37Signals posted this awesome copy on once.com (awesome domain name), and it explains how they’re charging only ONCE for their software and not the standard subscription-style that’s become so common:

I love the honest and simple way they wrote this!

This one might sting a little for some (including me)....but this chart shows the college majors people most regret getting, usually due to a lack of opportunity the major gets vs the amount of effort/cost to acquire it. 

Do you regret any of these??

“How do I make money?”  This graph has answers! 

Just glancing at it you’ll discover a ton of different services you probably didn’t even know about for making some side money:

The eye tracking chart:

1 year ago to this day: 
"Let's go paint balling and dress up like we came from the office." 

....only one person did 😂

Nothing can get more complex than explaining economic ideas, but having a slick image can do it in 1 second. Here’s some examples:

This graph shows allllll the different excuses to sell over the last 15 years.

It explains a simple-yet-complex concept to hold very long term, and ignore short term fluctuations. This is what Warren Buffett has been preaching for 50+ years!

Here’s a graph explaining inflation, and how “$1” is worth far less over time.

This one is super cool, instantly showcasing the concept that it took Google a whole slew of successful products to get where they are today:

This graph shows that “timing the marketing” can be very profitable…or a total loss 😳

This graph gives a range of income to be considered “Middle” Class” in different areas:

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

Question for you:

What have YOU learned the most from me in the past years?
A.) Copywriting
B.) Digital Marketing
C.) Making money
D.) Sales

Reply with your answer! I read all of them!

Did you know there's a whole industry dedicated to re-doing restaurant menu's to sell more?

Especially if you go to a large chain restaurant, 100's of hours have been put into subliminally directing you which food & drinks to buy:

Here's a very plain menu:

...and here's one that's been optimized like crazy:

The photos actually direct people to the menu items they want you to choose.

Having done this many times across many email lists, I can tell you it's healthy for the email list in the long run, but a massive hit to the ego in the short run!!

On one email list I removed 70,000 people.....it's a big blow to the ego for sure. 

On a clients company we removed a whopping 350,000 emails in ONE GO 😳
Quality of Audience > Quantity of Audience.

Today this simple desk setup could be made for $100, and the video and audio you make at it could be distributed for free to the entire world.

In 1970’s that type of power and distribution was reserved for only a few dozen people on the whole planet: 

 

Me and a few friends took a quick trip to Boston this last week to go to Inbound 2023 hosted by HubSpot. Here's the story!

We headed to Boston earrrrlly in the morning. Here's @thesamparr passed the f out across the isle from me with some crazy eye mask 😂

We couldn't checkin to the hotel so we changed in the back of a van taxi and got to the convention center (yes Sam is tall):

The Inbound conf took up the entire Boston Convention Center. About 12,000 people. It was pretty huge.

This was a quick trip, so we tried to meetup with everyone we could. Bumped into all sorts of people we hadn't met in person before @jayclouse and @KAL79.

Soon after we arrived Sam hosted this Shark Tank style pitch competition where a million bucks (I think) was being awarded:

The two winners of the pitch competition were: @ArjunMahadevan for @doolaHQ and @qfav95 for Tavus ....also there was a unicorn presenting the award 😂

We wandered around the conference for a while. We tried to steal this cart to get around but were unsuccessful (probably for the best) 🤔@nickgraynews

Then we went to see @hubermanlab speak. I took this video to show the sheer scale of this room. It had ~10,000 seats 🤯

Walking from the back row to the front row took minutes.

The room was like an optical illusion with how big it was!

Walking from the back row to the front row took minutes. The room was like an optical illusion with how big it was.

The last talk wasn't a talk....but a comedy set from John Mulaney! I listen to a lot of comedy podcasts, and they usually say corporate gigs suck.....but John KILLED IT!! He did crowd work, roasted the conference, roasted the CEO's....it was awesome. 

Then afterwards me + Sam + Nick had dinner with the HubSpot co-founder Dharmesh.

What a cool guy, and such a special way to end the first day!

The next morning was a talk with Sam about community and Hampton. I was moderator. 

We went backstage and saw the crazy setup they had back there:

They had a fulllllll on professional production going on backstage. 

