You may find the sheer amount of “tips and tricks” about copywriting out there to be damn-well overwhelming.
It can be difficult to know which advice is terrible and which advice is legit.
Thankfully, there are giants out there whose shoulders you can stand on.
Joe Sugarman was a legendary old-school copywriter who wrote the classic “Adweek Copywriting Handbook”. In it, he helpfully bundled up his powerfully distilled lessons into bite-sized “axiom” morsels.
Read and implement these 15 axioms most ricky-tick. Like yesterday.
The Sugarman Copywriting Axioms
These are all directly from “the Adweek Copywriting Handbook” with some minor formatting edits.
Axiom 1
Copywriting is a mental process the successful execution of which reflects the sum total of all your experiences,your specific knowledge and your ability to mentally process that information and transfer it onto a sheet of paper for the purpose of selling a product or service.
Axiom 2
All the elements in an advertisement are primarily designed to do one thing and one thing only: get you to read the first sentence of the copy.
Axiom 3
The sole purpose of the first sentence in an advertisement is to get you to read the second sentence.
Axiom 4
Your ad layout and the first few paragraphs of your ad must create the buying environment most conducive to the sale of your product or service.
Axiom 5
Get the reader to say yes and harmonize with your accurate and truthful statements while reading your copy.
Axiom 6
Your readers should be so compelled to read your copy that they cannot stop reading until they read all of it as if sliding down a slippery slide.
Axiom 7
When trying to solve problems, don’t assume constraints that aren’t really there.
Axiom 8
Keep the copy interesting and the reader interested through the power of curiosity.
Axiom 9
Never sell a product or service. Always sell a concept.
Axiom 10
The incubation process is the power of your subconscious mind to use all your knowledge and experiences to solve a specific problem, and its efficiency is dictated by time, creative orientation, environment, and ego.
Axiom 11
Copy should be long enough to cause the reader to take the action you request.
Axiom 12
Every communication should be a personal one,from the writer to the recipient, regardless of the medium used.
Axiom 13
The ideas presented in your copy should flow in a logical fashion, anticipating your prospect’s questions and answering them as if the questions were asked face-to-face.
Axiom 14
In the editing process, you refine your copy to
express exactly what you want to express with the fewest words.
Axiom 15
Selling a cure is a lot easier than selling a preventive, unless the preventive is perceived as a cure or the curative aspects of the preventive are emphasized.
Final thought
I highly suggest you save this into your notes for quick reference.
Maybe you should print this and post it on your wall.
Or just buy the damn book. You won’t regret it.
Con amor.
Always be kind.
Papi.
PS
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