Random Stuff Post #1

Ever tried the “Columbo close”?

How to Resurrect a Cold Email List

Got a list of subscribers you haven’t contacted in a while?

Here’s how to re-engage in a way they’ll welcome and can generate sales at the end…

Don’t send a grovelling email saying “sorry for not contacting”.

March in with fanfare and ribbon tape like you’re Macho Man Randy Savage.

Hit them with your best stuff. And if people unsubscribe, see it as cleansing the unworthy.

Aim for a week’s worth of quality content before presenting another offer. And remember that even if your open rate is just 20%, those 20% are your raving fans. They’re people eager to consume your content and open to you promoting products that help them on their journey.

Today’s tip comes courtesy of Brian Cassingena’s presentation at Project Persuasion Goes Dark 3.0.

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Creating a Channel that Crushes

This post is based on Mitch Miller’s presentation “Down the Rabbit Hole with Tai Lopez” at Project Persuasion Goes Dark 3.0.

You’re not just a copywriter. You’re a channel.

A channel people can subscribe, follow, and Like.

But only if they see you as someone on the rise. If you’re career is on the ascendenance, they’ll want to ride on your coat tails.

But if your progress has stalled or your content sucks, they’ll abandon you just as fast.

A more successful guru to follow is one swipe away.

So you need to be strategic about what you publish and how it reflects your brand. Every post needs to promote what makes you unique, what you represent, and why people should listen.

As Dan Kennedy says “Only fools market the thing”.

Pros know to maket what makes a “thing” special. And a great way to do this is to harness “self-congruity”.

Take the Tai Lopez Masterclass in Self-congruity

Self-congruity is why people are attracted to certain brands. It’s because these brands project the values they desire to obtain, and represent the tribe they want to belong to.  

Take Tai Lopez.

Lopez targets people who desire status and money. So he projects his own status and money to attract them.

His followers see money as the trigger for all the other things they want in life. So Lopez projects himslves as the ideal version his target market wants to become.

Because you see, we have three versions of ourselves:

• Past self
• Present (real) self
• Ideal future self

The present self is what people want to escape. And it’s becoming the ideal future self that triggers all their hot desire buttons.

Lopez knows to present himself as his market’s ideal future self. Because it’s the most powerful way to get people to take action.

Use Glamour to Magnify Your Appeal

Hand-in-hand with self-congruity goes “glamour”.

Glamour is the act of glorifying or magnifying what’s real.

Lopez uses the imagery of cars, stacks of money, and private jets to create glamour around his brand.

He may take glamour to extremes. But it’s something we all do all the time.

If you use filters on photos, dress up in clothes you wouldn’t normally wear, or rent cars and houses for photoshoots, you’re using glamour to enhance your personal brand.

But you’ve got be careful about how you use glamour.

Because it’s an illusion.

And if you use it too much to hide what you don’t want the world to see, like how a ballerina’s shoes hide the bruises, the backlash can be brutal.

Display your Kryptonite

Nobody likes people who are fake or pretend to be too perfect.

When Superman was unbeatable, few fans felt emotionally engaged with his struggles.

But when it was discovered kryponite robs his powers, his popularity soared.

When you try to seem too perfect, people are eager to see you get smashed into a skyscraper by an alien.

It’s only when you admit you’re not unbeatable after all that people come to your side.

So if you’ve spend too much time developing a perfect online persona, consider showing some weakenesses.

And a great way to do it is with “Zohavian Handicap Signalling”.

Zohavian Handicap Signalling is where you do something high risk to display your weakness.

It’s why antelopes jump up and down when a lion appears. Not because they want to get chased. But because they know their display of bravery will help attract a mate.

Make High Risk Gestures Others Aren’t Willing to Do

If you want to create a channel and online persona that’s unique, attracts your target market, and doesn’t push “glamour” to the point of fakery, think what you can do to reveal something about yourself that’s high risk.

