Marketing Is Not Sales!

I live in a business community that "doesn't get it"!

Here in Las Vegas it seems like "Marketing" is just another word for "Sales". At the very best, many companies treat marketing as an additional virtue of a sales person.

SORRY!

Now, let me tell you why this is happening. I am sure you have heard the mantra of Reno, "the biggest little city in the U.S." The exact same is true of Las Vegas, only on steroids! There are two industries here. One is the casino/hotel industry .... here in grand scale. The other is 6,800 other businesses that grew out of supporting the growth of Las Vegas. There are a handful of nationwide companies here with satellite offices.

The casino/hotel business understand the difference between marketing and sales. In fact, they do a rather good job in database marketing. They know exactly who plays the slots vs. 21 and craps. They know exactly who to invite to a slot tournament vs. a poker tournament and have a very sophisticated direct marketing program in place.

But, they believe only the people who have worked in the hotel/casino business of marketing are the only people who know how to implement their marketing programs. Like the auto industry, they hire from within. Hence, their marketing innovations all seem to be the same. Little thinking "outside the box".

Now the "meat of this post".

Marketing is not sales.

Most of the other 6,800 companies here grew up from a daily laborer starting his or her own company. Once they began to grow, they hired "worker bees" to replace them as they began to manage their growing company. This two level company structure remains today. The owner at the top and everyone else is a "worker bee". When the owner wants more business, they look for people to find it for them. Hence, in the minds of the top management, sales people have blurred the lines between themselves and marketing as an attribute sales people should have.

WRONG.

Marketing is a function and discipline unique to itself. Yes, it supports all sales efforts, whether a company has a sales force or they sell direct to the buyer by catalog and e-commerce.

Put one of these owners in the middle of today's Direct Marketing Association convention (ending today) and they’d be lost. They come upon a session on the New SEO as essential to proper SEM

"Whazzat"?

I write this post for all of you looking for clients and/or job positions.

Be very careful top management gets the difference between marketing and sales. A great indication is the company structure and the town or city the company grew up in.

Company structure. Make sure there's a whole sophisticated level of top and middle management. Not just the company owners and everyone else works for me mentality. If the area where the company grew up is dominated by a certain industry like Las Vegas and Reno, make sure the company relies on business growth nationwide and even worldwide.

The one exception ..... and it's the way I grew up in this business .... if the company you are talking to started by selling their product or service directly to the end user. Hence Direct Marketing. These people "get it" in a big way. In fact, many of them are the reason there is a Direct Marketing Association in the first place.

Manhattan For $29 Worth Of Beads!

I am sure many of you have been to a Jay Abraham Seminar (if you could afford it) .... or read his many books. Jay and I are good friends. We worked together at two of the same companies some 35 years ago.

His pearls of wisdom are part of Direct Marketing Brainstormers.

In today's really tough marketplace, here's an important business exercise.

Start by making a list of all the products and services your business makes, sells or markets. Make special note of excess or surplus goods, materials, equipment, inventory, capacity, space, technology and access that your business no longer needs or doesn't fully use.

Write that list down the left-hand side of the sheet of paper. On the right-hand side create a list of all the vendors you regularly buy goods and services from. You want to see if any might be interested in directly trading with you for their products or services. Or, for a portion of the cost you pay for them.

Also, add the names of your current suppliers competitors. They might be even more eager to initially trade with you as a means to start a business relationship with you.

Below that list, start a third of companies with whom you might be able to "triangulate" for goods or services. See if there's any company to whom you'd like to start doing business with.

I call this Abraham piece of wisdom his "Winter Baseball Trading Procedure"!

Now go wild with the possibilities. Try putting small, easy trades together at first to get comfortable with it. Then, with time, keep expanding your level of trading.

Companies have made or saved millions through this form of "barter". Even Manhattan was purchased from the Indians for $29 worth of beads!

How Politicians Can Win In A Tight Race

Both Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina are in tight races in California. The following appears on Meg Whitman’s website. It’s a direct marketing idea we created for the 1984 George Deukmajian campaign from the distant past that worked like gangbusters.

Headlined …. “Learning From The Past”, it says:

TO: Meg Whitman

Study the campaign of George Deukmajian in 1984. He narrowly defeated Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley by some 55,000 votes. Bradley went on Good Morning America two days later saying what contributed to the defeat was a very clever California Republican Party mailing that included a personalized absentee ballot.

We were the one who produced that mailing. It was when Tirso del Junco was the Chairman of the California Republican Party. The challenge was they were afraid Bradley would win and they wanted to do something big to counteract the Democratic ground-swell. Our concept was ... voters are basically lazy. No matter how many times you plead with them to vote, they are lazy and don't .... especially in the era of Ronald Reagan who was up for reelection. So, we devised a very strong mailing asking for donations and providing an absentee ballot, personalized with the receiving California Republican's name and all the proper candidates for their district. The mailing was a howling success. Enough donations to more than pay for the mailing plus 65,000 absentee ballots sent in for Deukmejian.

