The Adweek Copywriting Handbook Learnings

You can use your pen (or your keyboard) to make a living. This book, The Adweek Copywriting Handbook, by Joseph Sugarman, is one of the most classic on this topic and in my opinion, should be studied by all marketers, builders, founders, and anybody interested in making a living online.

The following words are from the book. However you should still buy the book as it contains a lot more examples and copies from Joe. I've benefited so much from this book and will keep practicing. Hope you can too.

The 15 Axioms

1. Copywriting is a mental process the successful execution of which reflects the sum total of all your experiences, your specific knowledge and your ability to mentally process that information and transfer it onto a sheet of paper for the purpose of selling a product or service.
2. All the elements in an advertisement are primarily designed to do one thing and one thing only: get you to read the first sentence of the copy.
   1. if the reader doesn't read your first sentence, chances are that he or she won't read your second sentence.
3. the purpose of the first sentence is to get you to read the second sentence. (so on and so forth)
4. your ad layout and the first few paragraphs of your ad must create the buying environment most conducive to the sale of your product or service.
   1. We have three things we are trying to do at the beginning of an ad:
      1. we want the reader to read the copy. i.e. headline leads to sub headline, sub headline leads to first sentence, so on and so forth
      2. Then we create the type of environment through copy that causes the prospect to feel comfortable in buying
      3. We finally want the prospect to harmonize with us - to say yes or agree with what we said
5. Get the reader to say YES and harmonize with your accurate and truthful statements while reading your copy.
6. 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.
   1. collect news articles and when appropriate, use one of them to begin an ad that somewhat related to the news.
7. When trying to solve problems, don't assume constraints that aren't really there.
8. Keep the copy interesting and the reader interested through the power of curiosity.
   1. One way to increase readership is by applying "seeds of curiosity“. at the end of a paragraph, use a very short sentence that offers some reason for the reader to read the next paragraph. Such as:
      1. But there’s more. 
      2. So read on. 
      3. But I didn’t stop there. 
      4. Let me explain. 
      5. Now here comes the good part.
9. Never sell a product or service. always sell a concept.
   1. you sell the sizzle and not the steak - the concept and not the product.
      1. the only exception is when the product is so unique or new that the product itself becomes the concept.
   2. example: 
      1. Subheadline: Can an American chess computer beat the Soviet chess champion? A confrontation between American space-age technology and a Soviet psychological weapon.
      2. Copy: The Soviet Union regards chess as a psychological weapon, not just a game. It is a symbol of Communism’s cultural struggle with the West. So when Russian Anatoli Karpov competed against the Russian defector Victor Korchnoi, he had the entire Soviet Union’s resources at his disposal, including a hypnotist and neuropsychologist. Karpov won. And with it the world’s undisputed chess championship. Karpov, however, has never confronted American space-age technology and in particular JS&A’s new chess computer
10. The incubation process is the power of your subconscious mind to use all your knowledge and experiences to solve a specific problem, and its efficiency is dictated by time, creative orientation, environment and ego.
11. copy should be long enough to cause the reader to take the action you request.
    1. Two factors affecting the length of a copy:
       1. Price Point: The higher the price point, the more copy required to justify the price or create the need. This is a general rule unless the price point is perceived to be a tremendous value (then less copy may be required) or the lower price point appears to lack credibility (then more copy is required). More copy will allow you to increase the value of a product and add many more dollars to your retail price. In short, by educating the consumer you can demand more money for your product. 
       2. Unusual Item: The more unusual the product, the more you need to relate that product to the user and the more you’ve got to focus on creating the buying environment and explaining the product’s new features. At retail, generally, this type of item will not sell. Mail order is the perfect method to use when you have the right amount of copy.
12. Every communication should be a personal one, from the writer to the recipient, regardless of the medium used.
    1. Emotional Process in Communication
       1. (not so personal, i.e. bad) Dear Customer: We here at Consolidated International would like to thank you for your recent order. We realize that you could have given your business to many of the other companies in our industry, but the fact that you chose Consolidated International is really appreciated by our entire staff. Thank you very much. Sincerely, Mr. John Smith.