Take a stand on a contentious issue. Rattle some cages. Call out someone for offering bad advice.

And when you do, record a full production video instead of just going live in your car on Facebook.

Because when you do what others are unwilling to do in defining your brand, the more you’ll crush competitors playing it safe.

And the more Likes, follows, and subscribers you’ll get to your channel.

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CIA Mindset Hacks for Managing Stress

“Father of online marketing” Mark Joyner knows a thing or two about stress.

 During his time as a CIA agent spying on North Korea, he had to be aware of his surroundings every waking moment on edge.

 The ability to stay calm under pressure then served him well as a serial entrepreneur, with 30+ startups under his belt.  

 At Project Persuasion Goes Dark, Mark Joyner shared his advice on managing stress and staying at the peak of your game.

 Stress is kills

 It drains your energy. Darkens your mood. Makes you sick. And it takes years off your life.

 Stress may be unavoidable.

 But in the freelance copywriting game, where you’ve swapped the comfort of a regular paycheck for surviving by your wits and word processor, having systems for managing stress is vital to your success.

1.  Reduce Overwhelm

Our brain’s can only handle so much information at once. But the amount of apps, channels, and people demanding our attention overwhelmed our brain capacity a long time ago.

The only way to stay productive is to make some cuts.

Identify the habits and channels that aren’t helping you (for me, it’s reading the news) and look to reduce the time you invest in them. Or even better, cut them completely.

Focus on the things you can control and help you towards your goals. Everything else is a distraction.

2. Don’t Feed the Trolls

“The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions of others. And the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep. You become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart. The roar of freedom” – Osho

 Haters gonna hate.

 Us copywriters (me included) tend to be introverted types. We don’t go looking for fights on Twitter.

 But as you start growing your following and running ads, the trolls will find you.

 There’s no shortage of frustrated people in this world looking for someone to unload on. So when they come, set ground rules on how you engage, if at all.

 Personally, I engage with people online the same way I would face-to-face. But if they can’t play nice, I pull down the shutters.

 A mind hack for dealing with trolls is to be clear on who you are and what you do. That way you can create emotional distance so you can walk away without feeling like you’ve lost face.

 After all, if you’ve confidence in what you have to offer, why should some random troll’s need to unleash bother you?

 3. Pursue Fulfilling Projects

 Life’s too short to be working for clients who don’t appreciate you or writing about junk nobody needs.

 Find projects and quality products you believe in.

 This will naturally make the hours at the keyboard more fulfilling. Believing in what you’re selling will naturally make your copy more persuasive too.

 4. Replicate Your Role Models

 

Why allow your feeds to get polluted with people complaining when there are so many positive people to take inspiration from?

 People I follow include Arnold Schwarzenegger (if you’ve read his autobiography you’ll get why), Joe Rogan, and Dave Asprey (Bulletproof Coffee founder). I follow them for their work ethic, desire to inspire others to be better versions of themselves, and their healthy attitudes to life.

 We might not have the money and success of our celebrity idols. But what we can do is share some of the traits that led to their success.

 So write down the characteristics of your role models you admire. Then try to adopt them in your daily life.

Mark Joyner and yours truly

 5. Know Your Path

 “Comfort is bullshit. Getting most out of yourself is real comfort. Get that through commitment” – The Iceman Wilmhoff

 We live in the safest period in history. Globally, you’re less likely to be killed in war or die in poverty. But that doesn’t mean happiness is assured.

 We still carry the same primal drives as our ancestors. They had to struggle every day to survive. And the only reason they survived and prospered was because of their motivation to overcome challenges.

 The drive to overcome challenges is still buried within us. And it’s something we’re going to need armies of psychologists and sociologists to cope with when AI arrives. When people suddenly have no reason to get up in the morning they’re primed to self destruct.

 It may still be a few years before AI can write a natural sounding sales page.

 So until that day arrives, remember it’s making progress towards your goals that makes you happy. Not the pot of gold at the end.

