Do you want to dazzle & charm your audience? ??
Discover Sugarman’s slippery slide writing technique … the oldest and best damn trick in the all-star copywriter’s book
#copywriting #directresponse #tipsandtricks
So, there’s this whole talent anxiety thing going on in all the good, the bad, and most charming copywriters’ circles …
Where people start doubting in themselves about whether or not they ‘have what it takes’ to be a good copywriter.
And let me be completely frank with you …
I’m one of those touchy-feely mega self-doubters.
Well, I used to be …
You see, I’ve been struggling with mad anxiety for a long while …
And this monster within me has had this nasty bad habit of heavily influencing my ability to do marketing and write copy and … well, do anything, really.
You know … it was basically just making my life a living nightmare from time to time …
I mean … call it whatever you want …
Impostor syndrome, self-esteem issues … or even full out anxious panic attacks …
It sucks to experience it … and it sucks even more when it discourages your work mojo.
And creatives, writers, marketers … yeah well, our egos aside, we’re no damn exception.
So, anyway … when it comes to the art of copywriting …
I’ve witnessed so many people go through the same fears and psychological challenges as I did …
It’s like living with Marvin the Paranoid Android from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in your head …
Now, since I’m in my early thirties, and that fact alone makes me an anthropological wonder according to my lil’ niece’s age standards …
I just referenced a pop culture synonym for a severely depressed or anxious voice in your head …
That’s constantly telling you that you’ll never ever and not in a million years have what it takes to do whatever it is you’re trying to do.
Oh, and the books really are an absolute thrill to read by the way.
Don’t let me being “old” tell you any different.
Sidenotes aside …
Copywriting is just like any other skill in business and in life …
Well, it has absolutely nothing to do with just pure talent alone.
Talent will only ever get you so far …
It’s practice that will carry you the rest of the way.
Ask any achiever … be it a professional athlete, a successful business superstar, or an Oscar-winning actor …
They’ll all tell you the same damn thing.
Oh, and speaking of oscar-winning actors … or at least about one that should have won it already …
Will Smith tells it a bazillion times better than I will ever be able to …
Talent or no talent … greatness is achieved through “beating on your craft”.
I mean, take a couple of minutes and listen to the Fresh Prince drop some truth.
“Talent you have naturally. Skill is only developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft."
His little tale alone has all the right mojo to “flip your life upside down” and make you a killer copywriter.
Spoiler alert … here’s the lazy reader’s takeaway in a nutshell:
“The separation of talent and skill is one of the greatest misunderstood concepts for people who are trying to excel, who have dreams, who want to do things …”
You see ...
“Greatness is not this wonderful, esoteric, elusive, godlike feature that only the special among us will ever taste, it's something that truly exists in all of us.”
I mean, look … not to smother you with a Tsunami special of the Bad boy’s quotes …
You already have what it takes. Talent or no talent.
As long as you’re willing to beat on your craft.
And here’s the best part … it’s not about grinding …
It’s not about hustling, either …
By the way, I really hate that term … ‘hustling’ … makes my skin crawl every time I notice it floating around in all the rad marketing frequencies …
I mean c’mon … hustling is just plain wrong in my book …
There’s just so much good to be done …
But enough with the moral preaching rant …
I’ll save all that for another time, and another tale …
Anyway, back to the topic at hand …
Talent vs skill
Skills are developed.
And you can develop your copywriting skills and techniques as well as any other.
All it ever takes is dedication, time, and effort.
And since a little fun ain’t never hurt no one …
You can help yourself with a little hack or cheat sheet here and there …
Trust me, no one really cares about the mountain of work you put yourself through before eventually succeeding.
All everyone ever actually notices are your mountain top selfies …
Your “view from the top” … your actual finish-line success.
Having said that … here’s a proven hack that will give you the edge you need to get yourself on your very own copywriter’s mountain top.
I’ll tell it to you through Joseph Sugarman’s eyes …
Oh, and if you haven’t yet … read his handbook.
Now, the man didn’t invent the concept I’m about to share with you …
I just love his way of explaining it …
I’m a sucker for the plain old conversational lingo …
Ready?
Cause it’s so simple and so damn effective it’s just legen...wait for it...dary.
Here’s how you should write copy, according to Mr. Sugarman himself:
“Your readers should be so compelled to read your copy that they cannot stop reading until they read all of it as if sliding down a slippery slide.”
Now, there’s so much gold to be grabbed out of this single line of genius, I could just talk about it for ages …
I love ideas like that … that you can just mull over and play around with for an absurd amount of time.
But talking about gold … since time is money, so I’ll get straight to the point …
3 of them actually …
And if you’re still not satisfied by the time you get through them …
Hit me up for a cup of coffee … be it a real-life or an online get-together… and we’ll have ourselves a genuine old school debate on the matter …
Anyway, let’s get the cookie a-crumbling … we’ll start with
Sugarman’s copywriting hack #1: 'Know who you’re talking with'
Look, I’m not about to bore you with this age-old recipe for success …
I’m sure you’ve heard about it basically everywhere.
