Great Copywriters Are Not Delivered By A Stork - with Brian Kurtz - I Love Marketing Episode #333

They better read everything. Because I want my copywriter to be so smart and to have so much knowledge when they're writing a package for me that they've got access to everything. And they're gonna tell my editors, they're telling everybody that you better get more stuff into your material. Because I want better stuff to write about as a copywriter and because I know what's going on in the world.

I'm Dean Jackson, he's Joe Polish. And this is the I Love Marketing podc. There are seven attributes that all the best copywriters in the world share. Brian Kurtz shares them with you. Remember to subscribe to I Love Marketing so that you don't miss a Future episode. Visit ilovemarketing.com subscribe for more.

There's a company called Boardroom, Inc. It's famous for its consumer newsletters and books. With a customer base of over 10 million readers, this publication, Bottom Line Personal, is the most widely read consumer newsletter in America. And Brian Kurtz is why. It was founded by a guy named Marty Edelston, who's brilliant, was a dear friend of Brian's. And under Brian's marketing efforts for 33 years, boardroom sales have grown from 5 million to 150 million. A There's one constant that is at the root of it all, and that's its marketing success. And that constant is highly effective copy written by the most successful copywriters who've ever lived. And Brian is not one of them. However, Brian is the number one guy in direct response marketing. He knows how to recognize world class copywriters and then direct their talents. His message will show you how to become an even better copywriter yourself. Or how to recognize the great ones. I know Brian's a genius. I've known him for 20 years. The guy's unbelievable. And the title of his talk is Great Copywriters are not delivered by a Store.

So here we go. Give it up. Am I in the right spot? So it drives me nuts that marketers and entrepreneurs leave the most important thing in their marketing to chance, which is the copy and the creator. When I've been speaking, I'm the T. Rex in the wild, wild west. I'm the dinosaur. I'm Grandpa at all my picnics. And I go to these Internet conferences. And for some reason these folks think that a flashing arrow and a red box is really good creating. Now, it can be effective. Those are effective techniques. And I hate the word ninja techniques, by the way. But great copy is great copy. And great copy stands the test of Time. So I've been privileged to work with probably the best copywriters who've ever lived. I'm not going to name drop. I just want to tell you they're the best copywriters who've ever lived. And what's interesting is I identified, I said, what makes these copywriters so great? And I identified seven attributes that I think all of them have had. And they're not about their writing talent. They're about something more. And it's actually some stuff that actually. Stefan, you stole my thunder. That's good, because a lot of those things that Stefan talked about is also what you want to look for in a good copywriter. So what I'm going to do for you today is if you're a copywriter, I'm going to make you better copywriter. But if you want, most of you are probably looking for copywriters. And I'm going to tell you what to look for in a copywriter. It's Jeff. But it's also some other people, too. Dan Kennedy has a quote. I'm going to read this. The mechanics of copywriting is the default for barely competent copywriters. So what I'm going to tell you today is that copywriters must go beyond the mechanics of writing. They have to have these seven things for them to write for me. That's not an elitist comment. It's survival for my company. I'm not going to hire a writer. That's not going to get me a new control. Everybody know what a control package is? It's the package that wins. I want writers who write winners. And for me to get writers who write winners, I need to have a writer who is world class. So these are the seven things I.

Want you to know.

