Copywriters Podcast

We had Joshua Killingsworth on a few weeks ago, when he talked about how his divorce and child-custody requirements virtually “forced” him to move quickly from another business to copywriting. We got a lot of response and appreciative comments on that show.

Joshua also shared his empathy-map process, which gets the copywriter very much in tune with the prospect’s thinking and feeling. Something all copywriters need to do, but, sad to say, not all actually do.

Today, Joshua’s going to talk about something completely different. Something that should make him the envy of every freelancer listening to today’s show: How he closes 80% of the prospects he talks to.

I’m really excited to hear what he has to say.

But everyone should also be excited, as I remind you, that…

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Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

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1. One thing you do in your process that seems very smart to me is you make sure your prospect has an offer that makes sense by itself before you’re willing to consider them as a client. This makes sense to me because, without a compelling offer, no client can be successful, no matter how good the copywriter is. Could you talk about how you evaluate their offer and what you look for?

2. Then there’s the client – the person you’ll be working with. We’ve all made the mistake of jumping into a project, only to discover we can’t actually work with the person on the client side. How do you evaluate a prospective client?

3. You have an intermediate step after they make it over your offer and can-I-work-with this client hurdles, and before you take them on as a client. Could you describe that step, how it works, and why you do it?

4. OK, you have a step called “ask the right questions.” Of course, anyone would want to do that. But you have a special purpose in mind. Could explain that?

5. Once you close the deal, you don’t wait – you get right on it. Not everybody does. What’s your thinking on that?

6. And finally, you have a follow-up step that is brilliant. And simple. Yet so many people just don’t take this step themselves. Want to talk about that?

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Justin Goff has created from scratch three multi-million dollar direct response companies. His last one was a supplement company that him and his partners scaled from 0 to 23 million in sales in just under 3 years.

Justin sold his stake in that company last year, took a year off, and is now helping the biggest direct response companies to boost their response and increase their average order size on their offers. He lives in Austin Texas with his 2 Great Danes, George and Dempsey

1. Justin, you seem to have a very different view of emails for marketing from just about anyone else I know. I remember once on a webinar I heard you say you would pay $5000 for a good email. Could you tell us, how do you look at emails differently than most people do.

2. How did you use emails in the companies you built? Could you talk about some individual emails and the kind of results you saw?

3. The way you do emails – how do you decide what information to put in the email itself, and what to save for the sales page it leads to?

4. If you or someone working for you is doing daily emails, how often are they pitch emails, compared to “content” emails? Is the tone usually the same with both kinds of emails?

5. Effective subject lines in emails – How similar, or different, are they to headlines that work on a sales page?

6. Your emails go into a lot of depth and do a lot of selling. How does a sales letter it leads to, work, with the way you do things? Shorter sales letters? Repeat the info in sales letter? Or straight to an order page?

7. You’re doing some work for a small group of clients with emails. Want to talk about it?

8. How can someone get in touch with you?


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Justin Goff has created from scratch three multi-million dollar direct response companies. His last one was a supplement company that him and his partners scaled from 0->23 million in sales in just under 3 years.

Justin sold his stake in that company last year, took a year off, and is now helping the biggest direct response companies to boost their response and increase their average order size on their offers. He lives in Austin Texas with his 2 Great Danes, George and Dempsey.

1. Many of our listeners know all about controls, but some don’t. So let’s start with this question: What is “a control?

2. Why do you need to try to beat a control?

3. How do most people typically go about trying to be a control?

4. What do you see as wrong with, or missing from, this approach? And what do you do differently instead?

(Justin – here, could you go through the theory/process of working on the whole funnel? If you can and you’re willing to, mention some super-simple math. Like 2 or 3 actual or potential gains you’ve seen, that most people would miss entirely, using the more conventional, limited approach of just looking at the sales letter.)

5. Are there other things you can do that usually work to beat a control?

6. What happens when a control starts to fatigue and you can’t beat it anymore?

7. What should a copywriter expect to charge for this kind of work?

8. What should business owners expect to pay for this kind of work?

9. How can someone get in touch with you?

Find Justin on Facebook.
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On today’s show, we’ll pick up where we left off last week.

Friend requested I give a talk to his group of copywriters and business owners. One of the copywriters in the group asked me: what does it take for a copywriter to go from “good” to great? And what I do work on with people when I coach them.

Six things I’ve found… We’ll talk about the first three in today’s show.

