Copywriting.org Interviews Prasanna Natarajan
Click to Share:
Q1. Where are you from?
India
Q2. How did you discover copywriting?
I discovered it accidentally when I wanted to help my dad’s business. He runs a boutique jewelry shop in a South Indian City. In my prior life as a Software Engineer, I was exposed to the world of digital marketing, and via that, Google My Business and Google Ads. When trying to craft the ads, I looked around for other shops and noticed that the ads of the big players were vastly different and *better* than those of the small ones. They were catchy, colloquial and very specific, unlike the generic “news-like” ads I saw others write. So I googled “How to craft a good headline for my ad”. That’s when I found the rabbit-hole. I discovered copywriting, email and Twitter marketing. I was able to *see* how money was really made. I saw the day-and-night like difference between regular writing and persuasive writing. Saw how master persuaders use stories, pictures, voice inflection, body language and their prestige to sell things. I was hooked. (Cue the Neo meme “I know Kung-Fu”). I’ve always loved blogging and creative writing prior to this. So when I found out I could make ???? by conveying ideas & emotions using just words… I decided to jump head first into this world of copywriting.
Q3. What forms of copy do you write?
Email and Twitter marketing. I write emails and tweets that bother people. Hear me out, there’s a reason. Day by day, people are getting a lot lonely you know? Despite being “hyper-connected”, nobody’s spending enough time with their loved ones. And that makes people sad. And that makes *me* sad. Everybody’s day to day enthusiasm meter reads “half-charged”. So what I do is write emails and tweets that remind them WHY they have to touch base with their real nature. And WHY it’s a good idea to connect with people, feel the grass and smell some hair (not in *that* creepy way). I do that by writing bothering emails and tweets for products that’ll help them get there faster. (True story: “I don’t like to bother people” said a man who drove himself to ER with a nail in his heart. He didn’t know it’s ok to bother people sometimes.)
Q4. What are your favorite niches to write in?
Fitness. Hormone Optimization. Addiction recovery. Wifi Money Making. Info products (ebooks, courses). Within Fitness, I have a great deal of experience in the niche of fat loss, muscle & strength building, lifting for men who are over 6 feet tall, lifting for men who are over 40, workouts for busy career men with a family, and of course, women who want a big booty. Having worked with top of the cream in Fitness industry, I have behind-the-scenes view in how the money is really made. Things such as building a list, leveraging social media, priming the followers for a launch, building a waitlist, upselling a community are all my forte.
Q5. What is the #1 lesson you've learned as a copywriter?
A copywriter is a LOT more valuable to the business owner if he can also understand and operate other technical levers of the marketing funnel. Things like building landing pages, working with a wordpress site, understanding and performing basic SEO, analytics, creating an end-to-end funnel for a product launch, being able integrate services (zapier) etc. A copywriter need not be a “full-stack” marketer. But if he is, he can print money not only for his clients, but for himself too. To that extent, besides studying copywriting, I also get my hands dirty on these technical aspects of marketing.
Q6. Who is your favorite copywriter & why?
David Ogilvy. His ads taught me how to write & sell with class. His words convey prestige effortlessly. I also like Neville Medhora. His usage of hand-drawings and writing in a very straightforward, but funny way is always enticing to read.
Q7. Do you have any recent wins to share?
I wrote some emails for a 4-day campaign for a fat-loss group for my client who’s a fitness influencer. The offer was priced at $150. At the end of the campaign we made $9K. It’s all profit because it’s just a telegram group access. The emails were written in a strategic way, addressing one objection per email, throwing in before/after testimonials and promising them the moon (and delivering it). Another recent win: The client has a list of 42K subscribers. The usual open rate was 35%. But I learned some “secrets” about engaging the subscribers, and used them recently. The open rates have been consistently above 49%, with no noticeable change in sales or total opens. But this change massively increased the deliverability and sender reputation.
Q8. What would you say to a prospective client who wants to hire you?
I know you’re thinking: “How tf can this brown-skinned Indian dude capture my or my brand’s voice?? Won’t my readers find out???!!” Dear ser: My brown may be blacker than your black men’s black. But what really matters is my ability to speak the language of copywriting. Which I speak even when I’m dreaming. The key to make sales with words isn’t to use flowery words, but to really write select few words that can nudge the prospects in a friendly way to open their wallet. Which I’ve done to the tune of collecting over $200K for my clients in this past year alone.
Q9. What is a good email address for prospective clients to contact you?
pras@rubywords.com