Direct Response Copywriter Questions Email Strategy

I got an email today from Carowinds, which, if you’re not from Charlotte, is a big entertainment park with a whopping marketing budget. They have some epic roller coasters, etc.

Click on the image for a bigger version.

This email is an example of shoddy email marketing.

• Why do they need to ask me to unsubscribe? I already opted in.
• If they need to get people to stay on the list, provide an OFFER!
• It looks like my only option is to unsubscribe. Seriously? 

Admittedly I don’t know why they’re asking me to opt out but I would hope that a big company would provide a stronger email than this one.

It’s a textbook example of how to get people to leave an opt in email list. Opt in emails are extremely valuable.

*

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. I increasingly specialize in sales pages and landing pages. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.

The Real Value of a Direct Response Copywriter

"If your words sell, you're liberated. If they don't, you're stuck doing manual labor." Perry Marshall.

I’ve never met Perry Marshall but he’s a big name in the Internet marketing space. He’s well known for his pay per click (PPC) expertise but he’s also a copywriter. I saw him at a conference in Atlanta and he was wearing a t-shirt saying something like, “Trust Me…I’m a copywriter.” Nice.

I get his emails and one of my clients travels thousands of miles to attend Perry Marshall seminars.

In one of Perry’s emails, I read the manual labor quote and it’s quickly become one of my favorite sayings. Let me give it to you one more time.

"If your words sell, you're liberated. If they don't, you're stuck doing manual labor." Perry Marshall.

In fact, I’m reorganizing the content on my website around the quote.

When I meet people and I say, “I’m a direct response copywriter” I get a blank stare—even from people who are in marketing…hmmmm…

If the person wants to know about my work, I’ll tell them what I really do—which is SELLING.

I’m not a writer. I’m a salesperson. And I’m the most cost-effective salesperson a company will EVER hire.

Let me take a step back for a second.

If I go up to a business owner and I ask, "how important are your salespeople to you?" the intelligent business owner or executive will answer, “extremely important!” The top salespeople come with BIG price tags and the companies that are willing to pay the salary and bonus and everything else know it’s a tremendous investment. Yet—when it comes to hiring a direct response copywriter these very same decision makers will try to find the lowest priced copywriter.

Let me put this bluntly.

I AM NOT YOUR WRITER.

I AM YOUR SALESPERSON.

I’M HERE TO HELP YOU MAKE MONEY—LOTS OF IT.

AND YOU GET THIS…OR YOU DON’T…

And if you don’t, then you’ll be stuck doing manual labor…just like Perry Marshall says. And, my brothers and sisters, Perry Marshall knows a lot more about marketing than 99.99999% of business and marketing decision makers. Seriously.

Remember...my client in Australia, who is an outstanding marketer, travels 9,000 miles to attend Perry Marshall seminars.

Oh and if you want an HOUR of Mr. Marshall's time, that'll be $1299. Don't believe me? Go here.

Let's Run the Numbers.

A business owner might pay a salesperson $100,000 to pull in $1 million in new orders. Actually—let’s say it’s $200,000 for the $1 million.

Whatever.

If you’re in a business that relies heavily on your website and printed materials for sales and leads, then the BIGGEST mistake you can make is to choose a cheap copywriter.

Let’s say you hire a guy from a ‘developing’ country to write copy because they provide a crazy low price like $200. And the copy persuades 3 out of every 1,000 website visitors to buy what you’re selling. And the lifetime value of a customer is $5,000. Woohooo! You think...I got $15,000 for $200!

So let’s say you pay me $5,000 to write copy and it turns 30 out of 1,000 website visitors into customers.

Yes, my fee is $4,800 more than the 'el cheapo' coywriter. But, because I'm a BETTER copywriter, I've turned your $5,000 into $150,000...

I just beat the other writer by $135,000.

As Jay Abraham said: “Give me a quarter and I’ll give you a dollar.”

How many service providers can provide this level of ROI?

Not your accountant. Not your lawyer. It’s not your commercial property agent.

Look—either you get this or you don’t. If you don’t, head over to Elance with all the other short-sighted marketers who are obsessed with paying as little as possible for copywriters.

But if you GET IT and you understand that I’m the least expensive and most effective salesperson you will EVER hire, then you’re on your way to generating massive amounts of revenue. You're on your way to being LIBERATED.

Yes—you may well have to spend more to hire me than you might for other writers. It’s the best money you will ever spend.

And—unlike most salespeople, I will not: 

• Constantly demand higher commissions.
• Threaten to leave for the competition and take all my leads.
• Demand an expensive company car.
• Charge for mileage and other expenses.
• Ask for health insurance.
• Show up late on Monday and leave early on Friday.
• Take vacations.
• Call in sick.
• Take smoke breaks every 40 minutes.

And YES you can pay me based on results. In the business, we call this a royalty. But be warned, you may have to write a check that way exceeds my ‘regular’ fee.

Let me ask you another question.

Do you want to make a lot of money?

