Direct Response Copywriter On Some Common Marketing Misconceptions

This may sound a touch odd but I’m actually a big fan of misconceptions, especially when they relate to my work: direct response copywriting and direct marketing.

Misconceptions lead us to the truth about marketing. And the truth helps us make sound decisions based on facts.

For example, a branding person might say, “a great brand creates sales.” That’s nice but it’s a misconception. It’s direct marketing that drives revenue. There’s no proof that branding generates revenue because it can’t be accurately measured. The wise marketers thus follow the truth and use direct marketing as their primary weapon.

Another misconception is that direct marketing will demolish the brand and must be crass. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every big company uses direct marketing in some way. Direct marketing can be obnoxious but it doesn't have to be. It's extremely rare for me to write crazy loud copy.

Here’s another misconception: salespeople are born, not made.

It’s the other way around. I know people who seem affable and “born” to sell. But they can’t make a sale because they don’t know the techniques. I know people who are shy and demure but are excellent at selling because they have learned the techniques. A direct response copywriter is a salesperson. I must know the techniques and how to apply them.

The final misconception is: people are really impressed with the “next big thing” in marketing, advertising, and sales. And when I say people, I mean your prospects. No. Some people who are active in marketing, advertising, and sales get all giddy about the latest thing.

But here’s the reality. Your prospects don’t care about the latest and great “stuff” in marketing … they only care about one thing and that’s themselves.

Once you cut out the noise from the “next big thing(s)” and focus on how you can help your prospect get where they want to get, you’re going to be highly successful, provided you have traffic, a great offer, and a direct response copywriter who can convert.

Direct Response Copywriter on "Story" ... The Latest Marketing Fad You Can Safely Ignore ...

One of the more interesting parts of marketing … or anything for that matter … is that people are constantly looking for the next “bright shiny thing.”

I don’t include innovation here. I love innovation, especially in my two favorite sports, skiing and golf. A golf club that will help me play better golf? A ski that will help me be a better skier? YES! Here's my credit card!

What I’m talking about is some new and clever-sounding strategy, tactic, or approach to something.

The creator is almost always someone who is trying to establish themselves as THE expert in their field.

In 2000, Malcolm Gladwell published his first book, The Tipping Point, which he defines, in a blizzard of mixed metaphors as, "the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point."

Well done to Gladwell: The Tipping Point remains part of our language. Quite frankly, I’d prefer The Tipping Pint but that’s for another day.

Who was Gladwell before he published his book and went on to build a speaking and publishing empire?

According to Wikipedia, he couldn’t get a job in advertising, so he became a journalist. I should laugh but I won’t. He got a gig at The New Yorker, wrote a couple of articles and these led to a $1 million book deal. Nice work if you can get it.

The man who has written several books that are quoted by all sorts of business people has no business experience. OK.

In marketing, the bright shiny thing right now is “story.”

We all know what a story is. We grew up with stories. We tell stories every day, almost. We hear stories every day.

But what does story mean in the context of marketing? Is it a story in copy? No.

One website defines it thus …

"Business and brand storytelling is the ultimate marketing strategy and story marketing is the trigger. It beckons your audience into your life and turns your story into their story."

And then …

"I define story marketing as a strategic marketing approach that creates a brand experience through audio, visual (sic) and immersive storytelling whereby the customer becomes the center of the story to drive profitable engagement."

"Story marketing is about transporting your audiences through a well-crafted brand story strategy."

The “ultimate marketing strategy” … yeah, right. The writer, of course, provides no proof. Proof in marketing comes from MONEY. The author provides proof in the form of examples of other ads.

However, this tactic has the backing of several big-name gurus.

Seth Godin is big “story” guy. And so is Gary Vaynerchuk.

The latter said … “storytelling is by far the most underrated skill in business.” I’d say it’s the most overrated skill … and I wouldn’t call it a skill.

The above have been very successful in business. I can’t argue with that, can I?

However, have they ever written copy? Have they put words on a page to motivate a prospect to try a product or service? I don’t know the answer but I doubt it.

Here’s a guess … “story” is all the rage in marketing departments at business schools. You won’t get much about direct marketing in these departments.

So all these MBAs head into business thinking it’s all about “story” and brand awareness.

Whenever I come across a “story” person, I have a simple question. “How do you measure ROI?”

End of conversation.

Is the goal of marketing to tell brand stories with great authenticity or is it to generate revenue? If you think it’s the former, then I feel dreadfully sorry for you. Try taking your stories and your awards to the bank.

In direct marketing, we measure everything to the penny. I’m a direct response copywriter and I’ve helped my clients generate over $450 million in revenue in the last 8 years. I helped two clients build dominant brands in the golf and dietary supplement verticals where competition is stiff.

When writing copy for these wonderful clients, I never thought “brand” and I never thought “story.” Neither did the people who organized the marketing and hired me to help them.

I’ve spent huge chunks of time, and still do, studying the work of the world’s greatest direct response copywriters. Let me give you a brief list of copywriters who never talked, or talk, about “story.”

