Direct Response Copywriter on Content

If you’re in marketing and/or direct response copywriting, you’ve heard it a bazillion times.

CONTENT IS KING

And it’s true.

Sadly, even some of the biggest names in the information marketing business fail when it comes to their content.

You’ll hear a lot of “I’ve got the magic, secret sauce to make your digital marketing cook!” when we all know that’s hype.

There are no marketing secrets: the playbook has been written. Executing the plays requires precision and patience; many people with very little marketing experience have marketed themselves and their products successfully.

However, many marketers fail when it comes to their content—what they actually sell and this can impact the long-term revenue.

I recently signed up for a monthly copywriting improvement program from a mega-marketer. The program was around $200 a month. I got a binder and a TON of stuff arrived every month and yes, I had access to a monthly conference call with a big name copywriter, but the quality of the content was poor. So I cancelled and I’ll be cautious about buying again from this vendor.

A conference for marketers took place late last year and I attended. It was good fun and some of the speakers were excellent. But 75% of the speakers had nothing to say except, “buy my product for $400.” Poor content.

One company’s content is superb one day, modest the next. The company sells a continuity program so the content needs to be superb every day to avoid cancellations and deliver on the promise in the copy.

Two years ago, I wrote some copy for one of the (former) rock stars of information marketing. He asked me to write a sales page for the main product—a library of videos about Internet marketing. When I watched many of the videos, they comprised two people talking about how great it was to be a part of the program. There was little, if anything, in the way of useful and tangible information.

I haven’t named names but I will now.

Bob Bly’s information products are excellent and I’ve only sent one product back. Andrew Wood’s content (Legendary Marketing) is also superb. Bly’s products are sensibly priced and the PDFs provide valuable information on every page. He also collaborates with genuine experts and this augments the quality and reliability of the information. Andrew’s books about marketing provide a superb introduction to direct marketing and his other products explain the way to marry direct marketing with the most recent platforms.

I’m a direct response copywriter and web copywriter today but I used to publish magazines. I worked extremely hard to provide readers with routinely superb content. And my magazines always flourished. I would often meet a reader who would say, “I read your magazine from cover to cover. I love it.” I’ve written or worked on 18 books and I’ve always provided a manuscript I believe provides real value. A weekly email I wrote for a certain area in Charlotte had 70% open rates; the industry average is around 15%. CONTENT!

As a direct response copywriter, it’s hard to write inspirational copy for a product that’s poor. However, when the content is deep, valuable, and strong, the copy almost writes itself.

If you’re superb at marketing, you’ve achieved a great deal: successful execution of a marketing plan requires major, major work. However, make sure the content you’re selling…whatever it might be…OVER DELIVERS on the promises in the copy. Then the content becomes another marketing tool.

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I'm a direct response copywriter. I specialize in providing content and copy for the direct marketing environment for clients around the planet. I specialize in sales page copy, landing page copy and copy that persuades readers to pull out their credit card and buy. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here if you have a project you'd like me to quote.