OK. Everything you’ve heard about not using humor in copy, be prepared to reconsider all of it. Because of our guest today, Jon Buchan.
A few years ago, Jon freely admits, “I was desperate for sales after my word of mouth work dried up.”
He continues:
“I got hellishly drunk one night and wrote a completely absurd cold email.
“I was still tipsy the next morning and decided it was still a good idea to send it to pretty senior Marketing Directors at big brands.
“To my astonishment, it worked. I got the most amazing complimentary responses and requests for calls/meetings.
Here is the favorite response Jon received: "My colleague forwarded me your spam email and we would like to meet you to discuss opportunities."
From his crazy drunk email, Jon has met with senior decision makers at RedBull, Pepsi, Symantec, Hewlett-Packard, HSBC, Barclays and countless other global brands, exciting start-ups and regular ol’ small and medium businesses.
Since then, he’s used the same style to get senior editors at large publications to respond to me and publish his clients' content. He says he’s also used it to help people get as many job interviews as they want - and to meet people he really looks up to.
Today he’s going to share his story on the copywriters podcast. First, and I really don’t think there’s anything funny about this at all:
Copy is powerful. You’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims... and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity... you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time.
So Jon, welcome and thanks for joining us.
1. First, could you tell us a little about your business, and the full story about the drunken email.
2. What has happened as a result? You’ve gotten into the funny-copy-training business, right?
3. The old-school rule is no humor in marketing IF you want to get sales results. You seem to be turning this on your head. Let’s talk about that.
4. Could you give us some tips for what to do and what not to do for our listeners if they want to try your approach?
5. You have a Facebook group and a product. Want to tell our listeners about these things, and how they can take advantage of these opportunities?

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Funny Copy That Works with Jon Buchan

Copywriters Podcast