 6. Enjoy the Ride

 When you retire, your brain starts to shut down.

 The satisfaction that comes from living a productive life was reinforced to me when I met Drayton Bird a couple of years ago.

 Drayton is the UK’s copywriting godfather. Our own David Ogilvy. And he’s still going strong in this 80s. I plan on doing the same.

 Many entrepreneurs see retiring by age 40 as the goal. Or amassing a few mill to pay for endless travel.

 But this is a mistake countless millionaires have made. They may have bank vaults of cash to roll around in, but many still feel empty inside.

 It’s the journey, not the destination. So enjoy the ride.

 7. Conquer Procrastination

 Procrastination arises from indecision + distraction.

 Here’s how to beat it…

 Get clear on what you want. Write it down. Then write down how getting stuff done gets you closer to that goal. And post it somewhere around your screen.

 Writing down your objectives this way makes it easier to stay focused on the prize. You can strip away the time wasting habits and bat away the “fear” of doing something hard that makes many of us freeze when staring at a blank screen.

 If that’s not enough to get you shutting down tabs, keep ratcheting up your desire for the things you want until it overwhelms your avoidance behaviors.

 The more you focus on being productive, the more it becomes a habitual pattern.

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Easy Way to Get $5k Retainers

1. Google “[keyword] we hate spam as much as you do” to find newsletters related to your area of specialist knowledge.

2. Signup to their newsletter and see if their thank you page takes you to an affiliate offer

3. If not, send them an example of an advertorial you’ve written and explain how turning their thank you page into an advertorial can instantly earn them more moolah

4. Followup with an offer to write their daily emails for $5k a month

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Mass Hallucination

I’m guy wearing the hat second from the right back row

Last weekend I attended Project Persuasion Goes Dark in Phuket.

Over 3 days I was lucky enough to rub shoulders and grab quick chats with legendary marketer Mark Joyner, personal branding genius Mitch Miller, and email wiz Brian Cassingena. And all while having my brain expanded by sessions on deep marketing psychology. Some of it was pretty dark too.

The good news is you won’t have to run a gauntlet of stray dogs each day, like I did, to learn it. Because I’m going to share the chunkiest golden nuggets with you.

First off, a post based on Mitch Miller’s session on why we’re all living a mass hallucination, and why the world’s not as real as we think…

Is the world real? Or are we living in a simulation?

 It’s a question that baffles the world’s brightest minds. And it’s beyond the scope of this post (or my brain’s capacity) to answer.

But what I can tell you is that all of us are experiencing the world in different ways.

 No, I’m not about to jump down the rabbit hole of alternative realities. What I’m talking about is how we all view the world through a  different “lens”.

 This lens dictate how we view ourselves, events, and the world around us. Over time, it gets filtered by our own biases and experiences. And it dictates how we think, behave, and the stuff we buy.

Buying Choices are Based on Fiction

 Let’s say you’re buying a new pair of jeans. Do you check the quality of the denim, the stitching on the inside leg (“selvedge” to fashionistas), or size of the pockets?

 Or do you just make a beeline for your favorite brand?

 Whether we like to admit it or not, we’re all on a quest to be liked and validated. We buy things we think help us on this quest. And the choices we make are all based on our individual lens.

 So what is this lens exactly?

 It can be broken down into 2 layers:

1. Shared fiction “mass hallucination” layer

The world is filled with mass movements based on ideas.

Brands, money, and countries all started as ideas. But because enough people believe in them, they morphed to became accepted as true.

 The shared fiction layer has led to all sorts of subcultures, trends, and tribes emerging. Groups we all seek to belong to because of how we see the world and our place in it.

2. Individual fiction layer

This layer defines our own reality. It controls how we perceive ourselves and the tribes we think we belong to.

We believe this layer to be as true as the first layer. It’s how we experience the world so it seems real to us. But when you dig down, it’s even more false than the first layer.

