Synopsis
Copywriting lessons from David Garfinkel
Episodes
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Smart, Practical Ways To Use AI, With Cath Reohorn
04/08/2025 Duration: 29minOne way that AI can save you from expending massive amounts of blood, sweat and tears is a way that a lot of people aren’t using. And that involves its incredible ability to analyze, find trends, and organize information. On the face of it, all that sounds pretty boring and hardly applicable to copywriters and business owners. But today’s returning champion, Cath Reohorn, has used her impressive imagination to come up with some incredibly simple, smart and powerful ways to use AI that are VERY interesting… and could be useful to you as well. You probably remember Cath because her podcast, titled Selling Them With Kindness, got a lot of engagement and some heartfelt comments from listeners. Cath’s business is called Kind Copy. She lives in Wales in the UK. She has a true family business, since it employs herself, her husband, her sister and 2 other team members. What’s even more impressive, they grew with organic marketing to over £1m/month before she ever ran an ad. Today, we dig into Cath’s personal, pra
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AI Copywriting Secrets
28/07/2025 Duration: 28minCan you picture yourself having the guts and imagination to bring 14 of the top copywriters in the business together to share their best action steps using AI to make money and/or save time? I certainly couldn’t, but our guest today is an adventurous man and a successful copywriter-wrangler. Because he did it. Please welcome John McIntyre, who recently invited me and a host of others. This wasn’t a theoretical roundtable. Each of us had to give ONE workflow, technique, or method we were using AI to make our own copywriting business better. Some of the other guys were David Deutsch, Bob Bly, Daniel Throssell, Chris Orzechowski, and Jon Benson–to name a few. We each had 45 minutes to jump right into it. John encouraged us to treat it like a mentoring session with him on our topic. No fancy sets, no intro, no slide decks–just real, hands-on stuff. I’ll confess, I spent the entire available time in the 24 hours before my session preparing. Because, and here’s a secret, it takes a lot of prep to make a sess
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EMERGENCY: SLAUGHTER OF FACEBOOK GROUPS
21/07/2025 Duration: 31minYesterday, Facebook wiped out a bunch of groups without warning. And just like that, some creators lost their entire audience. That’s why today, we’re talking about the one platform you actually own — your email list. Apparently some of the groups were deleted by accident and reinstated. But others were deleted permanently. No one outside of Facebook’s Menlo Park, California headquarters really knows why this happened, but it does point to something our guest a couple of shows ago, Evelina Kaganovitch, said, “Having your own email list is business insurance.” It’s even more true today than it was two shows ago. Because, again, email is the one platform you actually own. So, with our heightened threat awareness, Nathan suggested we do an emergency show on our latest findings on email marketing. We’ll walk you through the essentials of email marketing that actually works in 2025 — including subject lines that get clicks, the #1 factor affecting your open rates, and the biggest mistakes we still see peo
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The One Top Copywriting Skill For The Future
14/07/2025 Duration: 33minWith the rapid spread of AI, will there even be a future for copywriters? Both new and experienced copywriters are plagued by that same question. And it’s a good question. Because there are plenty of solid arguments that go like this: With the rapid growth of AI, soon there won’t be any need for human copywriters. And in some cases, that’s 100% true. The good news is, there are also some powerful counter-arguments that say there will definitely be a need for copywriters, and still some great opportunities to make a lot of money. But there’s a catch: If you want to survive, you’re going to have to learn some important new skills that only the top-of-the-crop copywriters needed in the past. Culminating in one top skill that no AI will ever be able to attain. I’ve figured out what they are - the lead-up skills, and the one top skill - and I’m going to share them with you, in detail, today. Now I’ll spend a lot of time mentioning my mentoring, and I just want to say it’s not for everybody. You need to
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High-Powered Email Welcome Sequences, With Evelina Kaganovitch
07/07/2025 Duration: 32minWhen you turn a prospect into a customer, are you delivering and getting the most value you can? A lot of people have lame, generic welcome sequences because they know they have to say something… but they really don’t know what to say or how to say it. Our very special guest today aims to change all that. She’s Evelina Kagonovitch, and she has gotten big numbers that should make you sit up and pay attention: a 64% average open rate on win-back email campaign for marketing agency A 7.6% increase in article views over the last 90 days for personal brand A 20-30% average open rate on weekly marketing emails for marketing agency A 5% CTR on ads for local soccer academy business How does she do it? That’s what we’ll find out today. She’s formally trained as a fashion designer, and has had experience as a freelance writer for magazines and digital publications. When covid struck, whe found herself in Melbourne Australia, stuck in the house under what she says was the worst lockdown protocol in the world. So
