A-List Copywriting secrets of a fire-breathing, Trump-despising feminist

Let me tell you a story: Several years ago, I met an A-list copywriter chick while speaking at AWAI’s Copywriting Boot Camp & Job Fair. She was unapologetically outspoken about her seething feminist politics. And, thus, it didn’t take me long to troll her with my usual politically incorrect jokes and gags, and try to get a rise out of her about Trump. In other words: We hit it off immediately. Anyway, it’s been a while since I interviewed her. And, to remedy that, here is part 1 of a 5-part copywriting training. Free to you. For your reading displeasure. Hit it: === elBENBO: Who are you and why should anyone listen to you? KIM KRAUSE SCHWALM: I’ve been a freelance copywriter for 25 years… a quarter of a century as of this month! Over the years, I’ve worked with some of the top direct response companies like Boardroom (where I became the first female copywriter to get a Boardroom control), Soundview, Green Valley, Advanced Bionutritionals, National Geographic, and many others. I’ve gone up against and beat legendary copywriters like Parris Lampropoulus and the late Jim Rutz. I’ve written dozens of successful control promos… generated an estimated $1 billion in revenue for my clients… and have earned millions in royalties from promos that have reigned as controls for as long as 12 years without changing a single word (with the same copy used as a magalog and online promo). My copy has had to compete in some of the most cutthroat and saturated niches like supplements, skin care, fitness, and financial. The copywriters I’ve had to go up against were often among the very best, like the aforementioned ones. And because I started in the days of direct mail copy –i.e., magalogs and other long-copy formats, I had to write copy that was always held to a higher standard… since it’s much more expensive to create and mail a promo than to simply slap something together and put it online. Prior to becoming a freelance copywriter, I worked at Phillips Publishing—which was one of the top direct response publishers at the time and at least 4 or 5 times the size of Agora back then. While I was there, I helped launch and run the Healthy Directions supplement business, growing it to over $23 million in annual revenue ($40 million in today’s dollars) within the first 3 years. At Phillips I also worked as a Publisher with business-building legends Jay Abraham and Denis Waitley. Prior to Phillips, I was a Brand Manager for a major health insurer, and held other marketing roles where I’ve impacted and increased revenue. Over the past six years, thanks to a “nudge” from none other than YOU, Ben, I started sharing my vast, hard-won copywriting knowledge via courses and trainings and my popular Copy Insiders email list. I’ve also mentored some of today’s top rising copywriting and marketing stars. And I still write copy for a few select clients—so I keep my hand in things and know what’s working now (but the truth is, the classic rules of copywriting still apply to pretty much everything!) elBENBO: Freelancers are always asking me about finding clients. What would Kim do if starting over in 2023 to acquire a base of high-quality clients? KIM KRAUSE SCHWALM: Honestly, I’d do what I did 30+ years ago. I landed a job at a top direct response company (Phillips Publishing) that was a well-respected leader in its niche (financial and health publishing). The funny thing is, I joined the company in a marketing role and had no intention of becoming a copywriter. I did write some copy here and there as a marketer, though… Phillip valued marketers having copy skills. When I came to Phillips, I saw what kind of impact GOOD copywriters had on the business… and more importantly, how much they could earn, and what kind of lifestyle they could have (i.e., work less than 30 hours a week and take off whenever they wanted). I remember working with freelance copywriters like Doug D’Anna when I was a Publisher and hearing how he had time to drive his kids to school and pick them up and I thought, that sounds like a pretty nice life versus the 50-hour-a-week grind. Now, Phillips didn’t employ in-house copywriters for the direct mail magalogs and other promos they used to acquire new customers, as those promos were the lifeblood of their business. They only used top freelance copywriters to write those promos. I don’t recall the term “A-List” being bandied about back then, but the copywriters Phillips worked with were the TRUE A-Listers of their time. Without a strong direct mail control for each of Phillips’ many publications, they knew they would be dead in the water. So they VALUED good copy, and they only hired the best copywriters. Hiring a cheaper, less-talented copywriter would cost them FAR more money in terms of opportunity costs (an important lesson for business owners and marketers on why you don’t want to go “cheap” on copy). Some of the luminaries Phillips worked with were people like Gene Schwartz, who I got to learn from in-person when he came to Phillips to