Advertising secrets of the written word: the ultimate resource on how to write powerful advertising copy from one of America's top copywriters and mail order entrepreneurs

JosephSugarman

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The Ultimate Resourceon How to Write Powerful Advertising Copy From Oneof America's TopCopywritersand Mail Order Entrepreneurs

O 1998,JosephSugarman All Rights Reserved: Without limiting the rights under the copyright reservedabove, no part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in or introduceclinto a retrieval system,or transmitted,in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. Most of the advertisements in this book are copyrighted, and are reproducedfor educationalpurposesonly under "fair use" provisions of U.S. copyright law. The advertisementshave been selected,at the discretion of the author, as they representprinciples discussedin the text of this book. Trademarks: The words BluBlocker, SunBlocker, The Pill and JS&A are registeredtrademarks. There are many trademarksin this book for which the author and publisher believe property rights may exist and thesehave been designatedas such by the use of Initial Capitai Leiters. However, in so designatingor failing to designatesuch words, neither the authoi nor the publisher intends to expressany judgment on the validity or legal statusof any proprietary right that may be claimed in the words. The name DelStar Books and its logo, a star with an eagle profile within the star, are trademarksof DelStar Books, a subsidiary of Delstar publishing. Publisher's Note: This publication is designedto provide accurateand authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered.It is sold with the understandingthat the publisher or author is not engagedin rendering legal, accounting,or other such professionalservices.If expert assistancein such flelds is required, the servicesof an appropriateprofessionalperson should be sought. Printed in the United Statesof America Publisher'sCataloging-in-Publication Data (Provided by Quality Books, Inc.) Sugarman,Joseph Advertising secretsof the written word : the ultimate resource on how to write powerful advertising copy from one of America,s top copywriters and mail order entrepreneurs/ JosephSugarman._ l st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical referencesand index. I S B N : l - 8 9 1 6 8 6 - 0 0 - 3C L I S B N : l - 8 9 1 6 8 6 - 0 1 -P 1B l. Direct marketing.2. Advertisingcopy-Handbooks, manuals,etc. 3. Advertising.direct-mail.I. Title. HF586l.S84 1998 659.13'3 QBr97-41618 Attention: Schools, Ad Agencies and Corporations. Delstar books are available at quantity discounts with bulk purchasesfor educationalor businessuse. For more information. nlease contact DelStar Books at the addressbelow. 060504030201009998 109 8 7 6 5 43 2 | Cover design:Ron Hughes Cartoonist: Dick Haf'er -

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-Ilfn I IET\\TAD-ll\ r.-/Lrr\)ll DelStar Books 3 3 5 0 P a l m sC e n t e rD r i v e Las Vegas,NV 89103 Phone:(702) 798-9000 Fax: (702) 591-2002

To Wendy,April and Jill with love and affiction

Tlru truly creative mind in any field is no more than . . . a cruelly delicate organism with the overpowering necessity to create, create, create-so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut offfrom him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating.

-Pearl Buck

Advertising Secretsof the Written Word Gontents Foreword Acknowledgments

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Introduction Section One: Understanding the Process Preview l. GeneralKnowledse

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2. Specific Knowledge 3. Practice,Practice,Practice

15 23

4. The Purposeof All the Graphic Elementsof an Ad

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5. The First Sentence

8. The Slippery Slide

3I 35 39 45

9. AssumedConstraints

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6. Creating the Perfect Buying Environment l. Resonatinswith the Reader

10. Seedsof Curiosity I 1. Copy as Emotion

59 65

12. Selling the Concept,Not the Product

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13. The IncubationProcess

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14. How Much Copy ShouldYou Write? 16. The Copy Sequence

BI 87 93

17. The Editing Process

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I 5. The Art of PersonalCommunication

Section Two: Understanding What Works Preview

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18. Powerful Copy ElementsExplained

113

Typufare

113

First Sentence

Paragraph Headings

1t4 tt4 114

Product Explanation

115

Second Sentence

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New Features

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TechnicalExplanation

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Anticipate Objections Resolve Objections

118 118

Gender

119

Clarity Rhythm

r20 r20 t2r

Service

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Physical Facts

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Trial Period

124

Price Comparison

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Testimonials

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Price

OfferSummary

t27 t27

Avoid Saying Tbo Much

r28

Ease of Ordering

128

Ask for the Order

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19. The PsychologicalTriggers

131

Clichds

Feeling of Involvementor Ownership HonesQ

131 134

Integrity

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Credibility

136 138

Valueand Proof of Value Justify the Purchase Greed EstablishAuthority Sati sfaction Conviction

r39 r39 140 143

Current Fads

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Timing

149

Nature of Product

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Desire to Belong

151

Desire to Collect

r52

Curiosity Senseof Urgency

t54 155

Instant Gratification

r57

Exclusivity, Rarity or Uniqueness Simplicity

158 160

Human Relationships

r63

Guilt

165

Specificity Familiarity

r66 r67

Hope

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2I. Selling a Cure, Not Prevention

r75 r79

22. Telling a Story

185

23. Rating Your Writing Level

189

20. Getting the Mind to Work

Section Three: Proving the Points-Ad

Examples

25. A Fluke of Nature

195 197 205

26. Lingerie for Men

213

21. The More You Learn

219 223 225 229

Preview 24. TheLazy Man's Way to Riches

28. A More Stimulating Way 29. Magic Baloney 30. Pet Plane 32. HungarianConspiracy

233 237

33. Vision Breakthrough

24r

34. Gold SpaceChains

245

35. ConsumersHero

249 253

31. Mail Order Mansion

36. Nautilus Spelling Sale

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A Note: The Power of Your Pen Epilogue