       2. (personal, like one friend talking to another) Dear Mr. Jones: I just wanted to thank you personally for your recent order, which I’ve just received. I took your order and even showed it to the president of our company. I realize that you had a number of other choices, but I really appreciate the fact that you chose my company. Sincerely, John Lee
    2. Use a byline
       1. Headline: Vision Breakthrough 
       2. Subheadline: When I put on the pair of glasses what I saw I could not believe. Nor will you. 
       3. Byline: By Joseph Sugarman 
       4. Copy: I am about to tell you a true story. If you believe me, you will be well rewarded. If you don’t believe me, I will make it worth your while to change your mind. Let me explain.
13. The ideas presented in your copy should flow in a logical fashion, anticipating your prospect's questions and answering them as if the questions were asked face-to-face.
    1. consider make a block diagram (like you are anticipating the prospect's questions)
    2. state the problem, and then restate it.
       1. First, state the problem. It might be as simple as “I want to sell this pinball game.” 
       2. Then, once you have stated the problem, restate it in a different way: “I would like to introduce my prospect to the unique aspects of this pinball game.” 
       3. Then restate it again: “I want to make the pinball machine easy to buy and seem like fun.”
    3. list several concepts aka your big idea.
    4. incubate (sleep on it)
    5. write
       1. in the order of headline - subheadline - first sentence - second sentence... (remember the block diagram)
14. In the editing process, you refine your copy to express exactly what you want to express with the fewest words.
    1. Principles of Editing:
       1. Look for any “that” words. For example, in my first draft I used the words, “And, if you’ve tried it, you know that. . . .” The words up to and including “that” can very often be elimi- nated. In this example, I could eliminate eight words.
       2. Edit for rhythm. Make sure that you vary the length of sen- tences so they don’t sound monotonous. I discuss rhythm later in this book, in Chapter 18.
       3. Consider combining sentences. Note that in the edited ver- sion, I combined the two sentences that read, “A bathroom scale is like a report card. It’s a feedback mechanism that tells you how well you’ve done.” I condensed it into “Your bath- room scale is like a report card—a feedback mechanism that tells you how well you’ve done.” I saved only one word by doing this, but it made sense to combine the sentences and eliminating even one word is a good move.
       4. Eliminate unnecessary words. Look at the word “the” in the phrase “and seeing the positive results.” The word “the” can easily be eliminated without changing the meaning so that the final sentence will read, “and seeing positive results.”
       5. Rearrange thoughts so they flow better. Note that in the first draft, the flow of the copy pointed out that the scale was a re- port card and the second thought was that part of the pleasure of a weight loss program was stepping on a scale and seeing the positive results. By reversing these two thoughts, I made the ad more emotional by focusing on the pleasure of using a scale when losing weight and then I explained why. This sounds a lot better and more logical from a flow standpoint than the first draft.
15. selling a cure is a lot easier than selling a preventive, unless the preventive is perceived as a cure or the curative apsects of the preventive are empashized.
    1. Another pill I have been selling for the past few years, called simply “The Pill,” is a fuel-conditioning treatment for automo- biles. It is a pill you put in your gas tank, and it is both a preven- tive and a cure.
       First, as a preventive, it helps you avoid engine problems by cleaning out your engine before anything serious happens to your car from impurities that could lodge in your fuel injectors. It reduces pollution to help you pass the many mandatory emis- sions tests conducted throughout the United States, and it pre- vents you from having to visit the repair shop. Again, these are the preventives.
       But when I go on TV at QVC to present The Pill, I don’t talk that much about what it prevents but rather what it cures. It cures engine knock, it eliminates ping, it saves up to 10 percent on gas. If you flunk your emissions test, use The Pill and you’ll pass the next time. In short, I emphasize the curative aspects of the prod- uct and underplay the preventive features. And The Pill is truly a miracle product. (I swear, it really works.) This brings me to my next point.

