[The Biz] Tangibles vs Intangibles

Why readers & customers value "objects" more than ideas (this is the only copywriting rule you need to know).

Sometimes I struggle to know whether to classify “copywriting” under “art” or “business.”

Because if you’ve ever studied Gary Halbert, one of the greatest sales copywriters ever, then you know writing like him is hard. It might look simple, but so does Hemingway’s writing—and it’s not. (I like to say Gary is what Hemingway would have become if, instead of writing short stories & novels, he’d gotten interested in business.)

Great sales copy IS art.

But because the goal of sales copy is to generate a specific result (whereas “art” is typically defined as being more interpretive), it’s more widely considered to be a vehicle for business.

Either way, art or biz, I have things to say about it.

And over the years, I have concluded that 80%+ of “the art” of sales copywriting comes down to 1 very simple rule: