A member on my copywriters forum started a thread on what makes my forum so popular. Everyone chimed in with some great answers, and I appreciate the feedback.

(The cool thing about it is, that very thread also reached an important milestone. It was the 10,000th one! Talk about a coincidence, eh?)

But then someone asked:

“Michel, can I ask how you initially got the word out about your forum?”

My answer revealed a bit more than what the member anticipated. Instead of talking about how my forum became so popular, I went on a tangent and explained the step-by-step process I used to book copywriting projects.

The answer was so well received that I decided to reprint it here.

Now, you may be wondering what promoting a forum has to do with promoting my copywriting services. Keep reading because you’ll soon understand why…

Read the rest or post a comment »

In a recent critique for a coaching client, the issue of “gap analysis” arose. Gap Analysis is something I learned in sales, and it was heavily taught by sales trainers like Brian Tracy, such as in his course “The Psychology of Selling.”

Gap Analysis is an immensely powerful selling technique. It’s also an important feature of copywriting. In fact, most people will know a variation of it, which is often called “Problem-Agitate-Solve,” a term coined by top copywriter Dan Kennedy.

I prefer “Gap Analysis” because it drives home the relationship between those three elements. So what is Gap Analysis and how can you apply it to your sales copy?

Read the rest or post a comment »

Recently, a coaching client asked me about dealing with prospective clients over the phone.

This copywriter understood the importance of communicating with prospects and answering their pre-sale questions. However, like me, he preferred to avoid the telephone and asked me if his strategy was sound.

Free consultations are often a necessary step in securing clients in your early days as a copywriter before you’ve established your expertise and developed a reputation.

It’s natural that potential clients want to get a feel for your style and standards with a “getting to know you session.” Quite often, they will want to do this via a phone consultation with you.

I’m a big believer in opening the lines of communication, and I also like to pick up the phone to speak with a client when writing copy.

But before a client hires me, I prefer to remain off the phone. Why? Because the telephone can be counterproductive and even hurt your business.

Read the rest or post a comment »

Seems I’m ranting a lot these days, and a little more opinionated than the norm. Perhaps it’s my broken back, which is killing me, that’s making me more sensitive or irritable. I don’t know.

But something someone recently said in my copywriters forum irritated me. And it’s not what this person said specifically, but the mindset behind it that’s bothering me.

In a thread about an Internet marketer who was recently arrested (yes, it had something to do with forced continuity, but it had more to do with refusing refunds and avoiding customers than it had to do with forced continuity itself), one member said:

“There is NO such thing as an honest business man. (…) Ask any accountant.”

Now, I have no clue as to why this person said this. And my opinion here is not about this person specifically. Again, it’s about the thinking process that some people have when they make such assertions.

Personally, I believe this view of business people is skewed, off, and wrong. It’s destructive, too.

Read the rest or post a comment »

Preamble: In response to some excellent rebuttals as well as countless comments I’ve received on my previous post, “The Real Sinister Side of Forced Continuity,” I believe some people are missing the point of my argument, and I want to clarify a few things.

I’m not a lawyer by any stretch. But as a copywriter and business owner, I do know the rules enough to know that there’s a difference between “optional continuity,” “forced continuity,” and “hidden continuity.”

Optional continuity is self-explanatory. Forced continuity is a very common marketing practice (I’m not a fan of it, but I don’t mind it). In fact, there’s nothing wrong with forced continuity in and of itself.

What’s wrong is when it’s used in a wrong way.

The real problem, I believe, is that good marketers, including marketers using “forced continuity” in an ethical and legitimate way, are getting a bad reputation because some marketers unscrupulously misuse forced continuity.

The lack of transparency is the real culprit — such as hiding it or disguising it. Especially when it’s done on purpose. That annoys me. Because it’s no longer an issue of misuse. It’s out-and-out abuse.

But what bothers me more is how it affects us all. And it affects us all, both customers and marketers alike, in more ways than you think.

Read the rest or post a comment »

Rant warning: what follows may offend some people. But I wanted to throw in my three cents on the topic of “forced continuity,” which seems to be the subject of a lot of debate these days.

Several well-known marketers have made offers of late with forced continuity. What it means is, the intended product you want to buy can only be purchased when you buy another (often, a continuous subscription) billed to your account every month or so until you cancel.

Forced continuity is nothing new. (In direct marketing, they call these “Til Forbid” offers.) It’s another type of offer, pure and simple. It’s marketing. And there’s nothing wrong with that. What’s wrong is not the way the offer is made.

The real problem is its lack of transparency.

But that’s not what I want to rant about today.

What a lot of people seem to be missing here (and something my brilliant wife brought to my attention, which makes perfect sense to me), is that there is a deeper, much darker side to this whole thing.

Something all marketers need to be aware of…

Read the rest or post a comment »

After reading my articles on how to find copywriting clients, a student of mine, Jeff, asked me an interesting question.

He’s an aspiring copywriter and wants to build his own freelance copywriting business. When he read that I wrote copy for free when I started my career as a copywriter, he asked me about doing the same:

“Mike, my friends have a very small business, and they have asked me to do copy for them. They say they can’t really pay me that much. I have told them I will do it for free as long as I get rights to the copy and can use it for a reference and in my portfolio. I think this is a wonderful opportunity to get more experience, but my wife wants to see some money on the table. I value your opinion. Can you help?”

Here was my answer.

Read the rest or post a comment »