The Three Emotion Principles

1. Emotion in Advertising:
   1. Emotion Principle 1: Every word has an emotion associated with it and tells a story. 
   2. Emotion Principle 2: Every good ad is an emotional outpouring of words, feelings and impressions. 
   3. Emotion Principle 3: You sell on emotion, but you justify a purchase with logic.
   4. Sometimes changing a single word will increase response in an ad.

The 23 Concepts You Should Review for Each Ad You Write

1. Typeface: only use serif type
2. first sentence: keep it short, easy to read and compelling
3. second sentence: keep interest
4. paragraph heading: The primary purpose of paragraph headings is to get the reader to read the copy by making the copy look less intimidating. A secondary purpose might be to arouse curiosity. 
   1. When a reader looks at copy that appears like one continu- ous paragraph, subconsciously it looks a lot more difficult to read than copy that is broken up into neat little chunks headed by various paragraph headings.
   2. Use paragraph headings to break up copy in the middle of columns but not at the very end or beginning. 
   3. Avoid placing para- graph headings right next to each other in two adjoining columns.
5. product explanation: explain a complicated product in an easy way and explain an easy product in a complicated way
6. New Features: Highlight those features that make your product or service new, unique or novel.
7. Technical Explanation: Regardless of the product or service, each ad can be enhanced with a technical explanation. (convey thorough knowledge not only of what I am selling but of the entire universe of products available.)
8. Anticipate Objections: If you feel that your prospect might raise some objection when you are describing a product, then raise the objection yourself.
9. Resolve Objections: Just as you have to recognize objections, it is your opportunity and duty to resolve the objections, too.
10. Gender: Who is the consumer? Male, female or both genders? Are they female golf players, lady pilots or professional women? Make sure there are no sexual or sexist comments that would offend any group, and know your target audience so that you can communicate in their terms.
11. Clarity: Your copy should be clear, simple, short and to the point. Avoid big words that confuse those who don’t know them.
12. Clichés: Avoid the obvious ones: “Here’s the product the world has been waiting for,” or “It’s too good to be true.” If you feel inclined to use a cliché, don’t.
13. Rhythm: Just as a song has a rhythm, so does copy. It has no distinct pattern: a short sentence, then a long sen- tence followed by a medium sentence followed by a short sen- tence and then another short sentence and then one really long sentence.
    1. Another rhythm technique is the use of what is called a “triad.” Very often when I list examples or attributes of something, I use just three of them. “I went shopping for a hammer, a screwdriver and a pair of pliers.”
14. Service: If you are selling an expensive product or one that is not easily returned for service, you must address the question of service and convey the ease of that service to the consumer.
    1. The Sensor 770 has an unprecedented five-year parts and labor unconditional warranty. Each watch goes through weeks of ag- ing, testing and quality control before assembly and final inspec- tion. Service should never be required, but if it should anytime during the five-year warranty period, we will pick up your Sensor at your door and send you a loaner watch while yours is being re- paired—all at our expense.
15. Physical Facts: In copy you must mention all the physical facts about a product or you risk reducing your response. I’m talking about weight, dimensions, size, limits, speed, and the like. The point: List the physical dimensions even in cases where you think they are not that important.
16. Trial Period: With mail order items, you must offer a trial period for any product that the consumer cannot touch or feel at the time of purchase. The only time you can make an exception to this rule is when the value is so strong and the product so familiar that the consumer is willing to take the risk. If I were selling a box of 24 rolls of toilet paper at a bargain price delivered to your home and it was a brand that you already used, then you wouldn’t need a trial period.
    1. Make sure your trial period is at least one month, or even better, two months. Tests have proven that the longer the trial pe- riod, the less chance the product will be returned and the more confidence the consumer will have in dealing with you and purchasing the item.
       1. Just knowing you could have returned it was enough to make you feel comfortable holding on to the purchase.
17. Price Comparison: Whenever possible, offering a price comparison to another product establishes value in the mind of the purchaser. This points out one of the really important considerations that motivate consumers to buy—namely that they are getting real value.
