Copywriters Podcast

Copywriters Podcast

By David Garfinkel

Copywriting lessons from David Garfinkel
Currently playing episode

Sales- Friendly Content Marketing

Copywriters PodcastJun 22, 2026
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Oct 05, 202631:47
The Eternal Truths Of Copywriting

The Eternal Truths Of Copywriting

For as long as I remember, new people coming into direct response marketing believe that the old rules no longer apply, and they are in an entirely new game.

It’s just human nature.

As bestselling author Robert Heinlein told the Washington Post in a 1984 interview, “every younger generation that has ever come along thinks they invented sex.”

This comes to mind because of a comment I saw the other day on social media, where a successful young copywriter was asking with some annoyance where he could find some up-to-date social feeds on present-day copywriting info, and not on stuff on what worked 40 years ago.

That got me thinking, because a lot of what we do here on Copywriters Podcast is go over Old Masters material which is even MORE than 40 years old.

Now, to be sure, 40 years ago they didn’t have video sales letters online, or Facebook ads, or lead magnets… or really, any kind of Internet marketing. That didn’t start until the late 1990s.

There are certainly new technologies and techniques that we all want to keep up to date on. And sometimes we cover those here.

But as I was thinking about all of this, my question was more fundamental:

“Are there eternal truths of advertising copywriting that are as true today as they were 40, 50, even 100 years ago?”

It turns out, there are. Today I’ve got seven of them for you, with easy to understand examples from the past as well as from this decade–often, this year.

You’ll be impressed with how little has changed in terms of human nature and what we respond to.


RESOURCE: The Persuasion Story Code

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

Sep 28, 202637:31
Old Masters Series:
A Technique For
Producing Ideas

Old Masters Series:
A Technique For
Producing Ideas

It’s kind of unusual when someone you work with bursts into your office with an urgent problem, and then you proceed to develop a solution to that problem and simplify it over the next 10 years, and then your solution ends up becoming one of the most important books in business history.

But that’s what happened with our Old Masters Series selection today. Its origin story, nearly 100 years ago, begins when James Webb Young is working at ad agency J. Walter Thompson in Chicago.

A frantic ad sales manager for a magazine shows up out of nowhere and asks Young the following question:

“You have produced a lot of advertising ideas. Just how do you get them?”

No one had asked Young that question before, and he didn’t know the answer himself. At first. At least, at a conscious level where he could explain it.

He had to think about the question for years, but by 1940 he had the answer and he published it in a book. It’s the shortest book ever in our Old Masters Series, and really, considering how important and valuable it is, one of the least well known.

How short is it? Just over 5300 words. About 15-20 pages in regular-sized books, but around 50 pages in the smaller printed books it’s sold in today. You can easily read it in less than an hour.

Most people want to read it more than once. I’ve lost count myself but it’s at least a dozen times I’ve read it. Because it’s so precise and so powerful.

It’s easy enough to read. And the book will only cost you a few dollars.

But what James Web Young came up with over the decade while he was pondering the question, is, well, priceless.

And that’s what we’ll cover today.


Resources

A Technique For Producing Ideas, by James Webb Young

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D4XRLVPJ/


The Persuasion Story Code

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

Sep 21, 202635:30
The Persuasion Power of IMperfection

The Persuasion Power of IMperfection

It turns out in the larger world of culture and fashion, we’ve reached a breaking point. This is important for copywriting because of something we’ve always known and practiced, and today we’re going to take a wide-ranging look at the opposing forces of perfection, which is not real, and authenticity, which is not perfect.

Both perfection and authenticity have been used to sell stuff.

And we’ve seen a lot of people, especially in social media, stretching notions of perfection about as far as it can go.

So the perfection trend seems to have reached the breaking point I was just talking about.

I saw this in an interesting article exploring the trend in Bloomberg Businessweek:
“We’ve been looking at perfect faces and vacations and homes on Instagram for more than 15 years, and on TikTok for most of a decade, during which time creators have pursued new audiences by pushing what already works further toward a logical extreme—the uncanny perfection of everything.

“At this point so little is left to upgrade, they’re now positing ways to improve the color of one’s armpit skin.”

The article is titled “The Optimization Backlash Has Begun,” and it’s all about how people are really getting tired of having images and standards of false perfectionism rammed down their throats.

Writer Amanda Mull took a good look at the new trend: Showing your flaws as part of marketing, movies and social media.

We’ll go much further than the recent past to set the stage, and then burrow into some great ways you can take advantage of this trend in your copy and video marketing.


RESOURCE:

The Persuasion Story Code

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

Sep 14, 202629:58
Old Masters Series: Robert Collier
Sep 07, 202632:02
Back To School For Copywriters

Back To School For Copywriters

Somewhere near you, right now, there's a store with a whole aisle of spiral notebooks marked down to 79 cents.

The gargantuan engines of the big yellow buses are getting tuned up or are already tuned up and ready to roll. 

Pencils are getting sharpened. 