Some new challenges: 1.) California may now have more stringent absentee ballot mailing regulations. In 1984 they had none, because no one ever did this type of mailing before. 2.) You need to do a lot of work on your database. The voting districts are not the same as the zip codes. Mailings are governed by zip codes. In 1984 we mailed 465,000 pieces a month before the election. We got a 14% response. That's unheard of!

Meg needs something spectacular like this for a final blow. Study the California Republican Party files for this mailing. Really, all you need to do is copy the concept. Need to coordinate all of this with Carly Fiorina and her campaign for the senate. You both are in tight races where this concept can be a great benefit.

We are happy to consult both of your campaigns if you need to have expert advice in pulling a mailing like this off.

The Key To Customer Marketing Success: A Great Database

To some this post may sound like Direct Marketing 101. Lately we have seen more emphesis on prospecting via mail and e-mail. And, little concern in reselling and/or up-selling to a customer database.

We want to use our auto manufacturing client as an example of what can be done with the use of a complete database.

The database being used is an auto dealership's service data records. Each customer entry contains the following fields: Name, Address, e-mail Address, Telephone Number,Vehicle Year, Vehicle Model, Vehicle VIN #, Mileage At Last Service, Service Performed, Future Service Required and if the vehicle was a Sale or Lease. This is not a unique database layout. It's typical of the Reynolds & Reynolds or ADP format.

Most auto dealerships do not realize their Service Database is the most valuable asset the dealership has. Here are the marketing opportunities they have:

1.) Sales source of leases coming due.
2.) Service Reminders based upon mileage.
3.) Tire & Brake Sales based on mileage.
4.) Warantee Extension based on mileage.
5.) New Vehicle Promotion based on year and/or milegae.
And ... many more opportunities!

Since there's a field for e-mail address and telephone number, both the sales and service department can easily make the selectivity they want and work the list every month.

It's important that you have a strategy session to discuss what information you should maintain in your database. For instance, you may want to maintain a customer's birth date. The Junior Golf of Southern Nevada Association maintains the young golfer's birthdate because they get a birthday gift of golf balls each year. This gift insures membership from year to year.

A very complete database is a big key to customer marketing success.

YOUR OFFER: 6 Ways To Turn A “No” Into A “Yes”.

The famous direct marketing copywriter, Claude Hopkins, once wrote: “The right offer should be so attractive that only a lunatic would say 'No'."

Selling is simply offering the right product to the right people at the right time in the right way. You aren't forcing your customer to say yes, you're taking away his reasons to say no."

Great selling does not have to be brilliant creative. It's not trickery. It's not even brute force. In fact, your customer - if you chose him right - wants to buy. The question at stake is whether or not he wants to buy from you.

**If your prospect says, "It's not for me..."

This might just mean you have a chance to target your message more carefully. Selling to the wrong audience wastes money. So does selling to the right audience with the wrong message.

Opportunity:

Show the reader testimonials from people like him. Or paint a picture of the person the prospect wants to be and show the idealized person using your product. Also, make sure your targeting a specific audience. Over-wide appeals fall flat.

** If your prospect says, "I don't have time to read your offer..."

The reader is really saying that he's bored. And he doesn't see enough immediate benefit to go on reading. But the truth is, we make time for interesting things. "War and Peace" has held many a reader.

Opportunity:

Find the hook. Open strong with a benefit or jump right into telling a story. When the going gets interesting, people hang on to find out how things end. Quizzes, checklists, and fresh news keep readers involved too.

** If your prospect says, "It's more than I'd like to spend..."

Remember, it's never about price. It's about value. When a reader says your prices are too high, he's really telling you that the value of your product sounds too low. It doesn't have enough benefit to get him to pay the asking price.

Opportunity:

Find services like yours that cost more and build a comparison. Sweeten the deal with better premiums. Put a value on the results of service and compare them more closely to the cost.

** If your prospect says, "I don't know who you are..."

He's really telling you he needs to trust you and wants to see your credentials. Testimonials and track record are obvious solutions. Here are some other ones...

Opportunity:

Try answering questions like these: Where do you do business and why? Who are your clients, especially your famous ones? Where did you get your training, learn your trade, and hone your craft? Give some success stories. Have you won awards or seals of
approval?

** If your prospect says, "I've heard all this before..."

He's telling you to fix your Unique Selling Proposition (U.S.P.). How do you stand out in a crowd? You need proof.