deliver a full-day seminar for the company’s marketing team. They also worked with Gary Bencivenga and Jim Rutz. Then there’s Clayton Makepeace, who wrote a killer promo before I joined the company that launched their first alternative health newsletter. Within a year or two, they had over 300,000 paid subscribers. Clayton’s promo helped create my job, which in turn created the opportunity for me to launch and run the Healthy Directions supplement business (I even came up with the name!) So I saw the impact AND the potential earnings and flexible lifestyle freelance copywriters could have. After I’d been with the company for about 5 years, I became pregnant with my first child. I wondered how I was going to keep up with the 50+ hour work weeks and commutes once I became a mom. I recall having a conversation around this time with my father, who sadly had stage 4 cancer and didn’t live long enough to see my son born. He told me, “You might want to think about that freelance copywriting thing you told me about.” I didn’t think much more about it then. I had a lot to deal with over the months that followed: losing my dad, losing my husband’s mother 3 weeks later, and having my first child. After all that, I went back to work after my son was born and realized I’d been “mommy-tracked”. So I set up a retainer arrangement with a supplement business that was located nearby that guaranteed me 90% of my six-figure salary, but would only take half of my time. I gave Phillips a resignation letter and took the leap to freelancing. That was 25 years ago, in April 1998. By the time that six-month retainer arrangement ended, I already had at least a few other clients that others had introduced me to. I also started doing some freelance work for Phillips (never burn those bridges!) My first year as a copywriter I made 50% more than the six-figure job I left while working less. It helped a lot that my former colleagues gave my name out to other companies, or they had jumped to other companies where they then brought me in on some projects. So I pretty much never had to worry about finding work… it found ME, thanks in part to my network of former colleagues, the reputation I had built, AND the prestigious reputation that Phillips Publishing among its peers in the industry. The other really great thing about working in-house before going freelance is you develop the bigger-picture marketing perspective that can make you a much better copywriter. Having access to the data gave me massive insights, seeing what worked and learning from the very smart people I worked for and with at the company… all of it gave me a huge edge as a copywriter, one you simply can’t get elsewhere. It far outweighed the value I got from getting my MBA in marketing at night years beforehand. I know there are more “modern” ways of making a name for yourself like constantly publishing articles or social media posts, or having an email list or going on podcasts to build your authority. But honestly, that’s all a lot of work. Back in the day at Phillips we would look down our nose at copywriters who were always doing that kind of stuff “for free” or speaking at conferences, etc. It was like, “they must not be very good if they have time for all that and actually have to work at finding clients”. So that would be my other main advice: get GOOD at writing copy… “dangerously” good. All you need are a few big winners to put yourself on the map. That’s what I did. Focus on getting that first sample of whatever it is you want to be writing in order to open some doors. I wrote my first magalog for a measly flat fee, but it was a “sample” that got me my next magalog project for 3 times as much plus royalties. Then, after my first few years of freelancing and turning out some winners AND “bombs”, I beat Jim Rutz’s control for a financial publisher’s flagship newsletter. Word got around fast… Brian Kurtz, who was at Boardroom at the time, heard the news and couldn’t hire me fast enough. I then beat Parris Lampropoulus’ 7-year “unbeatable” control for one of their publications. Then other companies came calling… ones I had tried doing cold outreach with (it never worked) were now reaching out to me. I’d be booked out a year or more at times with clients—and have stayed that way. To be fair, I’d only book 5 or 6 promos a year, because I would take at least a month off a year. Now it’s more like 3! My kids are grown and out of the house, my husband is fully retired, and we travel whenever we can. The bottom line is, take advantage of opportunities to take your upgrade your copywriting skills and knowledge… seek out feedback whenever you can on your copy… and most importantly, work in-house or as a contract employee with a major direct response company where you can get “paid to learn” and access to the data so you see the results of your efforts. This last step will also help you develop a valuable network of people who know you and will refer you to others. One more tip: avoid NDA (non-disclosure agreements) that won’t let you share your samples with potential