And millions of kids are about to get something most adults never get anymore:

A fresh start. A new year of learning.

Think about that. Students get new supplies, new subjects, new teachers.

All kinds of fun, and discovery, and spitballs from the back of the class.

Meanwhile, what do we get? Nothing. As copywriters and business owners, we just keep working. Sadly, for us, there's no first day where everything smells like fresh pencil shavings and great possibilities.

Unless, of course, we build that first day ourselves.

So today, we're going back to school, but in a WAY different way than you did when you were a kid.

Everything on the agenda is designed to do one of two things: either sharpen a skill you use to make money, or refresh your imagination that is so vital to the work we do.

SUMMARY

1. Recess

- Buy something fun from an ecommerce site and take notes on every piece of messaging.

- Buy something else and enjoy it without taking a single note.

- Take a real walk with no phone, no podcast, no earbuds. If you are a fan of situational awareness, you would be in condition yellow.

2. School Supplies

- Pay for at least one AI subscription and actually use it.

- Start a swipe file, or clean out the one you already have.

- Get a real notebook and a pen you actually like to use.

3. Books

- Read Obvious Adams, by Robert Updegraff.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T14VCJE

- Read a bestseller — something easy and fun.

- Read one of my books:
Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00513MQ2G/
Breakthrough Copywriting
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1548706957

The Persuasion Story Code
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ


4. Extra Curricular Activities

- Go out to a movie and pay attention to the people, the film, and the marketing.

- Hand-copy some pages of fiction and some great copy, to get a sense of the rhythm and feel.

- Interview one real customer and write down their exact words.

5. Free Time

- Learn to turn your brain off from work.

- Binge-watch something on Netflix.

- Listen to a new kind of music just to rattle or soothe your brain.

Aug 31, 202629:52
Protecting Your Freelance Business, With Copywriter Kim Krause Schwalm
Aug 24, 202632:17
The Magic Power of DON’T

The Magic Power of DON’T

Nathan came up with the idea for this show, and it started, of all places, in his mom’s kitchen.

Here’s what happened: 

If Mom says dinner will be ready in 30 minutes, Nathan is much less likely to go digging through the fridge.

So if she wanted to stop him from digging through the fridge, she wouldn’t have to say a word about the fridge. She could just start cooking dinner.

Think about that for a second. No argument. No lecture. No “get out of the fridge.”

Just one piece of information—and an entire behavior stops in its tracks.

When Nathan told me this, I had one of those moments where you realize you’ve been looking at something really important your whole career, without ever really seeing it.

By that I mean, the insanely simple power of copy to STOP you from doing something.

Here’s why I didn’t see that:

Every copywriting formula out there is built to do the opposite. To get someone to START a behavior. To push people toward taking action.

But there’s a whole nother side of influence that almost nobody in our business talks about. 

Not because it doesn’t work. It does.

People don’t talk about it because it’s never been named and explained.

Today, we’re gonna change all that.

We’re talking about using copy to DISsuade people – to STOP a behavior that’s standing between your prospect and the sale (or between your son and his dinner).

We’re going to look at how this technique works, why it’s so powerful, and how you can add it to your skill set, today.

Aug 17, 202634:35
The Master Key To Persuasion
Aug 10, 202633:14
More Screenwriting Secrets For Copywriters
Aug 03, 202628:51
Old Masters Series, Advertising’s Founder, Albert Lasker Part 3
Jul 27, 202636:57
Will AI Shopping Make Copywriting Obsolete?

Will AI Shopping Make Copywriting Obsolete?

The world of copywriting and ecommerce almost changed forever last September 29, when Open AI launched something called Instant Checkout.

This new service was designed to let you seamlessly buy something right from Chat GPT.

Instant Checkout crashed and burned over the next six months for a number of reasons.

One, the infrastructure wasn’t there to let it happen. It was launched before there were enough figurative runways, air traffic control towers, connections between Chat GPT and merchants, and other things like that.

Two, the cost to merchants was really out of line:7% per transaction, more than double what they were paying when customers came directly to their site.

They shut it down in March. Not forever; just, for now.

So Instant Checkout was an early attempt at what’s called Agentic Shopping, where you order right from the AI and an AI agent does a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

We’re most likely 3-5 years out from Agentic Shopping becoming a widespread reality.

But when it does, our world as copywriters will change. In a big way.

We’re going to look at how, and what you can do to prepare for this inevitable future, today.

Jul 20, 202628:03
Part 2- Old Masters Series, Advertising’s Founder, Albert Lasker
Jul 13, 202633:35
Old Masters Series– Advertising’s Founder, Albert Lasker
Jul 06, 202632:33
Copywriting Secrets Of
Human Nature, With Andrew Gould

Copywriting Secrets Of
Human Nature, With Andrew Gould

Our special guest today didn’t start out planning to be a copywriter, but found his way into it after posting online reviews of his favorite martial arts movies in college, and getting his writing compared to that of Dan Kennedy.