    1. But there’s a word of caution. Your comparison must be totally accurate and be 100 percent fair or you could be sued by the company whose product you are comparing.
18. Testimonials: A testimonial is a good way to add credibility if it is from a very credible person or organization.
    1. You can also use what I call a “reverse testimonial.” That is where you don’t use a spokesperson but you refer to your competitor’s. For example, when I was selling the Olympus micro recorder, I stated the following:
       1. Headline: Endorsement Battle
          Subheadline: A famous golf star endorses the Lanier. Our unit is endorsed by our president. You’ll save $100 as a result.
          Copy: Judge for yourself. That new Olympus micro recorder shown above sells for $150. Its closest competition is a $250 recorder called the Lanier endorsed by a famous golf star. The famous golf star is a pilot who personally flies his own Citation jet. The Olympus recorder is endorsed by JS&A’s president who pi- lots a more cost-efficient single engine Beechcraft Bonanza. The golf star does not endorse the Lanier unit for free. After all, a good portion of his income is derived from endorsing products. Our president, on the other hand, does not get paid for endorsing products—just for selling them. And his Bonanza is not as ex- pensive to fly as the golf star’s Citation. In fact, our president also drives a Volkswagen Rabbit.
19. Price: Another important copy point to consider is the price. Should the price be obvious? Should it be set in large type? Small? These are important considerations and must be examined.
    1. If you’re selling a product or service at a very good price, then set the price in larger type. After all, you want people to see that benefit very clearly. If the product is expensive and it’s not the price that will sell it, you want to underplay it. Don’t hide it; just underplay it.
20. Offer Summary: It’s a really good idea to summarize what you are offering the consumer somewhere near the end of your ad. “So here’s my offer. Order two pots with Teflon coating and you’ll receive the two pots plus our handy cookbook and video for the price of only $19.95.” You’ll be surprised at how many ads miss this important point.
21. Avoid Saying Too Much: This is probably the biggest mistake my students make. They say too much.
22. Ease of Ordering: Make it easy to order. Use a toll-free number, a coupon, a tear-off reply card or any vehicle that is easy to understand and use. My recommendation: Use a coupon with dotted lines.
23. Ask for the Order: Always ask for the order near the end of your ad. This is often forgotten by many copywrit- ers. At the end of an ad, I state the following or something similar: “I urge you to buy this at no obligation, today.” Have you ever met a salesperson who has already sold you and you are waiting for the salesperson to ask you for the order but he or she never does? It’s happened to me. And it is one of the problems with a lot of inexperienced salespeople. You’ve got to ask for the order, and if you’re doing it right, it should be at the very end of the ad where you’ve finished selling your prospect, you’ve summarized the offer and your prospect is ready to buy.

31 Psychological Triggers

1. feeling involvement or ownership
   1. In all my ads I try to make the prospects imagine they are holding or using my product. For example, in one of my earlier calculator ads, I might have said, “Hold the Litronix 2000 in your hand. See how easily the keys snap to the touch. See how small and how light the unit is.” I create through imagination the reader’s experience of turning the knobs.
   2. This technique is used in many different ways. In direct response, it is often referred to as an involvement device— something that involves the consumer in the buying process. Sometimes it may seem silly. Have you ever received those solicitations that say, “Put the ‘yes’ disk into the ‘yes’ slot and we will send you a trial subscription to our new magazine”? I often wonder who invented that seemingly simpleminded and juvenile concept. Yet, as direct marketers will tell you, this type of involvement device often doubles and triples response rates. It’s not simpleminded at all but rather a very effective direct response involvement technique. (Page 133 for example)
   3. The feeling of ownership is a concept that is pretty close to the feeling of involvement, but here you are making readers feel that they already own the product and you’re letting them use their imaginations as you take them through the steps of what it would be like if they already owned it. An example might be, “When you receive your exercise device, work out on it. Adjust the weights. See how easy it is to store under your bed. . . .” In short, you are making them feel that they have already bought the product.
