Direct Response Copywriter on Failure

Ouch ... that's an ugly word. FAILURE.

Everyone faces failure at some stage. It’s part of professional life. In direct marketing and direct response, failure is very much part of daily life: it’s not an occasional event.

A promotion might convert at 4%. That’s a 96% failure rate. I have written copy that’s completely and totally failed to beat a control. That’s part of this gig. But 4% conversion can be great.

If the client is smart and is serious about being successful, they let me keep pounding away until I find the copy that works. Sometimes the copy beats the control right away. Sometimes it takes several weeks. That’s part of being a direct response copywriter.

In the world of branding advertising, nobody really knows whether a campaign works or not. That’s because it’s all about image. But in direct response, we measure everything, and, many times, the numbers are not pretty.

So we go back to work. We learn from what didn’t work. Notice how I didn’t say, “mistake.” No … in direct response, failure isn’t a mistake. It’s part of the fabric of what we do. As a direct response copywriter, I relish failure. I discover what’s not working … so I can try something else. That’s part of testing.

In the last several years, I have attended several direct marketing and direct response copywriting conferences. I have spent some time with some of the biggest names in direct response. Yes – they’ve had some epic wins but they also told me about their failures. Their failures outnumber their successes.

I hear a lot about people who have been successful. Their common trait? Failure. The second common trait? Persistence.

I’ve had some bad experiences with clients who ask me to write a piece, don’t really test it, then kick me to the curb. They only gave me one chance and I failed -- even though they liked the copy. They gave up on me after one effort. That’s their decision.

Others have allowed me to fail repeatedly. These clients who want me to fail are making VAST AMOUNTS of money. They get it.

Just sayin’.

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I'm a direct response copywriter. I write direct response copy 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 if you have a project you'd like me to quote. I'm also a Dan Kennedy certified copywriter for information products.

Direct Response Copywriter on The Grateful Dead

You can talk about the music and the jamming and the set lists … and that’s all fun … but I’m going to look at The Grateful Dead as a shining example of the power of direct response marketing. I’m sure that if you asked the members of the band if they know anything about direct marketing they would reply, “what’s that?” but, by accident perhaps, they are seriously good practitioners.

As a direct response copywriter, I’m impressed.

Here are some marketing lessons you can take from the band.

Get started. The first concert took place in a pizza parlor in Menlo Park. Instead of faffing about, the band just got going. Big things start as small things. You can spend months planning. That’s a waste of time … just get going. Start.

Give away free stuff. For decades, you could get free bootleg tapes of shows. In fact, the band even encouraged this by providing taper seats where fans with high-tech equipment would record shows. Tapers taped tapes for friends and the whole thing went viral before anyone knew what 'viral' was. You would listen to a bootleg tape and get excited about the music and want to see the band live.

Anticipation from variety. The music aka “the product” was always changing and always fresh. No two shows were the same. This built a sense of anticipation and made it fun to follow the band.

Understanding the core business. The band made (and still makes) money from shows. Their records were not big sellers and they only had one top 40 hit. So they based the business model on big shows in big venues.

Selling happiness. For the fans, there’s little that’s more fun than a show.

Building a list. As soon as email marketing got going, the marketing arm successfully built an opt-in email database. To get people to sign up, they offered free music. My guess ... it's a big list.

You can get emails offering new products almost every week. That’s textbook direct marketing with copy written by a competent direct response copywriter.

Upsells. You can buy all sorts of curious merchandise on their website.

Scarcity. For the final ever shows, there were just 5 shows available. That’s scarcity.

The result? Five shows with around 70,000 paying around $100 for a ticket. That’s around $30 million before rights and adjunctive sales. I’m not sure I could write a book about The Grateful Dead and marketing but I could write a long article. I recommend everyone study how they built their business. You'll find it dead inspiring.

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I'm a direct response copywriter. I write direct response copy 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 if you have a project you'd like me to quote. I'm also a Dan Kennedy certified copywriter for information products.

Direct Response Copywriter on Advertorials

The more things change, the more they stay the same ... right?