He looked up Dan and found what he had to say interesting. But he didn’t become a copywriter or a marketer at the time. Instead, he finished his degree and went from job to job for a few years until he landed in sales, where he ended up doing really well. 

12 years after his first internet posting came the crash of 2009. Andrew Gould was the top salesman at his company at the time. But the company itself went under, and Andrew was out of a job. 

It was then he remembered Dan, and found his way into copywriting.

That was 17 years ago.

Since then, Andrew has racked up about $150 million in sales for his clients. He’s always been a freelancer and he’s written copy for companies in niches ranging from self-defense to joint mobility to power generators.

He’s also taken several hobby businesses from a few thousand dollars a month to $50K and even $100K a month.

Copywriters Andrew has coached have had multiple six-figure launches across a wide variety of niches.

Andrew says he’s not a great writer himself, but what has helped him do so well is his research.

And I quote:
“I focus on becoming the audience I’m writing for. For example, I’ve taken hot yoga classes this year for an offer I’m writing.”

Andrew told me he loves to focus on the fundamentals, which is something we both have in common. Andrew has a very systematic and easy approach to the fundamentals of understanding people, which ties right into his extraordinary accomplishments in research and the resulting sales.

I think this is incredibly valuable information that is not talked about very much, but should be.

Andrew agreed to share this approach with us today, and I was really excited to hear what he had to say.

You can contact Andrew on X online, at https://x.com/AndrewWriteCopy 

Jun 29, 202637:11
Sales- Friendly Content Marketing
Jun 22, 202635:44
A-List Copywriter Bullet Secrets, With Kim Krause Schwalm

A-List Copywriter Bullet Secrets, With Kim Krause Schwalm

Our returning champion today is Kim Krause Schwalm, and she is going to share some amazing and unique information with you.

The late Clayton Makepiece, a legend himself in copywriting, said, and I quote: “Kim Krause Schwalm is one of the hottest copywriters alive.”

Here’s a little background:

Kim was always a marketer who could write copy. Before she launched her freelance career in 1998, she spent years in corporate marketing — from Brand Manager to Publisher — including building the Healthy Directions supplement business to the equivalent of nearly $40 million in sales within its first three years. 

But we’re talking to Kim today as one of the top A-list direct response copywriters in the country. She's racked up dozens of controls, beat legendary copywriters head-to-head, and was the first female copywriter to create a package that became a Boardroom control. 

Her clients have included Bottom Line, National Geographic, Green Valley Natural Solutions, and other leading companies across the US, England, Germany, and Singapore. 

Kim has a bachelor’s in Math and Statistics and an MBA in Marketing. She brings that rare combination of creative instinct and analytical rigor to everything she writes. And, she is the author of the number-one Amazon bestselling book, Client Badassery Secrets.

Today, she’s going to share secrets about writing bullet points you simply won’t get anywhere else.

Here’s Kim’s offer. There’s really more than I can tell you about. Seven deliverables and three bonuses. Some highlights include• Her Get Dangerously Good Copywriting System• The bullet writing boot camp, which today’s show was drawn from• Kim’s Million Dollar Controls Master Class

• Her Supplement Copy Boot Camp… and much, much more.

Six more pieces, in fact. Copywriting education I wish I had when I got started.
This bundle will only be available until midnight Pacific Daylight Time on Friday, June 19. You’ve got to read about it for a sense of everything you get, and then you can decide if this is for you.

Here’s the link:

https://kimschwalm.lpages.co/kims-copywriting-vault-for-david-garfinkels-followers/

Jun 15, 202635:15
Why Your Content Isn’t Getting You Buyers
Jun 08, 202637:12
The Missing Piece That Supercharges Copy
Jun 01, 202629:30
The Best Type Of Ad To Use In 2026

The Best Type Of Ad To Use In 2026

If you’re noticing the advertising landscape changing a lot and changing fast, it’s not your imagination playing tricks on you.

Things really are changing.

Our special guest a few weeks ago, Mike Pavlish, pointed this out. He noted that “ugly” ads were outperforming “pretty” ones–that is, user-generated content, UGC, homemade ads of a sort, were vastly outperforming slick, polished, high-production-value ones.

He’s right, of course.

UGC puts a person just like you in the ad. Or at least that’s the intention. Real people, not models and spokespeople. Talking about the product in their own real-life experience.

You’re seeing these ads all the time. But how do you make one for yourself?

We’ll take a deep dive on that question today.

If you’d like help putting together a user generated content program, drop me an email david @ davidgarfinkel . com andwe’ll figure something out together.

May 25, 202630:38
Screenwriting Secrets For Copywriters
May 18, 202634:23
The Surprising Truth About Learning Copywriting

The Surprising Truth About Learning Copywriting

Think about these two things:

First, learning to write copy, and

Second, then actually writing it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if those two things, learning to write copy and then doing it, were free of confusion, anxiety, and terror?

That was the burning question that started me on the path of mentoring copywriters. I wanted to make it happen. Because early on, I had such a rough time learning myself.

