Copywriters Favorite Tool

12 years ago

A Thesaurus.

Then Makepeace's, Bencivenga's and Carlton's courses.

Followed by the books by Caples, Schwartz, Collier and Hodgson.

And realms of other Ads.

Steve

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ThomasOMalley

12 years ago

My favorite copywriting tools are Richard Bayan's Words That Sell, Halbert's Motherlode Collections of Ads and Sales Letters, Richard Hodgson's The Greatest Direct Mail Sales Letters of All Time, and H.G. Lewis's World's Greatest Direct Mail Sales Letters.

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thehorizon 12 years ago

I'm merely a beginner copywriter, but I've amassed tonnes of swipes... headlines, captions, subheadlines, sections, techniques, fake closes, closes, PS's, guarantees, proof layers, etc.

I did it over 2 months while intensively studying a lot of the classical books. Now when I try to practice and run out of ideas, I do something else to wipe my mind clear, get it in the correct brainwave state for brainstorming, then refer to my swipe file.

I really think a huge swipe file is a good tool... at least for me.
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Mark Andrews

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by The Niche Man

What's your favorite "go to" tool for creating your best copy.

A good supply of Gold Leaf hand rolling tobacco, endless cups of tea and a few packets of chocolate Digestive biscuits.

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rcallaby 12 years ago

I am just starting out in this field. I would say any book by Robert Bly as well as any John Carlton writing course. I really do not like to write without Grammarly active as it helps correct some of my bad grammar habits.

I also like a clean desk, high speed Internet connection and when really pressed for time a triple shot cappuccino from my favorite coffee shop.
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The Niche Man

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Mark Andrews

A good supply of Gold Leaf hand rolling tobacco, endless cups of tea and a few packets of chocolate Digestive biscuits.

Ah, that's how you do it. It's the chocolate digestive biscuits. To the supermarket I go!

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Mark Andrews

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by The Niche Man

Ah, that's how you do it. It's the chocolate digestive biscuits. To the supermarket I go!

Ah but I left out the secret ingredient my friend...

Chocolate Digestive biscuits with Marmite spread
on the underside and dunked into your mug of tea
- delicious! You should try it. Highly recommended!

If this doesn't wake your quill up, nothing will.

It's an acquired taste - the British swear by it.

Best,

Mark Andrews

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arfasaira 12 years ago

I have to agree with Mark on this one - nothing beats a good cup of steaming tea (coffee first thing) and some nibbles...

in fact I have a cup of hot chocolate with a shot of coffee in it next to my laptop as I speak....

But unlike Mark, I prefer Marmite on buttered toast
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- Steve The Copywriter 12 years ago
  
  Yes, dunking your digestive biscuit in your brew is one of life's great pleasures.
  
  Catastrophe can strike though.
  
  When the biscuit "breaks" and bits falls into the cup.
  
  You've got to scoop it out quickly before it drowns.
  
  It's a highly dangerous manoeuvre be careful not to you burn your fingers.
  
  Remember the tactic is scoop it out as quickly as you can.
  
  And try not to say F***
  
  Steve
  
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The Niche Man

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Mark Andrews

Ah but I left out the secret ingredient my friend...

Chocolate Digestive biscuits with Marmite spread
on the underside and dunked into your mug of tea
- delicious! You should try it. Highly recommended!

If this doesn't wake your quill up, nothing will.

It's an acquired taste - the British swear by it.

Best,

Mark Andrews

Sounds interesting, back to the Fresh n Easy supermarket I go. They sell lots of British grocery products there. Thanks for the tip. I'm always open to new taste adventures.

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Mark Andrews

Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by The Niche Man

Sounds interesting, back to the Fresh n Easy supermarket I go. They sell lots of British grocery products there. Thanks for the tip. I'm always open to new taste adventures.

You should know before you dash off to the supermarket today that this was just my absurd British sense of humour at play.

But... it's good to know my words are so persuasive and compelling that they can get somebody to act in such an absurd manner. I apologize profusely. :p

Whatever you do... DON'T spread Marmite on the underside of your chocolate digestive cookies!

Much as I would love to witness seeing you do this personally lol - dunking the whole lot into your piping hot mug of tea and popping this into your mouth... chances are doing so, you'll splorf rather uncontrollably over your keyboard.

