2. Care deeply about results.

While being able to exhibit a high degree of creativity may be important to the success of a copywriter, achieving the highest possible ROI is usually imperative, certainly in direct marketing, the industry in which I earn my livelihood.

My brethren and I work with the understanding that the purpose of most campaigns is to promote sales of a product or service, not the copywriter’s ability to turn a clever phrase. It’s nice to win awards. But what really counts is winning over your audience, those who are hopefully hanging on your every single word.

Yes, what the most successful copywriters really care about is convincing those on the receiving end of their communications to take action in some way, shape or form such as picking up the phone, filling out a form, clicking on a link or passing the word along to a friend. What they want more than anything are leads, orders, referrals and repeat business.

But that’s not to say good creative and great results have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, many times they go hand in hand.

For instance, in the early ’90s, I wrote a direct mail package for Science News magazine that featured the following teaser on the outside envelope…

Electricity so powerful it shocks a heart-attack victim back to life…

Whales so hungry they take a bite out of the beach…

Grasshoppers so smart they change coats to beat the heat…

And other things that will make you go “hmmm”…

Including that last line – the name of a well-known hit song by C+C Music Factory as well as an expression that late-night talk show, Arsenio Hall, used in his monologues – on the envelope was a demonstration of creativity that more than paid off. After all, this package brought in literally thousands of subscription orders during the few years it reigned as a control for Science News and was eventually honored by the New England Direct Marketing Association with a first place award. 

This is the second in a 10-post series on how to succeed as a copywriter. Over the course of the next few months, I’ll publish the balance of the series, one post at a time (not necessarily consecutively), here on my blog, A New Marketing Commentator. Please stay tuned. And if you have any feedback on this series for me, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or click “like” below. Thanks.

Previous Posts in This Series

10 Ways to Succeed as a Copywriter, Part One
Dare to be different.

My first job out of graduate school many years ago was as a copywriter for RCA Direct Marketing in New York City. And the rest, as they say, has been history.

Since that first exciting stint writing about the most popular records (yes, vinyl) and tapes (yes, cassettes and eight-tracks) of the day, I’ve written about an incalculable number of different products and services. As I wrote in the preceding post here on A New Marketing Commentator…

I’ve written copy to help promote everything from business cards to books, healthcare to software, insurance coverage to investment advice, magazines to music, travel to tuxedos and much, much more.

I’ve also written direct response fundraising copy for dozens of charitable organizations (which, by the way, has been some of the most satisfying work I’ve done over the course of my career so far).

I may have worked for a number of different companies, developed new skills and taken on new responsibilities – such as creative direction, public speaking and social media – along the way, but I’ve also stayed true to my roots as a copywriter. 

And after all of these years writing headlines and subject lines, direct mail packages and email blasts, blog posts and brochures, teasers and tweets, I’ve been able to draw a handful of conclusions about what it takes to succeed as a copywriter.

So with all of that said, here’s the first in a series of “10 ways to succeed as a copywriter”…

1. Dare to be different. To earn a living as a copywriter, you have to be a good writer. That goes without saying. But what’s almost just as important to your success is your ability to think creatively.

Copywriting is not for the conformists and traditionalists among us. It’s a job for those who are willing to take chances and who understand what Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) meant when he said, “Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot; others transform a yellow spot into the sun.” 
 
To stand out among the clutter and competition, your work has to reflect a high degree of originality and inventiveness. It can’t be the same old, same old. It has to be new or improved, first time, every time.

Copywriting is for the right-brained and open-minded, those who aren’t afraid of being judged for their idiosyncrasies and foibles. It’s for those who like to read such books as Seth Godin’s Purple Cow, Spencer Johnson’s Who Moved My Cheese? and Roger von Oech’s A Kick in the Seat of the Pants. It’s for people who like to listen to everything from Lady Antebellum to Lady Gaga. It’s for well-rounded people with diverse tastes and interests, people who have no problem whatsoever looking at something from someone else’s perspective.  

This is the first in a 10-post series on how to succeed as a copywriter. Over the course of the next few months, I’ll publish the balance of the series, one post at a time (not necessarily consecutively), here on my blog, A New Marketing Commentator. Please stay tuned. And if you have any feedback on this series for me, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or click “like” below. Thanks.

On July 2, 2009, I published a list — a “retrospective,” if you will — of some of the posts I had written about social media in the last year. And now I’d like to share with you a similar list of the best (in my humble opinion) of what I’ve posted here on this blog, A New Marketing Commentator, in the last 12 months.