Learning copywriting was so different from anything I had ever done that it seemed it didn’t matter what I had done before.

Anyway, after all this time I’ve gotten pretty good at teaching other people to write copy. And that was after having hit a fair number of home runs with copy I had written myself.

I haven’t eliminated confusion, anxiety and terror altogether, but I’ve reduced them by A LOT.

And then, along came AI. Problems anew.

AI can make things better or worse, depending on what you know and what you know how to do.

What do you need to understand that is largely misunderstood out there (which is why we have so many ineffective copywriters)?

I can tell you today with absolute certainty.

RESOURCES

This is very affordable, if you’re not in a place to make a significant investment in your copywriting education, no matter how much you need it.

It’s entirely digital, but with a twist. It was originally a group-coaching product, and there’s a progressive set of exercises everyone does.

They’ve retained the feedback the coaches to the same exercises you’ll be doing. There’s also AI advice with each lesson. The coaches include Dr. Harlan Kilstein, Kevin Rogers, Chris Haddad, and me! It’s John Carlton’s Simple Writing System. Here’s my affiliate link:

https://m190.isrefer.com/go/swshs/dgarfinkel/

The other option is to book a Copy Reset Session with me. We’ll go over a piece of copy, and I’ll critique it for you. Tell youwhat strengths and weaknesses I see. Including in the headline/hook or lead, intrigue and curiosity, easy and clear call to action, use of images and other sensory details, and stories.

I’ll tell you how to improve the copy and make specific suggestions you can use right away.

We can also look at your positioning or USP. I’ll let you know any quick fixes you can make, as well as suggest long-term structural changes.

And, for you to use at no additional cost forever, I’ll give you a custom GPT to review your copy. It will give you a detailed review, with suggestions. I’ve used a similar GPT for my own work.

The fee for this session, which we’ll record and you’ll get full access to the recording for your own private use, is 5% of what you’d pay for a year of coaching with me. So it’s an investment, but it’s a very affordable one if you’re serious about your copy.

Just send me an email if you’re interested and we can discuss if and see if this is a fit for you. I’ll put my email address in the show notes. It’s david@davidgarfinkel . com

May 11, 202631:51
Old Masters Series Copywriting 101 Part 4

Old Masters Series Copywriting 101 Part 4

Today we have the fourth and final installment of our hit Old Masters Series segment, Copywriting 101. 

We’ll be talking about the last seven fundamentals.

And if that little voice in your head is asking, “What the heck are we doing reviewing fundamentals?!”, let me remind you of what basketball legend Michael Jordan said: “Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.”

It’s so easy to get caught up in the latest new new thing. But a dedication to fundamentals is what helps you get what you really want.

So that’s what we’ll cover today.

May 04, 202634:39
10 Direct Marketing Trends, With Super Copywriter  Mike Pavlish
Apr 27, 202629:55
New Mindset For Copywriting

New Mindset For Copywriting

We’re going through massive and disruptive upheavals all over the place, and of course copywriting is no exception.

I’m seeing the need for a complete mindset shift to survive, thrive and even dominate in copywriting.

It’s curious to me that the mindset shift is a return to the garden. I know that phrase means a lot of things, depending upon your background.

What I mean by a return to the garden is, going back to basics. From the first glimmers of online marketing to the original Facebook analytics and now the unstoppable march forward of AI… ironically, all the non-human things those advances caused are being stripped away from the copy that gets results.

What stands out is genuine human messaging, just like in a store or at a bar or at a Starbacks, one person talking to another. These days, more than anything else, that’s what works.

With everything that’s happened, we need to make a conscious shift in mindset to get back to the garden and write the kind of copy that was working before all this technological intrusion started and messed things up.

And that’s what I want to talk about today. Listen closely–it will make a big difference for you.

If you’d like help shifting to this new mindset and developing the skills to go with it, check out my coaching program:

https://garfinkelcoaching.com

Apr 20, 202632:42
Copywriting 101, Part 3– Old Masters Series
Apr 13, 202629:45
Next-Level Skills Every Copywriter Needs
Apr 06, 202636:20
Copywriting 101, Part 2– Old Masters Series
Mar 30, 202634:24
Introducing 7 Types Of Microstories

Introducing 7 Types Of Microstories

Mar 23, 202630:40
Copywriting 101– Old Masters Series
Mar 16, 202630:06
How Clive Cable’s Building An Agency With Virtual AI Copywriters

How Clive Cable’s Building An Agency With Virtual AI Copywriters

Our returning champion is Clive Cable, who was here a few weeks agotalking about his new book Neurocopy.

As Nathan and I got to know Clive a little better, we found out he hasbeen doing a LOT with AI and copywriting that frankly we haven’t seen anyoneelse do.

For example, he has a story-lede generator that comes up with a big idea for asales letter or VSL, and then writes a unique story lede to start the piece.

Clive’s created a bot that writes like Gene Schwartz–but he only uses itto write the FIRST PART of a piece of copy. He has another bot that writesprobably the best kind of close he’s ever seen.

