A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but a smitten more...

I agree.

It is easy to fall into paralysis of analysis when learning to write copy. There are 500 different rules and filters to run your copy through. I've first noticed this when I've tried to write the copy using the checklists from "The Ultimate Desktop Copy Coach" by Clayton Makepeace. Each chapter came with a set of tasks and this made me treat the copy so analytically, so mechanically that in the end, I had to start again without following 125 different steps.

At the end of the day, it is a good idea to have some rules to review your copy against. However, the worst thing you can do is have those rules in front of you while you are actually writing it. When you do, it is not copywriting anymore, it is writing code, where the syntax becomes more important than the argument itself.

This is why the best copywriters don't learn tactics. They learn principles. Principles can be shaped with ease in whatever you need. It is useful to know 41 ways to write bullets but it is a lot useful to know the principles of reciprocity, consistency, the contrast principle and so on.

Best regards,
Razvan

The overthinking thing is a good ad copy killer. Learn, test, then when you develop skills, learn to trust your gut too. If you copy comes more from a space of co-creation versus manipulation, everything really pops.

I have a slightly different perspective, but mostly because I believe in being a lifelong student...

Study. But take action.

Do both.

Copywriters are great synthesizers of ideas, and you never know when some nugget you read in a random newspaper or even an old ad will collide with whatever's been floating around in your head to spark a magnificent hook.

But the challenge here is that most people read and study and hand copy and never DO.

I do. But I also study. Getting 1% better every day has put me leaps and bounds ahead of a lot of my competitors.

Good post Gordon,

I respect when you tell it like it is.

So many wannabes are looking for a secret sauce to make them excel. And there's plenty of gooroos out there who will sell them the "keys to the kingdom" or the "magic formula" to make all their copywriting dreams come true. (All for only $19.97 ... and it also comes with over $2000.00 worth of free bonuses )

Many moons ago I was one of those holy grail seekers, and I spent a lot of time (and thousands of dollars) learning many formulas and systems, from many gooroos. But they never seemed to work quite the way they were advertised. And too many of them conflicted with the one before it.

Now don't get me wrong, I did learn some things, and I have very few regrets.
And besides, I'm basically one of those education junkies. So once I re-framed all the lost time and money, and decided it was just the cost of "real world tuition," then it was all justified and I managed to move on (I figure that I could've easily spent the same time and money going to a college, while still NOT learning how to be successful at anything)


All that said... I do still read and learn from the classic masters of yesteryear (and today). But I'm not looking for any magic formula. Instead, I like to study the philosophies, and discover little nuggets of wisdom regarding human nature.

A couple of examples:

The first time I read Eugene Schwartz "Breakthrough Advertising" (about 15 years ago) it was the first time I discovered the concept of different stages of awareness in the market. No formula... Just solid psychological concepts.

And Gary Bencivenga was the first one who introduced me to the concept of making the advertising itself contain value to your market. (good stuff)

I could go on, but I think we all get the point. I don't study this stuff looking for a secret sauce. I study it because I'm fascinated with the power of words and consumer psychology.

And yes, I do realize that for someone just starting out, my reasons for studying this stuff will lead to many, MANY, nights of Ramen and Peanut Butter.


So, to make a long post just a little longer... I fully agree with the advice here for up and coming wannabees.

Right now, don't waste a lot of time (or money) trying to learn all the different, and conflicting, copywriting methods. (Unless you plan on branding yourself as a scholar. But be forewarned, that's the direction I'm considering. And I've already got a head start on you )


As Gordon already said... ignore all further study. Just start writing and selling something as soon as you can.

This advice is pure gold!


But, I will add; if you are looking for something to study, that will help you with your marketing future, here it is...

Claude Hopkins Scientific Advertising (read it 5 times). It will give you the foundational concepts of testing small before rolling out big.

Robert Collier Letter Book (read it 3 times) The examples in the book are pretty outdated, so take them for whatever they're worth, and don't get too hung up on the outdated language. But the bulk of the book is pure gold for the mindset you need to write with empathy for your market.

Finally, take this advice from SARubin... Always start with the mindset of "how can my product or service provide value to people" and NOT with the mindset of simply extracting money from people.

In my own humble opinion, this last one is the best advice of all . And if you can truly internalize the concept, it will shine through in your copy, and serve you well in your career.

90% of my copy sucked...but 10% did not... wow..do it is the answer it's like writing a hit song...most of time it sucks...but when it's good...boom

Hellor GordonJ,

Copy writing is not a commodity.

Copy writing is a business. A SERVICE business.

Copy writing services produce commodities, the client's written and/or graphic designed product/project.

Studying classics doesn't prevent one from acquiring accounts.

If a wannabee is having Ramen and Peanut Butter days and nights, it is their own fault.

Not proactively marketing ones services, day in and day out, thins the herd and weeds out the current wannabees.

This is the real secret to owning and running a copy writing business.

Chinchilla

Jus' my luck to go on vacation as WF pitches a humdinger!

So I return home to discover my GordonJ light is flashin', my Angie C vuvuzela is soundin', an' butterflies been released from their Chinchilla trap.

*Alert Nirvana!*

So, hey -- gotta wonder 'bout copy tricks gonna play for all eternity (as identified by gooroos & dispensed from their orifi from on high).

Why so?

