Here’s a valuable lesson I’ve learned from studying some of the greatest copywriters and marketers in the game…
It has to do with learning…
Elite copywriters like Bob Bly, Gary Halbert, John Carlton and Dan Kennedy stress the importance of looking for BIG IDEAS when reading copywriting books.
They explain how 99% of the material is very similar.
However, it’s that 1% of unique info that you’re looking for.
Because one big idea can pay back your initial investment 100x over.
Over the last 4 years, I’ve noticed this to be true.
Whenever I read a copywriting book or take a copywriting course, I am looking for at least one big idea to use in my writing.
That is the goal with these copywriting quotes.
Most people think of quotes as inspiration and motivation.
However, I challenge you to uncover the BIG IDEA behind each quote and apply it to your writing.
If you do, I can almost guarantee you can earn a small fortune from just about every quote about copywriting listed below.
These quotes have the power to make you a flood of money because they are from the greatest copywriters of all time.
I’ve carefully hand-selected 50 copywriting quotes from legendary copywriters that have transformed my writing and have added thousands to my piggy bank (or more).
Alrighty, enough jib-jab, let’s get er done…
The 50 Best Copywriting Quotes to Help You Become a Better Copywriter
Copywriting Quotes from Eugene Schwartz
#1) "The power, the force, the overwhelming urge to own that makes advertising work, comes from the market itself, and not from the copy. Copy cannot create desire for a product. It can only take the hopes, dreams, fears, and desires that already exist in the hearts of millions of people, and focus those already-existing desires onto a particular product. This is the copywriter's task: not to create this mass desire - but to channel and direct it."
Eugene Schwartz
#2) "People do not buy the steel in a car, the glass in a vase, the tobacco in a cigarette, or the paper in a book. The physical part of your product is of value only because it enables your product to do things for people."
Eugene Schwartz
#3) “Copy is not written. If anyone tells you ‘you write copy’, sneer at them. Copy is not written. Copy is assembled. You do not write copy, you assemble it. You are working with a series of building blocks, you are putting the building blocks together, and then you are putting them in certain structures, you are building a little city of desire for your person to come and live in.”
Eugene Schwartz
#4) “Tap a single overwhelming desire existing in the hearts of thousands of people who are actively seeking to satisfy it at this very moment.”
Eugene Schwartz
Copywriting Quotes from Gary Halbert
#5) “Everyone wants to climb the mountain, but the big difference between those at the top and those still on the bottom is simply a matter of showing up tomorrow to give it just one more shot.”
Gary Halbert
#6) “You Must Always Find A Market First... And Then Concentrate On A Product!”
Gary Halbert
#7) “Therefore, truth, my good son, can be determined NOT by how people use their mouths, but rather, how they use their wallets.”
Gary Halbert
#8) “It takes almost the same amount of time and energy to manage tiny projects or businesses as it takes to manage massive ones… but… the massive ones are the ones which give you massive rewards.”
Gary Halbert
#9) "The formula for business success is simple: Find out what people want and give it to them. But, you must find out what they really want… not… just what they say they want."
Gary Halbert
#10) “Get yourself a collection of good ads and DM pieces and read them aloud and copy them in your own handwriting.”
Gary Halbert
Copywriting Quote from Drayton Bird
#11) "Your brand image is primarily an emotional construct. Emotion is probably always more powerful in swaying people than reason, but people like to be able to rationalize their choices."
Drayton Bird
Copywriting Quotes from Bob Bly
#12) “We are not in the business of being original. We are in the business of reusing things that work.”
Bob Bly
#13) “The words in your copy should be “like the windows in a storefront. The reader should be able to see right through them and see the product.”
Bob Bly
#14) “Experienced copywriters turn those features into customer benefits: reasons why the reader should buy the product.”
Bob Bly
#15) “Copywriters are salespeople whose job is to convince people to buy products.”
Bob Bly
#16) “People use big words to impress others, but they rarely do. More often, big words annoy and distract the reader from what the writer is trying to say.”
Bob Bly
Copywriting Quotes from Claude C. Hopkins
#17) “Remember the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interests or profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising”
Claude C. Hopkins
#18) “The best ads ask no one to buy. That is useless. Often they do not quote a price. They do not say that dealers handle the product. The ads are based entirely on service. They offer wanted information.”
Claude C. Hopkins
#19) “We learn, for instance, that curiosity is one of the strongest human incentives.”
Claude C. Hopkins
Copywriting Quotes from Joseph Sugarman
#20) “In the editing process, you refine your copy to express what you want to express with the fewest words.”
Joseph Sugarman
#21) “All the elements in an advertisement are primarily designed to do one thing and one thing only: get you to read the first sentence of the copy.”
Joseph Sugarman
#22) “You sell on emotion, but you justify a purchase with logic.”