And he’s taken research to a whole new level using AI.

Beyond that, he’s taken the late Chris Marlowe’s brilliant 21 questionprocess for creating copy briefs, and automated it using AI.

And there’s even more.

Clive is putting together an agency to help copywriters and companies,using his suite of AI tools, to do one of four things:

1. Beat a control

2. Do in-depth research

3. Figure out why something’s not working, and

4. Write brand-new copy, right out of the box.

We’ll talk later about how you can reach out to Clive if you’d like tofind out more about what he’s doing.

But for now, you might want to know Clive got started as a door-to-doorsalesman, offering home improvement products and services for as much as$25,000 a pop–and closing an amazing two out of every three people he talkedto.

He’s also an experienced copywriter, and has generated over £40 million,which is over 50 million dollars, across 12 different industries.

Clive also built a supplement company that generated £24,000 a month,selling products including colloidal silver, prebiotics and aerobic oxygen.

We’ll dig into what Clive’s doing with his virtual AI copywriters.

https://clivecable.com/

Mar 09, 202634:23
How To Make Prospects Fall In Love, With Nathan Fraser
Mar 08, 202630:58
The Visual Design CRISIS, And What Copywriters Can Do About It, With Lori Haller

The Visual Design CRISIS, And What Copywriters Can Do About It, With Lori Haller

It’s a full-blown crisis. As if writing copy wasn’t hard enough, there’s a new demand falling on the plates of copywriters more and more.
And while maybe it’s not fair, it IS real. And it’s important that you know about it, and know what to do about it.
Good news. We’ve got just the person to explain what it is and how to come out ahead, looking like a million bucks and being a hero, whether you wear a cape or not.
The crisis is one of Design. These days, just as more and more is being expected of copywriters on the word and strategy side, so is more being expected on the Design side.
That doesn’t mean you have to be a full-fledged designer to get copy jobs. You don’t.
But you do need to know your way around what a well designed ad or web page looks like.
And there are details you need to understand and offer ideas about.
And our very special guest today and returning champion, Lori Haller of Designing Response, is here to sort it out and straighten it all out for you.
Lori works side by side with many of the greatest copywriters of our time to help create control-beating packages, for clients like Boardroom, Healthy Directions, Dr. Al Sears, Nutri-Health, KCI Communications, and Agora.
She has coached clients around the world, and she is an in-demand speaker and trainer.
I’ve only scratched the surface of Lori’s incredible and long list of credentials. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who knows more or who has done more.
Her company, DesigningResponse, based in Germantown, Maryland, has built a reputation for creating award-winning, sales-generating direct mail, online promotions, space advertising, and product development.
She knows from up-to-date information in the field what are the new demands and expectations being placed upon copywriters. And she will talk about that today.
Lori’s website:
https://lorihaller.com
Reach Lori directly on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-haller-b2840717

Mar 08, 202632:42
The Neuroscience Of Copy That Sells, With Clive Cable

The Neuroscience Of Copy That Sells, With Clive Cable

These days people talk about neurochemicals a lot. Chemicals like dopamine, and cortisol, and the love chemical, oxytocin.
I’ve always wondered how these chemicals are affected by copy, and how much it matters.
So imagine my surprise when I discovered what our very special guest was doing! His name is Clive Cable, and he’s not only written a book about this, he has a complete system to evaluate copy based on the neurochemistry the copy will cause, and the buying behavior that chemistry will lead to.
The book is called Neurocopy, and it’s the first systematic work I’ve ever seen that shows how copy stimulates certain chemicals, and how those chemicals make people want to buy.
Clive is a trailblazer with his pioneering work. But I want to make it clear that he’s not some ivory tower guy sitting in a white coat in a lab measuring blood levels of dopamine and endorphins with a clinical chemistry analyzer.
No, Clive’s one of us. He got started as a door-to-door salesman, offering home improvement products and services for as much as $25,000 a pop–and closing an amazing two out of every three people he talked to.
He’s also an experienced copywriter, and has generated over £40 million, which is over 50 million dollars, across 12 different industries.
Clive also built a supplement company that generated £24,000 a month, selling products including colloidal silver, prebiotics and aerobic oxygen.
All of which to say that nothing he says about the process of buying and selling is theoretical. He’s lived it and he lives it.
And he’s a great salesperson!
I can also say that after I read through his book, I started to feel the effects of cortisol, which is a feeling of high stress, right before high-stakes events, and the effects of endorphins, which is a feeling of relief and satisfaction, after those events ended well.
There’s a lot more to all this, as we’ll find out today.
Link to get Clive’s new book, “Neurocopy”
https://www.lulu.com/shop/clive-cable/neurocopy/paperback/product-w4qjdmn.html