Sometrinal Thoushts

Appendix A

AssumedConstraints,Continued

Appendix B

Seedsof Curiositv,Continued

Appendix C

Summaryof Axioms and Major points

257 259 263 265 267

Appendix D

RecommendedReading

211

Appendix E

ClassicJS&A Ads

219 299

Index

The Sugarman Legacy Foneultlnd

By Ray Schultz, Editor, DIRECT Magazine Eu.ry trade has its role models. And for me, there is no better model for ad copywriters or magazine editors than Joe Sugarman. BandleaderArtie Shaw had a standardquestionfor musicians who wantedto join his band: "Who do you listen to?" A similar question might be asked of writers applying for work: "Who do you read?" Sugarmanis the guy who sells BluBlocker sunglasseson TV. He also happensto be one of the most amusingand prolific writers in the United States,as I discoveredwhen I startedreading his JS&A catalogin 1985. He was totally out of the box. He crackedme up with the sheerexuberanceofhis copy approach. He offered readers$10 for every spelling error they found in his copy. ("Pleasedon't correctmy grammar.") He offered "loaner" watchesto customersas part of a service guarantee. He offered a $6 million home for sale in the airline magazines, acceptingAmerican Express,Visa, MasterCard or any negotiablehard currency. He sold a $240,000airplanein a single mail order ad. And he did it all with a very specialtone. It's like Nelson Algren said about John Cheever-that he was the one writer you could identify "without turning the pages of The New Yorker back to seewho wrote it." Not that Sugarmanis the most colorful rogue ever to write greatmail order copy.Therewere others.Louis Victor Eytinge, a convictedmurdererwho learnedhow to write in prison. Or Gene Schwartz,the art collector, who made his living writing stuff like "She Fled the Table When the Doctor Said Cut Her Open."

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But Joe surpassedthose guys in a few very important ways-the sheervolume of his writing, the trends that he set and my favorite-the personal catalog-one in which the copy and the product reflect the quirks of the owner. And Joe has a lot of imitators who have personalrzedtheir catalogsusing Joe's catalog as their inspiration. How did Joe learn his trade? He claims he learned it from his failures and not from the mail order greatswho precededhim. Greatslike David Margoles, who sold 4 million garlic crushersin the 1950s. Then there was Max sackheim, co-founder of the Book-ofthe-Month Club and another great pitchman who lived by his wits. As Lester Wunderman rn 1996 reflected about Sackheim, "when he talked to clients, he promised a breakthrough-not as we have now, minuscule improvement." Then there was John Caples,who enteredAmerican folklore by writing "They Laughed when I Sat Down At the piano." The late Larcy Chait askedCapleswhy he stressedthe social benefits insteadof just selling the virtues of the course. o'You don't understand," caples answered. "Learning the piano is tough. You can't sell that. But you can sell the idea of social successand overcoming whateverdeficienciesyou have in order to becomepopular." Though he may never have met them, sugarman knows on a gut level what theseguys knew. And that's important, because he's one of the last of a breed. Now for the good news. He's passedthe tradition down in Advertising Secretsof the Written Word,the best book ever done on the subject of mail order writing. Besidesthe advice on selling, it stressesbasic truths about writing, in languageanyone can understand.I've even given the manuscriptto my new reportersto read. I'm sadto report that sugarmandoesn't write as much copy as he used te-ns more catalogs and very few spaceads. He,s followed the money into infomercials and home shopping. until they reissueold JS&A catalogs(the way they've reissuedthe 1909edition of Sears,Roebuck),this book will haveto standas Joe's legacyin print. But it's a fine legacy.

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So here is it. Enjoy. As walter winchell said when he introduced Damon Runyon, "The next act is better." Ray Schultz is one of the top writers and editors in the direct marketing industry and editor o/ DIRECT magazine,a Cowles Business Media publication.

To Those Who Made It Possible AcknoulleilUmGnts

Muny peoplehavecontributedto my copywriting skills and to the creationof this book, and to all of them I am very grateful. Mary Stanke,Presidentof JS&A Group, Inc., whose direction, commitment and 26 yearsof serviceallowed me the creativefreedom to expressmyself through -y writing and who helped me build a substantialbusinessin the process.To Wendy and our two children,April and Jill, for their understandingand supportduring the many seminarswe held-always behind the scenes,but their presencewas very important and alwaysfelt. Judy Sugarman,my sister and copyeditor for 25 years-always there to correct my spelling, undanglemy modifiers and give me very candid feedback. I also wish to acknowledgethe thousandsof customerswho gave me a tremendouseducation and for whom I have an unwavering respect.I wish to acknowledgemy many competitors, too. I hated it when they copied me but in the processof trying to outwit them, my copywriting skills grew even stronger.There are hundredsof other people I could mention-too numerousto list here-who have played a vital role in my successand growth. A specialthank-you to the people who played a role in the production of this book: Lyn Chaffee, Doug Easton,Ron Hughes,Virginia Iorio and Nancy Kleban.And finally, I wish to give a special mention to Dick Hafer, whosecartoonswere createdspeciallyfor this book. A special acknowledgmentto all my wonderful seminar participantswho learnedfrom me and went on to createor build successfulbusinesses-all through the power of their pens. I learneda greatdeal from them. Finally, I wish to thank, with humility and gratitude, all who have exchangedtheir hard-earned money for this book. May you too learn and prosper.

