Kyle Milligan Quotes

“Accounting is considered the language of business and copywriting has been referred to as salesmanship in print. So it makes sense to consider copywriting the language of sales. More specifically, it is the language of emotion. Because emotions are what make people buy things.”

“Binging is critical to learning and recognizing patterns. But binging a foreign language is useless without a decoder.”

“Copywriting is a language communicated purely through subtext. Therefore, when you are reading copy you are not looking for clever turns of phrase or 'mind control lines'. The words aren’t important. It’s not what you say, it’s what you communicate.”

“Copywriting is a language.”

“Copywriting is an emotional language where the words on the page do not matter as much as you’d think! Because the emotional part of the brain is triggered by the unwritten subtext. The subtext is inferred, not spoken. Put another way, it’s not what you say, it’s what you communicate.”

“Copywriting speaks directly toward the emotional center of the brain. The 'lizard brain' as some call it. And that is the most fickle and lazy part of the brain. It does not want to spend any effort on attention.

The lizard brain wants to quickly categorize anything that crosses its path as either a threat, something to eat, or something to ignore. That way it can go back to doing nothing. Do not let the lizard brain categorize your copywriting as something to ignore. You combat that by weaving 'new' into the subtext of your copywriting. ”

“Don’t read about copy. Just read copy.”

“Every word of copywriting is specifically designed and choreographed to serve what I call: The Big 4.

Basically, in great copy there are four main sentiments or emotions you want to trigger in your reader’s mind. These 4 do that or 'are' that. And each of The Big 4 comes in a pair.

Here they are with their alter egos attached:
- New/Only
- Easy/Anybody
- Safe/Predictable
- Big/Fast”

“If you want to learn how to speak Spanish, don’t read a ton of books about Spanish… Simply read Spanish. And if you want to learn how to speak copywriting, don’t read a ton of books about copywriting… Just read copywriting. ”

“If you’ve never tried to learn a new language, here’s how the education process usually goes. The instructors will start with some basics. Then they will add some stuff on top, while they continue to repeat and reinforce past lessons and basics over and over. It is the brute force repetition that makes the language stick.”

“If your words are conversational, but don’t communicate important, specific subtext, then you are speaking English… not copywriting.”

“The language of copywriting is found in the subtext, not the text.”

“To become a great copywriter, and to immerse yourself in the language of copywriting, there are three things you must do.

The Daily Practice:
1. Read a piece of copy a day
2. Write a page of copy a day
3. Come up with an idea a day”

“To frame how important 'New' is just remember this phrase: categorization is death.

If the reader ever feels they can label your message as something they’ve 'seen before…' or even label your message as similar to something they’ve seen before, then you and your copy are dead. Buried.
Treat 'New' with that level of mortal seriousness.”

“You know that you are supposed to grab attention. You know that you are supposed to build intrigue. You know that you need to create urgency.”