Eugene Schwartz Outstanding Copywriting Advice
Gene Schwartz was a master when it came to copywriting and advertising. The Guy really knew his stuff. Here are just a few quotes from him that are worth remembering when approaching copywriting.
When you’re working, you’re not creating.
Copy is not written, copy is assembled.
I am not interested in what other people think is in the book [or product], I am only interested in what is in the book itself.
Words in advertising are like the windows in a store… you must be able to look right through them and see the product.
Copy should never call attention to itself.
The headline has only one purpose. To get you to read the next line. The sub-headline has only one purpose. To get you to read the next line. All it needs to do is get you to read the next line.
The person who is the best prepared and the most knowledgeable makes the most money. It’s SO SIMPLE.
I work three hours a day, five days a week. That’s all I work. After three hours, I get very tired… and I go work someplace else. But it’s enough that I can do this because I am better prepared than anyone else.
You’ve also got to remember that you’re never selling anything. Never, ever, ever, ever, sell anything. In mail order you ask a person to try something.
You’re writing to an individual, single person always, who shares a problem or a desire with a huge mass of other people.
The greatest asset after hard work is the ability to listen. You have to listen to several different layers out there in order to be successful. You have to listen, first of all, to the person who has the problem you are going to try and solve. You have to know that person so well that you can sound like him and he will mistake you for his mirror image. You have to know the kind of society he comes from, the layer of society he comes from. And finally, you have to know the society.
When you go to a party, when you get in a taxi cab, when you’re with somebody on a bus or a subway, your job is to ask questions, show appreciation, and listen.