Warning

Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

The Big Three

When I start working with a copywriter, 3 questions

1. What do you want?

2. How are you gonna get it?

3. What’s standing in the way?

Coaching is based on the answers to these three questions.

First two – different for every copywriter.

Third one – nearly always, there are six things standing in the way.

Last week we talked about the about the first three.

#1 Not enough confidence

#2 Can’t identify your target customer and get into his/her head

#3 Can’t come up with good enough big ideas/hooks

#4 1 thing standing in the way: Can’t write killer headlines

- some of this is skill

- some of this is knowledge: lack of research & familiarity with who customer is and what customer wants

- There’s some psychology in writing headlines. I coach clients in getting familiar with stages of the market, and customer sophistication.

#5 thing standing in the way: Can’t tell great stories in sales copy

- Storytelling is one of the simplest and one of the most complicated things in the world.

- Everybody tells stories all the time. It’s a natural human activity.

- But it’s a real art to tell a story concisely in a way that captivates your listeners or readers from start to finish

- And telling a story in sales copy is a whole different animal

#6 thing standing in the way: Can’t write killer bullets

- Bullets are like freeze-dried salesmanship

- I know one A-list copywriter who rewrites every bullet four times

- That’s because he knows one bullet, by itself, can close the sale

- It’s true that there are formulas and templates for bullets

- But coming up with unique, on-target bullets is a big part of what makes a great copywriter.

Recap:

1. Confidence

2. ID target customers, get into their heads

3. Come up with enough good ideas and hooks

4. Killer headlines

5. Great stories

6. Killer bullets

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A friend requested I give a talk to his group of copywriters and business owners. One of the copywriters in the group asked me: what does it take for a copywriter to go from “good” to great? And what I do work on with people when I coach them.

Six things I’ve found… We’ll talk about the first three in today’s show.

Warning

Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

The Big Three

When I start working with a copywriter, 3 questions

1 What do you want?

2 How are you gonna get it?

3 What’s standing in the way?

Coaching is based on the answers to these three questions.

First two – different for every copywriter.

Third one – nearly always, there are six things standing in the way.

Today we’ll talk about the first three.

#1 thing standing in the way: Not enough confidence.

- what most people think about confidence

- what I’ve found real confidence is based on

- how I help people develop this real confidence

#2 thing standing in the way: Can’t identify your target customer and get into his/her head

- most people have only a vague idea

- some people focus only on demographics

- most people have a hard time getting into their customers’ heads because they don’t know how to find out

- I give people specific methods, and their copy goes through almost magical changes

#3 thing standing in the way: Can’t come up with good enough ideas and hooks

- we spend a lot of time working on this

- anyone can come up with a headline; far fewer can come up with one that works

- but coming up with a Big Idea is entirely another matter. And so much of this is built on the first two – having confidence (and courage to risk), and really knowing the customer.

- ideation and understanding customer psychology and deep and subtle levels is very important.

- so is not stopping with one idea. This, surprisingly, is controlled a lot by confidence, in a funny kind of way.

Recap:

1. Confidence

2. ID target customers, get into their heads

3. Come up with enough good ideas and hooks

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Imagine you like to ride a bike. Maybe you already do. So you ride every day, on mostly flat roads and paths and occasionally a mild hill. Then one day you decide to get in a race. You don’t learn much about it ahead of time. On the day of the race, it’s raining. There are oil slicks on the road. The competitors are going much faster than you are used to. Then gusts of wind kick up. And to top it all, there are hairpin turns on top of steep hills!

Guess what – you’re in crunch time.

It’s that special moment when all hell breaks loose and you have to follow through with whatever you started.

How do you deal with that?

Today we’ll talk about

• What crunch time is

• Why you need to prepare for it

• How you need to prepare for it

• And what to do when it actually happens

Now hear this:

Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

Crunch time happens to everyone. At various points in your career. Happened to me this year (weekend training). Has probably happened to you, too, Nathan?

The key is NOT to try to avoid it. The key is to deal with it and come out smelling like a rose.

1. You can wish and hope and pray all you want that Crunch Time doesn’t come before you’re ready for it. But it will anyway.

- When it’s likely to come

- Why it’s likely to come

- What it’s like when it does come

2. Why you need to prepare for Crunch Time.

- Conditioning and internalization in your hip pocket

- Shit’s gonna happen you had no idea was coming, and you can only learn so many things at once

- You’ll have more confidence in the face of uncertainty

3. How to prepare for Crunch Time.

-“Drill” in the basics. That is, get good at the core activities of your work.

