Nine Simple Copywriting Lessons from the Great Gary Bencivenga
Published: Thu, 12/18/25
Updated: Thu, 12/18/25
During my 30+ year copywriting career, I was fortunate enough to have multiple chats with the world's greatest living copywriter, Gary Bencivenga.
Here are 9 things I learned from him that can benefit you today:
1. Wealth is an income stream - I learned from Gary how to charge and earn royalties, and it helped me make millions.
2. Always review competitors' work after a loss in a split run test - it often comes down to research,
which is why nobody out-researches me.
3. Provide two test panels for clients - this increases your chances of beating the control from 50/50 to 66/33. I would often give three, giving me a 75/25 edge.
4. Look for easy-to-sell products and avoid marketing challenges - the payoffs may not be worth the time and effort. I learned this the hard way.
5. Don't challenge a new control too soon - wait until it's been rolled out a few times for a better chance of winning. Another secret that made me millions.
6. Include updates and revisions - it keeps promotions fresh and helps build a "moat" around the client that competitors can't cross. This is how I had controls that lasted for years.
7. Think of yourself as a
business partner - it will elevate you from "a copywriter" to an integral part of their business. This is how I owned the franchise on multiple investment newsletters and trading advisories. This is why "let's get rich together" became my mantra.
8. Protect your time and efforts by securing an exclusive agreement with clients before
working on a launch package. You automatically block competing copywriters from leveraging your discovery and research.
9. Don't undervalue your worth! Remember that you possess a specialized skill set that sets you apart from every other copywriter on the planet. Don't sell yourself short.
There are many more valuable lessons I learned from Gary and his work - start with these 9 and you too can build a great copywriting career.
When you get the point in your copywriting journey where you could use private, one-on-one direction from me, I invite you to join my copywriting $100 million copywriting mentorship
program.
As a seasoned direct response copywriter, Doug has created hundreds of profitable
direct mail packages, emails, and video sales letters for the world's largest specialized information
publishers—generating over $100 million in direct sales.