Opportunity:

Check out your competition. Compare offers and make yours stronger. Offer a stronger guarantee. Look for ways your service out paces, out builds, out races your
competitor's product or service. Here's something novel: Coin a new name for an industry-standard strategy. Everybody brewer says "cold-brewed" beer. But the first company to sell "Ice" brewed made a fortune.

** If your prospect says, "I'd rather take some time to think about it..."

Your prospect is not feeling the urgency of your offer.

Opportunity:

Small issue - layout. Bold colors like red and dark blue and bright yellow are more urgent than brown and orange and pastels. A much bigger issue - the wording
of your offer and close. Is there a deadline? Make one. Is the product scarce? Tell them. Is there a reward for early orders?

There are 6 ways to help you turn a “No” into a “Yes”.

Why You Should Have Mentors

Those of us who gather at the Direct Marketing Brainstormers conference table have been involved in the direct marketing business for many years. Our goal is to mentor those who read our blog and take part in our discussions.

A mentor teaches you faster than you can teach yourself. The stories, the wisdom, the guidance that they provide gives you the benefit of understanding the world before you've actually lived through it. And the emotional support and reassurance that somebody who has "been there, done that" can offer is comforting as you navigate your way through new experiences.

The Print Production Trap

Not too long ago the Direct Marketing Association conducted a survey asking what was the most important attribute considered when your company selected printing and lettershop vendors.

The response: 86% fast turn-around and only 14% capability. Further explanation of this response showed companies select their vendors based on how well their suppliers keep them out of trouble.

If you want to be successful, the production process can not be an afterthought driven by poor project management to make up for lost time. A lot of strategic planning must be done long before the electronic files are sent to the production house.

Capability is the most important attribute you should consider. On every project there is always some production function that controls the entire project. Sometimes it's budget. Sometimes it's timing. Sometimes it's design. Sometimes it's equipment. But, never, never should it be because you forgot or be because of bad internal project management. When selection of suppliers are reduced to these reasons, it's much too easy to select the wrong vendor.

Now you are faced with accepting a job that doesn't fit your specifications 100%. What's more, you are forced to accept the way a vendor does business and their corporate culture ... which may not match yours. Hardly this method allows you to have control over your success.

Here's what you should do. Make the Production job in your company the same level of management as your senior executives. Invite that person into each strategic and creative meeting you have. If your production function is handled by the purchasing department or at a support level, hire a consultant with a vast amount of production experience. Then, give that person the power to do their job. If you do this, make sure the charges for their services are directly linked to the service performed. For instance, with proper project management, we showed one client how to save over $350,000 annually in their printing requirements. Our yearly fee was far less than half of the money they saved.

How Storytelling Works As A Direct Marketing Sales Tool.

Last week there was a Linked In discussion asking why “storytelling” does an outstanding job of capturing one’s attention.

I brought this subject up at our conference table on Monday as one of the first items for discussion. I started the discussion by saying .......
I remember the stories my grandfather told me, especially when he was surrounded by a bunch of young kids who had become adoring fans of the tales he weaved!

Here’s the response from our copy pros, led by Gary Bencivenga:

Storytelling allows the imagination of your audience to have a “field day”. It’s because it contains one important element that creates powerful visualization …

How?

Good storytelling contains great visual metaphors that stop readers or listeners in their tracks and eagerly wanting to hear more.

Metaphor?

Whazzat?

"Metaphor" is based on a Greek word meaning to "carry something across" or "transfer." Today we use "metaphor" to mean a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects.

Here’s some great metaphors said by people you know:

David Ogilvy, with a deft metaphor...when making a presentation to a prospective client

"Ladies and gentlemen, unless your advertising is built on a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night." His audience is now focused on watching for and hearing his “big idea”.

From former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan reporting to congress that he presided over "a Goldilocks economy. Not too hot. Not too cold. Just right." That simple metaphor—"a Goldilocks economy"—was more persuasive than a 10-foot stack of economic reports.

Some of the very best metaphors came from Muhammad Ali in his prime
"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

"Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. I'm so mean I make medicine sick."

"Joe Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the U.S. Bureau of Wildlife."

"I'll beat him so bad he'll need a shoehorn to put his hat on."

"I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark."

The visualizations created by the proper use of metaphors can be the golden key that unlocks the copy you write

Free Gift (Premium) With High Perceived Value.

A recent Linked In discussion reminded me of a very important ingredient when selecting a free gift (premium) give-away with your product offer.

Make sure the free gift has a high perceived value.

This brings to mind a very successful mailing campaign I used for a lottery mail order company as well as an information publishing company.

The free gift was an application form for an off-shore bank account. The application form cost us absolutely nothing, however it allowed us to “romance” the give-away copy to make the perceived value be the key to what the prospect should do to protect all the money they were going to make with our basic offer.

