Learning Copywriting: Who Are the Top Copywriters A ‘Copy Cub’ Should Study?

One of my clients, Andrew, runs a biz in the mortgage marketing niche.

After reading these emails for the last few months, Andrew realized that the ability to write good copy for his business is one of the highest value skills he could possess.

He asks:

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Would you mind sharing the names of some of your favorite copywriters with me?

Getting into CopyHour (on waiting list but got some dropbox files from him in the meantime), and Gary Halbert, and Gene Schwartz’ “Breakthrough Advertising,” and all that… going to start handwriting sales copy every morning for the next 30-60 days… see where it takes me.

Would love to know who you think is awesome 🙂 Can you can share a couple names you think I should check out?

Thanks again for your tips and pointing me in the right direction.

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Brief aside:

Andrew is making a SMART investment here.

I firmly believe that every entrepreneur and business owner should study copywriting.

Now you’ll almost never hear me say that “everyone should do X.”

I hate when gurus go around making claims like “everyone should be on SnapChat.”

There’s no “one-size-fits all” marketing tactic.

Example: Even though email and email courses are my “thing,” I don’t recommend them to everyone. In fact, of 3 different coaching clients I have right now, I’m only encouraging one to focus on email marketing. The others would be better served by direct mail or PR strategies.

The reason I say that every biz owner should know copywriting is because at its core, copywriting is about understanding your market and their needs, and shaping your product to meet those needs.

In other words, copywriting trains you to think like a successful business person.

End of rant, back to Andrew’s question…

There are a TON of great copywriters out there that you could study.

The tricky thing is finding the ones who won’t fill your head with a bunch of B.S.

The other thing you have to look for is, who has produced a lot of material that you can study.

Because when you’re learning copywriting, I highly recommend picking ONE person as your “mentor” and going deep. Study everything you can find that they’ve put out.

This helps cut down on the mixed messages you’ll get if you try to study from 10 different people at once.

For me, I latched on to Perry Marshall as my guide. I’ve invested hundreds of hours reading his books and listening to seminars, interviews and hotseats.

Other top copywriters who have really impressed me with their ability to teach what they know include:

– Eugene Schwartz
– Clayton Makepeace
– John Carlton
– Gary Halbert
– Gary Bencivenga
– Dan Kennedy

Schwartz’s “Breakthrough Advertising” book is amazing—it’s a complete copywriting education if you really get what he’s teaching. I just wish he had a lot more out there to study.

I like Bencivenga because he’s less hypey than a lot of writers, but like Schwartz he hasn’t put out a lot of teaching material you can study.

Makepeace and Carlton are the best teachers I’ve encountered. Makepeace’s teaching style really clicks logically for me, while Carlton is more instinctive in how he writes and teaches.

Dan Kennedy is a font of amazing wisdom. Probably half of what you’ll read about marketing originally sprang from Dan Kennedy’s brain, it seems.

These are my favorites, but there are others—Jay Abraham is brilliant.

My advice:

Check out each of them, sample their writing, and then pick the one person whose style best resonates with you.

Study everything they’ve put out and model their approach until you think like them.

Then when you branch out you’ll be working from a solid foundation.