This is a great idea Gerard! I’m a designer and might use this trick at the next conferences.

I was gobsmakced when I read this. Genius.

So simple. But then, the best ideas usually are.

I'm thinking maybe put a banner on my car saying something similar with a phone number to contact me. I'd get a number specifically for this, though.

Hi Neville

I’m an author. I’ve had 10 x #1 bestsellers in category for my short read eBooks. A few months ago my UK publisher released my latest novel.

I thought that with a half decent track record I’d get my book in book stores fairly easily. Nope. wrong!

I tried approaching stores myself but no real traction.

So I decided to call stores several times over the course of a week to ten days using various accents asking if they stocked any C T Mitchell Books. Naturally they didn’t.

But after receiving a ‘ton’ of enquiey from a broad range of the community, C T Mitchell was top of mind when the book store owner received an email seeking to have my new book on their shelves.

Not everybody jumps at the idea but an independent store in the area where my books are written ordered 50 via my publisher.

I’m pursuing more stores who should stock ‘this rising star’

Thanks

C T Mitchell

Recently, I terminated my daughter's contract for field hockey goalie training as she will enter her final high school year after the summer. The goalie school asked me for feedback. I complimented them for their professional and energetic practices. I had no further input to improve that.

Their website, however, does not clearly explain what the year-round goalie practices comprise. Nor does it represent the quality of the practices we experienced. The total price is quite high, but if you convert it to each practice and consider the professional trainers, it's really worth the money. So, I gave them a few pointers and excused me for my professional habits. Next thing I knew, is they wanted to talk to me. Now, I've written the copy for a flyer and soon I will start with the first web page.

Nice.

This is somewhat similar - on a smaller scale - to what Charlotte Parker did for the first Terminator movie.

That's awesome, Annemarie! I think it's a great beginning of a client relationship when you are a current/former customer because you already understand the product.

Plus, you were able to demonstrate your skills and knowledge by giving them some points for free before doing any paid work. Nice!

C T - this idea is a little sneaky but genius. It reminds me of Ryan Holiday's ideas in his book Trust Me, I'm Lying about engineering "events" related to his company or clients that would then get covered by the media.

I'd imagine that once you do this a few times, you might get a social proof effect by saying something like, "I'm already stocked in 10 stores within a 50 mile radius of here," or something like that.

Rezbi - that sounds like the makings of another experiment! I always wonder how those car wraps do in terms of marketing...

Thanks, Sandy! Yea, any creative professional who can describe their services in a simple way can take advantage.

The only folks who may struggle with t-shirt marketing are those who call themselves something like "integrated-omnichannel-small-biz-lead-gen-digital-marketing-consultants," but they probably have some other things to figure out first... : )

Great idea, Gerard, and impressive followthrough.

I think it may be a good idea to wear it everywhere. Prospects are everywhere.

I planned to use my email signature more effectively to get leads and clients. After reading this post, I have decided to add a photo of me wearing the copywriter t-shirt - the one Neville is going to send me. {:-)

My most simple, yet effective strategy is to use video in cold emails (instead of text only). Nothing fancy here - just a one or two-minute video introducing myself and explaining why I'd be a good fit for their project.

This resonates with clients on a number of different levels. For instance:

1. It shows you care enough to make the extra effort

2. It's memorable - not many others are doing this

3. It builds a connection (it's harder to say no to someone after you've seen their face and heard their voice).

Making a video does take a little extra time, so I save it for the prospects I'm most interested in working with. It's definitely not a "spray and pray" type approach.

But when used correctly, I've seen noticeable improvements in my response rates.

I've been known to reach out to people in Facebook offering to help them (where I've seen their copy ahead of time). It gets me clients, and even if they don't become clients, they're often happy to exchange a testimonial for my help (assuming they like what I've done with their copy).

Nice man. I've been wearing a Copywriter tee for several months now & the results have been awesome too!

Yes Gerard! You’re on fire 🔥.

We could use these kind of simple, fun merch ideas like this for Kickstart Reading!

Love following your rise from teacher, dad to Kopywriting Krusher!

I love this strategy. Seen it done at multiple conferences but never felt compelled to try it myself.

This post has changed that. I'm about to build an entire "human billboard" wardrobe now 😆...

My current outreach strategy was taught to me by Sean Vosler, whom I consider to be client marketing's most unsung hero. He would fearlessly reach out to big names in the digital marketing space with provocative (and sometimes cryptic) messages like "Is SEO really dead?"

Somehow it works every time lol

Nice! Thanks for the share Steve!

Bahahha, the new style for 2018 is "Human Billboard" 😛

It makes perfect sense though. I remember wearing a plain old "Google" shirt to a lot of conferences back in the day, and about 20 times per day I'd get "So do you work for Google?"

Such a simple wardrobe decision changed how I interacted at a conference.

Bahhahaha, Rob you should wear a shirt that says "We make videos that teach kids how to read" :-P

That's awesome Suzanne! Making people AWARE that you even offer copywriting as a service is super important, and most people hide that behind all sorts of complicated funnels and signups.

Sometimes just putting it out there is the best :)

Hey Ryan, great advice, possibly shirt-worthy :)

I have mixed feelings on the video proposal cold email.

1.) They DO work. I've seen people get clients from them.

2.) Sometimes they make them too long, and now I have to sit through a boring ass 13 minute presentation. Ugh.

But if you're only making them 1 or 2 minutes, that sounds reasonable.

Great strategy! If you'd ever like to feature some of your cold email proposals on a guest post, lemme know (neville @ kopywritingkourse).

Just like Steve Jobs wore the same thing everyday, Gerard will now wear a "COPYWRITER" shirt 24/7 :-P

Amazing how that kind of stuff works out Annemarie!

My very first large freelance contract was for a Ducati motorcycle dealership I was buying a scooter from. After a little talking about how crappy their website was and how to improve it, I had a $5,000 check to re-do it for them!!

BAHAHAHAHHA that's amazing CT!

I remember Sara Blakely of Spanx had a similar story where she'd go to Neiman Marcus where her first products were sold and would move the display up to where the registers were (that's where people would make last minute impulse buys).

I wonder which accent got you the most buys? :-)

Hahahha, I wonder if that would work!

Very true, this could probably work for any freelancer or professional :)