About
Gerry Black is a Toronto copywriter who offers online copywriting and marketing solutions that generate sales lead inquiries
What Qualifies Me To Help You With Your Copywriting and Marketing Needs?
My most important credential is that I know how to sell. Face-to-face, over the phone, online or in print.
Although I’m a professional copywriter and marketing consultant, I’m first and foremost a salesman.
Every piece of copy I write or marketing advice I offer is filtered through the selling lens I developed during a successful, 20-year career as an award-winning sales person in the advertising and publishing industries.
When you work with me, you automatically have the built-in advantage of leveraging my sales ability in your marketing efforts.
In 1998, I discovered the power of direct-response marketing when an advertising agency asked me to write a sales letter for one of their non-profit clients – the Toronto Zoo. They asked me to write the letter using the same approach I would if I was sitting across the table from someone explaining why donating to the organization was a good idea.
I had no formal training in writing sales copy. In fact, the style was very different from what I learned in journalism school. I decided to use some of the approaches and strategies that had been effective for me in my-face-to-face selling efforts. To everyone’s surprise – especially me! – the letter generated a 12.6% response – 25% over what the client had been expecting.
I was hooked!
I figured that if I could get that kind of a business result for my client without really knowing what I was doing, imagine what some training would do!
So, I enrolled in America Writers & Artists (AWAI) Accelerated Six-Figure Copywriting Program to develop my direct-response writing and marketing skills. I can still remember the encouraging feeling I got when AWAI’s Will Newman sent me his positive feedback on my first assignment.
It started a me on a mission to soak up everything I could get my hands on that would help me develop my direct-response marketing skills and knowledge so I could help my clients sell their services and products.
I read every book on copywriting I could find. Bob Bly was my mentor. I read all of his books. Dan Kennedy, John Carlton and Gary Halbert were also huge influences in teaching me how to write copy and create marketing strategies that generate positive results for my clients.
You can imagine how thrilled I was when Bob Bly – the man McGraw-Hill calls “America’s top copywriter” – called ME and asked if he could include a special report I wrote in HIS new book!
I collected “junk mail” and studied the structure. I went to seminars. I looked at websites and sales letters – some bad, some good and some great. I taught myself everything I could about copywriting and marketing while I continued to produce results for my clients.
Today, in addition to working on a variety of copywriting and marketing projects, I consult with self-employed professionals and small business owners about ways they can attract more clients and increase their profits by using more effective marketing strategies and creating information products they can use to generate passive income streams.
Articles I’ve written on effective marketing strategies for small business owners have appeared in Direct Marketing News, Review of Ophthalmology and in numerous ezines by publishers who have downloaded my articles from EzineArticles.com so they can add value for their readers. I have also been featured in the Toronto Sun newspaper.
I have presented marketing seminars for such groups VA Networking and IVAA and appeared as a guest presenter on BlogTalk radio.
I earned a B.A. in Journalism from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.
I offer a variety of consulting options for small business owners who sense they are leaving big profits on the table but aren’t sure what to do about it.
For a free, no-obligation consultation regarding your online copywriting needs, call me at 905-716-7130 or email me at gerry@marketingwriter.ca