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How AI Can Run Your Business, With Sam Woods
30/06/2025 Duration: 32minOur returning champion is Sam Woods, who’s been using AI for business in very big ways since 2016. That’s a lot longer than most people, including me. And Nathan. And we’re both big fans of AI for copywriting! But more important for today’s show, we’re big fans of Sam Woods! And last time he was here, Sam gave us some highly valuable insights and hands-on tips for using AI with copywriting. But over the past 10 years, Sam has also developed his own methodologies, training, and frameworks for building and growing online businesses in areas outside of copywriting. Systems. Automations. In ways you might have imagined on the surface, and ways you could not possibly have imagined. A refresher about Sam’s background: He got started with machine learning in 2016 and generative AI in 2019. He was a pioneer in prompt engineering for AI copywriting, and marketing. Sam has advised Fortune 1,000 companies and teams across the world, as well as advised and consulted with CEOs and other C-Suite executives. He describ
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Alfred Adler’s Forbidden Psychology
23/06/2025 Duration: 32minIn 1911, psychology pioneer Alfred Adler resigned from the presidency of a prestigious society in Vienna—and Sigmund Freud took it personally and deemed Adler an enemy. It didn’t stop there. Freud continued to rail against Adler until Freud’s death in 1939. The details of the dispute are kind of technical and petty, and we won’t get into them today. The effects, however, were massive: Because of Freud’s opposition, Adler’s work was suppressed for decades. And this is important. See, Adler had some powerful ideas that, decades later, have found their way into a number of well-accepted branches of psychology today – Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Positive Psychology, Family Systems Therapy, to name only a few. Yet Adler’s original work remains unknown to most people. Where this fits into copywriting is that some of Adler’s core ideas are enormously useful. They can help you with big ideas, hooks, headlines, and understanding customer motivation at a deep level. Download.
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Selling Them With Kindness, With Cath Reohorn
16/06/2025 Duration: 32minNick Lowe had a big hit on the top 40 back in the day called “Cruel to be Kind.” Interesting idea, but how about this one? “Kind to be Kind.” Now there’s a novel idea. And it’s the guiding principle of copywriter and agency owner Cath Reohorn, who has taken this philosophy to £1 million/month in revenues for her clients. So you don’t have to do the math, that’s about $1.3 million per month. Now, how does she do it? Today, on Copywriters Podcast, you’ll find out exactly how. Now, back to the idea of “Kind to be Kind.” Cath’s agency is called Kind Copy, and she defines the guiding principle this way: “Kind copy stands for not twisting the knife. This anti-cruelty stance isn’t just an ethical standpoint. It’s a tactical advantage for services where the client needs to be actively involved in their process (like coaching and consulting).” We’ll dive deep into that in a moment. First, A little more about Cath and her business: She lives in Wales in the UK. She has a true family business, since it employs her
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Evergreen Money Machine, With James Allen
09/06/2025 Duration: 28minWhat do you do if you’ve tried and tried, six times, and what you’re trying to make happen… never happens? That was the dilemma facing our special guest today, James Allen. “I built 6 different funnels and courses that didn't make me a penny until I changed my strategy,” he says. “Finally, I built one that sold for me in my sleep—on repeat.” In my mind, that’s an evergreen money machine. James got so good at this that he helps coaches and content creators enjoy the same benefits of automated and scalable income that he has. James started out in construction, and left that to become a spiritual life coach at age 22. Then, he became a productivity coach and subsequently shifted into helping people create evergreen funnels. He’s shared plenty of money-while-you-sleep secrets that really work on our show today. Here’s what we asked him: 1. What would you say is the biggest mistake course creators make when it comes to building products? 2. What are some tips for making sure you're building something peop
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Instant Creativity Boosters
02/06/2025 Duration: 30minYou can’t fake it. It seems like you can’t force it. But when creativity shows up at the right moment — your copy comes alive. Sometimes it’s the difference between a flat headline and a breakthrough idea. Between a click and a sale. Between a promotion that falls flat and a control that blows the doors off. On the other hand, when it doesn’t show up — that’s when things get rough. Here’s the thing, though. Creativity isn’t magic. Oh, I know it seems like magic–especially when great new ideas spring up, seemingly out of nowhere. And sometimes you feel like only a magic trick—or a miracle—would save you, when you’re stuck or going through a dry spell. But the truth is, creativity is something you can spark, pretty much on demand. All you need is the right tools. And that’s what we’ll talk about today. (Here are the 10 techniques we talked about.) 1. Get Moving — Walk, stretch, get your body moving. 2. Quantity Before Quality — Don’t stop at the first idea. Write twenty-one. 3. Creativity on Demand — Buil
