Copywriters Podcast

David Garfinkel
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Copywriting lessons from David Garfinkel

  1. 2D AGO

    10 Direct Marketing Trends, With Super Copywriter Mike Pavlish

    Our returning champion Mike Pavlish has written dozens of VSLs that have brought in $10 million or more. In fact, over the last 30 years, Mike’s copy has brought in over $810 million in sales. And his work is still bringing in the big bucks today. How good is Mike? On his website he’s got testimonials from legends like Gary Bencivenga and Bob Bly. But this one from an eye doctor named David Tavel, who has 24 clinics across Indiana, really stood out to me: “Your copywriting pulled two to one compared to a big New York ad agency. I have been in business for 45 years and this is the best response ever. The results speak for themselves.” Recently, Mike sent out an email that started out this way: I've been in direct response for over 30 years. I've written over $810 million in sales. I've seen a lot of trends come and go. But what's happening right now is different. The speed of change is like nothing I've everseen. Here are the trends I think every directmarketer needs to watch. I asked Mike to come back on the podcast to talk about these trends. A few days later one of our subscribers who lives in Spain, Norm MacLeod, asked me to invite Mike as well! Mike graciously agreed, and we’ll get to those trends today. Mike’swebsite: https://mikepavlish.com

    30 min

  2. APR 20

    New Mindset For Copywriting

    We’re going through massive and disruptive upheavals all over the place, and of course copywriting is no exception. I’m seeing the need for a complete mindset shift to survive, thrive and even dominate in copywriting. It’s curious to me that the mindset shift is a return to the garden. I know that phrase means a lot of things, depending upon your background. What I mean by a return to the garden is, going back to basics. From the first glimmers of online marketing to the original Facebook analytics and now the unstoppable march forward of AI… ironically, all the non-human things those advances caused are being stripped away from the copy that gets results. What stands out is genuine human messaging, just like in a store or at a bar or at a Starbacks, one person talking to another. These days, more than anything else, that’s what works. With everything that’s happened, we need to make a conscious shift in mindset to get back to the garden and write the kind of copy that was working before all this technological intrusion started and messed things up. And that’s what I want to talk about today. Listen closely–it will make a big difference for you. If you’d like help shifting to this new mindset and developing the skills to go with it, check out my coaching program: https://garfinkelcoaching.com

    33 min

  3. APR 13

    Copywriting 101, Part 3– Old Masters Series

    As we return to our hit Old Masters Series segment, Copywriting 101, I’d like to let you know that the first edition of John Caples’s book Tested Advertising Methods was published in 1932–that’s 94 years ago! Caples updated the book more than once over the decades–the last edition was published in 1998. But the interesting thing is, over that 60 plus year span, the fundamentals remained the same. And they haven’t changed in the last 30 years, either. Just in the same way that storytellers still refer to Aristotle and scientists and engineers still depend on Newton’s three laws of motion, copywriters can reliably depend on the fundamentals Caples laid out. We are going to explore six more of them today. And if a little voice in your head is asking, “What the heck are we doing reviewing fundamentals?!”, let me remind you of what basketball legend Michael Jordan said: “Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.” RESOURCE Tested Advertising Methods, 5th Edition, by John Capleshttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0130957011

    30 min

  4. APR 6

    Next-Level Skills Every Copywriter Needs

    The future for copywriters and AI is pretty clear: AI will not replace copywriters. But… copywriters who know how to use AI will replace those who don’t. Sounds simple enough. However, once you get into it, you realize using AI to create copy that converts sounds easier than it is. And the question boils down to: How do you do it? I’ve been wrestling with that question for a couple years now, and I’ve found the answer. If you already know how to write copy without AI, there’s still some work involved to write copy with AI… but it’s a lot easier. If you really don’t know how to write copy, there are some things you need to learn… or help you need to get… in order to create copy that works using AI. Either way, there’s a path for you to be one of the copywriters of the future… one who knows how to use AI to write copy. That’s what we’ll talk about today. Finally, the best way to find out about the upcoming workshop where I’ll be teaching the five skills and how to get a superior competitive position is to make sure you’re on my Friday email list. If you get an email from me every Friday, you’re on it. Obviously. If not, go to https://persuasionstorycode.com And sign up at the bottom of the page. You’ll also get the first two chapters of my bestseller The Persuasion Story Code, absolutely free. And we’ll post the link in the show notes.