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lntnoiluction Origins of This

Thir is a story about a seminar.It was a copywriting and '70s and '80s during a time marketing seminarI presentedin the when I was actively involved in both writing copy and marketing a range of products that included everything from electronicsto collectibles-from Bone Fonesto Picassotiles. I was a prolific writer, often writing completecatalogs,print advertisementsand direct mailings. And I owned the company, JS&A Group, Inc., that sold theseproducts,so I experiencedthe and failures. of my successes direct consequences

FoiluresOutnumberedSuccesses My failures far outnumberedmy successes.In fact, I have yet to find anybody who has experiencedthe number of failures I experiencedduring the early stagesof my career.But it was through thesefailures that I receiveda very costly educationthat to this day has guided me through a successfulcareerin advertising and direct marketing. To the public, I was a big success.Babe Ruth is remembered for his home run record and not for the fact that he also held the record for the most strikeouts.And so it was with me. Most peoas they were quite visible. And they ple just saw my successes, just saw my successfulinnovations becausethey were the ones that worked. So to the generalpublic and to others in direct marketing, it appearedthat I had the Midas touch. I didn't see myself running seminars.I was busy enough running my business.And to sharemy secretswith the industry was only asking for competition.But it was a seriesof coincidencesthat prompted me to offer seminarcoursesand I'm glad I made the decision to do them. And many of my participantsare glad too-people whose seminar experiencemade an enormous difference in their lives. My seminar was different. First, I was an actual practitioner-not an educatoror a consultantwho never had to make a major marketing gamble or cover a payroll. I was out there on the

firing line, making sureeachday that the copy I was writing and the marketingdecisionsI was making were going to be accepted by the marketplace. Second,it was during a time when my successwas reaching a peak. our mail order ads were appearingeverywhere.They appearedin newspapers,magazinesand on airplanesand with such regularity and frequency that the format was attracting a great deal of attentionand creatingan entire flock of imitators. Finally, r rcahzed what people were willing to pay just to hear me as a speakeror talk to me as a consultant.Bernie pargh, an entrepreneurand owner of B.A. Pargh,a businessequipment salescompany,flew from Nashville to Los Angelesone day just to hearme speakto a directmarketinggroup."Joe,I've spentover $1,000just to hearyou speakfor 45 minutes,"he told me. I would also get calls from peoplewho had marketingproblems and would want to fly to visit me in the Chicago suburbof Northbrook,where our companywas based,just to sit and talk to me for 15 minutes.

The Foleful Visif But the seminar would have never taken place had it not beenfor a small vacationI took up to northernWisconsinto visit my sisterand her family. It was during that trip that I discoveredthe beauty of the north woodsand madethe decision,with my family, to find a second home there. The home I eventually found was a 10,000square-foot,two-storybuilding on a I6-acresite overlookingone of the most beautiful lakes I had ever seen.The property was filled with virgin timber-tall statelypines and oak treesthat had escapedthe lumbermenwho clearedmost of the treesfrom northern Wisconsinduring the 1800s. But the home was costly and at the time something I couldn't afford. The price in 19'77was $350,000and I couldn't really justify it until my lawyer and closepersonalfriend, George Gerstman,suggestedI could use the facility as a seminar site. "Hold marketingseminarsat the place,turn it into a businessand you could write off the entire property and even make a profit," he suggested. The idea really appealedto me. It was a very unique setting.

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lt was isolated, quiet, and the fresh northern Wisconsin air at Minocqua was stimulatingand invigorating. I spent a greatdeal of the summer going up there with my family and furnishing the facility for a seminar.I clearedaway a number of the odd buildings that dated back to the 1800sbut were in such disrepair that I had no choice but to remove them. My wife, Wendy, helped pick out the furniture and dishes. She and the supportstaff neededto also hired a cook, housekeepers my operations chief at Mary Stanke, while run the seminars JS&A, assistedwith registeringthe participantsand preparingall the materialsfor the seminar.And so within a few months the facility was transformedinto an enchantingseminar site-a learn"Nature's Response." ing centerthat I called

The Most ExpensiveSeminqr Back in 79ll ,I was charging$2,000for five days-a price it, at the time, the most expensiveseminarin the direct made that marketingbusiness.For my last seminarstoward 1988,I charged $3,000.I announcedthe seminarin AdvertisingAge and Direct Marketing magazinesin the format of one of my typical ads.And the responsewas immediate. If Bernie Pargh was willing to spend$ 1,000to fly to Los Angelesto hearme speakfor 45 minutes and severalpeople were willing to fly from different parts of the U.S. to talk to me for just 15 minutes,I had a value that certainly was worth $2,000for five full days. Within a few weeks,I had a full classwith participantsfrom all over the world. We had somebodyfrom Germany,severalfrom California and quite a few from the East Coast.We had a farmer from Texas and a dentist from Carmel, California. Richard Viguerie, the conservativeWashingtonfund-raiser,enrolled and of courseBernie Pargh attended.I actually had more participants than I wanted so I createda reservationlist for my next seminar. To get to Minocqua, the seminar participants had to fly to Chicago, board a commuter plane there and fly to the town of Rhinelander,Wisconsin,where they then took a bus for the 40minute ride to their motel. To get to the seminarsite, the participants took a pontoon boat from the motel and landed at our boathousewhere they walked up a path to the house. And at the house,they would find severalrooms outfitted as classrooms,a large dining room, kitchen and a very large wooden

balcony where they could look out at the lake, relax and enjoy the clean north-woods air. It was an idyllic settingin a remotepart of Ameri ca-aplace where my studentswould learn a form of copywriting and mar_ keting that they could not learn anyplaceelse.

