I just got back from giving a talk tonight.

The thing was supposed to be about 1 hour. Ended up being 2 and a half.

It was exhausting – and great. And because it was a small group we got to interact a lot. You know, just kick back and do a lot of question / answer type stuff.

They were a cool group too. A hungry group. They sucked me dry of more copywriting knowledge than I've ever given away in such a short period of time. The basterds

Which leads me to…

…One of the most powerful ways I know of building credibility, trust, and getting new business: public speaking.

And there are a few reasons why…

For one, we’re conditioned to view speakers as experts. By default, if someone takes the stage, and gives a presentation…

They’re an expert on that subject.

Next, it gives you a chance to show off “how good you are.” If you give a talk, and people walk away with awesome, practical advice – you’re showing them before they even do business with you that you deliver results.

And finally…

People like to do business with people they like –

so by letting them get to know you in your speech, you can start to build a relationship with them, and increase their chances of hiring you / buying your products.

But the key is to making this all work is by making an AMAZING impression on your audience… Here are a few ways to do that…

1. Give away an awesome gift.

I like to provide everyone with awesome, printed materials they can walk away with. I’ll also provide pens and paper for note taking.

People really appreciate small stuff like that. It shows you really care, and that you really want to help.

2. Really stack on the value.

Provide a HIGH level of value in your content. Give the kind of content for FREE that people pay for.

They will love you to pieces. Trust me. And a side effect of really helping people is they want to help you back. This is where you get business and referrals.

I’ve walked away from a presentation with a full page of leads before – filled from top to bottom (even the margins).

Oh, and it was only a 5 minute presentation!

3. Tell stories about your customers / clients.

One thing I like to do is to tell success stories of clients – and then break down for my audience how everything worked.

This accomplishes three things…

1. It shows that I help people succeed in their goals.

2. It lets the audience imagine what it would be like to work with me, and decide if they want a similar experience.

3. It shows them real world examples that they can apply to their businesses / lives. I’m not giving “abstract” information. It’s very real, and very practical.

4. At the end of your talk – tell people what to do next!

Just like any good ad – a good talk should end with a call to action.

You can tell people about a product you’re promoting, offer your services, a free consultation – anything.

Just make sure you tell them how to get in touch with you. Tell them to call – and give your number. Or give your e-mail address and tell them to write.

Just make sure you give clear, concise instructions.

Now, this stuff takes practice.

You won't become a Martin Luther King over night. Trust me – I'm still on the learning curve of public speaking myself. 

But I can tell you this – it's one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever come across.

What are your thoughts?

I’d love to hear them. Did you learn something new? Or maybe you think this is all "rubbish" (to be British for a second)?

Leave a comment in the comment box below and let me know.

Talk soon,
David

p.s. Part 2 of my "incredible revealation" is coming up soon… If you don't remember, you can check out part 1 here:

http://acupofcopy.net/http:/acupofcopy.net/my-newest-revelation

Keep a look out…

You know, every night I fall asleep to the same book. Each and every time.

… but I’m not sure if this is the best book to fall asleep to. Maybe you can tell me.

See, this book does two things at the same time:

1 – It inspires the heck out of me, so much so that my brain starts filling with ideas faster than gas prices could ever hope to rise…

2 – Because it’s so dense, I get sleepy…

But sometimes the thoughts keep me up. Like last night, even after I put the book down I had so much brimming in my brain. I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, waiting for the thoughts to think themselves out of my mind.

(Which, by the way, is an important lesson I learned long ago – when you have those late-night thoughts, resistance is futile, isn’t it?)

The book I’m talking about is Robert Collier’s The Robert Collier Letter Book.

… while it doesn’t have the most creative title ever (lol), man is this thing good.

It’s easily the most powerful book on copywriting and marketing I’ve ever read. It’s full of so many examples too that you could just swipe and send out.

Last night, I came across an interesting passage that inspired this here rant…

Robert was talking to me (yes, to me, and only me ) about cleverness in sales letters. He said that if you make a letter too clever, you’ll get lots of great comments on it…

… but few orders.

