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!
 

This “Ours -vs- Others” visual on Amazon shows why you should pick THIS product instead of their competitors.

A simple image like this could be the final decision that convinces someone to end their Amazon search and just buy:

I don't know if there’s real data on this, but my theory is that 85% of the decision to buy a product on Amazon is 4/5 Star Review + Pictures.

I think the “copy” on a product listing plays a supporting role, but not a staring role.

The Chevy Cruise autonomous driving project took out this full page in the New York Times to show how many lives could be saved by letting computers do all the driving:

Interestingly right before this print ad came out, there were some gripes about these driverless cars blocking traffic for hours in San Francisco:

It seems like ad was to get the public back on their side (showing that you can potentially save 40,000+ lives a year is pretty compelling)!

Each dish pictured here is just 200 calories….but look at the volume difference of the left column vs right column!

I learned what a calorie was in 2010, and made my own pictures to show myself the difference in calories between a Snickers bar and fruit.

I could eat one Snickers bar….or TWELVE CLEMENTINES 😬

As much as I loved Snicker's bars (I probably ate 5 a week), I slowly started giving them up after realizing what a bad bang-for-your-calorie it was.

This week I did a little morning co-working with @heydannymiranda and @Patticus.

I'm still amazed at how many of my friends I originally meet over Twitter (come say hi)!

This is an interesting chart about the hidden rules between income classes.

This could be used to speak clearer to your target audience:

This is a more fleshed out version of the same chart:

This is a cool graphic showing how the classic Excel Spreadsheet has been un-bundled by many companies:

I love these types of graphics. Here's another one about The Unbundling of Craigslist:

One of the most commonly asked questions we get asked right now is about building out email newsletters. 

In this training video I go over how you can build a weekly newsletter yourself, including how to:

- Come up with a name for your newsletter.
- How to find content for your newsletter.
- How often to send your newsletter.
- How to structure your newsletter.

You can read more in depth about creating your own newsletter here.

We did a fun experiment with selling through email:

In 1 hour, write 2 emails (one short, one long), and send it out to 100,000 people. Turns out it made $10,878.77 Revenue.

Watch what we did, and try implementing this on your own business or product.

You can see the full emails here.

We sit down to interview Sam Parr, who sold his email list The Hustle to HubSpot. 

We dig in to see how he built the email list with it's humble beginnings as an email list to notify people of his live conference events. Eventually they realized the email list itself was more valuable than the live events!

Peter Keller of Fringe Sport sells millions of dollars of gym equipment through his brand, and much of it is over email. 

"Every email we send out generates sales."

Peter says 30% of the company revenue comes from when they send out an email blast. 

He describes how they "think" about emails before they send them, so they send emails people love reading.

Ayman took AppSumo from $3m in revenue to well over $80m in revenue, and it's built off the back of email. 

50% or more of that $80m in revenue came from email 🤯

Sujan Patel knows emails are incredibly powerful, so much that he started MailShake to automate sending sales email sequences.

Noah Kagan talks about how email and YouTube are the only two channels he pays attention to.

Since I help clients with email all the time, I use almost all email softwares out there. For my personal use, I choose ConvertKit because it does everything the easiest.

Here's why I like it so much compared to other software.

I go through all the things I look for in an email software. I personally use ConvertKit for my own businesses, but a lot of these others can work as well. 

I've used 10+ different systems, and here's how I would think about finding the correct email service. 

Some rapid-fire email tips!

You can follow along these short tips by following here:

• Instagram
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• TikTok

Whose hot dog would you want in your mouth? 
 Joe’s 
 -or- 
 Max’s?

I love how adding "Foot Long" just makes it more enticing or that you get more value!

This is an awesome axis-graph which let’s you see where you are on the smart/ugly/hot/dumb scale! 

This would be awesome to recreate for your industry:

Craigslist was basically THE main platform for individual-to-individual transactions during the early stages of the web.

It will be interesting to see which other mega platforms get unbundled over time:

In Texas there's this famous gas station called Buc-ee's...and each one is absolutely gigantic, almost like a small Wal-Mart:

It's got like 100+ gas pumps, 100+ restrooms, a gigantic carwash, and it's like a mall inside with food and chachkies. 

I saw this sign out front a few days ago, and was kind surprised by how high some of the salaries were!

If I were a teenager or on summer break, this would be an awesome place to work!

Platforms change, but good content and interesting people always rise to the top. For example....

