John Forde, AWAI, AWAI Fast Track to Success Bootcamp & Job Fair, AWAI bootcamp, copywriting, freelance writing, copywriting articles

1. Copywriting Secret of the Masters:
Guilt Marketing – A Vintner's Secret Weapon
by: John Forde
www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com

2. Guilt Marketing – A Vintner's Secret Weapon
I've got wine on my mind. Not literally, mind you. As I write this, it's not
even 10:00 a.m., for heaven's sake. No. I'm thinking about wine thanks to
an article I just read, which will interest anyone serious about marketing or
copywriting success.
See, here in the Paris office where I sometimes set up shop, there works
winemaking royalty – the daughter of California vintner Manfred Esser.
Recently, she brought each of us a bottle of her father's wine. My wife and I
drank ours with dinner that night. Good stuff. After sampling the wine, I
looked up the wine master on the Web.
It turns out Esser's talent is not just in making a good wine, which he does.
It's also in applying "new" marketing principles that we could all benefit from
studying – as a copywriter and as an entrepreneur.
Esser, who's a Harvard grad, took over the Cuvaison Winery in Napa Valley in
1986. The vineyard was headed south faster than a goose in February.
Yet, within two years, Esser had turned it around. Not only was Cuvaison
suddenly breaking even, they had cornered 25 percent of the export market.
And they were selling as many as 70,000 cases of their top-end wine every
year.
Twelve years later, Esser sold his partnership in Cuvaison and launched his
own label. Esser Vineyards is now one of California's newest hot contenders,
despite competition with, as Esser puts it, "about 80,000 different
competitors."
How does he do it? Esser calls it "guilt marketing."
"You treat your customers SO well," says Esser, "that you create a
sense of obligation to come back to your product or service. And,
even more than that, to become ambassadors for your company.
They actually feel guilty if they forget about you."
He's not recommending tricks or jingles or cleverness or high-pressure
selling to turn a buck. He's recommending a quality product. And quality
service. At a good price.
www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com

3. It's relationship building. In other words, the same marketing secret it took
so many new Web businesses a few years to "discover" … sells wine, too.
And it happens to work extremely well in selling other things as well – like
your copywriting services.
Esser's done this before. In his early career, he took a Chicago wine-
importing firm from nothing to a multimillion-dollar business by providing
high-quality products and exceptional, high-quality service.
Is this strategy new or reckless or revolutionary? No, quite the opposite. It's
old school, time-tested, and one of the safest business plans anyone could
imagine.
What's this mean to you as a copywriter?
Well, the starting place is producing a high-quality product – which, in this
case, is your copy. But unlike selling wine, the relationship building isn't just
with the client. The first and most important relationship you need to build is
with your reader.
How do you do that? The same way Esser does. No hype. No high pressure.
No tricks or jingles or cleverness. Just honest, specific copy that doesn't
make unsubstantiated claims. Copy that gets to the point quickly … that
builds excitement … and that treats your reader with respect.
Build this type of quality-based relationships with your reader and you will
be a great copywriter.
The other side to this relationship building – with your client – is where "guilt
marketing" will take you from being a great copywriter to being a successful,
great copywriter.
Always give your client a little bit extra.
During harvest, Esser goes into the vineyard, cuts bunches of grapes, and
tissue-wraps them. He sends them to people important to his business – by
overnight FedEx overnight – with a note saying, "We thought you might be
interested in the new vintage." Relationship building. Guilt marketing.
www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com

4. Treat your clients the same way. If you run across news that's relevant to
their business – especially when you're NOT writing for them – send it to
them. By email or FedEx. They'll appreciate your doing it. And they'll
remember you.
And when you are writing for them, throw in a few extra services, things
you'd probably do anyway. But don't charge for them. Or charge a
ridiculously low fee. That lets them know you like working for them and that
it's not just about the money.
Because it's never really "just about the money."
Find out more about the secrets to becoming a successful freelance writer
with The Versatile Freelancer
www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com

5. John Forde:A Master at Writing
More Controls More Often
"If you write copy … how many chances to sell your talents to the businesses
you know and trust have you overlooked? Company websites … local sales
brochures … online ads and sales letters … print ads in local papers … even
P.R. pieces or ezine editorial.
It might be the small gigs that get you started. It might be the big
opportunities that let you smack the cover off the ball at your first at bat.
Either way, I’ve met plenty of people who had no grasp about what role
copywriters play.
Masterson’s [Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting] offers the
most thorough and well-organized approach to the subject I’ve seen
anywhere. There’s not a technique or secret in there that I haven’t found
helpful over the years. I owe a great deal of my own success to Mike
Masterson. And I tell him so regularly. As for the program, I’d recommend it
to anybody – not just direct-mail copywriters, but anyone who’s trying to get
a grip on what makes marketing work."
— John Forde
JOHN FORDE has been writing winning controls for going on two decades
now. He’s made untold millions for clients in the financial, health, and travel
industries. John also works as a copy coach, hosting intense seminars for
two or three hundred marketers and copywriters at a time.
John Forde also writes the successful and very useful eletter, The
Copywriter’s Roundtable.
www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com