If you wanted to flex as a kid, you showed up with the Crayons box with the built in sharpener 😎

That built-in sharpener was a unique feature stood out, was useful, and for kids it was the adult-equivalent of walking around with a Gucci purse!

Speaking of showing off...this other Crayola ad from 1959 shows a little kid with his “hands against a store window” looking at a box of Crayola Crayons. The ad is designed to show parents that THIS is the gift to buy their kids:

If you want to build something big (or run a small company with large outputs), you need to some form of "scale."

There's 4 main ways to scale:

1.) Scale with Code
2.) Scale with Media
3.) Scale with Product
4.) Scale with People

With the advent of new AI tools that can do more-and-more tasks, the people that can utilize those tools will scale even further.

1.) Scale with Code/AI

If your product consists only of computer code, this is the easiest form of scaling because you can run that computer code trillions of times for almost zero money:

2.) Scale with Media

You can create a piece of media, then show it over-and-over again at virtually zero cost.

Looks at these videos I made 4+ years ago...till this day, everyday, they bring in views/subscribers/buyers. Pretty good for something I did ONCE 4 years ago:

3.) Scale with a reproducible product

Once you've designed a machine/process to build a product, you can crank out a bunch of them quickly, getting you to "scale."

4.) Scale with People

Almost any process can be scaled, but some of them currently require real humans, not just computer code or AI.

For example a writing agency can assign different tasks to different people, and output a lot of writing:

With AI getting better, these people can become even more effective and create more output.

This “reverse psychology” style ad campaign from Avis did a fun judo-move and turned their “being only No. 2” status into the reason you SHOULD rent a car from them! 

They did this in response to Hertz having an ad campaign showing how they’re #1.

This reminds me of a funny billboard David Letterman took out in response to Jay Leno’s #1 billboard in New York City 😂

One of my favorite product lines in history is Philips Hue lights. I have ~85 Philips Hue connected lights & devices throughout my house 😬

I don't get sponsored by Philips Hue (but it would totally be my dream).

My favorite part is a single press of a button can change the whole vibe of a room, or the entire house.

When I'm not on video calls I use this vibey light setting in my office:

Just a couple of Phillips Hue Play and some color bulbs in lamps light up the whole office.

One press on the remote and office gets funnkkaayy:

I've been shuffling around furniture in my office lately, so you'll see different views of this in the near future 🙂

Instead of think of "Luck" as some nebulous concept, think of it like a unit of measure.

In other words: How many "Units of Luck" are you producing for yourself?

Warren Buffett talks about how lucky he is:

• Two parents
• Speaks English
• Born in the United States
• Born during a time when USA was booming

Each one of these added "Units of Luck" to his life.

Here's other ways to add "Units of Luck" to your own life:

• Be hard working, and willing to do more than someone else.
• Take more shots than other people normally do.
• When young try many different things, weed out stuff you don't like, do more of what you do like.
• Share your thoughts on the internet, this can attract other like-minded people into your network, no matter where they live.
• Go to places with successful people. Cities, events, gatherings etc.

Takeaways:

• You create "Luck."
• "Luck" isn't a quality you have, it's a quality you build.
• You can create more "Luck."
• People who create a lot of "Units of Luck" get lucky.

Here's an experiment I added this week:
Putting my own ads on SwipeFile.com (my personal swipe file).

I added these two boxes on there as add placements:

They show up on the site like this, in the 5th and 12th slots:

I can't track the book ad very well since it goes to Amazon, but I can track the CC link: 85+ clicks so far, and the highest on-page time of all referrals.

Interestingly, the normal Adsense revenue that comes from the site hasn't dropped at all....so far this has been a huge win!

A constant chore of marketers is to demonstrate why a cheaper product is not necessarily better, and might even cost you MORE in replacement over time. 

This graphic does that with two pairs of running shoes:

I’ve always believed copywriting is a skill to learn so you can apply it to a business you own, not necessarily to BECOME a professional copywriter.

This way you can improve any piece of marketing you ever send out:

My advice for people coming up with taglines or slogans for their company:

Don’t pay attention to billion dollar brands! 
Example: Apple's slogan of: “Think Different”

Instead, you should pick a slogan based on your size: 
• Small Company: Be very direct. 
• Medium Company: Can be slightly vague. 
• Big Company: Aspirational.

For example:

When you’re a giant brand you have many products and many services, so a “direct” slogan is hard.

That’s when you can go aspirational and vague like:

My personal opinion for best big company slogan is Geico, because their slogan also SELLS!