It used to be MySpace
It used to be Friendster
It used to be LinkedIn
It used to be LinkedIn Posts
It used to be Orkut
It used to be Facebook
It used to be Facebook Pages
It used to be Bebo
It used to be YouTube
It used to be YouTube Shorts
It used to be Xanga
It used to be Twitter
It used to be Flickr
It used to be Tumblr
It used to be Pinterest
It used to be Podcasts
It used to be Instagram
It used to be Instagram Stories
It used to be Google
It used to be Google+
It used to be Google Video
It used to be Snapchat
It used to be Vine
It used to be TikTok
It used to be Periscope
It used to be Twitch
It used to be Reddit
It used to be Discord
It used to be Quora
It used to be Medium
It used to be SubStack
It used to be ClubHouse
It used to be Threads
....the list goes on.

There's sooooo many ways to spread your message, focus is becoming a problem:

Here's 3 questions to figure out which platform to focus on:
1. What social network do I have a natural advantage?
2. Will I enjoy spending 1-3 years of time on this platform?
3. Which one helps me create “Cascading Content”?

That last one to me is big.

Which social network do you create content on, that can be used as content elsewhere?

That's what I call "Cascading Content"

This cool graphic shows that if you take notes you can retain the wisdom of books you read:

I personally take all my notes in Apple Notes now, not directly in books anymore because I can recall/view them from any device.

Where do YOU keep your notes? I'm always interested in hearing how people keep these. Reply and lemme know!

If you want people to take action, give them an analogy they can relate to. This sign pulls it off perfectly 😂

This sign I saw at a CB2 store stepped up their copy from “Now Hiring” to “Dream Job Alert” which is far more compelling. Also checkout the 3 bullet points at the end giving more reasons to be interested!

A+ copywriting!

Before the internet, the way a “lead magnet” worked was getting someone to send you a physical piece of mail expressing interest in a product, then you mailed them back a brochure.

The bottom part of this ad is the CTA:

The lead magnet transaction process used to take 2 to 6 weeks...now it's instant 😬

I like taking pictures of signs/billboards/advertising and collecting them in my personal Swipe File. I saw “Reptile Expo” sign placed on a construction fence a few days ago.

I snapped a picture while at a red light...and later pondered:

"Did they place the Reptile Expo sign at this intersection because it was a high traffic intersection....or because of that big dinosaur in the background?" 😂

A "One Pager" is meant to be a high-level-overview on a topic, generally printed on ONE side of paper.

These are frequently used in government when an agency is trying to pass a bill or convince others on department policy, like this:

 

Here's a One Pager that tries to convey different thinking errors:

 

Here's a One Pager used in AltMBA for potential students to give to their employer:

I'm a big fan of One Pagers myself, as they can now be used for social media images, website assets, and used in all your marketing materials!

Currently reading this book….about halfway through and it’s a great read so far!

A Russian immigrant comes to America, finds out you can eat a banana even when it has some spots, and creates a huge empire. He buys ships, creates huge plantations, and controls entire countries.

It's called "The fish that ate the whale, America's Banana King"

Over the course of 120 years you can see a design macro-trend happen with the Burberry logo: They go from complex design style, to simple, back to complex.

I think in the last 10-20 years I've seen the "simplification" style of design, and now I think it'll start to swing the other way with bolder and more complex designs. 

This image is a cool demonstration why it’s better to take smaller steps. 
Instead of “I want to make $1,000,000 right now” try “I’m going to make $100 this week.”

Then expand goal, and move to the next step.

Originally listed out by Joe Sugarman in his book The AdWeek Copywriting Handbook, he identified 24 “Triggers” that can cause people to purchase something.

I have referred to this list countless times when building campaigns!

I'm trying to spruce up my home office video setup, so @theKevinShen and team helped me first design this rendering for the backdrop: 

I bought all the stuff required, and this is how it looks in real life (I don't know anything about lighting, so forgive the picture). 

Kevin will be helping shuffle things around soon, and I'll update how that goes. Some constraints I had for this backdrop:

#1.) Make it a cool vibe for working.
#2.) Don't clutter it up with tons of studio equipment.
#3.) I didn't want to rip out the grasscloth wallpaper.
#4.) The room must also doubles as extra guest bedroom when I've got a full house of people (that couch turns into a queen bed).

Currently the setup looks like this with me in the shot.

The next step is to get the lighting setup correctly. 