Over the course of the last year, I’ve tried to post something new once a week. But, for a variety of reasons, that’s not always been possible.

Yes, I’ve been helping clients with their own social media programs. And, as Cargill Creative, I’ve been hanging out on Twitter and Facebook, too. Finally, I’ve been keeping very busy as a copywriter, creative director and public speaker.

Of course, it should go without saying that I also spend as much time as possible — always — with my wife, Barbara, and two sons, Scott and Ben.

I’m proud, though, of the fact that I started this blog (as A Fine Kettle of Fish) way back when…on February 17, 2004. And even though I put it on “hiatus” on May 10, 2006 till July 2, 2009, I’ve been doing everything I can to keep it going, putting into written words my perspective on the latest trends, developments, topics and issues in the industry in which I earn my livelihood.

So with all of that said, I hope you enjoy the following posts (if you haven’t read them already). As always, I appreciate your interest in what I have to say…

How to Make People Like You on Twitter (July 21, 2009)
Preview… If you’re one of the millions of people using Twitter to share what’s on your mind, you know what a challenge it is to stand out among the crowd.  To some, Twitter’s a cocktail party. To others, it’s a soap box. But to the majority of its users, Twitter’s more like an uncontrollable scrum in which everybody is competing for a greater share of the discussion.

To read the rest of How to Make People Like You on Twitter, click here.

Lance Armstrong, My Wife, the Yellow Wristband and Twitter (August 3, 2009)
Preview… Having won the Tour de France a record-breaking seven consecutive times (1999-2005), Lance Edward Armstrong went a long way – literally – toward winning the world over for his athletic prowess once again when he finished third this year in the prestigious, 2,200-mile, 23-day bicycle race.

To read the rest of Lance Armstrong, My Wife, the Yellow Wristband and Twitter, click here.

Social Media is a Team Sport, Not a Solo Act (August 10, 2009)
Preview… As someone who spends the better part of his days – and nights, too – either reading about, talking about or working with social media, I can speak from experience when I say that as much fun as it is to spend so much time on blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other such online communications platforms, to make that time pay off is no easy task.

To read the rest of Social Media is a Team Sport, Not a Solo Act, click here.

GM’s Satisfaction Guarantee Offer: Good Faith, Great Marketing
(October 19, 2009)
Preview… I can’t tell you how happy I was to hear that General Motors was giving customers (specifically, “eligible buyers” of new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles) a 60-day satisfaction guarantee.

To read the rest of GM’s Satisfaction Guarantee Offer: Good Faith, Great Marketing, click here.

 
The Black Door, Bravery and Social Media (November 30, 2009)
Preview… Let me tell you a story.  It’s a parable that’s been around for a long time. It’s about a spy who had been captured and sentenced to death by a general of the Persian army. The general, however, permitted the condemned person to choose between the firing squad and the black door.

To read the rest of The Black Door, Bravery and Social Media, click here.

The Importance of Character in Social Media (December 28, 2009)
Preview… By now, most people involved in marketing, advertising and PR have put aside any skepticism they may have had about social media and are using such online communications vehicles as blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to reach out to and engage with others.

To read the rest of The Importance of Character in Social Media, click here.

10 Ways to Succeed in Social Media, Parts 1-10 (May 10, 2010)
Preview… If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you already know about the  ”10 Ways to Succeed in Social Media” series of posts I started writing on January 13 of this year and recently concluded on April 5. But what you wouldn’t know is how much I’ve been looking forward to stringing these posts together into one exhaustive guide on how to communicate effectively via the blogosphere, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and other such Internet-based platforms.  

To read the rest of 10 Ways to Succeed in Social Media, Parts 1-10, click here.

50 Reasons Why I Like Twitter (June 9, 2010)
Preview… I joined Twitter on May 8, 2008, a little more than two years ago. And since then I have tweeted 2,680 times – and counting.

To read the rest of 50 Reasons Why I Like Twitter, click here.

At a conference on social media I attended earlier this year, one of the speakers asked the audience how many of us really had the time for social media. Proudly, albeit surprisingly, a large percentage of us raised our hands, thinking…of course, we had the time for social media. Blogs. Twitter. Facebook. A few minutes here, a few minutes there. Piece of cake.