clients. And if you work in-house, avoid signing non-compete agreements that make it difficult to go out on your own. I was offered one at Phillips and refused. While this may have been part of the reason for the “mommy-tracking”, I’m really glad I didn’t sign anything that would constrain me. === So ends part one of my interview with Kim. But as the Ben giveth for free, so the Ben offers-eth for a price. I made a special deal with Kim to give my boys & ghouls a special discounted price on her exclusive Copywriting Maximus bundle of high level training for those buying through my affiliate link below. It ain’t cheap, though. In fact, it’s downright expensive, as it should be. But, it’s discounted via my affiliate link until this coming Friday, 4/7 at midnight EDT. Go here for more info: [https∶//www.EmailPlayers.com/kim]( Ben Settle P.S. Buy from my affiliate link by the deadline and I’ll also ship you (at my expense, not yours) another bundle of copywriting joy I am officially calling: “Email Players: Copy Salesliloquies Vol 1” Specifically it includes: The June 2020, February 2021, June 2021, & May 2022 Email Players issues. Plus, also, the transcripts of a couple intense line-by-line sales letter analyses (for my Subscription Biz & Social Lair book offers) I did for our $499/month Profit Pirates clients. Here are a few of the things I share in this bundle of trainings: * Word-for-word the single most valuable copywriting bullet point technique I have ever used. * An extremely clever persuasion secret invented thousands of years ago (and more recently perfected for copywriting by the late, great copywriter Gene Schwartz) that can potentially “ratchet up” your sales copy response like nothing else you’ve ever tested! * A bestselling writer’s secret for writing sales copy, emails, and other advertising that is so “tight” you can practically bounce a quarter off of it! * How to master the lost art of combining content with promotion in your emails. * How to develop your own copywriting style — and avoid sounding like a wannabe of someone else. * The secret technique Jack London, Hunter S. Thompson, and Benjamin Franklin used to quickly excel at the art & craft of writing. * A brand spanking new way (I invented after watching a couple Tarantino movies) to do market research that has put me in touch with my market in a way where I could probably make sales if I wrote my pitches on a wall in crayon. * A clever trick Steve Jobs used to have his audiences literally “leaning in” to hear what he had to say. * The “O” word that is quite possibly the single most persuasive word ever invented for bullets. * An ingenious 2-word combo that can give even outrageous headlines and/or sales letter openers “built in” credibility & believability. * An old magalog trick you can use to make your bullets look like they are giving an entire tip away… where the reader thinks they are learning something free… but really it just makes them want to buy the offer even more. * An infamously kooky newspaper ad copywriter’s secret for using 1 & 2 word headlines to drive up readership & engagement with your sales copy. * 4 sneaky ways to “invalidate” your competition in your sales copy — even if they sell a better offer at a better price. * A 3-word transition sentence the late Gary Halbert used to help keep prospects reading his sales letters top to bottom. * The powerful “sentence stringing” method the late Gene Schwartz used all the time that can help even people with gnat-like attention spans reading your long form copy from headline to order form. * A verbal “twist” gurus & experts can use to stand out in markets full of other gurus & experts all competing for attention. * A secret way (invented by Aristotle over 2,000 years ago) for keeping even your most outrageous bullet point claims from being instantly rejected as typical marketing hype and empty promises. * How to make even “fantasy claims” that would ordinarily sound like complete and utter horse shyt sound completely true & legitimate in your sales copy. * How to increase your sales copy response by making it more legally compliant. * An engagement trick the brilliant late copywriter Jim Rutz used to make his copy easier to keep reading than to NOT keep reading. * 4 advanced bullet point tricks that can help drive your prospects practically insane with curiosity to get your offer. * The mysterious C-word that can potentially sell prospects on buying offers they normally wouldn’t care one iota about otherwise. * How to make “plain vanilla” features and ideas in an ad or email instantly sound dramatic & sexy. * How to make something that’s high ticket & expensive sound downright cheap by the time the prospect gets to the order form. * How to “borrow” credibility from Google and other big organizations in your niche to help sell your offers. * An old school negotiation trick you can apply to your order links that can (1) make you sound more credible (2) potentially nab your business anywhere from 2-5 times more sales than it would get otherwise and (3) sometimes even