Copywriters Podcast

Once again we’re back to our Copywriting 101 segments in the Old Masters Series, picking up where we left off a couple weeks ago.
This is about copywriting fundamentals. It never hurts to review them, and if you weren’t grounded in fundamentals to begin with, it’s never too late to learn what they are.
One of the best sources of an expert list of the fundamentals is John Caples, in his book Tested Advertising Methods. There was nothing fancy or intellectual about what Caples said or did, and yet he was one of the greatest direct response copywriters of all time.
So our Old Masters Series turns to the late John Caples for source material. Based on his book, we’ve put together a list of fundamentals that everyone should remember and practice. It’s easy to forget or get distracted by the latest shiny object, but ultimately, to win, you alwayshave to go back to the fundamentals.
That’s what we’re going to do today.
–
Tested Advertising Methods, 5th Edition
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0130957011

Let’s talk about something small.
Very small.
Small enough that most copywriters are forced tooverlook it, most of the time.
Because we’ve all been trained to think in termsof big persuasive assets.
The sales letter… the long-form VSL… the casestudy… the big story that carries the whole argument.
And those still matter.
But that’s not what most of us are writing mostof the time.
Most of the time, we’re writing in tight spaces.
Openings… transitions… subject lines… leads….things like that.
Now, we think about those things, for sure. Weworry about those things. We obsess over those things.
But rarely do we think thatwe have room to tell a whole story in those cramped, constrained spaces.
Well, recently I’ve been workshopping a new bookcalled Microstories.
It’s the next step of a new kind of story aftermy book The Persuasion Story Code.
Microstories is a book about compressed persuasion.
See, I kept noticing — in my own work and in thework of other copywriters — what I noticed was that sometimes, the smallestnarrative fragments were doing the heaviest lifting.
Stories that were just one sentence.
Or a mere two lines.
And that small fragment would establish credibility…or soothe an objection… or even, shift a belief.
All without announcing itself as “a story.”
I’m going to share some of my early work fromthe new book today. Stuff you can use right away.
My latest book, The Persuasion Story Code:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

The big secret of success, whether it’s in investing… in professional sports… or in copywriting, is one in the same: A focus on, and a mastery of, the fundamentals.
The legendary basketball player Michael Jordan put it this way: “Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.”
We’ve never done a show that just focused on copywriting fundamentals, so what better time than now?
And one of the best sources of an expert list of the fundamentals is John Caples, in his book Tested Advertising Methods. There was nothing fancy or intellectual about what Caples said or did, and yet he was one of the greatest direct response copywriters of all time.
So our Old Masters Series turns to the late John Caples for source material. Based on his book, we’ve put together a list of fundamentals that everyone should remember and practice.
It’s easy to forget or get distracted by the latest shiny object, but ultimately, to win, you always have to go back to the fundamentals.
That’s what we’re going to do today.
RESOURCE:
Tested Advertising Methods, 5th Edition
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0130957011

Our returning champion is Clive Cable, who was here a few weeks agotalking about his new book Neurocopy.
As Nathan and I got to know Clive a little better, we found out he hasbeen doing a LOT with AI and copywriting that frankly we haven’t seen anyoneelse do.
For example, he has a story-lede generator that comes up with a big idea for asales letter or VSL, and then writes a unique story lede to start the piece.
Clive’s created a bot that writes like Gene Schwartz–but he only uses itto write the FIRST PART of a piece of copy. He has another bot that writesprobably the best kind of close he’s ever seen.
And he’s taken research to a whole new level using AI.
Beyond that, he’s taken the late Chris Marlowe’s brilliant 21 questionprocess for creating copy briefs, and automated it using AI.
And there’s even more.
Clive is putting together an agency to help copywriters and companies,using his suite of AI tools, to do one of four things:
1. Beat a control
2. Do in-depth research
3. Figure out why something’s not working, and
4. Write brand-new copy, right out of the box.
We’ll talk later about how you can reach out to Clive if you’d like tofind out more about what he’s doing.
But for now, you might want to know Clive got started as a door-to-doorsalesman, offering home improvement products and services for as much as$25,000 a pop–and closing an amazing two out of every three people he talkedto.
He’s also an experienced copywriter, and has generated over £40 million,which is over 50 million dollars, across 12 different industries.
Clive also built a supplement company that generated £24,000 a month,selling products including colloidal silver, prebiotics and aerobic oxygen.
We’ll dig into what Clive’s doing with his virtual AI copywriters.
https://clivecable.com/

Dante Aligheri was a copywriter kind of guy. Rather than write in the stuffy, formal Latin which is what everyone else was writing in the 14th century, he wrote in the home boy people’s language of Tuscan.
Dante’s masterwork was The Divine Comedy, and his last line was
“L'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle”
Translated into English, he’s talking about Love–the kind of love that moves the sun and the other stars.
Thus proving that even in medieval Italy, LOVE was recognized as the most powerful motivating force in the Universe.
Yet, how do we tap into that in our copy and take advantage of this irresistible force.
Today’s extremely special guest, Nathan, is here to tell you. Of course you already know Nathan extremely well as the co-host and producer of Copywriters Podcast.
But today he’s going to step out of the virtual control room to tell you how to make your prospects fall in love and obsess over your offer, which is something you really need to know, once you think about it.
Nathan's website
https://cultishcontent.com/