Copywriting 101, Part 3– Old Masters Series

Copywriting 101, Part 3– Old Masters Series

From Copywriters Podcast by David Garfinkel

April 13, 2026 · 30 min

About this episode

In this episode, David Garfinkel explores six fundamental copywriting principles from John Caples's book, Tested Advertising Methods.

As we return to our hit Old Masters Series segment, Copywriting 101, I’d like to let you know that the first edition of John Caples’s book Tested Advertising Methods was published in 1932–that’s 94 years ago! Caples updated the book more than once over the decades–the last edition was published in 1998. But the interesting thing is, over that 60 plus year span, the fundamentals remained the same. And they haven’t changed in the last 30 years, either. Just in the same way that storytellers still refer to Aristotle and scientists and engineers still depend on Newton’s three laws of motion, copywriters can reliably depend on the fundamentals Caples laid out. We are going to explore six more of them today. And if a little voice in your head is asking, “What the heck are we doing reviewing fundamentals?! ”, let me remind you of what basketball legend Michael Jordan said: “Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.” RESOURCE Tested Advertising Methods, 5th Edition, by John Caples https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0130957011

Topics covered

  • copywriting
  • advertising
  • fundamentals

Keywords

  • Old Masters Series
  • John Caples
  • Tested Advertising Methods
  • copywriting fundamentals

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Tested Advertising Methods, 5th Edition

Books & works: Copywriting 101,, Tested Advertising Methods

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