Direct Response Copywriter On The Bad Side of Marketing

I’ve been working in marketing for a long time, close to 30 years. As such, I’ve worked with some great marketers and some marketers who are not so great.

What’s the difference?

The great marketers understand what a direct response copywriter can do for them. They actively search for ones who can help them generate significant revenue. Also, the great marketers speak a very specific language …

• Call to action.
• Headline testing.
• Highlighting benefits.
• Cost per acquisition.

The language is precise. They treat direct marketing as a science.

What about the not-so-good marketers? That’s easy. Here’s what I hear … jargon.

• Low-hanging fruit.
• I’ll be untangling the spaghetti here.
• I’m going to bird dog that for you.
• We have to maintain some brand equity here.

What did the great David Ogilvy say?

“Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.”

At the risk of sounding like an ornery so-and-so, I’m not impressed when someone in marketing starts speaking in jargon-ese. I like to spend time with direct marketers. These are my people and I love speaking the language of direct marketing.

Direct Response Copywriter on "Reasons Why" Copy

I see a lot of direct response copy. Much of this includes the “fundamental” elements:

• Pre-head
• Headline/deck
• Lead
• Features
• Benefits
• Guarantee
• Close
• Call To Action

All good. But here’s something I rarely see: “Reasons Why" Copy. I always include this copy element in my long-form copy. I sometimes include this in shorter copy, including opt-in pages.

I use the format:

23 Reasons to Try INSERT PRODUCT

It might be fewer reasons … it might be more.

I write this element after I’ve written all the other copy. It’s basically a summary of the benefits, presented in a numbered list. Yes, I fully admit I’m going to repeat myself. But let’s remember that around two-thirds of people don’t read all the copy. A list of “reasons why” might be the one thing that really grabs their attention deep in the body copy. There might be one benefit that will ultimately motivate them to try the product or service. They will likely find this benefit in the “reasons why” copy. Plus the other benefits will buttress their decision.

In a perfect world, I want the reader to sell themselves on their buying decision. If you’re like me, you’ve justified a purchase to yourself by including some additional benefits beyond your original ones.

For example, you might decide to buy a car because it’s fast and powerful. If you’re on the fence, you might ultimately "sign on the dotted line" because of the color or the promise of a super-high resale value. I pity the salesperson who doesn’t introduce the other benefits of the car beyond its raw speed.

If you’re a direct response copywriter, I encourage you to start using “reasons why" copy. It’s one reason my copy has helped my clients generate millions in revenue. Sometimes the list isn’t that long. Sometimes it’s really long. I include as many of these as I think I need to make the sale.

And one more thing … the inclusion of this element will make your copy longer. That’s always a good thing when the copy is relevant. Long copy almost always beats short copy.

Direct Response Copywriter on How to Establish and Build a Brand ... Branding Experts Won't Like This ...

A company with which I’m extremely familiar just completed a re-branding.

I’ve known a lot about this company for about 20 years through various interactions. This company has its roots in the upper Midwest.

It’s not a company with 100,000 employees but it’s still a good-sized company, big enough to employ a person called a Chief Branding Officer.

The CBO just completed a massive re-brand complete with new logo, new colors, and everything that goes along with this process. It took about 3 years and likely cost around $4 million if you include all the new stickers and "stuff" that goes with a re-branding.

They even had a “brand camp” and the CBO was quoted as saying something like … “brand is a journey” … whatever that means.

As a direct response copywriter, I have absolutely zero interest in branding. To me, a brand is simply some type of symbol that accompanies the name of a business. It's a luxury item. People in branding think that branding is what motivates someone to choose one company over another. This sounds nice but there’s little or no proof to back up this theory. It's just plain wrong.

And branding people love their jargon and they love their buzzwords. But they never want anything to be measured. And what about the subject of proof? It’s not even part of the lexicon of branding.

Here’s my advice to you when it comes to building a brand … based on 34 years of experience in direct marketing.