However -

If you make people forget they’re even reading, that’s when the magic happens.

So what exactly does Mr. Collier mean by this, and how can we hope to accomplish this seemingly difficult task?

Two ways. Well, there’s a lot more than two, but for the sake of not turning a blog post into a 400 page book, we’ll stick with two for today.

1 – Don’t be clever. Be straight-forward. Concise. Practical. Sincere.

2 – Be yourself.

Now, #2, I think, is the more difficult of the two. Because when I say “be yourself,” I mean tap into your own unique voice.

You have a “person” inside of you who expresses just what you want to say, whenever you want to say it.

… you don’t always let’em out, but he’s there (I don’t want to exclude anyone reading this post – but for the sake of brevity I’m just going to say “he”. Pretend I’m saying he / she though, k? )

It’s the voice that comes out when you sit down to write an e-mail to a friend about an important subject.

Or when someone close to you is hurt and you offer comfort.

Or when you’re so excited about something that just happened that you talk the ear off of the first person willing to listen.

A lot of us are very careful about what we say – and how we say it. But in these moments we let that drop, and just say what’s on our minds. And it always comes out perfectly.

No doubt. No hesitation.

That’s what I mean when I say “be yourself”.

… because when you write in that voice, you’re what I like to call “a real human being”.

You’re not a sales letter template. You’re not an e-mail template. You’re not a pitchy salesman who doesn’t give a damn about the person on the other end of your letter.

“A real-life, bonafide human being.”

People who have mastered sales have mastered authenticity.

So, now that we’ve covered part 1, now it only seems right to talk about how to get there.

I wish there was a concrete answer that worked for everyone, but part of the price of being unique is we’re all different.

So naturally, we all have different ways of getting in touch with ourselves.

I know for me what works best is reading something written by someone who is really “in their voice.”

Or hearing someone speak who is.

As soon as their sincerity hits my ears, or my eyes, I snap out of whatever state I’m in and feel that calmness come over me that comes with being in touch.

It also comes with meditation, deep thought, great conversation, writing.

But to be honest, I don’t even have a set plan for myself. Whenever I need to tap into that place, I just make it my intention. And then, one way or another, I get there.

The path seems to change every time though.

… which means I’m going to have to give you an answer that you might not like.

No one on this planet has the ability to connect you to yourself other than yourself.

Other people can help you get there – but you’re the one who ultimately makes the connection. So only you can find what works in the moment.

I wish I could tell you, “Do x, y, and z,” but this is one of those things that just doesn’t work that way.

What I can tell you is try to think of things that inspire you – that shake you out of the comatose of routine and day-to-day mundane-ness.

That’s a great place to start. Once you start feeling that tickle in your stomach, you’ll know you’re gettin’ there.

Talk soon,

David

I recently read a sales letter from a guy named Ross Browning.

I wanted to share it with you because I really appreciated something cool Ross did with his copy…

He got creative.

Creativity is extremely under-played in copywriting these days. Most of what’s out there is badly written templates that have been recycled over and over and over again.

…But the worst part is the people who use these templates put no effort into making them original. They simply plug in their product name, and publish it to the web.

I say let’em have at it.

Because for those of us who do put effort into creating something unique and original – we get noticed.

When you take the time to craft a unique sales message – just by doing that you’re distinguishing yourself from your competition.

Why?

Because they’re probably using worn out templates, or something dull, dry, and frankly, boring.

Now, Ross took a very unique angle on a very old tactic…

The tactic? He held a sale. Nothing original there.

How he did it? Well, that’s another story.

He gave one of the funniest, and most personable, “reasons why” I’ve seen lately.

Here’s what he did…

Ross told the story of his newborn child. And how, when she was born, this teenage girl photographer came and took pictures of the baby with Ross and his wife.

And THEN – the girl left, and came back a little while later with a full slideshow of the pictures on her Macbook, with beautiful, emotional music playing.

…That’s just not fair, if you ask me.

“Get me those pictures!” his wife told him.