Joseph Sugarman
#23) “If I had to pick the single most powerful force in advertising and selling—the most important psychological trigger—I would pick honesty.”
Joseph Sugarman
#24) “So your first sentence should be very compelling by virtue of its short length and ease of reading. No long multisyllabic words. Keep it short, sweet and almost incomplete so that the reader has to read the next sentence.”
Joseph Sugarman
Copywriting Quotes from Gary Bencivenga
#25) “Ask if you are giving reasons why in each of these three areas:
- Compelling reason(s) why your product is superior to other solutions your prospects might choose, including doing nothing.
- Compelling reason(s) to believe that what you say is true.
- Compelling reason(s) to seize the opportunity today.”
Gary Bencivenga
#26) “The vast majority of products are sold because of the need for love, the fear of shame, the pride of achievement, the drive for recognition, the yearning to feel important, the urge to look attractive, the lust for power, the longing for romance, the need to feel secure, the terror of facing the unknown, the lifelong hunger for self-esteem and so on. 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
#27) “Would you like fries with that?”
McDonalds (Had to add this one in here. Think: upsells)
Copywriting Quote from Matt Furey
#28). “After someone reads your subject line and opens your email, you must not take anything for granted. Your first sentence has to be powerful.”
Matt Furey
Copywriting Quotes from David Ogilvy
#29) “I don't know the rules of grammar. If you're trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language.”
David Ogilvy
#30) “Where people aren’t having any fun, they seldom produce good work.”
David Ogilvy
#31) “What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it.”
David Ogilvy
#32) “Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.”
David Ogilvy
Copywriting Quotes from Victor Schwab
#33) “Advertising is nothing but an expense (not an investment) unless it gets the kind of action desired by the advertiser.”
Victor O. Schwab
Copywriting Quotes from Dan Kennedy
#34) “Always enter the conversation already occurring in the customer’s mind.”
Dan Kennedy
#35) “Gimmicks too often fail. Saying something of genuine importance and interest to the recipient usually succeeds. You say it with a headline.“
Dan Kennedy
#36) “All successful selling is by nature and necessity manipulative, and you must apply pressure to get decision and action.”
Dan kennedy
Copywriting Quotes from John Caples
#37) "If you use a poor headline, it does not matter how hard you labor over your copy because your copy will not be read."
John Caples
#38) "The most frequent reason for unsuccessful advertising is advertisers who are so full of their own accomplishments (the world's best seed!) that they forget to tell us why we should buy (the world's best lawn!)."
John Caples
#39) "The best headlines are those that appeal to the reader's self-interest, that is, headlines based on reader benefits. They offer readers something they want - and get from you."
John Caples
Copywriting Quotes from Doug D'anna
#40) “In copywriting, your story is your strongest marketing weapon. But beware, people cringe when you make it all about yourself.”
Doug D’anna
#41) “If you want to make the big money, then you must know how to walk your reader to the order form.”
Doug D’anna
Copywriting Quotes from Robert Collier
#42) “Study your reader first – your product second. If you understand his reactions, and present those phases of your product that relate to his needs, then you cannot help but write a good letter.”
Robert Collier
#43) “Lead him gently from one point of interest to another, with word pictures so clear, so simple, that he can almost see the things you are offering him.”
Robert Collier
#44) “There are only two reasons why your reader will do as you tell him to in your letter. The first is that you have made him want something so badly that of his own inertia he reaches out for your order card to get it. The other is that you have aroused in him the fear that he will lose something worthwhile if he does not.”
Robert Collier
Copywriting Quote from Leo Burnett
#45) "Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read."
Leo Burnett
Copywriting Quote from Michael Masterson
#46) “Great sales letters don’t tell the customer what to think … or feel … or want. They locate the prospect’s feelings, thoughts, and desires, and then stimulate them. They provoke the prospect to do the feeling and thinking on her own. In taking this indirect approach, you avoid the possibility that your prospect will take refuge in denial, and give her a chance to follow the course of her own feelings.”
Michael Masterson
Copywriting Quotes from Howard gossage
#47) “Nobody reads ads. People read what interests them. Sometimes it’s an ad.”
Howard Gossage
Copywriting Quote from Anne Lamott
#48) “Metaphors are a great language tool, because they explain the unknown in terms of the known.”
Anne Lamott
Copywriting Quote from Joanna Wiebe
#49) “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
Copywriting Quote from Jay Abraham
#50) “There are only three ways to increase your business: 1. Increase the number of clients. 2. Increase the average size of the sale per client. 3. Increase the number of times clients return and buy again.”
Jay Abraham (absolute gold for freelance copywriters)
Conclusion
Apply just one of these copywriting quotes to your writing and you can potentially double your income & explode results for your clients.
Apply all 50 copywriting quotes and you can earn 6-figures+ over your career (or more).
The wisdom inside these quotes is timeless and invaluable.
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