(And worse... you'll probably be on the loo for the next week whilst your belly groans in a rather great and exaggerated consternation at being assailed and insulted with such a revolting cocktail of taste.)

I was jesting. Besides which, your mug of hot tea will taste absolutely bloody awful.

I say this not so much out of concern for you directly but I'd just hate to see a good cup of tea going to such waste needlessly. Tea rules!

You'll have to excuse the daft British sense of humour at work here, I didn't honestly expect somebody to believe me and to think, "Hmmmm yummy, what a great idea!" Oh my giddy aunt!

Sorryyyyy.

I like you already ya bloomin' great daft apporth.

Cheers!

Mark Andrews

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The Niche Man

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Mark Andrews

You should know before you dash off to the supermarket today that this was just my absurd British sense of humour at play.

But... it's good to know my words are so persuasive and compelling that they can get somebody to act in such an absurd manner. I apologize profusely. :p

Whatever you do... DON'T spread Marmite on the underside of your chocolate digestive cookies!

Much as I would love to witness seeing you do this personally lol - dunking the whole lot into your piping hot mug of tea and popping this into your mouth... chances are doing so, you'll splorf rather uncontrollably over your keyboard.

(And worse... you'll probably be on the loo for the next week whilst your belly groans in a rather great and exaggerated consternation at being assailed and insulted with such a revolting cocktail of taste.)

I was jesting. Besides which, your mug of hot tea will taste absolutely bloody awful.

I say this not so much out of concern for you directly but I'd just hate to see a good cup of tea going to such waste needlessly. Tea rules!

You'll have to excuse the daft British sense of humour at work here, I didn't honestly expect somebody to believe me and to think, "Hmmmm yummy, what a great idea!" Oh my giddy aunt!

Sorryyyyy.

I like you already ya bloomin' great daft apporth.

Cheers!

Mark Andrews

Too late. But just so happen the Supermarket didn't have any. But thanks for the heads up. You Brits are a riot. Benny Hill would be proud of you.

I should have known, when in doubt "Google It!" ... Cheers!

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PsychoProfits 12 years ago

Originally Posted by The Niche Man

Sounds interesting, back to the Fresh n Easy supermarket I go. They sell lots of British grocery products there.

Fresh n Easy is the US brand name of Tesco in the UK. Tesco is a huge, very smart retailer that dominates everywhere (I'm currently in China and they're even here) BUT even after spending 2 years and $2 Billion on customer research and buyer behavior they just can't crack the US market.

Conclusion: You can't do enough Customer Research or eat enough Chocolate Digestives
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MrWhites

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Mark Andrews

Ah but I left out the secret ingredient my friend...

Chocolate Digestive biscuits with Marmite spread
on the underside and dunked into your mug of tea
- delicious! You should try it. Highly recommended!

If this doesn't wake your quill up, nothing will.

It's an acquired taste - the British swear by it.

Best,

Mark Andrews

Marmite and CHOCOLATE digestives?

Thats definitely an Acquired taste!

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RadiniCopywriting

12 years ago

Got to be tea

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ARSuarez 12 years ago

A whoooole lot of whiskey.

Do I kid? Who knows.
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John_S

12 years ago

More customer research.

Less need for booze or digestive bisquit.

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Steve The Copywriter 12 years ago

I only have the biscuits after I've done the research.

Not true.

Before, during and after the research.

Steve
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- rcallaby 12 years ago
  
  Oh sorry but I forgot to add my favorite pen and paper to my list of tools. There is something great about using such a old tactile form to brainstorm. I just can not for the life of me get used to creating "mind maps" on the computer without at least first trying to do them on good old pen and paper.
  
  Thanks,
  
  Thanks
  
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Diabolik

12 years ago

I have a huge collection of copywriting courses, swipes, and power words. I took the best of them all and categorized the sections -- headlines, subheads, bullets, emotional and psychological tactics, storytelling, etc. I cut/pasted everything into an html template I created (it even has a menu, so it's like a mini-site).

So when I want to get warmed up and inspired, I click around this "vault" of copywriting info. I click "headlines" and there I am, at a long page filled with the greatest copywriters who ever lived talking about how they write headlines and all their examples.

I have one gigantic page packed with power words from Carlton, Makepeace, and everyone else. Those really get me fired up! I'll see one word and how it gives a visceral, gut-level impact which shows me how powerful certain words and phases can be... and it reminds me of what my goal is: To influence people using words and hot buttons to inspire immediate action -- and how easy it is to accomplish it.