To me, this is what ideal male body looks like:

• Muscles look big (but not too big)
• Maintainable body fat
• Can still be limber

Judging by the picture above, he is 10% to 12% body fat.

My current goal for myself by the end of May is 15% body fat, and I think I can comfortably live at that percentage for most of my life.

One regret I've had is not putting my consulting on a platform. 

This tiny hidden page is what 100% of my consulting has come through 😂

That dumb page has results in hundreds of consulting calls over the years, I reserve Tuesdays for them, and they are great fun and educational!

• You get to hear people's cool stories and numbers.
• You get exposed to a bunch of different industries.
• You get to advise on marketing tactics and see the results.
• You make some extra cash.
• You get clients out of it.

But my big mistake has been...

Not putting myself on a platform and building credibility through those hundreds of sessions.

I wish I could reverse by a few years, and built tons of reviews and credibility on either: Intro.co, Clarity.fm, UpWork.com, MentorPass etc...

While consulting is not scaleable as other business activities (which is why I relegate it to just Tuesday's), I feel like personally LEARN a ton from other people, and make genuine connections as well (plus get paid for it).

This will probably be something I try to build up in Q3 of the year.

Step 1 is going to be picking the right platform to build on. I'm undecided about this still. I just made a profile on Intro here and will try that first:

Step 2 would be to build up reviews and results on some platform.

While UpWork is associated with cheap hourly work, it has 50m+ views/mo, is world-wide, has many high end workers, and now has a consultation feature:

I'm curious if YOU have any experience with any good platforms for this? Reply and let me know!

What I like most about this ChatGPT Cheat Sheet is that it all fits on one page. What a great download or one-pager to send people, and this type of “screenshottable” image does very well on social media!

Created by: @hasantoxr

Lol...I'm not sure who originally created this dentist ad, but it's been re-used by HUNDREDS of different dentists across social networks and ad networks.

The guys tooth really grabs attention 😂

I scrolled by this image and immediately had to screenshot it, so it worked! This chart assumes a 4% interest return per year.

Sometimes it's just need to see a giant table of data like this, it makes for very screenshottable social media images!

This was the equivalent of 18th century Google Chrome Tabs 😂

This was a cool device that allowed researchers to read up to 8 books at a time (high tech stuff for the time)

It's kind of wild that in many of our lifetimes information was retrieved by looking it up in books. That kind of thing is almost inconceivably inefficient now.

•15 years ago NONE of these things even existed:

• 2 years ago GPT-3 came out (predecessor to ChatGPT).

• 4 months ago ChatGPT didn’t exist.

New tools for learning and information retrieval are getting faster and cooler!

Once you go this route, it’s hard to go back 😏

A couple years back me and my brother went to Japan for a few weeks, and EVERY SINGLE PLACE IN JAPAN had an automated bidet like this.

It took a few days for me to get used to, but once I got the hang of it going back to normal was hard.

A few months ago I put one at my house, and it's AWESOME 😎

Here's a quick essay by David Ogilvy (legendary marketer) on how to write:

Here's the pieces of advice I like the most from this:

2.) Write the way you talk. Naturally.

3.) Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.

4.) Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.

8.) If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.

9.) Before you send your letter or memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.

10.) If you want ACTION, don't write. Go and tell the guy what you want.

This cool graphic by @OzolinsJanis is a great reminder to show the results of your work, not the tools:

This is especially important in selling where showing the end result is more important....the specific tools used to get the customer there aren't as important.

For example: The customer cares about how the picture and the picture frame look on their wall....they care less about the type of camera used:

Because it’s “handwritten” you'd think someone wrote this and left it at your door…and it definitely got my attention enough to read through it!

The ad above is from a flooring company, but it looks like the window installation industry has caught onto this too, checkout this "handwritten quote" from a window installer:

Speaking of hand writing....I currently hand write my daily to-do list, but it lacks one major component:

It's not digital so I can't share it between devices!

My wishlist of features would be:
• Access/edit from phone and desktop.
• Easily integrates with everything.
• Not many options, dead simple.

