“At my lemonade stand I used to give the first glass away free and charge five dollars for the second glass. The refill contained the antidote.” – Emo Philips, Born Feb. 7, 1956. Selling is a two stage process, generally speaking. First you sell the customer on your interpretation of their problem. Like so, elaborating… Read More →
Telling People Lies for Money (When They Won’t Listen to the Truth)
“We are slow to believe that which if believed would hurt our feelings.” – Louis Nizer, Born Feb. 6, 1902. We don’t realize how much of what we do and say and think is a result of our brain acting on its own to protect our sensitive emotions. We are quick to reject anything that… Read More →
Guess What People Are Thinking, and They’ll Mistske You For Their Own Mind.
“Public opinion is a compound of folly, weakness, prejudice, wrong feeling, right feeling, obstinacy, and newspaper paragraphs.” – Robert Peel, Born Feb. 5, 1778. Some other famous advertising writer guy once said that persuading people was about entering into the conversation happening inside their own mind. But you don’t need to be a mind-reader to… Read More →
I’ll Never Ever Tell How This Trick is Done
“If you have a secret, people will sit a little bit closer.” – Rob Corddry, Born Feb.4, 1971. This is a simple power. But it’s strong. Instant. Easy. Irresistible. However, I won’t explain it to you. So don’t ask. I can’t. I’m not allowed to. Don’t beg. It’s unbecoming. It’s a secret – A powerful… Read More →
Come Get Corrupted With Me And Let’s Get Rich (While Helping People)
“Life is a corrupting process from the time a child learns to play his mother off against his father in the politics of when to go to bed; he who fears corruption fears life.” – Saul Alinsky, Born Jan. 30, 1909. A lot of advertising writers talk some bullshit like “I use persuasion, not manipulation”… Read More →
Make Metaphors That Cut Like a Razor to the Throat
“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” – Anton Chekhov, Born Jan. 29, 1860. Show, don’t tell. It’s an old adage among screenwriters, who incidentally love Chekhov. So, it behooves us to remember that demonstration is the highest possible form of proving the effectiveness of a… Read More →
Emotional Manipulation Through Shared Imagery (It’s Easy!)
“I am for the art of ice cream cones dropped on concrete.” – Claes Oldenburg, Born Jan. 28, 1929. This is our shared art also. The art of concise, visual imagery that evokes a reaction formed of personal emotions dredged from inside the audience, rather than from our words. These reactions are more powerful than… Read More →
Copywriting isn’t “Life or Death” Except When It Is. (And It Always Is.)
“Fundamentally, all writing is about the same thing; it’s about dying, about the brief flicker of time we have here, and the frustration that it creates.” – Mordecai Richler, Born. Jan. 27, 1931. We sellers of stuff, our products and services all directly or indirectly relate to death. Evading it. Escaping it. Thwarting it. Making… Read More →
You Want It Now? Too Bad. You Have to Wait…
“Impatience translates itself into a desire to have something immediate done about it all, and, as is generally the case with impatience, resolves itself in the easiest way that lies ready to hand.” – Edward Sapir, Born Jan. 26, 1884. Patience may be a virtue – but the patient are always very difficult to entice… Read More →
Bias and Prejudice are the Persuader’s Friend
“Bias and prejudice are attitudes to be kept in hand, not attitudes to be avoided.” – Charles Curtis, Born Jan. 25, 1860. BIAS! PREJUDICE! Those are bad words, right? In general, in one’s personal interactions with other people you don’t necessarily want to APPLY bias and prejudices if you aim to be a fair and… Read More →
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