Marketing Lessons Older Than AI, eight lessons from marketers who figured this out long before AI, and how I use each one in my business now.
Some of the emails people actually read all the way through don't look like sales emails at all. They start with something that happened to you, and the reader wants to know how it turned out.
John Caples wrote a headline built on that idea a hundred years ago, and copywriters still borrow it today.
How old is this lesson?
It's 100 years old. In 1926, Caples wrote an ad for the U.S. School of Music with the headline "They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano, But When I Started to Play!" It was one of his first ads and it became one of the most famous headlines ever written.
Caples didn't start out in advertising. He studied engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy and worked as an engineer before he switched to writing ads. He kept that engineer's habit of measuring things his whole career, and in 1932 he published Tested Advertising Methods, a book full of headlines and the results each one got.
So Caples is a good bridge between two lessons in this series. He loved a good story, and like Claude Hopkins, he tested everything to see what actually worked.
The lesson, in plain words
A headline that starts a story makes people want to know how it ends. The piano ad works because you can picture the scene. Someone sits down, people laugh at them, and then something changes. You have to keep reading to find out what happened.
It also works because the reader can see themselves in it. Most of us have felt like the person people doubted. So the story is really about the reader, even though it's told about someone else.
A good story headline makes people need to know how it ends.
The idea behind the piano ad, 1926How I use it in my business
When I promoted the Newsletter Profit Club lifetime offer this fall, I sent an email to people who hadn't joined the summit. The subject line was "I thought it was just me," and the preview text said it was about why my newsletter wasn't making money.
The email told the real story. For a long time I sent a newsletter that didn't make money, because the advice back then was to send a weekly email about your podcast or your blog to keep people warm for your next launch. People stopped opening them, since they were already subscribed to the podcast.
I kept sending them anyway because I thought it was just me and my audience didn't care about my content. It turned out to be how the emails were set up. So I put my marketing professor hat on, subscribed to 36 newsletters for six months, and wrote down every way each one made money.
That research became Newsletter Profit Club. The email ended with Jennifer, one of our members, who went from $50 a week to over $400 in a single week using the Teach & Pitch Method, and then it gave the lifetime price.
The subject line didn't mention the program, the price or the deadline. It just started a story that a lot of newsletter writers have lived, and the email finished it.
Story headlines do their best work in the Engage stage of the Creator Growth Flywheel. They get people to open and read, which is what turns a subscriber into someone who's paying attention.
How to use it this week
Find a real moment of doubt
Think about a time you were stuck, wrong or doubted in your business. The best stories for this are ones your audience is living through right now.
Write the headline as the start of the story
Your subject line should drop the reader into the moment, like "I thought it was just me" or "Nobody opened my emails for a year." Leave the ending out.
Get to the turning point fast
Tell what happened in plain order, then get to what changed. Your offer goes after the turning point, because that's when the reader wants to know how they can do it too.
Mistakes I see creators make with this
- Making the story up. An invented story might sound good, but readers can usually tell, and it costs you trust. Use something that really happened, even if it feels small.
- Taking too long to get to the point. A story email still has a job to do. Get to the turning point quickly so the reader isn't scrolling for five minutes before they see why it matters.
- Telling a story that isn't about the reader's problem. Your story should be about something your audience is going through right now. Otherwise it's just a nice story with no reason to keep reading.
Why this feels harder than it is
A lot of creators feel awkward telling stories about their own mistakes. But your audience trusts you more when they know you've been where they are, and a story about getting stuck shows them you understand their problem from the inside.
The other hard part is that story headlines feel risky because they don't say what the email is about. That's why Caples tested them. Try a story subject line against a plain one on your own list, and let your readers tell you which one they prefer.
What Caples would tell you about AI
AI can write a hundred story headlines, but it can't make up your story, and it shouldn't. Readers can tell when a story is invented, and a fake story damages trust fast.
So bring AI your real story and ask it to help you find the best moment to start with. That's how a 100-year-old headline idea works in a business today, with a real story behind it.
Keep reading the series.
This post is one of eight. Start with the full series overview, or jump to another lesson:
- Claude Hopkins: test everything and let the numbers decide
- Eugene Schwartz: sell to people based on how aware they already are
- David Ogilvy: the headline does most of the work
- Theodore Levitt: people buy the result, the product is how they get it
- Robert Cialdini: give first and people want to give back
- Ries and Trout: own one clear spot in your buyer's head
- Gary Halbert: find a starving crowd before you pick an offer
See where your audience is getting stuck
The free Creator Growth Flywheel scorecard takes two minutes and shows you which stage of your business needs your best stories right now.
Take the free scorecard →Frequently asked.
Who wrote "They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano"?
John Caples wrote it in 1926 for the U.S. School of Music. It's one of the most famous and most copied headlines in advertising history.
What is a story headline?
A story headline drops the reader into the middle of a moment, like someone being doubted, and leaves out how it ends. People open and read to find out what happened.
Do story subject lines work for email marketing?
They often do, especially when the story is real and matches something your readers are going through. Test a story subject line against a plain one on your list to see what your readers prefer.
What is Tested Advertising Methods?
It's John Caples's 1932 book about writing headlines and ads, built on the results of real tests. It's still recommended for anyone who writes subject lines or ads.
Dr. Destini Copp helps digital product creators build sustainable, systems-based businesses through the Creator Growth Flywheel framework. She's the founder of Creator's MBA and HobbyScool, and has been teaching online business strategy for over a decade. Learn more →
