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3 Micro-Essays
VGC Micro-Essays are usually longer than my Micro-Articles. Or they take a slightly different approach to sharing information.
In any case, below are 3 “hidden” pieces you won’t find publicly available on the VeryGoodCopy blog.
Enjoy!
How to make an indistinguishable product distinguished
The “40/40/20 Rule” of direct marketing
A copywriting masterpiece, hidden in plain sight
How to make an indistinguishable product distinguished
David Ogilvy said:
“In a print ad, the visual must make you lean forward and say, ‘What’s going on here?’”
In other words, you must create an appeal.
Question is, how? How do you make people lean in and say, “What’s this?”
One way is to create a character.
Like The Man in the Hathaway Shirt:
David Ogilvy explains his creation:
“So I had to advertise a shirt called Hathaway Shirt. And I stayed up late the night before the photograph session, and I thought of about 22 ways of doing it. And then, on the way to the studio the next morning, I stopped at a drugstore and bought an eye patch for 50 cents. And that’s what we used, the eye patch.
That was the story’s appeal:
Why is this man wearing a patch on his eye?
What’s his story?
Who is he?
The man in The Man in the Hathaway Shirt was also conventionally cool. Very suave. He had a mystique. And he made men, and women, associate those very admirable qualities with what was in fact a very regular, very typical shirt.
The result:
An almost indistinguishable product becomes perceived as distinguished.
You can do this for your product, too:
1. Invent a character (e.g., The man in The Man in the Hathaway Shirt)
2. Give the character an inexplicable quality (e.g., an eye patch)
3. Give the character admirable or aspirational qualities (e.g., being dapper, suave)
Now have the character deliver your message, over and over, to a targeted audience.
P.S.
Decades later, Dos Equis borrowed Ogilvy’s concept and The Most Interesting Man in the World went on to become one of the most successful ad campaigns ever made.
YOUR NEXT MILESTONE:
The “40/40/20 Rule” of direct marketing
Doug D’Anna is among the best direct-response copywriters in the world.
His promotions have generated over $125 million in sales for various info-publishing companies, including Forbes, Boardroom, and Prevention Health Books.
“Writers who can consistently create powerful direct marketing campaigns are as rare as trumpeter swans,” said Gary Bencivenga, the reclusive master copywriter. “I know of only about 6 in the entire country — and Doug D’Anna is on that short list of star writers I never hesitate to recommend.”
Needless to say, I seek out and study D’Anna’s work whenever possible.
And this is one of the most valuable lessons I learned from him:
“Remember the 40/40/20 Rule,” he told Ben Settle (another copywriting master who recently did a Micro-Interview on VeryGoodCopy).
“The success of any direct-response promotion hinges 40% on the list, 40% on the offer, 20% on the copy,” said D’Anna. “So it helps if you have a great product with a great list. If you can find that, you’re almost as good as golden.”
In other words, even the most brilliant copy won’t work if you put it in front of the wrong people. Brilliant copy also won’t work if the offer is inherently unattractive to the right people.
But just average copy stands a better-than-average chance of selling IF you put a good offer in front of the right audience.
That said…
Before launching your next direct-response campaign (i.e., an email, paid social ad, or direct mailer intended to compel immediate action), shoot to allocate:
40% of your effort to invent a compelling, “no-brainer” offer designed to appeal to a very specific audience (i.e., an offer that meets their awareness level; an offer that inspires urgency; an offer that trigger FOMO, etc.).
40% of your effort to ensure your offer will be seen by this audience (i.e., via an engaged and aligned email list; via surgically targeted social ads, etc).
20% of your effort to create copy articulating this offer as clearly and concisely as possible.
Doug D’Anna would approve.
YOUR NEXT MILESTONE:
A copywriting masterpiece, hidden in plain sight
I’m sharing a story.
It’s pretty short, only a few thousand words…
It was written by Robert R. Updegraff over 100 years ago, published for the first time in the April, 1916 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.
And it’s remarkable because over the past century, it’s been read and recommended by the greatest copywriters of their time — copywriters like David Ogilvy and Gary Bencivenga and Ben Settle — because it’s brimming with practical knowledge around persuasion, psychology, and the human condition.
Obvious Adams: The Story of a Successful Businessman is not explicitly about copywriting.
Nevertheless, it teaches The Reader how to THINK like an effective copywriter.
And it does so in a way that stays with you, a way you’ll likely never forget.
I know I haven’t.
As a serious student of copywriting and advertising, choosing to read it is an easy decision, an obvious decision. And since it was published over a century ago it’s in the public domain and, therefore, free to access.
Yet most people haven’t heard of Obvious Adams. It just isn’t in the marketing zeitgeist.
But now you have.
Here’s your instant link to this copywriting masterpiece, hidden in plain sight.
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Feel free to refer anyone to subscribe to VeryGoodCopy by sharing your unique referral code via email or on social media.
Thanks so much for your support — and I’ll see you at your next milestone. :)
EDDIE SHLEYNER
VeryGoodCopy, founder