The Smartest Person Alive in Business.
So when you open this tab up and start reading, you gotta be thinking, “Well, if this is a tab on copywriting, then it better be good!” Here’s a great story about copywriting by one of the nation’s top copywriters, Joe Sugarman.
He went to a potential client named Bill Jackson,. Mr. Jackson explained his product and asked Joe how he would advertise it and Joe said, “I think we ought to do a full page ad in a newspaper that is full of copy and no pictures.” (This is obviously an old story.)
Jackson looked at him and said, “No way. No one is going to read it.”
Joe Sugarman said, “OK, here’s the deal, I’m going to write a full page ad and bring it in, and if you don’t feel riveted and read the whole thing, then my services are free, but if you agree that this is the best ad ever written and you can’t put it down, then I get the job at twice the rate.”
“You’re on!” said Jackson.
One week later, Joe Sugarman came back to Bill Jackson’s office and said, “Remember our agreement?”
“I sure do,” said Mr. Jackson with a big smile on his face. “If I don’t like it, AND AM RIVETED, and don’t read the whole thing, then you’re free. Right?”
“Right!,” said Joe, “But if you do, then you owe me double.”
“Agreed.”
Joe Sugarman pulled out a mock-up of a full page newspaper ad that was a double spread and full of copy.
Bill Jackson took the paper opened it up, and started laughing, “Darn, you. I am going to read the whole darn thing.” Which he did and he loved it.
The headline of the ad was, “Why Bill Jackson is the smartest businessman I have ever met!”
The ad was all about Bill Jackson, and so he did read every word.
Here’s the point; if you write so that it is all about the needs and wants of the reader, then you can’t write enough, and they will read every word.
That’s what our copywriting does. It’s not about you. It’s about them. If you want copy that sells, then you have to write about the ones who will buy, and that’s how we write.