Evolution of A copywriter
December 13th 2007 22:57
Hello everyone - this weekend I will be putting up an exclusive interview written by the talented copywriter/entrepreneur Clayton Makepeace. He is interviewing copywriter Brad Peterson. Enjoy!
Dear Business Builder,
Today, I have a special treat for you – an interview with a great friend and fellow copywriter,
Brad Petersen.
Brad and I have conspired on many promotions over the years – and I think so highly of him, I’ve actually had paid him $120,000 per year just to have him on-call to help me with promotions for my financial and health clients.
A while back, Brad and I spent an hour on the phone talking about the lessons he’s learned that can help you get bigger winners, more often. I’m convinced that this journeyman copywriter’s insights will make you a ton of money.
Clayton Makepeace: Hi Brad. How are you?
Brad Petersen: Hi Clayton, I’m doing great, thanks. How about you?
Clayton: I’m doing very well, thank you. I appreciate you doing this with me.
Brad: No problem. I think it will be fun.
Clayton: Let’s drive right in. First, Brad, before talking about how you got into copywriting, tell me about your childhood, your family life, and your education experience.
Brad: Okay. I grew up in what I guess you would call a middle class family. I have two brothers and two sisters, so there was always something going on at our house. My dad always had the entrepreneurial bug and pursued a few business ventures. Unfortunately, none of them were really successful and he ultimately pretty much gave up the entrepreneurial game and spent most of his career in the corporate world. Despite that, I inherited the bug from my dad, as did my brother who is also in business for himself.
Clayton: What kind of entrepreneurial things was your dad involved in?
Brad: He owned an insurance agency at one time. He was involved in the development of a travel trailer park in Devore, California. We lived on the property while they were building it, and absolutely loved it. It was in the country, so there was lots of hiking, we had all sorts of pets, and I remember really enjoying living there.
He had a couple of other ventures, including a bookstore. He also talked about going into the mail order business and I remember reading Melvin Powers’ book, How to Get Rich in Mail Order when I was in college because of it – and that sort of gave me an introduction to the direct response business. But, like I said, none of his ventures went big, so he wound up making his living in the corporate world. However, I seem to have inherited whatever it was that drove him to try to make it on his own. My brother is the same way. He’s in the specialty food business. He has several of his own products and acts a sales agent for various specialty brands. My other brother has a regular job, but he has the itch to get out on his own. He just never found the right thing.
Clayton: Very interesting. Okay, so all of this was in Southern California?
Brad: Yes. I lived in San Bernardino until seventh grade, and then we moved to San Clemente, a really great beach town in south Orange County. I haven’t lived there in years, but I still love it. I left when I went away to college and wound up living in near where my wife grew up, in Torrance, California.
Clayton: Where did you go to college?
Brad: I went to Loyola Marymount University, a small Catholic college in L.A. I was a history major. I had always thought I’d be a writer – a journalist perhaps. Unfortunately, it never occurred to me that you could make a living writing advertising, so I didn’t find out about that until several years after college. However, I did luck out with my first real job after college. After piddling around for a year or so, I got a job working for Robert Ringer, the author of the book Looking Out for #1 and a few other best-sellers. I’m a big fan of his and he ran an ad in Reason magazine looking for employees. I applied, and got the job
.
At the time, he was publishing a financial newsletter called The Tortoise Report. He mostly promoted through the mail using long copy. So I saw the real live results for myself. My job was administrative. As I recall, I opened the subscription orders, entered them into the computer, sent out the welcome package, and so forth. It was fun job. I worked with great people, and, of course, I was excited to be working for Robert Ringer. I still remember the first time I read Looking Out for #1 in college. I loved his writing style and his philosophy.
Clayton: Was this before Blanchard began publishing The Tortoise Report?
Brad: Yes – I lost my job when Blanchard bought The Tortoise Report and moved the whole operation to Louisiana.
Clayton: Sorry about that.
I remember Robert Ringer being on The Tonight Show. That was my first exposure to him, when he was on the book tour for Looking Out for #1.
Brad: Right.
Clayton: And his whole rationale is something I think that would be extremely helpful for copywriters to read.
Brad: Oh, absolutely.
Clayton: And businesspeople as well. The whole concept of rational selfishness.
Brad: And equally as important, I think, is his first book, Winning Through Intimidation.
Clayton: Yes.
Brad: The title apparently offends some people – though I think it's kind of fun and interesting. However, the book is really about not letting yourself be intimidated by your circumstances, by other people, by people posing as experts, by people who want to keep you in your place or cheat you out what you’re owed.
Clayton: It was a brilliant title, because, you're right, the book was about winning in spite of intimidation. But using the word "through" gave it an edge that really made people intrigued.
Brad: Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, he's since updated and revised the book. It came out just in the last couple of years. And the new version is called To Be Intimidated or Not To Be Intimidated, which just doesn't have the impact, I don't think.
I think he tried to soften the title a bit – perhaps because he’s taken a beating from a lot of people who obviously never read any of his books. I don’t know how many times I’ve read or heard that Looking Out for #1 teaches you how to get ahead by screwing other people – which is simply absurd and indicates the person didn’t even read chapter one of the book.
But I don’t think softening the title is a good marketing technique.
Clayton: No.
Brad: And I think Robert must know that. He's a brilliant marketer, knows what he's doing, and really achieved phenomenal success marketing his books and the books of other people onto the best-seller list.
To be continued...
