The Chameleon Copywriter

Today I’m mixing marketing and politics.
Oh oh.
But here goes…
Yesterday I came across an article with the headline,
“White House, Dems, Planning Massive Re-Sell Of Health Care After It Passes.”
My first reaction was to roll my eyes.
I mean, from a marketing standpoint, isn’t it pretty lousy
to have to do massive re-selling AFTER the purchase?
But then I thought [...]

When I look out at my bird feeder the scene out there often
reminds me of an online business in action.
You see, when I started feeding the birds a few months ago, everything was peaceful for a few weeks.
Only the best kind of birds showed up at the feeder.
The cardinals, chickadees, finches, nuthatches, flickers,
etc.
Then the house [...]

While at the mall today I saw a crossword puzzle that is a cover
of the Beatles White album.
In other words, the puzzle is almost entirely white.
This reminded me of how I loved putting together jigsaw puzzles when I was a kid. I was almost tempted to buy this puzzle because my daughter is [...]

If you need some copywriting inspiration I highly recommend copywriter Richard Armstrong’s free ebook My First 40 Years in Junk Mail, which is the story of his career as an A-list copywriter.
It also includes samples of some of the letters he wrote over the years, including teasers and lift notes. I typed out the [...]

If you have affiliates, it will help your bottom line if you provide your affiliates with several emails that they can use to promote your product.
I’ve written a ton of affiliate emails for clients and they usually ask me to write 3-7 emails for their affiliates to use.
The more emails you provide, the less likely [...]

Remember that slightly nervous stomach feeling you’d
get while walking through the junior high parking lot where
everyone congregates before the bell rings?
You’re nervous because you’re wondering if anyone will
notice your new jeans and Chuck Taylors…
Or if instead they’ll think you chose the wrong shoelace color and.
give you a Bershon stare (you know, that teenage look [...]

Now that so many people use Gmail, copywriters should take advantage of the opportunity this gives you to essentially insert a second subject line in your emails.
A Gmail inbox shows the first sentence or so of the email before the person opens it.
If the subject line is the headline, the opening line would be [...]

When’s the last time you ordered a product and received a series of emails that were NOT sales pitches but instead held you by the hand and guided you through the use of that product?
I can’t think of a single time I’ve received emails like that beyond a “thank you for your purchase” email.
Emails [...]

If you have an email list, I’d love to hear what your biggest problem is in creating emails for your list.
I created a short survey with only three questions about your biggest autoresponder problem and what would help you solve it.
It should take you only a minute (literally) to fill out the survey. I’d [...]

I am not even kidding (as my seven-year-old would say).
Go shopping with a little kid and watch how masterful they are at upselling and cross-selling and outright selling. Even if the child is normally as stoic as Sam Sheepdog they will turn into a selling machine in the grocery store.
To be able to stand back [...]