I'm trying to keep my desk as un-touched by equipment as possible which is difficult. 

I also like having all the cameras and lights be sit-stand with my desk...another hurdle. 

This is the desk against the wall I usually work at:

Anyways, I'll update more as progress continues! Hope you liked this little desk tour 🙂

Sometimes in marketing, math formulas are used, but they are often too boring or dry....and people glaze over them. Like this:

Instead I like to make these into “Visual Math Formulas” which makes them easier to understand. 

Here’s 4 examples: 
- Churn Rate 
- Average Order Value 
- Conversion Rate 
- Customer Acquisition Cost

Churn Rate:

Average Order Value:

Conversion Rate:

Customer Acquisition Cost:

When you add easy visuals to something, it reduces the number of "Brain Cycles" people need to comprehend it.

Should you answer this call??

I'm letting you know TODAY IS THE LAST DAY to get a full 35% off the Copywriting Course for a full year. 

That brings the price from $750 → $487.50 for the entire year.

I want you to optimize the hell out of your Q3 and Q4 this year, and starting right now is the way to go:

I want you to strengthen the hell out of all your marketing materials, which adds up to a having a great Q3 and Q4:

The deadline is tonight at 11:59pm, so jump on this now:

Normal: $750
Today: $487.50
(use coupon MIDYEAR at checkout)

This pressure washing ad was….pressure washed into the side of a highway 😂

✔️ Cheaper than a billboard
✔️ Gets lots of eyeballs
✔️ Lasts a long time
✔️ Somewhat legal

As I’ve watched people move up the food chain from freelancer → agency owner, they will start pricing more like this. 

A 1-person client may just want a quick-n-dirty logo made, but a 50-person client will want a process.

This is a fun little exercise that shows how many unique experiences alllllll combined and dovetailed into creating you.

Speaking of pictures....I used my iPhone as a webcam for the first time and it's amazing. The quality seems higher than my DSLR's! 

Also in Control Center there's 3 different modes: 
• Center Stage (always keeps you centered) 
• Portrait Mode 
• Studio Lighting 
 

See the video demo here (this is just small GIF):

I was super impressed by how good this was, AND totally wireless. 

You can see the iPhone perched on top of the computer:

The iPhone is mounted with this little MagSafe stand that rests on the bezel of an iMac or laptop:

 

 

Still the best copywriting formula around: AIDA

If you’re trying to figure out how to position something, run it through the AIDA Formula first.

You can even tell ChatGPT to “Write it in AIDA style” and it’ll do it!
Of any writing tactic I've ever learned, this is the one that's kept on giving over the years:
• Attention: Grab attention with something catchy and relevant. 
• Interest: Tell them interesting facts or uses for a product.
• Desire: Make them desire the product/service.
• Action: Get them to take an action.

Use it wisely my friend. 
 

This is what most store owners look like when Q3 and Q4 approach:

The sneaky thing about Q3 and Q4 is they contain most the great holiday sales:

One of my favorite books is brilliantly titled "Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got."  It details how the easiest thing to improve in your business is by first optimizing everything you've already got.

This is literally what we do for people everyday at Copywriting Course!

We're like a factory for turning bad copy into good copy:

In our members area not only do we teach you the principles of great copy, but also go over your existing pages and emails to improve all the important pieces of your business:

If you were a member right now, you could get each piece of marketing funnel reviewed and optimized by a team professional copywriters (including myself).

Here's just a few Member Wins from Q2 of 2023:

“I implemented your suggestion for the headline and it worked! It had a CTR jump from 11% to 24%!” -M.H.

“Three leads came in today after applying what I'm learning in the courses and with your amazing feedback” -L.B.

“I got advice on the live Office Hours last week, implemented it, and got 9x more engagement on my LinkedIn posts!” -C.O.

“Before the Copywriting Course it would take me hours to write and rewrite posts and blogs. This course and this amazing community has helped me write them much faster and so much better. And I continue to improve every day!” -D.G.

“I sold four items today with your suggested email. I'm going to use these as a template for a long time. Thank you so much!” -C.B.

“I'm happy to report that I decided to stop lurking; took some of your advice for how to get started; and I have my first client who's used me for three different projects!” -K.L.

“You guys are this solopreneur's dream come true. Thanks for the guidance, support and great feedback!” -J.P.

“I count on you guys to double check every piece of copy I send out. Your critiques are always spot on. You never disappoint.” -L.W.

