The most asked question is: "How long should the copy be?"
The second most asked is "How often should you write to people?"
Well, as I mentioned, one lady wrote saying I write to her more often than her son - and she loves it.
She wants me to keep going.
And I just heard from Paul Richardson who said:
I receive your e-letter almost daily. Awesome.
Your clear, unconfused writing style is wickedly appealing.
Because it's in direct contrast to the muddy, BS that has infiltrated our society and now passes for communication. (the school systems don't teach the basics anymore.)
I was a teacher for many years and witnessed the decay (death, actually) of the writing process.
Words are so damn powerful.
That's why I appreciate your style so much.
You write... like you talk... that's my perception, anyway.
No one does that anymore.
So the answer to the second most asked question is in two parts:
1. Write as often as you have something interesting to say.
2. Write in an interesting way.
Now did you notice that I said if you knew the right answer to the question you would make a lot more money?
That's quite a claim. But it's true.
The more often you communicate the better you do.
That is true of all marketing. Coca Cola and Procter and Gamble advertise more than their competitors - and they are more profitable.
The trick is, how to write more interestingly?
Yes great answer
I concur…BUT if Im writing copy for a big brand, I have to fit in with their style and being too familiar/writing like I speak will mean it gets edited.
I can predict your answer but thought it worth making the point…
(you are very familiar with the brand)
Alex
Copywriters must be able to adapt their style to the client’s requirements. I always say you must be a chameleon and an impressionist:-)
Hi sir,
I laughed when I read that lady’s comment about “more often than her son.” You can feel the emotion, right?
As for the chameleon, just few days ago I observed one in our local pet shop. This creature just does not stop surprising me. It is so awfully, AWFULLY slow and careful when moving its strange legs.
However, I was blessed to see its hunting skills too. How it hit its target with laser accuracy from quite a distance. Impressive!
So, in my opinion,here too that small creature can be as an example. I don’t remember which of those legendary copywriters has written about this, but in one of those books there was a thought that a sales page should strike with the same laser accuracy.
The question is: how do you achieve this accuracy? The poet Pope said the proper study of mankind is man. The same applies to marketers. Too many as they crawl their way up the corporate ladder spend so much time in meetings spewing jargon about strategy that they become divorced from the people who buy stuff.
Drayton,
On the subject of the frequency (and method) of advertising / marketing, how often do you do so for your agency? And what do you find to be the best method of harvesting new clients, assuming referrals and repeat business to be at or near the top.
If your agency lost all its’ clients tomorrow, what would you do to start getting new clients to replace them?
Thanks
We email to sell something virtually every day. Probably we promote the agency itself 2-3 times a week, but everything else is designed to promote our understanding of what works and what doesn’t.
Nobody is forced to read the lot – but we do so because we never know when someone is interested. The trick is to try to be interesting. Not easy.
There is a strong correlation between frequency of communication and sales. Michael Senoff told me in an interview I did with him that the change that has improved his business most is emailing daily.
What I did when I was struggling 9 years ago after losing the Mercedes business was to build a list, start emailing daily and write a blog as often as possible.
We use email to people we recruit online via – for the most part – Google Adwords. I write and speak a lot.
Each week I schedule who is allowed to email to our list to sell what. Usually we email 6 times a week. So typically – say this week – there might be 3 emails to sell the agency, three to sell our lunchtime marketing breakthrough and 5 to sell the October seminar. Why 5? Because I am mailing a lot today as there is a close date.
As I am not desperate I don’t do a lot of things I used to do – advertise in the trade press, direct mail in particular.
It is impossible to lose all my clients, but if I did I would start emailing clients whose businesses I understood and who I could see needed help and offering to help on a results or your money back basis.
I write how I speak. I am often told I am a great writer or that I should become an author. However, when I write material for my supervisor, she will tell me this is great! Then say I am going to critique and make a few changes. By the time she is done, it no longer sounds like anything I would say. So, how do you deal with that?
Two alternatives.
1. “I’d really appreciate your help, as I’m confused and you’re the only one who can put me right. Yesterday you told me this was great copy, but you’ve made 47 changes. Can you go through it all and tell me where I was going wrong, otherwise I’ll never learn.”
2. Get another job.
I’ve had the same experience, Drayton. It isn’t so much a critique of the witing style we’re looking for, rather does it hit the point the person authorising the copy wants?
Of course there is often a lot of difference between what the authoriser wants and what will work best. Frequently quite different.
Get another job
Hi Drayton
I am very happy to have met you on my way,
I’ll walk with you again!
🙂
TK
Norman
Drayton,
Thanks for your emails and your expertise. I appreciate you.
However, I have a troubling question that is tangential to your expertise:
“”How do you find an honest (and ethical) list broker?”
Many vendors will be happy to sell a large dung list — but how do you find a good US partner?
Any comments, observations, and guidance will be appreciated.
Thank you.
John
Alas, this requires much research and a bucket of scepticism. The best ways, I suggest, are to join a few forums and ask people on them who they rate and have worked with. Then, having got a short list, to: a) ask to speak with some of their other clients b) do tests – increasing the numbers involved by stages.
Yes! while I coldly delete/unsubscribe emails from “famous bloggers”, I eagerly open yours and even follow the link to read your post. I am short of time and cannot join your course but will do so in future as soon as I get sometime. I took out two minutes to write this comment ; just to tell you how much I love to read you.
Very kind; thank you.
Drayton thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. I really do appreciate them. My apologies for not taking the time and answering you. I am not going to make excuses but will make a bigger effort in future… Just know that I use your material almost on a daily basis in the arena of what I do. Thank you for inviting me on this walk with you…. Love it!
Thanks Angeline. “Persistence alone is omnipotent” – Calvin Coolidge
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Obrigado
This is my first comment to your posts since I met you, Drayton. I read, and endeavor to learn as much as I can from you and from whoever makes you a question. Now it’s time to show up and just wanted to express how important your guidance and wise advice are for me. I love receiving your emails so often and yes, I bought what you offered to me! And I’m after your books as well 😉
Thank you so much Drayton.
Thanks, Rafa. Don’t hesitate to ask me if you have any questions.
You surely are easy on the eyes and a beast to drive your message home, every time. It amazes me how I have kept up with this frequency of communication without unsubsribing while in every other instance no one got even half the chances before I went searching for that small unsubscribe button at the bottom.
Now what remains to be done is to actually put in practice all these nuggets. Me off to joining your course ~
I’ve just finished reading your book. Everyone should read that book. It’s a lesson in more than just how to write a letter (or email!) It is a lesson in how to structure a sale.
When everybody had read your book, they need to read Ogilvy on Advertising (David Ogilvy) and Making Ads Pay! (John Caples) All three books are on my desk at all times!
The strange thing I notice is that ad copy and website copy is today getting worse and not better!
Hi Drayton,
Hope you are well!
I read your post and emails , I smile, and I read them again . Every piece, word by word, even the comments.
Keep it up. Best wishes. :😊