Mar 08, 202632:36
The One-Sentence Attention-Magnet Story

The One-Sentence Attention-Magnet Story

We’re really at a crisis point for a lot of marketers.
It’s not just that ads keep getting more expensive.
It’s that it just gets harder and harder to get and keep prospects’ attention.
And with everything being engineered and optimized by AI and CRO, stuff ends up looking more and more the same. And that only works against you.
You know you need to stand out–but how?
Well, the best way to get and keep attention is, and always has been, a story.
But how long is a story?
I mean, a Hero’s Journey story can take hours.
And even the type of compact tales I introduced in my book The Persuasion Story Code can take two to three minutes. That’s not very long, but at a time of shrinking attention spans, it’s still too long.
Now, you can try using outrageous hooks. But in addition to shrinking attention spans, you’re also fighting against rising levels of skepticism and outright distrust.
If you say something that gets attention but just isn’t believable, you’re still sunk.
So, what would be ideal to solve this problem?
It would be a persuasion story you could tell in 15 or 20 words.
Impossible, you say?
That’s what I thought until I really started working on it.
One of my clients, Ari Nirsissian, helped me quite a lot in the development of my thinking and writing of these new kind of attention magnets, the one-sentence microstory.
It really is a story. It really is persuasive.
And it really is short!
Just the right size for today’s attention spans.
Today I’m going to show you, step by step, how I developed three of them… and how I combined them into one electric three-sentence paragraph, which takes less than a minute to read out loud.
Resources:
To find out more about my book The Persuasion Story Code, check out this link to the Amazon page:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ
And to find out more about my coaching for experienced copywriters and business owners, go to:
https://garfinkelcoaching.com

Mar 08, 202626:57
Value-Based Copywriting, With Harlan Kilstein

Value-Based Copywriting, With Harlan Kilstein

Today’s show is for every talented copywriter stuck in the feast-or-famine cycle of business and would much rather get paid well, to reflect the enormous value their copy is bringing to their clients.
We have a very special returning champion on the show today, Dr. Harlan Kilstein. He has just released a book called Value-Based Copywriting. Originally presented in a $997 seminar, this material has changed the lives and of course careers of some very fortunate copywriters.
This book solves the problem faced by thousands of copywriters–not getting paid for what their work is worth.
Harlan is a renowned entrepreneur and copywriting expert known for his innovative approaches in marketing, mindset, and personal development.
With decades of experience at the intersection of psychology, persuasion, and business strategy, Harlan has built a reputation for helping individuals and companies unlock explosive growth through compelling communication and breakthrough thinking.
He’s also a former educator with a doctorate in education. And, Harlan’s a very successful copywriter himself and an expert in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and hypnosis.
He’ll bring all of this, and more, to bear today. So you may want to take notes while you’re listening to today’s podcast. Lots of money-making information you will be able to use immediately.
Harlan’s new book:
Value-Based Copywriting: 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GCCR64DC
My book The Persuasion Story Code: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFD2KXNQ

Mar 08, 202634:03
Old Master’s Series: Walter Weir, The Copywriter WAY Ahead Of His Time

Old Master’s Series: Walter Weir, The Copywriter WAY Ahead Of His Time


Life must have been at least a little frustrating for our Old Master on today’s show. His name was Walter Weir. He was a very active and successful copywriter and advertising professor, but he must have constantly run into resistance along the way, since so many of his ideas were ahead of their time. Walter Weir was born in 1909 and he died in 1996. He published a couple of books which are nearly impossible to find today. Maybe the publisher, my old employer McGraw-Hill, took them out of print quickly because the ideas were so far ahead of their time that they didn’t sell very well. I don’t know. What I do know is I was fascinated by his ideas. Here are 5 takeaways from an exploration of Weir’s writings and thinking, from today’s show: 1. Write copy that you truly believe, because people can feel it when you don’t. When you don’t believe it, your reader won’t either. And if your reader doesn’t believe it, they won’t buy. 2. Use words that people can FEEL as well as merely understand. Forget about clever word-plays. Say stuff they can feel in their bones. 3. If you’ve got a group going over the copy, write the copy yourself. By yourself. Just you. While a committee can review, only one voice can lead. 4. Forget about features and benefits. Instead, present a description of something someone would feel good about using. People don’t tend to buy just to HAVE something. They buy to FEEL something. 5. Cut everything that doesn’t sound like something a real person would actually say. Because unless it sounds like a human, it won’t reach one.
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Jan 26, 202629:36
Copywriting Goals For 2026
Jan 19, 202632:03
Why Copywriter Alin DragWhy Copywriter Alin Dragu Fired ALL His Clientsu Fired ALL His Clients

Why Copywriter Alin DragWhy Copywriter Alin Dragu Fired ALL His Clientsu Fired ALL His Clients


