In the world of direct response marketing, writing effective copy isn’t just about catchy headlines or clever hooks. One of the biggest mistakes even seasoned copywriters make is speaking to the wrong audience. Over the years I’ve reviewed thousands of ads and sales funnels, and I’ve noticed that misaligned messaging often sinks otherwise great offers. This problem is tied to product‑market awareness—an idea that has been around since the 1960s but is more relevant than ever in 2025.

A Real‑World Case Study

Consider a recent example from the Copy Accelerator Pro Mastermind. A member developed a clever, legitimate offer showing women how to earn extra money simply by scrolling on their phones. The offer has broad appeal and realistic income claims ($75–$150 extra a month), making it perfect for stay‑at‑home moms, retirees, and twenty‑somethings looking for a little extra cash. Yet the ads promoting this offer were destined to flop because the copy was written for a solution‑aware audience rather than the problem‑aware women who make up the bulk of the market.

Speaking to the Wrong Audience

Here’s how the ads started:

• “I don’t mean to sound rude… but if you’re still looking into things like affiliate marketing, selling stuff on Amazon or dancing on TikTok to make extra money… you’re making a big mistake.”
• “What if I told you there was a way to build a second income that covers all your major expenses every month… without any of the headaches that come up with starting a traditional online side hustle…”

These leads assume that the reader is deeply familiar with online side hustles like affiliate marketing, dropshipping or webinars. In reality, most of the women who would be interested in this offer aren’t intimately familiar with those terms. They might have heard of “side hustles” in passing, but their biggest pain points are far more concrete:

• “We’re going to Disney next month and I really want to buy the Lightning Passes but they’re so expensive.”
• “I’m sick of feeling anxious about my car payment.”
• “I’d love to go wine tasting with my girlfriends, but I just went to New York and should be saving money.”
• “When did back‑to‑school supplies start costing so much?”

By focusing on gurus, webinars and failed side hustles, the ads miss the mark and fail to connect with the actual concerns of the audience.

Understanding Product‑Market Awareness

Product‑market awareness describes how familiar your prospect is with the problem, the available solutions and your specific product. Eugene Schwartz described five levels: unaware, problem aware, solution aware, product aware and most aware. Someone who is product‑aware needs little education—you simply need to prove your offer is the best. But when your audience is only vaguely problem‑aware, you must start by acknowledging their pain points, educating them about the root cause and explaining why your solution is different.

In our case study, the target audience is problem‑aware: they know they need extra money but aren’t familiar with affiliate marketing, dropshipping or other online business models. Ads aimed at solution‑aware prospects will confuse or alienate them. To reach them effectively, the copy must speak to their everyday frustrations, introduce the concept of earning side‑income by scrolling on their phones and build curiosity about how it works.

Lessons for Copywriters

The misalignment in this case study illustrates why product‑market awareness should drive every aspect of your funnel. When you tailor your message to the correct awareness level:

• You build rapport by acknowledging the prospect’s real problems.
• You create curiosity by hinting at a solution they haven’t tried.
• You spend the right amount of time educating versus persuading.
• You select appropriate assets—short ads and simple product pages for most‑aware prospects, or longer VSLs and advertorials for problem‑aware prospects.

Copywriters at every level should revisit this framework regularly. Even well‑known marketers sometimes fall into the trap of speaking to the wrong audience. Taking the time to identify your prospect’s awareness level will improve your conversion rates and ensure that your great offer doesn’t get lost in translation.

Conclusion

Product‑market awareness may be an old concept, but it’s essential to modern marketing. As this case study shows, even a clever offer can fail when the copy assumes too much knowledge. In 2025, when attention spans are short and competition is fierce, taking the time to understand where your prospects are on the awareness spectrum will help you craft copy that resonates, builds curiosity and drives action.

The post Why Product‑Market Awareness Matters in 2025: Avoiding the #1 Copywriting Mistake first appeared on Stefan Georgi.

Hey, good morning 🙂

So, today’s blog post is going to be along the lines of the last few I’ve published…

However, instead of talking about a specific thing to optimize…

I’m going to talk about the broader theme of mentorship.

You see, in the context of the new offer I have…

Which is rapidly scaling to several hundred sales a day…

I’ve realized that one of my roles is to provide mentorship to my partner, Cody.

Now, when I say mentorship…

I don’t use the word with any sense of superiority…

Because that’s not what it’s about.

Cody and I are extremely good friends, and we’re also peers…

And there are plenty of things that he is WAY better than me at – including numbers, spreadsheets, processes, etc.

So, the first thing you should know about mentorship…

Is that true mentorship doesn’t have any power dynamic.

Instead…

Mentorship is about finding the right Sherpas…

Those individuals who, for a specific domain…

Have already been where you want to go.

In the case of scaling offers…

I happen to be Cody’s Sherpa…

Because while he’s flirted with 8 figures before…

I’ve taken offers to 9 figures…

And there are just a lot of things that happen between $10MM and $100MM…

That, unless you’ve experienced them before…

You simply aren’t going to be prepared for.

Here are just a few examples that are specific to our current situation:

1. Call Centers

So currently Cody isn’t using my call center for inbound.

Why?

Well, honestly he tried testing us vs. his call center two years ago…

And, at the time we weren’t very dialed in…

So he saw no reason to make the switch.

Of course, I was frustrated that my call center wasn’t better back then…

But ultimately, I wanted what was best for my friend…

So I didn’t fight when he stuck with his current provider.

And overall, his call center has done a fine job in the time since.

But now, things are a little different.

After we started scaling our offer…

It occurred to me that Cody’s call center was probably super overwhelmed.

Why?

Think about it…

For the last two years, they’ve been more or less used to the same call volume each day…

Then suddenly, there’s a brand-new product they don’t know a whole lot about…

And it’s doing 3x the volume of all of Cody’s other products combined.

Can you see how that might be a problem for his call center?

They don’t have the agents to handle the calls…

Or the product knowledge…

And most importantly, they were probably caught completely off guard.

So I realized there was just no way they were prepared for the volume here…

And pointed this out to Cody and Jeff (who we just hired to help with operations).

Jeff immediately started doing “test calls” to the call center…

And sure enough…

On average he gets put on hold for 3-4 minutes…

Then sent to voicemail.

So, why does that matter?

Well, because when customers can’t get a hold of you…

Then they can’t buy your product…

Or get answers about your product if they already bought…

That’s when chargebacks and refunds occur.