If you want to build a relationship between your "brand" and your customers, then get them to enjoy your product. And to make this happen, use direct marketing techniques … including direct response copywriting.

You can measure the effectiveness of your marketing spend down to the penny with direct marketing and yes, you can use all the pretty pictures and that brand-new logo.

I’ve helped two small companies “establish a brand” as their direct response copywriter. These two companies collectively generated over $600 million in revenue. We never ONCE talked about "the brand." We just went about trying to execute the fundamentals of direct marketing and getting products into the hands of the people who would benefit from these products.

I would bet my car that the great Ron Popeil, who sold $1 billion worth of the Showtime Rotisserie Oven, rarely thought about “brand.” Instead, he focused on traffic, the offer, and direct marketing principles. He ran 30-minute infomercials mostly on late-night TV.

My final statement will make branding types red with rage but I don’t care.

Nobody cares about your brand. Nobody cares about your company voice. Nobody cares about your logo and your pretty pictures. Nobody cares about "brand equity" and "brand authority" and all that other raw, pure guff.

They care about themselves and how you can help them get where they want to get.

Once you help people reach their goals, you’ve established a brand. Want to re-brand? Harness the power of direct response marketing.

The scrapheap of failed CMOs and CBOs is replete with people who believed that branding is "it" and ignored direct marketing. They got the boot when the CFO asked "where's my revenue?" and the reply was, "well, our re-brand went really well."

Direct Response Copywriter on The Real Value of Headlines

If you were to ask me, “what’s the most important copywriting skill a direct response copywriter must own?” then my answer is fast and easy.

“Writing headlines.”

The headline is the ad for the ad. The body copy might be great. But people will only read that body copy when the headline grabs their attention.

I like the John Caples headline formula.

Curiosity + Self-Interest = Compelling Appeal.

If it worked for John Caples, it works for me.

We all know we use headlines for … well … headlines. But there’s a lot more to headlines than a headline at the top of an ad or sales page. You can use headlines for …

Subheads. The deck (bullets under a headline). Envelope copy for direct mail. Bullets and fascinations. The lead paragraph. Email subject lines.

I rarely see emails with a headline. Why? That makes no sense to me.

I highly recommend that every direct response copywriter knows how to write headlines at an “elite” level. Start by looking at the headlines that great copywriters like Dan Kennedy and Gary Bencivenga write.

Plus I recommend you read every John Caples book. There's a copywriter who knew how to write a headline.

Direct Response Copywriter On Some Common Marketing Misconceptions

This may sound a touch odd but I’m actually a big fan of misconceptions, especially when they relate to my work: direct response copywriting and direct marketing.

Misconceptions lead us to the truth about marketing. And the truth helps us make sound decisions based on facts.

For example, a branding person might say, “a great brand creates sales.” That’s nice but it’s a misconception. It’s direct marketing that drives revenue. There’s no proof that branding generates revenue because it can’t be accurately measured. The wise marketers thus follow the truth and use direct marketing as their primary weapon.

Another misconception is that direct marketing will demolish the brand and must be crass. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every big company uses direct marketing in some way. Direct marketing can be obnoxious but it doesn't have to be. It's extremely rare for me to write crazy loud copy.

Here’s another misconception: salespeople are born, not made.

It’s the other way around. I know people who seem affable and “born” to sell. But they can’t make a sale because they don’t know the techniques. I know people who are shy and demure but are excellent at selling because they have learned the techniques. A direct response copywriter is a salesperson. I must know the techniques and how to apply them.

The final misconception is: people are really impressed with the “next big thing” in marketing, advertising, and sales. And when I say people, I mean your prospects. No. Some people who are active in marketing, advertising, and sales get all giddy about the latest thing.

But here’s the reality. Your prospects don’t care about the latest and great “stuff” in marketing … they only care about one thing and that’s themselves.

Once you cut out the noise from the “next big thing(s)” and focus on how you can help your prospect get where they want to get, you’re going to be highly successful, provided you have traffic, a great offer, and a direct response copywriter who can convert.