Copywriters Podcast

Our guest today is John Carlton. In case you don’t know who he is, maybe you haven’t been paying attention. But you definitely should. John has been a force of nature in copywriting and copywriting education for decades. He was Gary Halbert’s business partner. He worked in Jay Abraham’s office. He’s one of the few people allowed to speak on Dan Kennedy’s stage. I met Carlton at the Gary Halbert Hurricane Andrew Seminar in the early 90s. About 15 years later we did our first seminar together, and we’ve been friends and partners in crime ever since. And like all great copywriters, John’s letters and ads have sold millions upon millions of dollars worth of stuff. In this episode, John reveals the ONE BOOK he read eleven times that got him a job in Jay Abraham’s office (a book you can easily get on Amazon for a few dollars). He also provides some very pragmatic and little-known information about how a copywriter should read a book, which is completely upside-down from how you were taught to read a book in schoo

When I was but a wee lad, not even 40 years old yet, I worked in the Chicago News Bureau of McGraw-Hill as a correspondent for a number of niche business magazines. One of my most important clients was Engineering News Record, or ENR for short. Now this was an interesting challenge, since I had trouble screwing a nut on a bolt. And I’d never taken an engineering course in my life. I had to get up to speed super quickly on a whole range of things, to write about concrete, rebar, sheer forces, cantilevers, and all kinds of technical construction stuff that was a complete mystery to me. I did it, and it really paid off. I became ENR’s golden boy in the field, and when the San Francisco bureau chief job opened up, they lobbied to get me in it. And, for the first time in 40 years, San Francisco’s McGraw-Hill World News office had a new bureau chief: me. Now, the reason I’m bragging about this is to put some focus on a skill I developed that helped me get through many trials by fire. (That would be, each article

Our guest today, Adam Gilad, is a prolific entrepreneur, author, speaker, film producer and global teacher. He’s also a skilled copywriter, and that’s how he’s made a lot of his ventures grow. For example, The Higher Game and The Bold Life Brotherhood. He’s co-founder of this business-in-a-box curriculum of transformational games evenings and weekends that build visibility, revenue, community and customer bases. But wait, there’s more: Adam’s also a former Co-Founder and Programming Director of National Lampoon Radio and an Emmy- Nominated Executive Producer. His award-winning films have appeared on USA Networks, Lifetime and TNT, and has written for Disney, CBS, ABC and elsewhere. Over the last 10 years, he has built a dating, personal development and coaching business that has reached hundreds of thousands of people. And he’s used copywriting for that, too. Adam’s also got a strong background a creativity consultant for major companies. On the show, he gave us important, valuable details about his o

Kyle Milligan is a successful copywriter with a very unusual view of the world. Lucky for us, it’s a way of seeing things that lets him create copy that makes a lot of money. And let’s see if what you hear from him today can do the same thing for you. Kyle is on staff of Agora financial and won a coveted award for the performance of his copy: What looks like a giant gold record. This is for bringing in 51,000 new names to the company in 2018. If you think that’s easy because Agora is a giant company, take it from me. It isn’t easy. It takes skill, perseverance, and a certain special something I haven’t been able to identify yet. Now Kyle, he has identified something unique and very valuable that I’ve never heard about from anyone else: The four emotions of copywriting. He’s agreed to talk about them today on the Copywriters Podcast, and for that, I thank you in advance, Kyle. Here are the questions we discussed: We had a wide-ranging discussion of valuable nuggets for copywriters and business builders. Here

Kyle Milligan is a successful copywriter with a very unusual view of the world. Lucky for us, it’s a way of seeing things that lets him create copy that makes a lot of money. And let’s see if what you hear from him today can do the same thing for you. Kyle is on the staff of Agora financial and won a coveted award for the performance of his copy: What looks like a giant gold record. This is for bringing in 51,000 new names to the company in 2018. If you think that’s easy because Agora is a giant company, take it from me. It isn’t easy. It takes skill, perseverance, and a certain special something I haven’t been able to identify yet. Now Kyle, he has identified something unique and very valuable that I’ve never heard about from anyone else: The four emotions of copywriting. He’s agreed to talk about them today on the Copywriters Podcast, and for that, I thank you in advance, Kyle. Here are the questions we discussed: We had a wide-ranging discussion of valuable nuggets for copywriters and business builders.

