Boost Your Copy Skills
Most people don’t know about this.
But those sometimes-cheesy infomercials you see on late-night television can be an excellent copywriting teacher.
Here’s what you do:
Watch – and record – those infomercials you see time and time again. Then, watch them 3 times each. Notice how they present their proof. Notice the claims they make.
And, notice the types of benefits they use and how they word them.
Take notes on all of this.
Doing this will serve two purposes.
- You learn valuable information about your prospect, if you happen to write for that niche.
- You learn top-notch persuasion skills. (the cost of producing and airing an infomercial is obscene. You can be sure that they’ve hired only the best copywriters in the industry to write the script.)
So next time you see an infomercial, don’t change the channel! Instead, tape it. Study it. And apply what you learn in your own copy.

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Thanks for writing this. I usually turned the channel rather than watch this. But now I will tape this and watch to get the feel/idea of what the writer is trying to say to me.
write2explore – April 26, 2009 at 6:43 am
I have started doing this. it's intersting to see how what they are doing is just in 3-D for what we may write. I would love to write one of those infomercials. I also have seen a couple of episodes of 'PITCHMEN' on DISCOVERY Channel.... shows a little of the research before they decide how they are going to bring it to the world.
Big D – May 11, 2009 at 3:49 pm
How great....I am watching the Bare Minerals makeup infomercial...and i gotta say...this is copywriting at it's BEST. I'm so proud to be apart of AWAI. I'm so excited!..
Antoni – March 13, 2013 at 5:47 am