Make your copywriting projects unbeatable… Reading old comics?

Perhaps the best “power education” I’ve ever received on how to write and use good old fashioned psychology to sell with the written word was when I was just a kid.

You see, back then I used to collect a lot of comics. And back then, comics had some of the best direct response ads you’ll ever see.

They were written by great copywriters who really understood people’s hot spots and exactly what people wanted to buy and how to get them to buy with just a few words.

In fact, I often tell people who use pay-per-click advertising to look at ads for old comics.

Because?

Because those copywriters really understood how to sell, not just generate leads, in just a sentence or two. In some cases, they did it with just a few words (like the “Charles Atlas” ads, for example).

And that’s why old comic book ads are just terrific as writing aids and tools.

Just make sure you’re looking at the right ads.

These days, like most magazines and publications, comic book ads are nothing more than big picture ads. They have more in common with big glossy business cards than with advertisements. And they are a waste of time to look at.

Instead, look for comics from more than 20 years ago, from the 1940s to the late 1980s.

That’s when the really powerful ads came out and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of several different products were sold with simple direct response ads in comics.