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Everyday Stories That Skyrocket Business, With Dumi Mabhena
26/05/2025 Duration: 27minFor many people, actually doing a podcast is a lot harder than it seems. A few months ago, Riverside.fm, a major podcast platform, published an article that said, "90% of podcasts don't get past episode 3," and "of the few that continue, another 90% will quit after 20 episodes." Here at Copywriters Podcast, we understand this, but to be honest, we just haven’t done a lot ourselves to solve this particular problem. Not our jam. Our special guest today, Dumi Mabhena, has done a LOT to help podcasters at all levels of skill and experience. His own podcast is called Zimbawean Voices, and he’s based in Washington, DC. Dumi knows, as Nathan and I do, that the effective use of personal stories is key to making a podcast work. And today he’s going to talk about the enormous impact of everyday stories have on sales. He has founded businesses in multiple niches, including solar energy and student housing. Dumi is also the author of a children’s book, Tuku’s Dream. As for his work supporting other podcasters
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Special Report–How AI Is Changing Copywriting
19/05/2025 Duration: 26minSo a man says into his phone, “Siri, play Pizzetti’s Rondò Veneziano.” Siri says, “Calling Roundtable Pizza.” Pretty frustrating, right? Well, that was what AI seemed like to me just one year ago. Especially when it came to writing copy. Completely out of the question. But that has changed, in a VERY big way. So for today, I’ve put together a special report on how AI is changing copywriting. This is a report from the field. What pro copywriters and business owners are actually doing with AI. And I’ll give you a hint. What they’re doing with AI includes writing copy, for sure. But it also includes a WHOLE LOT MORE than just writing copy. So to set the stage for today, a little over a year ago, we did a show on my 10 rules for mentoring copywriters and business owners. At the time, I was still a hard-core AI skeptic and I didn’t think AI had any place in copywriting or content creation. So I didn’t include anything about AI at all in that show, or in my 10 rules for mentoring copywriters. My r
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Sam Woods, T.H.E. AI Copywriting Pioneer
12/05/2025 Duration: 30minOne name comes up more than any other when I talk to people about copywriting and AI. That name is Sam Woods, and he’s our very special guest today. Sam has been in the game for nine years, while most of us haven’t been there half as long. And I don’t know of anyone who’s been in it longer than Sam has. He got started with machine learning in 2016 and generative AI in 2019. He was a pioneer in prompt engineering for AI copywriting, and marketing. Sam has advised Fortune 1,000 companies and teams across the world, as well as advised and consulted with CEOs and other C-Suite executives. He describes himself as “a strategic AI architect who advises C-Suite leaders on turning artificial intelligence into their most powerful competitive advantage.” But more important to us, he’s a seasoned and successful expert using AI for writing copy that gets results. Here’s what we asked him: 1. What would you say is the most important thing about AI that most people in marketing and copywriting haven’t really realized yet
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Pre-Launch Traps to Avoid with Brenna McGowan
05/05/2025 Duration: 28minWhat’s the opposite of a confident salesperson who makes it easy for you to buy? A nervous salesperson who jumps the gun and makes you want to run away! Today’s returning champion, Brenna McGowan, understands this difference all too well. She has mastered the arts of the pre-launch and the launch, and she knows all the big and little differences. Because besides the successful implementers, Brenna’s she’s also seen nervous copywriters and offer owners jump the gun all too often. And ruin their chances at having a successful launch down the road by spilling too much information too early on! Brenna believes there’s a lot of misunderstanding of what a pre-launch does, as well as what it should NOT do. So she agreed to come back on the show and tell us today. Brenna’s specialty is pre-launches—warming up your market by letting them get to know you even before your launch begins. Perhaps the best advantage it gives you is it puts you front and center in your prospects’ minds, and at the same time gets
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High-Level Copywriting Insider Info
28/04/2025 Duration: 28minWouldn’t you love to have a confidential chat with a copywriter working at the highest levels of our business? Well, we can’t provide the confidential part. This IS a podcast, after all, not a Signal chat. But today’s guest, Cain Smith is on the front lines of some of the biggest businesses using direct response. So we can provide the copywriter working on the highest levels of our business part. Cain’s client list includes real estate giant Grant Cardone, financial publishing giant Agora Financial, fitness and nutrition giant vShred… as just three examples. His experience spans infoproducts and ecom, low-ticket and high-ticket, long-form and short-form funnels. And we got him to come on to tell us what he’s noticing at the cutting edge. Because his observations, when put into action, can mean more money in your pocket. But I wouldn’t think of asking Cain a thing until I first reminded you that Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common s
