Whats The Biggest Lesson You Ever Learned About Copywriting?

That copywriting changes with time and that the guru's don't know much.

I wouldnt say that they dont know much but if you rely on old information without knowing the proper context of it - it can mislead you.

Also sometimes people are narrow minded, there are aspects of image advertising that can be brought over to copywriting that a lot of people miss because they are so focused on words instead of the psychology of buying

For me, it's adaptation. The tactics that worked for some people in one occasion might not necessarily be transferrable. You need to be aware of the different social norms, different psychological mindsets, and even different greetings suitable for your readers. There is no 'one size fits all' guideline that works in every piece of copywriting.

Of course, it's difficult to learn about adaptability unless you have some practical experience with different scenarios. That's where practice makes perfect!

You may not reinvent wheel, but you can re-style it, improve it, and re-size it (make it big, make it small, and what not)... that is how you make your content unique...Isn't it what MRF, Dunnlop, and all has been doing with a real wheel (and not the metwphorical one we discussed above)

Three things:
1. Words have the power to bring wealth, joy or peace. They also have the capacity to bring destruction and agony.
2. Copywriting is salesmanship in print and a career in sales is one of the best paying.
3. Writing is one of the hardest activities a person can undertake.

To do real copywriting, you need to develop from the intrinsic fundamentals. Not the headline, not the subheadline, not the greeting, not the subheadings, not the body, not the PS's, not the bonuses, not the guarantees or anything like that.

The Attention. You crash their minds with extravagance, surprise, fear.
The Desire for Proof. You set their inner desires on fire. You set them yearning for it.
The Arguments. Once you win them little by little, you gain a feet, then a mile on them.
The Escalation of Interest. You send their hearts thumping, their brains churning, their resistances collapsing.
The Stimulus. / The "Call to action". You let them decide, and naturally they have already been persuaded. There goes the sale.

Don't write like you've tried too hard, even though you have; be genuine.

Selling something different is a different kind of selling; there's no universal.

You can't talk to your prospects without a voice; your sale, your take, your angle.


Edit: I knew everything I posted in this thread before I gave my copy to the copywriters. They taught me these three lessons.

Thanks, WarriorForum copywriters.

The biggest things I have learned about copywriting over the years ~

Never stop learning about how to write copy...

Never stop learning about the inner workings of human psychology...

Never stop researching about the ever changing copywriting field and what is working and what's not... (seems like it changes from day to day sometimes especially in some of the hot markets I write for...)

And never forget to return to the masters for inspiration when you are stuck.

I love the old masters, Caples, Schwartz, and all the rest, and many of their old ads -- their tried and tested psychology of selling works as well today as it did 60, 80, 100 or more years ago.

You hit the nail on the head about digging deeper and finding the "inner psychology" of why a certain piece of copy simply "worked".

The tough part is... Trying to figure out how they created that special "emotional appeal" that pulled at the heart strings, or kick-started the ego or touched the inner soul of the people who read the copy and then bought.

The subliminal psychology of selling is not logical and fills an inner desire -- a desire that sometimes the person reading the copy was not even aware of but the copy brought out.

The old masters were experts at magnifying "a want" and turning it into "a need"!

It was so much harder to get a sale years ago before the Internet, because people had to fill out a form, write a check and then find an envelope, lick a stamp, and finally mail the darn thing out! (Today's direct mail is simpler with pre-paid postage" and 1-800 numbers!)

Today we are so spoiled with selling on the Internet and 1 click sales buttons!

Imagine trying to get past all the resistance of doing direct mail from years ago, versus us just getting a simple mouse click!

Yes, using the "psychology of selling" is truly an art.

Few of us are naturally born with this gift, for those who are -- writing copy is easy.

But for most of us -- we have to work at it and work at it and work at it.

I know when I look back at copy I wrote when I first started writing years and years ago... I cringe... But we all had to start somewhere...

And on a bad day when I am stuck it helps to go back and read some great copy I have written. Sometimes just doing that will give me the confidence to get past a stuck point with some tough copy I am working on...)

We need to remember how far we have come as writers!

Today, I feel so good inside when I get that email or phone call from a thrilled client when the copy I wrote is selling well. I print that copy out and add the stats I receive to it, and put it in my Master Copy Binder. This is a private success journal that is easy to refer to for inspiration too.

(So if you haven't made one, you might want to, even if you are just starting out as a copywriter, and it will help boost your confidence!)

Getting back to the copy from the old masters...

Sure we need to put a little bit more of today's lingo and spin on the old sales letters from the masters -- that's a given.

But... When I am stuck with a copywriting project, I take a day and go back through my old copywritiing master swipes. I am always inspired and will find a new angle or idea I can adapt to my current copy I am in a rut with...

When I read the old swipes... I am almost put in a trance... I know how that old copy from the copywriting masters "gets under my skin". It seems to effortlessly inspire me to know exactly what to do to change what I'm stuck on. I look for the emotional appeal that is in the copy, and try to match it then the words come much easier.

It just works. Sometimes reading some of the old copy out loud works better for some people, than writing it out by hand which most people do at first. Even typing it out on a computer will work to help inspire you.

Even after 14 years of writing, I find each day I learn something new I did not know before... so never stop learning... never stop searching... and never give up!

I learned you can't write copy using a laptop on the beach (unless it's dark.)

Unfortunately, i'm not a good copywriter but after 2 years in Internet Marketing i realised that Copywriting have all power to bring money to my business. Words extremely affect people.

First time when i read a sentence "It's not about what you are selling, it's about how you do it" i thought "What a fcuking nonsense!"

Then... with time... i realised, it's true. I envy people who are talkative and has rich vocabulary because it is road to wealthness.

Tip for beginners in IM: Start from Copywriting ;-)

The market decides.

I totally agree with you, maximus242. Copywriting, indeed, is salesmanship put into words. It definitely reflects one's selling skills. One thing I learned before I became a bestselling author and long before Inc Magazine voted my company as one of the fastest growing companies is that it is always important to focus on what you are selling and how it is going to create a value proposition for the customer or target audience. It is indeed very much important to know what it means to a customer.

That you have to sell people what they think they need so the product can deliver what they really need.

It's humbling to admit it but for me it was probably the fact that I really have to learn as much as I can about the target audience. That their reasons for buying, their desires, fears might be different to what I have imagined.

Once I started to dedicate time to know my audience, my copy got better. Of course you still have to have the basics down (different sales letter formats, psychology, vocabulary, slang, language rhythm and so on), but in my opinion nothing beats knowing your audience. It makes coming up with sales ideas a lot easier.