Brands Look Different Through Different Lenses

We can only experience the world through our own lens. So you could say everything we know is an illusion. Just a single view on the vastness of human experience.

 Yet, our lens controls the brands we’re attracted to. We choose brands that reflect our own individual fiction and our desire for social status, prestige and belonging.

 Take Gucci, for example.

 To some people it’s the height of sophistication and glamour (more on “glamour” in an upcoming post). To others it’s garish, or even vulgar.

 But what matters for the person wearing Gucci is that through their own lens it satisfies their need for uniqueness and tribalism.

Your Copy Has to Satisfy Both Layers

I know this all sounds confusing and woo woo.

But the bottom line is that when writing about a brand you need to think how you can pitch it so it satisfies both layers of target buyer’s lens.

You need to explain how it meets their individual layer’s need for uniqueness and shared fiction layer of belonging to a tribe. Only then will they view it as a product that can help them on their quest to being liked and validated.

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FTC Compliance Guidelines for Supplement Advertising – Turn a Challenge into an Opportunity

From the way Facebook is bashing down on supplement ad campaigns with its banhammer, like a frenzied game of whack-a-mole, it’s clear supplement ads have to be whiter than white to stay alive.

No longer can you make unsubstantiated claims or stretch the truth until it snaps. And this applies to the presell pages used to shield VSLs from inspection. As if the rumors are true, Facebook is clicking through to see what mischief they’re hiding, banhammer raised. 

But even if you get your traffic from affiliate emails, making outrageous claims is not a smart long-term strategy. There’s a graveyard of marketers who thought compliance was for wimps.

Here are a few of the FTC’s victims and the warnings they left behind:

• Use the terms “clinically” and “scientifically proven” in your ads? Make sure they are actually proven. Activia got a bumper $45 million fine for claiming its yogurt’s health benefits were backed by science.

• Tempted to use fake testimonials? Husband and wife team “The Marketing Architects” got fined $2 million for inventing the customers quoted in their weight loss ads. The before and after photos were likely fake too.

• If you’ve thought of making claims your supplement can delay cognitive impairment, think harder. Lumosity was fined $2 million for a “Brain Training” program it claimed would improve people’s performance at work and keep memory loss at bay. A mistake they’ll never forget.

• The anti-aging market is exploding. And so are the fines for plucky marketers making claims about holding back Father Time. Telomerase Activation Sciences got in hot legal water for claiming their supplement reverses aging, prevents DNA damage, and restores an aging immune system. Just for measure, they also failed to mention that reviewers got compensated for their praise.

Clearly, the potential costs of non-compliance are business bustingly high.

And with rumours of the FTC opening a division targeting digital marketers, you can expect more fines to be doled out with gusto.

Before we continue, I want to make it clear that the notes below are just my summary of the wordy FTC guidelines. So it’s wise to read through the original yourself and don’t use my notes as a replacement for proper legal checks.

Now that’s been said, here’s what I deciphered…

The FTC’s guidelines on supplement advertising boil down to two cast iron rules:

1) Always tell the truth

2) Prove every claim you make

Sounds simple. But definining exactly what you have to say to be compliant is where it gets tricky.

Let’s tackle rule #1 first. That’s the easy one.

Always Tell the Truth

You could be deemed to be breaking this rule if you:

1. Misrepresent the facts

If the supplement addresses a mineral deficiency only 9% of the population suffers from you must disclose this. As for 81% of people your supplement is little better than a sugar pill.

1. Miss out key information

If people in a study lost 15 lbs in 2 months after taking the supplement in combination with diet and exercise you must say consumers do the same to expect the same results. Few supplements achieve life transforming benefits on their own.

1. Provide advice that may harm the reader

You can’t say a supplement has “zero side effects” when 1 in 10 people gets a mouth as dry as the Sahara and jitters like the Duracell bunny. If you want to make a “zero side effects” claim, you must have rock solid scientific proof that every ingredient is safe.