    36 min

  5. MAR 30

    Copywriting 101, Part 2– Old Masters Series

    Once again we’re back to our Copywriting 101 segments in the Old Masters Series, picking up where we left off a couple weeks ago. This is about copywriting fundamentals. It never hurts to review them, and if you weren’t grounded in fundamentals to begin with, it’s never too late to learn what they are. One of the best sources of an expert list of the fundamentals is John Caples, in his book Tested Advertising Methods. There was nothing fancy or intellectual about what Caples said or did, and yet he was one of the greatest direct response copywriters of all time. So our Old Masters Series turns to the late John Caples for source material. Based on his book, we’ve put together a list of fundamentals that everyone should remember and practice. It’s easy to forget or get distracted by the latest shiny object, but ultimately, to win, you alwayshave to go back to the fundamentals. That’s what we’re going to do today. – Tested Advertising Methods, 5th Edition https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0130957011

    34 min

  6. MAR 23

    Introducing 7 Types Of Microstories

    Let’s talk about something small. Very small. Small enough that most copywriters are forced tooverlook it, most of the time. Because we’ve all been trained to think in termsof big persuasive assets. The sales letter… the long-form VSL… the casestudy… the big story that carries the whole argument. And those still matter. But that’s not what most of us are writing mostof the time. Most of the time, we’re writing in tight spaces. Openings… transitions… subject lines… leads….things like that. Now, we think about those things, for sure. Weworry about those things. We obsess over those things. But rarely do we think thatwe have room to tell a whole story in those cramped, constrained spaces. Well, recently I’ve been workshopping a new bookcalled Microstories. It’s the next step of a new kind of story aftermy book The Persuasion Story Code. Microstories is a book about compressed persuasion. See, I kept noticing — in my own work and in thework of other copywriters — what I noticed was that sometimes, the smallestnarrative fragments were doing the heaviest lifting. Stories that were just one sentence. Or a mere two lines. And that small fragment would establish credibility…or soothe an objection… or even, shift a belief. All without announcing itself as “a story.” I’m going to share some of my early work fromthe new book today. Stuff you can use right away. My latest book, The Persuasion Story Code: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

    31 min

  7. MAR 16

    Copywriting 101– Old Masters Series

    The big secret of success, whether it’s in investing… in professional sports… or in copywriting, is one in the same: A focus on, and a mastery of, the fundamentals. The legendary basketball player Michael Jordan put it this way: “Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.” We’ve never done a show that just focused on copywriting fundamentals, so what better time than now? And one of the best sources of an expert list of the fundamentals is John Caples, in his book Tested Advertising Methods. There was nothing fancy or intellectual about what Caples said or did, and yet he was one of the greatest direct response copywriters of all time. So our Old Masters Series turns to the late John Caples for source material. Based on his book, we’ve put together a list of fundamentals that everyone should remember and practice. It’s easy to forget or get distracted by the latest shiny object, but ultimately, to win, you always have to go back to the fundamentals. That’s what we’re going to do today. RESOURCE: Tested Advertising Methods, 5th Edition https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0130957011

    30 min

  8. MAR 9

    How Clive Cable’s Building An Agency With Virtual AI Copywriters

    Our returning champion is Clive Cable, who was here a few weeks agotalking about his new book Neurocopy. As Nathan and I got to know Clive a little better, we found out he hasbeen doing a LOT with AI and copywriting that frankly we haven’t seen anyoneelse do. For example, he has a story-lede generator that comes up with a big idea for asales letter or VSL, and then writes a unique story lede to start the piece. Clive’s created a bot that writes like Gene Schwartz–but he only uses itto write the FIRST PART of a piece of copy. He has another bot that writesprobably the best kind of close he’s ever seen. And he’s taken research to a whole new level using AI. Beyond that, he’s taken the late Chris Marlowe’s brilliant 21 questionprocess for creating copy briefs, and automated it using AI. And there’s even more. Clive is putting together an agency to help copywriters and companies,using his suite of AI tools, to do one of four things: 1. Beat a control 2. Do in-depth research 3. Figure out why something’s not working, and 4. Write brand-new copy, right out of the box. We’ll talk later about how you can reach out to Clive if you’d like tofind out more about what he’s doing. But for now, you might want to know Clive got started as a door-to-doorsalesman, offering home improvement products and services for as much as$25,000 a pop–and closing an amazing two out of every three people he talkedto. He’s also an experienced copywriter, and has generated over £40 million,which is over 50 million dollars, across 12 different industries. Clive also built a supplement company that generated £24,000 a month,selling products including colloidal silver, prebiotics and aerobic oxygen. We’ll dig into what Clive’s doing with his virtual AI copywriters. https://clivecable.com/

    34 min
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About

Copywriting lessons from David Garfinkel

Information

  • Creator
    David Garfinkel
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    471
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © David Garfinkel
  • Show Website
    Copywriters Podcast

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