SO I polled Twitter for the best *simple* daily to-do list app, here's results:

• Todoist: 21 votes
• Things3: 7 votes
• MS Todo: 5 votes
• Apple Notes: 4 votes
• Google Keep: 4 votes
• Written: 4 votes
• Apple Reminders: 3 votes
• Notion: 3 votes
• Teuxdeux: 3 votes
• TickTick: 3 votes
• Asana: 2 votes
• Evernote: 2 votes
• Sunsama: 2 votes
• Trello: 2 votes
• Tweek.so: 2 votes
• Alexa: 1 vote
• Any.Do: 1 vote
• Carrot: 1 vote
• Done: 1 vote

I will commence playing around with a few of these! Let me know if you have suggestions as well 🙂

In Apple Stores all screens are tilted at exactly 76° degrees. This is so you move the screen with your hand…interacting with the product more and making you feel more attached to it.

They use protractors to measure the screens:

The laptop screens are measured at 76° as well:

Isn't that level of obsession so hilariously "Apple-like"? 😂

I remember Earl Nightingale telling a story from the 1970's about a top television salesman (I'm paraphrasing this):

Guess the 76° Rule isn't so crazy!

A fun & cheap joy in life is getting a carwash!

Here's me enjoying my $7 thrill 😂

It's like you go into a different world for a few minutes.

Pro-Tip: If you have automatic seat presets, make setting #3 a "CHILLAX" setting where one button push leans the seat back, lowers the seat, and moves the steering wheel up 😎

An extremely common Instagram Ad I’ve been seeing is this white paint makeover for older brick houses.

They just paint over the brick, and paint the window trims black so it gives the house an updated "Stucco" look. TBH it looks pretty damn good!

I think Before & After photos are one of the best way to get attention for a service on social media. It instantly shows the transformation people want without a lot of text. Here's another great example of Before & After ad:

**Side Note** I posted that brick-to-white house makeover on social media, and HOLY COW DO SOME PEOPLE HATE IT!!

I personally think it looks neat, but man the amount of hate comments it got was kind of hilarious. Never thought THIS would spark such a heated debate 😬

Whatever your yearly goal is, you still have 9 more months to complete it:

❌ Q1: January, February, March
✅ Q2: April, May, June
✅ Q3: July, August, September
✅ Q4: October, November, December

At this time I'd like to invite you to join The Copywriting Course.

Why?

Because if you sell online we can help you optimize & improve every piece of marketing you have:

Here's 4 Member Wins from March 2023 alone:

"Thanks for the feedback on my newsletter. It worked really well. We sold out of our first shipment on the first day. " - HN

"And I thought I was just gonna learn copywriting here. Thanks for the GOLD marketing advice." - JH

"Major win---launched my podcast today! Thank you all for the inspiration, support and great feedback that made it possible!" - TG

"I'm amazed how much my business grew in 2023. This course and the hands-on feedback from the mentors & community made all the difference!" - JN

We go way beyond just a course, and actually help you re-write your copy and content!

• You Learn (courses)
• You Practice (copy practice assignments)
• You Get Guidance (our 24/7 reviewing forum)
• You Get Live Reviews (our weekly Office Hours)
• You Improve

For the next few hours if you join Copywriting Course, you'll get 30% off a whole year. Jump in today:
 

Link: www.CopywritingCourse.com/join
Coupon Code: Q2START (enter at checkout)

I hope you enjoyed these Friday tid-bits!
Sincerely, 
Neville Medhora

P.S.

Look at this Before & After photo of a home office video setup. Instead of explaining a bunch of technical jargon about camera and lighting, you can INSTANTLY see the quality upgrade from this service!

This instantly gets people interested!

Before & After's work SOOOO well for construction and remodeling. Honestly it's probably one of the top ways to show off work in this industry.

This simple one-image Instagram Ad shows a great before/after example of shower that was old but has been remodeled.

No need for a lot of text.

This ad uses a “Before & After” format but with specific times that demonstrate how fast they can remodel a bathroom.

This takes the whole before & after concept to the next level by giving a time frame as well!

Copywriting Tip: Sometimes a simple Before & After photo will explain an entire product without much need for copy.

For example, this simple advertisement for a charging device shows a 1-outlet device replacing multiple charging bricks:

You instantly understand the product with this Before & After image.

Since that charging device is a PHYSICAL PRODUCT you can see, it’s easy to do a before & after of it. But if you sell a service you can show the after results of using your service, like these ads:

So instead of showing the service itself you show the RESULTS of the service.

This clever Instagram Ad for CreatorU uses a meme to show that building an audience is easier with them.

Since this service is more an education platform, it's harder to show the "results" of the service, so instead it shows of results in written form.

I like how Clixlo promotes their website builder by showing how many services (and their prices) you have to use to compare with their single service.

This is an ad seen on Instagram, and it instantly shows this service is way cheaper and simpler than the alternative. 

