Direct Response Copywriter on the AWAI Bootcamp. Part 4.

There were some big names at the AWAI Bootcamp. One of them was Clayton Makepeace, a well-known direct response copywriter.

Makepeace gave a couple of talks, one of them about headlines. In direct marketing, you see a wide range of headlines although most of them are long-ish. However, Makepeace typically likes a shorter main headline ... but surrounded by mini headlines.

Here’s an example. (Click the image to enlarge).

 Note the following:

• A pre-head (also called an eyebrow)
• The main headline … rarely more than 8 words
• A sub-head and/or some bullets

Here’s an example of copy with a much longer headline.

There’s no one way to write headlines. They can be long or short. They just have to work! As a direct response copywriter, testing tells me which headlines are resonating. The Makepeace headline session at AWAI bootcamp was especially interesting.

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I'm a direct response copywriter. I specialize in providing direct response copy for the direct marketing environment for clients around the planet. I specialize in sales page copy ... 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.

I'm also a Dan Kennedy Certified Copywriter for Info-Marketers.

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Disclaimer for the above.

The Dan Kennedy Copywriter for Info-Marketers Certification is awarded to professional copywriters who have successfully completed a course of study of preparation for such copywriting.  This Certification has not been provided by an accredited education institution.  It does not constitute endorsement of or liability for any individual copywriter by Mr. Kennedy or any companies or organizations affiliated with Mr. Kennedy. The client's relationship is solely with the individual copywriter retained via any agreement.

Direct Response Copywriter on Super Bowl Ads

Today, the Monday after the Super Bowl, is the day football pundits weigh in on the game. It’s also a day for advertising "experts" to rank the ads.

My local newspaper, The Charlotte Observer, asked local advertising executives to choose their favorite Super Bowl ad. Here’s the article.

Predictably, none of these "experts" even mentioned ROI. That’s because most of Charlotte’s advertising community is brand-oriented so they're more concerned about "brand authority" and they're not so concerned about how much money an ad actually generates.

I work in advertising as a direct response copywriter but I watched the game for … the football. I love football and study the game. Personally, I would have run a lot more 12 and 22 formations against the Seattle defense. But there you go.

And yes – I can tell you all about 12 and 22 formations. Denver goes with a lot of 11, which obviously didn’t work.

But I watch the ads in the Super Bowl because I’m in advertising. I was especially keen to see the Squarespace ad because I use and like the platform.

My reaction to the ads is the same every year. They all fail. Place them all in the “L” column. I may have missed an ad that asked for a measurable response but here’s the salient question: “which ad produced the highest measurable response?”

That’s the winner.

And no, a Super Bowl ad that makes a YouTube video "go viral" is not a success unless you have way to measure revenue.

Last week, a well-known ski resort breathlessly tweeted about an award for an ad campaign. My reply, “Congrats on the award. What was the ROI?”

Turns out results were not measured.

"Why not?" I would ask if I were the big banana/CEO.

In my world, direct response copywriting, my job is to write copy that produces revenue for my client. I’m accountable. The copy goes live or gets into a mailbox and everyone knows the results. I recently wrote a promotion for a golf company that generated $1.6 million in sales.

I’ve had my failures, too. But the smart direct marketers accept failure as part of discovering what’s going to work.

Last night, I saw hugely contrived ads striving to be shocking, funny, clever, witty, or touching. The ads quickly became a miasma of mixed metaphors, bizarre images, strange connections, and pure pulp. The “experts” who created these ads gave me a migraine-inducing mix of bad Saturday Night Live comedy combined with a vomituous surrealism that wins awards, but not customers.

Even Luis Buñuel must be scratching his head.

So you liked the Doritos ad? Are you rushing to the convenience store with your credit card to buy 12 bags of Doritos? You liked Newcastle's strategy? Drinking one now? Going to buy a keg of Newcastle tomorrow?

What were the people at Maserati thinking? Do the few people who can afford this car really want a bizarre feel-good message? NO! They want to look cool and/or join an exclusive club and/or go from 0-60 in under 4 seconds. Plus they probably want a powerful concert hall-quality sound system. If the buyer is young, male, and wealthy, he's buying the car to annoy his friends and impress potential dates.

Give me a list of people with the right demographics and psychographics and I’ll write six letters that will generate tons of qualified leads for Maserati salespeople. And I'll start by asking Maserati salespeople why people buy the car. How's that for strategy?

And what were the people at Squarespace thinking? As I mentioned earlier, I love Squarespace and regularly recommend the platform to friends and colleagues. I choose Squarespace for the service, the ease of use, the community of web developers who can fix my HTML mistakes(!), the rock-solid “back room” stuff, and the sensible price. I believe the platform has helped me rocket up the SEO rankings.

