Nicolas Cole 🚢 Profile picture
Sep 27, 2021 9 tweets 3 min read Read on X
How do you hook customers like the pros?

These 6 sales copywriters have generated more than $10,000,000,000 (billion!) in sales.

Here are their most famous techniques 🧵👇
1. David Ogilvy's "Steal From The News" Technique

One of Ogilvy's most well-known ads was for Rolls-Royce.

The big idea?

"At 60 mph the loudest noise comes from the electric clock."

He stole this line from a press review of the car, and put it stage center.

Positioning 101
2. Gary Halbert's "Dear Reader" Technique

Halbert (who made millions writing sales letters for brands) also had a paid newsletter.

His signature style was to start each letter with, "Dear Friend and Subscriber."

He spoke directly to their wants & needs.

And he made a fortune.
3. Craig Clemens' "Documentary" Technique

A number of years ago, @craigclemens wrote one of the most successful sales letters in history.

Except it wasn't a sales letter.

It was a "documentary" educating people on "leaky gut syndrome."

Which framed the solution: probiotics.
4. Evaldo Albuquerque's "1 Core Belief" Technique

How do you generate $120+ million in product sales 2 years?

It all starts with changing 1 core belief in the reader.

Moving them FROM the way they think TO a new way.

And it takes 10 questions to move them there.
5. Eugene Schwartz's "Hidden Desires" Technique

Schwartz wrote the book on copywriting, called Breakthrough Advertising.

In it, he explains how people have overt desires and HIDDEN desires.

Speak to the hidden stuff and you'll hook people's attention.
6. Gary Bencivenga's "Metaphor" Technique

Gary had a "golden rule" for writing sales letters that moved people.

Using metaphors.

This was a signature in so many of Gary's best-selling ads. He calls it "The Golden Key of Persuasion."

Metaphors are sticky & easy to understand.
6 billion-dollar tips to write sales copy like the pros:

• Steal ideas from the news
• Address readers/customers directly
• Document the issue (vs sell the solution)
• Change 1 core belief
• Talk about the customer's "hidden desires"
• Use metaphors
If you want to learn how to become a legendary writer yourself, would love to see you in the next cohort of Ship 30 for 30.

Starts soon!

ship30for30.com

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More from @Nicolascole77

Feb 1
January is over.

So there's no better time than February 1st to start writing online.

Use these 25 prompts to write & publish every day for the next 25 days:🧵 Image
1. What was your first job, and what's 1 lesson you learned you'll remember forever?

2. Who was your first mentor, and what's something they taught you that changed the way you saw the world (and yourself)?
3. What was the biggest mistake you made as a young adult, what did it teach you, and how has it shaped your life since?

4. What's 1 weird interest/hobby of yours that everyone around you misunderstands, but makes perfect sense to you—and what has it taught you?
Read 22 tweets
Jan 31
This man was Steve Jobs's secret weapon in creating Apple's iconic brand.

He turned 'Think Different' into $3 trillion, crafted the iMac story, and helped save Apple from bankruptcy.

Here's how ONE writer transformed Apple into the world's most valuable brand: 🧵 Image
When Ken Segall joined Apple's ad agency in 1997, Apple was 90 days from bankruptcy.

Apple wasn't just failing financially—its brand message was a mess. Image
Jobs needed someone who could turn complex tech into simple stories.

Enter Ken Segall, the creative director who'd write the words to define Apple.

His first task? Create a campaign to tell the world Apple was back.
Read 17 tweets
Jan 17
J.R.R. Tolkien spent 60 years creating over 15 languages while writing The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Roverandom, etc.

Some called it madness. But now Pixar, Universal, and Marvel use his ideas.

Here's Tolkien's 4-part framework for world-building and storytelling: 🧵 Image
At Oxford, Tolkien was obsessed with languages.

By day, he taught Old English and Norse mythology & literature.

By night, he created entire linguistic systems from scratch—and shared his ideas with friends, including C.S. Lewis, who encouraged his creativity.
Before writing The Hobbit, Tolkien had already created:

• Thousands of words
• Multiple writing scripts
• 15 different Elvish dialects
• Complete grammatical systems

This obsession would later become his secret weapon.
Read 12 tweets
Jan 10
This is Shonda Rhimes.

She's the legendary TV writer behind Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, & Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.

From unemployed scriptwriter in Hollywood, she is now worth $240M. Her storytelling is why Netflix gave her a $450M deal.

Here's her philosophy:🧵 Image
When Rhimes first pitched Grey's Anatomy, ABC executives said:

"No one would watch a show about a woman sleeping with a man the night before starting a new job."

16.25M viewers tuned in for the pilot.

This wasn’t luck—it was science.

Rhimes followed 10 storytelling rules: Image
1. "Start in the middle of the story."

Look at the Grey's pilot: We meet Meredith Grey waking up after a one-night stand, late for her first day as a surgeon.

No backstory. No setup. Just drama.

This hooks viewers instantly.
Read 17 tweets
Dec 31, 2024
I write 5,000 words every day.

How?

By treating writing like a mental sport.

9 simple habits I use to stay mentally fit as a pro writer:🧵 Image
1/ Read 1-2 pages of a thesaurus

This takes me 15 minutes every morning.

It’s a great brain exercise and teaches you a lot about language.

Words are your tools, so keep adding to your toolbox.

Here's how I fit it into my routine:
2/ Journal daily

90% of being a writer is understanding your own journey.

Journaling helps you process life events, see your progress, & visualize your future.

With it, you write from the scar, not the wound.
Read 13 tweets
Dec 27, 2024
I can write a 60,000-word book in 30 days.

Here's how I write a 5,000-word chapter in 90 minutes (in 3 simple steps): Image
Before you start writing, you need to have two items in place:

1. Your title
2. Your outline

If you don't have these, you don't know what you're writing about.

Check the end of the thread—there are 2 extra resources to help you.

Before we dive in, let's do some quick math:
Here's how to break down your 60,000-word book:

• 10 chapters at 5,000 words each
• Each chapter has 5 to 7 sub-questions
• These sections are then only 700 to 1,000 words long

Each section is the length of a blog post or a newsletter.

And this is the biggest takeaway here:
Read 12 tweets

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