So he needed a quick $600. Turns out the teenage girl was quite the saleswoman, and charged quite a fee.

So to get that $600, he was holding a sale.

Pretty cool, right?

However, taking just a few minutes to come up with a good “reason why” makes such a drastic difference. You could really relate to Ross’s message, and you wanted to help the guy out!

Especially the parents out there. I’m sure they went bonkers over that letter.

Let’s check out another example…

One of my favorite copywriters of all time, Gary Halbert, was once asked by a friend of his…

“Gary, I want to get a book on copywriting today. What should I get?”

Gary thought a moment, and then handed him his favorite novel.

“What’s this?” the guy asked.

And then Gary said something like, “You’ll get more out of reading master storytellers than you ever will reading a ‘how to’ book on copywriting. After all, copywriting is storytelling, and that guy has it down like no other.”

So… If one of the most renowned copywriters of all time is urging us to use creative story telling in our writing… We probably should, right?

What’s your take on all this?

David

Awesome news… My life partner (and business partner), Louisa Levit, won this super-competitive logo competition, and she’s gonna be published in a book!

Lou is a KILLER graphic designer – and the logo she created for this thing is absolutely brilliant.

Here – Lou and I got together some samples of her work to show you (hey – it’s fun to show off from time to time )…

The Logo That's Being Published - "Green Clean Moving" - an eco-friendly moving company

Deux Maries Frameshop

Cover for a DVD info product

Our business card (mine says copywriter...)

Me and Lou on vacation

Pretty awesome stuff, right?

Like I said, Lou is super talented. The first logo (the one that won) is just brilliant. It’s for an eco-friendly moving company.

Now for a funny story about Lou with great copywriting tips hidden inside…

So, the other day I wanted to go to the local bookstore at like 9:50pm, get some coffee, hang out, and get some work done till they closed at 11.

Here’s the thing…

The cafe closes at 10:00 even though the store closes at 11:00.

Lou only wanted to go if she could go to the cafe.

“It’s gonna close by the time we get there – it’s practically 10,” she said.

“Actually… It’s a 2 minute drive, and it’s 9:50 – if we leave right NOW we can make it!” I told her.

All of a sudden she leaped off the couch – ran to the door – put her shoes on, and we were off.

Now here’s the lesson in all of this…

Urgency works!!!

Right as we were getting into the car, I realized what an awesome copywriting lesson that was. Knowing there was only 10 minutes left got her moving like a track star.

Before? She was as likely to get off the couch as a slug is likely to chow down on salt.

So if you find you’re not getting the response you’d like – add some urgency! Put a deadline on your offer, raise the price after the first X amount of orders, or something similar.

I’ll leave it to your imagination to come up with the best option for you

Have a great one,

David

I’ve written a story for you about a kid, his lawn mowing business, and his neighbor.

…But it’s not just any story.

See, hidden inside is one of the most powerful lessons for e-mail marketing lessons that I was ever taught. Now, I could just come out and explain it – but with a story I can show you this concept in action, and help you understand it even greater.

So without further ado…

Lawn-Mower Kid (By: David Tendrich )

In a small suburban neighborhood, in a small city of the good ole U.S. of A there was a boy who mowed lawns in the summer.

He would mow 5 yards a week at $20 each. For an 11 year old – that was pretty good mulah. But something in him always wanted to do better.

One day, his neighbor approached him…

“Did you know…” the man said, “That if you do this one little thing – you’ll get twice as many paying customers this week.”

Well, the kid was all ears, as you can imagine. And he didn’t blink once as the man talked to him. He just stood there, eyes wide as full moons, taking it all in.

The kid tried out the tactic that the man taught him…

And got 3 new paying customers that week.

Now, that’s not quite double the amount he started with, 5, but it was darn close enough. It was a failure the kid could live with.

He felt on top of the world.

Until, a week later, the man came back…

“Mister! Mister! It worked! It worked!” the boy beamed.

“I’m so happy to hear that, kid. But you know, the best part is that you took action on the ideas. Otherwise it’s just talking and jibber jabber.”

The kid smiled.

