Why is that? A lot of it comes from observation and thinking about what they have observed. But more to the point, they have to… or, their copy just won't work. Last week we talked about a "core curriculum" of books people copywriters need to read. This week, we're ...
Episode 030 - What Copywriters Should Read, Part 1
November 13, 2017 07:00 - 23.8 MBWhen I first got into writing copy, I was having a hard time finding any good information about how to do it. So I took every seminar I could and read every book I could find. It was exhausting, and frankly, maybe not the best use of my time. Originally I put this episode together with the plan to come up with a handful of books every copywriter should read – what I wish I had known when I started. But my list got so long that I realized we were going to need two episodes to cover things...
Episode 029 - Negative Emotion - The Copywriter's Best Friend
November 05, 2017 06:00 - 24.9 MBThe other day I was watching a TV interview with a Hollywood actor in his 80s. The interviewer asked him, "What do you think of all the new movies with special effects and robot characters?" The actor clearly didn't want to answer the question directly. Instead, he said: "What I look for in a script is three things: 1) What's the story? 2) Who are the characters that embody the story? 3) What's the emotion?" It was a good answer, and I think the third thing the old actor mentioned is ...
Episode 028 - Building Conviction In Your Prospects
October 29, 2017 06:00 - 30.8 MBI remember a few years ago I had had it up to here with all the bulky, complicated audio equipment cluttering up my house. I needed something simpler, faster, better. I called BH Photo Video in New York and got a salesman, Aaron, on the line who listened very carefully to me. At one point I said to him, "Listen, I am not a technical wizard. I don't want to spend 15 minutes adjusting knobs and faders just to be able to record something." "Of course not," he said. "You want to stay in a sta...
Episode 027 - Improving Copywriter Confidence
October 23, 2017 06:00 - 32.3 MBI saw a story on quora.com about Arnold Schwarzenegger. Before he became California's governor and while he was still a bodybuilder, he was walking down Venice Beach in southern California. Two young women saw his huge muscles, and I do mean huge!, and one of them supposedly said, "Ewww… I would never want to look like that!" He replied, "And you never willllll." The point being, he didn't really care what other people thought about the way he looked – he was pretty confident in who he ...
Episode 026 - How To Avoid Hype In Your Copy
October 15, 2017 06:00 - 30.3 MBWith a few years of success under my belt as a copywriter, I started to notice there were two types of clients who were approaching me. The first kind of client was way better at what they did than their marketing indicated. The second kind of client had really exciting marketing that made big, big promises – but their level of quality didn't come close to measuring up. Once I realized this, I made a decision: I would only work with the first kind of client. I could help them because once...
Episode 025 - Writing in Your Client's Voice
October 08, 2017 06:00 - 28.4 MBWhenever you look at a bestselling book by a celebrity or a politician, the chances are better than good the so-called "author" didn't actually write it. A ghostwriter did. Good ghostwriters command fees comparable to, and sometimes exceeding, the fees of the best copywriters. One of the main reasons they get paid so well is they have the ultimate "chameleon" skill for a writer – they can write convincingly in someone else's voice. As copywriters, we are often ghostwriters for our clients....