Being a Celebrity Copywriter with Gio Marcus
Gio Marcus is a celebrity copywriter. We were so intrigued with this, we just had to have her on the show to find out how she helps celebrities make money. Born in New York, Gio moved to the West Coast some 20 years and she is a convert. She came for college and fell in love with the state. Her life in California is 'pretty dreamy". See Gio's Instagram photo below with roller skates!
What was it like working with Celebrities?
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Gio's clients hang out with Oprah and Richard Branson and are New York Times Best Selling Authors. For a girl brought up in New York, landing a NYT best selling author was quite a thrill.
Gio At Lunchtime!
There is so much natural beauty in California. Right outside her door she can go hiking in the mountains or get to the ocean within 30 minutes, plus the desert is not too far away, so you really have a full spectrum of nature very close by.
Celebrity Copywriter
Gio is a celebrity copywriter. That means she is addressing the desires of celebrities for copy that makes them money. Listen hard to how Gio explains story and non-traditional copywriting.
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How does Gio get into the minds of her celebrity clients? She says, research is my friend. Her clients have podcasts, blogs, books. There are lots of different places Gio can go to learn what their voice is and what kinds of things they talk about.
Clients who are doctors does not mean Gio needs to be an expert medical practitioner. The game is to take the technical information and translate it into a broader audience. A lot of times it can be quite difficult for an expert to translate their in-depth knowledge to a wider audience. After all, they know all the technicalities, their industry lingo, and that can make their copy too jargon rich.
So, Gio's genius is to take their expertise and shape and shift it to a wider audience, who are then able to receive and hear it and get excited about it.
Not Hiring Gio Would Have Been a $3m Mistake!
This was from one of Gio's testimonials, Carli Davidson. See the add at the foot of these notes.
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If you get copy wrong, it can hurt the brand.
Who Inspired Gio?
David Ogilvy - one of the Godfathers of copy and brilliant in terms of understanding the psychology of marketing. She claims David Ogilvy influenced the way she interacts with people. Another inspiration is Dan Kennedy, a direct response copywriter. Graham mentioned Eugene Schwartz and Drayton Bird - the latter who was on this podcast 3 years ago in 2018. The man that released the 2 books by Eugene Schwartz, which had gone out of print, but not demand, was Brian Kurtz - another podcast guest.
Will Gio Marcus Still Create Copy in Her 80s? (Like Drayton Bird)
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Gio will always be a writer. Whether it is poetry on the beach of for clients. She feels fulfilled and naturally gets into the brands she selects to work with.
How does Gio repel people? Does she have a technique. Gio recommends them to someone who may be a better fit. The one thing that stood out was when Gio said:
I don't feel a sense of scarcity. I love recommending other copywriters.
Gio specialises in sales pages. Not websites, nor pamphlets. The topic is also a bar for some clients. If it is not a good fit, she'll recommend the prospect to another copywriter. By letting them down gently. A large percentage of her clients are female. And she writes to a female audience. That audience is typically older than herself, such as 50s, 60s and 70s.
Celebrity Copywriter Style Differences
There are style differences between writing to older and younger audiences:
Younger - more slang, punchier copy.
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