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MikeHumphreys

12 years ago

Originally Posted by The Niche Man

Question for copywriters out there.

Other than your P.C and your brain. What's your favorite "go to" tool for creating your best copy.

Thanks for sharing that with the W.F.

Information.

The more information I have about the product... the client... their competition... and their target market... the easier it is for me to write the copy.

Of course, drinking a pot of coffee and obsessing over getting every detail of the project right helps too.

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Ross Bowring 12 years ago

I'm with Mike...

Google is my best tool.

--- Ross
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abugah

12 years ago

1. Knowledge of the audience
2. Swipe file of classic letters from 1920s

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The Niche Man 12 years ago

Originally Posted by abugah

1. Knowledge of the audience
2. Swipe file of classic letters from 1920s

Interesting you zeroed in on letters from the 1920's specifically, any reason?
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Andrew Gould

12 years ago

While I don't know if I have an overall favorite tool, here's a few things I have no problem recommending:

Apple's 27" monitor - so much better than any other display I've ever used.

Apple's chiclet keyboard - after just one session with this I could never go back to an over-sized, clunky monstrosity.

Scrivener - an excellent alternative to Word that's been specifically designed for writers. (Literature and Latte)

Evernote - a very handy scrapbook that's perfect for online research. (Remember Everything | Evernote Corporation)

Dropbox - super-handy online storage space, perfect for back-ups, working on multiple machines and getting files to clients. (Dropbox - Simplify your life)

Skype - my client communication tool of choice. (Free Skype calls and cheap calls to phones - Skype)

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lenlatimer

12 years ago

Thesaurus, Dan Kennedy, John Carlton and Gary Bencivenga and Bob Stone's "Sucessful Direct Marketing Methods".

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Increase Media

12 years ago

Amazon and Digg.

Here's why: The key to success in business is having stuff that works. Well, Amazon and Digg provide you with the top headlines and titles in virtually in niche out there.

For Digg, you can see which articles were dugg the most. For the article to be dugg, people had to first click on it in order to read it, which means the title of the article caught their attention.

You can swipe it and tweak the title a bit to fit whatever you're doing...an email subjectline, sales copy headline, ect.

Amazon works virtually the same way with its book titles.

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The Niche Man

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Best Damn Content

Amazon and Digg.

Here's why: The key to success in business is having stuff that works. Well, Amazon and Digg provide you with the top headlines and titles in virtually in niche out there.

For Digg, you can see which articles were dugg the most. For the article to be dugg, people had to first click on it in order to read it, which means the title of the article caught their attention.

You can swipe it and tweak the title a bit to fit whatever you're doing...an email subjectline, sales copy headline, ect.

Amazon works virtually the same way with its book titles.

Good "I can use that now tip".

Thanks

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sknollii

12 years ago

One book that no one seems to hit on that I think is one of the best is "Breakthrough Advertising" by Eugene Schwartz.

This is a great look at some of the basic elements that all copywriters need... and it is also a great read.

If you search you should be able to find a copy for sale (was out of print for quite a while).

Onward and Upward!

Sam

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Clint Butler

12 years ago

Dan Kennedy is my main resource, I have tons of his courses. I also have a swipe file that I use. In addition I like to surf other sales letters to get ideas.

For headlines, the magazine racks provide the best resource for that. Next time your in the grocery store check them out and see which one grabs you attention. Why was it compelling enough to cause you to check it out?

And finally, I come here for advice and tips from the real pros.

Regards,
Clint

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JoniWBeadle

12 years ago

For me, the best tool is interviewing...the product owner - the customer service rep or secretary - passed customers who are willing to tell you why they liked or disliked the product. The material they'll give you (without even realizing it) is absolutely priceless...especially the person talking to the customers. (secretary)

Also, by really listening to all of the above, you'll pick up on that market's "lingo." A must in any copy. Now the interview doesn't always have to be really formal or anything...just ask questions to get them talking and believe me, great copy will come out of it.

Another great tool is forums: a great place to see what your target market is talking about. You can view their questions - frustrations - desires and complaints. A great place to hang out to get awesome copy material.

And always, always have your Thesaurus handy...

