{"id":3434,"date":"2023-07-22T21:13:05","date_gmt":"2023-07-23T01:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/copywriting-tips-from-the-greatest-advertising-man-in-history\/"},"modified":"2023-07-22T21:13:05","modified_gmt":"2023-07-23T01:13:05","slug":"copywriting-tips-from-the-greatest-advertising-man-in-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/copywriting-tips-from-the-greatest-advertising-man-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Copywriting Tips from the Greatest Advertising Man in History"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Profit<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

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One of the most valuable skills in the world is the ability to turn words into money.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Sean Goldsmith and Craig Ballantyne<\/strong><\/p>\n

For example, the real estate agent who can create an intriguing listing, attract prospects to an open house, and describe the home in the most appealing manner will make the most sales, earn a higher income, and have a greater chance of retiring rich.<\/p>\n

Salesmanship is persuasion through words.<\/p>\n

In the publishing world, we call this copywriting or <\/b>\u201csalesmanship in print.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of the greatest skills a writer can possess. It\u2019s what at Early To Rise we like to call a \u201chigh income skill<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Good salesmanship<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s be clear about something. What I\u2019m about to say might make you squirm, but it\u2019s the pure, unadulterated truth, and once you accept it, you can use your words to move the masses (like Martin Luther King, Jr. and JFK did in their legendary speeches) or to make mountains of money (like legendary copywriters).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s right, JFK and MLK both used words to persuade others to act. Their speeches were copywriting, although they didn\u2019t end with a call to pull out a wallet for a credit card number, they still ended with a powerful call to action (CTA).<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the sentence that might make you squirm.<\/p>\n

In copywriting, you\u2019re appealing to fear, greed, hope, love \u2013 all the human emotions.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

And these don\u2019t change. They\u2019ve stayed the same throughout history. These emotions were the same ones evoked by Caesar and Cleopatra, JFK, MLK, and you, today.<\/p>\n

The right appeal is 80% of a successful message and whom you say it to.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t need long, fancy words. In fact, that can even harm you. But nothing harms you more than appealing to the wrong audience.<\/p>\n

After all, the best writing in the world isn\u2019t going to sell pantyhose to a long-haul truck driver. (Well, at least not most of them.)<\/p>\n

The right appeal and the right headline (one and the same) are the hardest things to produce.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another important fact to remember when you are writing copy.<\/p>\n

Copy can\u2019t create desire\u2026<\/p>\n

You can only take existing desires and channel them to the product you\u2019re selling.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example of what that means\u2026<\/p>\n

In the 1970\u2019s a strange phenomenon sprung up. If you\u2019re of a certain age, you might remember it. I\u2019m talking about \u201cThe Pet Rock.\u201d Today, you couldn\u2019t sell the pet rock. There\u2019s no desire for it. You could run the same sales letter that worked forty years ago and you\u2019d fall flat on your face.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But in the 70\u2019s, Gary Dahl was able to tap into the nation\u2019s Zeitgeist to sell a fad product for a short period. At the time, many American\u2019s were complaining about all of the care their pets required. That\u2019s when Gary had the wild idea to sell a pet rock and funny manual that accompanied it called, \u201cThe Care and Feeding of Your Pet Rock\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Pet Rock craze lasted only a few months (and was born right around the same time as your faithful editor, Craig Ballantyne!). It peaked during the Christmas season of 1975, and eventually ended when the appeal faded.\u00a0It cost $3.95 by mail order, and reports suggest he sold 1.5 million rocks during that time.<\/p>\n

But again, today, there\u2019s no appeal, and you\u2019d have better luck squeezing money from a stone than selling it as a pet. (Kids today have moved on to finer things, of course, like fidget spinners and pet goats<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Dahl\u2019s fad shows you the power of copywriting and tapping into the right market with the right appeal.<\/p>\n

No one in history has been better at doing this than the greatest ad man of all time. His name was David Ogilvy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Ogilvy (pictured above<\/em>) started an ad agency called Ogilvy & Mather. And he\u2019s considered one of the great advertising men\/copywriters that has ever lived.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t read his books, Confessions of an Advertising Man<\/em> and Ogilvy on Advertising<\/em>, you absolutely should.<\/p>\n

Below is an excerpt from a memo Ogilvy wrote in 1936. He was a 25 years old working at an ad agency \u2013 before he started Ogilvy & Mather.<\/p>\n

He found the memo years later and wrote a letter to the board saying\u2026\u201dit proves two things: A) At 25 I was brilliantly clever; and B) I have learned nothing new in the subsequent 27 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Ogilvy:<\/p>\n