The headless horseman of headlines
Published: Sun, 10/06/19
One of my favorite Halloween cartoons is the Disney one about the Headless Horseman. He’s basically a guy on a horse carrying his head around, or is missing his head, and is always looking for it — or to take someone else’s head.
Anyway, here’s why I bring this gruesome topic up:
One thing about the headless horseman is, there’s no indifference to him.
If you were to see him in “real life” (i.e. a man carrying his own head or walking around without a head) you might be horrified by the sight… or fascinated by the sight, or just merely curious about the sight.
But I daresay there’d be no ignoring the sight.
Just like headlines written by the late, great copywriter Jim Rutz.
Earlier today I dubbed him The Weekly World News of Copywriters.
But he’s also like the headless horseman of headlines, too.
Why?
Because his headlines — especially when combined with the carefully curated artwork on his ads — were virtually impossible to ignore. Some of them are intensely curiosity invoking… others are flat out fascinating… and a few are actually kind a disturbing if not horrifying.
If you want to see for yourself, do this:
1. Grab the “Read This Or Die” 200+ ad swipe file from my affiliate link below
2. Send me your receipt before tonight’s (10/6) midnight EDT deadline
(Not just buy, you must send the receipt by that deadline)
3. I’ll email you back a valuable bundle of videos called “Swiperoscope Saga Part 1”
(more on that below)
4. When you receive your Jim Rutz swipe file by mail on a USB thumb drive, go immediately to the folder that says “Appendix” and read the “Lost files headlines”
Do that and you’ll see exactly what I am yammering on about with this.
More about the Lost files headlines:
About a month or so ago, I was talking to Doberman Dan about this swipe file, and I started reading some of these headlines to him. And, just like my own reaction was the first time I saw them, Doberman Dan couldn’t stop fluctuating between laughing and being intensely drawn to them.
Powerful stuff.
And, only people who have this “Read This Or Die” swipe file have them.
Here is my affiliate link:
http://www.EmailPlayers.com/rutz
Tonight’s the deadline to get the bonus videos I am offering, though.
So if you want those, I suggest beheading that inner-procrastinator…
Ben Settle
P.S. Some of the secrets in the bonus swiperoscope videos I want to send you include:
* 4 phrases you can sprinkle throughout your copy that helps turn off a person’s inner BS detector when making big claims.
* How to “bake” urgency into your ads, sales letters, and emails without needing a deadline.
* The horrifyingly politically incorrect reality about using shaming in your marketing. (An amusing observation: Certain billion dollar companies use shaming to the hilt all the time, even as your broke mush-cookie copywriter friends on Flakebook insist it doesn’t work.)
* The Hollywood screenwriter secret to belting out fast-paced sales copy that doesn’t let people stop reading.
* Two words the late, great copywriter Gary Halbert would use to get people to “lean in” and read his copy.
* How to “recruit” envious & jealous friends to help write your ads without them even knowing it. (One of the greatest copywriters in history did this repeatedly, and it was one of his most powerful secrets for boosting response.)
* A simple “tweak” your copy that can make your marketing almost neurologically impossible to ignore.
* A secret kind of ad that was used all the time in the early and mid 1900’s that still can work like gangbusters today. (I’m testing this baby myself… and not only did Jim Rutz use this kind of ballsy advertising, but the late, great copywriter Gene Schwartz advocated it, too, when hardly anyone else was.)
* The Incredible hulk test for knowing when you can safely ignore the common advice about writing copy at “7th grade or lower” language.
* A simple sales letter opener (used by three of the greatest copywriters who ever lived) that automatically embeds proof & credibility into your promos.
* A secret biological advantage men have in life. (Nothing to do with copywriting per se — yet smart copywriters will be able to use it.)
* A secret biological advantage women have in life. (Again, nothing to do with “copywriting”, yet a wise copywriter can use this info to write stronger copy.)
* The real secret behind how the late, great Gary halbert built up intrigue sentence-by-sentence in his sales copy… and drew in people even if they weren’t interested in the subject matter.
* A “vitamin” that is almost guaranteed to help copywriters explode response and sales. (The great Gary Bencivenga — universally considered to be the greatest living copywriter — talked about this vitamin, and if it’s good enough for him…)
* A completely non-woo-woo way (used by some of history’s greatest orators, but that horrifies broke public speaking college teachers) to create a “hypnotic” effect in your sales copy.
* How to make even your craziest claims sound completely credible & believable. (I first learned this ditty while studying some Dan Kennedy ads, and if you read his sales copy, you can see him doing it all the time.)
* An old school MLM sales trick for writing “skeptic friendly” sales copy.
* A rarely-used ancient Greek philosopher persuasion trick that can potentially make all your copy — for any kind of marketing — far more responsive than it is now.
* A truly sneaky (and also truly ingenious) example of how to legally use someone else’s trademark in your advertising to help sell your offers. (This is admittedly tough to pull off… and legal counsel is 100% required before you do it… but if you do pull it off, you can potentially create a whole army of new business with just a couple words added to your sales copy.)
* And a whole lot more…
Anyway, a reminder:
The deadline to get these bonuses is tonight (Sunday, October 6) at midnight EDT. And you must forward me your receipt (not just buy the Jim Rutz swipe file) by that deadline.
Or else, no bonus videos for you.
Here’s my affiliate link:
http://www.EmailPlayers.com/rutz