The Squarespace ad, quite frankly, gave me the creeps and made me question what the company is really trying to achieve.

Here's the ad.

For the same money spent on the ad and the media, a competent direct response professional could have generated a measurable – and superior – response. Send traffic to a web page I'll write about Squarespace and I’ll smash the ROI from that look-away-awful TV ad.

Wanna bet?

I bet you 12 bags of Doritos and a pint of Fuller’s London Pride at The Churchill Tavern on E. 28th I can outperform your Super Bowl ad. Or give me a percentage of the sales from the landing page. I'm a direct response copywriter. I will happily work on a royalty.

Everyone in advertising can agree David Ogilvy knew what he was talking about. If you can’t stand what I’m saying, watch the video below. NOW.

While those of us in direct response are busy generating revenue, and being accountable, you guys in the branding world are “worshipping at the altar of creativity” (as Ogilvy so beautifully puts it) and wasting billions on advertising that fails to produce even a fraction of the ROI we in the direct response world can produce.

Want proof? Watch the Super Bowl ads again.

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I'm a direct response copywriter. I specialize in providing direct response 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.

I'm also a Dan Kennedy Certified Copywriter for Info-Marketers.

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Disclaimer for the above.

The Dan Kennedy Copywriter for Info-Marketers Certification is awarded to professional copywriters who have successfully completed a course of study of preparation for such copywriting. This Certification has not been provided by an accredited education institution. It does not constitute endorsement of or liability for any individual copywriter by Mr. Kennedy or any companies or organizations affiliated with Mr. Kennedy. The client's relationship is solely with the individual copywriter retained via any agreement.

Direct Response Copywriter on Doing It Yourself

If you're marketing a product or service, you may be tempted to write your own copy. As a direct response copywriter, I have worked with several clients who are copywriters -- or have written copy. The skill level varies from competent to excellent. Many superb copywriters get tired of writing direct response copy and so they "move up the ladder" into management or they enter a complementary field. For example, they start to sell information products or get on the speaking circuit. Or both.

These "former" or "retired" copywriters often hire direct response copywriters to write their copy. They might tweak the copy but, by hiring a copywriter, they save time so they can focus on their new business. Writing direct response copy -- depending on the product -- can, in fact should, take several days. The "former" copywriter will find a copywriter who can write in roughly the same style.

If you're somewhat new to direct marketing, you might feel the urge to write your own copy. The reasons: to save money or you simply want to try copywriting after reading a copywriting book or attending a seminar. As I have mentioned before in my blog, I have considered learning how to perform some basic plumbing tasks. The plumbing expert at my hardware store persuaded me to hire a plumber. My general experience with home improvement projects is what I call "the power of 3" which means the project will take/give:

• 3 times longer than anticipated
• 3 times more money than I planned
• 3 times the headache

I will complete the job but it will be unpleasant and not provide much in the way of satisfaction -- plus the work may be poor ... so poor that I may have to hire someone to come and fix my work.

The bottom line when it comes to writing your own copy is exactly that -- the bottom line. Ask yourself a couple of questions.

1. How much do you want the copy to earn?
2. If hiring a professional and experienced direct response copywriter doubles your conversion, how much will that be worth to you?
3. Do you have the time to write copy? (Remember it will take you a long time to write long-form copy if you don't write long-form copy every day.)

The first question is the most important. If the copy must generate $100,000 in gross revenue, do you want to risk not getting the revenue by writing your own copy? A fee of around $5,000 now suddenly seems like a good investment -- especially when you test. Let's say your copy generates $25,000 in revenue but the professional copy generates $200,000 ... well ... ditto ... a fee of around $5,000 now suddenly seems like a good investment.

Look -- there's nothing wrong with writing your own copy. But the investment in a direct response copywriter will almost always pay off ... especially when you test.

I will blog next time about testing.

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I'm a direct response copywriter. I specialize in providing direct response 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.

I'm also a Dan Kennedy Certified Copywriter for Info-Marketers.

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Disclaimer for the above.

The Dan Kennedy Copywriter for Info-Marketers Certification is awarded to professional copywriters who have successfully completed a course of study of preparation for such copywriting.  This Certification has not been provided by an accredited education institution.  It does not constitute endorsement of or liability for any individual copywriter by Mr. Kennedy or any companies or organizations affiliated with Mr. Kennedy. The client's relationship is solely with the individual copywriter retained via any agreement.

Direct Response Copywriter on Revealing All

By Scott Martin, Direct Response Copywriter

In the past, I have written about my local hardware store, Blackhawk Hardware in Park Road Shopping Center here in Charlotte. You can find a Home Depot and a Lowe's nearby but I always visit Blackhawk, even though, unfairly, some locals believe Blackhawk is more expensive.