- Develop routines and systems. The less you have to think about and the less you have to decide, the easier it is to ramp up fast and operate faster than you’re used to.

- Practice doing business tasks faster, just as an exercise. Notice where you get slowed down. Then, practice doing those things until you can do them a little faster.

4. What to do when Crunch Time comes – whether you’re ready or not.

- Clear the decks. Even if you have other important and urgent priorities, getting the job done well and on time has to be JOB ONE.

- Eat light. Drink enough water. Coffee as needed, if that’s what you do. You want to feed and hydrate yourself like a high-performance machine.

- Go, go, go! And don’t go without sleep entirely.

You’ll be surprised that you can do more than you thought you could do.

After Crunch Time is over, see how you can arrange some “lazy time” where you catch up on your sleep and let your brain get some air!


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We have a special Report from the Field today that reaches deep into one man’s family. Our guest is Joshua Killingsworth, and while people’s last names usually have nothing to do with anything else, in this case, it holds a clue.

Because Joshua Killingsworth’s copy is killing it. He’s got a webinar and sales page promo, for example, that converted 65% on a one-thousand-dollar product. He’s created a three-email sequence that is making over $20K a month for a client. With a tiny list, yet.

And maybe that’s because he had no choice. Four years ago he was going to lose his share of joint custody of his daughter unless he was available on some weekdays. He became an “accidental copywriter” as a result. Today he’s going to share some of his secrets with you.

1. How did you get into copywriting and what is your background?

2. You have an avatar and empathy map you’ve developed. Something I’ve never heard of before! And you say that you believe the research that produces leads you to higher than normal conversions. Tell us about that.

3. What are the steps you use in your writing process?

4. Where do you get angles from, for your hook, your subject lines.

5. You mentioned you verify everything before the writing actually starts. Not everyone does that. Why do you and what’s your process?

6. A lot of copywriters aren’t sure how to size up a client ahead of time. You have a process for doing that – would you share it?

7. Finally, what takeaways can you give people who want to write their own copy?

8. And if someone wants to contact you, what’s the best way to do that?

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A few weeks ago, we had Joe Schriefer on the podcast in a special “Reports from the Field” episode. Joe said something that changed my life, and I’ve been thinking about ever since.

As you may remember, Joe heads up Agora Financial, and he was one of the key players in growing it from $25 million a year to $250 million a year. The show as about how to scale up a business dramatically the way Joe has.

What Joe said that kept ringing in my mind was: To grow a business big, think like the business is small. In other words, don’t get grandiose. Just do the normal things you do, but do them increasingly better. Don’t get private jets and a yacht. You would think a quarter-billion-dollar business should have a private plane, right. But that’s not how they do things. And that’s important.

So it got me to thinking. There are so many people urging others to “think big.” And so many people who have these wild-ass plans that almost always disintegrate into dust. Why is that? What are those people misinformed about? And what can we all do differently so we can think bigger and actually profit long-term from our thinking and our actions?

Probably the first thing is to listen to this message:

Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

1. What “Thinking Bigger” Means

In copywriting and entrepreneurship, it means expanding your vision – the scope of what’s possible.

- most common example: increasing your revenue/income

- other examples

- increasing the number of clients at the same time

- increasing the number of different products you sell

2. Why It’s Important

Business only moves in one of two directions. Up – it gets larger, or down – it gets smaller.

If you try to stay the same size, it’s really a series of episodes of getting larger, then smaller, then larger, then smaller. What a waste of time and energy.

If you keep getting smaller, you eventually go out of business.

So the only logical way to go is to get larger. To grow. And you need to think bigger to do that. But you need to think in the right way.

3. The Mistake Most People Make

- Think of a road trip. You have a map, you have a destination, you think that’s enough.

- The thing most people overlook, and this is the big mistake, is they don’t prepare for

- what to do when you get a flat tire

- how to deal with a road that’s washed out

- what happens when you get lost

- That is – they don’t know how to solve all the nitty-gritty problems and unexpected events that occur along the way

- So, they end up doing what they call “failing,” and give up

- There’s a way to avoid this common mistake, and that’s what we’ll talk about today.

4. The True Path

- Foundation

- You need to get good at the basics

- If you’re a copywriter, there are a few skills you need to have under your belt before you venture into the “big time.” Like..

