Don Hauptman: The Most Successful Copywriting Techniques I’ve Learned — Copywriters Podcast 152

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The Most Successful Copywriting Techniques I’ve Learned in 45 Years—And Why So Many Promotions Fail To Exploit Them

On today's show, we have one of the world’s great teachers and practitioners of direct-response copywriting on the show — Don Hauptman.

As a copywriter, Don’s accomplishments are legendary. He’s a ten-time winner of the Newsletter on Newsletters promotion award for subscription acquisition packages.

Don’s the copywriter who created the ads with the classic headline “Speak Spanish Like A Diplomat.” Those ads (and variations of it, such as “Speak French Like A Diplomat,”) sold tens of millions of dollars worth of language course in many languages for Audio-Forum.

His work has been featured in college advertising textbooks and collections including “Million Dollar Mailings” and “The World’s Greatest Direct Mail Sales Letters.”

These days, Don’s officially retired. But he still does pro bono marketing, consulting and fundraising work for non-profits and friends’ businesses and professional practices.

Also, Don’s the author of a very valuable book, “The Versatile Freelancer,” which he’ll tell us about later.

In the show, Don talks about the techniques that give copy its power, persuasiveness, motivation and credibility. These are techniques that keep readers reading, and gets them to respond the way you want them to.

Don says, “In a lot of copy I see, these principles are absent, omitted, overlooked.

Why? And how can you avoid these mistakes?”

And then he proceeds to explain what they are, how they work, and how you can put them to work in your own copy.

1. Adding human interest to your copy. One step copywriters skip is finding and adding the inherent drama of stories that add to the emotional response of the reader. He shares some examples from highly successful ads and reveals the hidden psychology behind these successful stories.

2. Making your proof convincing. Credibility overcomes reader/listener/viewer skepticism. But vague generalities and promises made but not backed up won’t get the job done.

Don shares which details he used, and how he used them, to create conviction in readers, which leads to the “yes” we’re all looking for.

3. When content marketing brings prospects closer to buying. Sometimes the best way to make a sale is to give something valuable away first. Don explains how he did this in some of his winning promotions, and the proven best ways to use these techniques yourself.

RESOURCES:

Don’s book, “The Versatile Freelancer” http://versatilefreelancer.com

My book, Breakthrough Copywriting: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1548706957

Coaching and Copy Critiques: http://garfinkelcoaching.com