How to Write Your Own Copy
It's a long time ago, I was at lunch at a Chinese place near my direct marketing agency in Connecticut. Across from me is a copywriter who just submitted his copy. Lunch is the reward.
He was starting his second whiskey when I asked, "John, where do you get your copywriting ideas? You were a business guy, I thought. Weren't you president of Wittenauer Watch?"
He said, "I did numbers and management most of my career. When I retired (taking another big draw at his whiskey) I started writing copy. I suppose it's my idea of a hobby.
"You really want to know my secret? I try and come up with an idea. And if none comes, I pick up The Robert Collier Letter Book. I start with a lead from there." (He drains his glass.)
I waited until his second drink to get an unguarded answer. Nobody had told me about the book before, even though I'd asked every copywriter I worked with the same question. In those days, all the copywriters knew about the book, but didn't share it.
Collier was also a theorist. His Attention-Interest-Commitment-Action model is still the best map of persuasion I've seen. He details each of the stages and what you have do to be successful at each one in the book.
It may not be a great idea to write your own copy. For me, it limited the size of my agency. But if you like copywriting or can't stand managing copywriters, you may have to. Learn to do it really fast.
Collier wrote his book in the 40's about work he did in the 20's and 30's. He wrote copy for Blair clothing, The Wall Street Journal, his own self-help books, and more. His view of why people read and buy is true and useful today.
Even if you manage creative people and agencies and don't write yourself, the Robert Collier Letter Book is a great read. It'll help you evaluate copy.
David Ogilvy loved the Claude Hopkins direct response books. I like them too and recommend them - My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising. But I never read Hopkins for copy ideas.
How Do I Do It?
In the first few weeks after I started my agency, I got a letter. It had a plain front and back, a first class stamp, and my name typed neatly and accurately on the front. I opened it to discover an offer to be a charter subscriber to the Gary Halbert Letter.
The writing was honest and beguiling. He promised to reveal the same great truths about direct marketing that I'm telling you here. But he wanted about $400 a year for them. I bought.
And it was a good investment.
Now, you can get all those newsletters free online. www.thegaryhalbertletter.com will get you there. He has passed away but his children have a business dispensing his wisdom.
Halbert described the process of creating a headline. It is the foundation of my own method and it's simple.
WRITE A THOUSAND HEADLINES.
Then keep throwing them away until there are only eight or ten left. That first part is the most difficult. It can take months. You just keep writing. I use the same recipe for the first couple of paragraphs of body copy.
I write without much filtration on what comes out. I'm looking for every idea I or anyone else could possibly have on how to pitch this product. Then I start scrapping things.
When I get down to eight or ten, I run a survey, polling at least 25 people. My favorite tool for this is surveygizmo.com. There are lots of them; use the one you like. If you email me, I'll send you the questions I use.
Once you see how people feel about your best headlines, you either use one you've done or start the process over.