Book Gonlqins Mqny Lessons This book will share many of the lessonsand experiences that were taught at these seminars.you'll learn how to mentally prepare yourself to write copy, how to write effective copy, and how to presentyour product, conceptor servicein a novel and exciting way. You'll learn what realry works and what doesn,t and how to avoid many of the pitfalls that marketersfall into and much more. I convey my unique approachto copy by demonstratingmy thought processon everything from how copy should flow to the elements every ad should have-from the psychology of copy and its motivational triggers to the emotions generat.o uy words. But the seminarwas certainly more than learning about copy and marketing. The seminarturned into a motivational experiencefor many who went on to becomequite successful.others, who were already successful,couldn't wait to get back to work and implement their newly learned knowledge. And they too grew in the process. You too will understandhow to relate what you,ve learned about copywriting to other forms of marketing and you'll see how many of the sameprinciples apply.

The Goql of Copy Throughout this book, I talk about the eventualgoal of writing effective copy, namely: "To causea personto exchangehis or her hard-earnedmoney for a product or service.,,It,s reallv as simple as that. Direct marketing is truly the tool of the next century. using direct marketing, you can move millions of people to reach into their pockets for millions of dollars-all from the power of your pen or the messageyou conveyon a TV screen. For most of what I teachin this book I use a print ad as a referencepoint. Print ads are among the most difficult of all forms

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of direct marketing.On a singlepage,in two dimensions,located in a medium with hundredsof competing messagesand without sound or motion, you've got to entice a person to start reading your ad, convey the complete story of your product or service and then convincethe personto reachfor the phone and order.To understandthis processand to effectively implement it requires a lot of experienceand skill. But once you have masteredthe skills, you will have the ability to build a businessfrom just the power of your pen. When Mike Valentine attendedmy seminar,he was operating his radar detector company out of his gatage.Later, using many of the skills I taught him, his comPanY,Cincinnati Microwave (developer of the Escort Radar Detector), grew to a $140 million public company.Jimmy Calano was a young 20somethingentrepreneurwho had been giving small management seminarswhen he attendedmy course.He eventually becamea major force in the seminarbusinesswith CareerTrack-a multimillion-dollar company.Victoria's Secret sent two of their top marketing people when the company consistedof just two stores and a catalog.They eventuallywere acquiredby The Limited and becamea powerful retail chain throughout the country. From a UPS driver who had a fascination with direct marketing and cameto the seminarwith his last $2,000to Joe Karbo, author of The Lazy Man's Wayto Riches,who alreadywas a very successful mail order entrepreneur-they all came with great anticipation and they all left with valuable knowledge which helped them continue to grow and prosper.

| 6 SeminorsGiven I had 3 12 students attending I 6 seminrys-f1om the first one in the summerof l9l7 to the last one given in Maui, Hawaii, in the spring of 1988.Immediatelyafter my last seminar,I wrote a good portion of this book. The rest of my writing and marketing insights come from severalyears of experiencesince then in the visual medium of TV-infomercials, TV spots and home shopping. Regardlessof your current educationallevel or knowledge of marketing, this book will give you fresh insights into the world of copywriting, marketing, human behavior and other lessonstaught at my seminar.

Even if you are not interestedin writing copy, you,ll have a better appreciation and understandingof the copywriting process-so much so that you will be confidentthat you too can write good copy or, at a minimum, critique copy. So pull up an easychair,prop up your feet and sink into one of the most comprehensivecontemporarybooks on the subject of copywriting, marketing and creativeexpression-a treasurechest of insightsthat will entertainas it teaches.

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Pneuieur [.Inderstanding

As the pontoon boat pulled up to the boathouseand the group slowly disembarked,there was a senseof excitement.The seminar that each had traveled thousandsof miles to attend was finally in sight. What kind of value would they get?What kind of experiencewould they go through?And indeed,what would they learn? They were the first group of attendeesto participate in my seminar.And on the very first day I promised them that they would learn how to write greatcopy. They would understandthe thought processesyou go through to prepareto write that great piece of ad copy. They would also learn the basic underlying conceptsof how to structurea great advertisement.

The Very Firsf Dqy But more importantly, what they were going to learn the first day was to eventually lay the foundation for learning about every form of communications-f1sm print to TV from direct mail to catalogs. As the group assembledin the three-story vaulted living room, I introduced the staff to the participants. There was the cook, the servers,the housekeepers,the groundskeepersand the entire seminar staff. I then introduced my wife and two young children-April, six years old, and Jill, only three. My family was going to be therejust as if I were at home. Ironically, each of my children played a small but important role in the seminar. The first day was indeed one of the most important. And from the many lessonslearned and the experiencesshared,that first day promptedmany of the participantsto come up to me and tell me what an impact it had not only on their copywriting ability but on their understandingof the entire field of advertisingand marketing. As Harvey Cinamon from Boston told me that first day, "I could leave right now and know that I've gotten my full value."