They even did hair/makeup for us 😂

The whole production was so well run, and it's really neat to see behind the scenes. They had 5 green rooms with snakes and drinks. Me and Sam were going over some last minute prep. Also it was super helpful to have Nick there for this (First because he's our buddy and we love hanging, Second because he took some fun pics, and Third because he's so on top of his stuff)! 

It was fun looking at the technical stuff behind the scenes, I love that stuff. There were so many video streams and switching equipment and A/V stations. It looked really neat.

Up on stage:

Up on stage with @thesamparr:

Then right before leaving Boston @nickgraynews managed to squeeze in a sweet JFK Museum tour for us!

That's a wrap on our quick fun trip to Boston!

 

 

“Constraints Create Creativity.” 

If you add a constraint to a task, you’ll likely think of a way to finish it by then. 

One of my favorite questions to ask for a task is:

I had a to-do list the other day that needed completing....I didn't do most of it.

Then I had an event to attend so I only had 30 minutes left. I FINISHED ALL THE WORK IN 30 MINUTES 🤔

This is because there was a constraint.

So if you give yourself a constraint you can often finish stuff way faster!

Here's a cool chart from Lenny on how long it took each of these companies to:
▲ Launch a live product
◼ Get their first customer
⚫️ Get Product Market Fit
I’m not the biggest fan of the symbols they used (a little confusing IMO) but still cool!

I thought this was a cool ad for cufflinks that not only looks great, but also shows off their entire collection + pricing:

You can see in the eye trace how people's eyes scan through each one!

There's a great phrase:

Quote

"Writing is thinking."

The act of "writing" is usually hard because it involves a lot of thinking and brain power. 

But writing things down can help:

• Clarify your thoughts.
• Remember material better.
• Help with decision making. 

I use this thing called a "Boogie Board" to write stuff down on all the time...you press a button and it permanently erases everything. 

It's such a cool tool to brainstorm with:

Whoa…this pie chart shows how 3 companies own 93% of the entire soft drink industry 🤯

This past weekend I escaped the Texas summer heat and went to Malibu. 

We stayed at an awesome resort called Calamigos and it was amazing:
 

I enjoyed the nice weather outside:

Took an outside dunk 😬

Hung out by the pool:

And saw a lot of beautiful landscape around Malibu:

In lieu of an essay today, can I ask you a question? 

Why (or why not) did you join Copywriting Course? 

Example responses:
- I wanted help on some marketing.
- I wanted to learn about a specific subject.
- I wanted to get help in the Office Hours sessions.

Or would you want to hear...
- More about starting a freelancing businesses (not just copywriting).
- Digital Marketing in general.
- Agency work.

I would love if you respond, even if it's short, and I will keep the responses private. Thank you 🙏🏼
 

Wow…this graphic shows a surprising conclusion:

When Nike sells a $100 shoe, they make only $5 in profit!?!

This is a cool “social proof” ad for Good Year Tires that shows alllllllll the cars for 57 years that used Good Year Tires as their stock tire. It’s like showcasing all the companies that use your product.

Not only is this a good use of social proof, but also just a beautiful frame-worthy ad!

The eye tracking charts show it goes for the tire first then people glimpse at the individual cars:

We can all relate to this….you plan all this stuff for the morning, and you end up working on a “little of everything” and end up getting nothing done 😬

This is called a “Productivity Trap” where you start your day, but get caught up in a whirlwind of tasks that seem productive but are all over the place 😵‍💫

This is an awesome example of “Testimonial Judo” (using a bad review to show why the product is actually awesome).

Checkout the "bad review" of this ski mountain:

The person is complaining it's "too advanced" which actually makes it desirable to advanced skiers:

I've got "birds nest" balcony on my house and sometimes I just hang out here in the morning or evening and watch the sun rising or setting:

Best is when drinking coffee and feeling the caffeine buzz come on while up there ☕️

This is a super cool word-of-mouth flyer I saw at a friends event that had all the right elements for a referral:
→ A polite request for recommendations. 
→ Explains what the company does. 
→ Shows social proof. 
→ CTA to text the founders.

