8 Copywriting Secrets from Victor O. Schwab to Help You Write Better Copy TODAY

“Advertising is nothing but an expense (not an investment) unless it gets the kind of action desired by the advertiser.”

Victor O. Schwab

 

When I started copywriting in 2020, I read 10 copywriting books.

One of my favorites was How to Write a Good Advertisement, by Victor O. Schwab.

Victor Schwab is one of the pioneers of advertising and direct response copywriting.

Many of the copywriting principles and tactics used today were founded by him.

There is a mountain of gold to be discovered from this copywriting legend.

In this blog post…

I’m going to cover who Victor O. Schwab was, why you should study him and 8 copywriting secrets from Victor O. Schwab’s How to Write a Good Advertisement to help you write better copy instantly.

 

Who is Victor O. Schwab?

Victor O. Schwab was one of the most successful & influential direct response copywriters of all time.

When Victor Schwab was 19, he met Max Sackheim (famous copy chief for leading ad agency, Ruthrauff & Ryan). Sackheim hired Schwab as his private secretary. In no time, Victor Schwab was promoted to head copywriter.

He became a research pioneer by using keyed coupon ads to split test headlines, offers, images, call to actions, etc.

Victor O. Schwab was one of the first copywriters to apply scientific principles in advertising.

His background in psychology and advertising research helped him craft extremely persuasive copy.

Victor O. Schwab Accomplishments

• Victor Schwab was the advertising mastermind behind best-seller “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” He created the title of this book and turned it into one the most sold self-help books of all time.
• He worked on the Charles Atlas and Sherwin Cody’s English Classics Course – a multi-million dollar company and leading English language training course.
• He turned the Book-of-the-Month Club into a giant in the book subscription industry.

Where to Learn More About Victor O. Schwab

Victor O. Schwab created one of the best copywriting books of all time – How to Write a Good Advertisement.

Plus…

He wrote several revolutionary ads.

Here are 2 of his best ads:

How I raised Myself from Failure at 29 to become a $250 per day success!

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Read Victor O. Schwab’s book (at least 10 times) and study his ads.

I recommend every copywriter to read his ads out loud, handwrite them and analyze them, line-by-line. This will give you an inside-out understanding of how to write killer ads.

 

8 Copywriting Lessons from Victor Schwab to Help You Write Better Copy TODAY

#1. 100 Best Headlines

This first tip isn’t really a tip.

It’s more of a goldmine of copywriting headlines to study and profit from.

In Victor Schwab’s book, How to Write a Good Advertisement, he revealed the top 100 headlines (at the time) and gave great insights into why they worked so well.

This is by far the most valuable part of this book.

Here is a link to these 100 headlines plus Victor Schwab’s insights:

Study them and use them as inspiration for writing your own breakthrough headlines.

 

#2. The 5-step Process for Writing Winning Ads

This 5-step process works for any type of copy, but especially for advertisements.

The 5 fundamentals of writing a good ad include:

1. Get attention
2. Show people an advantage
3. Prove it
4. Persuade people to grasp this advantage
5. Ask for action

This was Victor Schwab’s secret for writing million-dollar ads.

How to Write a Good Advertisement covers these 5 steps in great detail.

However, to persuade readers and motivate them to buy from you, you must have all 5 elements within every piece of copy you write.

Here’s some quick tips for each step:

1. Get attention – Grab your ideal reader’s undivided attention with your headline. Use the top 100 headlines to sharpen your headline skills.
2. Show people an advantage – This is the main benefit of your client’s product or service. Focus on what this benefit will DO for your reader (not what it is).
3. Prove it – lace your copy with heaps of social proof: testimonials, case studies, credentials, etc.
4. Persuade people to grasp this advantage – paint a vivid motion picture in your readers’ minds of them using your product and experiencing the big benefits. The easiest way to achieve this is to demonstrate what the product will do for them.
5. Ask for action – You ask for action in your CTA (call to action). Tell readers exactly what to do next. Make it stupidly simple, clear and easy to take action.

 

#3. The 2 Attributes of an Attention-Grabbing Headline

 

Victor Schwab’s simple 2-step secret for writing killer headlines:

1. Select your reader
2. Promise them a worthwhile reward for reading your copy

In every headline you write, you should flag down your target audience and emphasize the biggest emotional benefit they seek to gain.