Onto rule # 2…

Prove Every Claim You Make

This is where things get messy.

Because you see, it’s not just the overt claims you’ve got to prove.

It’s also the implied ones: The claims made in your testimonials…your images…quotes by experts…and the way you present the proof.

For example:

• If you say “9 out of 10 cardiologists recommend Heart Health Max” you must have a study to prove Heart Health Max can support heart health along with the results of the survey.

• If you have a before and after photo of a woman going from sitting in a chair to dancing the macarena, you’ve got to prove your supplement provides this level of joint pain relief. And here you’ve got to be doubly careful. Describe how it works the wrong way and you’ll get slapped by the FTC twice (more on this later).

The key takeaway is this…

It’s the “net impression” of what your ad says that matters. The totality of all the claims, both overt and implied. Not just the study results lovingly curated and handpicked to embellish the healing powers of the “superfood” ingredients.

What Counts as Proof

The FTC defines proof as:

“tests, analyses, research, studies, or other evidence based on the expertise of professionals in the relevant area, that have been conducted and evaluated in an objective manner by persons qualified to do so, using procedures generally accepted in the profession to yield accurate and reliable results.”  

There are also key requirements a study needs to fulfill for it to be deemed as providing “accurate and reliable results”:

• Double blind and placebo controlled
• Human rather than animal or in vitro studies
• You have the entire study and not just an informal summary or abstract
• It’s peer reviewed and published in a reputable journal (FTC will consider unpublished if other indicators are strong)
• Adequate duration e.g. 6 weeks
• Enough subjects who match the demo of the target customer e.g. 50 subjects over age 65
• Dosage and formulation is the same as the supplement
• Results are statistically significant
• The delivery mechanism is the same i.e. the ingredient was consumed orally
• There’s a plausible biological mechanism to explain how the supplement works

Strong Proof Example

An ingredient in an eye health supplement is backed by two long-term, large-scale studies which found that people over 70 who ate a lot of this ingredient have statistically significantly better eyesight. This result is supported by a plausible biological mechanism.

Weak Proof Example

Lots of people said an ingredient relieved their joint pain in a survey, but there’s no plausible biological mechanism and the findings conflict with another study.

So the key is finding studies with strong findings and you can explain the mechanism for how the ingredient works.

But here’s the kicker…

you can’t cherry pick studies to suit your claims (yes, I know the pharmaceuticals industry does this all the time. I’m just the messenger).

As the FTC states:

“Advertisers should consider all relevant research relating to the claimed benefit of their supplement and should not focus only on research that supports the effect, while discounting research that does not.”

And if the science is weak don’t think using words like “may” or “could” gives you a pass. It doesn’t.

And it gets more complex…

According to the letter of the law, you can’t exaggerate the effects people experienced in a study (tough when most write ups are dry as sandpaper) or suggest greater scientific certainty than exists.

So if you find yourself quoting from studies with the legitimacy of professional wrestling doping test avoid words like “boosts”, “improves”, or “skyrockets”. Instead, dial down the lingo to say an ingredient “supports” or “assists”. It will save having to correct them later when your copy gets rejected by legal.

What if My Supplement Contains Multiple Ingredients?

The more ingredients the better, right?

But before working on a supplement ad, make sure due diligence has been done to check the magic combination of herbs, spices and gifts from mother nature is safe. Otherwise every claim you make may be non-compliant.

As the FTC states:

Where there is reason to suspect that the combination of multiple ingredients might result in interactions that would alter the effect or safety of the individual ingredients, studies showing the effect of the individual ingredients may be insufficient to substantiate the safety of the multiple ingredient product.

Never Make Disease Claims

Let’s bury this so there’s no doubt – NEVER claim a supplement can treat, heal, reverse, or cure any disease or medical condition. Supplements can only “support” what the body does naturally.