- Research

- Coming up with creative hooks

- Writing in a persuasive way

- Negotiating and maintaining relationships with clients

- Meeting deadlines

- If you’re a business owner, there’s also a set of core skills you need to have at a certain level of proficiency

- Don’t expect you will pick these up “later” after you start to “think bigger.” You need to have them in your toolkit wherever you are now, before you start to go for big, massive goals

- You may have heard different. I’ve never seen it end well when someone’s reach exceeds their grasp. Like the old saying goes, you need to prepare, to win.

- Why You Can’t Think Bigger Until You Can Sweat The Small Stuff

- Large is just a multiplication of small

- As hard as it is for most people to come up with good ideas, coming up with ideas is the easy part.

- Many people who are good at ideas think implementing is the hard part.

- But implementing is easy compared to solving problems that occur, especially problems you weren’t expecting.

- Solving problems when the heat is on is really the primo skill

- And the only way you’re going to do that confidently and competently in a big way is by getting repetitive practice doing it in a small way.

- What I’ve Observed In Big Thinkers I Know Personally

- They’re obsessed with details – the right details

- They draw on their own experiences and advice they’ve gotten from others who have at least as much experience as they have. Not too much on theory or other kinds of abstract ideas

- They’re great problem-solvers. Very creative in that way even if they’re not like your typical creative personality.

- They’re decisive. And once they make a decision, they take action.

- They’re not huge braggarts or overly humble. More like, matter-of-fact, but just in the larger picture that they see.

- My Own Path

- I started very “big” – as the news editor of a national magazine in New York, and, I was told, the ambassador for McGraw Hill to Asia, as San Francisco Bureau Chief

- It was all a bunch of bullshit. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time.

- Because: I knew how to report and write articles, and edit articles. I was really good at those things. But… I really didn’t know how to solve problems, manage teams, motivate individuals, or bring in revenue. All of which you really need to do to grow a business, even if the teams and individuals are outsourced contractors and organizations.

- I started over when I was 40. I built skills from the ground up and started very small. I had to. I was broke and I didn’t know what I was doing.

- These days, I focus on tiny little details my former self would have scoffed at. Not all the time. But I’ve learned to identify and focus on what’s important, and when it comes to solving a problem at the granular level, I’m right there.

- To give one example: Often when I do a critique, I’ll find four or five crucial things that can keep a client out of trouble and lead to a huge increase in the conversion from the copy. Being able to identify and suggest that small number of things comes from having worked with hundreds of businesses and having reviewed thousands of sales letters over the last 25 years.


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I was looking at a new online MasterClass by Judd Apatow, a film director who specializes in comedies. His bio said he got started in the business at age 15 as a dishwasher at a comedy club… and, you know how the story goes… the rest is history.

You’ll hear lots of stories like that – but few in copywriting.

Why is that? And what can you do instead? That’s what we talk about today.

Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

Let’s go over what you need to learn first, and then we’ll talk about putting together an advanced program for yourself.

1. “College” – or, basic training

- Basic programs. Two I recommend and have seen consistent results from: SWS and Copy Chief. I’m a big fan of the “person at the top” theory. John Carlton is the leader of SWS, and Stan Dahl makes a point of keeping a complex system working smoothly. Kevin Rogers is at the top of Copy Chief. Both of these guys care more than you could ever imagine, and that makes a huge difference. They and their programs have helped people get way beyond the basics, but that’s on a case-by-case basis and I want to give you something you can count on when you’re just going pro. You can’t go wrong with either of these.

- Facebook groups. Not everything everyone says will be valid, but you can get a lay of the copywriting land there. Two that are robust and excellent from everything I’ve seen is: The Copywriter Club, and The Gary Halbert Copy Club. An important thing to look for is the clear-headedness of the people running the group, and their real-world knowledge and experience with copy. Kira and Rob with the Copywriter Club, and Bond and Kevin with The Gary Halbert Copy Club, all excel in that regard.

- Books. There are a lot of books these days on copywriting. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, in varying proportions. If I had to suggest only five to start out with, I would suggest these for fundamentals that someone in the early stages can grasp and put to work:

1. Scientific Advertising, by Claude Hopkins

2. The Copywriter’s Handbook, by Robert Bly

3. The Ultimate Sales Letter, by Dan Kennedy

4. Advertising Secrets of the Written Word, by Joe Sugarman

5. Breakthrough Copywriting, by David Garfinkel

Each of these books is a course in itself. They are not quick reads, but understand you need to rewire your mind if you are going to become a good copywriter. Most of these books are also suitable for advanced copywriters. The reason I picked them is they are comprehensive, well-organized, and easily understood by a beginner.