2. honesty (as a psychological selling tool)
   1. When I wrote a JS&A ad, I would include many of the nega- tive features of my products. I would point out the flaws up front. And of course, I would explain why the flaws really didn’t amount to much and why the consumer should still buy my product. Consumers were so impressed with this approach and had such trust in our message that they would eagerly buy what we offered.
3. integrity 
4. credibility
   1. Let’s say you are offering something for $10 that everybody else is selling for $40. Your job is establishing credibility for your price. You might explain that you are buying a very large volume from the Far East and that you were able to buy the remaining stock from a major manufacturer for a very low price. In short, you’ve got to establish the credibility of your company and your offer.
5. Value and Proof of Value
   1. In an ad, the copywriter wants to convey, through examples or by comparison, that what the customer is buying is a good value. A typical example in one of my ads is where I compare my prices to products with similar features and point out that I’m providing a better value.
      1. Simply educating the reader to the intrinsic value of your product is equivalent to lowering its price. In short, there is a value associated with the education you are providing your reader.
6. justify the purchase
   1. Somewhere in your ad, you should resolve any objection by providing some justification to the purchaser. Sometimes it’s just saying, “You deserve it.” And other times you might have to justify it in terms of savings (the price is a one-time-only value), health reasons (protects your eyes), recognition (the men in your life will love the way you look in it) or dozens of other reasons based on the wants and needs of your prospect.
      1. The higher the price point, the more need there is to justify the purchase. The lower the price point or the more value the price represents, the less you have to justify the purchase. In fact, the lower the price, the more greed plays a role.
7. greed
   1. When you lower the price of a product, you usually end up with more unit sales. Keep lowering the price, and you’ll continue to generate more unit sales than before if the price drop is big enough. Go too low and you’ll have to add a little justification for the lower price as it will start raising credibility issues with your prospects.
8. Establish Authority
   1. Establishing your authority is something that should be done in each ad regardless of how big or how little you are. For example, “America’s largest supplier of specialized products for the chimney sweep industry.” (One of my seminar participants was actually in the chimney sweep industry.) Or even if you are the smallest, you can always say, “The hardestworking bunch of guys in the advertising business.” If you really examine your company, you will find something you can say that establishes your authority and expertise in what you are selling.
9. Satisfaction Conviction (like at the end of the ad)
   1. In one ad, I said, “If you don’t buy anything during your two-year subscription, I’ll refund the unused portion of your subscription.”
   2. In the second ad I stated, “But what if you never buy from us and your two-year membership expires? Fine. Send us just your membership card and we’ll fully refund your five dollars plus send you interest on your money.”
10. Nature of Product
11. Prospect Nature
12. Current Fads
13. Timing
    1. nobody knows what the right timing is. So always test every product. the consumers will tell you whether it is too early or too late. 
14. Linking
    1. Basically, it is the technique of relating what the consumer already knows and understands with what you are selling to make the new product easy to understand and relate to.
    2. Whenever I sell a new product or a unique feature of a new concept, I use linking. I take what is familiar to the prospect, relate it to the object I am selling, and create a bridge in the mind of my prospect. Because of this linking, the prospect needs to think a lot less to understand the new product. The product is easier to relate to the needs of the prospect. Everybody wins.
15. Consistency
    1. Once the commitment is made and the prospect becomes a customer, the playing field suddenly changes. There now exists a level of commitment and consistency, directed in your favor, to encourage future purchases.
16. harmonize
    1. First, realize that often you must go with the established way of doing things in order to accomplish your goals. You’ve got to pattern yourself after what is working and then harmonize with the marketplace. Once you have an established reputa- tion, it’s easier to try something different that you yourself want to do.
17. Desire to Belong
    1. Mercedes car owners, etc.
18. desire to collect
    1. An enthusiastic watch buyer is your perfect prospect for another watch.
    2. The point is, when selling, whether in print or on TV or the Internet, recognize that there is a very large segment of the population who, for whatever reason, has an emotional need to collect a series of similar products. These products bring great joy and satisfac- tion and in some cases utility.