• Gary Bencivenga.
• Bob Bly.
• Clayton Makepeace.
• John Caples.
• Claude Hopkins.
• Dan Kennedy.

Look in Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples and you’ll see 3 pages devoted to “story.” It’s a 300-page book, all based on testing, not theory.

What about the brilliant Bencivenga Bullets? Anything about “story” in those? Not once. Ask any of the “story” people if they’ve heard of Gary Bencivenga and I doubt they have. Companies gleefully paid Gary Bencivenga millions to write copy for them.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not averse to a story. A story can be a proof element. But it’s just one of more than 50 proof elements I like to deploy where applicable. A great story can capture the attention of a prospect. But what if, during my research, I don’t find a great story? Should I include a story just to include a story because Seth Godin says it’s all about story?

Negatory.

Think about the person who says, “I’ve got a great joke for you.”

You hear the joke and it’s the worst joke you’ve ever heard. I’m not talking about a joke that’s purposefully poor. Those can be brilliant. No … I’m talking about a joke that’s just not funny. What do you think about the joke teller? Not much, probably.

Yet I hear marketers saying “there must be a story” and it’s “all about story” all the time.

This fad will pass, eventually. But it may take a while.

Accountants run companies these days and the numbers people are interested in … well … numbers. They don’t care about “award-winning” ads and “story.” They care about MONEY. Direct marketing will bring you revenue. There’s no accurate way to measure “story” and branding.

And that’s the big problem with all this story stuff. It’s ultimately an exercise in branding. And there’s no way to measure this and that’s exactly what the story and branding people want. There’s no accountability. Direct marketers love testing and accountability. Branding people run away from it.

There’s a big company with which I’m very familiar. Their CMO was a “story” person. There was an expensive “agency of record” and lots of prizes and lots of storytelling. Did this CMO really understand direct marketing? Did they have a direct response copywriter on staff? No. And this CMO just got fired. I conservatively estimate this person’s annual salary was in the $250,000 to $400,000 range, including benefits.

How’s all that “story” stuff looking now?

What do people really care about?

What do prospects really want?

Is it your story?

No.

Let me answer the first two questions by asking another vital question the branding and story people never really want to answer.

WHAT ARE WE REALLY SELLING?

You can tell a great story about a lawnmower you’re trying to sell. That’s nice. But what are you really selling with a lawnmower? It’s more than just cutting the grass. It could be to make a spouse happy. It could be because you don’t like to sweat and you want a riding mower. Maybe you’re really into how your garden looks and the mower provides a certain look to the lawn. It’s my job as a direct response copywriter to find out what people really want … not tell stories.

Look … people don’t care about your story. They care about themselves and how your product or service can help them solve a problem or help them get where they want to get.

If you’re a big believer in “story” and you work in marketing, then I have this advice for you. Story will quickly take your career in the wrong direction. Learn about direct marketing and apply direct marketing to your work and you’ll become a rock star. Why? You’ll show your clients/bosses actual tangible results … in the form of revenue.

This blog is not for branding people. I’m not going to change your mind, most likely.

This blog is for business owners and executives who might come across marketing people who tell them, “it’s all about story.”

This blog is also for people who are entering the marketing field and are trying to figure this whole thing out. I hope, after reading this, you’re not attracted to the “bright shiny thing” called storytelling.

Focus on direct marketing and direct response copywriting and you’ll be successful.

Direct Response Copywriter on David Ogilvy

You can read a great deal about David Ogilvy, online and off. You can read a great deal by David Ogilvy. He was a prolific author. His best book, although it’s more of a manual, was his guide to selling Aga cookers.

My goal in this blog is to focus on Ogilvy’s contributions to direct marketing and what you can learn from Ogilvy when it comes to direct response copywriting.

You can easily look up his background and other information.

Strangely, perhaps, Ogilvy is best known for his branding work. But he was a direct marketer first and foremost. If you need proof, then watch one of the most inspirational videos you’ll ever see. It’s called “We sell or else” and it does two things. Click here to see it.

First, it beats up branding types and branding advertising. Second, it’s proof that direct marketing works.

In fact, whenever I get into it with a branding type, I point them toward this video. I win.

Ogilvy was an excellent writer but he was also an excellent salesman. He must have sold a lot of Aga cookers. So he know how to sell. Every direct response copywriter must know how to sell. He knew how to sell accounts.

Dig a little bit and you’ll discover that Ogilvy built his agency though direct mail. He took a correspondence course on copywriting. He then solicited new clients by mail. And it clearly worked.

He called direct marketing “his secret weapon” and it proved he could produce tangible results for his clients. There was always a direct marketing department in his agency. I wonder if that’s the case today.

Dig around the Internet and you’ll come across a series of bold, full-page ads that appeared in The Wall Street Journal. You can see one here.

Dense copy and lots of it. I’m sure it worked.