This article was first published in The Total Package. To sign-up to receive your own FREE subscription to The Total Package and claim four FREE money making e-books go to www.makepacetotalpackage.com
Humans evolution to computers
Dear Business Builder,
Today, I have a special treat for you – an interview with a great friend and fellow copywriter,
Brad Petersen.
Brad and I have conspired on many promotions over the years – and I think so highly of him, I’ve actually had paid him $120,000 per year just to have him on-call to help me with promotions for my financial and health clients.
A while back, Brad and I spent an hour on the phone talking about the lessons he’s learned that can help you get bigger winners, more often. I’m convinced that this journeyman copywriter’s insights will make you a ton of money.
Clayton Makepeace: Hi Brad. How are you?
Brad Petersen: Hi Clayton, I’m doing great, thanks. How about you?
Clayton: I’m doing very well, thank you. I appreciate you doing this with me.
Brad: No problem. I think it will be fun.
Clayton: Let’s drive right in. First, Brad, before talking about how you got into copywriting, tell me about your childhood, your family life, and your education experience.
Brad: Okay. I grew up in what I guess you would call a middle class family. I have two brothers and two sisters, so there was always something going on at our house. My dad always had the entrepreneurial bug and pursued a few business ventures. Unfortunately, none of them were really successful and he ultimately pretty much gave up the entrepreneurial game and spent most of his career in the corporate world. Despite that, I inherited the bug from my dad, as did my brother who is also in business for himself.
Clayton: What kind of entrepreneurial things was your dad involved in?
Brad: He owned an insurance agency at one time. He was involved in the development of a travel trailer park in Devore, California. We lived on the property while they were building it, and absolutely loved it. It was in the country, so there was lots of hiking, we had all sorts of pets, and I remember really enjoying living there.
He had a couple of other ventures, including a bookstore. He also talked about going into the mail order business and I remember reading Melvin Powers’ book, How to Get Rich in Mail Order when I was in college because of it – and that sort of gave me an introduction to the direct response business. But, like I said, none of his ventures went big, so he wound up making his living in the corporate world. However, I seem to have inherited whatever it was that drove him to try to make it on his own. My brother is the same way. He’s in the specialty food business. He has several of his own products and acts a sales agent for various specialty brands. My other brother has a regular job, but he has the itch to get out on his own. He just never found the right thing.
Clayton: Very interesting. Okay, so all of this was in Southern California?
Brad: Yes. I lived in San Bernardino until seventh grade, and then we moved to San Clemente, a really great beach town in south Orange County. I haven’t lived there in years, but I still love it. I left when I went away to college and wound up living in near where my wife grew up, in Torrance, California.
Clayton: Where did you go to college?
Brad: I went to Loyola Marymount University, a small Catholic college in L.A. I was a history major. I had always thought I’d be a writer – a journalist perhaps. Unfortunately, it never occurred to me that you could make a living writing advertising, so I didn’t find out about that until several years after college. However, I did luck out with my first real job after college. After piddling around for a year or so, I got a job working for Robert Ringer, the author of the book Looking Out for #1 and a few other best-sellers. I’m a big fan of his and he ran an ad in Reason magazine looking for employees. I applied, and got the job
.
At the time, he was publishing a financial newsletter called The Tortoise Report. He mostly promoted through the mail using long copy. So I saw the real live results for myself. My job was administrative. As I recall, I opened the subscription orders, entered them into the computer, sent out the welcome package, and so forth. It was fun job. I worked with great people, and, of course, I was excited to be working for Robert Ringer. I still remember the first time I read Looking Out for #1 in college. I loved his writing style and his philosophy.
Clayton: Was this before Blanchard began publishing The Tortoise Report?
Brad: Yes – I lost my job when Blanchard bought The Tortoise Report and moved the whole operation to Louisiana.
Clayton: Sorry about that.
I remember Robert Ringer being on The Tonight Show. That was my first exposure to him, when he was on the book tour for Looking Out for #1.
Brad: Right.
Clayton: And his whole rationale is something I think that would be extremely helpful for copywriters to read.
Brad: Oh, absolutely.
Clayton: And businesspeople as well. The whole concept of rational selfishness.
Brad: And equally as important, I think, is his first book, Winning Through Intimidation.
Clayton: Yes.
Brad: The title apparently offends some people – though I think it's kind of fun and interesting. However, the book is really about not letting yourself be intimidated by your circumstances, by other people, by people posing as experts, by people who want to keep you in your place or cheat you out what you’re owed.
Clayton: It was a brilliant title, because, you're right, the book was about winning in spite of intimidation. But using the word "through" gave it an edge that really made people intrigued.
Brad: Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, he's since updated and revised the book. It came out just in the last couple of years. And the new version is called To Be Intimidated or Not To Be Intimidated, which just doesn't have the impact, I don't think.
I think he tried to soften the title a bit – perhaps because he’s taken a beating from a lot of people who obviously never read any of his books. I don’t know how many times I’ve read or heard that Looking Out for #1 teaches you how to get ahead by screwing other people – which is simply absurd and indicates the person didn’t even read chapter one of the book.
But I don’t think softening the title is a good marketing technique.
Clayton: No.
Brad: And I think Robert must know that. He's a brilliant marketer, knows what he's doing, and really achieved phenomenal success marketing his books and the books of other people onto the best-seller list.
To be continued...
This article was first published in The Total Package. To sign-up to receive your own FREE subscription to The Total Package and claim four FREE money making e-books go to www.makepacetotalpackage.com
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