Direct Response Copywriter on the Power of Persistence

Several years ago, I was extremely fortunate to work with Jim McLean, the extremely successful golf teacher. And well before that, McLean was fortunate to work with a golfer named Jackie Burke who won The Masters in 1956 and is enjoying a long and fruitful career in golf and business. I still work with Jim McLean on various projects.

Burke told McLean “I never saw a persistent man fail.”

These words stuck with McLean and they have stuck with me. I think about the word “persistence” almost every day.

The more I think about it, the more I believe that direct marketing and direct response copywriting success comes down to persistence.

Last week, a company I know very well asked me to write a presentation to help them improve one part of their business that’s not going very well. It should be going well. It's a great offer to the perfect audience.

In looking at how they market this particular product, I noticed something pretty obvious. There’s only one touchpoint to market this product. Once someone says “no” then that’s it. So I simply said, in my presentation, “that first 'no' must not be the end of the conversation, it should be the beginning.”

I’m a direct response copywriter, so I’m going to tell you the copy and the message are important. Vital, even. But with 7-10 touchpoints instead of 1, guess what’s going to happen?

Someone I know once referred to this consistency as “polite persistence” and that’s a phrase I like very much.

There’s a lot of failure in direct marketing. We fail a ton. But the top direct marketers keep going and keep pounding away. They also keep testing. It’s all about persistence. It’s not a concept that branding people understand because they can’t measure anything. A campaign lasts for a defined period and that's that.

Dan Kennedy said that most people give up when there’s the first sign of a headwind. And he’s right. Many people fail because they’re not persistent. I’m a direct response copywriter which ultimately means I’m in sales. The great salespeople and the great marketers know that 99% of sales begin with the word “no.”

But they also understand that’s just the beginning of the journey that ultimately leads to a “yes.” If you have the right market, the right offer, and the right direct response copywriter, then persistence will pay off.

Direct Response Copywriter at Dan Kennedy Info Summit Day 1

At the dinner break at the first day of the Dan Kennedy Info-Marketing Summit here in Atlanta.

Some thoughts (there's another session coming up--it's all day, four days in a row).

Dan Kennedy opened the summit with a short presentation. He said, “you’re here to shop.” And there’s plenty of shopping. In fact, the “Back of the Room” operation is a store.

The summit is a little bit of a 'pitch fest' but some of the speakers were informational. Internet marketer Andy Jenkins was impressive as he detailed how he pitches his products at launch.

I wish speakers would mind their language—there’s no need to use even mildly offensive words. Why risk offending anyone?

I’m coming up with a lot of good ideas from simply being away from my computer.

The highlight of the day was listening to the former editor of The National Enquirer, Iain Calder, originally from Scotland. He did pretty much whatever it legally took to get the stories first. They sold 6.5 million copies of their Elvis issue (when The King died). The issue cost 35 cents. While I don’t want to sell scandalous information, I admire the approach to content. Their content sold publications at the newsstand. They paid a ton to find and keep the top writers. Lesson there...

Great to see Will Swayne who is here all the way from Brisbane, Australia.

Thanks to the staff at the Hilton Downtown Atlanta for their flexibility for a loyal Hilton guest. Superb hotel.

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I specialize in providing copy and content for the direct marketing environment for clients around the world. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.

Direct Response Copywriter Heads Off to Dan Kennedy Conference

I’m off to Atlanta next week for a Dan Kennedy conference. I’m extremely excited to learn from one of the top direct marketers on the planet. I use a lot of his copywriting techniques and they work.

I’ll blog every day from the conference and also tweet. The conference is Thursday through Saturday.

Follow me on Twitter here.

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I specialize in providing copy and content for the direct marketing environment for clients around the world. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.