But there’s one point that I’m absolutely obliged to bring through to you.
And it’s a little … hm, what’s the right word for it … unbelievable … yeah, that will do …
It’s just unbelievable.
Because it works on everyone, anywhere, anytime.
No matter what kind of effort you (didn’t) put into actually researching your audience.
And we’re only barely scratching the surface when it comes to effectively bringing it into practice.
It’s about being conversational.
It’s about telling your story in a human way.
It’s about being genuine, passionate, friendly … hell, even humorous or dare I say sarcastic …
Alive.
You know … plugging that right and creative center of the brain into play.
Now, here’s what everybody already told you …
You should explain [whatever] the way you would explain it to your friend.
And here’s the ironic reality check …
The way I see it … maybe 10% of the people in the biz actually follow that advice.
I mean, just check your email inbox and browse through the messages of your favorite merchants.
And then check your messenger app of choice and compare the way you actually converse with your friends to that noise in your inbox.
Most of those corporate messages probably never even grab your attention to the point of you actually opening them, let alone read through those boring-ass walls of text.
Oh, and speaking of attention-grabbing charms … here’s
Sugarman’s copywriting hack #2: 'Get the first line read'
The only purpose of your first sentence is to get your audience to read the second one.
And the purpose of the second sentence is to get them to read the third.
And so on and so forth …
Now, this logic applies to the very essence of the way you tell a story.
And it includes absolutely everything … the whole package … that is your story.
Including design for example.
Not to hurt any feelings here … I feel all you design enchantresses and wizards out there …
I get it ... what you’re doing is nothing short of magic …
But look … direct response is all about getting your readers, viewers … your audience … to do something … to buy … to click through … to take a meaningful action.
And if you want to achieve that … if you want to create an absolute beast of a call-to-action in your work …
Everything needs to fall in line with the program …
And the name of the game is …
Get the first line read.
Which brings us to ...
Sugarman’s copywriting hack #3: 'Frame for effect'
This one is super simple …
Form matters.
You know it. I know it. Everybody knows it.
It has to look a certain way to truly swallow you whole.
But once again … I’m not about to bore you with all the general standards and rules in design …
I don’t even know them all … and I’m probably breaking most of them all the time, so …
But that’s just the thing isn’t it?!
Some rules are just plain made to be broken.
For the sake of having some damn fun if nothing else.
And this here little rule-breaking isn’t just fun … it’s extremely effective.
And hated by all the linguists and academic folks and probably some others out there as well ...
But who cares, if it works, right? ??
I mean ... do you want to write a novel or a sales letter, damn it?!
So, here’s the fun part …
I’ve already told you everything you need to know about framing …
You see …
Everything I write …
I do it in short to the point sentences …
Think of it this way …
You want to give people small, easily digestible chunks they’ll be happy to nibble on …
Just imagine the way most folks cut a pizza or a piece of cake or candy into tiny pieces …
So they can feel as though they aren’t over-eating … even ... no, especially if they munch on the whole thing anyway in the end.
The psychology behind it is real easy to swallow … no pun intended.
If you get them to read a little bit … even just the one short sentence …
What’s stopping them from reading another short sentence after that …
And another one after that …
Now, sure, there’s a ‘little’ more behind it all …
But hey, we’re not trying to cover ALL the best storytelling ingredients that turn your stories into absolute forces of nature … well, not all at once at least.
Remember … small, easily digestible tasty little pieces of charm material.
This writing technique works wonders even for your average mobile device readers.
So, why not make it a little easier for everybody to enjoy your work.
Which brings me to another bonus point worth putting on record and straight into your copywriter’s swipe file.
Bonus copywriting hack #4: 'Don’t worry about length'
Look, J. Sugarman is a legendary copywriter known for his hilarious, long-copy approach …
And he’s an absolute magician when it comes to direct sales and marketing and out-of-the-box copywriting …
But he never wasted his time arguing about long-form vs short-form copy.
And I wholeheartedly share his point of view …
The reality is that copy should be as long as it needs to be …
It just so happens that long-form is currently the king of everything direct response.
Just take a little peek at the work the brilliant Aussies over at King Kong are doing.
They’ve made a ton … tonS and tons … of cold hard cash … playing the long-form game.
I think Sabri Suby (the CEO) even wrote about it in his Sell Like Crazy book …
That they have a more than solid benchmark proving long-form beats short-form every single damn time.
And the logic is once again as simple as simple can be …
It’s not about addressing just about anyone.
It’s about addressing people … actual buyers … that are interested in your offer.
They’re the ones who will naturally read as much as they can about it.
If they are not interested, they’ll hardly read anything.
I mean, just consider the whole binge-watching phenomenon straight out of the Netflix & chill book of pleasure …
People love to binge.
You know … getting lost on Youtube … cruising all the coolest social media posts until 3 am …
And yes …
People love reading charming copy.
Or am I wrong?
Tell it to me straight in the comments section …
Oh, and ... good vibes only. ??