I personally love this style of Before & After for software companies.

This was a great Instagram ad image by Sene.

It shows the same model in a loose and frumpy suit, then an “After” picture in the more fitted Sene Clothing outfit.

Since clothing is so visual, they simply used a visual to convey the looks of their clothes.

In my experiences copywriting for clothing companies, the image matters far more than the copy.

Physical services do best for Before & After's, and this pet Before & After is no different. 

Not only does this ad have cute dogs (which always works), but also shows a cute transformation!

We've gotta include at least one powerwashing Before & After photo!

This simple before/after doesn’t use any text, and it doesn't need to, because the photo results speak for themselves!

Like we said, copywriting is for SUCKERS!!

This is a simple but effective way of showing a before/after result for a company that helps you design yard spaces. 

Since this is an ad, it first need to grab attention...and explaining the process of how this company delivers yard plans would be way too boring, so just showing a nice Before & After is way better!

A CLASSIC use case of Before & After's is the weight loss industry. This is an example of before and after weight loss photos...you instantly can see the transformation without the need to read anything.

The goal of this A-Frame ad for a shoe hospital was to have people look at the Before & After pics and think, “Ohhhh maybe I can bring in my old pair or shoes and make them awesome again!”

No need for a lot of text here, just show Dirty then Clean shoes!

Cough syrup in the 1920’s was LIT!! 🔥

A fun thing about browsing so many old ads is you see the INSANE ingredients that were in some old-timey medications. 

This "Cough Syrup" contained alcohol, weed, chloroform, and morphine...I bet this worked WAY TOO WELL 😂

Remember that people pay money for things that:
• Saves them time.
• Supports a cause.
• Saves them money.
• Improves their status.
• Teaches them new info.
• Gets them access to info.
• Satisfies a need or desire.
• Solves a specific problem.
• Improves their earning power.

If you sell a product, ask yourself which of these things your product solves!

Some people specialize, some people generalize. This guy (who is an electrician) decided to list evvvveerrryything he can do plus some funny stuff for novelty 😂

I would say this business card falls under the "novelty" category and entertains the reader enough so they might keep the card. 

This card reminds me of this soap I use called Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap. The packaging has these looonnggg rambbbllinng paragraphs of ultra small text all over the bottle: 

I use the soap because it's a quick way to rinse off (the soap "comes off" your body very fast compared to other stuff), but I'm always tickled and entertained by it's insane packaging 😂

My friend just posted a book I recommended The Male Mid-Life Crisis by Nancy Mayer:

I first read this when I was 17 in high school, and it fundamentally shifted the way I viewed life/relationships/death.

It was cool to see from a young age what causes (men in particular) to blow up their lives in middle age, and I took away many methods of avoiding it.

The book shows how males can approach a “mid life crisis” when all these stressors hit at the same time:

• They look at their children and realize “THEY are young, I am old.”
• Their parents are starting to fade or die, and they see they're next.
• Financial demands from children, spouse, life, parents.
• Time demands from children, spouse, friends, work, parents.
• Some men got pressured into marriage way too young and never got to explore the world outside their relationship and they realize "this is it."

According to the book a combination of these things happening at the same time can make a man snap.

I talk about it in this one minute clip:

Anyways, checkout the book if you're interested in the subject. I found her writing style to be incredibly raw and honest which is what I liked about the book.

Sometimes I’m jealous of people who are like: “I was broke as shit 2 years ago but now I’m hella rich and I’m gonna teach you how!!” 

My story is way lamer: “I haven’t been broke since I was 17, and have always had several years of savings ready!!”

😬 HOWEVER THERE'S A PLOT TWIST 😬

This current economy seems like a repeat of 2008: 

A bank fails, then another, then another...then a BUNCH.

During an obvious recession like this the climate shifts from get-rich-quick schemes to preservation of money. 

All of a sudden the get-rich-quick guy goes out of favor, and a boring-advice guy like Warren Buffet (who has been consistently rich for 60+ years) becomes more trusted. 

The next few years will be super interesting to watch as non-useful products fall by the wayside, and the useful products rise to prominence.
 

So many people obsess about the "Subject Line" of their email, but this is short term thinking.

Your sender reputation is far more valuable than your subject line!

Imagine your mom sends you an email but it has a crappy subject line.

You’d probably still read it! 

If your emails are:
✔️ So good readers forward them.
✔️ So good readers learn from them.
✔️ So good readers respond to them.
✔️ So good readers screenshot them.
✔️ So good readers look forward to them.
...they will likely consistently get high open rates.