Now, we’re going to be able to fix this…

By cracking the whip at his call center to hire and train new agents…

Then watching them like a hawk.

Plus, we may use my call center for overflow too (I have a conflict of interest on this though, so trying to leave that decision to our operations director).

But, my big point is…

If I didn’t have previous experience with call centers not being able to handle scale in the past…

Or if I hadn’t seen this happen for other clients at my own call center previously, before we figured out how to handle these sorts of things…

I probably wouldn’t have brought it up.

And the problem may have continued on for months.

Leading to big spikes in chargebacks, refunds, and unhappy customers…

While we sat around scratching our heads or saying, “oh I guess it’s the offer!”

So, that’s one example…

But there are so many others.

Take the profit margin, for example…

Right now, our profit margin on this offer is 10%…

Which isn’t good…

So we’re going to fix it.

And, I know how to fix it.

It’s what I’ve written about in my last few blog posts to you.

Here’s the thing, though…

I know lots of people who scale similar types of offers…

Get to a 10% profit margin…

Then don’t know if that’s good or not…

And they run the offer for a whole year or even two years…

Thinking they are killing it…

When really, they could have made 3x to 4x as much as they did.

I made that mistake with my own health supplement company for the first two years…

And I still kick myself to this day for not realizing how much profit I was leaving on the table during that time.

I can’t do anything about the past, though…

But I can do something about the present.

Which is why I’ve been cracking the whip about getting our new upsells live…

Because those are going to increase our margins significantly.

[P.S. They were supposed to go live on Monday but didn’t, but they are going live today, thank God.]

Or, to take yet another example…

There’s inventory management.

You generally only have a limited amount of inventory, right?

Well, when you start scaling really fast…

What generally happens is that first, you’re just thrilled and excited.

You keep thinking, “oh sh*t I’m gonna be rich”…

Then suddenly, it strikes you…

With the number of sales you’re doing…

You’re gonna run out of inventory super fast!

So you call your manufacturer and you say, “hey we need more inventory NOW”…

And they tell you, “okay well we can get on it, but it’ll probably take 4-8 weeks.”

Suddenly you’re in a crunch.

You just got momentum…

But now, you’re realizing that in a matter of a few days…

Or maybe a few weeks…

You’re going to need to pause everything…

And kill your momentum until more inventory arrives.

Pausing is the enemy of scaling.

And once you kill your momentum it’s a huge pain to get it back…

Yet this happens to offer owners again-and-again.

Fortunately for us, though…

Me and Jeff (operations) recognized this issue early enough…

So we were able to figure out an inventory solution that enables us to keep running at volume without having to stop.

It’s kind of a complex solution, but it’ll work…

And there’s no way we would have pulled it off if it wasn’t for our experience.

Honestly, I could keep going here…

There’s managing merchant processing – I lost $2MM in profit two years ago when a MID shut down, I’ll tell you that story sometime…

Managing compliance – We need to consistently revise our claims to be less aggressive, while not sacrificing conversions…

Implementing analytics – it’s shocking how much better your business is when you really know your data…

Tech – load times, QA’ing, A/Bs, deployment, CRM selection, etc…

Plus, all of the stuff I’ve already been mentioning in my previous blog posts.

The point is, though…

That in the context of this offer…

I’m very thankful that I have the experience that I do…

Because it’s going to help us avoid a TON of pitfalls that otherwise would have been brutal.

In this specific context…

I get to act as a mentor to Cody…

And that’s something I’m really honored to do.

—

Remember, mentorship goes both ways…

Right now I’m considering joining a startup company in an advisory position (with equity)…

And this is something I truly believe will have a billion-dollar valuation in the next 5 years…

At least if we can execute.

I know that I can help get the company to $100MM…

But, if I do accept an advisory role…

Guess what one of the first things I’m going to do is?

I’m going to find a mentor who has taken a company from 9 figures to 10.

Fortunately, I have a few people in my network who have made that happen…

So that helps.

But, the point is…

I’m smart enough to know what I don’t know.

And I’m keenly aware that surest way to reach new heights…

Is to follow the guidance of someone who has already been where you want to go.

—

Okay, that’s it for today.

I got a pretty full and exciting day…

And feeling really grateful for all of the awesome opportunities that are in my life.

– SPG

P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.

The post On Mentorship first appeared on Stefan Georgi.

When I was 18, I thought I was going to become a professional poker player.

This was in 2004…

Which is the year after Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker Main Event…

And started a huge poker craze that swept the world.

Suddenly, poker was all over television…

The World Poker Tour launched…

And all of these poker players became celebrities and household names.

I LOVED it.

I was obsessed with poker…

I bought dozens of books on poker strategy and read them all…

And I would go play every chance I’d get.

On Mondays and Fridays during my senior year of high school, I had lunch, then a free period, then astronomy (which was a class you could easily ditch).

So I would leave school at the start of lunch…

Drive to one of the Indian Casinos (about thirty-minutes away)…

Play poker for about an hour-and-a-half…

Then make it back to school in time for the last class of the day.

And, that was just during school hours.

Every weekday…

I’d come home from school at around 3 pm…

Take a two-hour nap…

Wake up, drink a cup of coffee, and have dinner with my parents…

Then drive to the Barona Indian Casino at around 6 pm…

And play until 9 pm or 10 pm.

Sounds kind of nuts, but this was a very happy time in my life.

I treasured those thirty-minute drives to the casino each night…

I’d listen to new albums from start to finish…

And my mind would wander all over the place, as I dreamed of the future and wondered what it held in store.

As for the poker itself…

I had a pretty hard rule…

Which was that I’d play until I’d either won $200 or I’d lost $200.

The vast majority of the time I won…

Especially because, back then, poker was so popular that you had all of these inexperienced people coming into the card room…

Wanting to “give this poker thing a try“…

And so, by virtue of just knowing what you were doing…

It was hard to lose.

(One time I cleaned out the local TV News Anchor and he cussed about me being some 18 year old kid. Another time Joe Pesci was at my table –I didn’t get in any big hands with him, but at least back then he wasn’t all that good).

But even when I did get a “bad beat” and lost money…

I wouldn’t chase the loss…

I’d just get up and walk away.

The end result of all this, was that by the time I graduated high school…

I’d set up a second checking account at Bank of America that was only for my poker winnings…

And it had something like $7,000 in it.