“Say, how about I teach you something else this week? This time you could triple the number of houses you mow.”

So the boy listened. And he acted on what he heard. And in one week’s time not only did he have 24 houses…

…He was paying another kid to mow them for him!

The boy was making money while sipping on lemonade all day!

"Yeah... Lemonade..."

And then the man came back.

“Mister! You wouldn’t believe it! I have 24 houses – and a friend of mine mows them all! That idea you gave me worked so great!”

The man smiled.

“I’m so glad to hear that,” he said, “Say… I happened to see one of the houses your friend mowed, and he did a mighty fine job… How much do you charge? I’d like to hire your services to mow my yard.”

The boy arched an eyebrow, “Mister – your money is no good here. You’re the reason I have as many houses as I do – and why I’m not doing a single ounce of work to collect the money from them. I’ll pay my friend to mow your house for the whole rest of the summer. Thank you for all you’ve taught me.”

The man smiled, tipped his hat to the boy, and went on his way.

So… Did you catch the single most important secret of successful internet marketing?

Wanna go back and look again? Or do you think you got it?

I can boil it down for you in 4 little words…

Giving. Leads. To. Getting.

It’s as simple as that.

The man gave something of great value to the boy. In fact, he did it twice. And when the man asked for something – the boy jumped to his aid.

He thankfully jumped to his aid.

Think of the last time someone did something really nice for you. Didn’t you want to appreciate them back by doing something for them?

Like when a stranger opens a restaurant door for you – don’t you want to do something in return?

Or when a friend gets you an awesome gift for your birthday – don’t you just want to one-up them and get them something even better?

That force that makes you want to give back has been called the “Law of Reciprocity.”

The Cycle of Reciprocation

It works in e-mail marketing too…

The key to successful e-mail marketing is to constantly provide awesome, free content to your subscribers. What happens is they get that same, “Wow – I wanna do something in return” feeling building up in them.

Keep providing it until their “law of reciprocity gauge” hits overload.

Then you pitch them your product or services and out of the desire to give back, and out of trust for you because you always come through with the content…

They start buying from you like crazy!

But the key is in the value, and in the desire to really help.

If you don’t genuinely care – then this all kinda falls apart – because people can see right through it.

So keep providing value.

Often when I talk about this, someone will ask me how much value can you provide before offering someone the chance to buy your product.

While there’s no “set in stone” rule for this, until you get the feel of it you can follow this simple plan:

Something Free –> Something else Free –> A bonus –> A product

That’s the gist of it. Just make sure the “free” stuff is GOOD.

A lot of people don’t provide as much free stuff in between pitches – but I like to really provide people with great value before I ask them for a sale.

I want them to have no doubt in their mind that my product is extremely effective – because they see how effective my free content is.

Now, I do have one rule of thumb that I suggest you follow…

I only provide content that I feel is worthy of being paid for.

Rule of "Thumb" ...haha

For instance, I only provide the quality of content that I would to my private coaching clients.

You can stand out really easily if you do that – because 99% of internet marketers give away junk.

Which gives you a golden opportunity to be the Hero of Your Niche!

Give away for free what people would gladly pay for. They’ll really appreciate you – and want to return the favor.

So what’s your take on all of this?

How do you personally view the law of reciprocity, and how to use it?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Feel free to share in a comment.

David

David here – and before I get into e-mail marketing I just want to remind you guys about my 4-week LIVE coaching program – Copywriting Domination.

Because at 12pm EST tonight – I’m taking down the page.

-You’ll learn how to write copy that sells your product or service to ANYONE in your target market

-You’ll learn how to identify your target market – and get to know exactly what they need to read in a sales message in order to buy

-You’ll learn how to write a headline so appealing that someone would have to force themselves NOT to keep reading

-And of course-  you’ll have private access to me during EVERY call to ask any and all questions you have

Get on track to writing six-figure copy by clicking here:

Turning words into cash… and cash into your dreams.

Also, with the 100% money back guarantee you have nothing to lose, right?

Now – for some e-mail marketing

People are selling products and services more and more from one simple thing…

Writing an e-mail and clicking “send”.