Richard Viguerie, the Washington fund-raiser,told me that the lessonshe learnedthat very first day were invaluablein his "Just one slight change prompted by what I learned business. here today would pay for the entire seminar." So get ready to experiencewhat cost me millions of dollars to learn and what seminar participants paid a great deal to be taught.Welcometo a unique learningexperience.

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I General Knowledge Chagen

Tn" preparationto become a copywriter involves knowledge. There are two types. The first is a very broad or general knowledge and the secondis a very specific or targetedknowledge.Let me explain. The best copywritersin the world are thosewho are curious about life, read a great deal, have many hobbies,like to travel, have a variety of interests,often master many skills, get bored and then look for other skills to master.They hunger for experience and knowledge and find other people interesting.They are very good listeners. Look at my background. I'm an instrument-ratedmultiengine commercial pilot, an amateur radio operator,a professional photographer;I love computers,music, reading, movies, art and design.I've donethe completecatalogfor my comtravel, Thebestcopywriters haveavariety of pany including everythingfrom settingthe type to doing the interestsand master layout. I've done all the photographyand even some of the man! skills. modeling. (My hand became quite famous, but more on that later.) I've tried many sports-golf, tennis, football, baseball, basketball, scuba diving, skiing, and snowmobiling. I've traveled to every continenton the globe with the exceptionof the Antarctic and I know I'll eventuallyget there. I've mastered a second languageGerman-during the three yearsI spentwith the military in Germany.I've had hundreds of failuresand many successes, with eachrepresentinga learning experience. The thirst for knowledge,a tremendouscuriosity about life, a wealth of experiencesand not being afraid to work are the top credentialsfor being a good copywriter. If you examinethe lives of someof our greatestwriters, you will seethat they experienceda greatdeal and wrote about their experiences.Hemingway,Steinbeck-both lived and then wrote

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about their adventures.The more we experience,the more knowledge we have,the easierit is to come up with that big copy idea or marketing concept. But more significantly, it is important to experienceas much in life as possibleand not to fear failure. It's not whetheryou win or lose in life that's important but whether you play the game. Lose enough and eventuallyyou will win. It's only a matter of time. Edwin Land, the inventor of the Polaroid camera, said it best when he describedhis definition of a mistake:'A mistakeis a future benefit, the full value of which is yet to be realized." I can rememberwhen I was very young and failed at something I tried very hard to accomplish.I'd often say to myself, "No big loss-it's in my back pocket.One of thesedays I'11use what I've just experiencedsimply by reachinginto my back pocketand presto,I will have the answerjust when I needit."

Experiences Creqfe ldeqs Our minds are like giant computers.Every experiencethat goes into your brain-both good and bad-becomes more program material and data to recall and assemblein new ways in the future. Rememberwhen the first Apple computerscame out with their big 64K memories? You might also remember the slow speedand the poor graphics comparedto the high-poweredpersonal computers we have today. Today's computers are faster, more efficient, can accomplishmore and can interrelateinformation fasterand more easily.So it standsto reason,the more we've experienced,the more we can draw upon when it comestime to relatethoseexperiencesto new problemsor opportunities. There is nothing really new in life. It's simply a matterof taking previous piecesof knowledge and putting them togetherin a unique and different format. Matter is not createdand destroyed. Everything on earth that was here a billion years ago is pretty much herenow. The only differenceis that it hastakennew forms. The more you have in your brain from experiencesand knowledge and the more you are able to interrelate that knowledge and come up with new combinationsof old material, the greater an idea person you will be and the more powerful your capabilitiesas a copywriter.

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There is a saying that goes, "If all you have is a hammer, you look at every problem as a nail." The more tools you have to work on a problem in the form of experiencesor knowledge, the more new ways you can figure out how to solve it.

Loferql Thinkingfor ldeos Edward de Bono, one of the greatcreative thinkers of our "lateral thinking" to describe the time, came up with the term processof coming up with ideasby not focusing or thinking of just the problem. Often, by relating the problem to something that has nothing to do with the problem, a new idea emerges. "Think De Bono createda small product that he called his Tank" which encouragedpeople to think more laterally and consequentlymore creatively.It was a small 8-inch spheremounted on a platform with a small window. Through the window you saw a selectionof 14,000 small words located on small plastic pieces.You shook the Think Tank and then looked into it and wrote down the first three words you saw You then tried to relate the three words to your marketing problem, to come up with a fresh perspectivetoward solving your problem. For example,let us say I wanted to sell my airplane.Typically,I would run an ad and focus on just the airplane, its featuresand equipment.But in using the Think Tank for lat'farm,' 'saleseral thinking, I drew threetotally unrelatedwords, man' and 'compassion'and had to create an ad incorporating those three words. This processwould causeme to searchmy brain, my data bank, and all my past experiencesfor some way to relate the three words while keeping in mind that I had to sell the airplane. The Dictionqry qs q Tool Lateral thinking is simply a tool. So is your dictionary.And so is your mind. Probablyone of the most importantkeys in copywriting and conceptualizingis the ability to relate totally divergent conceptsto createa new concept.Once again,the more data you have to work with from your life experiencesand the more your mind can relate this data to a problem, the better you are going to be at coming up with that really great idea.