    3. One of the ways that direct marketers optimize on the col- lecting instinct is by sending, free of charge with their very first shipment, some sort of device to hold the collection.
19. curiosity
    1. Because a prospect can’t touch or experience the product, curiosity is the strongest motivating factor in mail order. Immediate gratification is the strongest factor in retail.
20. Sense of Urgency
    1. Whatever you say at the end should be the truth and should be crafted to maintain the same integrity that has been expressed throughout your ad.
    2. I once ran a retraction for an ad that said that the price listed for a calculator was the wrong price and that the new price was $20 higher, but you had a few days to purchase the product at the old price before the new price went into effect.
    3. you can also convey a sense of urgency by offering limited editions. “We have only 1,000 sets and this will be our last ad- vertisement” can be persuasive and motivate the buyer to act right away.
    4. You can use the sense of urgency in many different ways— low supplies, closeout opportunity, price rise, product shortages, limited-time price opportunity or limited-edition opportunity. How about “Buy now so you can start enjoying the benefits of my product tomorrow.” Or even “Buy one during the next three days and you’ll get a second one free.”
    5. Another way to provide a sense of urgency is through your shipping methods. “We’ll ship your purchase via FedEx if you order by (a certain date).” Or “Since you are one of our cus- tomers, you can buy this wonderful product prior to our national introduction if you order by (a certain date).”
    6. The sense-of-urgency statements always go at the end of your advertising.
21. Fear
    1. For example, when a new flu virus or strain threatens, this would be an opportunity to sell products that build the immune system or products that may help prevent the disease. People are buying these products because they want to protect themselves from the virus, which today is a real and present danger. They fear the consequences if they don’t buy something to protect themselves. Even though it is easier to sell something that cures a disease than it is to sell a preventive, this rule is often violated when fear is a major factor.
22. Instant Gratification
    1. you should convey to your customer ei- ther the advantages in ordering from you via mail or the assurance that you ship promptly and that the customer will have his or her purchase within a few days
23. Exclusivity, Rarity or Uniqueness
24. Simplicity
25. human relationship
    1. In short, in your advertising you want to use as many posi- tive human elements as you can without risking any negative vi- brations from emotional reactions.
26. storytelling
    1. Headline: Vision Breakthrough
       Subheadline: When I put on the pair of glasses what I saw I could not believe. Nor will you.
       Byline: By Joseph Sugarman
       Copy: I am about to tell you a true story. If you believe me, you will be well rewarded. If you don’t believe me, I will make it worth your while to change your mind. Let me explain.
       Len is a friend of mine who knows good products. One day he called excited about a pair of sunglasses he owned. “It’s so incredible,” he said, “when you first look through a pair, you won’t believe it.”
       “What will I see?” I asked. “What could be so incredible?”
       Len continued, “When you put on these glasses, your vision im- proves. Objects appear sharper, more defined. Everything takes on an enhanced 3-D effect. And it’s not my imagination. I just want you to see for yourself.”
27. Mental Engagement (don't write out the conclusion, but let readers work their mind a bit and come to the conclusion themselves)
    1. I have a theory that I strongly believe comes pretty close to the answer: The more the mind must work to reach a conclusion that it eventually successfully reaches, the more positive, enjoy- able, or stimulating the experience.
    2. The Seiko chronograph alarm sells for $300. The watch costs jewelers $150. And jewelers love the item, not only because of the excellent reputation of the Seiko brand, but because it’s prob- ably America’s best-selling new expensive digital watch. And Seiko can’t supply enough of them to their dealers. (not pointing out that jewelers are making $150 each piece sold, but have the readers figure it out themselves)
    3. working hard brings appreciation: for example, instead of having everybody in automatically once they pay the tuition, the HBS online or any other online education programs such as the AltMBA, asks for an application when you are the consumers!! the rationale is that because you apply and wait to get in, then you appreciate the "opportunity" to get in much more and treat the program like an investment (hey not everybody can get in to pay the $5000 tuition!!) so I'm glad that I got the opportunity (to pay!!!)