Do you ever wonder why the superstars in copywriting, and in other fields, got there? A friend of mine, Dr. Ben Mack, told me about a book that has some unique insights on the subject. I’ve met a lot of outrageously successful people and I recognized them in every page of this book, even though their names weren’t in it. I can also say that I know many highly successful copywriters that don’t fit all the descriptions in this book, but I see enough similarities so I am convinced it’s the real deal. The book is called The Superman Syndrome: You are what you believe. By Dr. Gene N. Landrum. It’s not based on random magical thinking, but on documented facts and quotes from people who have, really, changed the world. It’s very imaginative and very practical, all at the same time. In case you’re a woman, don’t feel left out. You’re included. Half of the superstars the author writes about are women. He doesn’t call them Supermen; he calls them Wonder Women. I plucked five powerful ideas from the book so you can

Justin Blackman of Pretty Fly Copy knows his way around marketing, branding, and copywriting. He’s worked with clients ranging from Red Bull and 5-Hour Energy to info-marketing guru Amy Porterfield and Rob Marsh of The Copywriter Club. In fact, all that Red Bull must be working. Last year he had more than 200 clients. However he summons the energy, this is a guy who gets things done! Justin’s talked about a much-needed but greatly overlooked topic: Writing in the client’s voice (or your own authentic voice). He’s an expert on that and we really enjoyed what he shared with us. Justin answered these questions: 1. What is “brand ventriloquism,” and how did you get into it? 2. Please share with us the example of a good brand voice you developed for a person or a business, and a tip or two for our listeners on how they can improve their own brand voice. 3. What does a bad brand voice sound like? How can we avoid making the mistakes that lead to a bad brand voice? 4. Why is brand voice so important? Do you

It’s September, and at least when I was a kid, this was back to school month. Now, if you could do it all over again, what would you want to learn that they never taught you in school? Me, I would have liked a way to know what other people believed to be true, so I could persuade them starting with what was true for them. And, I would have liked some skills for making good decisions. Learning these things in school would have been especially valuable for me as a copywriter and as an entrepreneur. What about you? Well, along comes Napoleon Hill with a new book, out just last year. Napoleon Hill, the author of the classic Think and Grow Rich, is no longer with us, of course. He died 49 years ago. But the Napoleon Hill Foundation released a new book of his, “Success Habits,” last year. And just in time for the new school year, we have just the perfect material for this podcast. So the question that was never answered in school for me, is: How do I better understand what other people believe… and how do I make

Our guest today, Brian Basilico, is the very reason this episode is called “Content Marketing That Brings Home The Bacon.” That’s not only because he’s an expert on content marketing and he has helped a lot of people make a lot of money.. It’s also because he’s the host of “The Bacon Podcast.” In fact, bacon seems to pretty much have taken over his life. His business life, anyway. Brian has a best-selling book called “It’s Not About You, It’s About Bacon.” His Bacon Podcast was voted by Inc. Magazine as one of the top 35 business podcasts.. He’s been around a long time, and he’s a pioneer. For example, when LinkedIn started up 15 years ago, he was one of the first 1000 people to join.. Brian, thanks for coming on, and welcome! 1. So Brian, give us the Express Tour of how you got to where you are today, and especially how you discovered what you are going to tell us about content marketing.. 2. Let’s start with some basic definitions. What is content marketing… how do most people use it… and what are some mi

This show is especially for service business owners and copywriters who write for service business owners. I have reason to believe that this includes 68% of our audience. If that’s not you, stick around, because I think you’ll find a few tips that you can use for other types of copywriting and marketing. It all started a few weeks ago when I did critiques on lead-generation sales letters for two business owners. They were on opposite sides of the country and in very different businesses. But in both cases, they had remarkably similar problems with their copy. What’s more, I ended up using the same method, more or less, to help them turn what they sent me into powerful, response-getting sales letters. Then I was reading an interview with the great songwriter Suzanne Vega. She’s best known for the hit song “Luka” many years ago. She said something about the puzzle pieces falling into place. Then I went back to the interview and I couldn’t find it, but she did say a lot of things close to that. Anyway, that’

