Not long ago “it” finally happened.
I’d heard about “it” happening to copywriters before.
And, especially to the bigger name copywriters, like John Carlton, Dan Kennedy, Gary Halbert, Gary Bencivenga, etc
Anyway, what is this “it” I speaketh of?
Someone swiped one of my ads almost word for word.
But here’s the ironic thing.
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.
In fact, I found it kinda amusing.
Why?
Because even though the swiper thought he was being “clever”… he missed the whole point of what made the ad successful and swiped all the wrong parts.
It was just a complete mess, too.
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 such a hatchet job nothing read smoothly or organically.
It was just cut, paste, smooth over, pay me my fee, Mr. Client.
Yikes.
You know, that’s the big problem with swiping.
Copywriting ain’t about the words.
It’s about the market.
The best prose won’t mean jack if you get the market dynamics wrong (or ignore them altogether, like this swipemeister did).
Anyway, it really was kinda funny.
I mean… there are few things so amusing as 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.
I guess it’s true what they say after all:
Crime really doesn’t pay.
Ben Settle
P.S. To see how some of the highest paid copywriters on the planet write their sales letters, emails and other ads, simply ska-daddle on over to ye old copywriting shoppe at:
