But let’s clarify…

A con man is a “swindler.” And to swindle somebody, you must use deception or fraud to take what is not rightfully yours.

In other words, you must lie.

I do not believe copywriters are inherently liars. And I don’t believe there is anything wrong with building confidence, so long as that confidence is based on truth.

For instance, Honda has built confidence that their engines are reliable. Is that wrong? No! Most evidence supports that claim.

Have I been defrauded by purchasing a Honda minivan? No! I got the dependability of a Honda, just as I expected.

I just noticed, isn’t that
what copywriters do?

Make the client feel
confident.

Make them feel good
about themselves.

Tell them who you are
and what you do.

Give credibility.

Paint the picture of the
product/service your
offerring…

“Future pacing” it so that
the client feels as if he/she
already owns the stuff.

It has parallelisms…

Feel free to mirror back my interview questions or similar ones.

Chris – I can relate. Live and learn, I guess.

Joseph – I agree 100%. I’ve come across a few potential clients who were really hesitant to pay anything up front because they’d recently been ripped off by a copywriter.

I think there are “con men” on both sides of the coin…and it’s really unfortunate for honest copywriters who market value added services.

But…

There are also so-called copywriters out there who “take the money and run”, and perform very little work for the client in exchange.

They use “con” to gain the trust of their clients, and once they get that payment…they are gone.

That, or they misrepresent their level of experience or qualifications etc…and pass it off as marketing themselves.

Sad.

Great post Ryan! :)

Joseph Ratliff

Thanks,

Chris

PS I’ve got your questions answered, I’ve been procrastinating on my questions for you.