Direct Response Copywriter Provides Tips from Top Copywriters: Dan Kennedy

Steve Platt wrote a piece based on the 14 lessons in The Ultimate Marketing Plan by copywriter and Internet Marketing king Dan Kennedy, whom he calls the “Sovereign of Sales Letters (Or maybe the Duke of Direct Response).” Platt calls this piece a “three-part series on how to profitably translate advice from old-school marketing guru Dan Kennedy to a new online environment.” Please excuse Platt’s split infinitive. So Platt’s read this book which was published in 1991 and translated the chapters so they apply to an Internet-based business.

1. Putting together the right message: (Find your USP-unique selling position).

2. Presenting your message: (Assemble your 5 step sales pitch).

3. Choosing the right audience: (Hone your niche, find your audience).

4. Proving your case: (Get paranoid—justify why you are great and promote yourself).

5. Putting your best foot forward: (Your website should ALWAYS look its best).

6. Get Free Advertising: (Social media is your best friend—it’s free).

7. Become Hot!: (There are 7 ways to get noticed and stay noticed).

8. Poor Boy Marketing: (Spend time, not money, on your advertising).

9. Maximizing total customer value: (Hold the audiences’ attention; keep clients happy).

10. Fueling Word-of-Mouth: (Go viral; Use the EAR formula).

11. Create a short-term sales surge: (‘Sales Surges’ are vital for cash flow).

12. Take Advantage of New Marketing Technologies: (Embrace your inner techie).

13. Avoid employee sabotage: (Partner profits and manage employees carefully).

14. Hiring and firing experts: (Filter all advice using your own common sense).

From Dan Kennedy there is much to learn about the world of copywriting, and even more to learn about marketing and though this piece is mainly about marketing, selling, and money-making, one crucial lesson a writer should learn about the business of writing is in lesson number fourteen: “Hiring and firing experts.” A writer and freelancer should know that other writers are in fact competition for your business and may struggle with several of the same questions and mistakes. Gather advice from many sources about how to make your business successful and use your instincts and common sense to decide for yourself who runs a successful writing career, and who doesn’t.

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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. 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 Tips from Top Copywriters: Bob Bly

What’s the most valuable lesson you can learn from Bob Bly? He’s a strong writer but his customer service is excellent. He provides clients:
 
1)    A guarantee—not necessarily a money-back, but a promise of a rewrite.
2)    No charge rewrites. If a dentist drilled the wrong tooth, why would any patient pay him or her to fix it?
3)    A barrage of testimonials backing up his customer service claims.
4)    Communication—staying in touch with the client.
5)    Clarity. Tell the client who you are, what you do, where you are located, when you can deliver the copy, why they should choose you instead of another copywriter, and how you can help them.
6)    Multiple resources on the website for the client including many ways to reach him.
 
Bob has published hundreds of client testimonials on his website. You can watch videos to see what he looks like (striking) and hear how he sounds. You can see examples of his writing and read about his services.

Bly also presents multiple ways to spend money on his website but also includes plenty of free goodies including audio, video, downloads, etc. Bly targets possible clients for his copywriting, but also manages to turn his colleagues, competitors, fellow writers, and marketers into his clients as well.
How?

Variety—he sells them books and CDs about writing, freelancing, selling and marketing, and starting your own business. He links his main website to his other websites. Bly has a few hundred websites set up to sell his products. So if you have no need for his copywriting skills, he presents you with about a thousand other ways to spend money/time with his company. The wide range of products he sells complements and augments his customer service.

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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. 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 Indulges in Branding

In the world of direct response, branding is a banned word. There’s a famous book about branding…or non-branding: Branding Only Works on Cattle.

People in direct marketing (like me) often wonder why small companies spend a lot of money on branding/image advertising. And the people who run branding/awareness agencies generally view people in direct response as inferior. Let’s not get into that battle for now. But it was time for me to come up with a new image for my business so I asked a graphic designer to create a new logo. I gave her the direction and the copy and it was ready in two days.

The result…

I think every business needs an image and a brand but it’s less than 1% of the marketing spend.

When you want actual results from your marketing investment, use direct response techniques and hire a direct response copywriter.

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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. 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 on Successful Landing Pages

Traffic on the Internet is becoming much more expensive. And the amount spent by online advertisers is also increasing significantly.

This means the online advertising environment is becoming more and more competitive. A few years ago, a really bad landing page could convert readers into buyers but today, the landing page has to work to gain a positive ROI. Failure is not an option. Mediocre is not an option.

For online advertisers who want their landing pages to work, my advice is:

• Use direct response copywriting techniques.
• Hire a direct response copywriter to write the copy.
• Follow proven successful landing page formats.

Here’s a landing page that’s converting successfully.

Many times I speak with potential clients who want creativity and ‘innovative’ work. That’s not what you want. What you want is CONVERSION and so you want to imitate, without plagiarizing, what’s worked before.

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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. 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 Most Important Copy this Direct Response Copywriter Has Written

If you want to be successful and you want to reduce your sales costs dramatically, then this page I just created includes the most important copy you will read.

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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. 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.