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RunningYour Own Compony Another factor that makes a great copywriter is the experience of running your own company and being responsiblefor every word you write. The really great direct marketing copywriters often don't work for advertisingagencies,but rather run their own companiesand experiencetheir own successesand failures. Ben Suarez,Gary Halbert, the late Gene Schwartz and dozensof othersrecognrzedas top copywritershave owned their own companiesand learned over years of trial and error-years of both big mistakesand great success.You can't beat that type of experience. In my case,I have been presentedwith thousandsof products, written ads for hundredsof them and have had to come up with that big idea hundredsof times a year.Even as I look back at my advertising,I seea learningcurve that would not havebeen possiblehad it not been for that immensewealth of broad experience.Ironically, you're going to readaboutmany of thoseexperiencesthroughoutthis book. You'11be able to avoid many of the pitfalls and mistakesI made climbing my way up the ladder and you'll understandwhy thesemistakeswere indeedlearningexperiences. The preparation for becoming a great copywriter is a lifestyle. It's a hungerfor knowledge,a curiosity and a desireto participatein life that is broad-basedand passionate.If you have this personality,you are alreadywell on your way. If you don't, simply being awareof it is often enoughto starta mentalprocess and movementthat will take you to where you would like to be. But being a great copywriter is more than just having a lot of experiencein life. What you will learn in the next chapteris just as important.

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Specific Knowledge $$$$$hapter2

I ,"ur sitting in the laboratory of the SensorWatch Company in Dallas,Texas,looking througha microscopeand learning everythingI could about how a new digital watch was designed, producedand assembled. I was becoming an expert on digital watch technologY,on "Why integratedcircuits, quartzcrystals and oscillator circuits. "They're are all the contactsgold-plated?"I askedthe engineer. gold-platedin every integratedcircuit. It's part of the technology;' was the reply. The conversationcontinued.It had beentwo days and I was still delving into every aspectof this new digital watch I was planning to introduce. I still hadn't reachedthe point where I could write an ad on the advantagesof the new product.At the time, most digital watches had liquid crystal displays, and in order to seethe time, you had to pressa button to illuminate the display.On the new Sensorwatch, the display glowed constantly, thanks to an inert but radioactivesubstancethat was placed in a small flat capsulebehind the display.

New Technology Required Powerful Presenfotion This new technologymeant that you could glance down at your watch and, in an instant'tell the time-even at night-without pressingany buttons.But I felt that therehad to be a powerful way of presentingthe product and I still wasn't comfortable with what I had. The Sensor770 was very expensiveto make and sell. So I knew that I neededsomethingthat made the watch I was selling really different and special. "Why didn't somebodythink of this radioactivematerialfor watchesbefore?" was my next question. The engineerlooked at me, pausedfor a secondand then "We haven't had the technologyto sealthe radioactivemasaid, terial in a transparentcapsulewithout it leaking out until some-

15

body developeda technique with a laser.The laser is what seals the capsule.Without the laser, there is no way you could completely sealthe capsule." That was all I needed.The concept was clear. And the ad headline that I wrote for the new Sensor Digital Watch was. "Laser Beam Digital Watch." The story told of how the watch was made possible thanks to a laser beam and how its new technology benefited the consumer.That single conceptresultedin millions of dollars in profitable salesfor the digital watch. When I had reachedthe point about the laser beam sealing the capsule,I knew I had found that unique headlineconceptthat made the watch standout from the rest of the competition. But it took a few days of very intensive learning and study before the concept emerged.Sometimesthis can happen in a few minutes, sometimesit can happen in a few hours and sometimesit may take weeks. This time it took a few days of patience along with specificknowledge.

You Musf Become qn Expert You needto becomean expert on a product, serviceor anything you write about to really be effective.Becoming an expert means learning enough about a product to obtain enough specific knowledge so you can communicate the real nature of what you are trying to sell. Say to yourself, "I am an expert or have learnedenough to be able to effectively communicatethis product to the consumer."That's what we mean by "specific knowledge." This doesn't meanthat you haveto learn everythingthereis to know about a subjectevery time. There havebeentimes when I simply looked at a product or serviceand cameup with the big idea from my own past experienceor specific knowledge in a particular category.Remember,I'm a pilot, ham radio operator and photographer.I alreadyhad not only vast knowledge of the gadgetsI would sell in my business,but knowledge of my customer, as well. I myself was my typical customer.I was the type of individual I had to sell productsto becauseI was as gadgetorientedas the personI was trying to appealto.

t6

You Must Know Your Cuslomer Too And that's anotherpoint. In addition to knowing your product or service,you've really got to know your customer.You've got to be an expert on who your customeris by gatheringspecific information on whom you are selling to. You may already be an expert by virtue of being a typical customer.You know your likes and dislikes, what excites you and what you yourself would expect from a company selling you a product. But if it is your assignmentto write copy for a product or servicethat you really don't have a feel for, then you have a greatdeal of studying to do to make sure you understandwho your customer is and what motivateshim or her.