—

Part of the reason I’m sharing all of this is simply because it’s fun to reminisce…

But I do also think there are a few lessons you can take from my story too:

1. The best way to get really good at something is to become obsessed with it. From the time I was 17, I began devouring every single poker book I could get my hands on. While my friends were off getting high in parking lots during the weekend, I was studying poker or playing. As a result, I pretty much always beat my friends. But, I also almost pretty much always beat strangers too. I give copywriters this advice all the time: if you want to be a legendary copywriter, then become obsessed with being the best at your craft. Don’t worry about money or notoriety. Worry about being the best. If you’re better than everyone else, the rest will follow.

1. Good habits are so valuable. I think one of the main reasons I was so successful with playing poker that year was my two-hour nap. It sounds kind of funny for a high school senior to be obsessed with his nap. But it made a huge difference to me. I always woke up feeling well rested, and I think that gave me a boost of mental energy which then carried over to the poker table at night.
2. Have a system. I wrote about systems a few emails back. But it’s worth noting that I had a system when it came to how I approached wins and losses. My $200 rule. It served me really well. Sometimes I’d go to the card room with friends and see them chase their losses. They’d end up losing $800, or $1,000, and then be legitimately broke. I never got in a situation like that because I stuck to my system. The upside was limited for sure, but so was the downside. And for me, at that time in my life where I couldn’t afford to take any “big” losses – it made a lot of sense.
3. We all have our own definitions of happiness. What I did my senior year of high school was not very traditional. Some of my friends thought it was weird. I’d be at a kegger, then cut out after an hour to go play cards. Some people didn’t get it, but playing poker was when I was happiest. So, I’m proud of my 18-year-old-self for not trying to conform to other people’s standards of happiness, but instead following my own.
4. The importance of having something you love in your life. My senior year of high school I’d still go to parties, have beers with friends, and all that stuff. But in general, having poker in my life kept me out of a lot of trouble. I didn’t over-drink, I didn’t do drugs, I didn’t get into fights, I didn’t engage in super risky behavior. I had something meaningful in my life, and that kept me focused.

Contrast this to after I graduated high school and went to college in Boulder, Colorado. Suddenly, I didn’t have poker and I was getting stoned all day long, drinking all day long, flunking classes, and feeling miserable (I dropped out after a semester). I don’t think it’s a coincidence that once I became disconnected from my biggest hobby/passion, I also became disconnected from life in general and was unhappy.

—

Okay, that’s about it on poker for now.

As usual, I’m going to be going to get Eden up pretty soon…

We’re starting potty training with her today…

Which apparently means her running around naked and shitting all over the floors until she figures out how a toilet works.

So, that’ll be fun.

Other than that…

I’ll be watching playoff football, too…

And just so you know, I’m a HUGE Eagles fan today.

Why?

I own a small percentage of a Sports Agency called Dynamic Sports Group…

And one of our players is a guy named Boston Scott, who is a Running Back for the Eagles.

Boston started the year on the Eagle’s practice squad…

But, due to a series of injuries to other running backs…

He eventually got brought onto the active roster…

And then, last week he started for the Eagles in a do-or-die game…

Where if they won, they made the playoffs, and if they lost their season was done.

Well, Boston went OFF…

He almost single-handedly won the game for the Eagles…

And he was even awarded the NFC Player of the Week Award…

Which is the first time one of our athletes has ever gotten that.

I’m really excited for Boston…

And, if you happen to watch the game today…

Feel free to cheer extra hard for him too.

– SPG

P.S. My bet on the Patriots yesterday didn’t work out. But I did have an awesome day. The Golden Knights game was a blast (we won in overtime), and dinner at Twist was delicious. The Chef was actually in the restaurant (he has multiple 3 Michelin Star Restaurants in Europe and he’s usually overseas), so we got to briefly meet him which was really special. And, what was even more special was getting to spend all of that quality time with Laura. I’m pretty damn lucky to be able to say that my wife is also my best friend!

P.P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.

The post Ditching High School to Play Poker first appeared on Stefan Georgi.

I honestly didn’t know what I was going to write about today…

So, I’m just going to share what’s going on in my copywriting career with you 🙂

• This morning I got a text from Nick Daniel saying that the new offer I did for Vshred/Sculpt Nation is looking really strong. That has me stoked. I can’t say what the offer is because Nick wants time to be able to scale it and not get knocked off. But hopefully, you’ll see it everywhere pretty soon 🙂
• Then on Skype, I heard from my ex-business partner’s team that the Vision offer I did for them is starting to really take off. Stoked about that and excited for the royalties on this one, as they are not insignificant.
• Cody and I have a weight loss offer that tested insanely well internally. Today is the first day we’ve had an external affiliate send for it and it’s looking great there. We also got a toned-down version to an FB Affiliate of ours and he’s seeing if he can get it approved. If he can, that’s going to be a tsunami of sales, so fingers crossed.
• I heard from the Golden Hippo team that the sales letter I wrote for a new product is finally starting to get tested. This one was a pain in the butt because of the spokesperson involved (not Dr. Gundry but someone else). The fact that it’s finally seeing the light of day though is really exciting, so fingers-crossed there as well!
• A friend of mine is running that Lift Factor offer on FB again. It was dormant for a while because I found the offer owner impossible to work with. My friend is now going direct with the offer owner so that the headache is gone. And the good news is that because I’m the one who connected them, my friend is giving me a second-tier affiliate comm on it (so I get a small CPA with each sale). Considering my friend is currently doing between 600-1,000 sales a day with this offer, I’m pretty pleased about that!
• GS-85 volume is back up, which is great since my agency gets a commission on every sale.
• The new promo I delivered to Lee Euler and Jeremey Hunsicker came out really strong. I got an email from Jeremey yesterday saying that they both loved it and think I’ve created a big winner. Only testing and data will say for certain, but I’ve got a good feeling. And what’s cool, is that the offer is loaded with nasty hooks, but I didn’t mention diabetes one time. Instead, it’s all about erratic blood sugar and glucose support, etc. So, the risk profile should be a lot lower than other offers in the space.
• I’ve got several more offers I wrote, or am involved with, that are being rolled out over the next few weeks, and I’m excited to see how they do. I’ll report back on those and I’ll be honest if any of them tank or bomb too lol.

Hopefully, this doesn’t come across as a brag post…

But it’s important to celebrate the wins.

Especially in the world of freelance copywriting…

Which can be a bit of a rollercoaster, at times.