This was not a branding exercise. This was all about generating leads from qualified potential clients.

But I'm mistaken, of course. It WAS a branding exercise. Here’s the “secret” the branding types don’t want you to know. Companies routinely build their brands through direct marketing and with the help of a direct response copywriter.

Two of my most successful clients have achieved tremendous brand recognition without spending any money on branding and not even thinking about branding. Yes … you can have your cake and eat it too.

David Ogilvy must have understood this important fact. Remember, he considered direct marketing to be his “secret weapon.”

He also wanted his creative talent, especially his copywriters, to understand direct marketing. It’s strange to me that so many people in advertising laud David Ogilvy yet totally ignore direct marketing. A bit of a mystery.

Yes … it’s important to study everything David Ogilvy achieved and how he achieved his success. But focusing purely on his branding work totally misses the point.

David Ogilvy was one of the world’s top direct marketers.

Direct Response Copywriter on Excuses and People Who Know Everything

I love direct marketing and direct response copywriting for many reasons. One of them … I never hear excuses from serious direct marketers. When sales are lower than usual, direct marketers find a way to increase revenue.

So you can imagine my SHOCK when I recently received an email blaming a lack of sales this year on something that happend LAST YEAR.

I thought I had seen and heard pretty much everything in the world of marketing but that’s a first.

Let me say that again … sales are down this year due to conditions last year. If I were the CEO or owner of that company and I saw something like that coming from the marketing department, two things would happen. First, the head of marketing would be given a straight red. Then I’d find a direct marketer who could actually generate sales and revenue whatever is happening.

The direct marketers I admire are the ones who get the job done whatever is happening in the economy and the world. Imagine what would happen if I wrote some direct response copy and it failed and I blamed conditions last year … or ANY year.

The client would go totally berserk … and with good reason. If things aren’t going well revenue-wise then direct marketers dig deep and find that revenue.

Let’s change the subject before I implode.

I belong to a number of groups on Facebook and Linked In. I can’t say that I spend a great deal of time participating.

Here’s one reason … I see a TON of awful advice and information in these groups. A few months ago, I criticized a person for providing information I know is blatantly wrong. I received a fast response from the person who leads that group saying I was wrong and she was right. I won’t go further into the exact details. I stopped right there with the conversation because I have better things to do than get into online arguments. I'm a busy direct response copywriter.

What’s my point here?

Don’t listen to people in those groups. Base what you do on advice from people who actually know what they’re talking about. There’s one problem here … these direct response copywriters don’t hang around in Facebook and Liked In groups.

Don’t make excuses. Be careful who you follow and believe.

*

I'm a direct response copywriter working for clients around the world. Enter your information to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or [contact me here][2] when you have a project you'd like to discuss. I'm also a Dan Kennedy certified copywriter for information products.

Direct Response Copywriter on The Surprising Truth About Word of Mouth Advertising

The other night, I got into a somewhat heated ‘discussion’ about word of mouth advertising.

You’ve heard the old saying … “word of mouth advertising is the best form of advertising.”

It’s obviously and completely untrue.

Shock ... HORROR!

Consider this … if it were true, then nobody would advertise anything. They would only have to rely on word of mouth advertising. I would not have an existence as a direct response copywriter.

Let’s consider this scenario … TOTALLY true. A woman visits a ski lodge in a ski town for about 2 weeks every year in the middle of winter. She sits regally in the lobby every evening where she holds court. She proceeds to say HORRIBLE things about most of the restaurants in the ski town, as she downs several glasses of white wine.

This, my brothers and sisters, is called “word of mouth advertising.” How can this non-stop trash talking be the best form of advertising? In fact, I would call it the WORST form of advertising and I feel sorry for the restaurant owners who put everything into running a business only to have it sledged by this crazy person who only wants to hear herself talk and sound important.

I firmly believe my clients are generally happy with my work. They measure results and they keep offering me direct response copywriting assignments. Do they refer me to other clients?

No.

Why?

Because they don’t want me working for competitors. I sometimes get referrals but they’re not the type of client or work I want. I’m also certain there are people in direct marketing who know me but say bad things about me. Maybe I’m wrong about this but I don’t think I am.

Either way, I’m NOT relying on “word of mouth” advertising. I’m not in control of my potential clients and I’m NOT in control of the message. Why would I NOT want to be in control of my marketing? I'm waiting for that answer.

What’s the best form of marketing?

It’s fundamentally sound direct marketing.

You build or find a list of people who need/want what you have to offer. You let them know you have what they want through direct response copy. You keep testing to discover what works. You have a relentless desire to boost revenue and conversion.

Easier said than done, of course, but that approach, my brothers and sisters, is more reliable and proven … and measured … than hoping that a woman in the lobby of a ski chalet decides she likes you.

Some people will understand the truth about word of mouth advertising. Others won't.

*

I'm a direct response copywriter working for clients around the world. Enter your information to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here when you have a project you'd like to discuss. I'm also a Dan Kennedy certified copywriter for information products.