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Plenty of people can write competent copy. Fewer can write copy that sounds like a real person with clear opinions — copy readers look forward to and buy from. That quality is a large part of Dan Kennedy's effectiveness: his newsletters, letters and books are recognisably his, direct and opinionated, and that personality is part of why readers respond.
The free "How to Write Like Dan Kennedy" Challenge is a three-day virtual training on that style of writing, run under the Magnetic Marketing banner and hosted by Dan Henry, an entrepreneur and long-time student of Kennedy's methods. This review covers what the three days teach, what the challenge can help you achieve, exercises you can use now, and who it suits. It's most useful for marketers, coaches and business owners who already write copy and want it to stand out.
Disclosure: SEO-Serps is an affiliate of Magnetic Marketing. If you register through links on this page we may be credited, at no extra cost to you.
What You Can Achieve With the Challenge
- Develop a recognisable voice for your emails, pages and posts
- Write copy that builds a relationship with readers before you ask for the sale
- Use stories to sell, with a repeatable story–lesson–offer structure
- Attract the right prospects and filter out the wrong ones through clear opinions and positioning
- Build a marketing system around your writing that grows your list
- Make offers that feel like a natural next step rather than a hard sell
- Build a challenge funnel for your own offer, according to the challenge outline
- Stand out from generic and AI-generated copy in crowded markets
At a Glance
| What it is | A free 3-day virtual challenge on writing copy in Dan Kennedy's style |
| Time commitment | About an hour a day for three days |
| Host | Dan Henry, entrepreneur, author and long-time student of Dan Kennedy |
| Brand | Magnetic Marketing |
| Cost | Free |
| Included | The 3-day training, a private participant group and a marketing toolkit |
| Dates | Runs periodically with limited places — check the website for the next challenge |
| Best for | Coaches, consultants, course creators and owners whose copy sounds generic |
Next challenge: Check dates and register free →
Who It's For — and Who It Isn't
A good fit if you:
- Already write your own marketing and want it to be distinctive
- Run a coaching, consulting or course business in a crowded market
- Send email to a list that has stopped opening or replying
- Want to build an audience that follows you, not just a database
Not a good fit if you:
- Are an experienced copywriter with an established voice and results
- Want templates to copy rather than a voice of your own
- Work in a context where a strong personal voice doesn't suit the brand (some regulated or corporate settings), although the structural lessons still apply
What Makes Kennedy's Writing Distinctive
The challenge teaches Dan Kennedy's approach; the host, Dan Henry, has built his own business on it. The traits worth naming:
- A consistent voice — plain-spoken, opinionated, often contrarian
- Stories with a point — anecdotes from his business and clients, each leading to a lesson and usually an offer
- Writing to one reader, not an audience
- Polarisation — accepting that some readers will be put off, which makes the rest more loyal
- Regular offers — personality earns the right to ask for a response; it's never the end goal
What the Three Days Cover
Day 1 — Creating a magnetic personality
Building a distinct personality for your copy: what you stand for, what you oppose, how you speak, and how to turn your own experiences and opinions into something readers recognise and trust.
Day 2 — Building a magnetic marketing system
Using that personality inside a repeatable system that grows your list and moves readers toward buying, rather than writing occasional standalone posts. The outline includes building a challenge funnel for your own offer.
Day 3 — Selling through relationship
Selling without feeling like selling: using personality and relationship so that by the time you make an offer, readers are inclined to accept it.
The challenge also covers what it describes as the three core Magnetic Marketing fundamentals.
Exercises in Personality-Driven Copy
1. Write a ten-line manifesto
List ten things you believe about your industry that most competitors wouldn't say publicly — for example, "Most SEO reports are designed to impress, not inform." These opinions are the raw material of a voice.
2. Name what you're against
Kennedy's writing often has a clear opponent: unmeasurable brand advertising, lazy agencies, shortcut-sellers. Choose the thing your ideal customer is frustrated by and write against it.
3. Build a story bank
Write down twenty short stories from your business: mistakes, client wins, unusual conversations, things that annoyed you this week. Each can become an email or post with a lesson and a call to action.
4. Use story–lesson–offer
- Story: something that happened, briefly and specifically.
- Lesson: what it means for the reader.
- Offer: what they can do about it, with a link.
Do this daily for two weeks and your list starts to behave like an audience.
Before and After: Generic vs Personality-Driven
The same email from a business coach, written two ways.
Generic:
Subject: Grow your business this year
Are you looking to grow your business? Our proven coaching program helps entrepreneurs achieve their goals. With personalised support and expert guidance, you can take your business to the next level. Book a free discovery call today.
Nothing in it is false, and nothing is memorable; any coach could send it.
Personality-driven:
Subject: I let my best client go last week
She paid on time and referred two friends. But every call ended with her wanting me to agree with a business model that was quietly losing her money.
So I told her what I actually thought, and she left.
Most coaching is a paid opinion that agrees with you. I don't work that way. If you want someone to tell you plainly why your revenue has been flat, I have three call slots this month.