28. guilt
    1. In a print ad, often the mere repetition of seeing an ad in several magazines works to create a slight sense of guilt. (put the newsletter signup modal in your article's middle and end several times throughout the article might serve the same purpose)
29. Specificity
    1. “Ninety-two percent of new dentists use and recommend CapSnap Tooth- paste,” instead of “New dentists everywhere use and recommend CapSnap Toothpaste,”
30. Familiarity
    1. you never drop a campaign be- cause you are tired of it. Drop it only when the public stops ex- changing their hard-earned dollars for your product or service.
    2. if you ask some- body to give you a number from 1 to 10 right off the top of their head, chances are the number 7 will be chosen more often than any other number—often dwarfing the next choice. Therefore, using the number 7 in a book title such as “The Seven Ways to Improve Your Relationships” or “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” is utilizing the most common and familiar integer of the first 10.
31. hope
    1. When using the psychological trigger of hope, you must avoid the trap of making a specific claim that can be measured or guaranteed. You want to allude to what the product is used for without making any promises of an exact outcome.
    2. the key here is not to make a specific promise but rather to imply results through testimonials.

Seven steps to writing great copy

1. Step 1: Become an expert on the product or service you are planning to sell. I have gotten more great ideas delving into dis- covering everything I could about a product or service than I have from any other resource.
2. Step 2: Know your prospect. You might become an expert on your product or service but if you don’t know your customer, you’re at a big disadvantage. What will motivate your prospect to become a customer? Who is your typical prospect? This will give you insight and also spur lots of good ideas.
3. Step 3: Write your headline and subheadline. They must grab the reader and create enough curiosity to cause the reader to get to the first sentence. I like headlines that are short. “Vision Breakthrough,” “Pocket CB,” “Pocket Yellow Pages”—all are concise and yet create enough curiosity to get you to the sub- headline. Subheadlines should be around 16 words, and first sen- tences should be as short as possible.
4. Step 4: Write the copy. Don’t worry about sentence struc- ture, grammar, punctuation—just start writing and keep writing. Let all your ideas and thoughts flow into the computer and above all don’t worry about making mistakes. The main idea is to take everything that is in your head about the subject and dump it into your hard drive. If you write your copy by hand or with a type- writer, write with the same abandon. However, you’re a lot better off writing your ad with a computer, especially when it comes to editing.
5. Step 5: Edit your copy. Go through it and correct the spelling, grammar, punctuation and sentence structure. Eliminate extra words not necessary to express your thoughts. Tighten things up.
6. Step 6: Incubate. Stop editing, put the text aside and take a walk or do something pleasurable. You’ll be amazed at what get- ting away from your text will do for you. If you can come back to it the next day, better yet. The more time between what you’ve just edited and taking the next step—all the better.
7. Step 7: Take a final look at your copy. You’ll be amazed at how much more you’re going to catch and how much more re- fined you will be able to make the copy with this final look. Of course you could easily repeat steps 5 and 6 and continue to edit until you are happy with your results.

Writing for different media

1. catalog: A good catalog should have a message from the president in the front of the catalog along with his or her picture. This is im- portant. A catalog is like a store. If the store lacked a proprietor, it would seem cold, too big or corporate.
   1. It is extremely important to include all the salient features of the product you are selling. Leave out one small fact—even one that may seem insignificant such as a product’s weight— and you’ll reduce your sales.
   2. If you are selling prod- ucts in a closeout catalog, you don’t want your catalog to look too slick. Your customer doesn’t expect to see an expensive cata- log selling products at really cheap prices. As a guide, set the en- vironment based on the price points you are selling your products for.
   3. In a mail order ad you should feature a single product or service, leaving variations of that product out of the sales mes- sage. But in a catalog you have the opportunity of offering sev- eral variations of the main product you might sell in a mail order print ad. In fact, that’s what your customers expect.