They don’t even send people to a website – they just provide everything in the e-mail.

Too crazy to be true?

Click play to learn how you can do it for your own business.

Email Marketing

So, is e-mail marketing the new sales letter? Are websites becoming more and more obsolete?

You tell me. Let me know your thoughts in a comment.

Talk soon,

David

Got a 20-point checklist of things to remember when writing your successful copy. Oh, and make sure you read the “bonus” #21 (I think it’s the best ).

Presenting… 20 things to keep in mind when writing “killer” copy:

1. Spend more than 15 minutes on your headline (it’s that important)
2. Write like you’re actually writing to another person (make it real)
3. Write a story – and use it to let your prospect imagine how their life could be different
4. Use your story to establish a sincere, genuine connection with your reader
5. Bold the important parts of testimonials – and give each testimonial a good headline
6. Keep your paragraphs very small – and break them up with bolded sub-heads
7. People really DO read all that writing – as long as it speaks to their desires
8. Find out what your prospects want and give it to them
9. Use your prospects’ own language to describe their problems and desired outcomes
10. Make an offer so good that someone would have to be out of their mind to pass it up
11. Provide a guarantee. This shows you stand behind your work, and you believe in it.
12. Longer guarantees normally REDUCE refunds.
13. Design matters. Use colors, shapes, and fonts that appeal to your target market. Aren’t sure what appeals to them? Ask!
14. Just don’t make the design only for you! If you like it – that’s great – but make sure your target market likes it even more.
15. Make your first 3-5 testimonials from people who address the key objections of your readers. For example, people who say they’re “so glad they paid the money” – “well worth the investment” – “was not nearly as intimidating or hard as I thought it’d be” … Stuff like that.
16. Interview your customers, dig deep, and find out the REAL reasons they want to buy from you.
17. Put testimonials and a reminder of your guarantee on your order page. This will encourage people who otherwise would change their mind at the last second.
18. Charge what you’re worth. If you think your price is too high – DON’T lower it. Instead, add bonuses so that it seems like it’s a steal.
19. Write paragraphs for your bonuses as if each was its own product that someone would be lucky to BUY. Never mind that they’re getting it for free – still sell them on it.
20. Believe in what you’re selling. It’ll shine through.

21. You’re a total copywriting bad ass Never forget it.

Did I leave anything out? Let me know in a comment!

Best,

David

Here, lemme explain…

Remember back in high school the person who you had a crush on, but they didn’t have a crush on you?

Remember how that made you even crazier about them? And how you filled with that stomach-churning jealousy every time you saw them with someone else?

You can do that to your prospects, too.

Well… Not the whole “stomach-churning if I don’t have you then life is pointless” mindset like you had back in highschool…

But taking away your offer – or – talking about who your offer ISN’T for can have a similar effect…

Increased desire.

So say no in your writing. You and your product are not for everyone. I know that my copywriting services are not for people who expect my copywriting to be their magic bullet, or for people who don’t trust my judgement and expertise, or for people who aren’t going to take my copy and use it for great things.

And when I talk to prospects I let them know this.

The result?

I only work with the people I want to, and those people appreciate working with me even more knowing that I turn away others.

It makes them even more valuable. And they are. Because I greatly value their positive mindset and attitude.

Do you see where I’m goin’ with this?

Turn away business in your writing. Here, I’ll send you off with an example:

Whoa, hold on there just a second!

Now I’m definitely NOT saying that buying this product is going to solve every one of your problems and make you a millionaire overnight.

If you think that then I’m going to have to ask you to leave this page.

What I’m saying is if you put it to proper use – if you take the time to go through the directions and use it just as me and many other people have…

You’ll see great results with it. And if you don’t? Send it back. Please. And you’ll receive a full refund, too.

etc., etc., etc.

Have a great one,

David

First off – speaking of cool copywriting tricks – my coaching program has gone live and is quickly selling out. This thing is going to be CRAZY. You will walk away feeling, and writing, like a copywriting pro.

And if you don’t?

