News for Copywriters about copywriting and marketing.

The Hardest Working Man In Advertising
26 Jan 2012 at 11:41am
Posted by David Garfinkel
The late Madison Avenue legend David Ogilvy was a great copywriter, but not a very happy one. In a letter to a man named Ray Calt in 1955, he described my work habits as a copywriter as appalling and confessed:...

Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules For Great Writing
13 Jan 2012 at 12:29pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
He's the brains behind FX's hit show Justified. He wrote the novel that became the hit movie with Danny DeVito and John Travolta, Get Shorty. He has 8 million books in print. He's Elmore Leonard, the crime novelist that gets...

Madison Avenue's latest innovation: the f-bomb
4 Jan 2012 at 11:20am
Posted by David Garfinkel
It reminds me of a teenager bursting at the seams, who just can't wait to get rid of his virginity. And as a 16th birthday gift, Dad takes him to the Bunny Ranch, the famous Nevada brothel, for his very...

What Just Happened? (As Verizon Customers Correct A HUGE Marketing Mistake By...
30 Dec 2011 at 11:00pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
A quick note before the year runs out on us: Customers are more in control than ever before. Point: Recently, Bank of America retreated on its plan for a $5/month debit card fee. Point: Today, Verizon retreats on its we'll...

The Trick To Creating Irresistible Offers
22 Dec 2011 at 1:25pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
A few months ago I had the honor of meeting a legend, the Lion of Internet Marketing, Dr. Ralph Wilson. Really. I mean it. The guy is one of my heroes. But it gets even better. He interviewed me on...

What I Realized About Copywriting From Watching A Football Game On TV
20 Nov 2011 at 1:24pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
I?ve been following the rising fortunes of the University of Michigan Wolverines, and yesterday I heard some commentary from ESPN analyst Urban Meyer that really got me thinking. If you follow football, you know that Meyer has been an extraordinarily...

Fear of, and Bolting from, briThe National Enquirer/i
30 Oct 2011 at 12:31pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
All literature is gossip. --Truman Capote My client and friend Susan Bratton asked me to review a sales video. Suz is no newbie; the video is for a product that has already made six figures in sales in a launch....

The Marketing Legacy of Steve Jobs
7 Oct 2011 at 12:06pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
The media has been saturated the last couple days with memories of Steve Jobs. Here?s mine ? it lasted about two seconds. It was the late 1980s, and I was at a press conference. All I remember was he was...

Tales From The Studio, Or: Do You Speak (and write) to the BEST in people... ...
29 Jul 2011 at 12:00pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
Whether you are writing copy, managing people, or trying to coax the best performance from an artist, it's all about the same thing: inspiring people to take the action you want them to take. Some words of wisdom from a...

Finally, Instant Online Access To Copywriting Templates?...brAnd A Whole Lot ...
5 Jun 2011 at 1:46pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
From the moment I introduced Copywriting Templates? seven years ago, people started insisting I take it out of paper and CD/DVD format and put it online. (Or at least it seemed like people were clamoring for it right away.) That...

Do You Recognize The 7 Deadly Sins That Could Be Killing Your Online Sales?
15 May 2011 at 1:37pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
When was the last time you visited a Web site and asked yourself what you were doing there ? and in that moment wondered if it wouldn?t be a better idea to go watch a YouTube video instead... or check...

The Man Who Envisioned The Internet
8 Apr 2011 at 3:48pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
So much of our lives are wrapped up in the Internet, one way or the other, that I think it would be interesting to know where it all came from. I just found out. And I'd like to pay huge...

Satire and Spoof Hit Internet Marketing
1 Apr 2011 at 2:19pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
The Internet, April 1, 2011 The way you know an industry has made it to the big leagues is when it has its own niche version of The Onion mercilessly making fun of it. So by that yardstick, you could...

How much better would your copywriting be... ?
8 Feb 2011 at 12:31pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
... if when you were in school, instead of being taught to think like an employee, you were taught to think like an entrepreneur? I've spent a lot of time thinking about, and honing methods, to teach people copywriting. My...

Copy Critiques - How Can You Do Them Yourself?
10 Dec 2010 at 12:21pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
You can get all the steps in my complete 4-step process. If you are using copy in a current promotion, this could make you a lot of additional cash. Watch the video at: http://professionalbreakthrough.com David Garfinkel Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter...

A little primer (from a master) on Unique Selling Propositions
8 Dec 2010 at 12:43pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
Copywriting virtuoso Denny Hatch (at left) has had it up to here with content-free (and totally ineffective) signage at trade shows -- which, if you think about it, is some of the most expensive advertising in the world, at least...

Anatomy of a Launch -- I Call This One The ANTI-Secret
3 Dec 2010 at 4:51pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
I've been involved in a number of new product launches this year, rather quietly, and more as a consultant and main sales page copywriter than launch manager (the balancing act that would send me off the deep end). I'm particularly...

What I learned -- he pulled it out of me
30 Nov 2010 at 12:00am
Posted by David Garfinkel
If you are wondering what it's like to start at the bottom and rise to great success in the copywriting and coaching businesses, one relentless interviewer, Michael Senoff, has interviewed me like no one else ever has. I used to...

From the Legacy of Ernest Hemingway, Handsewn Shoes Good Enough to Last Forev...
17 Oct 2010 at 7:09pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
What a great headline, eh? Oh, by the way, I didn't write it myself. I pinched it from the Herrington Catalog -- one of the great overlooked sources of modern-day world-class copywriting, in my opinion. In the little picture above...

The Seven Secrets Of Persuasive Copywriting? Here's What One Guru I Deeply Re...
6 Jul 2010 at 12:14pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
Ultimately, it boils down to one question: How do you get people to say Yes? Copywriting Virtuoso Denny Hatch has come out with a new book that clearly identifies seven ways to get prospects to pull out their credit cards:...