   4. Finally, what works exceptionally well for product catalogs is the personal sales message—something that I have used for years with great success. Let each product description sound like a personal conversation with the prospect.
   5. Make sure you have your toll-free phone number on each page. Often a prospect will tear out a page and throw away the rest of the cata- log only to discover later that the toll-free number is missing.
2. Flyers: Insert Stuffers, Bounce Backs, and Broadside
3. Direct Mail (to be re-read)
   1. The grandfather of modern newsletters!!!
   2. keep the letter personal - use I and not we if possible. when you want to use we, maybe you can use my team and I instead of our company
   3. PS is the most read line of page
   4. don't put company name on envelope
4. Newspapers
   1. If the ad you are placing in a newspaper is a mail order ad, it should pay for itself and cover the cost of the insertion the first time it appears.
   2. If you are advertising something that promotes a retail establishment, then frequency is a major key. Putting an ad in a paper only once is simply a waste of time and money. Often people don’t respond right away. There is a lag time between seeing your ad the first time and then seeing it so often that a level of trust develops.
5. Billboards
6. News Release
   1. The news release should be written like a news story, complete with as much detail at the beginning as possible.
   2. You can use quotes in the release that can be attributed to experts who will say things about your product or service that you can’t say in the body of your release. “John Jackson, chairman of the company making the Bone Fone, says, ‘Never before in the history of sound has a product this novel been introduced.’ ” A quote like this has to be attributed to someone, so use the device as an opportunity to include testimonials, statements from the president of the company or other comments that enhance the news in your article
7. Radio
   1. Radio is a music and news medium. The more you therefore make your message sound like news, the more compatible your message is with the medium
   2. As a copywriter, realize that radio is among the most personal of all media with a core message—simple, clean and easy to comprehend
8. TV
9. infomercial
10. Back-end sale aka. upsell
11. Internet
    1. Email newsletter: 
       1. Keeping your message brief and offering a link to a catalog or a longer sales message is the approach you should use.
       2. “You need to educate and provide value in your e-mails. Only after you’ve communicated and provided value and even bonded with the prospect do you start to offer them your product or service.”
    2. Long Internet Letter
       1. Now here is where the difference comes in between the print ad and the Internet ad. In a print ad, the prospect knows to glance at the end of the ad to get a summary of the offer and all the ordering information. Not so with a long Internet ad. Throughout the ad you need to have “Buy Now” buttons on almost every screen, even at the very beginning of the ad
       2. Your picture should be in that long letter. Again, like the testimonial, it evokes trust and confidence. Prospects feel a real person is behind the product or service they are contemplating purchasing.
    3. internet infomercial
       1. The first rule is regarding price: The more expensive the product, in general, the longer the infomercial.
       2. The second rule covers the ordering process. Since you are on the Web, you can make it very easy to place an order. Simply put an “Order Now” button on your screen when you would normally put the call to action. (It can be in the first five minutes or later in the show.) Your prospect will press the Order Now button and place the order
       3. The third rule to remember has to do with attention span. Your typical Internet viewer has a much shorter attention span than your TV viewer and is more likely to leave your site than a TV viewer is to switch channels
       4. Finally, don’t forget the upsell potential on your infomercial. You can do the upsell with audio and video once they’ve made the buying decision and have placed the order. You should also list the toll-free number. Many will not feel comfortable placing their order on the Web and will want to talk to a real human
       5. Your infomercial need not be expensive. You can shoot your program with a good quality consumer video camera. And it could be a simple format like you being interviewed by somebody
    4. Book promotion
    5. Personal blog
       1. one of the tips that Joe Vitale offers if you want high search engine presence is to use popular events, current trends and famous names to get the best rankings. Vitale ran the headline, “What I Learned from Lindsay Lohan about Losing Weight,” and it was picked up prominently by the search engines simply because of the association with a famous personality.
    6. The Viral Transmission
    7. internet store (e-commerce)