What else you should know about disease claims:

Rock solid proof – If you’re going to step into disease territory, like how cinnamon supports lower blood sugar, be very careful with your wording. You’re going to need rock solid proof if you’re going to claim an ingredient offers the slightest benefit for a medical condition or disease.

Not a replacement for medical treatment – Think very carefully about suggesting they throw their statins or metformin in the trash. The FTC can come down like a ton of bricks on any suggestions that a consumer foregoes medical treatments or self-medicates for potentially serious conditions.

Supports rather than improves – Never suggest a supplement changes the “structure or function” of a biological mechanism. That would make it a pharmaceutical and dump your ad in legal boiling water.

What about Alternative Medicine Claims?

Ah, alternative medicine. The bastion from which legions of natural health copywriters hang their healing claims.

It’s perfectly ok to say an ingredient has a long history of use in alternative medicine. But you can’t say it’s “scientifically proven” or “backed by science” unless you have the studies to prove it.

Instead, you must say the reverse and convey that it is scientifically unproven and more research is needed.

Example of Acceptable Alternative Medicine Claim

Your headline reads “Traditional Chinese Medicine — Used for Thousands of Years to Bring Mental Clarity and Improve Memory.”

The supplement contains the key ingredient in a manner consistent with Chinese preparation methods. You clearly state that its efficacy has not been proven by research and there’s no guarantee of achieving the claimed results.

Example of Unacceptable Alternative Medicine Claim

Your supplement contains an ingredient in a concentrated form which is different to the raw form used to brew an energy boosting tea in China.

The ad states that the supplement’s energy benefits are based on traditional use and haven’t been proven by scientific research. Because the supplement is a different form to the alternative medicine version this ad would be deemed deceptive.

Example of Very Unacceptable Alternative Medicine Claim:

You claim your supplement contains a mineral used in a popular American folk remedy for shrinking tumors.

There is no scientific support for this claim and it also relates to treating a disease. The ad puts people in danger of taking this supplement without medical supervision and they may stop their chemo. This ad could land you with jail time, and not just a slap on the wrist.

What About Ingredients with Few Studies to Support Them?

The FTC does offer some leeway for breakthrough ingredients with limited research. As it states:

“The FTC’s standard for evaluating substantiation is sufficiently flexible to ensure that consumers have access to information about emerging areas of science.”   

So it is feasible to highlight a previously under researched ingredient’s potential.

Just ensure that:

1. It has a scientifically backed mechanism
2. You disclose there are limited studies available and more research is needed.

When all is said and done, a good smell test for the ad is to consider how you’d feel showing it to your grandma as evidence of a solution to a problem she suffers from daily. Would you feel like you’re tricking her or presenting a genuine solution?

Yet, it’s not just your grandma the ad needs to convince.

As the FTC consults with natural health and traditional medicine experts on what claims are valid. So imagine presenting your ad for Dr Mercola’s inspection and whether he’d give you a high five or uncap big red.

Reviews and Testimonials

Never use fake testimonials. That’s obvious.

All customer quotes also need a disclaimer to say their personal experience is not representative of what buyers can expect. A vague disclaimer that “results may vary” is insufficient.

If it’s a paid endorsement, they got the product as a free trial, or there’s some other connection between them and the client, this must be stated.

What About Asking Readers to “Imagine” the Benefits?

Taking readers on an emotionally charged journey from pain to salvation (during which they transform into the person they want to be viewed by others and not just by themselves) is where natural health copywriters earn their stripes.

But is it compliant?

According to Michael H Cohen (FDA/FTC compliance expert), “puffery” is allowed.

“Puffery can include “an exaggerated, blustering, and boasting statement” about a product, or a general claim of superiority over comparable products that is so vague it’s commonly understood as a mere expression of opinion.  (The overall context is important, though).”

So as long as all your ingredients’ health claims are backed by science, you’re free to pitch with logic and sell with emotion.

Disclaimers

Any additional info the reader needs to know about the ad can’t be buried in tiny type or in complex language Stephen Hawking would have struggled to understand. Disclaimers and disclosures must be in the same font size as the rest of your ad and in clear, plain English.

