The Michel Fortin Blog

The greater portion of my career has been in copywriting, selling, and direct marketing. And one of the common denominators I've found in any successful piece of copy is the power of risk reversal. That is, taking more of a risk from the sale...

After participating in a recent product launch (something I very rarely do), our Platinum Group was discussing the issue and I wanted to share those insights with you. Considering the recent hysteria behind the massive Apple iPad launch, it got...

One morning, you go into your mailbox and discover there's an envelope waiting for you from an unknown source. You bring the package into your living room, tear open the envelope, pull out what's inside, put on your reading glasses, unfold the...

I was recently interviewed by a print magazine about how I started my business. In it, I offered several tips and ideas on how to carve a niche in the marketplace that I personally applied. I realized some of these tips were particularly...

Last year, a bunch of copywriters who also blog -- like yours truly -- shot the breeze on the Nuts and Blogbolts talk radio show. It was an interesting and at times spirited discussion. After some talk about content and copy (or should I say,...

Lately, I'm seeing a lot of posts in public forums and blogs these days about people getting sick and tired of seeing "crappy," "hypey," used-car, Ginsu-like, looooong copy. Some of them come from guru-bashing naysayers who hate marketing, which...

The other day I was asked the following question: "Should I use active or passive voice in sales copy?" My answer may surprise you. The premise behind this question is simple. Traditional rules of good writing state that we should use active...

Dan Kennedy often says clunky copy outsells clean copy. I somewhat agree with him, but not all the time. In fact, clunkiness can work against you. And a recent university study proves this. People have a tendency to forge not only a lasting...

Most of the copy people ask me to rewrite seem to offer great products and services. In fact, some offers are so good, prospects would be crazy to turn them down. But they do. And these sales pieces end up falling on my lap because they're...