FRONT OF FLYER:

BACK OF FLYER:

This is my PSA to the world:

When trying to schedule a hangout with someone, a 45 second call is way better than 15 back-n-forth interspersed text messages!

Few understand this:

Yes texting is awesome in many cases....but if there's conflicting schedules or complex plans, a quick call is far better to hash it out quickly!!

The Tesla showrooms show that after a $7,500 federal credit a Tesla Model 3 is technically cheaper per mile than a Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry, or BMW 3-Series.

Comparing your pricing to something else is a popular tactic (i.e. “This software is cheaper than buying a coffee everyday.”

[YOUR SERVICE] → Compared to something relatable:

1. "Our monthly subscription costs less than a gym membership."
2. "You can get our product for the price of a movie ticket."
3. "Our service costs less than a daily newspaper subscription."
4. "For the price of a Happy Meal, you can get access."
5. "Our pricing is comparable to a cup of coffee."
6. "You can get our product for the price of a couple of cups of tea."
7. "Our annual subscription is cheaper than a night out at the movies."
8. "For the cost of a pizza delivery, you can have our product for a whole month."
9. "Our pricing is equivalent to a single ride on public transportation."
10. "You can get our service for the price of a magazine subscription."

Who is REALLY your target audience? Find them and sales become easier...sometimes it's not who you think:

Many people sell to the wrong audience for years (I did). Here’s a way to figure out who is REALLY your target audience, and to find out where they hang out so you can grab em.

AI thinks I’m the 8th best copywriter. I’ll take it 😂

 

Nadeera ChatGPT'd about copywriters and saw this!

It's kind of interesting: Maybe the new form of "SEO" is being mentioned in generative AI results.

Ironically the way to do that is by being ranked high in the search results (which AI learns from).

Around 1999 British Airways was the main sponsor of the London Eye, and they had problems “erecting it” on time. Richard Branson…ever the provocateur…took advantage of this and got a blimp to say “BA CAN’T GET IT UP!!” resulting in a ton of attention for Virgin Airways 😂

I started consulting years ago when UpWork was a small platform for small freelancers. 

But now it's a top 1,000 site on the planet with ~50m visits/mo:

I was thinking: 

If start consulting again today, I would start on UpWork FIRST. 

There seems to be major benefits to doing consulting on a platform such as:

It brings new customers to you:
People searching UpWork for copywriting or digital marketing would find me, and many times wouldn't have found me any other way.

If people don't buy consulting, they may buy other products.
There's been a few times I've searched on UpWork, and while I didn't hire the person I found the portfolio or website interesting and started following them.

**Reviews** This is a major one...perhaps THE reason to do it:
I've done consulting for hundreds of companies big & small, and it doesn't get published (or proved) anywhere. That would change if it were all logged and rated on a platform. 

For example here's just a fraction of the companies I've worked with:

...but you'd never know it.

Imagine if I'd been logging all these consults (with reviews included) for the last 10 years.

If I did an UpWork Experiment, would you be interested in buying a 1-on-1 consult for a greatly reduced price?

Reply to this email with your:
- Name
- Phone number
- (Optional): What you'd like to talk about.

I would pack the schedule with consults in exchange for reviews. Also these calls are awesome, we can talk strategy, or just do work on the spot (my favorite)!

 

I’m assuming there was a marketing meeting where they showed a chart of the best sellers in a gas station, then slapped this product together 😂

I was at a gas station when I took this pic....and something about the "SNICKERS" logo just instantly grabbed (maybe bc I used to eat them all the time 😬), so I ran it through an eye tracker and confirmed that's generally the first thing people see!

The next David Ogilvy cleary lives in India, checkout this solid copywriting 😂😂

What do you think is a better pricing structure?
• Monthly payments?
-or-
• Yearly payments?

There’s clearly pro’s and con’s to each one:

My personal thought is that both of them work together. We often see people “dip their toe in the water” with a monthly payment, then upgrade to yearly payment to save money. 

What’s been YOUR experience with monthly vs yearly pricing?

I love different ways of “showing data” and I’ve never seen this style before. 

It shows the movement in size of different economies over 20 years. It displays less information than a traditional line graph, but DOES show information easier and more attractively.