But the speaker had actually thrown us a curve ball, going on to make his point that none of us really had the time it took to engage in social media. We made the time. Like our colleagues and peers, we couldn’t help but be busy with quotidian demands on our work lives, too – commutes, meetings, phone calls and the like. Never mind our family time. The truth is that to become as social media savvy and successful as each of us was in this space, we had put in extra hours. Lots of extra hours.  

And, yes, he was right.

It’s a myth that social media doesn’t take much time. It might only take a few minutes to write what you had for lunch in 140 characters in less, but if you expect to be blogging, tweeting and engaging in the conversation across the social web successfully, you had better be prepared to lose a little sleep.

As I recently wrote on the Internet Marketing Strategies and Secrets blog, “Like a physician on call, to be appreciated by your constituents in social media is to be open for business practically 24/7.”

Justin Levy, General Manager of New Marketing Labs and popular social media practitioner, even went so far as to entitle one of his recent blog posts, “Sleep is Forbidden,” borrowing a line from Diddy, the iconic record producer, rapper and entrepreneur extraordinaire. Wrote Justin about Diddy…

“He is known for telling his team that “sleep is forbidden” and it has been a quote that resonated with me since first hearing it.  If you go to Diddy and tell him that you’re tired, you know what he tells you? “What rhymes with ‘tired’…’fired’?

Okay, so that may be a little harsh, but it certainly gets the point across.

Then, of course, there’s the king of social media himself, Chris Brogan (with whom Justin works).  Wrote Chris in a post almost a year ago…

“I am asked about twice or three times a day about my sleep patterns. This comes up because I produce a lot of content, all the time, and because I’m quite active on sites like Twitter. The truth is, though, I don’t sleep as much as most people.”

You think?

Let’s face it. Outrageously talented and incredibly affable, Justin Levy and Chris Brogan are two tireless, indefatigable social media role models for the rest of us, guys who don’t hesitate to sacrifice more than a few hours of sleep for the sake of their faithful followers, for the sake of sharing as much information and insight with others as humanly possible. They’re a breed apart from the majority, outliers among the masses, superstars among a galaxy of countless other social media makers and marketers. 

I’m thinking, however, that the prodigious effort and output that’s required to be successful on the grid is not unlike what it takes to be at the top of your game practically anywhere else.  Medicine, pro sports, law, finance, even plain old marketing. To excel in anything means to go above and beyond. And besides, social media as a discipline is really in its infancy, so people like Justin and Chris – and, in fact, all of us early adopters of these new online communications platforms – have to work especially hard in order to blaze the right trails.

I’m thinking that when all is said and done, being sleepless in social media may not be unlike being sleepless in any other field of endeavor. If you want to be one of the best, you burn the candle at both ends.

What do you think?

While I’ve always believed in the principles and power of direct marketing, as soon as I started blogging in early 2004, I realized I had discovered something that could very well have a huge impact on the future of the industry in which I earned my livelihood.

I’m no prognosticator, but I saw for myself what the authors of The Cluetrain Manifesto had written in their groundbreaking book, that, among other things, “markets are conversations” and that “there are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone” and that “companies that don’t realize their markets are now networked person-to-person, getting smarter as a result and deeply joined in conversation are missing their best opportunity.” 

I didn’t want to miss that opportunity.  I didn’t want my employers and clients to miss that opportunity.  And I didn’t want the direct marketing industry to miss that opportunity. 

So while for so many years I had espoused the beliefs and heeded the advice of such direct marketing legends as Bob Stone, Lester Wunderman, Joan Throckmorton, Herschell Gordon Lewis and Denny Hatch, now I was reading books and blogs written by new marketing gurus and social media pioneers like Seth Godin, Joseph Jaffe, Robert Scoble, Yvonne DiVita, David Meerman Scott, Steve Rubel and B.L. Ochman — and hanging on every word.

And not only did I become a blogging aficionado, I became a blogging evangelist, preaching to anyone and everyone who would listen about what I thought were the benefits of this newfangled, self-publishing platform.

While I was once solely focused on the list and the offer and the benefits and a guarantee and getting a good response, now I was thinking about authenticity and transparency and immediacy – but yes, still getting a good response.

While I was once believed that companies had the upper hand in their communications with consumers, I was rapidly beginning to realize that online communities (or “markets,” as proclaimed in The Cluetrain Manifesto) had the real control and that marketers had better join the conversation – and listen to their constituents – or forever hold their peace.

But I never once thought direct marketing and blogging had to be mutually exclusive…not at all.