Way I see it, problem with eternity is it goes on kinda forever which means you gotta fill it out with sumthin' excitin' or hang yusself.

Question is, what stays excitin' for all eternity?

So I figure runnin' with the same kinda sumthin' gonna be tedious -- 'specially for immortal beings gotta digest stuff 24/7 till the enda days.

That is why Time invented epochs, I guess -- evrythin' from The Jurassic Era to the 80s to post-Brexit.

Eternity as bite-sized chunks is more digestible.

Gotta figure also how eacha these epochs sub-divide up into more specific interschwinglesa time -- idiosycratically arbitrary phases -- all occupied by kaleidoscopesa non-immortals hangin' out...together.

One minute they want finger spinners, next they want cocktail stick crossbow ballistics -- an' this specific demand-SLASH-lure defines specific slasha quill ink on papyrus.

I would want always for any writin' comes outta that kinda slash to pulse out on the nouveau verve inherent in the nouveau situation -- spontaneous yelpsa joy as catch the wind an' startle slumberin' pugs kinda thing.

But mebbe I am antsy cos I am not allowed pets in my apartment.

Gonna go ladle the butterflies back into their underfloor hammocks an' unpack my vacation stuffs...

No. Don't bother studying the effects of the mind, the emotional response certain word strings will bring, don't bother learning how to format , how to use color, fonts, how to make your sentences impactful and draw people in. don't bother, right?

Your bank account will forever be=0
What a bunch of nonsense. Study and learn and do it. practice, do it some more, do it some more, when ya get your first sale from your own copy, that gives you a starting point. I have sat and learned from people who sell billions of dollars worth of products, no they don't have anything to offer or say that will help me at all,
By the way. your title=Smidgen not smitten. Smitten is like being in love. Smidgen is an increase

Colin, btw, teaches... well. LOL, ask Him. He studied and studied an awful lot there OP. He is super smart.
Big difference from following a scientifically proven formula and writing jumble
No one can drive for you, they keys, gas and vehicle are all at your disposal with training. It is up to you to drive, words are for copy what gas is to cars.your fuel. the car still needs to be put in gear etc.
-WD

Let me be clear: copywriting IS a business opportunity. It HAS allowed me to quit my job (as a full-time corporate copywriter) and bring home the bacon... while at home.

But it's a biz opp for people who already have an entrepreneurial inclination.

It's not exactly freedom from the 9-to-5, and anyone who sells that to a first time entrepreneur should be shot. I can go to a coffee shop and work, but when you're buildings something from the ground up, laying the foundation is one of the biggest heavy lifts of the whole business building process.

In essence, anyone wanting to start a business better prepare to work some long days to get it off the ground. Then figure out how to scale and take yourself out of the business.

Some people just are better employees. That's OK. Carlton once told me to take a long hard look at myself and ask myself if I was really OK with being my own one-woman show, or if I felt more comfortable at the day job.

And that's what he told me - it's perfectly fine if the idea of running a business scares you. Not everyone is made to do this work - not everyone can handle the ups and downs and uncertainties of the freelance lifestyle.

And I'm freakin' self taught here, guys. I was laid off from a semi-related field and fell into this one because I read ONE book (The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman) and thought, "this makes sense to me, I think I could do that, and it beats selling drugs or myself just to keep a roof over my head".

I am living, breathing proof that it can be done if you have basic business sense, the ability to build a compelling argument, the humility to course correct when failure inevitably strikes, and the tenacity to keep going when things aren't going so smoothly.

But yeah, hand-copying ain't gonna cut it. It's gonna get you carpal tunnel.

And I haven't hand-copied one single goddamn thing in my entire career.

But you can bet your ass I read it word for word, made it my mission to understand the argument and the structure, and then asked myself how I'd do better if given the opportunity.

Rote isn't learning - agreed with Gordon. It's memorizing.

There's something to be said for memorizing - lord knows muscle memory saves athletes when the pressure's on during the final seconds of a championship.

But copying isn't what makes a copywriter.

Your BRAIN and the way you THINK is what makes you a copywriter.

Learn the basics. Find your own voice and perspective. Apply your knowledge. Course correct.

One day you'll find yourself in my shoes... that is to say, looking back slightly bewildered and wondering when exactly it was that you became the expert when you still feel like there's so much you don't know.

Sales copy is just like any other form of writing when you get down to it. There are some great tips that can make your writing better, some great techniques to blow your competitors out of the water, and some great formulas that can increase your impact from line 1 to line 501.

But don't follow them all in your first draft!

How long has the world been waiting for George RR Martin to finish the next Game of Thrones? That man is so paralyzed with indecision that he could kick the bucket before we find out what happens to the characters we've all become so vested in.

Stephen King says it right: Write now, edit later. Or Hemingway: Write drunk, edit sober.

Get those words onto page (or screen). Sometimes your natural flow will give you something truly magical. Then leave it the hell alone.

When you come back, put those formulas into play. Put those tips and tricks, those techniques and everything you have learned into practice. And edit the hell out of your copy.

And when it comes to knowing what to write...it don't matter how many formulas you read if you can't spin a good yarn.


http://davetrott.co.uk/2017/07/everything-is-copy/

Read everything. Not just formulas. Not just business books. Not just market journals.

Read the newspaper, read women's magazines and tractor magazines, read the latest bestseller.

And sooner or later, you'll remember something that can help you sell whatever product you're writing about.