The first secret to becoming a great direct response copywriter...

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SARubin
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The first secret to becoming a great direct response copywriter...

Post by SARubin »

It has nothing to do with what kind of formal education or degree you have.

It also doesn't matter whether you're a man or a woman... old or young ... fat or skinny... white, black, brown, blue or green.


On top of that, it doesn't matter if you can write with perfect grammar or not. Your talent for poetry and prose will only take you so far in this business.

Sure, they can help. But that's less than half the answer, because when push comes to shove what we do isn't about knowing how to write... It's about knowing what to write.


I've met quite a few great copywriters over the years - and none of them have any major similarities, in looks or education.
But they all have one thing in common...

They know how to sell.


Give me a successful salesperson who's been in the trenches, and as long as they're not completely illiterate, they can qucikly become a successful copywriter.

But give me an English Professor who knows all the grammar and punctuation rules by heart, but who's never sold anything, and it'll be a long hard road turning that guy into a copywriter.


Of course basic writing skills are needed. And you do need to have a decent vocabulary – or at least know how to use a thesaurus.

But what great copywriters do is all about getting results.

You write a sales piece or advertisement. Get it in front of people. And within a short time (sometimes only a few hours online, a bit longer in print media), you know if you're copy is a winner or a loser.

And when it comes to finding clients to write for (if that's the route you decide to take), if you have a track record of copy that sells, no one is going to say, "You made a lot of sales but you're fat, ugly and don't have a college degree. So we're not going to hire you."

Clients care most about numbers - Response rates, Conversion rates, Costs vs Profits.


The thing is, if you think about yourself primarily as a "writer" then you may want to stick with blog posts, articles, poetry or prose.
And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. You can make a very good living as a content writer.

But to make it as a direct response copywriter, you must first and foremost be a sales person.


So instead of thinking of yourself as a writer, see yourself as a master salesperson who just happens to sell with the written word.

In other words, you're not a "writer who sells" you are a "sale person who writes".

It’s a crucial distinction and understanding it makes all the difference.


So what's the first secret to becoming a great direct response copywriter?

First learn how to sell to people.

After that you can learn how to use copywriting formulas, tricks and techniques to increase your response rates.


Thought for the day...
A good marketer knows how to think like a marketer - A great marketer learns how to think like the customer...
SARubin - Direct Response Copywriter / Conversion Flow Expert
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