I learned a lot about pools from this simple Instagram Ad...the combo of showing an unfinished pool without water then highlighting (with text and arrows) the different parts of it was quite educational!

I love simple things, that teach a lot.

Sprinkling in some "Social Proof" is one of the simplest additions to sales copy.
Look at this email footer, and how it gains so much credibility by adding a few words of Social Proof!

I personally think:

Newsletters are just blogs!

Newsletters are usually a bunch of short posts and thoughts listed out. This is what most blogs were.

The thing that newsletters solved versus blogs: DISTRIBUTION.

When you publish a blog post it enters the void...

...but lets say you create this newsletter and send it out:

....when you publish the newsletter via email it gets read by 30% to 60% of your list!

The founder of an A.I. company (Paul Yacoubian of Copy.ai) sent me this awesome Olivetti Lettera 32 manual typewriter from the 1960's!

Watching the inner workings of this thing is fascinating. The amount of parts and precision for all this to work is pretty crazy:

I've been typing on it for fun...there's definitely a learning curve (some letters are in different places so there's frequent spelling mistakes)!

One interesting observation: Since you are manually putting ink on paper, and can't erase, you think VERY HARD before typing! 

This is the opposite of a computer where typing has no penalty.
 

I'm currently reading this great book about Prohibition, the banning of all alcohol from 1920 to 1933:

Originally it was called "The Temperance Movement" which pushed for moderate drinking and avoiding raging drunkenness.

But like most well-meaning movements it got hijacked by radicals in the group. The radicals pushed for fully abolishing alcohol, and they passed a law that was wayyyy too restrictive (it banned all sales and distribution or alcohol).

Eventually the law was repealed in 1933 because Prohibition massively backfired and caused MORE drinking and crime.

"Copywork" is the act of hand-copying a piece of marketing to better understand how the author laid it out and wrote it. 

We recently did this with one of my favorite types of marketing: The classic "Before and After" format, which in a small space shows a transformation:

We asked people to hand-draw this ad and got tons of people joining in the exercise!

You can do the exercise yourself here:

⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇

...if you respond to this email with your hand-drawn picture, I'll add it to the post!

The CyberTruck buzz reminds me of the iPhone launch: 
- Everyone thought it was partially stupid (no keyboard was a VERY big deal back then). 
- It's so drastically different than the norm it felt like it could take over the world or totally flop.
- At the same time, EVERYONE wanted to see one in person!

Was on a phone call with @PaulYacoubian (CEO of Copy AI), he's recently started using a mechanical typewriter more often and found these benefits:

"Each word comes with an effort penalty."

"Everything that's in your brain comes out but with less words and less bloat."

I do agree that there's something very pure about writing with no electricity. It inspired me to buy a bunch more of these "cow notebooks" to fill up with notes:

It was ChatGPT's 1st birthday yesterday!

So ChatGPT is only 1 year old....

This reminds me of the dawn of the internet:
- At first it was fringe and hard to use (GPT-3).
- Then it became pretty good and useful (GPT-4).
- Then it became very easy to use (ChatGPT).
- Then it became SUPER easy with mobile phones it took over the entire world (???).

The future of people working with their brains will become very interesting.

Me and some friends went to a "Game Show Birthday" where you compete on different games:

I think this video would better explain it:

Props to @nickgraynews for the editing on this birthday reel. https://t.co/5Y2WfHjF1U pic.twitter.com/15rHv1V2Xj

— Cathryn (@cathrynlavery) November 28, 2023

It was actually REALLY FUN and highly recommended!

In November 2023 these are the number of accounts reached from each tentacle of Copywriting Course:

• YouTube: 124,000
• CopywritingCourse.com: 87,922
• SwipeFile.com: 42,517
• Instagram: 51,000
• TikTok: 258,000
• Email: 58,650
• Total: 622,089

I have noticed social media is faaaarrr eclipsing organic SEO.

I'm not 100% sure yet, but I THINK I have a plan to reverse that in 2024 where reliance on social platforms is decreased.

Our community is so fun and awesome, and I want to expand it (without ruining the good vibe).
 

These are better than drugs...

One of my all-time favorite products on the planet are: Soft ear plugs!

I use them to sleep every night, and I use them to get deep focused work done.

I keep a pair in my bedroom, my desk, and my laptop bag.

I re-use each pair many times but they are essentially disposable.

I can use basically any old ear plugs for a while, but if you wear them all the time some brands hurt your ears. These also block 32 decibels of sound.

I like this brand because they're "softer" than traditional ear plugs.

Maybe these would be a cool stocking stuff for someone you know! I use these things every single day and love them 🙂