First of all, number one, show me you're hungry. So that writer has to show their hunger. How does a writer show their hunger? We talked about show and tell before. Don't just tell me how hungry you are that you didn't eat dinner. Show me you're hungry. Show me that. The first time that you got a control package for a mailer, what did you do? Did you rest on your laurels or did you try to beat it immediately? The best copywriters don't wait for another copywriter to beat them. Tenacity. They don't wait for anybody. I got a control. I'm going to beat my own control so I can stay the control and make a lot more money and be your guy forever. Or galaxy. This is also about Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours. You're not going to become a world class copywriter doing this in your sleep. You want people who really put in the hours and you want them to show you how they put in the hours. That's number one. So show me you're hungry is number one. Actually, I could insert Bo Eason's video of Jerry Rice right here. And I would. But you can get it on the portal and it would take up some of my 10 minutes. It's an amazing video. You should all watch it. Number two, show your insatiable curiosity. We've talked about insatiable curiosity before. There is nothing more important than curiosity in your copywriters. I'm going to tell you three quick stories about three world class writers. Gene Schwartz, one of the best writers who's ever lived. Writer of breakthrough advertising. Joe has it on the shelf downstairs. One of the most important books ever written. The power of reading. I don't read a lot of fiction. My copywriters better read a lot of fiction and nonfiction. They better read everything. Because I want my copywriter to be so smart and to have so much knowledge when they're writing a package for me that they've got access to everything. And they're going to tell my editors, they're going to tell everybody that you better get more stuff into your material. Because I want better stuff to write about as a copywriter and because I know what's going on in the world. The power of reading. Gene Schwartz. Arthur Johnson, one of the best copywriters also who's ever lived. He was on our infomercials. I don't know if anybody recalls or may ever saw infomercials. A few downs. We spent millions of dollars on tv. Hugh down is the legendary newscaster. People wouldn't know him. I'm old. I have socks older than Joel Weldon's. So Arthur Johnson, we put him on screen on an infomercial to millions and millions of people. And what did I put under Arthur Johnson's name? Medical writer and editor. Did I lose a minute of sleep because I put medical writer and editor underneath the name, underneath the pic, underneath the picture of a direct response copywriter. Not for a minute. Arthur Johnson knew more about the material in that book than any doctor because he read every doctor in the book. So I had a guy who was a medical writer and who's my direct response copywriter? Lucky me. That's the power of specialization. Third Paris Lampropolis, 25k member. Paris Lampropolis. The power of immersion. When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008. My second call after my urologist was Paris Lampropoulos. Is he a doctor? No, he plays one in direct mail. Paris Lampropoulos knew more about alternative treatments for prostate cancer than anybody I knew in the world because why he wrote about it. He immersed himself in the topic at such a level that he was the kind of guy that I wanted to talk to. Plus I wanted to see if he'd do a package for me, which is really hard. Karas is really lazy. Roofing. Show me you're interested, not interesting. That's the insatiable curiosity. I want to see your deep dive. You want to ask these copywriters, what deep dives have you taken into the topics that you've written about? Have you ever been the prospect? Remember Dean Graziosi talked about how he had the secret shopper in his company? That was Phil Tyrone, good friend of ours. I want copywriters to do that. I want a copywriter who went through the whole customer experience, right? I want them to understand my product at the deepest level and to know that he could write for new prospects because he experienced it as a prospect. You can ask copywriters these questions, by the way. They're like a new employee. You wouldn't hire an employee without asking a lot of questions. Number three, show your smarts. Obviously, if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. So we're all in the right room, right? I know I'm in the right room. I'm not the smartest person in this room by a long time, but I ask my copywriters. You need to ask your copywriters, who do they hang out with? Who do they read their copy to? Who are they accountable to? We talked about. I was talking to Matthew at breakfast today. Accountability partners. I love that concept, Accountability partners. If your world class copywriters aren't reading their copy to other copywriters, you can't write copy by committee, but you certainly can compare copy by committee. And you really want to have them to have world class copywriters in their world that they're comparing with. And if they're not, they better get started really quickly. And you want to ask that question. Eric Bechshaw, one of my top copywriters, reads to his wife. He reads poetry and then he reads his direct mail copy. However, his wife happens to be a copywriter. I also want to know if they've read the great books. Have they read Gene Schwartz? Have they read Claude Hopkins? They don't have to, like show off. I don't want them name dropping on me. Tell me some concepts from those books that you've applied to your writing. Show me, show me, show me. So that. Show your smarts. Now show your passion to feed off what Stephan was talking about. I'm not going to try to pronounce your last name, so show your passion. Copywriters who understand that they can save lives with their copy, that they can do amazing things. Copy moves the world. And I want writers who maybe tell me that. One of the best stories I have, a writer says to me, well, you know, I did a lot of pro bono work for, you know, building schools in Africa before I really got into this other direct response. You got my attention because you've taken deep dives into something you're passionate about and now you can go out to a wider audience also. Have you dove so deep into a niche? I like copywriters who start here and go like this so that they go into a niche that they were an expert in. First mastered it 10,000 hours, but now they can write about health and finance and all the other topics. That's really important. Number five, show your understanding of direct marketing principles. I don't have to give them a test on recency, frequency and monetary value, which is how we talk about. I'm not going to go into that today. It's a different 10 minute talk. However, I want them to understand that they have to understand lists, they have to understand lifetime value. A lot of that came up in the live cast yesterday. Remember we were talking about getting a good customer that stays with you for a lifetime. The writer needs to know that they're not writing for one sale. They have to understand these concepts that they want to write. Copy that makes the prospect vibrate at such a deep level that they're going to stay with you for a very long time. We don't want to go out and get new customers. We want to just renew our existing ones, right? So they need to understand the basics of lifetime value. They need to understand the basics also of premiums and giveaways and bonuses. Very, very important. Show your humility. A writer who gets my email address is not automatically qualified to write a package for me, although a lot of them think they are for some reason. I want humility. The best copywriter who's ever lived his pictures downstairs in a couple of places. Gary Pensivenga, best copywriter. Beat everybody's control to bits. Has humility up the wazoo because he knows he's got to beat someone Else next week. I want to see humility. And then number seven is show me your work. Show me your work. Now, you would think I want to see their samples before anything else. Notice I put that last. I want to see all the makeup of this copywriter way before I see their mailing samples. I have to see their mailing samples. If they're writing just for the local Toyota dealer, we're in trouble. However, I really want them to show me that they have gone over this journey. I want to see this journey in addition to these samples. And these are the kinds of things that I look for. So in conclusion, you can pick your friends and you can pick your nos, but you can't pick your friends. Wrong. You can't pick your pick. Perfect. You cannot pick your friends. Copywriters, don't be a cheapskate or incomplete with how you look at copy and creative in your business, it is so critical you get what you pay for. If you go to an agency, an agency writer, and no disrespect Paul, but Paul has an amazing agency, but he goes outside and finds world class copywriters, right? Because sometimes somebody who's working in an agency is not. If they haven't, if they're that good, they can make a lot more money on their own on royalties, believe me. So don't be a cheapskate. Pay for your copy. Make sure they're up to the task. And as Joe said during the live cast yesterday, Gary Halbert says it right. No. Every business problem can be solved with a sales letter. Why leave that to an amateur? Thank you.

Thanks for listening to this episode of I Love Marketing. If you'd like to learn more about the Genius Network annual event, go to geniusnetworkevents.com that's geniusnetworkevents dot com if you would like access to the complete presentation, the show notes, the links and the special resources for this episode, please visit ilovemarketing.com 333 that's ilovemarketing.com 33.