human nature

The discussion around “Does long copy work?” is as old as the hills. The argument against long copy, of course, is that no one’s going to read that much. That people aren’t that patient, that no one has time for this nowadays… But here’s the thing. The same way people ...

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When I consult with people, many times the reason they aren’t making money is because of some existing hangups about having money. Here are the three most common misconceptions I hear, along with some running commentary that might help you if you’ve ever had some of these thoughts yourself. One, ...

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Today I’m going to tell you how to make your stories realistic and believable, continuing our theme over the past few days. The biggest way to become believable in print, is the same way you’re going to be believable in person: You have to be a REAL person. No one ...

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Let’s talk about telling stories and how you can make them most effective. Yesterday, I told you the cardinal rule of story-telling was to make sure your story is an emotionally compelling human-interest tale your prospects can relate to. The “why” of this, of course, is easy to understand, right? ...

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In 1935, George Gribbin started with Young and Rubicam as a copywriter. In 1958 he was made President of the company, and then Chariman, a few years later. Obviously over the course of his career, Gribben wrote LOTS of copy, but he’s most well-known for his ads for Arrow Shirts, ...

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Lots of interesting comments on the blog from yesterday’s post. I also laid into a few people, so if you want to check it out, go to http://blog.kingofcopy.com/2008/08/seductive-or-sleazy-whats-your-take.html Today let’s talk about some more ways of leveraging or “massaging” your prospects behavior and actions. Again, here’s a story that’ll show ...

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Ever heard this one?: Know who the easiest person to sell is? A salesman, supposedly. But I’m not so sure that’s right. I guess it depends on what the salesman is buying, right? I know when I sold life insurance I bought a hell of a lot of insurance. And ...

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Today’s tip is called “Beginnings.” I’m going to separate this tip into five separate little “vignettes” (I don’t think I’ve ever used that word before.). Why don’t you see how sharp you are, and whether you can figure out what’s going on before you get to the end. O.K.? Alrighty, ...

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Hey, it’s Friday and I just got back from a few days of relaxing and vacationing out at St. Pete beach. It was my last chance to spend some time with my daughter before she starts school next week. Plus, the rest of this month is a big crunch month ...

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No doubt, next to your headline, your offer determines almost 100% of the success of any promotion you are making — assuming you’re making the offer to the right people, that is. Nothing beats a sweet offer, period. The sweeter the offer, the harder it is to resist, and the ...

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