There are business owners in a wide range of businesses who routinely pay direct response copywriters BIG PILES of money.

These business owners MAKE A LOT OF MONEY AS A DIRECT RESULT OF HIRING A DIRECT RESPONSE COPYWRITER and paying that big pile.

Are you going to join these business owners?

Or are you going to remain stuck doing manual labor?

The choice is yours…

THANK YOU Perry for the quote...

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. I increasingly specialize in sales pages and landing pages. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.

Direct Response Copywriter Provides Landing Page Rules

Bob Bly, a copywriter, gave a webinar yesterday about making landing pages convert. Thanks to the people at Pinpointe for sponsoring the webinar, which was excellent.

I won’t detail everything from the webinar here as they are letting everyone share it on Tuesday. I will share the links with you next week.

But here’s a screenshot you’ll find valuable if, like me, you’re involved in a lot of landing pages. 

*

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. I increasingly specialize in sales pages and landing pages. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.

This Girl Scout Should Be a Direct Response Copywriter

It’s Girl Scout Cookie sales season here in the United States and it’s pretty much impossible to go anywhere without a group of hyper happy girl scouts selling cookies. They have a lot of fun and gleefully stand outside in pretty much any weather to raise funds.

I was walking by my local hardware store today and some girl scouts were selling cookies. I have to admit that the copy on the sign below made me stop, congratulate the young lady on her copywriting skills, then dig into my wallet for the requisite cash.

The copy made me buy some cookies.

That, my brothers and sisters in direct marketing, is CONVERSION.

My good friend Andrew Wood, one of the top direct marketers I know, always reminds me to ‘sell happiness.’ These Girl Scouts got that message.

I believe that good grammar is important to the direct response copywriter. Andrew Wood disagrees, saying the message is more important than precise syntactical execution. Andrew was right on this one.

Congratulations to the Girl Scouts for some excellent direct response copywriting.

And for the record, I purchased a box of Thin Mints although I was almost swayed by the peanut butter cookies.

*

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. I increasingly specialize in sales pages and landing pages. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.

In High School, I Interviewed Margaret Thatcher. And Lived.

In High School, which I attended in London, I was an editor of the school newspaper. I loved it and it’s a reason, I suppose, that I’m a writer. I’m certainly NOT a journalist. One of my fellow editors was Simon Sebag Montefiore, who has become a famous author in the United Kingdom.

Simon’s bibliography includes massive biographies of Stalin and Potemkin and you’ll read his writing in UK newspapers.

He wrote a book about Stalin; I wrote one about Caddyshack. Enough said!

During the early 1980s, for the school newspaper, we interviewed Ken Livingstone, who was essentially the Mayor of London. His nickname was ‘Red Ken’ and it was a fascinating interview. A little later, I told Simon we should try to interview Margaret Thatcher, who was then Prime Minister.

So we wrote to Robin Butler, now Baron Butler of Brockwell, who was Thatcher’s Personal Private Secretary. For those of you in the United States and elsewhere, perhaps, the Personal Private Secretary (PPS) doesn’t take dictation: the PPS is essentially the Chief of Staff and head of The Civil Service.

I have to admit we had an ‘in’ as Robin Butler had attended our school and Margaret Thatcher’s son, Mark, also attended the school.

So, in the Autumn term of 1983, Simon and I took the tube to Central London, and interviewed the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street.

We went to the barrier at the Whitehall end of Downing Street where a policeman told us to see the policeman at the door of number 10. That policeman let us in and we were ushered into a waiting room. After a few nervous minutes, we were walking up the stairs next to the portraits of former Prime Ministers. Then we were there, in her office, sitting down with Robin Butler, Margaret Thatcher, and a tape recorder.

We had planned some ‘tough’ questions plus some easier ones. I’m not sure what the Prime Minister was expecting but she quickly realized that we were trying to be ‘big time journalists’ and treated us as such. Which meant she was in no mood to take any prisoners. I left with jellied legs.

Here’s the interview—edited for brevity.

The other day, while cleaning out some stuff in my house, I discovered the cassette of the interview and had it transferred to a CD. One of these days I’ll upload the full audio interview. I can barely listen to it—I’m so gobsmacked embarrassed. I can’t believe I was 18 and went into 10 Downing Street to ask The Iron Lady some ‘hardball’ questions.

WAS I OUT OF MY MIND?

Whatever your political persuasion, you’ll enjoy the interview. Please remember that I was just 18 and totally out of my depth. But with all the palaver going on over the movie, I thought it was a good time to write about the interview.

In the school newspaper, Simon wrote the piece after the interview—about going to #10.

Meeting Margaret Thatcher was enormously intimidating. She was at the height of her power and was rock-solid about her politics.

In the almost 30 years since the interview, a lot of people have tried to intimidate me during interviews or simply in the course of daily life. I’ve never been brave enough to say this, but here’s what I always think…

“Look, pal, if you’re trying to intimidate me, give up now. I once interviewed Margaret Thatcher.”

*

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. I increasingly specialize in sales pages and landing pages. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.