“The Success Or Failure Of Every Sales Letter Or Advertisement Is Determined Before A Single Word of Copy Is Ever Written”

- Kevin Francis via Sun Tzu

I’m going to backtrack slightly with master copywriter John Carlton’s “Copywriting Checklist” series of videos. The last video I posted was #3 in the series but I discovered there is also a #1a and #1c (what happened to #1b, I wonder?) talking more about the basics of a sales message.

So here’s a special “Double Issue” of copywriting videos.

The first video (#1a) is titled “Who You Are” and John is talking about who YOU are as a copywriter. It echoes the message of my recent post “Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century” – Part 2.

Here’s the video…

Basically, your job as a copywriter is to sell. You are…gasp…a salesperson!

Now I know the term “salesperson” has negative associations for many people. You may not like thinking of yourself as a salesperson. If that’s the case, you have two options…

1. Get over it!

2. Find something to do other than copywriting!

John Carlton puts it this way…

“Sales chops trumps intellectual acuity”.

The second video (#1c) is titled “Defining Your Product”.

The title is a little misleading because the video is mainly about connecting with your reader and how “cliches” can be a very effective tool for copywriters to use.Included is…

• John Carlton on why “cliches” are the copywriter’s friend
• How Gary Halbert used “cliches” in a special way to devastating effect
• When you can use “cliches” in headlines (a tip from a top “A-List” copywriter)

The video is only 2 minutes 50 seconds and it will repay you handsomely for the time you spend watching it.

Next up in the “Copywriting Checklist” series will be #4 – “Defining Your Avatar”.