Copywriting by Copy-Cat-Copywriting

Thursday, 29th July 2010.

Great Ideas and Example of “He Factor” Copy

Posted on Friday, 13th March 2009 by CopywritingCat

I’ve been serving as a copy coach in Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero’s awesome copywriting course, The She Factor. So my radar has been tuned to detect “male” vs “female” copy.

So what should appear in my mailbox this morning…an awesome example of “guy” copy by the famous Ben Settle himself. I love Ben Settle’s blog and appreciate his generosity with tips. I just wish he’d get himself an affiliate program.

Here’s what he sent. Be warned: he uses some words that I wouldn’t dare to use.

Could I, as a female, get away with some of those words? Would my female audience be turned off? Would my male readers think I wasn’t being…um…gender-appropriate?

Or would the younger readers wonder, “What’s the big deal? They’re just ordinary words. I use them in church.”

More than words….it’s the whole tone of Ben’s copy. It might be fun to rewrite the message in the feminine style Lorrie’s been teaching us.

Personally, I agree with his message. I’m not exactly on a news fast but I’m on a very tight news diet — the equivalent of half a grapefruit and a boiled egg for breakfast and maybe a few lettuce leaves for lunch.

Look him up at http://www.bensettle.com, although it pains me to dispense links that don’t cloak an affiliate tie-in. Here’s what he wrote. They’re his words, not mine.

Dear Cathy,

This may sound strange (it’s strange to me)…

… but lately, some people have been almost worried about my
lack of **political** emails.

Believe it or not (and I still don’t get it), there are some
who are actually kind of disappointed I haven’t been rapping about
Obama’s latest spending spree.

Or Algore’s most recent “global warming” alarms.

Or about any of our favorite other gummint sociopaths.

Still others (who vehemently DISAGREE with me) have been bracing
themselves for impact — almost itching to reply back and show me
how wrong I am.

What’s going on here?

Have I lost my ballz?

Am I “wussing out”?

Not exactly.

I’m just PROTECTING myself.

You see, I’ve got a TON of stuff going right now.

Including multiple client projects, marketing my book -http://www.CopywritingGrabBag.com - and even helping a loved one get her own website running.

And so, I’ve been on a self-imposed “news fast.”

I’m not exposing myself to ANY political or world news.

Sure, sometimes on Twitter I get a “whiff” of whatever toxic dish the media hacks are cooking up.

But I REFUSE to eat their poisonous food no matter how good it smells from the kitchen.

And you know what?

I HIGHLY suggest you consider doing the same.

Especially if you want to prosper in the coming months.

Here’s why I say this:

A few years ago, I had the good fortune to write an ad selling a product showing people how to buy large ($1 million or higher) businesses without using any banks, credit or your own moolah.

There was a LOT of cool stuff in this course.

But one thing the author said has stuck with me since (paraphrased):

“During recessions, stay the hell away from the news.”

His reasoning was the news is negative.

Their mantra is “if it bleeds, it leads.”

And when you are in business, you need to FOCUS on yourself and your business more than ever — and not get distracted by all the doom and gloom.

In fact, it’s this guy’s contention that, if you simply ignore the news, you will almost **automatically** be more successful.

And you know what?

I have found this to be 100% true.

Since going on my news fast, I have been WAY more focused.

I fall asleep much faster and easier at night.

And my productivity has (literally) DOUBLED.