Book one here, and bring your numbers.
The second version has a story, an opinion, something to oppose, a filter for the right reader and a specific offer. It will put some readers off, which is intended; those who stay are more likely to buy.
Want to learn the method in full? Register for the Write Like Dan Kennedy Challenge →
A Daily Writing Routine
- Ten minutes a day at a fixed time.
- One email, one idea — story, lesson, offer, around 300 words.
- Write as you speak, then read it aloud.
- Keep an idea file for stories and customer questions.
- Send it rather than polishing indefinitely.
- Review weekly — which emails got replies and clicks — and do more of those.
After a month you'll have twenty or more pieces of copy and real data on what your audience responds to.
Personality Copy and AI Writing Tools
AI tools produce competent, average copy quickly — which is exactly the copy that blends into everything else. What they can't supply is the substance of personality: your stories, opinions, customers and mistakes. A practical way to combine them:
- Supply the substance yourself in rough notes.
- Use a tool for structure and tidying, not ideas.
- Put your voice back in by reading aloud and rewriting anything generic.
- Never let a tool invent stories or results. Personality copy only works because it's true.
The Three Fundamentals in Practice
However they're framed in the sessions, Kennedy's work rests on three ideas you can apply to any copy:
- Attract the right people and repel the wrong ones through clear opinions, a defined audience and a specific offer.
- Build the relationship before the sale through regular, personal, useful contact.
- Always make an offer and measure the response. Personality without an offer is entertainment.
How It Fits With Other Kennedy Resources
- The Ultimate Sales Letter — the structure and process of persuasive copy; the challenge supplies the voice
- No B.S. Direct Marketing — the rules your copy should still follow: offers, deadlines, tracking and follow-up
- Selling Opportunity — what you should be offering
- The NO B.S. Letter — a monthly example of Kennedy's voice to study
What's Included and What It Costs
The challenge is free and includes the three-day training, a private participant group and a marketing toolkit. As with most free trainings, expect an invitation to a paid program or membership at some point; you're under no obligation to take it. Places are limited per round; current details are on the challenge website.
A Note on the Claims
The registration page includes the host's own income figures and some unsourced statistics, and its testimonials are first-name only. Those don't tell you much. What is well established is that specific, opinionated, story-led copy tied to an offer consistently outperforms generic copy, and Kennedy is one of its best-known practitioners.
Getting the Most From the Challenge
- Do the four exercises before Day 1.
- Write something each day of the challenge using that day's lesson.
- Use the participant group for feedback on your writing.
- Build the Day 2 funnel for a real offer, even a simple one.
- Commit to two weeks of daily emails afterwards and measure opens, replies and clicks.
The Benefits in Practice: Three Scenarios
The coach whose emails go unread. Moving from generic tips to story-led emails with clear opinions, they see more opens and replies. The benefit is a list that engages, and responds when an offer is made.
The course creator in a crowded niche. A distinct voice and clear positions give prospects a reason to follow one creator over similar ones. The benefit is differentiation competitors can't copy, because it's based on the creator's own experience.
The agency writing for itself. Agencies often write well for clients and blandly for themselves. Applying the challenge's approach to their own newsletter and posts makes the agency recognisable. The benefit is inbound enquiries from prospects who already like how the agency thinks.
Is It Right for You? Five Questions
- Does your copy sound interchangeable with competitors'?
- Do your emails get low open and reply rates?
- Do you have stories and opinions from your work you haven't used in your marketing?
- Can you commit an hour a day for three days, and to writing daily afterwards?
- Are you comfortable putting some readers off in order to attract the right ones?
If you answered yes to most of these, the challenge is a useful, free way to start developing a voice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the challenge free?
Yes.
Who hosts it?
Dan Henry hosts it and teaches Dan Kennedy's methods.
How long is it?
Three days, about an hour a day.
When does it run?
Periodically, with limited places. The website shows the next round.
Do I need to be a strong writer?
No. The focus is voice and system rather than polished prose, and Kennedy's own style is deliberately plain.
Is it suitable for B2B marketers?
Yes. Business buyers respond to a recognisable voice and useful stories too; the main adjustment is choosing opinions and stories relevant to the decision-makers you sell to.
What happens after the three days?
You keep the material from the challenge and can continue in the participant group. Expect an optional invitation to further paid training, which you can decline.
Key Takeaways
- A free three-day training on personality-driven copy in Kennedy's style
- Voice comes from stories, opinions and regular writing
- Story–lesson–offer is a simple structure for daily emails
- Personality copy still needs offers and measurement
- Runs periodically with limited places; check the website
Bottom Line
The Write Like Dan Kennedy Challenge is a short, free and practical way to develop what most business copy lacks: a recognisable voice that builds a relationship and sells. Pair it with The Ultimate Sales Letter for structure, do the exercises, and write daily for a couple of weeks afterwards.
Register for the next Write Like Dan Kennedy Challenge →
Printed from seo-serps.com — https://seo-serps.com/website-conversion/write-like-dan-kennedy-challenge-review/ — updated November 5, 2026.