Written By Loren Woirhaye, June 3rd, 2009
Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes
Perhaps unique to copywriting is the idea of “swiping” sales appeals from winning letters written by yourself or other copywriters. This is not, and should not be approached as, strict copying of others’ work, for a couple of reasons. 1) plagiarism is illegal and will land you in hot water because you WILL get sued if you do it in direct marketing, and 2) there is an art to adapting a proven sales message STRUCTURE to the thing you want to sell and the state of AWARENESS in the marketplace at the time.
That’s another way of saying that running old copy won’t work – it must be adapted.
How to get ideas to create winning copy for today adapted (“swiped”) from yesterday’s winning copy:
Any salesletter written by a A-level copywriter that has the APPEALS in it I need for whatever I am working on at the time. Don’t make it hard on yourself by studying Gary Bencivenga’s food letters (which I believe he still writes mostly because it’s fun) and try to apply the methods to selling info-products.
Get the appeal right. I know this seems very basic and 
Written By Loren Woirhaye, June 2nd, 2009
Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes
I don’t know about you, but in school I got by pretty well churning out reports and written tests using big words and self-important academic grammar.
For writing about ideas those stuff can be appropriate – and in the University environment readers are accustomed to such puffery. Ideas are abstract, which is why when we write about ideas in school papers the language gets complicated.
For advertising copy, chuck the write-to-impress model and get down with the common words we all use every day. If people don’t understand the word you use, you will lose them.
Write short sentences. Break up long sentences into shorter ones. Sometime this is easy. Sometimes it is not, but simplicity in communication is worth reaching for.
Try to write in concrete terms. Not abstract terms. Objects and people are concrete. Rudolph Flesch discovered that comprehension of written text increased when people were the subject matter and when their names were used.
For example: “John drove to Mary’s house and met Mary’s parents.”
The John and Mary story is boring but you know instantly what it means. Comprehension is easy because the words are common and short.
Written By Loren Woirhaye, May 31st, 2009
Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes
Despite having only recently hung-out my own shingle as a writer-for-hire, I’ve been writing copy for my own business ventures, and learning a thing or two, since at least 1999. Even though my businesses until 2005 or were mostly local concerns (aside from selling old tools on Ebay), I still used copy in ads and promotional materials.
I also learned some hard lessons about how many balls you need to juggle to make it in the hard goods business. Finally I threw in the towel and went into marketing and selling stuff only instead of what I had done before, which was design, customize, manufacture, maintain machinery, pick-up all manner of heavy and awkward materials, advertise, kiss clients’ butts, install stuff, work long hours for low pay, market, write copy, try to sell, network, and generally run myself ragged trying to do it all by myself.
Did someone call me a fool?
Actually I learned a lot. I learned that owning a small business is a lot more complicated than doing the same thing just for pleasure, especially if your business involves working with clients AND physical labor.
Call me stupid. Somehow I thought
Written By Loren Woirhaye, May 22nd, 2009
Reading time: 3 – 5 minutes
I am an advocate of being aggressive in your marketing – relentless.
I am also a champion of being sincere, selling with your values, following your heart.
For most people the words “selling” and “sincerity” are not ones they associate readily.
This is the fault of society, TV, your family and friends who have talked to you from both sides of the mouth your whole life.
If you listen to what a lot of people say about sales and salespeople and marketer you might think we are nothing but liars and thieves.
…and it is true that we’ve all been burned by salespeople who were not straight-up with us – and that can contribute greatly to the notion that salespeople are unethical shysters.
However – carrying such attitudes with you will do more to prevent your happiness, acquisition of wealth, and success in your own business than any other factor.
Yes, the mind can be a terrible things – especially when it is running on a program that is telling us everyday that we are doing something bad. Like trying to sell stuff to make money.
Wait!
That doesn’t sound so bad, does it?
After all, we all need to make money to