Before the Internet was around, I used to write advertorials for magazines and newspapers. An advertorial, if you’re not familiar with the concept, is an article that’s really an advertisement. Or you could view an advertorial as an advertisement that looks like an article. You will usually see the words “advertorial” or “paid advertisement” somewhere on the page. You would usually see a 500 word article plus a couple of photos.

Advertorials were often part of a “special advertising section” but could also be stand-alones. In print, advertorials were effective and they helped drive leads and sales. Advertorials somewhat disappeared when online advertising got going. Advertisers simply sent traffic straight to landing pages and squeeze pages.

However, about five years ago, the advertorial started to make a comeback. Why? Two reasons.

One … Google and the networks mandated them (in a way). Two … they improved conversion.

The CTA in the advertorial is usually to get to the sales page. As a result, traffic going to the sales page is warmed up and this increases conversion. As a direct response copywriter, I write a TON of advertorials. One of the best aspects of the advertorial is testing.

For one client, I wrote close to 500 versions of an advertorial … constantly changing headlines, photos, and other copy elements. Most advertorials failed to improve conversion over the control but the few that worked made a huge difference to the bottom line.

The real key to advertorials is testing all the many different copy approaches. For example I once used the testimonial approach and it produced a jump in conversion of over 30%. That’s a big result.

I liked writing advertorials before the arrival of the Internet. I like writing them today … especially because I enjoy all the testing. Every direct response copywriter needs to understand how to write advertorials … then test like crazy.

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I'm a direct response copywriter. I write direct response copy 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 if you have a project you'd like me to quote.

Direct Response Copywriter on What It's All About Part 4

I know it's not always trendy to say something like this ... but I'll say it anyway.

Good things happen when a business sells more stuff.

I've worked for/with some really great companies. I've also worked for some really awful companies. I have worked with people I thought were great but turned out to be crooked, lying, sleaze-buckets. Scum.

So I understand when people generally dislike businesess and capitalism.

I strive to work with clients who do business with integrity ... the type of companies that are fair and would stand behind a guarantee.

When a good company sells more products and/or services, it can hire more people and provide those people with more opportunity. It expands. It markets more products. It helps to grow the economy. It generates prosperity.

As a direct response copywriter, I love the actual writing part of the work. I also enjoy marketing myself. But I get a huge sense of satisfaction knowing that I'm helping, in my own small way, to help the company grow and prosper. Entrepreneurs take big risks and I'm happy when they sell more stuff ... everyone benefits.

Direct response marketing and direct response copywriting are ultimately all about prosperity.

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I'm a direct response copywriter. I write direct response copy 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 if you have a project you'd like me to quote.

Direct Response Copywriter on What It's All About Part 3

In the last blog, I wrote about a marketing problem I encountered a few weeks ago while on vacation.

So let’s get into what direct marketing and direct response copywriting is all about.

With a different approach, a more direct approach, the ski instructors I wrote about in the last blog would have all been working that day; they would have had skiers to instruct. They would have earned money that day.

As a direct response copywriter, I have only one task: write copy that generates revenue for my clients. Yes … I do this ethically and I don’t make stuff up but the ultimate goal is to help my clients get leads and revenue. No copywriter needs to make stuff up.

As such, my copy has helped my clients be wildly successful. One client has grown from 6 employees to almost 60. Another client became the fastest-growing company in the region where I live. One client has clients who are increasing leads by 300 and 400 percent.

My copy doesn’t always work but I have lots of success stories. And I fully admit my role is just one of several important parts in the sales chain. But let’s think about the real results: prosperity for my clients … jobs … economic success … economic growth … and more.

So, ultimately, that’s what direct marketing is all about. The success of clients. They pay me to grow revenue and the value of the business.

Of course, as a direct marketing writer, I’m constantly straddling the line between success and failure. One the one hand, I’m striving to beat the control and it’s great when that happens. Conversely, projects can sometimes fail. But in direct response, we take failure and learn and move forward. In the branding world, nobody knows what works and what doesn’t.

Direct marketing and direct response copywriting is, ultimately, all about prosperity.

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I'm a direct response copywriter. I write direct response copy 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 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.