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How To Get Unblocked When Writing Sales Letters & Emails
| Guest post by: Mark Satterfield |
Article Overview: Jump start writing sales letters and marketing emails by building a swipe file of examples.
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Free Download - My neighbor Charlie, just filed for bankruptcy By Mark Satterfield |
How To Get Unblocked When Writing Sales Letters & Emails
Every copywriter needs to have their own swipe file. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that if you want to succeed at something you need to copy someone successful and copywriting is the same. If you study a successful copywriting and their copy you will see how certain aspects of their copy are used over and over again. This is what works for them and it can work for you too and this is why creating a swipe file can be very beneficial.
A swipe file is a file where you keep your copywriting secrets. Whenever you read a sales ads or pages you need to pay attention. If there are headlines that catch your attention, catchy phrases, slogans, or graphics, copy them and place them in your swipe file for future reference.
Your swipe file can contain anything you want but the most common sections of any swipe file are headlines, introductions, body copy, closes, offers, guarantees, e-mail promotions, and visuals.
You can have your swipe file as a digital file which you can turn into a pdf with bookmarks for each section or you can have a physical file. You need to keep a look out every time you read a piece of copy online and include every good source you come across. You can even use physical cuttings from magazines and newspaper ads too. Direct mailings are great too so instead of binning them take your time to read them.
You should aim to constantly add to your swipe file and anything that catches your eye is fine. If it catches your attention the chances are that it will catch other readers attention too. Keep an eye out for ads that work, you’ll know them because you will see them often and if they keep reappearing it means that they work.
Increasing the power of your swipe file should always be on your mind and a subscription to the monthly Copywriting Genius is a great start. What you will find here is a piece of winning copywriting that has been selected and analyzed each month.
The most important thing that you must remember about your swipe file is not to use blatant copies of other people work when writing your own copy. Your swipe file is a reference source and a place for you to get ideas. You need to go through each section and find ideas and inspiration for the piece you are working on. Reading good headlines will help to get your brain focuses on creating headlines for the copy you are working on.
Remember, your swipe file is extremely important but it is solely for the purpose of generating ideas and not for creating your copy.
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Article Tags: catchy phrases slogans, copywriter, copywriting secrets, direct mailings, e mail, headlines, introductions, magazines, mail promotions, nbsp, swipe, visuals
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Related Forum Posts
Top 19 Copywriting books
- 1. Ogilvy on Advertising. David Ogilvy. Wiley.
2. Positioning: The Battle for your Mind. Al Ries and Jack Trout. Warner.
3. The New Positioning. Jack Trout. McGraw-Hill.
4. Tested Advertising Methods. John Caples. Prentice-Hall.
5. How to Make your Advertising Make Money. John Caples. Prentice-Hall.
6. Guerrilla Advertising. Jay Conrad Levinson. Houghton Mifflin.
7. Direct Mail Copy that Sells. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall.
8. Sales Letters that Sizzle. Herschell Gordon Lewis. NTC Business Books.
9. Herschell Gordon Lewis on the Art of Writing Copy. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall.
10. Romancing the Brand. David Martin. American Management Association.
11. The Art of Writing Advertising: Conversations with William Bernbach, Leo Burnett, George Gribbin, David Ogilvy, Rosser Reeves. NTC Business Books.
12. Confessions of an Advertising Man. David Ogilvy. NTC Business Books.
13. My Life in Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books.
14. Scientific Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books.
15. How to Become an Advertising Man. James Webb Young. NTC Business Books.
16. The Lasker Story as He Told It. NTC Business Books.
17. Advertising Concept and Copy. George Felton. Prentice Hall.
18. The Copy WorkShop Workbook. Bruce Bendinger. The Copy Workshop.
19. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Luke Sullivan. Wiley.
This should keep you busy for at least a year.
Enjoy!
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional
- Hi Evan,
I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Awesome Resource: Instapaper
- So far the only thing I use the filters for is to send all the safelist emails I get to a folder. It currently has over 386,000 emails in it.
This is a really good tip though. I need to start utilizing it. Emails eat up too much of my time right now.
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional
- [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan,
I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz]
I second the request...
Different Hats
- CEO Sales & Marketing & Leadership Development Company
Strategic Vision 10
Alliances & Growth Strategies 10
Hiring & Managing People 8
Mentoring 8-9
Strategic Planning for Clients 10
Execution of Marketing Campaigns 9-10 (i have great people who do the nitty gritty)
Financial Management 9
Bookkeeping 3 (outsourced as I really hate the fine details like GST0
Administrative Follow Up 6-7 (again have great staff)
Writing & Publishing 9 (getting better all the time!)
Speaking 10 (so I have been told)
Self Promotion 9-10
Web development & Promotion 6-7 (learning more and have brought on players who are 10+)
Babysitting Employees (1 - wont do it, that's why I work so hard to hire and motivate the people I have)
Great topic Kevin!!
Jude
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