Our friend built a cold plunge and sauna setup....and she was out of town for a few weeks, so me and a buddy have been jumping the fence to use it all the time. 

She sent us footage of us breaking in...it's like the Burglar Olympics 😂

Who do you think won??

• I jumped the fence slower, but opened the gate faster.
• Sam jumped over faster, but opened the gate slower.

Tough decision 🤔

Using images to display info is often much better than trying to explain with words!

The best combo is using an image to convey the initial concept, then using copy to back it up or tell stories. 

For example this image of "inflation" visualized:

Explain "unbundling" is easily conveyed in this graphic showing the unbundling of Excel Spreadsheets:

Or what about this classic image of unbundling Craigslist:

Imagery works especially well in health. Checkout this image which educates you on calories in one glance. A chart like this is what made me realize how bad some foods were compared to others:

This image visually shows how people who take notes move faster towards wisdom than someone who reads-and-forgets:

And ultimately if you can't use a good visual, then use an analogy like this!

Moral of the story: I think good copywriters should also know how to make images!

This wild looking metal ball embossed with letters was the innovation behind the IBM Selectric Typewriter (13m+ sold).

Normally people don’t care how something works, but this mechanism was so unique and interesting looking it because the main highlight of this print ad:

You can see a slow-mo gif of it where in milliseconds it: Recognizes the letter you hit → Moves the ball to the correct letter → Punches the page

When I wrote this post, I IMMEDIATELY WANTED ONE OF THESE FOR OFFICE DECORATION! 

So I went on eBay and bought 4:

Here's the funny thing....I didn't know they were so tiny! I thought these things were heavy and the size of billiard balls. 

In reality each one is like an inch long and super lightweight 😂
It looks big here:

But it's actually crazy small:

Anyways...lesson learned....and they're still kinda neat 🙂

Do you know what a "Brand Board" is? 

It's a simple guide for your website that contains all the common colors, fonts, layouts, and imagery to keep your brand consistent. 

Here's the typical structure of a brand board:

Here's a couple of examples of filled out brand boards. You can see the "mood" of each board created by the different colors and fonts:

I'm personally going to get a Brand Board designed for Copywriting Course and Swipe File and implement a similar brand/look across them:

  

If anyone does this professionally, I'd be interested in engaging with you! Email me back.

**BONUS POINTS if we can mock up the styles directly in Chrome DevTools with CSS to see it live.
 

The goal of great copywriting is to take what’s in your brain, and transfer it to someone else's brain in the most efficient & sticky way:

This is a really high-converting email signup pop-up on Copywriting Course to get people to the weekly newsletter. It’s a pretty simple structure: 

• [Headline] 
• [Fun GIF] 
• [3 Bullet Points Why To Sign Up] 
• [Email Enter]

Email pop-ups don't *always* need to be complex!

I like how this one image represents a complete style-guide for a 1920’s era man with this simple chart. 

A bunch of information is easily displayed through this chart!

A few years back I hired a stylist who bought be a whole “men's basic wardrobe.” 

It was clear I had no idea how to put together an outfit, so she made me a visual style guide:

Checkout this trend chart for these different terms:

🟦 = “Conversion Rate Optimization”
🟥 = “Copywriting”
🟨 = “Digital Marketing”

It's surprising how much larger the term “Digital Marketing” is over the others!

This is because "Digital Marketing" is a general term describing any marketing that happens on the internet. 

If we were to break it down it'd probably look something like:

Generally the way to "break into" a big industry like digital marketing is to get pretty good at 1-to-3 of the skills that make it up. 
 

Maybe like:
• Be 75% good at copywriting.
• Be 55% good at social media.
• Be 80% good at making a Shopify store.

Daisy-chaining several skills together is an extremely powerful way to be "good" at an industry.
 

Want a piece of copy reviewed by myself and other professional writers?

We have an intake form here:

The form creates a thread where myself, the writers, and the community give you feedback on what to improve, and re-do whole sections if needed. 

It's like a factory for getting specific pieces of your digital marketing re-done:

HA! Saw this sign while walking down the street:

 

As a purveyor of funny sidewalk signs, I realized I've seen this similar sign before. Googled it and found MANY versions of it!