You Musf Underslqnd q Producf's Nqlure And even if you understandyour customer and understand your product, you must realize one more thing. There is a specific way that each product should be presentedto your customer. In short, the product has a nature of its own and it's up to you to discover what the nature of that product is in the mind of the consumer. Let me cite a good example.Back when I first startedJS&A in the basementof my home, I met Howard Franklin. Howard was an insurancesalesmanfrom Chicago who bought his first calculator from me from an ad I ran rn The Wall StreetJournal. He loved his calculator and stopped by one day to buy a few more of them. After that, Howard would stop by every once in a while and buy more calculatorsas gifts for his better clients. One day, Howard stoppedby and said that sinceJS&A was a growing concern,I should buy insurance."You want to protect your family becauseif anything ever happenedto you, there may be quite an estate and lots of taxes to pay before your family would reahzeanything." "Thank you, Howard. I appreciate the offer, but I don't really believe in insurance,"was my standardreply. But Howard was a good salesman.Every once in a while Howard would clip out an article on calculators from a local paperor an article from some magazineon somenew gadgetand sendit to me with his card.And everv once in a while. Howard

17

It took an event close to home to make me take action.

stoppedby and picked up a calculator and again dropped the comment,"Joe, you shouldreally have insurance." "Thanks, Howard. I appreciatethe advice,"was my typical comment. Then one day I hearda sirenin front of my next-doorneighbor's house.I looked out the window and within a few minutes, my neighbor was being carried out of his home on a stretcher with a white sheetover him. He had died that morning from a massiveheartattack.He was only in his 40s. I was 36 at the time. The next day I called Howard on the phone. "Howard, remember our many discussionson insuranceand protectingyour family and stuff? Well, I think that we should sit down and work out some sort of program for an insuranceplan for my family and me." I had finally made the plunge. Was it Howard's salesmanship? Was it his persistence?Maybe. But I reahzedfrom that experiencea really effective way to sell a whole series of products.Howard succeeded because he had planted enough seedsin my mind for me to reahze what insurancewas for, who shouldsell it to me and who was a good friend and customer. When it came time to buy, only I, Joseph Sugarman,would know. And only when there was an immediate experiencethat hit close to home would I seethe value of insurance.I went through the experienceand I responded. Someof the implicationsfrom this examplewill be referred to later in this book, but the point concernsthe natureof a product. Every product has a natureto it that you must understandto be successfulwhen creating a marketing concept behind that product. For example, from the insuranceexperience,I soon rcahzedhow to sell burglar alarms and becameone of the largest burglar alarm sales companiesin the country, protecting more homesthan any other company. The alarm was called the Midex and my thoughtswent back to Howard as I createdthe ad. I knew that to scarepeople into buying a burglar alarm was like Howard coming into my basement and saying, "Joe, when you die, are you going to leave your wife and kids in financial disaster?"That would never sell

18 1I

me insurance.Nor would a similar techniqueof quoting crime statisticswork to sell burglar alarms. I reahzedthat if I were to buy a burglar alarm, I would first have to recognrzea need for one. Perhapsif my neighbor was robbed or crime in my community was on the rise or I had recentlypurchasedsomethingexpensive. Once I had a needfor a burglar alarm, I would look for one that really made sensefor my situation.The first thing I would insist on is that it worked.After all, the first time I really needmy alarm to work may be the only time it would be called upon to work, and I'd want to make sureit worked flawlessly. The secondthing that would be importantto me is the ease of installation. It would have to be so easy to install that it wouldn't require any outsidepersonstringing wires all over my house.So when I wrote the ad on the Midex burglaralarm,I made sure that I spentseveralparagraphson the reliability of the product and the testingeachunit went throughbeforeit was shipped. And I used astronautWally Schirra as my spokespersonfor the "I'm very pleasedwith my unit." alarm.He was quotedas saying,

Scqre Tqcfics Don't UsuollyWork Never did I try to scarethe prospectivecustomerwith crime statistics.It would look as ridiculous as Howard screamingor warning me in my basementto get insurancebecauseI may die. All I did was rcahzethe natureof the productI was selling,bring out the points that were importantin the productto the consumer and then wait until the consumersaw the ad enoughtimes or was threatenedclose enoughto home before he or shebought. We receivedmany ordersfrom peoplewho had cut out the ad and put it in a file. When indeed they were threatened,they then called and placed their order. Fortunately, there were enoughpeoplewho wanted a unit when they saw the ad to earn us a nice profit, but we also received orders months after we stoppedrunning our ads.And despitethe fact that many of the electronicproductsof the time were obsoletejust a few months after they were introduced,we managedto run our ad for over three yearsbefore salessloweddown. I haveone other exampleon the importanceof becomingan expert on the product you sell by gaining specificknowledgein

t9

order to write outstanding copy on a subject. It happenedin 1975,right at the startof the CB boom in the United States.Back then, the U.S. governmenthad imposed a reduced nationwide speed limit of 55 miles per hour to conservefuel. The lower speedlimits really affectedthose 18-wheellong-haul truck drivers. Truck drivers respondedby buying citizens band radios to communicatewith each other. The truck drivers would travel in caravans and truckers aheadof the caravanwould signal if there was a "Smokey" (police officer) in the area.Soon CBs becameso popularthat the averagemotorist startedbuying them and a whole new fad emerged in the U.S.-a fad so big that songs,moviesand a varietyof products were created to caprtahzeon it. The CB units themselves were in such demandthat you couldn't even get one without a wait, and thieves were stealing them out of cars and turning a very hefty profit reselling them. As a ham radio operator,I knew of the fun in radio communications and the advantagesof having a unit in my car. This was my general knowledge. So I wanted to experiencethe fad and I decided to get a CB radio. I then becamesomewhatof an expert on it. There was a lot lessto masterwith CB than therewas with ham radio, where I had to learn the Morse code at 13 words per minute and a greatdeal of technical information before passing my operator'stest. During the early stagesof the fad, I was attendingthe Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago when I bumped into Mike Weschler,a salesman,who showedme a new product. "Joe, here is a miniature walkie-talkie."

