News for Copywriters about copywriting and marketing.

How You'll Know When You're Ready For Explosive Growth
8 Feb 2010 at 8:17am
Posted by David Garfinkel
After working with hundreds of small businesses for over 20 years and watching only a handful cross the seven-figure barrier (and fewer still make over $10 million a year), I've identified five characteristics the big winners have in common: 1....

Letting go of Big Nic
2 Dec 2009 at 1:38am
Posted by David Garfinkel
And now, for a few words on Holiday Stress: Copywriters and just about everyone else find this last month of the year a series of Trying Extremes: periods of great joy and fun alternating with periods of extraordinary stress and...

How to Calm Your Fears About The New FTC Advertising Rules
10 Nov 2009 at 10:59am
Posted by David Garfinkel
It's lesser-of-two-evils-time here in marketing-land. On the one hand: Dealing with the new FTC rules coming into effect December 1 is a royal pain. On the other hand: Dealing with hard-boiled dectectives from the FTC directly because you didn't bother...

What It Takes To Make It - A Book That Takes On The Popular Myths
2 Nov 2009 at 9:25am
Posted by David Garfinkel
Watch out. A lot of outright lies, half-truths and well-meaning misconceptions masquerade as the truth about what it takes to be successful. Probably the biggest one is: There is ONE way to be successful, and that way will work for...

When 'Cute' and 'Clever' Really Work In Copy -- And Why They Do
25 Oct 2009 at 12:45pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
Behold the newspaper ad. It may be an endangered species, although to look at this week's print edition of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, you wouldn't think so. A lot of idiotic cuteness and cleverness has been wasted on newspaper...

An Updated 'My Life in Advertising' by a Modern Copywriting Master -- Availal...
22 Oct 2009 at 6:15pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
Richard Armstrong is one of those whimsical enigmas. He's one of the greatest living copywriters, but unlike many heavy hitters, he doesn't seem to harbor the secret belief that his carved image should be placed on Mount Rushmore. He's probably...

How Not To Pitch In An Email - Sage Advice From A Master Of The Craft
13 Oct 2009 at 12:17am
Posted by David Garfinkel
Today was a good day for many reasons. High among them: My copy of Target Marketing magazine arrived in the mail. I always turn to the last page first. There, direct marketing virtuoso Denny Hatch holds forth on some topic...

Here it comes: the first FTC regulation on blogs
6 Oct 2009 at 1:53am
Posted by David Garfinkel
You know that blogging has arrived when the U.S. Federal Government formally announces fines for blogging they don't approve of. It happened. Yesterday. On Monday, October 5, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced that bloggers who endorse products or services...

Patrice Walker Used an Email Template to Generate 3 Sales in 40 Minutes! Now...
9 Sep 2009 at 1:02am
Posted by David Garfinkel
This brand-new Copywriting Template generated results for one of my students in The Ultimate Copywriting Crash Course in less than an hour. You can download your own copy here -- free!

Secret leader of Internet Gurus spills the beans in revealing interview
2 Sep 2009 at 10:15am
Posted by David Garfinkel
The fellow on the left out-earns every well-known Internet guru by a large amount, or so he says. His projected income this year: $38 million. Find out what he does, how he does it, how you can use his principles...

"Magic Software Generates Money For Your Business"
31 Aug 2009 at 12:51pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
Yeah, I know. Sounds WAY over the top... very hypey, too good to be true. Well, it's not. It is true. I'm doing a teleseminar with Dr. Harlan Kilstein about it this afternoon. Even stranger, the software -- which once...

The Copywriting Mindset - Video of Conversation at Private Retreat
14 Aug 2009 at 11:41am
Posted by David Garfinkel
Starting next Wednesday, I'm doing a "transparent" company-wide copywriting training with Ann Sieg's and Mike Klingler's companies. Recently Ann and I met in person (for the first time in over a year!) to talk about what I'll be doing. Something...

What if EVERYBODY in a company learned copywriting? (Next week, you'll have a...
12 Aug 2009 at 7:21pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
PORTLAND, OR -- There I was, meeting with some leaders from the combined staffs of 80/20 Marketing and Marketing Merge, Inc. at The Living Room, the world's first all-digital cinema. (We just happened to be there for lunch. I'm the...

Are you having trouble getting orders from the Web? I wonder if that's becaus...
22 Jul 2009 at 1:28am
Posted by David Garfinkel
It's a fact: Some businesses make it so hard to buy from them online that I simply won't make the effort. Neither will hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions of other people. Nor will direct marketing virtuoso Denny Hatch. He tells why...

Walter Cronkite, the... pitchman?
19 Jul 2009 at 12:15pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
As so many journalists and ex-journalists pay their respects to the pioneering television newsman who died on Friday, I'd like to share an unusual finding. Before I do, let me say he was a big part of my life in...

Here's an interesting way to hire a copywriter...
17 Jul 2009 at 6:10am
Posted by David Garfinkel
Using the principles of copywriting to create help-wanted ads placed on Craigslist has produced some amazing results for copy-savvy friends and clients of mine. But Isaiah Sieg of 80/20 Marketing has taken the use of copy to hire someone --...

Stuck as you write some copy? This bumper sticker I saw recently ought to gi...
12 Jul 2009 at 9:00am
Posted by David Garfinkel

Bye-bye affiliate marketing?
5 Jul 2009 at 11:56am
Posted by David Garfinkel
The company that hosts this blog for me, TypePad, just posted a link for its clients to a chilling story from the Associated Press. I'm passing it along to you. The gist of it: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is...

This is gonna ruffle some feathers... but if you are looking for Monster Succ...
30 May 2009 at 10:11pm
Posted by David Garfinkel
My friend ultra-copywriter John Carlton is traveling (Australia, New Zealand) and he invited me to do a guest post on his Marketing Rebel Rant blog. First of all, it's a great honor. John's a living legend and very picky about...

Poking fun at vocabulary-builders, by publishing a book that purports to be one
1 May 2009 at 10:58am
Posted by David Garfinkel
If there's anyone on Planet Earth who understands the power of words, it's got to be Bob Bly. He's made himself very comfortable and extremely well respected as a freelance writer and prolific author. His 76th book, The Words You...