I fell in love with the craft of copywriting on the very first day.
This was in the early 1980s, when I had just started work at a small ad agency in London.
My idea of a fun evening was to stay up late, studying the work of the copywriters I admired most.
I’d read their ads out loud, and write then down in longhand… pen on paper.
The process helped me feel the rhythm and flow of their writing, and taught me a lot.
Funny thing.
A little while back I emailed a question to some alumni of the Conversational Copywriting course.
I wanted to know if they felt the course had changed anything for them. Was this just “another course”, or had it made a real difference?
I got some encouraging answers to that question, which I’ll be writing about in a future post.
But I also got feedback I hadn’t asked about at all.
This is a big deal, because so many people made the exact same point… without me even asking about it.
It seems like I’ve known Steve forever. But I’m guessing it’s closer to the 15-year mark.
Over the years he’s a been a good friend. And I think we agree on most things when it comes to our work as copywriters.
But there is a point of difference. While much of my experience has been in B2C copywriting, Steve has built up a huge reputation as an expert in B2B copywriting.
That’s a big part of why I reached out to him for this interview.
What do I mean by a “high-trust, relationship-based business”?
Here are a few examples…
You’re a life coach or business coach, consultant, freelancer, speaker, trainer, naturopath, yoga or fitness instructor, interior decorator or tree surgeon… and so on.
If your work brings you into direct contact with your customers and clients, consider yourself included.
Consider yourself excluded if you sell coffee mugs, shampoo, bicycles and most of the other stuff in and around your home.
There’s a key difference here.
While we’re still just toddlers, we start to talk.
That’s an amazing thing.
Our young minds figure out the meaning of those sounds adults are making around us. More amazing still, we somehow figure out some rudimentary rules of grammar.
Nobody taught us, but we figured it out. The sounds. The words. The basic framework that allows us to put those words into sentences that can be understood by others.
Sure, our first few tries at talking weren’t very sophisticated.
But we got the hang of it soon enough.
And before too long, we became more or less fluent in the spoken word.
Desperate marketers resort to cranking up the volume in their advertising.
If they’re not getting the results they want, they shout louder and more often, and in more places.
But, as they eventually discover to their cost, shouting louder doesn’t work.
It’s almost as if they’re saying, “Hey people, it seems you’re not hearing what I’m telling you… so I’m going to have to shout louder!!!”
But the problem isn’t that they aren’t being loud enough. Their problem is that they’re pitching the wrong message.
A message people don’t want to hear.