Start writing. Get some experience. Get feedback. Find out what really works. See if you can sell your own products, or be an affiliate for someone else. Get as much experience you can in as short a time as you can.

There are other great programs, groups, books and experiences that someone in their first few years of writing professionally can take advantage of. These are the ones I know best that I think are the surest bets and the best use of your time.

Let’s move on to the advanced stuff, now.

2. “Grad school” – or, special ops

In a lot of fields, with more organized professions, like law, medicine, or journalism, there are grad programs at many universities. Some of them are very good and produce high-quality graduates who make good money and some of them contribute a lot to individuals and society as a whole.

Not so true in copywriter, as best as I can tell. There are a handful of grad programs in direct response marketing but I don’t know of any successful copywriters who have attended them.

I’m going to focus here on what I know works, from my own experience, from talking with others, and from what I’ve observed with successful clients.

- If you can get into a successful direct-response organization that nurtures and grows copywriters, do it. There aren’t that many. A lot of big direct-response publishers outsource to experienced freelancers. But there are some. Agora Financial and other Agora companies make it a policy to bring in copywriters and develop them, for example.

- Seminars with copywriters who are successful and good teachers. Live and home-study. Nathan, you have a home-study online program on email marketing you could tell us about. … I took a lot of these when I was learning, from the best people I could find. I’m not going to make any other recommendations here but a good place to start is people whose copy makes you want to buy, and who have programs that others have said they’ve gotten a lot out of. Sometimes one person, one seminar, even one idea at one seminar can be a real breakthrough for a B-level copywriter who wants to move towards A-level.

- Books for more advanced copywriters

1. Breakthrough Advertising, by Gene Schwartz. Breakthroughadvertisingbook.com

2. The Brilliance Breakthrough, by Gene Schwartz.

Brilliancebreakthroughbookc.om

3. The Boron Letters, by Gary Halbert. Available on Amazon

All three of these books could be read by beginners. But they’ll be much more valuable to anyone with some experience under their belt.

- Mastermind Groups

You can learn more in a short period of time hanging out with people who have lots of experience and are willing to help others, than you can in a long class with a teacher who understands the theory but has never competed in the battlefields of the marketplace.

I co-moderate one with John Carlton and Stan Dahl. I know it’s good because the focus there is entirely on the members and solving their problems. I have a former mentoring client, Travis Sago, S-A-G-O, who’s doing some interesting things you should check out.

There are many others, and some of them are good. It’s a powerful format. Do a little research before you join one. I’ve been in different masterminds for nearly 20 years and they’ve helped me way beyond how I can even explain.

- Mentoring

Find someone who’s been successful themself and likes to help other people develop. I have a mentoring program and openings come up from time to time. Another person two very advanced people I know of have mentored under and gotten a lot from is Parris Lampropolous, with his Copy Cubs program. There are others. Again, choose carefully.

3. Wrap up

So these are the five elements of Copywriting Grad School, the way I see it:

1. Get a job at a top-flight direct response organization for a while, if you can.

2. Seminars given by successful copywriters.

3. The three books I mentioned: Breakthrough Copywriting, The Brilliance Breakthrough, The Boron Letters

4. Mastermind Groups

5. Mentoring

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Detectives today have a powerful tool in their toolkit – DNA analysis. Except for identical twins and maybe in the future human clones, every person’s DNA is unique, as far as we know. So if there’s a drop of blood, a hair, a small piece of skin, or any number of other tiny little pieces of a person’s body at the scene of a crime, the detective who finds DNA has struck gold. That’s because DNA leaves clues.

There’s another kind of DNA you might not have heard of yet. It’s called Breakthrough Copywriting DNA. This kind of DNA leaves clues, too. For example, the first type of Breakthrough Copywriting DNA we’ll talk about today left the clue of $2 billion in the Wall Street Journal’s bank account.

In short, Breakthrough Copywriting DNA is a collection of seven themes that have proven themselves to be big winners for copywriters across a wide variety of industries. A few of them are featured as Emotional Action Sequences in today’s episode.

But first, let’s feature this:

Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.

Emotional Action Sequences

What They Are

Templates for telling simple stories in your copy that lead your prospects through different defined and predetermined powerful emotions. They serve two purposes.

First, to get your prospects “out of their heads” and into their feelings. (Emotion: In music. In movies. To motivate anyone to do anything. Necessary in Buying.)

Second, these particular emotions, in these sequences, will not only get prospects into their emotions. They will get into particular emotions that make them much more likely to buy.