In fact, on April 9, 2004, in my blog (this blog), I wrote…

“…isn’t true direct marketing all about initiating a one-to-one dialogue with a mass audience (oxymoronic concept aside)?  “Listen to the murmur of your market.”  That’s what Don Jackson writes on page 116 of “2,239 Tested Secrets for Direct Marketing Success,” the book he put together with Denny Hatch in 1998.  He tells readers:  “Create feedback loops in your database environment so that you can record what your customers and prospects are saying about your products, your service, your company and your competition.  There is no more valuable source of information.”  Exactly.  This blog is one such “feedback loop.”  It’s one way of interlocking the circle of people who visit us through our Web site – and establishing mutually beneficial relationships with each and every one of them.”

That was then.  This is now.

Now we have studies like Michael Stelzner’s, sponsored by the Social Media Success Summit 2009, saying that (according to this article at Marketing Charts)…

“An overwhelming majority (88%) of marketers in a recent survey say they are now using some form of social media to market their business, though 72% of those using it say they have only been at it a few months or less.”

Now I find myself using not just blogs, but Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook as much as direct mail, email and other non-social media on behalf of my clients.  

Now I don’t feel so alone among my peers in the direct marketing community when it comes to talking about – and actually using – social media.

Indeed, like Bob Dylan once sung, “the times they are a-changing” – fast.  And it is my belief that those of us direct marketing, advertising and PR professionals who can leverage social media technologies and tools to build long-lasting, mutually-beneficial relationships with colleagues, clients, customers, connections, friends and fans will be much more successful amidst this new communications era.

What about you? What do you believe? Where do you stand at the intersection of social media and marketing? On one side or the other or smack dab in the middle with me?

Note: Earlier this year, I was honored and humbled to be named the “Direct Marketer of the Year” for 2009 by the New England Direct Marketing Association (NEDMA). This post is an adaptation of the speech I had the opportunity to give to an audience of my peers upon acceptance of the award on May 6, 2009 during NEDMA’s Annual Conference at the LaCava Center at Bentley University in Waltham, MA.

While I haven’t posted much here on A New Marketing Commentator lately, I have been active in the blogosphere via Internet Marketing Strategies and Secrets, a blog that is published and written by the team at Nowspeed. I’ve written a number of long posts there, most about social media, something I’ve been preaching and practicing and incorporating into my everyday marketing activities – where and when appropriate, of course – like there’s no tomorrow.

So as a way of kickstarting this long overdue re-launch of the blog that I reluctantly put on hiatus for so long, I thought I would share some of those posts with you here. If you have the time, reading through this retrospective of mine will give you an idea of what I’ve been up to lately and will, hopefully, help you start, or improve upon, your own social media program.

What will be apparent after reading all this is just how strongly I believe that social media presents a rare, unprecedented and transformational opportunity for all of us marketers to deepen the bonds we covet with our customers and constituents.

So instead of asking “why social media,” try asking yourself “why not.” Instead of fearing it, try using it to your advantage to form long-lasting, mutually-beneficial relationships with like-minded people who are grounded in a high degree of transparency, trust, loyalty and love toward one another. And if you’re having any difficulty understanding social media and its many business applications, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me — anytime. I’m always glad to help. Always…

The Cure for the Common Social Media Practitioner
Preview: What’s a social media practitioner to do in order to be heard loud and clear above the din of so much online activity, never mind responded to favorably? How do you as a marketer or a PR pro or perhaps even an intern who’s been hired to build a constituency of friends, fans and followers command attention and respect for the brand you represent?

To read “The Cure for the Common Social Media Practitioner” in its entirety, click here.

How to Weave Cause-Related Marketing and Fundraising Tactics into Your Social Media Program
Preview: There is a social media marketing strategy that appears to have caught on out there, one that can help marketers like you do well by doing good for others, one that Minneapolis-based Target Corporation leveraged recently by way of its “Bullseye Gives” campaign, in which the retailer asked its audience to go to its Facebook Fan Page and choose – from a list of 10 – the charities it should “give to the most.”

To read “How to Weave Cause-Related Marketing and Fundraising Tactics into Your Social Media Program” in its entirety, click here.

Five Important Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Use Social Media
Before you decide to dip your toes in social media, take a few minutes to answer these five important questions.  If you can answer yes to at least a few of them, then you’re in a pretty good place, a position from which you can at least begin to immerse yourself in such relatively uncharted waters as the blogosphere, the Twitterverse, Facebook and the like.   If not, then you need to move the needle in these areas and possibly talk to a third party specialist who can provide consultation, support and assistance.