“I feel like I have a team of professionals who have my back every step I take in growing my online business. Thank you, all, so much!” -R.P.

“Thank you for putting this all together. I love being on the journey with this supportive and brilliant community!” -P.G.

“For the price, this is the best (quality) value program in the Copywriting world ....IMO” -V.J.

“Thanks for the copywriting suggestions for my ad. I followed them and I'm getting results already!” -M.S.

“I've read all the books and taken all the courses. I've spent time with some of the (self proclaimed) top copywriters in the world. But no one has made copywriting principles and concepts land like The Copywriting Course.” -W.N.

“I love setting monthly goals and accomplishing most of them 😎. Thank you all for keeping me on track!” -L.T.

“Solopreneuring can be lonely business. Not so with you guys on my team. Thank you for the ongoing support and insightful feedback.” -P.A.

“I finally published my first digital product on Gumroad. I couldn't have done it without your feedback and support. Love you guys!” -N.K.

“Open rates on my newsletter are about 70% among my active subscribers! I couldn't have done it without your feedback and support!” -K.R.

So with Q3 about to start and Q4 on the horizon, I’d like to invite you to join  The Copywriting Course today....and if you act now you'll get 35% off the entire year!

Normal: $750 Today: Get 35% off!
(use coupon code MIDYEAR at checkout)

Think about how you buy. If it comes highly recommended, you’ll buy with no hesitation. 

- High Ratings
- Testimonials
- A friend telling you about something
- Seeing someone important use it
- Aggregate testimonials important.
- If long text, summarize for people.

I most often see people leave social proof out.

Example 1: 

Example 2:

 Example 3:

 Example 4:

 Example 5:

 

"85% of our customers get a 5X return or more."

"3,500+ clients served."

"15 years in business."

"BBB Accredited"

Your images can often tell the whole story without a lot of copy needed! 

- Don’t post generic pics that convey zero info.
- Showcase different uses of the product.
- Explain whole product in images if possible.
- Treat your images like a presentation or slideshow.
- Make image so good people screenshot it.

This is a huge mistake on most sites. Lots of wasted space with useless images.

Example 1:

Example 2:

Example 3:

 

Example 4:

Example 5:

So many products can be used for many different things, but many pages will show only one use. 

Showing multiple uses makes the product more valuable to the customer!

- Show off different ways people can use.
- Show unique customer use cases.

Example 1:

 

Example 2:

What people want is a TRANSFORMATION. 

How will their life get better with this product?

- Saves them time.
- Makes something easier.
- Make another product better.
- Makes them smarter or more educated.
- Makes them seem rich.

What is the transformation that will take place?

Example 1:

 

Example 3:

Example 4:

Example 5:

Example 6:

Often the most overlooked thing is just TELLING PEOPLE WHAT TO DO NEXT.

- Try to pick only one action.
- Either tell them what to do, or make it obvious.

Ultimately everything we’ve talked about in this presentation is to lead people to take an action.

 

Example 1:

 

Example 2:

 

Example 3:

 

Example 4:

 

Example 5:

This is neat: The Wright Brothers (who invented airplanes) funded the development of the first powered airplane with their bike shop, shown here:

And this was the simple ad they’d post in the Dayton, Ohio newspapers:

They designed a popular bike called "The Van Cleve Bicycle" which was their most popular bike, and it sold for $60.

So that ad played a small hand in developing the first aircraft 🙂

10+ years ago I was sending something at the post office, and as I finished up, the clerk said to me:

Quote

"Have a great day....it's a choice!"

I've thought about that random passing comment almost every single day since then. 

You can CHOOSE if your day will be good or bad. 
Which will yours be 🙂?

The format of this chart easily demonstrates how Apple’s 2022 revenue was the combined revenue of alllll these big tech companies 😬

I like how the layout of this chart so easily demonstrates the point.

This ad for the unique-looking Ford Pinto has no copy or anything…just an awesome visual of the product!

Same with this Ford Econoline van ad...extremely little copy, just letting the product speak for itself!