This morning, though…

I’m feeling a lot of optimism.

I’ve got a bunch of good stuff happening…

A bunch of things that are working…

And I’m excited, motivated, and grateful.

—

That’s about it for today.

Laura is up now, and I’m sure Eden will be getting up before long too.

We’re going to that hockey game later today (Go Knights, go!)…

Then having dinner at Twist.

Last night’s dinner was really nice as well…

And, I’m excited to spend an action-packed day with Laura and continue her birthday celebration.

– SPG

P.S. A while back I shared a survey of all the offers I wrote in 2019 along with how they did. If you’re new to my blog and you want to read it, click here.

P.P.S. I think I’m going put a decent-sized bet on the Patriots today. They’re -4 and while I don’t think they are making the Super Bowl this year, I do think they’re going to beat up the Titans. Let me know if you think I’m crazy.

P.P.P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.

The post These Offers Are Working So Far In 2020 first appeared on Stefan Georgi.

When I was 22 years old, I spent a weekend in New Orleans with my girlfriend at the time.

Overall, the trip was fine…

But, I remember how, after one particularly large meal…

I was so uncomfortably full…

That I started being extremely irritable and grumpy…

And didn’t want to do ANYTHING afterwards…

Except go back to the hotel and go to bed.

And, that night…

As I was there in bed…

Hating my gurgling stomach and trying to fall asleep

I started thinking about how often this sort of thing happened.

Where, after big meals, I’d feel PISSED…

And it occurred to me that food wasn’t supposed to make you feel this way.

In that moment, I resolved to stop overeating…

And, that once I was full, I’d push my plate away and that would be it.

Now, this might not sound like a big deal…

But it was actually a paradigm shift for me:

Some of my earliest memories are of sitting at the dining room table of my Italian grandfather…

Eating angel hair pasta, meatballs, and sponge cake…

And my grandpa saying, “mangia, mangia”…

Which in Italian means, “eat, eat.”

If I didn’t finish my entire plate of food, my grandpa would be disappointed…

So, I’d finish my plate, pretty much every time.

And, what’s funny is how something small like that can stay with you for a lifetime.

Because until that weekend in New Orleans…

I’d overeat all of the time.

And I always felt so crappy afterward.

Yet somehow, it never occurred to me to just not eat as much.

When it did finally occur to me…

It was crazy.

My whole dynamic with food changed.

Suddenly I ENJOYED going out to eat again.

I lost weight, had more energy, and was just generally happier.

Plus, my relationships with people improved.

—

Now, the reason I bring his up is because in the last year I’ve started to relapse a little bit.

Most of the time I still don’t overeat…

But, when I’m at a really nice restaurant…

I will.

This is especially true at places with celebrated chefs, where they bring you multiple courses, and where the final check is eye-popping.

At places like those…

I’ll feel like I MUST eat everything…

Otherwise, it would be wasteful.

Both from a food perspective, and a monetary one.

Guess what, though?

Halfway through these meals, I become miserable…

And by the end, I’m a total, grumpy dick.

The first time it happened was when I took Laura to Joel Robuchon for her birthday – almost a year ago, exactly…

But then, it happened again a few weeks back…

When Laura and I ate at a restaurant called Addison, in San Diego.

The food was amazing…

But the dinner was three hours long.

And by the midway point, I was complaining and rolling my eyes and acting like a whiny little kid.

It must have sucked for Laura…

Yet, I didn’t learn my lesson.

Because last Saturday, we ate at a restaurant called Guy Savoy, in Las Vegas…

And sure enough – it happened again.

Now, with Guy Savoy, this was our second time eating there…

And one of the reasons I suggested it was because the first time we went to Guy Savoy…

I hadn’t felt that full after.

So, I figured it would be the same thing.

Except this time, we were even more decadent.

They had a truffle risotto appetizer that was separate from the five-course meal we’d ordered…

So we added that into the mix…

And, between courses I kept wolfing down piece-after-piece of super hearty bread – when normally I don’t eat bread at all.

Well, predictably…

Towards the end of the meal…

I was being a total prick again.

Just whining about how full I was, how crappy I felt, how miserable I was – I wouldn’t shut up.

It was so unfair to Laura.

This should have been quality time together.

We’re at this world-famous restaurant, eating world-class cuisine – which is something we both normally really enjoy doing…

But here I am, just being an asshole.

It sucked.

And then, finally, towards the end of dinner…

I remembered that weekend in New Orleans in my early twenties…

And how, if I wanted to stop feeling this way…

It was as simple as exercising a bit more self-control…

And just eating less.

I didn’t need to eat the bread…

And I didn’t need to finish every plate.

Is that wasteful? I guess a little.

But, if it means that I feel good mentally and physically…

And am able to have more meaningful quality time with the woman I love…

Then it seems like it’s a worthwhile tradeoff.

So, from now on, that’s what I’m going to do.

I’ve re-committed myself to not overeating, no matter how fancy or expensive the meal.

And, one of the reasons I’m sharing this all with you is because…

There’s actually a really profound copywriting lesson here:

Positivity is great…

But pain is almost always the best motivator.

That’s why bringing up pain points in your sales copy is so important…

And why you shouldn’t be afraid to poke or prod those pain points again-and-again…

Until your prospect is agitated enough to take action.

Most of us don’t make big changes when things are going great, or even “okay”…

We make big changes when things are miserable, and we know something’s gotta give.

Well, if you’ve positioned the product or service correctly in your sales letter…

Then your prospect shouldn’t be thinking about just “buying a solution”…

They should be thinking about how they are investing in a fundamental change in their lives.

A change in their situation, their health, their wealth, their relationships, or something else.

They’re giving you their hard-earned money for a chance to make the pain go away.

You’re selling change.

And whether you like it or not…

Making someone feel pain is often the fastest way to lead them to that change.

—

Okay, that’s it for today.

I had to fight the urge to add all of these “First World Problems” or “Hashtag Blessed” disclaimers into this article…

But I’m not going to do that…

Because if the idea of me eating at expensive restaurants and not finishing each course is triggering to you…

That’s a YOU problem, not a ME one 🙂

– SPG

P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.

The post How Indigestion can Make You a Better Copywriter first appeared on Stefan Georgi.

At the start of the previous decade, I was in Pensacola, Florida.

Well, that’s where I spent most of my time…

Though on New Year’s Eve I was in Park City, Utah, at a party with my parents and their friends…

Telling everyone that I was going to law school after I graduated from college.