Here is an easy way to flag down your ideal reader:

Simply start your headline with “For [IDEAL READER]”

3 examples:

For real estate agents…

For chiropractors…

For pre-school teachers…

Then, add the biggest benefit they hope to achieve.

Like this:

For chiropractors who want to double their income by next fall.

For pre-school teachers who crave to pump passion back into their careers.

For real estate agents who want to grow their business without cold prospecting.

This is just one way of adding these 2 elements to your headlines.

When you add these 2 key elements to your headlines, you will have a much easier time grabbing your ideal reader’s attention and sucking them into your copy.

 

#4. Hierarchy of What Pictures Readers Want to See

This tip isn’t necessarily about writing.

But it will help you grab your reader’s attention and get them to read your copy.

In Victor O. Schwab’s book, How to Write a Good Advertisement, he revealed the elusive hierarchy of images in advertisements.

Image hierarchy:

1. Children
2. Groups of adults
3. Sport scenes
4. Animals
5. Natural scenery

Keep this hierarchy in mind when working with clients.

This can help your clients boost engagement and sales (plus this will impress clients because it shows you have multiple skill sets).

 

#5. The Top 14 Core Desires People Want to Gain

 

Victor Schwab revealed the top 14 core desires that every human wants to gain in life.

Keep these core desires in mind when writing benefits.

People want to gain:

1. Health
2. Time
3. Money
4. Popularity
5. Improved appearance
6. Security in old age
7. Praise from others
8. Comfort
9. Leisure
10. Price of accomplishment
11. Advancement: business, social
12. Increased enjoyment
13. Self-confidence
14. Personal prestige

Try to tie your main benefit around one or more of these appeals.

Plus, target all relevant appeals throughout your copy.

The more you can tap into, the more effective your copy will be at stirring up desire.

 

#6. The 2 Forces Needed to Pull a Sale

To sell anything to anyone, you must include these 2 selling assets:

Emotion & logic.

Victor Schwab was one of the first copywriters to clearly explain that you sell on emotion and justify the purchase with logic.

They work together in harmony.

Logic backs emotion by justifying the purchase to us and so that we can justify our purchases to friends and family.

And…

Emotion backs logic because the stronger the emotional appeal is presented, the more fully and readily your proof material will be accepted and believed.

For every piece of copy you write…

You want to tap into your readers’ core emotions.

Discover the right ones to hit through research.

Then tap into them by telling stories, using image words, and painting vision of their problems, wants, desires, and all other relevant emotions.

Then…

Make sure you back up all your claims with logic – testimonials, stats, figures, case studies, specific details, credentials, etc.

 

#7. The Missing Piece to Get Readers to Purchase

 

Lots of copywriters leave this out.

It’s a deadly mistake.

Because you can have the best copy in the world but never make a sale, if you do not give your reader a reason to act now.

Victor O. Schwab expressed the importance of eliciting immediate action from your readers.

He gave away 6 main ways of doing so:

• Offer a risk-free guarantee
• Make your offer irresistible by adding premiums (bonuses)
• Time limit - give a time limit on your offer (order by midnight tonight)
• Limited supply
• Raise price
• Gain or loss - stress what your reader gains by purchasing your product immediately, or what he loses daily by not owning it.

By adding these elements to your call to action, you can boost response rates and drive more sales for your clients.

 

#8. Booster Stations of Power and Interest

In How to Write A Good Advertisement, Victor Schwab dedicated several pages to the importance of “eye relief”.

Meaning:

You must make your copy pleasant on your reader’s eyeballs.

A great way to achieve this is to break up your copy with subheads.

Victor expressed how subheads act as booster stations of power and interest.

Each subhead charges your readers’ engine and gets them chugging along down your copy.

Here are 3 of my favorite ways to write engaging subheads:

1. Curiosity – electrify your readers by tapping into their curiosity. This will hook their attention and get them to keep reading.
2. Questions – ask relevant questions to hook your readers and get them to keep reading for the answers
3. Bizarre – I often use bizarre, seemingly unrelated text for subheads. This wakes readers up and pulls them out of their daze.

 

Conclusion

Study Victor O Schwab’s ads and read his book, How to Write a Good Advertisement.

There are hundreds of copywriting gems buried inside his work just waiting to be discovered.

If you apply them to your writing, I can almost guarantee you’ll transform your copywriting skills very fast.

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