severely cut down on refunds all at the same time. * A tip (I learned straight from the single most prolific copywriter who has probably ever lived) that can let you pump out reams of pages of sales copy if you’re the easily bored & distracted type who has trouble focusing one project for long periods of time. * The big copywriting secret behind the empires created by history’s two most hated, most reviled, and most successful media tycoons. * A little-known (and almost never talked about) time management trick that can help reduce writing ad copy that normally would take hours to complete into mere minutes. (Before applying this trick it used to take 2, 3,4, even 5 times longer than it does now to write sales letters and emails, with zero reduction in quality.) * Why hardly any of the sales letters for the Email Players “pantheon” of offers & books has a story in them. * The only person on the planet I “endorse” to coach or consult on my behalf. * The secret way I use to write software offer ads that has resulted in 4xs the sales than even our most optimistic hopes when launching them. * The “application plan” sales letter secret that can potentially overwhelm people into wanting to buy from you. * A truly creepy-sounding writing trick bestselling author Stephen King uses to draw people deeper into his books - that can also be directly applied to your bullets, stories, offers, and other parts of your sales copy. * A cunning way to get more sales by urging your readers to leave your sales pitch and come back again later. * An old Hollywood producer's screenwriting trick for picking stories to develop into movies that can also work like crazy for selling offers via sales copy. * A simple bullet point template (anyone can use) that can sometimes make it all but neurologically impossible for your prospects to ignore your sales copy. * An old school MLM tactic (taught to new distributors so they are taken more seriously by friends, family, etc before "showing the the plan") that can help juice up your business’s credibility with your prospects. * A social engineering method that can help create lots of raw, almost neurotic, & completely irrational urgency to buy your offers at the close. * A little known bullet writing method that can literally help create new “neurological connections” in your prospect’s mind as they read. * A quirky memory trainer secret for making words, sentences, and even entire pages of your sales copy almost impossible to forget and far more likely to sell your offers. * How to make otherwise ordinary, “plain vanilla”, and even outright boring-sounding words & claims seem more dramatic, interesting, and sexy in your sales copy. * The bizarre reason why it’s almost always a good idea to put some kind of Biblical reference (even if selling to fire-breathing heathens) in your sales copy if you want to get as much engagement as possible. * Two sleepy little words (used by the late, great Gene Schwartz in some of his crazier ads) that can help make even your most outrageous headlines, bullets, and claims sound more believable. * An example of how to use the psychology behind why humans are so bizarrely attracted to seeing “freak show” exhibits (at circuses, in books, on TV, etc) to make your sales copy bullets more engaging and interesting. * A borderline devious (but totally ethical) way to put prospects in the “defensive crouch” right off the bat — with them finding ways to justify why they are qualified to buy, instead of you constantly proving why you should be bought from. * A powerful twist you can put on some of your bullets that can literally “light up” a prospect’s neurology — giving them almost no choice but to keep reading and wanting to buy whatever your business is selling. * How to open a prospect’s mind to at least hearing you out in your ad copy before telling them about a claim they’d otherwise find crazy, silly, stupid, or flat-out insulting to their intelligence. * A quickie way to “blunt” skepticism about one of your ad’s claims or benefits. * The single best place in your copy to put your offer’s biggest flaw, weakness, or drawback. * The strange reason why getting prospects to argue with your bullets can make them more susceptible to being influenced by your ads and buying your offers. * And lots more. Above isn’t even going into the analysis transcripts. (I’m too lazy to write more bullets — and this email is already way too long..) Bottom line: This bonus bundle of trainings I’ll ship you alone is several hundred dollars worth of value. And it’s all yours. But only if you buy Kim’s exclusive Copywriting Maximus bundle of high level training through my affiliate link below by the deadline. Here’s my affiliate link once again: [https∶//www.EmailPlayers.com/kim]( This email was sent by Ben Settle as owner of Settle, LLC. Copyright © 2023 Settle, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this email may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from Settle, LLC. Click here to [unsubscribe]( Settle, LLC PO Box 1056 Gold Beach Oregon 97444 USA