It takes a lot of courage and a lot of confidence to do what our special guest today has done… and that’s fire all his clients and start an email-based business. But Alin Dragu did just that, and he’s here to tell us about it. He’s the best-selling author of the book Meaningful Marketing, he spent 5 years as direct of marketing at one of the fastest growing churches in the US, and 3 years as the VP of growth at a Christian marketing agency. Alin is definitely a copywriter’s copywriter. He’s obsessed with reading novels and old fiction letters. And he admits he’s secretly obsessed with luxury watches, something Nathan’s a collector of as well. Finally, in case you end up taking Alin to dinner, which probably wouldn’t be a bad idea, you should know he says he’s never refused a steak, ever in his life. Now, here’s what we asked him: 1. So Alin, could you give us a quick tour of what you do? 2. I’m very interested in your S-L-O framework that you use to write all your emails. Could you walk us through that? 3. So as I understand it, your funnel works something like this: - you make youtube videos that promote your lead magnets - when people get the lead magnets, of course they opt-into your list - every day you send one, and I quote, “very entertaining story” while also plugging one of your products - and you get sales every day. I was wondering if we could go through one of those stories and you could break it down for us–like, say, the “I spent $613 on coffee” story? And talk about what makes a great story? 4. You are in a very email-list-dependent business. How do you deal with the issues that come with that, like trolls, unsubscribes, and delivering content every day? 5. You need to come up with a new idea every day. How do you do that without running up against burnout? 6. OK, you do something a lot of people are afraid to do. It’s something Nathan and I strongly recommend, though. Tell us how you sell in every email and get people to keep opening the next email? 7. So tell us about who your list is for and how someone can join. -- Link to get on Alin’s list:
https://alindragu.com/
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Jan 12, 202632:12
More Free Financial Copy Training, With Glenn Fisher
Jan 05, 202633:07
The Awesome  Marketing Power Of Signal, With Nathan Fraser

The Awesome Marketing Power Of Signal, With Nathan Fraser


So a lot of people are building their brand by pouring tons of money into traffic… A/B testing… tracking every click… but deep down, you feel that something’s not landing. It’s almost like you wonder if you’re coming across as desperate, rather than confident. Maybe it’s time to take a look at a cherished assumption in online marketing: Namely, that more information and more volume equals more authority. Not really, says our own Nathan Fraser. He’s given me an advance peek at his new book, The Signal. I was so excited by the refreshing ideas he has in there that I wanted him to talk about it on today’s show… and he agreed. Look. Nathan says you should stop begging the algorithm and start commanding attention. And he has some proven ideas on how to do that. Which he’ll share with us today. Here are the questions I asked him: 1. In your book, you say, “Marketing that begs for attention becomes noise. Marketing grounded in conviction becomes signal.” What do you mean by this, and how can someone make sure their marketing has minimum noise and maximum signal? 2. You talk about the Pratfall Effect and how not coming across as “perfect,” or trying to, actually bonds a business with its customers better than trying to appear cool and flawless. How does this work? 3. I love what you say about overexplaining–that it indicates insecurity and this repels rather than attracts the right people. Could you talk about that? 4. So there are two philosophies I’ve seen these days: Omnipresence, where you show up everywhere all the time, and being very selective and making it difficult to get access to you. You’re in favor of the second approach. Why do you feel that way? 5. Your advice for building an attractive signal that draws the right customers to you is to “select, not sell.” What does this look like? 6. You identify five buyer beliefs in a very interesting chapter called “Belief is the Real Funnel.” This is so different from what anyone else I have heard says. I notice that in the five-step funnel you outline, Apple somehow got the first belief to become part of the popular culture. Could you go through these beliefs and make some suggestions about how to create them in an actual funnel? 7. You write "Identity closes deals long before logic ever enters the room." How do you determine how your product changes your prospect’s sense of identity? Get your copy of The Signal at
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G5FGMH21 Visit Nathan's site at CultishContent.com
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Dec 29, 202533:38
Claude Hopkins’s Enduring Gift... Old Masters Series
Dec 22, 202530:38
Copywriting Secrets Of The Music Business, With Doug Pew
Dec 15, 202531:53
Why You Need An Imaginary Friend
Dec 08, 202529:36
Why You Should Start Writing BEFORE You're “Ready”
Dec 01, 202531:27
AI Finds Buried Treasure, With Cath Reohorn

AI Finds Buried Treasure, With Cath Reohorn


What if you found you were sitting on tons of money that you didn’t even know about? It sounds like the beginning of a new Netflix series, right? But this happened in real life to our returning champion, Agency owner and entrepreneur Cath Rehorn. She will be the first to admit that numbers are not her. She’s a words and people person, not a data ninja. But she developed a conversation with ChatGPT to get it to review her Stripe data, even though, as she also admits, at first she really didn’t have any idea what she was doing. And she realized that with minimum effort–like, mainly, sending out a few emails–she could add 54,000 British pounds, or about $70,000 US, to her revenues every year. And with only a little more effort, she reckoned, she could bring in even more. Her thought process and how she tackled a clumsy problem with such persistence and humor should be of interest, and possibly very valuable, to anyone who runs a business and even does a pretty bad job of keeping track of their numbers. You probably remember Cath because her podcast, titled Selling Them With Kindness, got a lot of engagement and some really heartfelt comments from listeners. Cath’s business is called Kind Copy. She lives in Wales in the UK. She has a true family business, since it employs herself, her husband, her sister and 2 other team members. Article about how Cath used ChatGPT:
https://catherinereohorn.substack.com/p/i-got-more-clarity-on-my-business?r=1xjc2 Cath’s website: https://kindcopy.co.uk/ Cath’s social media links: https://x.com/kindcopy https://www.instagram.com/kindcopyuk/
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Nov 24, 202533:41
Primal Intelligence and Storytelling, With Dr. Angus Fletcher