To read “Five Important Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Use Social Media” in its entirety, click here.

The Ten Types of Tweets on Twitter
Preview: How many different ways are there for marketers like us to express ourselves to a mass of followers, fanatics and friends on Twitter? Well, for starters, here’s a list of the ten types of tweets that seem to prevail on Twitter, each of which you might work into the rotation during the course of your communications on this phenomenally popular social media platform.

To read “The Ten Types of Tweets on Twitter” in its entirety, click here.
 
10 Surprising Similarities Between Blogging and Direct Marketing
Preview: Sure, blogging is all about being open, honest and yes, vulnerable.  Its most ardent devotees believe passionately in sharing generously with their audiences, engaging them frequently in particularly candid conversations in public forums where everyone has an equal voice. So it’s not necessarily the first place you’d turn if your priority is, say, e-commerce.  But the number of similarities between blogging and direct marketing tell me the two disciplines don’t have to be mutually exclusive.  Not at all. For instance…

To read “10 Surprising Similarities Between Blogging and Direct Marketing” in its entirety, click here.

15 Types of Posts to Make a Blog Easier to Write and More Interesting to Read
Preview: A post can be as short as just a sentence or two or as long as a full, feature-length, 500-word article.  It doesn’t have to be perfectly written, either, as the main attributes of a prototypical post are mainly that it’s somewhat conversational in tone, timely and, most important of all, engaging. Yes, there are many different types of blog posts.  I have listed 15 in this article, but the possibilities are almost endless.

To read “15 Types of Posts to Make a Blog Easier to Write and More Interesting to Read” in its entirety, click here.

Are You a Corporate All-Star?
Preview: Whether it’s delivering an outstanding presentation at an important trade show, winning over a client with an awesome display of creative firepower or simply going above and beyond on everything that’s asked of you, there are many obvious ways to score points with your boss. But now you can add blogging, tweeting and even spending company time on Facebook to that list.

To read “Are You a Corporate All-Star?” in its entirety, click here.

How to Use Twitter to Report “Live” from an Event
Preview: Tweeting about a “live” event in real time is not only fun, it gives you the opportunity to treat your constituents to valuable information and insight that they might not have gotten otherwise.  It is also of tremendous benefit to those who are putting on the gig, as you are in effect acting as a journalist, or even an evangelist, propagating their content, helping them get the word out to a larger audience.

To read “How to Use Twitter to Report ‘Live’ from an Event” in its entirety, click here.

The Six Fears of Facebook and Other Social Media Channels
Preview: The reason my wife, Barbara, hesitated to take the plunge and sign up for Facebook for so long is pretty much the same one that others — especially business people and corporations — are taking so much time to dip their collective toes in the social media waters in general. Fear. That’s what I learned from my wife about Facebook and social media…and that’s what I would like to share with you here.  Most people hesitate to join the online conversation because of these six fears…

To read “The Six Fears of Facebook and Other Social Media Channel” in its entirety, click here.
 
Target Uses Newspaper Ad and Social Media to Give Back to Communities
Preview: Since 1946, according to the retailer’s website, “Target has given 5% of our income to the communities we serve. That adds up to over $3 million each and every week.” Here’s how Target saluted the moms among us (in honor of Mother’s Day) and leveraged social media to give (something every brand, big or small, should be doing nowadays) by asking members of their audience to go to their Facebook Fan Page, where they could tell them “which of these ten charity partners we should give to the most.”

To read ”Target Uses Newspaper Ad and Social Media to Give Back to Communities” in its entirety, click here.
 
Old-School Marketing Principles in a New-Media World
Preview: Despite the popularity of social media, you can still succeed in marketing today the old-fashioned way.  Yes, there are still plenty of opportunities for purists, traditionalists and even the raw neophytes among us to leverage the timeless, tried-and-true principles of our trade. Take Cushman’s Fruit Company, for example.  Demonstrating the right way to harness a few proven, age-old direct response advertising strategies, Cushman’s was selling 24 of its legendary HoneyBells in a quintessential, full-page mail-order ad that appeared in the November 23 (2008) edition of PARADE Magazine.

To read “Old-School Marketing Principles in a New-Media World” in its entirety, click here.

Note: Bob Cargill is a copywriter, creative director and social media marketing consultant who works with Nowspeed and other clients, helping to strategize, develop and implement successful new marketing programs. He is available for hire (by both commercial and non-profit organizations) on a part-time, temporary, project or contract basis. To contact Bob now, click here.