I wrote a blog post full of copywriting formulas here, mainly these:

#1.) AIDA: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
#2.) PAS: Problem, Agitate, Solution 
#3.) PASCA: Problem Agitate Solution Call to Action 
#4.) 4 Ps: Promise, Picture, Proof, Push 
#5.) FAB: Features, Advantages, Benefits 
#6.) The Before-After-Bridge 
#7.) 5W’s and H: Who, What, Where, When, Why, How 
#8.) Tell A Story 
#9.) PAPA: Problem, Agitation, Provide, Action 
#10.) The 7 Steps 
#11.) 4U’s: Urgent, Unique, Ultra-specific, Useful 
#12.) APP Formula: Agree, Promise, Preview 
#13.) FOMO: Fear of Missing Out 
#14.) PSR: Problem, Solution, Result 
#15.) 4 Ps of Persuasion 
#16.) STAR: Situation, Task, Action, Result 
#17.) PASTOR: Pain, Agitate, Solution, Testimonial, Offer, Response 
#18.) FAPE: Feature, Advantage, Proof, Evidence

The funny thing is after writing examples for each of these copywriting formulas, it seemed like almost every formulas was just a slight variation of either A.I.D.A. or P.A.S.

• AIDA: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
• PAS: Problem, Agitate, Solution 

Do you use any formulas like this? Reply to this email and let me know. I personally use AIDA almost every single day.

It's happening....we are almost officially mid-year 😬

Mid-year I like to re-visit my yearly goals (which often get forgotten), and also ask questions of myself, such as:

- What worked this year?
- What DIDN'T work this year?
- Am I on track to hit yearly goals? If not, how to course-correct?

This is the time of the year I prep for Q3 and Q4, as those are often the biggest revenue months for many businesses:

Hopefully you take the rest of this month to reflect on how you can crush the rest of 2023:

We'll be closing down our $97/mo plan for a bit this weekend, so if you want to jump inside the Copywriting Course at that price point, now would be a great time to JOIN if you want some guidance.

 

This formula is widely used in advertising and sales copy. It starts by grabbing attention, generating interest, creating desire, and finally, prompting action from the reader or viewer.

This formula addresses the reader's problem, agitates their pain points, and presents a solution to alleviate their issues.

Building upon the PAS formula, PASCA adds a Call to Action (CTA) at the end to prompt the reader to take a specific action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a service.

This formula starts with a promise or benefit, creates a vivid picture of the desired outcome, provides proof or testimonials to back up the claims, and ends with a push to take action.

FAB formula highlights the features of a product or service, explains their advantages, and ultimately communicates the benefits to the customer.

This describes the customer's current situation (Before), paints a vivid picture of how their life could be improved (After), and bridges the gap by explaining how the product or service can make that transformation happen.

This formula involves answering the essential questions to provide a complete picture of the product or service.

 

This formula uses storytelling techniques to engage the reader, create an emotional connection, and present the product or service as the solution to the protagonist's problem.

PAPA formula addresses the problem, agitates it to increase the pain, provides a solution, and prompts the reader to take action.

This formula consists of seven steps: Attention, Problem, Solution, Benefits, Proof, Credibility, and Action. It follows a logical flow to capture attention, address the problem, present the solution and its benefits, offer proof and credibility, and conclude with a call to action. This is great for sales pages.

This formula emphasizes crafting copy that conveys a sense of urgency, highlights unique selling points, provides specific details, and offers useful information to the reader.

This formula aims to establish agreement with the reader, make a promise or offer a benefit, and then provide a preview of what they can expect or experience.

This technique leverages the fear of missing out on something valuable or exclusive. It emphasizes limited-time offers, scarcity, or unique opportunities to compel readers to take immediate action.

This formula begins by identifying a problem the reader faces, presents a solution that solves the problem, and highlights the positive results or outcomes they can achieve by using the product or service.

This formula focuses on four key elements: Problem, Promise, Proof, and Push. It addresses the reader's problem, makes a compelling promise, offers proof or evidence to support the claims, and concludes with a strong push to take action.

This formula is often used in case studies or testimonials. It presents the situation or problem, describes the task or challenge, explains the action taken to overcome it, and highlights the positive result achieved.

This formula starts by addressing the reader's pain points, agitates the problem to increase its significance, provides a solution, includes a testimonial or social proof, presents an offer, and encourages a response or action.

This formula breaks down the copy into four parts. It starts by highlighting the features of the product or service, explains the advantages or benefits derived from those features, provides proof or evidence to back up the claims, and supports it with further evidence.

• Keep them in your own files. • Share with your colleagues. • Download PDF, Word, Doc.

I thought this image was awesome because it teaches you multiple ways to help out a business for $0.00...and makes it look like a “receipt!”