The title "Husband Daycare Center" is enough of a pattern interrupt for people to stop and read the sign.

If it works, it works!

Basically everything that’s heavily government regulated has gone up in price, and everything competing in the free market gets cheaper:

The free market works. Some regulation for safety is good, but out of control regulation makes things worse.

This graphic taught me a lot….I didn’t realize what young men the Founding Fathers of the United States were. Kind of mind blowing!

I added a TV to my home garage gym setup a few months ago and it's been amazing! 

Sometimes I just hang out there and stretch while watching cool YouTube videos or MasterClass.

Also Peloton just added native NetFlix support, which has been super cool for getting movement in while otherwise vegging out:

A lot of my friends like using their Peloton like this, but the only way to do it before was using an iPad holder like this:

...how it's a shame to waste that gig giant screen behind it 😬

Glad they added support for watching TV while biking, makes a lot of sense.

 

Inflation is a hard concept to explain….but this simple picture really “shows” it perfectly!

It’s easy to see how much the buying power of the dollar has decreased in ~100 years by seeing the giant stack of money -vs- a few bucks in 1933.

Here's a standard graph showing it :

And here's another way to visualize it by showing how much $20 used to be just a few years back....this one isn't super accurate, but it conveys the concept of "inflation" as well:

 

Maria Popova runs a huge blog called The Marginalian (3m+ visitors/mo) and it's interestingly supported through donations only.

She doesn't give extra content for the donations, it's just done out of the goodness of readers hearts.

This is the simple pitch for donations at the bottom of each article that keep the entire site alive:

A podcast I like called 99% Invisible prided themselves on only taking donations, and eventually caved to taking sponsors. I've seen it happen over and over again with donation-based orgs.

Have you ever seen a site based on donations?

This is a great home page from software company Synthesia. It has an easy headline, 3 key features and benefits, and an explainer video which demo’s the product.

I highlighted all the key parts of this image here:

A great quote from Neil Gaiman (writer) about collecting a “compost heap” of ideas and inspirations. I personally call my compost heap a Swipe File and post all my ideas, inspirations, quotes, and swipes on it.

This bar Lazarus Brewing offers a “free beer for life” if you buy this chalice. They initially did it during the pandemic to raise funds for the bar, and it worked so well they continued it!

I have a few friends who bought it for $1,200 and they ALWAYS suggest we go to Lazarus where the who group orders food and drinks:

It seems like such a smart move, because you turn customers into ambassadors of the bar!

If you build a custom jump-in cold plunge and hot tub combo in Austin when it’s 100+ degrees like @cathrynlavery, everyone always wants to come over! 

Cathryn wanted a full jump-in cold plunge (not like the bathtub-style) so she created her own with a tank made for farms and custom rigged the plumbing.

There's also a sauna right next to it.

We spent 4+ hours in the heat and felt totally fine. Anytime you feel hot you just jump in for a bit, and you don't even feel the heat after!

MasterClass has a super interesting sales sequence on their homepage which gets you to purchase in 6 steps.

But they don't just show you pricing right away, they make you do "6 little yes's" before showing you pricing!

Step 1.) They give you quick survey for what you want to learn. Answering this gets you “invested” in the product a bit more:

 

Step 2.) It shows you some key information about MasterClass in the form of slides.

So instead of sending you straight to a payment page, they are making sure you understand the value of your membership:

 

Step 3.) They give you another quick “survey” which asks your dedication level.

Each step of this sequence gets users more investing in purchasing:

 

Step 4.) Based off your answer it shows how long it will take to complete a class, giving a little “customization” to this sales sequence:

 

Step 5.) It then gives the amount of classes you’d be interested in based off your Step 1 survey answers:

 

Step 6.) Finally it shows you 3 different membership options. 

At this point you are a bit more “invested” in buying the membership rather than just sticking a pricing sheet in your face. Very clever!

Year ago before releasing this book, I split test the title & cover with my audience:

• 842 people responded 
• 21% voted: "The Ten Commandments of Copywriting"
• 79% voted: "This Book Will Teach You How To Write Better"

While this A/B split test wasn't the most scientific, when ~80% of people vote one way, it probably tells you something. 

Looking back, the "B" cover was the right choice!