Introducing Clayton Makepeace. Direct Response Copywriter Email Archive. August 2019 1.

Copywriters You Should Know. Part 6. Clayton Makepeace.

Clayton Makepeace is a well-known figure among copywriters perhaps primarily because he speaks at the AWAI Bootcamp every year.

Apart from that appearance, Makepeace keeps a low profile. He used to organize his own copy seminars, usually with help from AWAI. Some of these are available online.

Is he the world’s top practicing direct response copywriter? It would be tough to argue otherwise. If not, he’s certainly right up there. He wrote copy for a company in Florida called Weiss Research and he generated a lot of revenue for them. He’s now with an Agora division.

At one stage, Makepeace had his own shop, complete with copy cubs. One of my copywriting friends was/is a Makepeace copy cub. She’s a great copywriter.

Before that adventure, he was in the stable of Boardroom direct response copywriters, competing with the likes of Mel Martin and Jim Rutz. Makepeace established some controls ... which says a lot about the quality of his work. You tend to hear a lot more about other copywriters who wrote for Boardroom. Why? I'm not sure.

I’m not being especially precise about the copy history of Clayton Makepeace, so apologies, but I remember an interesting story he told about chasing work.

He needed some money pretty badly as he had a young family. This was many years ago. So he called up a potential client and simply said, “I’ll happily write a bunch of copy … just pay me based on the revenue that comes in.”

Client finding sagacity: be direct. Pick up the phone.

One of the more amazing copywriting resources on the Internet is the blog archive on his website. You can find it here.

I’ve spent hours reading the interviews and the direct marketing common sense in that archive. There’s also a 6-part interview with Gary Bencivenga. A must read.

It’s hard to find, but the Makepeace copy manual is excellent. It’s called the Quick Start Copywriting System. You might be able to get it here. It’s an investment but it’s really comprehensive and I use it all the time.

And AWAI has a ton of stuff built around Makepeace.

You can search around and find the goods. I don’t get any affiliate commissions, just in case you’re wondering.

You can read Makepeace copy and you’ll notice it’s very direct and ultra-clear. He has a unique headline style … a couple of words in big type then a long subhead and deck. Dan Kennedy’s headlines tend to be very long. Both can work.

But the key to success for Makepeace is the quality and depth of his research. He assembles copy based on what he digs up during the all-important research phase. He takes features and turns them into benefits and goes one step further and gives the benefit some color and heft.

Feature ... the golf club has a titanium face milled with the latest milling technology. Benefit ... longer drives ... 5-15 yards more off the tee. Dimentionalized benefit ... make your regular swing, make contact with the ball and watch it land 15 yards past where it used to land ... then gain more even more distance as the ball rolls out thanks to the improved trajectory.

He was also an early adopter of the VSL, with great impact. His VSL course is excellent; it's in tandem with AWAI.

I could write thousands of words about Makepeace’s copy. I’ve met him a few times at the AWAI bootcamp and he’s very personable. And everyone wants to talk to him at bootcamp.

If you’re serious about improving the quality of your copy, spend a couple of hours, at least, digging around looking for his work and his opinions.

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SHAKING THE TREES ... CLIENT FINDING ADVICE ...

A long-time client was swallowed up by a much, much bigger company a couple of years ago. At the time, I thought it would be either really great for me or really bad.

Things stayed the same for a while and now it’s looking like the latter. This happens. There's a new group of people in charge and they know next to nothing about direct marketing. Oh well.

So the month of August, for me, is all about what I call “shaking the trees.”

I’m sponsoring an event in September. I’m not organizing the event.

In return for my ‘participation’ I get the list of people attending. So I’m going through that list and politely letting potential clients know I exist.

This effort has already generated some work.

What else will I be up to?

I’ll be going through my own databases. I’ll send an email or two to people who have asked about my services in the past and opted in to my other list. I’ll contact former clients. I’ll re-contact old leads. And so on …

Rejection will come my way, and lots of it. People will ignore me. But I’ll get a lot of work out of “shaking the trees.”

Want/need work? See above. Put your hand around the bark.

Scott Martin Direct Response Copywriter

P.S. I've been populating the email archive. It's here.