If I were born 200 yrs ago, I’d live in a 200-person village in India, with poor eyesight, laboring in a hot field my whole life.

I am thankful for all inventions, especially the internet, that came before me, to allow for the possibility of escaping that fate.

If I do these 3 things, I’m almost guaranteed to get 90+ on my Oura Ring readiness score:

- Read a bit before sleep, no screens.
- Don’t eat 3 hours before bed.
- Don’t drink.

If anyone has advice how to get these same scores by drinking a bunch + eating like crap + not sleeping...please let me know 😛😛

I like how this image starts with a picture of Bruce Lee, and the corresponding workouts he does. It gives you an idea of what this workout can create.

Funny thing is my own workout is a pic I took of my friend Billy's workout he had listed on a page.

Years later this random screenshot is still what I follow at the gym!

If you're advertising something, the ULTIMATE way to spread your advertisement is by making it so valuable people want to save it, maybe even share it. 

For example I saved this stain chart because I had a stain I couldn’t get out, and instantly referred to this chart to see how to remove it:

David Ogilvy made a "stain chart" decades ago, and it was one of the most popular detergent ads ever because so many people saved it, even posted it up!

Or look at this classic Guinness Oyster Pairing ad....it was so helpful that bars would frame it and post it up for allll their patrons to see!

 

I've had a sponsor lined up for a while called Jaspr which makes high end air purifiers, and since the sky in many parts of the USA and Canada currently looks like this, we decided to release this promo early 😬 

This is my Jaspr Air Purifier (or as I call it: "A big-ass Alexa"):

Here's some of what it does:

I have one, and here's the quick run-down of why I like it:
1.) It looks like a big-ass Alexa so it blends in the room.
2.) It's incredibly simple. I don't like annoying complex devices.
3.) It clears out a ton of air in very little time (I use it when we cook Indian food....and one time while contractors were doing tile work that "dusted up" my house, I ran this for 5 minutes and it cleared the entire floor).

Here's mine hiding in the background of a room:

This thing is industrial size, look how big it is, so it cleans a lot of air quickly:

I generally leave it on "Smart Mode" and it just....handles everything.

I also like the "Turbo Mode" which goes on super-high for 5 minutes, then goes back down to normal (this is what doctors offices do between patients to clean the room).

Grab one here, and get $200 off with code: SWIPES200

I'm feeling thirsty, so let's start off today with THREE DRINK SWIPES!

I thought this was a fun and clever ad from Guinness that was released around the Kings Coronation:

 

For this Banana Shake ad for McDonald's I like their use of dumb puns!

“Go bananas” “It’s got appeal”

I’m Loving It 😂

 

This ad justifies drinking Kool-Aid over soda for it’s nutritional value and price value. I might call BS on the “nutritional value” of it, but overall this old print ad does a great job of justifying the purchase of Kool-Aid over the competitor!

One upside of social media is how people are incentivized to put a lot of information in a small amount of space.

Here's 3 examples:

This image shows four ways of reducing traffic noise to a residential area:

 

This little square lists 72 different AI tools all categorized: 

 

This chart shows booms & busts happening with regular frequency.

I love when something takes a lot of complex data and simplifies it like this:

Small square + Lots of Info = Cool!

 

The email subject line of this SWIPES email is always pretty standard:

I was out of town all this month, and am excited to be back home in Austin!

Here's a pic of me in Barcelona:

 

Cool hotel I stayed at:

 

It's times when I leave this long that I realize how cool it is to work primarily from the internet.

Happy to be back home again!

 

This happens at every wedding I go to: 

People take pics on their phone and immediately post to Instagram where they get shared/liked/commented instantly.

3 Months Later you get an email link from the bride/groom with professional photos…wayyy after the moment has passed😕
I was discussing with a friend that it'd almost be cooler to hire someone to take good pics with their phone and immediately post them during the event! 

They would post from their phone, tag people, and the event would spread on socials. 
This whole "I'll send you photos 3 months later" thing seems antiquated now and really misses the fun of posting them around the main event. 

Also anytime I've hired a photographer part of the deal is I get their raw photo dump right after the shoot. 

I make sure they know at the end of the photo session I'm going to pop that SD card into my laptop so I have the photos now!

Here's a fun book I've been reading: The Wright Brothers.

Reading about historical events makes you realize huge technological shifts followed by fear is totally normal.

In 1903 the Wright Brothers made the first official powered flight, and it's fun to read accounts of how "flight will totally change EVERYTHING and we are not ready for this!!!! "

Now we completely take flight completely for granted.
 