This simple chart makes it visually easy to see prices of different medical procedures in the USA, Korea, Singapore, and India.

Fun personal story about Indian medical costs: 
In 2013 I got bit by a homeless guys pit bull and had to go to the hospital and get a full set of rabies shots. 

Insurance paid $7,500 for the first set of shots, and $350/each for the 4 follow-up shots. 

I was going to India THREE DAYS AFTER I GOT BIT, and the same shots cost: $50 for the first set of shots, and $7/each for the 4 follow-up shots.

The Indian healthcare system is far less regulated than the USA, so the quality of care was....questionable at times...but the difference in cost was staggering! 

$9,000 vs $78 😳 

Know who your actual customer is. 

For example: If someone is buying Crayons...it's the PARENT not the child spending the money. 

This 1979 Crayola ad appeals specifically to parents who want their kids to be creative, inventive, and explore their artistic ability....

SECRET TRANSLATION: 
"Get your kids to sit down and be quiet for a few minutes so they leave mom alone!!" 

They know their customer 😏

What's very easy to see here (thanks to a this simple data chart) is how NetFlix and YouTube combined account for ~25% of all internet traffic!

Fun thing yesterday happened yesterday: My friend Noah Kagan threw a SXSW party and panel to talk about content creation in 2023:

It was me, @noahkagan, @thesamparr, @jwmares, and moderated by the awesome @nickgraynews:

It was a fun turnout on East Sixth St here in Austin, TX during the SXSW Festival:

My friends @cathrynlavery, @thesamparr, and @ramonvanmeer chatting:

Some guy was wearing this funny shirt with Kim Jong Un on the back 😂

The "Cloud of Influence" is the cloud of exposure you get from posting on multiple platforms:

→ People directly subscribed (high engagement)
→ Mentions & conversations (medium engagement)
→ Exposure through feeds (low engagement)

10+ years ago it used to be simple to see where a follower came from:

They Googled "copywriting"
⬇
Found a post.
⬇
Subscribed to email.
⬇
Bought a product.

Now with so many social platforms/feeds, a customer journey can be loooong and winnnndddding.

So putting out a large "Cloud of Influence" helps!

I personally do this through posting every platform including Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter.

Have you ever wondered how I blast out 50,000+ emails a week to this newsletter?

I use a service called ConvertKit.

It's my top pick for sending out an email newsletter because:

Most email senders are complex, CK is not.

The editor is the simplest I've ever used.

It does autoresponders, broadcasts, and email signups.

It's what I've been running 100% of my emails through for years.

In addition to this newsletter, I send out email sequences to people who have just signed up, ConvertKit also handles that:

This is a frequent question I get: "Which email service should I use??"

I have extensively used other platforms like Aweber, Klaviyo, MailChimp, and InfusionSoft....but ConvertKit has been my go-to for years. I wrote more in detail about it here!

This headline created a "surprised" emotion with the giant headline “Oops! We goofed”

I didn’t WANT to read the smaller print of this 1964 ad, but HAD to with this headline!

Since it got me with the headline, it runs me down the "Slippery Slope" to the small copy which examples they’re out of stock of Pop-Tarts because they’re so popular.

This 1979 Crayola ad uses a descriptive headline to appeal to parents who want their kids to sit and be creative (AND QUIET!!) for a few minutes.

Whoever wrote this ad knew what they were doing 😏

This headline clearly appeals to parents who would **just-for-a-bit** play with a toy that keeps them quiet.

This ad pulls a few heartstrings saying “I didn’t get the job” from a man who hasn’t shaved.

You can clearly feel the disappointment on the man and his partner through the combination of this headline and image.

This ad uses some reverse psychology to get your to read it by saying why NOT to buy the car 🤔

Since this headline grabbed us to read it the rest of the copy, you realize these are all ACTUALLY great reasons to buy the car!

This was a great headline in 1978 that causes some intrigue in your brain, since “Playing the TV” was a totally new and novel concept at the time!

I love the simplicity and grabbiness of this ad, and how it focuses on one major feature of this stereo: A handle.

It shows that by buying this stereo “boom box” you can take your music anywhere.

This is a tasty looking Big Mac ad from 1979 that has a very funny headline.

Both the image AND headline are quite grabbing!

The inside joke on this one was from a McDonald's in the 1970's where people say this sentence very quickly:

"Two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickles-onions-on-a-sesame-seed-bun"