This year especially I’ve seen multiple people recommend using so-called AI to analyze transcripts of calls with clients and pull the marketing & copywriting material – including bullets, amusingly enough – out for their ads to “save time.”
And I do not dispute it will save time.
Probably it saves these guys lots and lots and lots of time.
But you will not get all the best stuff out of a transcript that way vs reading, re-reading, taking notes, and poring over the entire thing – including the “human” elements like the small talk, as many times as you can.
Even better:
In addition to all that reading & note taking, go on long walks and/or car/bike rides – where you are physically moving, not just “thinking” – and also listen to the calls.
Over and over and over.
5, 10, 20 times, if you can swing it, put it on 2 or 3x speed if they talk slow.
The goal is to imbibe not just the client’s words, but his speech & thought patterns, verbal “ticks” (everyone has), communication style, emotions, pauses, rise & fall of his voice (and WHAT exactly he’s saying during), and other cues – verbal and social and even pauses, stutters, and bumbling through words – to get deep into how he thinks, solves problems, & lives life.
It won’t necessarily change the content you write.
But it’s like any great Method Actor who creates his own back story to turn an otherwise boring, bland, and even insignificant character into someone who literally steals the show.
Think Val Kilmer’s Ice Man character in Top Gun.
Very boring in the script.
But he gave him a backstory, and lots of details nobody ever knew or saw.
And the result was an unforgettable character who became a fan favorite.
This is business as usual for the best performers.
And make no mistake:
Copywriting IS a “performance.”
And to treat it as such vs just being a “wordsmith” or, even more effeminate-sounding, “prompt engineer”… will change what’s between the lines, and give your ads far more depth, your benefits far more context to the reader, and make the Experience of buying from your ads and emails far more personal and human and real – because it is personal, human, and real and not just data for data’s sake.
No, you won’t save time doing it this way.
It will take you way more time, if anything.
But you will write far more responsive & profitable sales copy, emails, etc.
One more thought on that:
In the April 30 1995 Gary Halbert Letter, Sir Gary of Halbert talked about the foolishness of prioritizing efficiency over effectiveness when writing sales copy. He was completely antagonistic towards it, as have been other radically successful writers even beyond copywriters – from Dr. Seuss, to Tolkien, to even guys who hated writing, but did it as mercenary like old school screenwriters and even Bukowski.
And so it is, and so you know.
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Ben Settle