Primal Intelligence and Storytelling, With Dr. Angus Fletcher


Our very special guest today is Angus Fletcher, professor of story science at Ohio State’s Project Narrative. His research has been called “life-changing” by Brené Brown and “mind blowing” by Malcolm Gladwell; has been endorsed by psychologists, neuroscientists, and doctors such as Martin Seligman and Antonio Damasio; and has been supported by institutions ranging from the National Science Foundation to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2023, he was awarded the Commendation Medal by the U.S. Army for his “groundbreaking research” with U.S. Army Special Operations into primal intelligence. His latest book is called Primal Intelligence: You Are Smarter Than You Know. There are very few books or writers who have affected me as much as Angus and this book have. In the few weeks since I have read it, my coaching has changed. My thoughts about intuition, imagination and emotion have changed. I’ve watched close to 20 videos featuring Angus on youtube… and I don’t typically ever watch that many videos about one person. Dr. Fletcher says that as humans, we think in story, not in words or pictures. He has plenty of research and street cred to back this up. Hollywood studios consult with him regularly. In addition to everything else, he’s a screenwriter, and a very compelling author. I could go on and on but that wouldn’t leave much time for us to talk, would it? So I will start with something familiar, and soon you will discover how mind-blowingly different some of Angus’s groundbreaking ideas are. But first, the amazingly familiar part… Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims... and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity... you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time. 1. A lot of people in the direct marketing community have felt boxed-in by the conventional wisdom that the only true kind of story is a hero’s journey. I believe you have a very different point of view about stories, that includes that anatomy of the brain. Could you tell us about it? 2. Let’s talk about primal intelligence. When I first found out about your book and before I read it, my guess about primal intelligence was, well, pretty primal. Lizard brain stuff. That is, the animal description that you either mate with something, or you kill it, or you eat it. You have a different and I think much more sophisticated and I would say much more useful definition of primal intelligence and it has to do with four qualities of thinking that have nothing to do with logic. Could you talk about that? 3. Our listeners are copywriters and business owners who use direct response copy in their businesses. Pragmatic creativity is high on the list of capabilities people always want to increase. Could you share your thoughts on what creativity is, from the point of view of primal intelligence? And how to increase our abilities to be creative? 4. In your book there’s a surprisingly long list of people, including politicians, scientists and even a famous classical composer, as well as writers, who have mentioned Shakespeare as a major influence in their lives. What is it about Shakespeare’s work that is so valuable to all these people? 5. Can you give us some more tips about using stories in our content and advertising that will capture people’s attention and help us with our businesses? 6. Tell us about your work with Army special operators? 7. Would you like to give us a preview of the book Primal Intelligence? Links: Primal Intelligence
https://www.amazon.com/Primal-Intelligence-Smarter-Than-Know/dp/0593715306 Angus’s LinkedIn Address https://www.linkedin.com/in/angus-fletcher-99713617/
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Nov 17, 202530:21
Easy Way To Create Great Sales Stories, With Tom Ruwitch
Nov 10, 202531:17
AI: The Bigger Picture, with Sam Woods

AI: The Bigger Picture, with Sam Woods


As we record this in mid-October, the world has without a doubt gone absolutely bonkers over AI. People are making all kinds of extreme predictions: Some see a heaven on Earth in a future with AI, and others confidently predict unmitigated disaster. But how many of these people are talking from actual in-the-trenches experience? Who can take the long view based on what they’ve actually done and seen… and an informed view of what’s possible for the future? I personally know only one person who fills that bill, and he’s our returning champion. He’s Sam Woods, our very special guest today. Sam has been in the game for nine years, while most of us haven’t been there half as long. In fact, when it comes to AI and copywriting, I don’t know of anyone who’s been in it longer than Sam has. He got started with machine learning in 2016 and generative AI in 2019. He was a pioneer in prompt engineering for AI copywriting, and marketing. Sam has advised Fortune 1,000 companies and teams across the world, as well as advised and consulted with CEOs and other C-Suite executives. He describes himself as “a strategic AI architect who advises C-Suite leaders on turning artificial intelligence into their most powerful competitive advantage.” But more important to us, he’s a seasoned and successful expert using AI for writing copy that gets results. Who better than that to help us see the bigger picture? Sam’s website:
https://samueljwoods.com/ Other resources: https://bionicbusiness.com https://www.copywriting.ai/
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Nov 03, 202533:06
Secrets of Coaching Copywriters, With Matthew Volkwyn
Oct 27, 202537:08