Copywriters Podcast

Our special guest today didn’t start out planning to be a copywriter, but found his way into it after posting online reviews of his favorite martial arts movies in college, and getting his writing compared to that of Dan Kennedy.
He looked up Dan and found what he had to say interesting. But he didn’t become a copywriter or a marketer at the time. Instead, he finished his degree and went from job to job for a few years until he landed in sales, where he ended up doing really well. 
12 years after his first internet posting came the crash of 2009. Andrew Gould was the top salesman at his company at the time. But the company itself went under, and Andrew was out of a job. 
It was then he remembered Dan, and found his way into copywriting.
That was 17 years ago.
Since then, Andrew has racked up about $150 million in sales for his clients. He’s always been a freelancer and he’s written copy for companies in niches ranging from self-defense to joint mobility to power generators.
He’s also taken several hobby businesses from a few thousand dollars a month to $50K and even $100K a month.
Copywriters Andrew has coached have had multiple six-figure launches across a wide variety of niches.
Andrew says he’s not a great writer himself, but what has helped him do so well is his research.
And I quote:
“I focus on becoming the audience I’m writing for. For example, I’ve taken hot yoga classes this year for an offer I’m writing.”
Andrew told me he loves to focus on the fundamentals, which is something we both have in common. Andrew has a very systematic and easy approach to the fundamentals of understanding people, which ties right into his extraordinary accomplishments in research and the resulting sales.
I think this is incredibly valuable information that is not talked about very much, but should be.
Andrew agreed to share this approach with us today, and I was really excited to hear what he had to say.
You can contact Andrew on X online, at https://x.com/AndrewWriteCopy

Last week, we did a show on how content marketing is failing direct marketers when you do it the way everyone else does it.
Basically, social media encourages you to crave attention and approval, instead of get results.
Nathan asked me if we could a completely different version of the show, where we focus on including direct response elements in our content marketing.
I thought that was a great idea! So, we’ll do that, and cover the use of direct response thinking and techniques in social media, articles, videos and emails.

RESOURCES
My books:
The Persuasion Story Code
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

Breakthrough Copywriting
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1548706957

Mentoring:
https://garfinkelcoaching.com

Our returning champion today is Kim Krause Schwalm, and she is going to share some amazing and unique information with you.
The late Clayton Makepiece, a legend himself in copywriting, said, and I quote: “Kim Krause Schwalm is one of the hottest copywriters alive.”
Here’s a little background:
Kim was always a marketer who could write copy. Before she launched her freelance career in 1998, she spent years in corporate marketing — from Brand Manager to Publisher — including building the Healthy Directions supplement business to the equivalent of nearly $40 million in sales within its first three years. 
But we’re talking to Kim today as one of the top A-list direct response copywriters in the country. She's racked up dozens of controls, beat legendary copywriters head-to-head, and was the first female copywriter to create a package that became a Boardroom control. 
Her clients have included Bottom Line, National Geographic, Green Valley Natural Solutions, and other leading companies across the US, England, Germany, and Singapore. 
Kim has a bachelor’s in Math and Statistics and an MBA in Marketing. She brings that rare combination of creative instinct and analytical rigor to everything she writes. And, she is the author of the number-one Amazon bestselling book, Client Badassery Secrets.
Today, she’s going to share secrets about writing bullet points you simply won’t get anywhere else.
Here’s Kim’s offer. There’s really more than I can tell you about. Seven deliverables and three bonuses. Some highlights include• Her Get Dangerously Good Copywriting System• The bullet writing boot camp, which today’s show was drawn from• Kim’s Million Dollar Controls Master Class
• Her Supplement Copy Boot Camp… and much, much more.
Six more pieces, in fact. Copywriting education I wish I had when I got started.
This bundle will only be available until midnight Pacific Daylight Time on Friday, June 19. You’ve got to read about it for a sense of everything you get, and then you can decide if this is for you.
Here’s the link:
https://kimschwalm.lpages.co/kims-copywriting-vault-for-david-garfinkels-followers/

If you’ve always wondered about content marketing, you’re not alone. It’s a confusing term and there’s no standard definition to describe what it means.
It really depends on your point of view.
Well, we have a point of view on this podcast, and it is the point of view of direct-response copywriting.
Now, to be sure, not EVERY word you write is part of a sales letter, even from our point of view.
But every word should lead in some way to a sales process at best or build up the business another way at worst.
And a lot of people get lost along the way, chasing shiny objects and striving for accomplishments that really don’t mean very much, outside of the momentary thrill of bragging rights.
We’re going to sort things out today so you can decide for yourself what matters and what you should be going after with your content marketing.
Links:
Cultish Content
https://cultishcontent.com/
Garfinkel Coaching
https://garfinkelcoaching.com

My new book, The Persuasion Story Code
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

Social media can be a HUGE waste of time, but sometimes when you’re scrolling you come upon a gem.
I did last week, and it led to all kinds of crazy thoughts.
I was on Twitter/X, and I discovered this post by lesser known but A-plus screenwriting expert Tom Vaughan, who has written eight films.
On Twitter/X, he wrote:
I have noticed many younger writers prefer to forgo a romance in their screenplay. This is fine. You don't NEED a romance in a story that's not about the romance.
But you do need to fill that space. It's the RELATIONSHIP that is vital. A friend, parent, child, or sibling.
Audiences care about relationships. Perhaps more than anything else. And we want to see how those relationships affect the protagonists. For better and for worse. A key job with your screenwriting is to know the most important one in your story.
My first thought was, yeah, he’s right. Second thought: Uhh, I need to know more about this.
Third thought: OK, wiseguy, that’s fine for MOVIES. But what about copywriting?
I did some research and some thinking and you’ll be surprised how much the most famous ads in history involve relationships, as well as the most profitable one ever tracked.
I’ll share some interesting and useful information about all this today.
Resources
Tom Vaughan’s Twitter/X handle: @storyandplot
Tom Vaughan’s website:​​https://storyandplot.com/
Coaching with me: https://garfinkelcoaching.com