The Product Wqs Nof Unusuql I looked at the small sliver of a product he handed me and reahzedthat a small walkie-talkie was no big deal.You could get them at anyRadio Shackstore.But Mike then pointed out that the unit had an integratedcircuit-it was one of the only units using this new type of technology and it indeedwas smaller than any of the other products on the market. The product seemed a little more interesting after Mike explainedits features.It was so small that it could easily slip into a shirt pocket. "What frequenciescan you broadcaston and what is the power?" I asked,calling on my knowledgeof ham radio. 20

"The unit has two frequencies.One takes a crystal for any of a number of frequenciesand the other would be permanently set to a frequency around 2l megahertz." I looked up at Mike as he was demonstratingthe unit and asked him, "Mike, isn't 27 megahertznear one of the CB frequencies?" "Right. It's channel 12 but don't woffy, there is not that much radio traffic on channel 12. It's normally reserved for walkie-talkies,"Mike answeredrather sheepishlyas if I had discovereda fault with the unit. "No, Mike, I think that will turn out to be an advantage." And indeedit was. I took the unit. called it a PocketCB and sold over 250,000of them at $39.95.It was a huge successand fully attributableto my generalknowledge combined with the specific knowledge of the unit and the discovery of that unique feature that might have been overlookedby somebodyelse. Realize how important it is to know your product and know your customer.It is this specific knowledge that will make a dramatic differencein your ability to communicateyour thoughtsin copy.

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Ghapten 3 Practice, Practice, Practice

On" of the first things I would ask my seminarstudentsto think about was the definition of good copywriting. Is it the skill of being able to accuratelyput words on paper?Can it be taught? What sort of backgrounddo you needto be a good copywriter? We would then talk about both generalknowledgeand specific knowledge.But I explainedthat therewas more to the art of copywriting. Copywriting is simply a written form of communicating facts and emotions.It is a mentalprocess.Somecopywriterswill tell you that many of their greatestworks were well thought out in their minds evenbefore they put them on paper. Joe Karbo wrote one of the most successfulincome opportunity ads ever written for his book, The Lazy Man's Way to Riches,in one draft and without corrections.It just pouredout of his mind onto a sheetof paper.And it was one of the few ads he ever wrote. Some copywriters will tell you that they just sit down and start writing. Some find that sitting in front of a computer does the trick and othersneed somethingmechanicallike a pen and a pad of paper. My greatestads were written during a variety of circumstances.Many were well thought out before I put the first word to paper and they flowed out with hardly a correction. Other times they would flow but you wouldn't recognizethe first draft from the last becauseof the number of corrections I made. SometimesI would sit in an airplaneandjust write from takeoff to landing and come up with greatcopy.And other times, I used my computerwith greatsuccess.

It's All q Mentql Process The bottom line for all theseapproachesis that copywriting is primarily the mental process of first getting your thoughts organrzedin your mind and then eventually transferring them onto paper.There is no best method-just what works for you. 23

But the best place to start, without question, is to start. That's right. Pick up a piece of paper and a pefl, and start. Do enough of it over a long enough period of time and I guarantee you, you'll improve each year.Write articlesfor a local newspaper. I startedwriting for my high school paper.It gave me experience and confidence.Write letters,write postcards-just plain write every opportunity you can. I look over my very first JS&A direct responseadsand can't believe I wrote them. They were horrible. But I matured and I learnedwith each ad I wrote. In my first ads, I used clich6s"It's the product the world has been waiting for." And my sentencesweren't flowing as they do now. Sheervolume and experience will do wonders.As they say to anybody wanting to make it to CarnegieHall, "Practice,practice,practice."

Don'l Worry qbouf lhe Firsf Drqft Another fact to reahze about writing copy is that the first draft of an ad is often terrible and the real skill in copywriting is taking that rough draft and polishing it. You might add words, delete entire sentences,change the order of sentencesor even paragraphs.It's all part of the copywriting process.I often pointed out to my studentsthat if everybodyin the classwere given the assignmentof writing a draft of an ad for a product, the first draft of my ad would quite likely be terrible compared to everybody else's.It is what I do with the copy after my first draft that really makes the difference. In that first draft the goal is to put something-anythingon paper, the emotional outpouring of everything you are trying to convey about your product or service.Don't woffy about how it reads.Just get it down onto somethingyou can work with like a computer screenor a piece of paper and then go from there. To define exactly what copywriting is, I often presentedthe following axiom:

Axiom I

Copywriting is a mental process the successful execution of which reflects the sum total of all your experiences,your specific knowledge and your ability to mentally process that information and transfer it onto a sheet of paper for the purpose of selling a product or service.

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And in this book you will learn some of the valuable techniques to use to expand your knowledge of the copywriting process so you can write copy that motivates people to take an action-specifically to take their hard-earned money and exchangeit for your product or service. Copywriting is the key to any successfuldirect marketing venture.You can have the world's best product or service,but if you can't communicateyour ideas,you havenothing. I will give you the skills and insights you need to successfullywrite copy. I've already personally taken the most expensivecourse ever. If you would add up my failures and their cost to me, add the insights I received mostly from my failures, and then add the experiencesI've had in copywriting and marketing,you would see that it has indeed been an expensiveeducation.And you're about to sharein it.

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