Friend,
Last Tuesday I was on a coaching call with Stefan Georgi.
If you haven't heard of him, you probably should have.
Stefan is a direct response copywriter who's generated over $700 million in sales.
If you've ever purchased something online (and you should have unless you've been under a rock for the last 20 years) it's likely you've bought something from a page he wrote.
During the call he was showing us his process for creating a 'big idea' for a landing page.
The idea that will attract readers and turn them into paying customers.
Not only was it a fascinating call, but I learnt a lot.
Here are my three key takeaways.
1. The Experts Have Just Mastered The Basics
A lot of people think that being a great copywriter means you need to have mastered every copywriting skill out there.
During the call I realised the opposite is true.
Most great copywriters have just mastered the basics.
They've written thousands of pages in their life, covering the basics every time.
Writing has become second nature to them. They do it instinctively.
This thought reminded me one of my favourite sayings:
"If you hit a tree a thousand times in a thousand different spots, what's gonna happen? Absolutely nothing.
But if you hit a tree a thousand times in the exact same spot, you know what's gonna happen? You gonna bring it down."
The same ideology applies to copywriting.
Don't try to learn every technique.
Choose a few you like and master them.
2. Research Is 80% Of The Work
I've you've read any of my Tweets or emails before, you know I preach the importance of market research.
This call only reinforced that.
80% of the call was Stefan conducting research.
It really showed that no matter how good you become at copywriting research is always a must.
There's no way around it.
But halfway through there was a twist...
After conducting about 30 minutes of research, Stefan realized that his initial idea wasn't going to work.
He literally started again.
It's a problem we've all faced and shows it's a problem we'll always have.
So if you don't like conducting research it might be time to find a new career...
3. The Initial Writing Phase Is Messy
Most people only see the end result of your writing- a perfectly written sales page.
But what goes on behind the scenes is much uglier.
This was apparent during the call.
Think a Google Doc full of notes, screenshots, and pasted quotes from different web pages... All in different sizes and fonts.
It was an absolute mess.
But that's the beauty of writing.
You get to turn those notes, ideas, and stats into something someone really cares about. Something that gets them to take action.
Often my notes are a complete mess and this call made me realise that it doesn't matter.
It's all part of the process.
I have a final call with Stefan this week and look forward to bringing you all more insights.
Keep mastering the fundamentals.
- Copy Mav