A Challenge and an Opportunity

After reading all this, you may be more confused than before. Or worried that your conversions will take a hammering after cutting out all the studies that fail to pass the grade.

Making ads compliant is indeed a challenge. And it’s going to make the task of creating an ad that’s both truthful and compelling harder.

Yet, trust is what consumers yearn for.

In this era of fake news, distrust in the media (let alone us marketing folk), and mob justice via Twitter, making outrageous health claims that can’t be backed up is short-term thinking and can easily backfire.

Promising miracle cures only for consumers to be disappointed also pushes up refund rates, shreds customer loyalty, and makes it harder to increase the lifetime customer value (the key metric in a world of rising advertising costs).

So the key to success is to…

Use Compliance to Increase Conversions

Pointing out when the science is lacking or more research is needed can position the ad sat alongside the customer, rather than pitching to them from across the table.

Calling out the people it won’t help can make the other claims more trustworthy, in an industry where belief is in short supply.

As John Carlton says, “They don’t want to believe you. So be honest with customers never given a fair shake by an advertiser.”

Or as Eugene Schwartz puts it, “Frankness silently says there’s no nonsense here. Just common sense.”

And to really hit this point home, I’d like to quote from the greatest living copywriter Gary Bencivenga’s Bullet # 3:

“The vast majority of B level copywriters spend most of their days dreaming up ways to pump up ever-bigger claims … which is why their mailings are almost always beaten easily by the tiny handful of A level copywriters who know this simple secret of successful selling in an overmarketed world…

(now here’s the good part)

There is no more powerful nor consistent way to explode your response. Surround your claims with stronger, bolder proof and watch your response soar.”

You’re going to struggle to find any marketer or copywriter who’s worth speaking to to disagree with these masters of the craft.

So while balancing compliance with creating compelling ads is a challenge, it’s also an opportunity to standout as the ethical, trustworthy option. A chance to position the brand as one consumers feel loyal to and confident recommending to a friend or neighbour.

Conversions and lifetime customer value will rise as a result.

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Big 3 Copywriter Traits to Go from Good to Great

In our line of work, there are no diplomas, certificates, or league tables to tell you when you’ve made the grade.

There’s no board of examiners to say when you’ve progressed from competent to craftsman.

Sure, praise from clients and conversion stats helps.

But if you want to feel confident you’ve got the chops to compete with the best, there are six key copywriter traits to embed in your playbook:

1. Confidence You Can Deliver Results

Confidence doesn’t come from posting your open rates in Facebook and waiting to be applauded with emojis.

Confidence means knowing you can get the job done.

It comes from knowing how to find the unmet desires in the marketplace…knowing how to research to dig up that golden USP that will bring in a rush of customers…and knowing how to drill for riches in niches where no one else is looking.

The bottom line is this: When you’re a great copywriter, going from discovery call to dominating a market is no longer a mystery. You’ve got the skills to dial in on what needs to be done, and you know what results clients can expect on launch day.

2.  Knowing the Customer Like a Friend

Good copywriters know to turn features into red hot bullets.

Great copywriters know how to aim those bullets square between the prospect’s eyes.

It’s a glorious day in a copywriter’s career to ask a client for a customer bio and be rewarded with a buyer persona so detailed you wonder if they’ve been bugging a customer’s phone.

But back in the real world, it’s down to you to scour Amazon reviews…mine Facebook groups….infiltrate Reddit tribes…and run Ask method surveys to work out what will convince people to buy your client’s wares.

This is all good level research.

Great level research is plucking it from the horse’s mouth.

That means speaking to customers in real life.

Whether you do it in the flesh or over the phone (Whatsapp doesn’t count) a two way conversation with a living, breathing human is the best way of getting them to speak off the cuff, rather than in considered soundbites.

