How to Build a Rock-Solid Foundation for Your Winning Ad
Dear Marketing Maven,
Back in Maxim #6 you learned:
Research like an obsessed detective before you write a word
Then in Maxim #7 you discovered where to start your research—by identifying and harnessing your own motivation and determination to achieve a triumph:
See your future success with both your “I’s”— your Intention and Imagination
Now you’re ready for the next step. It is one of the most important things I had to learn as a copywriter.
First, you should know that I didn’t become a consistently successful copywriter until after I was in the business for almost ten years.
When I landed my first job as a copywriter many years ago, I didn’t have a clown’s clue how to generate higher response consistently.
I’m a slow but persistent learner, and it took me about ten years of learning from such masters as John Caples, David Ogilvy, Dan Rosenthal, and a few others I was blessed to work with.
The first major thing I had to learn is that writing is not spontaneous creative combustion.
When I began, I’d stare at a blank page for days, not having any idea what to write, waiting for the muses to alight on my shoulder and whisper something—anything!—in my ear.
I thought I must have offended the muses, as they were giving me the silent treatment. In desperation, I enrolled in an evening course in New York City on “Overcoming Writer’s Block.” My classmates were a motley collection of other young writers from various fields: aspiring novelists, songwriters, and playwrights.
In our first class, to our dismay, our instructor cheerfully confided that he too was a constipated writer and was hoping that we could help him, as he had a psychology book to write plus a couple of articles and didn’t know where to begin. So how about we all “meet once a week and share.”
At each class we “shared” by whining about the frustration of writer’s block, but no one had a solution. I soon dropped out and in time discovered on my own that “writer’s block” is just a symptom of a rather easily cured malady—“LRS,” lazy research syndrome.
It took me a while to realize that the best copywriters are the most tenacious researchers. Like miners, they dig, drill, dynamite, and chip until they’ve liberated carloads of valuable ore. The legendary John Caples advised us copywriters to gather seven times more compelling information than we can possibly use.
I learned that good copywriters get to know so much about the product and their prospects’ wants, fears, assumptions, and lingo that the copy soon wants to burst forth as if a dam is breaking. I learned that research is the infallible cure for writer’s block.
So, in tribute to the great copywriter John Caples, I proclaim …
Maxim #8:
Gather seven times more compelling information than you can possibly use.
This means a strong commitment to research on several fronts—your product, the market, the best media, the results of past efforts (which ads flopped, which won, and why) … the winningest offers, and more.
The good news is that in the next several Maxim issues, I’ll map out the most important questions in each key area you must research. Even better, you won’t have to conduct this research yourself. In almost all cases, there are people in your company or your client’s business who already have the answers and will gladly share them with you. Seek them out and ask! In addition, AI can add immensely insightful answers within seconds of raising probing questions.
All you must know is the right questions to ask. You’ll get them in your next few issues and will always have them as a reference to guide you.
Sincere wishes for a good life and (always!) higher response,
Gary Bencivenga
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