Seems the squad at Copyblogger has been inspired by David Ogilvy’s (and William Maynard’s) infamous quote again. “‘Most good copywriters…fall into two categories. Poets. And killers. Poets see an ad as an end. Killers as a means to an end.’ If you are both killer and poet, you get rich.”
In their plans for what to write and teach in the new year, Sonia and Brian Clark considered these two words, “killer” and “poet.” According to these content pros, it’s the marriage of these two mentalities that create the best marketers, ones that can master the 3 skills presented in today’s Listen.
Amazing insights in this one — jump to 02:00 to get started.
- (03:10) How Ogilvy’s quote captures what makes a commercial writer actually succeed (04:00) Writing as the core of Content Marketing
- (04:40) Why writing created by a purely “killer” mentality is so “horrible”
- (05:10) Why it’s a silly (and expensive) mistake to try to promote a business with cheap, crummy content
- (05:15) Why no one wants to read “killer”-based writing
- (06:35) What it means to be a “poet” today
- (06:55) Why Sonia and Brian think 2018 will be the year of the Word Nerd
- (07:15) Most important quality of a “poet”
- (09:05) The best way to stand out from all the crappy content
- (09:45) 3 killer skills to master
- (10:25) #1: Copy strategy. Find the right words for the right person at the right time… Guide people through the buying journey/prompt their behavior
- (11:25) #2: Analytics. Discovering, interpreting, and communicating meaningful patterns (11:55) How (and why) to get over your fear of analytics
- (12:40) #3: Marketing technology
- (12:50) Why a technology-first approach can actually kill your content strategy.
- (13:10) Why you must use such tools to enhance the experience, not lead the experience.
- (13:30) How the move toward personalized website experiences is a huge opportunity for writers
- (14:20) The rise of “hybrid” marketers
