37 Awesome Copywriting Quotes (with inspirational images!)
August 15, 2019 | Sean Foo
Looking to break into copywriting? You are walking in the footsteps of the greats!
Learning from the experts is a great way for you to set your goals and get into the right headspace that will set you up for success.
Icons such as Gary Halbert and David Oglivy have refined their work for decades and you could definitely stand to learn a thing (or ten) from them!
From getting started to staying true to your values even as you attain success, we have selected 37 awesome quotes to guide you along in your copywriting journey.
On Getting Started
1.“Get yourself a collection of good ads and DM pieces and read them aloud and copy them in your own handwriting.”-Gary Halbert
2.“I think clarity starts with having (a few questions) really clear in your mind: ‘What is this blog post about and what am I going to teach my readers with it? How will it make them feel once they’ve learned this?’”-Henneke Duistermaat
3.“Visualize this thing you want. See it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin.” -Robert Collier
On Honing Your Skill
1.”A copywriter should have an understanding of people, an insight into them, a sympathy toward them.”-George Gribbin
2.”In the editing process, you refine your copy to express what you want to express with the fewest words.”-Joseph Sugarman
3.“Avoid the “hard-to-grasp” headline – the headline that requires thought and is not clear at first glance.”-John Caples
4.“Does your marketing promote the difference between good and bad or better and best?”-Daniel C. Felsted
5.“Emotions are the fire of human motivation, the combustible force that secretly drives most decisions to buy. When your marketing harnesses those forces correctly you will generate explosive increases in response.”-Gary Bencivenga
6.“If you want something stuck in someone’s head, put it in a sequence of three.”-Brian Clark
7.“I have just finished running the hill five times (4 miles), and I did it in 57 minutes and five seconds. Do you see how this type of personal, specific info bonds the reader and writer closer together?”-Gary Halbert
8.“I understand social proof is one of the most powerful levers to convince somebody to enter your funnel or start talking to you online.”-Aaron Orendorff
9.“There’s no such thing as ‘hard sell’ and ‘soft sell.’ There’s only ‘smart sell’ and ‘stupid sell.’”-Leo Burnett
10.“Use pictures only to attract those who may profit you. Use them only when they form a better selling argument than the same amount of space set in type.” -Claude Hopkins
11.“Write your own endorsements and get influential people to agree to put their names on them.”-Casey Demchak
On The Effectiveness Of Copywriting
1.“Considered your brand a life experience.” -Daniel C. Felsted
2.“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.”-Stuart H Britt
3.“Effective content marketing is about mastering the art of storytelling. Facts tell, but stories sell.” -Bryan Eisenberg
4.“Nobody has a magic lamp which can tell you in advance whether what you say will be effective in persuading an audience.”-Maurice Saatchi
5.“Quality content means content that is packed with clear utility and is brimming with inspiration, and it has relentless empathy for the audience:” -Ann Handley
6.“Sometimes the best copy to sell a horse is, “horse for sale”.”-Jay Abraham
7.“So the most effective thing I have ever found in advertising is the trend of the crowd. That is a factor not to be overlooked. People follow styles and preferences.”-Claude Hopkins
8.“We don’t want to be something for everybody, we want to be everything for some people.”-Carlos Ghosn
On Overcoming Difficulties
1.“Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem & turned it into an opportunity.”-Joseph Sugarman
2.“The more tools you have to work on a problem in the form of experiences or knowledge, the more new ways you can figure out how to solve it.”-Joseph Sugarman
On Copywriting That Sells
1.”The ideas presented in your copy should flow in a logical fashion, anticipating your prospect’s questions and answering them as if the questions were asked face-to-face.”-Joseph Sugarman
2.“Good copy can’t be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You’ve got to believe in the product.”-David Ogilvy
3.“Here’s the only thing you’re selling, no matter what business you’re in and what you ship: you’re selling your prospects a better version of themselves.”-Joanna Wiebe
4.“In writing good advertising it is necessary to put a mood into words and to transfer that mood to the reader.” -Helen Woodward
5.“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.”-Leo Burnett
6.“Metaphors are a great language tool because they explain the unknown in terms of the known.”-Anne Lamott
7.“Simplicity is the outcome of technical subtlety. It is the goal, not the starting point.”-Maurice Saatchi
8.“The more your copy sounds like a real conversation, the more engaging it will be.” -David Garfinkel
On Authenticity & Integrity
1.“Start with empathy. Continue with utility. Improve with analysis. Optimize with love.” -Jonathon Colman
2.“Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on having a blog that’s great for your readers.”-Brian Clark
3.“Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your family to read. You wouldn’t tell lies to your own wife. Don’t tell them to mine.”-David Ogilvy
4.“The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity.”-Zig Ziglar
5.“The only real test for authentic marketing is: do you share the dark stuff? People connect with your failure far more than they connect with your successes.”-Aaron Orendorff
Action is the Foundational Key to All Success – Pablo Picasso
Now that you’ve gotten a taste of just what it takes to be a great copywriter, take your learning a step further by delving into the minds of copywriting experts.
Distill the secrets of excellent copywriting from this list of educational books for aspiring copywriters like yourself.
Want something more concrete (and colourful)?
Draw your inspiration from copywriting examples from incredible brands.