That was the plan.

I’d taken the LSAT, applied to several law schools, and been accepted at the University of Miami.

It seemed like a perfect fit because I loved the tropical climate of South Florida…

And, being a lawyer – that was prestigious.

Lawyers made lots of money…

So, despite having been a bit “lost” for stretches of my life since turning 18…

(attended CU Boulder for a semester then dropped out, worked a stretch of minimum wage jobs, struggled with both a weed and cocaine addiction, started a music company with raised capital and failed, decided I missed learning and enrolled in Junior College, transferred to UWF, reconnected with nature, discovered philosophy, finally found my place)…

It looked like I’d end up being a respectable member of society after all.

Internally though, I was having my doubts.

I graduated from college in May, of 2010.

And, by June…

I’d written the University of Miami to tell them I wasn’t going to be attending.

Why?

I knew in my heart that I’d be going to law school for all the wrong reasons.

I’d be doing it because being a lawyer “sounded” impressive…

And because they made lots of money…

But I’d probably be miserable.

Especially with the insanely long hours…

And the fact that I just wasn’t all that interested in law.

I also knew there was a good chance I’d drop out of law school before finishing…

And the idea of taking on another $150,000 in debt…

For something, I wasn’t that passionate about…

It wasn’t a risk I wanted to take.

So, I didn’t go.

And, for a time, it seemed like a questionable decision.

I couldn’t find any jobs in Pensacola…

So I ended up working on a failed congressional campaign in Houma, Louisiana…

But left before Election Day.

When the leadership decided we needed to spend less time out in the community…

And more time cold-calling Cajuns to see who they were voting for…

Which meant using an autodialer to make 200-300 phone calls a day from a stuffy room with little AC or natural light.

When I quit, I was told by the campaign director that I would never work in politics again.

But I didn’t care.

And I drove from Houma directly back to San Diego…

Where I moved in with mom and dad…

And started looking for work.

After that happened…

There was a stretch of time where I worked as a promotional model/brand ambassador…

Which I actually did really enjoy…

Except, it wasn’t permanent.

You’d get good pay for a few days, but then the event was over…

And you were back to scrambling for your next gig.

This was followed by my time working at a for-profit, online college…

Where I’d cold call people and try to get them to take on massive amounts of debt to pursue a worthless degree…

Which also didn’t feel very good…

Because I knew that, statistically…

Over 80% of the people who I convinced to enroll in the college…

Wouldn’t end up completing their degree program and would just be saddled in debt.

There were stretches of depression…

Then, one of the happiest times of my life.

The four months I spent living in a double-wide trailer in Marble Falls, Texas…

Teaching kids about nature at a place called The Outdoor School.

That was followed by my dad’s cancer diagnosis, death, and more depression…

And then, a fateful trip to Las Vegas after my dad died…

Where I sat down to a poker table…

Met Laura Catella…
And found out what copywriting was for the first time.

Many of you have heard the story by now.

Someone asked her what she did for a living…

She said, “I’m a writer”…

I asked, “what kind of writer?”…

She said, “I’m a copywriter”…

And I said, “that’s awesome.” Then, pulled out my phone and Googled “what’s a copywriter,” because I had no idea.

That was the beginning of a major turning point in my life.

But, it didn’t happen overnight.

First, there was one last corporate job, this one back in South Florida.

Me working on several business ideas that didn’t take off…

And then, me finally trying out “this copywriting thing” for myself…

And realizing people would actually pay me to write for them.

That was the “A-HA!” moment.

And I quit my corporate job less than 30 days after that.

But, it still wasn’t all roses from there…

There were times where I’d have to pawn musical instruments or my Xbox to pay rent…

Tons of mistakes I made (starting an agency then becoming trapped in it)…

Laura and I both doing shady shit behind each other’s backs…

And just more growing up that needed to happen.

Finally, things started to click in 2014 when I began writing for the guys at Lion’s Publishing full-time.

It was only then that I knew I’d developed competency and a skill-set that would ensure I’d never be broke again.

And after that, there was a health supplement company that went from $0 to $23MM in two years…

Several other successful brands I partnered in…

Then more recently, Copy Accelerator with Justin Goff…

Creating this email list…

Starting to teach more…

Marrying Laura…

And the birth of our beautiful daughter, Eden Rose.

Plus more mistakes too.

Don’t think the mistakes stopped after 2014 LOL…

I’ve continued to make plenty…

Including the affiliate network, I created in 2017, thinking I was genius…

And that’s cost me at least $1.5 MM between 2017-2019.

I’ll give you a whole email about that damned affiliate network at some point…

But, the point is…

It’s been quite the decade.

And I guess I’m just feeling sentimental and wanted to write about it.

I also want to make the point that nothing is permanent…

And while it can feel like things aren’t moving in the right direction, or like you’re stuck…

The truth is that change is the only constant.

A single year can be impactful…

But a decade?

You’re virtually guaranteed not to be the same person at the end of a decade as you were at the start.

And, for me personally…

I’m so thankful for the last decade.

Even with all of the ups and downs…

Because this last decade is where I finally became a fully realized human being…

Where I went from an unguided missile…

To a mission-driven man.

Of course, I’ll still continue to evolve…

I have no doubt that there will be numerous lessons I’ll need to learn in the new decade as well – some easy but some hard and painful…

And, I can tell you that there are still plenty of areas in my life where I want to improve too.

But I’m entering this decade with a profound sense of confidence…

Along with an unbridled optimism…

And for that, I’m incredibly grateful.

– SPG

P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.

The post Reflections on the Last Decade first appeared on Stefan Georgi.

December 24^th, 2014 – Disney stock traded at around $95 a share

December 24^th, 2015 – Disney stock traded at around $105 a share

December 25^th, 2016 – Disney stock traded at around $105 a share

December 22^nd, 2017 – Disney stock traded at around $108 a share

December 28^th, 2018 – Disney stock traded at around $107 a share

At the time I’m writing this, on December 24^th, 2019 – Disney stock is trading at around $145 a share…

And I just bought 140 shares of Disney for roughly $20,000 in total.

Now, this isn’t investment advice. Maybe I’m an idiot, maybe it’ll be a great investment, I have no idea…

But here’s why I just bought some Disney Stock…

And, why I may buy significantly more if the price goes down…

Storytelling.