Their Origin

I developed these for my $5000-a-seat Breakthrough Copywriting seminar in Las Vegas. After I gave the people there a 10-year head start on the marketplace, I released them in my book Breakthrough Copywriting, which went on to be a #1 bestseller. People have told me they are so useful that I thought I would share some of them on the podcast.

How You Can Find More Of Them

Available for about 12 bucks on Amazon, as a Kindle or a paperback.

Why You Need To Know Them

I critique copy for a wide variety of copywriters and business owners. Last year I did 5 to 10 critiques a month for GKIC. I work with Agora Financial. I also have individual mentoring and critique clients from all over the world.

Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, but one thing I’ve noticed nearly all copywriters have in common is not enough effective, believable emotion. Sometimes there’s nothing there at all – it’s too logical. Sometimes it’s so over the top that it’s not believable. And often it’s so sappy and contrived that it just doesn’t ring true. It ruins the magic of the rest of the copy.

The Emotional Action Sequences can help you make your copy more natural and believable, by using everyday situations in a very powerful way.

Today’s Selection: Three Types of Breakthrough Copywriting DNA

Themes in Advertising History that have made millions. Because these are primal stories that touch and move the emotions in a deep way.

Breakthrough Copywriting DNA Type 1: “The Secret Formula For Success & Prestige”

WSJ letter – greatest tracked ad in history -- $2 billion

The Book Think and Grow Rich – 20 million copies sold.

WSJ Letter and Think and Grow Rich: Really the same story. One’s corporate; one’s entrepreneurial.

That’s how DNA works. It can adapt to any form.

So, for our example, let’s start with the WSJ letter, which has made more money than any other tracked ad in the world, as far as we know.

Most high-end public seminars have some version of this DNA in their marketing. Whether it’s for copywriting, marketing, personal growth, or some other specialized niche, very often you’ll find this DNA threading through the marketing materials for the event.

Breakthrough Copywriting DNA Type 2: “Your Unrecognized Greatness Has Been Discovered”

- The underlying reason people pay: thousands for expensive watches… hundreds of thousands for luxury cars… and millions for yachts. That is, the people who buy them believe they are great, but not getting the recognition for it that they deserve. And by flashing the watch, driving the car, or appearing on the yacht, their greatness will be discovered.

- Most people have a feeling that there is greatness inside them that has not been suitably recognized by the world. That’s why this is such a powerful theme to put in copy.

- The example I gave in the seminar and I give in the book is Gary Halbert’s famous “Coat of Arms” letter, which has been mailed more than 600 million times. The idea here is: If your family has a coat of arms, then they must be really special. Therefore, you must someone special. In other words, you have unrecognized greatness that has been discovered.

Breakthrough Copywriting DNA Type 3: “You Worked Hard and You Deserve A Reward”

- Certainly, the concept of social security and private pension plans, like 401Ks, are examples of this type of DNA

- Despite recent fashionable ideas like the four-hour workweek and the 10 minute workday, most people, deep down, believe you have to work hard and then you get rewarded for your hard work.

- It’s also been my personal experience that, once I learned what were the valuable kinds of work I could do and once I learned how to do them really well, the best rewards came after hard work.

-The example from the book is Joe Karbo’s “The Lazy Man’s Way To Riches” full-page newspaper ad. He ran it over and over again in newspapers all across the country and sold tons of books with it.

The start of the ad is how he used to work long hours every week and he was still behind on his bills. But once he discovered his lazy man’s way to riches, everything changed. He started making a lot of money and had plenty of time to do other things besides work.

I think an important part of what made the copy work was that he showed how he earned the right to make a lot of money, doing less work – by working hard, very hard, at first. His “reward” was the privilege of doing less and earning more.

This is a very powerful theme and DNA type.

Recap

Breakthrough Copywriting DNA types are more than just useful templates for increasing emotion in your copy. They are universal themes that have been proven to work in highly successful tracked sales letters and ads. You can also find them in great works of literature as well as movies and TV shows.

What’s important about them is that they resonate with people at a deep level, and when you use them correctly, they can multiply your sales from a piece of copy.

So keep them in mind the next time you write.

Here are the three we covered today:

• The Secret Formula for Success and Prestige

• Your Unrecognized Greatness Has Been Discovered

• You Worked Hard and You Deserve A Reward

How to Get The Complete Set Of All 7 Breakthrough Copywriting DNA Types

Chapter 10 of Breakthrough Copywriting

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