Why, I simply refund you in full. No. Questions. Asked.

Click here to check it out: http://www.acupofcopy.net/1.html

Okay… Now didn’t I just promise you a cool copywriting trick?

Here it is…

It’s very simple, but one of the most powerful realizations I’ve ever had about copywriting.

This “trick” will get you laser-focused on what exactly to say – and what NOT to say. Because often what you shouldn’t say is just as important to know as what you should.

Okay, here it is…

Ask yourself this question on ANYthing you’re writing copy for…

“Why is buying this product the biggest no-brainer ever?”

You’ll be amazed how quickly your brain pops out the most potent, compact reasons why your readers will want to buy your product or hire your services.

…And you’ll quickly cut through all the crap, too. You won’t write a single word of fluff. Everything you write will be for one purpose: to sell.

Now, I told you it’d be simple!

But you have to at least try it out!

And you can change the question around too, to make it work better for you.

Like…

“Why would someone have to be the dumbest person on earth to not buy this product?”

Or…

“What are all of the reasons that make this product the absolute BEST purchase someone has ever made?”

See, two things happen…

The first is your mind gets on track to answering that question. The way your sub-conscious works, when you ask it a question, it tries its best to come up with answer.

Often, I’ll ask that question, procrastinate for a few hours, and later that day I write brilliant copy. All because I focused super hard on the question, then let it simmer.

The second is you’ll get really enthusiastic about your product – and excited to write about it in your copy.

Enthusiasm is contagious.

Buyers have a sixth-sense for it. When you believe in your product, and you’re excited about it – it shows. People can feel it in every word you write.

Someone can write what “should” be the greatest copy ever – but it might be missing that one little thing… excitement.

Being excited puts you leagues ahead of everyone else – because most people write just for cash. But when you have a deeper purpose – when you really believe in what you’re selling – you’re on a whole ‘nother ladder.

Because remember…

That’s what copywriting is for. Selling stuff that helps people. Nothing else. And when you come up with the biggest reasons why someone would have to be a complete fool to not hire you or buy your product – you’re practically at the finish line.

So ask yourself that question, and then furiously write down whatever comes out of your brain.

Just write a raw, uncensored list. Don’t hold back.

Then, take those ideas, and turn them into well-written copy.

Oh, and let me know what you think.

Good luck, my friend

David

Been a while since I put up a post – I’ve been SUPER busy lately (as I’m sure you have too).

With that said – I have an awesome post for you today that’ll make writing headlines faster and easier, and the headlines you write will be way more effective.

But first, let’s refresh our memories with one really simple thing…

And that’s that headlines have a very SIMPLE purpose:

To call out your target market, and GRAB their attention.

Now, pay close attention to the word ‘GRAB’…

…Notice that I didn’t say “get their attention” or “make them interested”. A headline needs to convince someone that whatever they’re doing can wait a few minutes while they read your website or ad.

So to do that, you probably want to address the most BURNING issue or desire they have, right?

Right.

So to do that – follow this formula:

1. TALK to your customers, and find out their #1 frustration, and the #1 benefit they’ve gotten from working with you

2. Look for patterns in the answers, and find the most common ones

3. Work the biggest frustration/desire into your headline – and leave everything else out

Now, on #3 what I mean is that a lot of people try to fit every possible benefit into their headline.

This does 2 things…

First, it makes it so the benefits don’t really stand out because they’re all clumped together.

Second, if everyone knows everything they’re going to get out of your product before reading the page – why would they keep reading!?

Give’em just enough to keep’em goin.

For example…

If you check out my coaching page headline – it says something like: “How you can boost your monthly income by 5 figures or more by… Writing words down on a piece of paper?”

I stick to one benefit – boosting your income. And I give a “hint” about how you’ll do it (“writing words down on a piece of paper”).

Now go write some headlines!

Of course nothing beats practice. So write, write, write! I usually write about 10-15 headlines before I really find a good one – so just keep that in mind.

It’s OKAY to get stuck, and it’s OKAY to not get it right the first time.

Till next time,

David