You see, I started this morning thinking about how Disney’s best days may be behind it…

How maybe it’s overvalued or how it will be hard for Disney’s next decade to better than its last.

After all.

The most recent Star Wars movie is underperforming and has mixed reviews, what if the Star Wars resurgence of the last decade is coming to a close?

And, with the end of the Avengers Franchise, what if Marvel Studios already peaked and the next several Marvel Movies tank?

Frozen 2 was a smash, but what if the next few Pixar movies don’t connect with audiences?

Or, what if Disney+ loses subscribers over time for some unforeseen reason?

These are all worries…

But there’s one simple counterweight that, for me, trumps all of these concerns…

Disney has a near-monopoly on the 21^st century’s stories and mythology.

Let’s remember something very important:

Human beings love stories.

And, especially mythical stories.

Ones that are easy to understand.

Full of good vs. evil…

And that impart some lesson without making us think too hard to understand it.

Well, after spending $71BN to acquire 21^st Century Fox…

Disney has got to be the largest “owner” of stories in history.

Not only do they own existing stories from:

Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Walt Disney Studio, 21^st Century Fox, and more…

They own the rights to those universes and all of the lore that comes with them.

This means they have cart blanche to continue to expand our modern mythologies…

And they can retell and recast this existing mythology in infinite ways.

Disney has a limitless pool of stories to work with.

And, that’s why I’m betting that in the long-run, Disney is still massively undervalued…

Because as much as things are going to change in the 2020s… the 2030s… and beyond…

It’s hard to imagine a world where the human brain stops being wired to crave and respond to stories.

And Disney has a tremendous leg-up against all of its other competitors…

By owning the vast majority of the most recognized stories in human history.
—

One more semi-obvious note on this:

Storytelling almost always wins in marketing and direct response sales copy too.

Meaning, if you have a story-driven lead for a sales letter and a fact-based lead…

The story lead will come out on top 95% of the time…

Provided it’s the RIGHT story.

That’s the thing with Disney – they have the “right” stories… stories that are proven.

But, when it comes to your sales copy…

If you’ve tested a story lead, and it bombed…

There’s a good chance that it’s not because your market doesn’t like stories…

It’s because the story you chose just didn’t resonate enough.

Semi-obvious, but the marketing tidbit here is:

Test multiple story angles for your offers whenever possible.

—

K that’s it.

Gonna go get Eden up in a minute.

I’m at my mom’s house in San Diego.

This afternoon more family is coming over…

And I’m really excited for Eden to get to play with her cousins.

In my family, we’ve always had our big holiday celebration on Christmas Eve…

And we have some traditions I’m also pretty stoked about…

Almost all of which are food-based LOL.

My cousin, Laura, makes Italian wedding soup using a recipe that’s my great-great-grandma’s…

My cousin, Joe, makes an antipasto that’s a recipe of his great grandfather…

And my mom makes two types of lasagna, both following recipes that have been in my family for at least 100 years (probably a lot longer).

So, yeah…

I fully expect to be in a food coma later tonight…

And I’m really excited about it.

For those on my list who celebrate Christmas, I hope you all have an amazing evening with your loved ones as well!

– SPG

P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.

The post Why I Think Disney Will Own the Next Decade (Hint: It Has To Do With Storytelling) first appeared on Stefan Georgi.

Recently, I had lunch with my friend, Jason, and his business partner, Jon.  

Jason started running traffic to my Holy Land Health offers back in early 2016, and for a while, he was by far my biggest affiliate.

But, what’s funny is that for close to a year, I didn’t actually know Jason’s identity. 

Instead, both me and my team at Holy Land Health only knew Jason as “1345,” because that was his sub ID on the affiliate network we were running with.

That changed in February of 2017 when Steven Patton, who was with the aforementioned network (Ad Health), introduced us directly. 

I give Steven a lot of credit for this, because at that point in my career with affiliates I didn’t really know as much as I do today. 

In other words…

I was fine running blind with a network, and I didn’t realize that I should be cultivating direct relationships with the actual affiliates (instead of just the networks). 

Steven helped change my thinking on this.

Especially because he felt like, given the amount of volume we were running together (millions of dollars), me and ol’ 1345 should be connected directly. That way if 1345 (aka Jason) needed changes made to pages, he could come straight to my team. 

After meeting in person for the first time, in a suite at T&C in February of 2017…

Jason continued to run traffic to the HLH offers for another six months or so…

And ultimately we did over $10MM in revenue together on HLH alone 

Then, when I wound down Holy Land Health in the summer of 2017…

Jason and I maintained a good relationship. 

He and his partner, Jon, came to my copy intensive in Vegas in 2018.

He’ll still occasionally run an offer that I bring him…

And sometimes, we just connect on Skype to talk business and catch up.  

When we had lunch yesterday, it was the first time I’d seen Jason in close to a year.

It was a really nice time.

None of us (Jason/Jon/Me) had any agenda…

It was more just a bunch of war buddies catching up.

The conversation hit on a wide range of topics including:  

• The crazy stuff my call center is doing and how with rising ad costs, it’s more vital than ever to sell more to your existing customers 
• The next big frontiers of media buying (Jon says YouTube, Jason says ConnectedTV)…
• The Copy Accelerator Mastermind (Jason and Jon may come to our event in February and be on our Media Buying Panel)…
• The best places to live in San Diego…

Plus lots more…

And, throughout our whole conversation…

The one thing that really stood out to me… 

Was that no matter how “permanent” things seem at the time…

They almost always change. 

For example…

We talked about a guy I’ll call GC. 

He’s an affiliate who ran several million dollars’ worths of CBD traffic for me and a partner 2017, then freaked out because he thought maybe he’d go to jail for selling drugs (he didn’t LOL). 

The guy’s a total beast, though…

And today he spends his time building up eComm brands…

And has a connected TV Company that he’s pushing towards a large exit. 

We talked about Jason Akatiff. 

Akatiff owns an affiliate network called A4D, and he’s very much an OG in our space. 

It was cool hearing how Akatiff has really found his passion for building up eComm brands and scaling them. His affiliate network is still chugging along, but Akatiff doesn’t put most of his focus there. Instead, he’s really enjoying the product development side of things.  

Jason then asked me about an ex-partner in some health businesses named Dane. 

I told him how Dane and his new partner are doing extremely well with their health offers. They’ve dialed in their numbers, figured out how to be profitable at scale, and are chugging along. 

Next, we talked about Nick, Vince, and Kevin from VShred and Sculpt Nation. 