I saw this posted on a bulletin board at my gym and snapped a pic:

The reason I thought it was cool because it was:
- Super simple.
- Customized to the community it was posted on.
- Has easy way to follow/contact/book (Instagram handle).

On the same trip to the gym I saw another incredibly simple (yet effective) advertisement:

I biked by and the couple selling all their stuff had basically moved 100% of the merch except a single couch.

It doesn’t get simpler than writing out you’ve got a yard sale than a flipped over cardboard box and Sharpie!

Grab people's attention by being:
- New
- Novel
- Unique

This hilarious billboard I drove past in Houston was all of the above 😂

Of the hundred other lawyer billboards I saw that day, THIS ONE STOOD OUT!

I do kinda wish they had a better CTA though.

While it caught my eye, I barely noticed the name, and have no idea what kind of things they help with 🤔

I have to admit the branding of it was pretty hilarious and probably drums up business in indirect ways.

My favorite traffic stream is having an article that ranks top of Google AND has a YouTube video version on it.

- This creates virtuous cycle of high metrics on Google/Youtube.
- Higher metrics on YouTube keep it getting recommended.
- Higher metrics on Google keep it #1.

The virtuous cycle looks like this:

While everyone is completely distracted by AI stuff, I think spending the next quarter massively improving my own SEO/YouTubeSEO might be worthwhile!

I've had a bunch of travels spanning alllll this May, and I'm currently in Madrid for an Indian wedding!

However the main thing I was impressed by last night was the McDonald's automated ordering system 🍔

To be honest this is waaayyyyyy better, waaayyyyyy more fun, and waaayyyyyy less judgemental than ordering from a live person (especially at 1am) 😂

Have you ever used these automated ordering systems? It's 300% better than a human IMO!

In 1980 Phil Knight (the founder of Nike) wrote out these rules…or guidelines….or motivations…or “manifesto” on how to operate Nike as a company:

I loved the simplicity and vibe of this manifesto!

While this is meant to be a funny meme I totally relate to it!

On one hand you wonder why your neck might be stiff, then you realize for 12 hours a day you’re slouching over a screen or looking down at a phone.

The solution seems obvious after seeing this 😂
 

Guinness Beer had this famous "Animals Stealing A Guinness" campaign running from 1930 till 1982.

However it was the toucan that stole the show, and was the most popular part of this 52-year-running brand awareness campaign!

Some other fun animal Guinness ads include:
- The seal
- The bear
- The turtle
- The crocodile

What a fun, effective, and frame-able ad campaign!

The economy is an ever-shifting system that keeps evolving with technology. 

Destruction of one job is the creation of another. 

It's almost impossible to look forward and predict the next set of occupations.

Sometimes a picture can say MANY words...and it takes your brain far less work to understand it.

Without a single word this demonstration shows how strong this DKW car was by carrying 30+ men:

 

Or this image that instantly conveys that social media platforms can potentially be like drugs. A great visual statement.

 

The image alone here does most of the talking in this 1963 Whopper ad. It has 4 pieces of copy I really like:

“It’s a meal in itself!”
“Only 39¢”
"Actual Size”
“Try one with a Coke!”

I kind of want a Whopper now 👀

Of all the social networks I've ever been on, Twitter is the king of fostering Virtual → IRL friendships.

Just hung out with @AlphaSignalAI! Super smart ML/AI engineer guy who just moved to Austin:

Also this is how one of my neighbors Sam see's if I'm home 😂

In this great interview Stephen Wolfram says the best prompt engineers for things like ChatGPT are "Expository Writers." 

He goes on to explain that an "Expository Writer" is somebody who can explain stuff really well. 

I've been seeing that people who are great at writing are also great at getting AI to do things for them.

I use ChatGPT, Google Bard, and other AI tools every single day. I just made a quick AI video course on:
- Over-hyped features.
- Features I use every day.
- I show you how here (members only video)

If you want to see more ways I'm using AI and copywriting to improve businesses, then join Copywriting Course right now.

One thing I'm secretly gonna be doing in June 2023 is focus on SEO.

Search engine traffic isn't as sexy as social media traffic because it doesn't feel immediate....but it's the secret driver of many big sites on the internet.

I've personally used Ahrefs for 7+ years now...and if you want to improve your website's SEO checkout Ahrefs Webmaster Tools.

