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remembering the fundamentals

by copyassassin
5 replies
with tax season in the rear view mirror, I'm getting back into the fundamentals of copywriting.

like hand writing sales letters.

When I met Parris Lampropoulos in Chicago I asked him if hand wrote sales letters.

He looked at me like was a idiot.

"Of course".

He then mentioned he only discovered the hidden "secret" of a John Carlton golfing piece after hand writing the piece a couple of times.

Please reply back if you too hand write sales letters.
#fundamentals #remembering
  • Profile picture of the author AmericanMuscleTA
    Just started 3 days ago!

    Reading The Gary Halbert Letter gave me to motivation I needed to start handwriting sales letters and ads.

    So far, I'm handwriting one ad a day out of the book The 100 Greatest Advertisements 1852-1958.
    Signature

    David Hunter | Duke of Marketing
    www.DukeOfMarketing.com
    www.BibleAndFriendsYouTube.com

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  • Profile picture of the author chillheart
    Welp, I've been slacking in that training procedure.

    Haven't done that in weeks.

    Originally Posted by copyassassin View Post

    He then mentioned he only discovered the hidden "secret" of a John Carlton golfing piece after hand writing the piece a couple of times.
    I recall handwriting David Ogilvy's Rolls-Royce ad. It was only from writing it out by hand where a certain detail finally made sense. Merely reading the ad didn't catch everything.

    There's just some kinda neuro-magic to it I guess.
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  • Profile picture of the author Memetics
    "Neuro-magic" is exactly what it is. Once a person has learnt to write without having to "think" about the strokes they're making on the paper, then the writing has become an unconscious process; the process is passed from the conscious mind to the unconscious so it can be completed automatically, and leave the conscious mind with more important things to do with its time.

    Next time you tie your shoelaces, watch your hands, are you controlling them or are they just completing the task automatically?

    It's the same with writing. An experienced writer can literally sit and watch their hands write as if they're their own impartial observer. The formation of their prose is being created automatically within their unconscious mind with the conscious mind acting as an editor.

    The "Neuro-magic" is the fact that the process also works in reverse. The act of writing another master copywriter's ad "back engineers" the thoughts and nuances of their thinking into your own unconscious mind. Your're actually accessing the "source code" and gestalt of where they're coming from and introducing the "qualia" to your own creative process.

    Qualia are the ultimate reduction of the the mind.

    Qualia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    You can't explain a qualia to someone as your subjective experience can't be communicated to another person, and the closest you can ever get normally is through analogy.

    However...when you run another writers prose into your own mind through writing their words out, you can to some extent feel what they feel and ascribe the same "essence" of their thoughts and methodology to your own creative process and modify them for the better.

    Eventually your unconscious mind completes a process of analysis of what you've experienced and you get that lovely "Aha" moment as it segues into place and you understand what Ogilvy/Kern/Halbert were doing.
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    • Profile picture of the author copyassassin
      thanks for that detailed response.

      BTW, what is your background?

      I've read your posts and they have this college level philosophy, language, semantics feel to them.

      Personally, I like it.

      I'd love to know where you learned all this stuff.




      Originally Posted by Memetics View Post

      "Neuro-magic" is exactly what it is. Once a person has learnt to write without having to "think" about the strokes they're making on the paper, then the writing has become an unconscious process; the process is passed from the conscious mind to the unconscious so it can be completed automatically, and leave the conscious mind with more important things to do with its time.

      Next time you tie your shoelaces, watch your hands, are you controlling them or are they just completing the task automatically?

      It's the same with writing. An experienced writer can literally sit and watch their hands write as if they're their own impartial observer. The formation of their prose is being created automatically within their unconscious mind with the conscious mind acting as an editor.

      The "Neuro-magic" is the fact that the process also works in reverse. The act of writing another master copywriter's ad "back engineers" the thoughts and nuances of their thinking into your own unconscious mind. Your're actually accessing the "source code" and gestalt of where they're coming from and introducing the "qualia" to your own creative process.

      Qualia are the ultimate reduction of the the mind.

      Qualia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

      You can't explain a qualia to someone as your subjective experience can't be communicated to another person, and the closest you can ever get normally is through analogy.

      However...when you run another writers prose into your own mind through writing their words out, you can to some extent feel what they feel and ascribe the same "essence" of their thoughts and methodology to your own creative process and modify them for the better.

      Eventually your unconscious mind completes a process of analysis of what you've experienced and you get that lovely "Aha" moment as it segues into place and you understand what Ogilvy/Kern/Halbert were doing.
      Signature

      The Most Bad-Ass Tax Reduction Strategist for Internet Marketers who HATE paying taxes. See my happy clients

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      • Profile picture of the author Memetics
        Originally copywriting back in the day, but more broad spectrum persuasion engineering the last 15 years. I'm retired now but like to keep my hand in and keep myself up to date on the latest ideas and methods.

        Writing copy will always be close to my heart.

        It's interesting that some principles from the copywriting greats are now just being picked up by the persuasion industries across the board and becoming mainstream. Copywriting is regarded as a black art mainly because it's called a "fire and forget" technique, in the sense that you're not getting any feedback (unless you split test) from the subject whatsoever so you can't calibrate and adapt: it's one chance only.

        You lot are held in quite high regard by the rest of the industry (although it doesn't stop them from trying to fiddle with your copy once they have it for their site/literature Grrrr)
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