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Hugh Thyer 12 years ago

Microsoft OneNote. Brilliant way of organising information.
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- The Niche Man 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Hugh Thyer
  
  Microsoft OneNote. Brilliant way of organising information.
  
  It would be nice if they made one for the Mac. That would be one of my dream request.
  
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Verisimilitude

12 years ago

Originally Posted by JoniWBeadle

For me, the best tool is interviewing...the product owner - the customer service rep or secretary - passed customers who are willing to tell you why they liked or disliked the product. The material they'll give you (without even realizing it) is absolutely priceless...especially the person talking to the customers. (secretary)

Also, by really listening to all of the above, you'll pick up on that market's "lingo." A must in any copy. Now the interview doesn't always have to be really formal or anything...just ask questions to get them talking and believe me, great copy will come out of it.

Another great tool is forums: a great place to see what your target market is talking about. You can view their questions - frustrations - desires and complaints. A great place to hang out to get awesome copy material.

And always, always have your Thesaurus handy...

Ssshhh!

Darn it, now everyone knows!

All jokes aside, there's a very good reason why almost all of the top performing advertising agencies are beginning to (or have already been) adopt the concept of "account planning".

JoniWBeadle knows her stuff!

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Perseus Shearer 12 years ago

I love a good old-fashioned thesaurus and dictionary myself. Seriously about the thesaurus, though. Makes me sound smart.
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leoalvin

12 years ago

Originally Posted by The Niche Man

Question for copywriters out there.

Other than your P.C and your brain. What's your favorite "go to" tool for creating your best copy.

Thanks for sharing that with the W.F.

How about the heart. We should also write from the heart. Hehe.... But yeah, a dictionary is always nearby when I work on copies.

Thanks
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Doceye 12 years ago

Plus one on OneNote.

Absolutely fantabulous research and org tool.

Doc
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sandrina

12 years ago

Wow, I always thought OneNote is useless. Have to try it out.

Anyway, my advice is to read every day as much possible. Also, try reading older books, classic writers and stuff...

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khaiyong 12 years ago

I wouldn't worry so much about Copywriting tools. Just look at 10 of the top performing sales pages and swipe (and modify) their styles

Just my two cents!

Alternatively you could search for "Swipe files" if you need ideas.
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Russell Barnstein

12 years ago

One college ruled notebook and one black Bic.

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BrianMcLeod

12 years ago

Mac-based copywriters should definitely check out Dragon Express in the Mac App Store...

It's only $49.99 for a limited time and there's an upgrade path into Dragon's full flagship version, though having used both I don't think you'll need to upgrade unless you really want to.

The first time you start dictating copy straight into the program and watch it appear on the screen as you speak... You'll be hooked.

It's so much easier than typing. And it's really accurate if you take the time to set it up right the first time you use it. I'm dictating this post...

Check it out - Dragon Express.

Naturally (har har) PC users already know about Dragon's Naturally Speaking product for Windows. This is just a new "lite" version for the Mac that I've posted about. I don't think they have an "express" for PC (but I could be wrong).

Brian

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ninar

12 years ago

I like to work with brainstorming technique. Plus chocolate-coffee technique

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AngieDixon

12 years ago

The Synonym Book by J.A. Rodale. One MILLION words.

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The Niche Man 12 years ago

Originally Posted by AngieDixon

The Synonym Book by J.A. Rodale. One MILLION words.

Wow. That's a library of words ... inside a book! Good share!
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Traci

12 years ago

Google. Quiet space. Caffeine in the form of Cranenergy, plus or minus a shot of vodka, depending on the time of day. Peanut m&ms are an absolute must.

Notes that I've taken for myself over the course of several years. All the "good stuff" from courses, mentoring or just stuff I've come across. I've got a funnel, or a specific way I write and research, so I keep that outline close and it keeps me on track.

I'll go over all the research I've got on the product one day, look through my copywriting notes the next day, skip a day and not touch either, and then on the fourth day, I just write. I let all of that mixture that's been brewing in the back of my mind come together and pour it on the screen. After I write the entire letter/email series, I'll stop. Then next day, I'll go back and edit all of it.

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ryuchi

12 years ago

It is very nice to read different ideas from awesome people who loves writing. Personally, I like these authors and their writings: Between the Lines by David Allen
Beyond the Beyond by Bruce Sterling
But a cup of tea and dark chocolates are my best friends in writing.

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