On Copywriting

Tribute to Gary Halbert

As you may already know, Gary Halbert passed away on Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007.

I never had the privilege of knowing him personally. The closest I ever got was sitting directly in front of him at System Seminar 2003, where he was a keynote speaker.

John Carlton has written a beautiful tribute to Gary that I encourage you to read.

The world is, indeed, a different place without Sir Gary Halbert.

My Wife Is Pregnant

I'm in shock.

And it's affecting my ability to work today.

Joseph Ratliff noticed. He sent me an email that said:

Ryan,

Did I win last week's drawing?

Hehehee, it is not on your blog...shame on you.. :)

Just kidding, what did you do take some time off? hehehehe

The fact is, I was gone from Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon. I was at a men's retreat at the YMCA in Estes Park.

Then, this morning, I discovered my wife is pregnant with our third child.

This was entirely unplanned, so, like I said, I'm in shock. And it's been difficult to focus on work today.

But let me tell you... God is good!

We have to turn our Nissan Altima in on Friday. The lease is up. So we've been researching what vehicle to get to replace it.

So far, my wife and I have been unable to agree. And so we decided to wait. Just go with one car until we find exactly what we want.

Well, praise God we waited! He knew what he had planned for us. He knew we would need a minivan. And so he prevented us from getting a car that wouldn't have worked.

Anyway, that's why I'm distracted and a little behind today. My apologies.

P.S. My wife is not happy about the minivan. But children are a blessing from God. We're absolutely happy about that.

The Death of Crap

Today, I read The Death of Internet Marketing by Mike Filsaime. I also read The Death of Crap.

I liked Mike's report. He expressed many thoughts and feelings I've personally had.

I also liked The Death of Crap. I found it even more enlightening. Perhaps, if you have a moment, you'll want to take a look.

By the way, this is not an affiliate link or anything like that. I genuinely think it's worth the time to read.

Click here to read The Death of Crap

Scarcity Frenzy

Sales of the new PlayStation 3 start today. In fact, the front page photo on the Rocky Mountain News shows a group of guys who've been camping out in front of a Best Buy store since Wednesday evening.

On the front page of the Business section, there's a photo of a guy who's been camping out since Tuesday evening.

Why all the fuss? Of course, there's the excitement about how fun the PS3 will be to play, but the greater factor is the scarcity.

Apparently, most stores across the country have fewer than 20 units. In California, a Wal-Mart had to shut down when fights broke out.

Also of note: many of the people in line aren't gamers at all. They're profiteers. "Scalpers," for lack of a better word. They hope to "flip" their PS3's for profit on eBay. (Hey, wait a minute, I could sell an info product called "PS3 flipping." :-)

Anyway, I point all this out because scarcity is a powerful pyschological motivator. The more you can use genuine scarcity in your sales letters, the better.

The key is to make it genuine. Be specific and be real. One of the best promotions I ever did (in terms of total units sold) was for a puzzle. The reason it did so well was because I used real, specific numbers to demonstrate the scarcity.

And I didn't stop by telling subscribers how many units we had in stock. I also told them how many people were being notified. And which stores were already out of stock. Most folks don't know what typical response rates are, so the people on the list automatically assumed there would be a fast blow-out.

The Rocky Mountain News reports, "Low supply and high demand cooked up a powder-keg of interest in the PlayStation 3 this week as gamers and profiteers packed the front of stores across the country for a chance to buy the new console."

Low supply + High demand = Record sales

It's a simple formula, but it works beautifully every single time.

UPDATE 10:09 A.M.: I'm not the only one blogging about the PS3 as a great scarcity play. Christopher Knight of Ezine Articles just wrote a blog post about the very same thing. Read Mr. Knight's PS3 comments here.

Credit Card Offers Get Low Response

Did you know 6 billion credit card solicitations were mailed to U.S. consumers last year according to market research firm Synovate?

That's a lot of mail. But here's the real kicker...

In 1992, credit card companies were getting 28 responses for every thousand pieces mailed. That's a respectable 2.8% response rate.

In 2005, that response rate had plummeted to a meager three responses for every thousand pieces mailed. So only a 0.3% response rate, which is truly dismal.

I'm amazed that it's still profitable for credit card companies to continue to use direct mail to bring in new customers. (Then again, maybe it's not profitable... and they do it anyway.)

I have two theories about this situation, both of which are probably true:

1. Americans have too much debt and they don't want (or can't get approved for) additional credit cards.

2. The direct mail pieces for credit card offers do not use copy that is as effective as it could be. (In other words, they need a professional copywriter's help!)

Source of data: Rocky Mountain News, Saturday, July 29, 2006 in the Wall Street West section.

Got Advertising Skills?

Yesterday I came across an article that talks about labor shortages in the online advertising business. Apparently, there are some big salaries available for the right people.

The article "Online Ad Jobs Go Begging" says: "With the business up 30% in 2006, Internet companies are desperate to fill jobs. Salaries and other perks are keeping pace."

I mention this article for two reasons:

1. To show you that there is plenty of opportunity in advertising—as well as copywriting.

A lot of folks who get into copywriting think they've arrived too late. Or that all the good work has been taken by the most accomplished freelancers.

Neither is true.

There is plenty of work and an overabundance of opportunity.

The second reason is:

2. To get you thinking about how you might want to apply your own copywriting skills.

As you know, I'm a freelance copywriter. I write for a number of different clients and projects.

But it wasn't always this way.

In fact, I got my start in copywriting and marketing as an employee of Sonlight Curriculum, which is a company that sells to the homeschooling market.

As an employee, I was able to learn the art of copywriting and document real-world results that helped me to attract clients once I launched my freelance career.

The attraction of a freelance copywriting career is very powerful. (And for good reason.)

You can go straight from your job to full-time freelance work, if you want. But for some people, it may be a better course of action to take an advertising job first, then transition to freelance work later.

You get to learn the ins and outs of the business, make connections, boost your confidence, generate revenue that's tracked back to you, and—ultimately—build a portfolio of ads (and results) that you can use to attract freelance work when the time is right.

So I want you to think about these two things: how much opportunity there is in advertising, plus the idea that there may be an "intermediate step" you need to take before you become a freelance copywriter.

Simmer on these ideas for a bit. Then, let me know your thoughts by posting a comment, okay?

Lunch with Ken Calhoun

Today I drove down to Colorado Springs to have lunch with Ken Calhoun. Ken is a great guy, not to mention an excellent marketer and copywriter.

Ken is somewhat of a "lone wolf," which intrigues me. He creates all his own products and does all his own marketing. In fact, if you take a look at a few of his sites, it's quite impressive.

I first met Ken in October 2005 at a copywriting seminar he put on with Michel Fortin here in Denver. Since I knew Ken lived in Colorado Springs (about an hour from where I live), I invited him to lunch.

Ken is still editing the videos from that copywriting seminar and hopes to complete them soon. When they're finished, I'll let you know.

By the way, I've posted a photo of my lunch with Ken Calhoun here.