I just finished reading John Carlton’s Kick-Ass Copywriting Secrets Of A Marketing Rebel.
I haven’t read much about copywriting, but when I heard about this, I knew I had to read it.
A few weeks ago, I was relaxing at my house listening to a dating guy do Facebook Live, bantering and answering viewer questions.
Someone asked: “How can I learn sales and marketing?” My ears perked up.
The answer was: “Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel is the only book you need. If you can get your hands on it, DO IT, it’s not available on Amazon and you might have to track down a used copy from someone. It’s all the insider secrets that will take you to the next level.”
Now I was seriously interested. This book sounds like some kind of ancient tome that I’d have to retrieve from Temple of Doom. It’s 2017, what book is NOT on Amazon? What kind of weirdo writes a book and doesn’t sell it on the largest book platform in the universe?I asked some of my marketing friends about the book. They said “I have it. I won’t sell you mine. Buy your own.” I tracked down John’s websiteand instantly bought it. At $99, I had high expectations. This book DEFINITELY delivered. John is clearly an expert in the field AND is a great teacher. He doesn’t beat around the bush in order to get you to buy his coaching. John wants you to succeed. He doesn’t waste time running in circles with marketing vocabulary jargon nonsense.
This book is simple. It’s not a textbook, it’s more of a guidebook. With each chapter, John tells you what to do, explains why it works, then shows you actual examples.
Even if you aren’t a copywriter, or a marketer, this book will help you. There is basic sales psychology covered that would help every business, but it’s nothing too in depth. One of the chapters is called “An idiot’s Guide to Consumer Psychology,” how much simpler can you get?
Reading this book is like opening your eyes to the matrix. Now whenever I see an ad, I pick up touches of Carlton’s methods in each copy and headline.
It’s old school. It comes in a binder and is all paper. It is not sold as an eBook and is only sold on John Carlton’s website.
Overall I highly recommend it. Here are some of the nuggets I read that can be applied to all businesses.
Your Copy is Your Salesman
A recurring theme in the book is that “Your Copywriting is Your Salesman.” Far too often, people write like robots. When you talk to a car salesman, they ramble on and on about the 6 speed enhanced gearbox with dual clutch radiator alternators and 69hp 8.9cc exhaust pipes.
What does that mean? A good salesman doesn’t talk like a Repair Manual. A good salesman talks like…a real person!
One of the techniques John suggests is to literally listen to a salesman for your product and write down what he talks. Go through his exact sales spiel, write down what he says, and transcribe it into a longform sales pitch. Take the objections or questions from the customer and write them, too, like this:
“But Kevin, that goes against what my 10th grade English teacher told me.”
Good! You aren’t writing a term paper on Of Mice & Men. You’re making sales, and people relate to salesmen with personality!
If there’s anything I’ve learned from John Carlton it’s personality. Marketing Rebel is a great example of that, even down to the name. What kind of writer puts the words “Kick-Ass” in the title? John does, that’s who, and he doesn’t hold back from writing like he would talk.
Operation Moneysuck
Operation Moneysuck is the idea that, as John puts it, “will change your life forever” (he’s right). The principle of Operation Moneysuck is that there are MILLIONS of distractors that take you away from making money. These could be:
- Wife/girlfriend/significant other
- Dog, cat or pet turtle
- Going to the gym
- Cooking dinner
- Taking out the trash
- Vacuuming the apartment
- Paying taxes…the list goes on forever!
All of these activities are things that take you away from the most important task, which is making money!The truth is that most of these moneysuckers can be delegated to other people. You can hire a maid to clean the house. Hire a pet sitter to take care of your turtle. Hire an accountant to take care of your taxes.
These activities DO NOT make you money.
Throw money at these problems so you can focus on making more money. Having more money will often solve most problems.
You should only focus on activities that make YOU money!
I used this technique to write this blog post. There are a million little annoying fires I could be putting out right now, but they don’t make me money! What did I do instead? I locked myself in a room, turned on the house music, and ignored anything that didn’t make me money.
Backend Products
This is something I see everywhere, but I never stopped and thought about.
Backend products are products you sell AFTER you make the sale. In the words of John:
“Sell your ‘best foot forward’ product first. Then capitalize on your customer’s good will (which you’ve earned) and continuing passion for the same things you love and desire.”
In my mind, this relates to the classic line of “the best people to sell to, are people you’ve already sold to,” but taken ONE STEP further. Backend selling is the pack of gum and can of soda at the checkout line. You’ve already purchased some groceries, why not buy some gum too? It’s just a dollar.
For masterful examples of backend selling, check out what Russell Brunson does with his funnels. This is not an affiliate link for me to pitch ClickFunnels but it’s just a great example:
https://dotcomsecretsbook.com/get-it-free
- Free book – just pay shipping ($7.95)
- Once you click add to cart, you can add the audiobook for $37
After this, they start pitching their courses to you ($100 and up)This drives me crazy because it’s so counter intuitive. What’s the cost of the book? A few dollars for printing, storage, and shipping. What about the audiobook? Nothing! Why does Russell charge more for it? Because he can! The customer is already on board with the book, so why not pay a little bit more to hear the audio.Hell, even John Carlton practices this.In the text itself, John subtly mentions his insider’s circle, which gets access to personal advice from him.
On the back cover of Marketing Rebel are four simple ads for John’s other products!
This might seem corny at first…until it works. After I finished this book, I was so excited and pumped up that I considered buying all of John’s products. This can be applied to any kind of business, not just information products.
Overall, this was an amazing book, and I will be purchasing more of John’s training in the future.
5/5 Stars, highly recommend. Click here to buy.
P.S. Months after the initial review, this is still my go-to guide for writing sales copy. Whenever I’m stuck, I crack open the table of contents, find the section I need help with, and like clockwork…John puts me back on track. Kick-ass.