You want them to vent. To rage on their nagging pains…their frustration with all the shoddy products they’ve tried before….and how they’ll think twice before falling for clever marketing tricks again.

All you need to do is listen, ask the right questions, and take notes.

Then when you sit down to write, it will be like they’re sat across the table. All you then need to do is write what will convince them you offer the salvation they need. When you can do that, clever wordplay isn’t needed.

3. A Master of Big Ideas, Hooks, and Story

As you progress up the levels eventually you’re going to wade into a saturated market where you have to wrestle a “market sophistication level 5” problem (check out Great Leads by Michael Masterson for more on market sophistication).

This is a brutal place where the market has been plundered to death. A once fertile paradise ravaged with so many false promises that jaded customers have stopped believing any claims you can make.

It’s a place where copywriters become legends, or have their reputation tarnished.

Yet, level 5 problems can be conquered with the right approach.

Ways to do it include:

• Creating a new cause of their pain so you can present your product as a new solution

• Combining 2 or 3 market trends into a new overarching theme

• Being the first to reveal a breakthrough before it’s reached the mainstream

• Explaining how the product works at a deeper level (Joe Sugarman was a master at this)

• Using the power of storytelling, with multiple soap opera swings and sensory language, to take the reader on an emotionally interesting journey. A story that motivates them to stop praying for change but to stride towards a bold new future in which they become the person they want to be viewed as by others (and not just by themselves).

• Harnessing celebrities, Nobel prize winners, NASA, diabolical Nazi experiments, or an Amazonian tribe that diabetes forgot to present a pitch more compelling than the zaniest National Enquirer exposé.

It can take grizzled veterans 6 months or more to develop the big idea, hook, and mechanism with which to take down a level 5 problem.

The good news is that if you’re victorious it can mean having enough coins in the  vault to take the rest of the year off. It can even mean retiring early to down piña coladas on a  beach somewhere (but who wants that).

Want to Know More About Going from Good to Great? Subscribe to David Garfunkel’s Copywriter Podcast Immediately

This post is a condensed list of David Garfunkel’s big 6 traits of a great copywriter, as discussed in episodes 67 and 68 of his Copywriters Podcast.

Mr Garfunkel (I’m not worthy to call him David) is known as the world’s greatest copywriting coach. You’ll soon understand why when you listen to his podcast as he shares insights more valuable than you’ll find in many $5,000+ courses. Yet, bizarrely, you don’t have to pay a dime.

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My Advice to a Copywriter Starting from Zero

A couple of days ago I got a letter from an aspiring copywriter. I sent him an email back with advice on what to do when joining the game from square one. I thought it might be helpful for others in the same situation, so reposting it here:

Hey Joe,

Thanks for your letter.

I’m not currently looking to take on any “copy cubs” (industry term for apprentices), yet there’s a lot you can do to build your skills on your own.

My advice would be to focus on breaking into the US direct response market. I wish I’d learned this sooner, as I spent years writing B2B tech copy. While you can make a good income in B2B tech, when you can write high converting copy that’s directly linked to sales you can make six figures or more.

Gary Halbert (copywriting legend) wrote an excellent article detailing steps you can take on your own to build your knowledge and skills. Set his website as a bookmark on your tablet or phone and read every letter. People paid good money to get this info when it was a print newsletter, and having it available freely online is a steal.

After you’ve done what he recommends, setup a basic website and write advertorials promoting products on Clickbank. You could also build an email list and upsell Clickbank products that way to earn a small income. Then create your own info product (it could be just a 50 page eBook or you could buy it done for you as a private label rights product = PLR) and sell it yourself. That way you’ll get some stats on conversion rates and sales to attract clients.

When you’re starting out it’s a chicken and egg scenario. How do you get clients without a portfolio? Or how do you build a portfolio without clients?

By creating your own site and running your own promos you can solve this problem.

Starting out is tough. Yet as you sent me a letter and followed up with a phone call, I believe you’ll be disciplined and strategic enough to see it through.

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