Copywriters Podcast

It turns out in the larger world of culture and fashion, we’ve reached a breaking point. This is important for copywriting because of something we’ve always known and practiced, and today we’re going to take a wide-ranging look at the opposing forces of perfection, which is not real, and authenticity, which is not perfect.
Both perfection and authenticity have been used to sell stuff.
And we’ve seen a lot of people, especially in social media, stretching notions of perfection about as far as it can go.
So the perfection trend seems to have reached the breaking point I was just talking about.
I saw this in an interesting article exploring the trend in Bloomberg Businessweek:
“We’ve been looking at perfect faces and vacations and homes on Instagram for more than 15 years, and on TikTok for most of a decade, during which time creators have pursued new audiences by pushing what already works further toward a logical extreme—the uncanny perfection of everything.
“At this point so little is left to upgrade, they’re now positing ways to improve the color of one’s armpit skin.”
The article is titled “The Optimization Backlash Has Begun,” and it’s all about how people are really getting tired of having images and standards of false perfectionism rammed down their throats.
Writer Amanda Mull took a good look at the new trend: Showing your flaws as part of marketing, movies and social media.
We’ll go much further than the recent past to set the stage, and then burrow into some great ways you can take advantage of this trend in your copy and video marketing.

RESOURCE:
The Persuasion Story Code
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

He is known for one of the most famous sayings in copywriting: “Enter the conversation already going on in the prospect’s mind.”
Yet most copywriters don’t know much about him, or even who he is.
That would be Robert Collier, who introduced the concept to copywriting 90 years ago, when he published The Robert Collier Letter Book.
I first learned about the book from Gary Halbert, more than 30 years ago. Halbert said it was one of a handful of books every copywriter needs to read.
Robert Collier himself used direct mail to sell all kinds of stuff. He sold raincoats for $14.65 by mail. Made-to-measure suits for $37.50. Sets of books. Magazine subscriptions. 
And Collier tested everything. When a letter worked, he wanted to know why. When it flopped, he wanted to know that, too.
The Robert Collier Letter Book is where he showcased his work. You get a chance to look at what he wrote, and read about the reasoning behind his decisions.
We went through the book and pulled out seven lessons. Each one starts with Collier's own words and then we'll talk about what each lesson means for you, today, whether you’re writing Facebook ads, youtube scripts, or full-fledged sales letters.

RESOURCES:
The Robert Collier Letter Book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GKQPG89G
 
The Persuasion Story Code
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

Somewhere near you, right now, there's a store with a whole aisle of spiral notebooks marked down to 79 cents.
The gargantuan engines of the big yellow buses are getting tuned up or are already tuned up and ready to roll. 
Pencils are getting sharpened. 
And millions of kids are about to get something most adults never get anymore:
A fresh start. A new year of learning.
Think about that. Students get new supplies, new subjects, new teachers.
All kinds of fun, and discovery, and spitballs from the back of the class.
Meanwhile, what do we get? Nothing. As copywriters and business owners, we just keep working. Sadly, for us, there's no first day where everything smells like fresh pencil shavings and great possibilities.
Unless, of course, we build that first day ourselves.
So today, we're going back to school, but in a WAY different way than you did when you were a kid.
Everything on the agenda is designed to do one of two things: either sharpen a skill you use to make money, or refresh your imagination that is so vital to the work we do.
SUMMARY
1. Recess
- Buy something fun from an ecommerce site and take notes on every piece of messaging.
- Buy something else and enjoy it without taking a single note.
- Take a real walk with no phone, no podcast, no earbuds. If you are a fan of situational awareness, you would be in condition yellow.
2. School Supplies
- Pay for at least one AI subscription and actually use it.
- Start a swipe file, or clean out the one you already have.
- Get a real notebook and a pen you actually like to use.
3. Books
- Read Obvious Adams, by Robert Updegraff.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T14VCJE
- Read a bestseller — something easy and fun.
- Read one of my books:
Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00513MQ2G/
Breakthrough Copywriting
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1548706957
The Persuasion Story Code
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

4. Extra Curricular Activities
- Go out to a movie and pay attention to the people, the film, and the marketing.
- Hand-copy some pages of fiction and some great copy, to get a sense of the rhythm and feel.
- Interview one real customer and write down their exact words.
5. Free Time
- Learn to turn your brain off from work.
- Binge-watch something on Netflix.
- Listen to a new kind of music just to rattle or soothe your brain.

How do you make the transition from having a job to being a freelance copywriter?
Or, maybe more to the point, if you’re already a freelancer, how do you do what you do and get all the advantages of being a business?
Most copywriters don’t know. It took me years to find out and figure it out myself.
Today we’re going to drastically shorten the learning curve for a lot of listeners. Our returning champion is Kim Krause Schwalm.
Not only has she made this transition–from Publisher to freelancer–herself, getting established as a top A-list copywriting and making millions of dollars for her freelance clients…
But Kim has also mentored dozens of copywriters, marketers, and business owners. She knows what it takes to get the best of both worlds–having a job, and having your own business–and she has helped many other people enjoy those advantages.
Today, she’s going to share those secrets.
Resources:
Kim’s book Client Badassery Secrets is available in print or as an e-book from Amazon and other online booksellers. 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGV7MZ8P
And to find out more about Kim’s copywriting trainings or to get on her email list, go to www.KimSchwalm.com.

Nathan came up with the idea for this show, and it started, of all places, in his mom’s kitchen.
Here’s what happened: 
If Mom says dinner will be ready in 30 minutes, Nathan is much less likely to go digging through the fridge.
So if she wanted to stop him from digging through the fridge, she wouldn’t have to say a word about the fridge. She could just start cooking dinner.
Think about that for a second. No argument. No lecture. No “get out of the fridge.”
Just one piece of information—and an entire behavior stops in its tracks.
When Nathan told me this, I had one of those moments where you realize you’ve been looking at something really important your whole career, without ever really seeing it.
By that I mean, the insanely simple power of copy to STOP you from doing something.
Here’s why I didn’t see that:
Every copywriting formula out there is built to do the opposite. To get someone to START a behavior. To push people toward taking action.
But there’s a whole nother side of influence that almost nobody in our business talks about. 
Not because it doesn’t work. It does.
People don’t talk about it because it’s never been named and explained.
Today, we’re gonna change all that.
We’re talking about using copy to DISsuade people – to STOP a behavior that’s standing between your prospect and the sale (or between your son and his dinner).
We’re going to look at how this technique works, why it’s so powerful, and how you can add it to your skill set, today.