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How Copywriting is Different
21/04/2025 Duration: 28minIt happens to all of us, and can you remember a time where you wondered: “Is this really good copywriting? It seems like what I should write, but somehow it’s not clicking.” Here’s why you wonder. There’s a well-known saying from the Navy SEALs: "Under pressure, you don't rise to the level of your expectations, you sink to the level of your training". That goes far beyond the world of the Navy SEALs, of course. It’s true in all of life. Well, one thing I don’t think we’ve taken a good enough look at it: As copywriters, how were we trained? I don’t mean for copywriting specifically. I mean for writing at all. See, how you were ORIGINALLY trained to write can easily override what you know you SHOULD do as a copywriter. We’re going to take a good look at that today, and see what we can do about it. What we cover in today’s show: School-style prose clearly informs readers but doesn’t motivate immediate action. Remember: your goal isn’t to describe things—it’s to prompt your readers to act now. Jour
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The Power of Your Core Marketing Message with John Jantsch
14/04/2025 Duration: 26minOur special guest today, John Jantsch, is going to tell you about what could be the single most valuable sentence you have in your business for getting clients and customers. John’s the author of the Wall Street Journal best-seller Duct Tape Marketing, as well as three other books. Now when John talks about “core,” I’m pretty sure he’s not talking about your abs, lower back, and hip flexors. No, the single most valuable sentence John’s referring to is your core message. That’s something he also calls your “talking logo.” John says, “Like a traditional printed logo, a talking logo is a tool that allows you to communicate verbally the single greatest benefit of doing business with your firm. “A talking logo is a short statement that quickly communicates your firm’s position and ideally forces the listener to want to know more.” And at the end of the day, that’s exactly what every business wants, isn’t it? John also trains and licenses small business consultants around the world, so you’ll definitely wa
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14 Ways to Make Your Copy Easier to Read
07/04/2025 Duration: 30minYou could have written the greatest copy in the world. Perfectly targeted with a killer offer. Great price. Unique and highly desirable. But I can tell you one way it is guaranteed NOT to work. And that’s if nobody reads it. Don’t laugh; it happens. There are a couple more than a dozen crucial things you must know and consistently DO to make your copy as easy to read as possible. Most people know some of these things. Very few people seem to know all of them… or at least USE all of them consistently. Which is a shame. Because every little thing that makes your copy even a little harder to read ends up costing you sales, more often than not. Today, we’ll show you how to put a stop to this. Here’s a preview of what we'll talk about: 1. Use short sentences. 2. Keep your paragraphs short. 3. Use bullet points for lists 4. Use short subheads and lead-ins. 5. Use simple language. 6. Write in the active voice. 7. Cut out extra words. 8. Highlight key phrases (bold or italics) 9. Write like you’re h
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Quantum Leap AI Prompts for Copywriting
31/03/2025 Duration: 31minEver get frustrated with what happens when you try to get an AI to write something? According to Google Workspace Labs, the average prompt people give an AI is nine words or less. Nine words! The AI needs a lot more information than that to do a decent job for you. But the question is–what information? Today, we’re going to take a look at how AI goes so very wrong for so many people—and give you some proven ideas on what to do about it. -- Here’s a great general model for prompts, which has been shared in social media by Open AI President Greg Brockman: Here's the attached image transcribed into text form: >>The Anatomy of a Prompt<< Goal I want a list of the best medium-length hikes within two hours of San Francisco. Each hike should provide a cool and unique adventure, and be lesser known. Return Format For each hike, return the name of the hike as I'd find it on AllTrails, then provide the starting address of the hike, the ending address of the hike, distance, drive time, hike dura
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Parker Worth’s Storytelling Secrets For Social Media
24/03/2025 Duration: 36minDo storytelling skills REALLY make a difference for you? Just ask our special guest today, Parker Worth. Parker decided he had enough of high school at 16. His first job was cleaning toilets. From there, he went to electrician school and, after a few years, got a job traveling around the world as an electrician. But his own story really starts to take off when he discovers social media. That led to this advice for him: “Just hop on Twitter.” At first, not much happened. But one day he got a powerful idea: Put the story of his life so far into a thread. He says, “I published it. I went to sleep. And woke up with millions of views and messages.” Today, Parker has nearly 44,000 followers on TwitterX, more than 20,000 on LinkedIn, and multiple six-figure businesses. One of his biggest secrets is his discovery of what makes certain social media stories, news stories, and ad stories stick. He’s shared that with us today. Here’s what we asked him: 1. What are some of the most common mistakes you see w