John Cocktosen

You work with a few brands, but not a lot of brands. That's the problem. Your experience with a few brands doesn't equate to what's going on in the larger ecosystem and how it's moving. Everybody I know, the conversation is they want to go in-house. Why would they pay agencies and other people when they can have it for one-third the cost using AI tools? It makes no sense. Literally worked with a debt company doing $902.8 million / year last year, good friends with the owner, they all went in house. You can cope all you want, but give it a year or two, and you'll see how it ends up. Once they realize they can do everything you do with Claude, they're not going to pay you anymore.

The Help Market is open... ...Read this, and watch the video before you create your account. There is no greater feeling than creating something that brings value to others... ...After all, THAT is the reason we make money... ...It's not to buy more things we don't need... ...It's not to impress people we don't know... ...It's not to spend our lives proving we're doing better than someone else... ...It's to have the freedom to do something that MATTERS. To build something useful. To open a door. To help someone else get their shot. Because somewhere, there's a talented person who can do the work... ...And a business owner who needs exactly what that person can do. They should be able to find each other. Without buying their way into the right room. Without knowing the right people. Without someone in the middle taking a piece of everything they earn. That's why we built The Help Market. A place for the online business world to hire and get hired. Free to post. Free to apply. No cut. Because when YOU do the work... ...YOU should get to keep what you earn. One connection can become someone's next client. Someone's next hire. The opportunity that finally gets things moving. And being able to create a place where those connections can happen... ...THAT is something we built. I'm proud to share this with you. Watch the film. The doors are open. Welcome to The Help Market. Fully and completely free. Fully and completely funded by the revenue from Nothing Held Back. Fully and completely built to help YOU win. Create your profile. Create a job post. Offer a service. You can create your account here using your Facebook login: TheHelpMarket.com We know this is a massively complex project, so if you run into any bugs, just let me know in the comments or via DMs, and our dev team is standing by to make it all work for you. To your success, Alen Sultanic P.S. Do me a favor: share the link to The Help Market on your feed so we can help everyone, and I mean everyone. We're not making a single dollar off of this.

It's a shame you aren't swiping @IAmAlenSultanic's old headlines on the Wayback Machine

Studying old Ads sets fire to my soul. You mean you had to get someone to rip open an envelope, read 10,000 to 40,000 words of copy, and then have them send you money without ever seeing your face? No brand building or “know-like-trust " factor? Hot damn. Direct response is king.

