A while back “it” finally happened.<\/p>\n
I’d heard about “it” happening to copywriters before.<\/p>\n
And, especially to the bigger name copywriters, like John Carlton, Dan Kennedy, Gary Halbert, Gary Bencivenga, etc<\/p>\n
Anyway, what is this “it” I speaketh of?<\/p>\n
Someone swiped one of my ads almost<\/em> word for word. <\/p>\n But here’s the ironic thing. <\/p>\n Even though the “perp” swiped my ad… and did it for an ad competing against mine in the same market (a blatantly unethical no-no)… it didn’t make me angry at all.<\/p>\n In fact, I found it kinda amusing.<\/p>\n Why?<\/p>\n Because even though the swiper thought he was being “clever”… he missed the whole point of what made the ad successful.<\/p>\n In other words…<\/p>\n He swipe all the wrong parts! <\/strong><\/p>\n It was just a complete mess, too.<\/p>\n His headline missed the emotion mine targeted, his sales argument lacked any trace of fire or passion (as they say in Hollywood terms, he “phoned it in”), and it was a hatchet job where nothing read smoothly or organically.<\/p>\n It was just cut, paste, smooth over, pay me my fee, Mr. Client.<\/p>\n Yikes.<\/p>\n You know, that’s the big problem with swiping.<\/p>\n Copywriting ain’t about the words.<\/p>\n It’s about the market.<\/p>\n The best prose won’t mean jack if you get the market dynamics wrong (or ignore them altogether, like this swipemeister did).<\/p>\n Anyway, it really was kinda funny.<\/p>\n In fact, know what it reminded me of?<\/p>\n A two-bit thief so lazy all he can do is rip off the spare change laying on the kitchen table… instead of taking the time to find the rolls of $100 bills stuffed in a safe in the wall.<\/p>\n I guess it’s true what they say after all:<\/p>\n Crime really doesn’t pay.<\/p>\n And speaking of copywriting…<\/p>\n The new Copywriting Grab Bag “reloaded” product is going to be re-released in a couple days. <\/p>\n To get $100 off on it, go here:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n