Linda Perry is a copywriter in a couple niches, but she’s on with us today to share something most copywriters could not talk about the way she can. Linda is a mindset coach, and she came about her knowledge and wisdom in the trenches. You see, Linda learned about mindset where it really counts: In federal prisons, and in the courtroom. Linda was a criminal defense attorney for 17 years and she saw first hand the difference that mindset makes in people’s lives. She also learned a lot that she was able to apply to copywriting, and I’m hoping we’ll be able to get her to talk about that today, too. Linda works with copywriters and entrepreneurs on their mindset and messaging, because while most people bellyache about money, underneath earning power and success are first, mindset, and secondly, how you present yourself in words to the world. So says she, and I agree. So Linda -- welcome, and thanks for joining us. Let’s dive right into mindset. I have heard that at Kira Hug’s and Rob Marsh’s events, they call y

In Hollywood they have a joke about screenwriters: “He’s so creative, he doesn’t know how to put on a white shirt and tie.” It’s a lame joke, but it’s supposed to be a compliment. The screenwriter isn’t a boring suit. He’s more creative than that. There was one guy who was head and shoulders above everyone else in creativity. He invented brainstorming. His name was Alex Osborn. He wrote bestselling books on creativity. Most people know about his book “Your Creative Power” but his last book, “Applied Imagination, Principles and Procedures of Creative Problem Solving,” is much harder to find. Even though it was a best seller when it came out in 1953. Many people think this was his best book. And most people today could use some tips from the master on creativity, since that will get you better conversions faster than anything else. So we’re going to dip into his most important work today. In today’s show, we look at six things: 1. Why a more detailed look into creativity? It’s misunderstood. Some copywriters

Imagine a day in the future when you can’t use lead magnets or other opt-in marketing methods to get new customers. Imagine that you can’t use outbound telemarketing anymore either. Now imagine that this has nothing to do with government regulation or anything like that… but one of the warmest, friendliest companies on the planet … or so you thought… has made your job impossible. Well, that day is coming – and it might be as soon as September 17th. That company is Apple. And Meron Baraket, the Sherlock Holmes of marketing, has done some detective work to discover all this… and he’s got PROOF! We start with how Meron discovered this… including a little-known patent that spells really bad news for online marketers. Things could start to get bad Sept. 1 of this year… and will only get worse from there. The key phrase is “disposable email addresses.” Apple’s patent and plans for its next version of the operating system for iPhones really changes the game. Meron explains why. There’s also a real threat aga

We start with some very powerful copy from the great Bill Bonner, which is written in a way most copy is not written. For the purposes of today’s show, we’ll call this “writing copy in scenes.” Writing this way makes the copy come across as very immediate and real… and sets up the reader in a very good way for what comes next. In today’s show, we talk about: - What writing in scenes means, and why it’s so much more powerful than simply writing with either facts, benefits, or the type of stories most copy contains - The big difference between writing in “narrative” style, and writing in scenes - A couple of examples from outside copywriting that make “scenes” crystal-clear - How writing in scenes works, and why it works - A simple way to get started writing your copy in scenes - Some additional tips from another renowned writing teacher - The four parts of your copy where writing in scenes will make the biggest difference in influence, and conversions! Download.

How do you make Facebook actually work? That’s becoming an increasingly urgent question for copywriters and marketers across all niches. We have one answer for you today, with our special guest, Sam Carlson. He’s an online traffic and conversion guy, with a specialization in local business marketing. His agency is called 25th West. Sam and his team use digital marketing strategies to grow private medical practices. Facebook likes what they did so much that they featured 25th West on their Facebook Business™ page as a case study. We’re going to talk about that today, and a whole lot more. Sam is also Co-Host of The Next Level Facebook Ads Podcast, and I highly recommend it. We asked Sam these questions: 1. Writing ads and creating campaigns on Facebook, seems to me, like being forced to write while wearing handcuffs, and with a special pen that runs out of ink when you try to write certain words. That is, there are restrictions, that for most ad writers — especially direct-response copywriters — run counter