Ecom University is officially live Find Your Zone of Genius, link below

Day 46 of writing ancient sales letters by hand to become a skilled copywriter. It was easy to recognize how often I get distracted while preparing today’s post. I just saved so much time by using the Brick I got today. My phone is in the kitchen and my brick is beside my bed in the other room. Making it a two-step process to get distracted. I refuse to make excuses for myself because of diagnoses like “ADHD.” The world is not so kind as to put a cushion before every step you take. You must adapt in ways that best serve your needs. To make you a more competent and focused individual, whatever your efforts may be. So I am grateful for my new little piece of plastic that cost me $66, yes sixty-six American doubloons. Oh well, value is in the eye of the consumer is it not? Never have I felt better when making purchase decisions on MY perceived value. It’s a high return for me. Getting to the point of this post now, today we have an Indian Motorcycle advertisement. Mike Schauer notes that it uses the same reverse psychology headline as another letter from a few years prior - “Do You Make These Mistakes In English.” One that I have broken down an iteration of but could still go back to at any time for there is MORE. So, like yesterday, this one is essentially an iteration in the sense that it took a winning idea and brought it to another market. This is why swiping from other niches is such a goldmine. As long as that isn’t ALL you are doing it is another elite tool within your toolbox. These iterations focus on swiping the hook, but there are other ways in which you can approach this method of “borrowing” an idea. A quick note before we begin, Mike pretty much made a remark on this letter being “mid.” That doesn’t matter for learning's sake. We can learn just as much from the best as we can from the worst. Although it IS helpful knowledge to have when breaking down such a thing. Let’s get cracka-lackin. Sales letter: “Don’t Make These Buying Mistakes” advertisement. This was advertised by Indian Motorcycles. Swiped by Mike Schauer. It ran in 1925. The product is an Indian Scout Motorcycle. Headline: “Don’t Make These Mistakes When Buying a Motorcycle!” Key takeaways and learnings: This headline immediately reads as a warning to a friend, which not only lowers the guard of the reader but also catches their attention quickly. In fact, this “don’t” messaging still works on ads today as the psychological mechanism behind it is so effective. The word “When Buying” does two things here: First, it implies/suggests that a decision has already been made to purchase a motorcycle. Which in this instance, is an attempt to place the reader on the seat of the bike before they’ve even attempted to contact a dealer. Secondly, this just directly targets the market that has indubitably already decided to make such a purchase. This market is certainly unsure though, as to WHICH motorcycle they will acquire. DO NOT FRET, the Indian writer is here. This next part uses the word “don’t” again as a warning for what not to get. They focus on positioning their product as an optimized machine. One that calibrates at such an even weight, that the rider gets the best of both worlds. In regard to comfort, safety, ease of handling, power, stamina, and acceleration. Framing it as a warning of course but this is THE MESSAGE that they are sending, It is clever and I think it gets the point across rather well. They prioritize solo riders as the target audience for this advertisement, but I mean… …don’t most riders already ride by themselves? Perhaps I’m overthinking this, it also addresses a wide market by positioning themselves this way inside of the already existing motorcycle one. “The Ideal Solo Machine” message under the logo repeats the main messaging of this letter. They make this sound like a perfectly designed product for this large chunk of the market. Maybe their net was too wide to cast? I’m just guessing this, as Mike did note that this was a “mid” one. It’s fun to think about what could be done better but it was 1925. Things were very different in ways that I can only be so aware of living in the year 2026. Damn, 101 years since then. That’s almost as old as my sister, who was born in the year 2000. Crazy stuff. The focus on this part is perfection, and they use imaginative descriptions like “its quick, smooth start and lightning-like pick-up make it the ideal solo machine in heavy traffic.” So, this provides a solution to getting bogged down within a clogged-up street. It also makes you feel like the Flash with a “lighting-like pick-up.” Benefits related to long-distance traveling state all three as “all you’ll ever need” in relation to speed, power, and endurance. With repetitive sentence structure that gets the point across like a hammer through a nail. This part “that can possibly be built into a motorcycle” implies the suggested “perfection.” Nothing can be perfect, but humans still strive for this regardless. In knowing this human desire, you can use it in ways such as this to your advantage. “And yet” transitioning into a cost-related benefit provides a “wait that’s not all” moment for the end of this section. The initial nudge of a CTA is framed as a challenge to excite the reader instead of deterring them. “Make this test.” They then make the rather bold assumption that looking at all of their competitors will most certainly convince the prospect of their products' superiority. SO GO AHEAD. Is essentially what they say, projecting their confidence in a manner that speaks certainty into the customer's mind. If YOU are not this certain of the product that YOU made, then why should the customer be certain enough that YOU are the best choice for THEM. YOU. YOU. YOU. I LOVE YOU. THE WORD YOU, NOT YOU. BUT I GUESS YOU TOO. You need to keep using you, honestly. “Experience for yourself…” “Imagine, a world where…” - (fill in the old DVD movie narrator descriptions that played as soon as you inserted your disc into the DVD player). Benefits are then framed as “something that only Indian Scout riders can enjoy.” Claiming that their perfection is so unique it cannot be found elsewhere. Then they have a direct call to action with urgency. Followed by “you’ll get” in reference to “a new appreciation of what real motorcycling thrills are.” Why would you want cheap thrills? Get the real deal with the Indian Scout Motorcycle. Lastly this letter has two offers within it. The first was within the final CTA, and it includes a FREE demonstration when you see a dealer. You also get a FREE booklet if you mail a postal for one. Pretty sick, I love free things. FREE NINETY NINE as my dad would say. It’s a hell of a deal. In conclusion: I focused on what went well for the most part, but as always, I would love to hear your thoughts on what you think this letter was lacking. The rest of my day will mostly consist of relaxation and recharging. Light splurging. Continued reading and education. I can only go so far into a relaxed state, but it must become a command. For knowing when to breathe makes holding your breath far easier. But also, more effective. Beyond that… …many mistake relaxations for laziness. Or something unrelated to learning/working. In doing this you have created a prison within your own mind that I pray you can one day escape. I can do it all at once. IT’S DIFFICULT - but it IS possible. So therefore YOU must try. TRY. TRY. TRY. God loves triers. Someone smart said something along those lines once. Now… …for those of you who are copy lovers, new and old... Or maybe someone who wants to make more persuasive content… To get more leads, sales, or even views… I highly recommend two things! 1. Do the same as I, handwrite old sales letters and work on learning just as much as writing. AND 2. Join @TheCopyTitan Svet Dimitrov's Skool for copywriting. They are an extremely pleasant bunch, and I see it growing to become much larger in due time. I really cannot recommend this guy enough. If you’d like to see all the recorded masterclasses… …as well as Svet's weekly copy breakdowns. My affiliate link to his wonderful community is in my bio. Please take a peek. Now. To end in similar fashion. Please feel free to point out where I'm wrong… …where I'm Mistaken… OR Perhaps even where I'm right. Although I do learn the most in knowing what I did wrong. Thank you for reading this!

Might just be me but I think this style of marketing is a slow race to the bottom. Yes, I think it’s great how diligent they are with their testing but I don’t think I can take a brand seriously that builds solely for an algorithm, as opposed towards building for their consumer. The Pixar crap, the AI ads, the lack of brand in everything - it can work in the short term because it’s arbitraging cheap impressions BUT it all lacks emotion, human connection and all of the principle of marketing that have existed in nearly every successful consumer brand.

Me after shipping 10,000 lines of code I’ve never read.