These guys came up because we were talking about how so many people say they’re going to build a real brand, but never actually do.   

Well, Nick and the gang have actually pulled it off. 

Now they have a nine-figure brand that is just exploding.

So, these guys are a great example of how building something “real” can be much more rewarding than just doing a “money grab.” 

Then there’s Steven Patton, the guy who is responsible for introducing me and Jason in the first place. 

Jason told me about how Patton is making a transition from his current role and shifting gears. He’s sick of the CPA game, and he wants to pivot to CPM and email stuff. I don’t blame Steven – the guy’s been doing CPA for a long time and burnout happens. 

Plus, we talked about Jason himself.  

When I first met Jason, he was running a media buying team that was focused on running offers on the big ad networks.

Two years ago, he started a publishing company that creates and sells children’s books. It’s called Puppy Dogs and Ice Cream, and it’s a multi-million-dollar book empire that most of us have never heard of. 

This is now by far the main focus of Jason and his team. They still run a few offers here and there, but about 90% of their time goes towards growing their book company. 

They have tons of SKUs, and Jason recently sent my daughter, Eden, a huge bundle of their books in the mail, which she loved.

I’m also really happy for Jason because it’s obvious he truly loves this business. 

Honestly, that’s just a fraction of what we talked about.

But, the reason I felt inspired to write this email to you today is because our conversation reminded me of a simple but profound fact:

Everyone and everything changes over time…

And that’s important to remember for at least three big reasons: 

1. Don’t define people by what they’re doing at any given moment in time. It’s smarter to have a flexible mental model of people. To understand that just because they are doing “X” today, doesn’t mean they won’t be doing “Y” tomorrow. 

2. Tangentially, this is why relationships and networks are so important. And why I go out of my way to have relationships with everyone I meet, no matter if they are “big” or “small” in their industry, and no matter if we seem to have nothing in common. Just because that’s the case today, doesn’t mean there won’t be some incredible synergy a few years down the road. 

3. It’s helpful to remember that change is a constant in your own life too. And to embrace that. This is valid regardless of whether you’re crushing it right now, or you’re in a personal hell. In both cases, there’s going to be an “endpoint.” That doesn’t mean you can’t keep crushing it, but it does mean whatever you’re doing will eventually change. And it’s really helpful to remember this when you’re going through a rough spot. No matter how “stuck” you feel – the truth is that your hardship will ultimately pass. 

I feel like there’s a lot more I could write about all of this…

But the sun is just coming up over the Pacific ocean, and I want to watch. 

Then, I’m going to be waking up Eden and spending a bit of morning time with her. 

And at around 9 am, I’ll be heading to the “day office” I rented at a Regus that’s just down the street to get some work done. 

Workwise, here are my biggest objectives for the day: 

• Work on a sales letter I’m doing for a client (want to be at least 50% done with the copy)…
• Take care of a few things for Copy Accelerator…
• Have an hour-long Zoom call with the leadership of my call center to discuss 2020 strategy.  

Then this afternoon, we’ll be taking Eden to my mom’s house (aka grandma’s), where she’ll be spending the night. 

And this evening, Laura and I have a dinner date, which I’m really excited about. 

So it should be a busy day! 

-SPG

P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.

The post Lunch With a Multi-Million-Dollar Affiliate (My Big Realization) first appeared on Stefan Georgi.

Here’s an obvious but profound application of the 80-20 Rule as it applies to sales:

For anyone who sells anything – no matter if you’re a copywriter, a sales rep, a real estate agent, a retailer, an agency owner, or something else…

If you put in 20% more effort than the average person in your field…

You will automatically be more successful than at least 80% of those people.

Because here’s a boring secret…

The key to success really is just showing up and actually giving a f**k.

Truly it is.

But, ever since I first went out on my own as a freelancer back in early 2012…

I’ve been continuously shocked by how many people don’t seem to actually care about making the sale.

Here’s the story that triggered this thought:

Yesterday, I emailed a real estate agent about a beach house I saw that’s for rent. It’s in a great location, but when I walked by it I noticed the “For Rent” sign also said “no pets.”

So, I emailed the agent and asked how firm the owner was on the no pets thing.

I also mentioned that if there was some flexibility and we liked the house, we’d be open to paying an extra $500 per month to have our two small cats there with us.

Then I finished the email by saying that if the owner of that house was adamant about no pets, then no big deal…

But to let me know if he (the agent) has any other properties in the surrounding area that would be worth looking at.

Here’s the agent’s reply:

“Owner will consider small dogs. That’s it. Sorry.”

Sweet.

It’s nice the guy responded back…

But it also seems like he just missed a big ol’ opportunity.

The rental I emailed about isn’t cheap…

And yet, I’m saying I would pay above market value if we could bring our cats…

So even if the answer is no, which is fine…

It seems like I might be the kind of client this guy would want to build a relationship with…

Because in our first interaction ever, I’m indicating that I don’t mind paying extra for things I want.

And then there’s the fact that he completely ignored my question about other listings…

Which is kind of nuts…

Because I just found the guy’s profile on Realtor.com a few minutes ago…

And the dude does have other listings…

Including a house that’s listed for $2.3MM, and that’s in the same area as where we want to eventually buy.

It honestly looks like a pretty nice home, and I’d be interested in seeing it…

But I’m certainly not going to go out of my way to email that guy about it now…

Especially when he was so unhelpful in his first reply.

Maybe I’d still email the guy if that house looked like my absolute dream home…

But it doesn’t.

It just looks like a house I’d be interested in seeing.

Still though…

If the agent had mentioned that house in his reply…

There would at least be a CHANCE that I’d go view it…

And there’d be a chance that I ended up really liking it and putting in an offer.

Probably not, but it would have been a possibility at least…

And like I said yesterday, sales is all a numbers game, right?

A 3% commission on a $2,300,000 listing is $69,000…

So it just seems like with that being the case…

The agent would want to show the house to as many qualified buyers as possible…

Until he gets a bite.

Apparently not, though…

And this agent’s behavior isn’t some one-off…

This kind of stuff is happening all of the time.

Here are just a few other things I’ve noticed when it comes to real estate:

1. For the beach houses listed on Zillow, about 25% of the time the agent doesn’t use a picture of the ocean as the listing’s main image.

That’s a huge mistake. People who are looking for oceanfront homes want to know that they’ll be able to see… the ocean! But by just including a random picture of the kitchen, they’re killing their “open rates.”