From Kenny Werner’s book: Effortless Mastery It’s for jazz musicians, but one thing he wrote applies very much to brainstorming ideas for copy and marketing campaigns: In a chapter called “Fear-Based Composing,” he writes, “The most anxious moment for a composer is starting at a blank piece of paper.” Before I go on, I’d say, that’s true for copywriters too, isn’t it? He continues, “It is much easier to edit material than it is to create from nothing. Putting notes on paper without attachment is a great start.” I’ll comment here that “without attachment” means, without caring if it’s good or not. Let me continue now, “Once you have created ‘some stuff,’ you can begin to edit. Through the process of variation, you can create more music or improve upon what you’ve got. However, any sense of attachment to the work prevents you from seeing the possibilities. “For example, whatever notes you write can be developed by varying the order, the octave, the transposition, and so on. If you do this without any emotiona

This is especially for business owners. About half of my mentoring clients are business owners. Now when I meet business owners who don’t already have some copywriting skills and experiences, they end up falling into one of three camps: 1. Those who know they want to learn copy 2. Those who are thinking about learning copy but aren’t sure that it’s a good idea, and 3. Those who have felt some pressure to learn copy but really don’t want to. I don’t think one-size-fits-all when it comes to business owners learning to write copy. So I want to look at both sides of the question today, and even offer some tips that all business owners can use to make more money for their business. We cover: The 3 Reasons Certain Kinds of Business Owners Definitely SHOULD learn to write copy, and why this will help you with your business. Even in ways you’ve never thought of before. The 3 Reasons Other Kinds of Business Owners Probably SHOULD NOT learn to write copy, and how it could screw things up for you if do. If You’re A Bu

A client of mine made an interesting discovery. When he wrote short emails, he got mediocre click-through. When he wrote longer emails, he got a higher click-through. But when he condensed the longer emails down to the length of the original short emails, he got the highest click-through rate of all. Why is that? We discussed this and the answer we came up with is what this podcast is about. In short, intensity. It raises response rates consistently for my client in split tests to a high six-figures list. And I think everyone who deals with copy needs to know about this. What we cover in today’s podcast: 1. What intensity in copy is; why it’s important; and when it’s especially necessary to have intensity in your copy 2. The discovery, and the easiest way to infuse your copy with intensity 3. Another thing to do to maximize the intensity of your copy 4. Urgency, and not just in your close 5. The ultimate driver for Download.

OK. Everything you’ve heard about not using humor in copy, be prepared to reconsider all of it. Because of our guest today, Jon Buchan. A few years ago, Jon freely admits, “I was desperate for sales after my word of mouth work dried up.” He continues: “I got hellishly drunk one night and wrote a completely absurd cold email. “I was still tipsy the next morning and decided it was still a good idea to send it to pretty senior Marketing Directors at big brands. “To my astonishment, it worked. I got the most amazing complimentary responses and requests for calls/meetings. Here is the favorite response Jon received: "My colleague forwarded me your spam email and we would like to meet you to discuss opportunities." From his crazy drunk email, Jon has met with senior decision makers at RedBull, Pepsi, Symantec, Hewlett-Packard, HSBC, Barclays and countless other global brands, exciting start-ups and regular ol’ small and medium businesses. Since then, he’s used the same style to get senior editors at large public

Our guest today, Ken McCarthy, has been at the forefront of Internet marketing and copywriting from the start. To give you just one in example, way back in 1994, he sponsored a conference about making the Internet a place where you could do business. Before then, it was a business-free zone. His featured speaker was a pioneer of the time, Mark Andreessen, who went on to co-found one of Silicon Valley’s most important Venture Capital firms. OK. Let’s fast-forward 20 years to 2014. Five years ago. Tony Haile, CEO of Chartbeat, one of the world’s top data analytics firms, wrote this in Time magazine: In 1994, a former direct mail marketer called Ken McCarthy came up with the clickthrough as the measure of ad performance on the web. From that moment on, the click became the defining action of advertising on the web. See, it’s one thing to come up with an idea. It’s another thing entirely to be recognized as the guy who came up with it, by a leading industry authority in Time magazine. As a copywriter or busine