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!

Forget running a Twitter Poll, just run an outdoor  to see which house color your neighbors prefer!

What a fun idea + way to meet the neighbors 😂

I made a Twitter Cheat Sheet.

Can help spark new ideas to post 🔥

I like making cheat sheets where a single image can spark a thousand ideas!

Apparently pestering your kid to become a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or business owner really works!

A possible reason for the average income of Indian's (at least in the USA) is there's a large percentage of business owners as well as engineering based professions.

Take a look at data supporting this:

Basically the more "engineer-y" your job is, the higher your lifetime earning potential is.

My buddy Nick Gray is famous for throwing "2 Hour Cocktail Parties", and one fun thing he does is organize parties at OTHER people's houses:

He held one of these parties on Wednesday, I was there for a speedy 2 hours, met a bunch of people (old and new) and left!

He will often invite a special guest, this time it was Andrew Wilkinson whose company just went public (guy in the middle):

Nick always conducts at least 1 or 2 quick ice breakers, here's him in action:

This party was hosted at Cody Mclain's house here in Austin, and he had this secondary backyard area where the whole party could stand around:

This ice breaker was HUGE, maybe 40 or 50 people, so Nick kept the train moving quick and the icebreaker was done in 13 minutes flat (I timed it) 😬

Was a fun time!

Anyone else notice when messaging groups get too big, the quality goes down dramatically? 

Like if you're in an iMessage or WhatsApp group where people keep getting added, it has some sort of natural size ceiling before it devolves into annoying-ness:

In the last few months I've left several text groups (or at least muted them) that have just got too chatty. The main problem is your phone pinging 100 times a day from a single group...that's personally too much for me to handle.

I love “Marking-Up” images to explain features. Checkout this Esprit Shoes ad showcasing the features of these huaraches:

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!