2. I’d say that for about 10% of the listings, the agent doesn’t write a description. And these are for expensive properties that have been on the market for a while.

3. Then there’s the super amateur photos that are used for some of the listings. We’re talking about rentals that are $10k per month or more… and houses that are $2MM+… Yet the photos look like my grandpa took them on his 1997 flip phone.

4. About 50% of the time when Laura and I call or text someone to inquire about a house, we don’t get a call back until a few days later. Sometimes we never hear back. In the realm of sales, and especially real estate, you’ve got to be fast, but a lot of these agents aren’t.

And conversely – if I was thinking about hiring a real estate agent to list my home, I’d first find one of their current listings and call them to inquire about it. This way, I could see how quickly the agent answers or respond to me and what their demeanor is. Then I’d probably go so far as to schedule a walkthrough of one of their listings where I pretend to be a potential buyer. That way I can see how the house is staged, how hard the agent works to sell the house, etc.

Most of us don’t do that though – we just get referred somebody by a friend and go with that agent, without knowing if they’re actually any good.

And that’s just real estate…

But let me give you a few more mind-blowing examples…

5. I fly private sometimes. About 25% of the time when I reach out to an agent or a broker for a quote, they don’t respond back. This includes brokers I’ve used in the past. This is pretty common too – a person does a great job the first time you work with them, but then aren’t as solid in subsequent interactions. That’s no good. Consistency is key.

6. I recently inquired about season tickets for the Las Vegas Raiders. Instead of calling me, the sales rep sent an email with some generic info + a link to view available seats. The package I was interested in would have cost $70,000. I asked the agent a question about this package and he did respond. But then that was it. If he’d followed up with me a few more times, there’s a decent chance I would have bought the package. I just needed some convincing.

7. A little while back, I had a freelancer friend who said he was struggling to get clients and having money problems. I introduced him to a dream client. The freelancer took two days to reply, and then asked if they could get on a call the following week. The dream client didn’t respond and I don’t blame them. They had an urgent pain point and the freelancer seemed like the kind of guy who moves slow. Not worth it to them.

8. One more. Back in early September I went to the dealership and looked at luxury cars. One of the cars I liked a lot was the Rolls Royce Dawn. It was a little over $403,000. After I left the dealership, I emailed the sales rep and asked him to do the math for me on a lease. If I put 10% down (so $40k), what would my monthly cost be over a 36 month lease, and with how many miles? The guy never responded back. I even double-checked a week later to make sure I had his address right, and I did.

Honestly, I could write another ten thousand words about this…

But I think you get the point:

A lot of the secret to success is just showing up.

You don’t have to be the best at what you do…

You just have to be better than most of your competition…

And the bar is pretty low.

K that’s it for today…

Hope everyone has an awesome Monday.

– SPG

P.S.

For the copywriters on my blog…

Showing up means proactive communication with clients, meeting deadlines when you say you will, and being responsive. That’s it. Simply do those things and you’ll have differentiated yourself from 90% of the other copywriters out there.

P.P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.

The post Why Most Salespeople Suck (And How You Can Be Better) first appeared on Stefan Georgi.

First of all…

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a great time last night celebrating…

And that you’re as pumped for 2020 as I am 🙂

On my end…

Laura and I went out to a local restaurant near our house…

Where they had a prix fixe menu, live band, and lots of champagne.

It was a nice time and relatively quiet…

We were in bed by 11:30 pm PST and watched the New Year’s Countdown on the local news…

Then went to sleep a bit after midnight.

Nothing crazy, but that’s how I like it lol.

—

Anyways, what we’re going to be talking about in today’s email…

Is how people want to be a part of something.

This may seem pretty obvious…

But it occurred to me last night…

As we were watching the local news coverage of all the people on the Las Vegas Strip.

The Strip was PACKED…

To the point where you couldn’t even walk ten steps in front of you. And the fact that it was less than 40 degrees outside didn’t seem to matter one bit to all the people who were there; they couldn’t have seemed happier.

To me, it looked like a nightmare…

But to those people on the Strip – it was a special, once in a lifetime opportunity.

They’d traveled from all over the country to be there…

Much in the way people travel to Time Square to watch the big ball drop.

To me Time Square on NYE seems even worse…

But to a lot of people…

It’s a bucket list moment they spend their whole lives dreaming of.

So I started thinking about the reason why people are like this…

And really, the answer was pretty obvious:

People want to be a part of something. They want to feel like they are witnessing history. They want to believe they are experiencing something significant. They want to matter. And they want their lives to matter.

And here’s the application of this to copywriting:

When you’re selling your product or service….

You should be inviting the prospect to become the hero of their own story. You can even call them a hero – I do that in my copy quite a bit. I’m pretty blatant about it.

As much as you can, make the purchasing decision a transcendental experience.

This isn’t just about grabbing a “solution.” This is about meeting your full potential in life. It’s about you taking the next step in your journey. It’s about you becoming a rebel, or a contrarian, or a leader, or a role model, or an advocate, or whatever it is you’ve always wanted to be.

It might sound simple…

But everyone wants to feel like they matter, like their experiences matter, and like their lives matter.

It’s the same reason social media is what it is…

It’s the chance for us to broadcast the very fact that we exist…

And when other people “like” or “comment” or “share” what we’ve posted…

It’s like they are explicitly saying “I see you and you matter.”

So again, when it comes to copywriting…

Make the reader feel important…

Like they’re the hero…

Like they are standing at a crossroads in life…

And their decision to “buy now” is their defining moment – the path they must choose.

In almost all cases, talk to the reader directly in the copy too….

Relate whatever you’re writing back to the reader…

Tell them that THEY EXIST.

How?

You can literally check in with them throughout your copy.

Use little phrases like:

• “Does that make sense?”
• “I’m sure you get what I’m saying”
• “Have you ever had a similar experience?”
• “You know what I mean?”
• “Now I want to make sure you and I are on the same page”

The list is infinite but they’re all just variations on the same idea:

Connecting with the reader…

Engaging with the reader…

And telling them that “you exist, and you matter.”

—

K, that’s it for today.

Eden and Laura are still both asleep as I write this…

And I’ll let Laura sleep in as much as she wants…

But I gotta go get Eden up in a minute and start our day!

– SPG

P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.

The post First Copywriting Lesson of 2020 first appeared on Stefan Georgi.