Marketer, Do You Have a Swipe File

What is a swipe file?  A swipe file is a collection of ads, landing pages, headlines, etc. that really catch your attention.  Google defines a swipe file as “a collection of tested and proven advertising and sales letters.”  It further goes on to state that “keeping a swipe file (templates) is a common practice used by advertising copywriters and creative directors as a ready reference of ideas for projects.”  You don't have to be a professional advertising copywriter in order to use a swipe file.  If you are trying to build any type of business online you should have a swipe file.

Is Using a Swipe File Stealing?

Don’t think that using a swipe file is stealing or even borrowing.  You would not be copying the item(s) found in a swipe file you would just be using the swipe file to inspire you when you run out of ideas.  You can also use the swipe file for templates. Swipe files are valuable tools to use to spark creative thoughts.

What is The Trick to Maintaining a Successful Swipe File?

There is one trick to maintaining a successful swipe file that you should know.  The swipe file needs to be organized correctly.  You would organize the file by the type of block in creativity that you would get.  If you often get writer’s block then you would start a file entitled writer’s block if you get email call to action blocks then you would start a folder entitled email call to action.  You should probably start a folder for each type of creative writing that you do.  It is quite human to get blocks in creativity and you never know when it is going to strike you.

Organizing a swipe file into folders by the type of block makes it easy to use.  The tools that are highly suggested to use for your folders include Google Docs and Evernote.  You could also use your smartphone to take pictures of outdoor ads and email them back to your inbox to be filed later.  You can actually use any type of medium that is used to collect data to keep a record of something for your swipe file.  This would even include a conventional notebook.

 

How Often Should You Add to Your Swipe File?

You should be constantly adding to your swipe file.  Set aside time in your daily schedule to surf the internet and look at how successful advertisers write their copy.  Add copies of their ads to your swipe file.  Also, if you do any email marketing then sign up to opt in to lists that  belong to people who are really good at copy writing and add their newsletters and emails that they send you to your swipe file.  You can never have too many files to refer back to because you never know which file is going to be responsible for your next great idea.

Conclusion

A swipe file is a tool that all online and offline marketers should have.  It has been responsible for many great marketing ideas and will continue to be so in the future.


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