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is a powerful SEO tool that tracks your website's performance in search engines, fix SEO issues, and improve your website's ranking.

Here are just a few of the things you can do with Ahrefs Webmaster Tools:

• Track your website's organic traffic
• Identify and fix SEO issues
• Improve your website's ranking
• Research keywords
• Track your backlinks
• Monitor your website's performance

I personally use it to rank in search engines, then make YouTube videos about those articles....which creates this "virtuous cycle" that makes my blog article AND YouTube video more popular:

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is perfect for anyone who wants to improve their website's SEO. It's easy to use and packed with features that can help you take your SEO to the next level.

Sign up for a free trial of Ahrefs Webmaster Tool today and see for yourself how it can help you improve your website's SEO.

Click here to sign up for a free trial: ahrefs.com/AWT

By checking out our sponsors, you support this email!

A simple but effective flyer....this guy getting free dating leads with a simple physical flyer 😂

It's a solid flyer too!

 

What I’m seeing with AI stuff for creators:

You be creative and make things....then the AI creates all the “supporting content” like tags, captions, timestamps, bullet points etc.

It's personally been saving me tons of time on tasks aren’t AS important.

For example, making video "chapters" is a pain, but now AI can do that stuff:

So neat!

Jobs getting destroyed (or changing) is scary, but throughout history as jobs get destroyed, higher-paying and better jobs are often created.

For example:

Here's 333 jobs that no longer exist, or have been radically changed:

 

On the flip side, here's 333 jobs that've been created in the last 20 years alone:

 

I've already started radically shifting what it means to be a copywriter but utilizing AI everyday.

The advancement in this area is nuts. For example I've been playing with Google Bard (the Google version of ChatGPT), and it's pretty awesome.

Instead of "typing out" a response, it delivers it as a fully done article. You can then click through 3 different drafts, which is super helpful for generating ideas!

This is a tool that didn't exist in the world till like....YESTERDAY!

Kind of wild to have all these extra capabilities, feels a bit like a superpower.

My friend Sam lives a few doors down from me, and we "pop-in" to each others houses all the time. This is how Sam sees if I'm home.

He's like a real life Dennis The Menace 😂

The point of copywriting is to know how to increase every feeding funnel into your business...

...it's an omni-skill that can be applied to ANY business you run:

That's why I love copywriting as a skill, it can be applied to ANY industry you go into.

Remember this chart from above?

My friend Chris Dunn made this cool Mind Map out of it that breaks down copywriting into sub-sections:

The way he did was:

1.) Tell ChatGPT "Please create a detailed mind map of [INSERT WHATEVER] using the markmap.js formatting.

2.) Copy the output text and paste in https://markmap.js.org/repl

3.) Save interactive HTML file and open it.

This is the result, a neat "mind map" of "COPYWRITING" broken down into little sections!

I did this myself, and used the topic "CREATING A POPULAR EMAIL NEWSLETTER" to make this mind map:

Kinda neat!

Let's start today off with THREE different swipes!

1.) This is a “writing mark-up” ad that explains each feature of these huaraches shoes:

There's something just so dang eye-catching about hand-writing when overlaid on an image!

 

2.) Welllll maybe eating Jello all day won’t make you lose much weight, but in 1952 this was promoted as a great tasting yet lower-in-calorie dessert. Not sure why he’s weighing himself with loafers on…that’s like 1 extra pound on the scale 😬

 

3.) To be honest this is a great pitch for Rick.

He’ll never:
✔️ Give you up
✔️ Let you down
✔️ Desert you 😂

Sometimes a complex subject can be better illustrated than told. For example this is a cool graphic that shows all the stuff that comes out of a barrel of oil:

While electric vehicles and transportation is clearly the way of the future, it's interesting to note that oil propelled our species forward for several hundred years.

This graphic shows a portion of the other products that it helped provide.

Checkout this concise 8th grade overall exam from 1912.

Think you can pass it??

I'm in St. Kitts all week and it's awesome!

Here I am walking over an old 400 year old dam:

My hiking outfit (and doing my best to avoid sun damage) 😬

After I finish this newsletter I'm immediately jumping into the ocean 🙂

As Apple started getting bigger and bigger, its logo got simpler and simpler:

I spoke about this before in this video:

It basically says you should pick a slogan based on your company 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:

A Redditor said his mechanic brother sent him this sketch to easier understand different tires…super simple, and you instantly understand!