Fete(-ing) with Dan
When I was in O'ahu a few weeks ago, my husband and I had dinner with Dan Ferrari (known as the "Bearded Genius", or is that Jesus?) and his girlfriend. This dinner wasn't some spontaneous meet-up between two veteran copywriter pals. No, it was the result of an epic...
Justin and me
The first time I met Justin Goff, it was about 3 years ago in Cleveland, Ohio at one of Brian Kurtz's mastermind events. Justin was one of the speakers, and he gave a great presentation about sales-boosting funnel tactics. Things like simple order page tweaks that...
Dinner with Gary
I'm baaaaaaaaaack!!! And I have stories. Over the next week or two, you'll be hearing them...along with some valuable copywriting and marketing lessons, too. I'm going to share with you the stories and lessons gleaned from my dinner in New York city with Gary...
What all successful controls have in common…
Issue #134—June 18, 2021 It's a sunny, almost cool Spring-like day here where I am--so I've got my office window open. And something seems a bit off. It's actually quiet and peaceful outside. Something is missing. Oh, now I know what it is... No cicadas! That constant...
Using celebrity to rev up your copy
Issue #133—June 11, 2021 It's a rainy Friday afternoon here outside Washington, DC...a good day to stay inside and catch up on all the "to do's" on my list before the weekend. And seeing how I recently wrote to you about how to leverage "star power" in your copy to...
What to do about the slew of copywriter wanna-bes
Issue #132—June 4, 2021 FACT: There are more copywriters now than ever before. It used to be that once you racked up a few wins as a copywriter, you could easily collect hefty advances and book your calendar out a year or longer. You could also charge more for your...
The Classic M*ney Package
What's in Kim's Mailbox? Well, this week is off to a roaring start. It's already Wednesday yet it feels like Monday. I found myself nonstop busy yesterday making up for one day off. Yes, even us freelancers get waaaay behind when we take a simple holiday. In any case,...
“Old school” is cool again
Issue #131—May 28, 2021 In recent months, I've seen a surge of "online to offline to online" campaigns landing in my mailbox. I've written about some of them, like in this past issue here (scroll down for the "What's in Kim's Mailbox" breakdown). But within the past...
Where to find “hidden gold”
Convos with Kim Over the past few decades as a freelance copywriter, the vast majority of projects I've taken on have been acquisition promos: sales pages, magalogs, VSLs, etc. Acquiring new customers is the lifeblood of any business. It's a formidable challenge to...
How is great copy really made?
Issue #130—May 21, 2021 Over the past week or so, I've been talking about how some companies (and even so-called "goo roos") seem to think copywriters can be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) software. I've shared some real-life nightmare stories from some of...
The Wolf of Weed Street
What's in Kim's Mailbox? Well over a decade ago, stock-pumping direct mail promos ostensibly selling a financial newsletter subscription were constantly stuffing my mailbox. Yes, I was "seeded" on many direct mail lists, including financial, which is probably why I...
The great AI scam?
Convos with Kim In last Friday's issue of Copy Insiders, I shared in detail my own experience in testing out a new AI (artificial intelligence) copywriting tool called "Conversion.AI". (If you missed it, you can read it on my blog here. It's called "Does this 'magic...
Does this “magic push button” AI tool live up to the hype?
Everyone's talking about artificial intelligence (AI) copywriting tools these days. To be honest, I've mostly shrugged off all the hype and haven't spent a single minute worried they're going to take my livelihood away. But over the past month or so, I've seen some...
Avoiding clients with “personality defects”
Convos with Kim In recent months I've been having some fantastic conversations with top marketers and copywriters on various podcasts. But chances are you're not always hearing about them! So I thought I'd start a regular feature where I share one of my latest "convos...
Sales-multiplying lessons to energize your results
"NASA"... "Nobel Prize-winning"... "Harvard doctors... "Stanford discovery"... "MIT scientists..." What do all of these have in common? They've earned me and many other copywriters a pretty penny in royalties when we've used these words and phrases in our promo...
Where to find headline fodder that calls out your prospect
Issue #128—April 28, 2021 These days I'm making an effort to waste less time on Facebook, but now and then I'll while away some time doing so. And it sometimes leads to a valuable idea. Case in point: the other day someone shared a post that asked you to name the #1...
“Hang up” trick makes your copy irresistible
Issue #127—April 16, 2021 The other day I called a restaurant about a special tasting menu they were offering that night with a local winery that some friends of ours are partners in. I couldn't find the info I was looking for on their website so I dialed the...
“Steal-able” tactics from a conservative book expert
Issue #126—April 9, 2021 This morning an email popped up in my inbox from a longtime friend and former colleague (and boss) at Phillips Publishing. Over the past few decades, she's headed up a major conservative book publishing company and is now working as a...
What I’d do the same or differently
Issue #125—April 2, 2021 It was 23 years ago this month that I walked away from my senior-level marketing role at Phillips Publishing to become a freelance copywriter. And what a ride it's been! I'm so grateful I made the decision to focus on copywriting and enjoy the...
How to Cowboy (or Cowgirl) Up
This morning at the gym before my workout with my personal trainer, it was time for my monthly Inbody. The Inbody is a $10,000 machine that measures your body fat and amount of muscle in every part of your body. It gives you a 100 times more accurate picture versus...
What’s YOUR “Tom Brady” move?
Issue #124—March 22, 2021 We're starting our Monday morning with a recap of the rest of the "golden" nuggets shared at last Thursday's epic Clayton Makepeace tribute event. It's a whole issue's worth--and then some--which is why this week's issue is coming out TODAY...
The 5-step features and benefits exercise I learned from Clayton
As promised, I'm going to share a transcript of my presentation from the epic Clayton Makepeace tribute event that took place this past Thursday. The lesson learned from Clayton that I chose to share (there were many others, but I had to pick one) was his 5-step...
Gary Bencivenga’s 10 maxims for copywriting and marketing success
The legions of lessons from the epic Clayton Makepeace tribute event this past Thursday continue. And as promised, I'm going to attempt to sum up the 10 brilliant copywriting and marketing maxims that the legendary Gary Bencivenga shared at the event. So let's get...
Lessons from 15 direct response giants
Issue #123—March 19, 2021 Yesterday's Clayton Makepeace tribute event was epic...I hope you were there to hear it. (If you weren't, or weren't able to stay for all of it, I hear that Carline Anglade-Cole...who put on this amazing tribute event...will be making the...