Visit Home Depot or Lowe's and good luck finding service from someone who really understands the products. However, at Blackhawk, the store literally wedges you through an area where you must be greeted by two people who welcome you back then guide you to the correct part of the store. By the time you've arrived at said correct part of the store, there's an associate ready to assist. In my humble opinion, every company of any size should visit Blackhawk then model their service after what they discover.

Last week, because I have a semi-blocked drain in my kitchen, I went to Blackhawk looking for a drain snake. I thought I would handle the blockage myself because I generally dislike asking a plumber to come to my home...for reasons I'll crack into at a later date.

Anyway, the man at Blackhawk patiently listened to me, asked salient questions, then persuaded me NOT to buy the snake and try to solve my plumbing problem myself. Yes...the store lost a $35 sale but they buttressed my trust. The man told me how difficult it can be to solve what might seem like a simple plumbing issue. In short, the associate provided honest advice.

There's a copywriting parallel...and it's important. I call it disclosure of limitations. Readers are naturally and understandably skeptical when they read copy. So I believe it's always vital for a direct response copywriter to detail what the product or service WILL NOT do.

For example, if I'm writing about a weight loss product, I will state, "you will not lose 20 pounds in 3 days but you can lose 1-3 pounds a week." Or even when speaking with a potential client, especially one who wants to test, I will say, "I will routinely fail to beat a strong control...but when I do, it will positively impact your revenue and profit." When I write golf copy, I might say, "no, you will not become Tiger Woods tomorrow but if you take the Acme swing trainer to the range for the next 3 weeks and learn to use it, you will discover the joy of longer and straighter drives."

The "admit your limitations" copywriting technique is all too rare...especially in certain niches notorious for terrible copy. Admittedly, there's little or no data to back up my claim but I regularly see the top copywriters use this advanced technique.

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I'm a direct response copywriter. I specialize in providing direct response 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.

I'm also a Dan Kennedy Certified Copywriter for Info-Marketers.

*

Disclaimer for the above.

The Dan Kennedy Copywriter for Info-Marketers Certification is awarded to professional copywriters who have successfully completed a course of study of preparation for such copywriting.  This Certification has not been provided by an accredited education institution.  It does not constitute endorsement of or liability for any individual copywriter by Mr. Kennedy or any companies or organizations affiliated with Mr. Kennedy. The client's relationship is solely with the individual copywriter retained via any agreement.

Direct Response Copywriter on the AWAI Bootcamp. Part 3. B2B Copywriting

One of the more interesting sessions at the AWAI Bootcamp was about B2B copywriting. The speaker was Steve Slaunwhite, a copywriter who specializes in B2B copy. Steve's also an author and consultant.

As a direct response copywriter, I've written plenty of B2B copy although the bulk of my work today is B2C. Perhaps my biggest B2B success comes from my own website, which routinely persuades business decisions makers to contact me.

Some marketers, especially those on the branding side, believe B2B is a totally different animal. I'm on the direct response side and I believe, like Dan Kennedy, that the core fundamentals of B2C direct response marketing apply to B2B. The main difference is time and the gestation period. A business decision maker who buys toner cartridges will not take much time to buy toner cartridges. But when a distribution company needs 50 fork lift trucks costing hundreds of thousands, they will take their time before signing a contract.

So it's not so much the product but the cost of the product and the ramifications of the decision that determine buying habits...and copy approaches. And Steve Slaunwhite essentially buttressed all this. Many B2B companies need to spend more time in front of potential clients. Some clients will make a quick decision while others will move slowly. A major B2B buying decision is not an impulse buy. This places a premium on premium content...newsletters, press releases, infographics, white papers, and more...a B2B company needs to massage potential clients with outstanding content.

However, a major B2B buying decision places a premium on long-form direct response copy. The decision maker is making a huge decision and will want as much information as possible before making that potentially multi-million dollar decision. And, as every direct response copywriter will attest, it's important to appeal to the key emotional triggers...whatever the product.

Yes -- Steve Slaunwhite gave an excellent presentation about B2B copywriting and its nuances. Ultimately, direct response copywriting is direct response copywriting...the core elements remain the same whatever the product, category, or niche.

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I'm a direct response copywriter. I specialize in providing direct response 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.

I'm also a Dan Kennedy Certified Copywriter for Info-Marketers.

*

Disclaimer for the above.

The Dan Kennedy Copywriter for Info-Marketers Certification is awarded to professional copywriters who have successfully completed a course of study of preparation for such copywriting.  This Certification has not been provided by an accredited education institution.  It does not constitute endorsement of or liability for any individual copywriter by Mr. Kennedy or any companies or organizations affiliated with Mr. Kennedy. The client's relationship is solely with the individual copywriter retained via any agreement.