#293 – David Garfinkel – Copywriting

David Garfinkel - The World's Greatest Copywriting Coach The World's Greatest Copywriting Coach David Garfinkel joined the The Next 100 Days podcast to discuss the Old Masters of copy. Our plan was to run through 6 copywriting tips from from the Old Masters. We managed 3 in this episode. The good news is David completed all six by covering the rest in Episode 294. Introduction to David Garfinkel David is a copywriting coach to business owners and professional copywriters. His sales letters and webpages have brought millions of dollars in for his clients. David has worked as a copy consultant to publisher Agora Financial. He critiques copy for small business owners in the GKIC network. Author of "Breakthrough Copywriting" and is the host of "Copywriters Podcast". Born in Washington DC, David made a decision to get as far away from there as possible, without leaving the United States. He moved to San Francisco. His kryptonite is buying guitars. This passion dates back to 1966 when he turned 13 and got a Gibson guitar. Copywriting Tips from the Old Masters As Graham said, they are all dead! The first Old Master is Claude Hopkins. His material dates from the early part of the 1900s. David is a direct response copywriter. The most famous British advertising man was David Ogilvy. He told a story about Ogilvy who published an old estate with a £600 budget. Ogilvy used a postcard and got them to take action. In real life, says Garfinkel, you have to give people an incentive to take action. Direct mail was the original direct response copywriting. Graham's business Finely Fettled still provides this service. Resources from the David Garfinkel The Next 100 Days Podcast This link covers material covered in Episode 293 and Episode 294 (Part 2 of the David Garfinkel podcast) Click here for David Garfinkel Resources Claude Hopkins Hopkins said the demonstration and sampling are most powerful forms of selling. http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Garfinkel-Claude-Hopkins.mp4 People and technologies have changed these days, but the principles still apply. Such as offering a free chapter in a Kindle book. Another example is the software 30 day trial, after which the software stops working. In car retailing, many of us have been hugely influenced by test drives. David spoke about the silver polish example provided by Claude Hopkins early sales experience. We discussed other transformational benefits. Like, the lady of the house's mother in law wouldn't by looking down on her so much. That speaks to embarrassment and guilt. Woman are infinitely better pragmatists than men. She buys silver polish as it helps her get it done quick! Demonstration takes features and benefits a step further forward. They can see the transformations and outcomes. John E Kennedy Canadian John E Kennedy also worked at Lord and Thomas in Chicago, like Hopkins. He was credited with the 'reason why' approach to copy. Reason why is about logic and evidential. http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Garfinkel-Reason-Why-Copy.mp4 Gary Bencivenga was a proponent of reason why copy. Here's what fellow A-list copywriter, Doug D’Anna said of Gary Bencivenga: “If a copywriter beats the control one out of four times, you’ve got a really good copywriter. (And) If he beats it two out of four times, you’ve got a great copywriter. If he beats it seven out of eight times, you’ve got Gary Bencivenga.” Gary write copy for Boardroom mail order promotions. He worked on general interest products in health and financial interest. We want something emotionally, then we search for all sorts of reasons until we feel okay about buying. Listen to Gio Marcus about celebrity copywriting in Episode 289. Robert Updegraff "Obvious Adams" http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Garfinkel-Obvious-Adams.mp4 How do I get to the simplest, most obvious way to convey my message to market?