The most successful free gifts are those that enhance the product offer … and, can give you a chance to write copy that “weaves-the-dream” of the total offer. Hence, a set of wine glasses and a cheese board shown in a great mood picture when selling a subscription to a wine club. Or, a private tour of a TV or Movie set on location in Hawaii for a vacation club to the Hawaiian Islands. Many times, you can get this agreement for next to nothing if in return you advertise the TV or Movie as part of your promotion.

First, put yourself in the shoes of the prospective buyer. What would they like to have that enhances your product experience. It has to have a very high perceived value but will cost you next to nothing. Often times you’ll need a partner in this scheme.

The key is the way you ”romance” or “weave-the-dream” about how the free gift enhances the product offer. Some years ago, Skill Path, the business seminar people, had an opportunity they missed …. big time. They were promoting their 3-day Professional Business Management Course. They had a “white paper” on the business management abilities of Donald Trump. Nelson Mandela, Rudy Giuliani and Oprah Winfrey. They never mentioned this “white paper” except in one spot buried in the copy in the lower right panel on the last page of their brochure. In my opinion, they should have wrapped their entire three day course around it. Learn how Nelson Mandela, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump and Oprah Winfrey have become world renown business managers … absolutely FREE.

Step back …. put yourself in the shoes of your customer …think about what’s important to them …then add a free gift with a high perceived value.

Get Sales With Compelling Copy

Here's some great advice from Jennifer Davey.

The copy you write for your website, sales letters, brochures, business cards and other material has to be compelling in order to get people to enter your sales and marketing funnels. You must have copy that compels the reader to take action. Remember, it's all about them ... it's not about you.

Here are some "DO's" and DON'Ts"

DO:

* Have each page of copy focus on one call to action.

* Write all copy with your Keyword Research in mind.

* Use your TAG LINE on everything. (Example: You never see the BMW logo without "The Ultimate Driving Machine" tag line.

* Always focus on "benefits". Explain the problems clients are facing and how you solve them.

* Let readers know you understand their pain.

* Always include your U.S.P. (Ultimate Selling Proposition)

* Create a sense of urgency. (Example: Include a deadline in your offer.)

* Include testimonials

* Use simple, but powerful, descriptive words (See "All Of Direct Marketing Is An Emotional Medium Posting on 2/23/07 below)


DON'T:


* Use industry jargon in your copy.

* Write hyped-up copy.

* Write/talk at people ... write/talk to them.

Follow the above and you are well on your way to success.

The Key To Websites That Work

Lately the conversations at our conference table have centered on the internet ... and in particular ... how to get through all the "hype" to create websites that work.

Several reasons fuel our discussions. More companies realize they need a solid presence on the Net. Many are not already there and are asking us for guidance. Second, there are quite a few companies who have websites but no traffic to speak of. And, third the expense for a great site is far less than the reoccurring charges of promotion through other media.

The bottom line, however, from those who read our blog: How do you get through all the website building "hype" and create a site that ranks in the top 1% in acquiring great traffic?

This posting will lead you to that answer.

You have heard us say this before ...

The fundamental reality of how people use the Web: They search for…information, information, information.

Websites with great responding traffic have acted upon the fundamental reality of online behavior. First, they deliver information by creating in demand content. That allows the site to attract targeted traffic. If the website properly PRE-sells the visitor, they will respond to what the website offers.

Since people search for information, they are looking for a solution. They are not looking for you. They usually don't know who or what can provide what they seek. So, they rely on Search Engines to source the possibilities that are worth their effort to visit.

Give them what they want by converting your knowledge into high quality, in-demand content. Create high value content that over delivers what they seek.

Creating great content is the first step in building a website that works. We have made an agreement to allow you to download the very best web building course on the Net. This program is taught at over 30 universities including Penn State and the Universities of Arizona and Wisconsin. Because the author is on our Board Of Advisors, he is allowing our readers to download it ABSOLUTELY FREE. To get your copy, go to: http://myws.sitesell.com/harsonhill.html

Headlines For Those Who Say: "I Am Not A Writer."

Most of us are not writers. Hemingway was a writer. Tolstoy was a writer. Stephen King is a writer. Writing is about crafting wonderful fiction, stories of power and feeling. But we're talking here about creative writers.

We, on the other hand, are natural-born persuaders. Think of all the people you persuade every day...

• your suppliers and your customers
• your co-workers and your boss (if you're the boss, your employees)
• your spouse and your children
• your friends and associates
• even your competitors!

The great motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, has said, "You can get anything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want."

Ignoring this simple insight is the most common cause of marketing failure. Over and over, I've seen otherwise sharp marketers launch a product or service because they want to sell it, not because anyone wants to buy it.

I have always considered this the ultimate secret of how to sell anything: "Find out what others want and help them get it."

So ..... how do you write a headline that accomplishes this?

Here's a quick example: Let's say you're advertising a savings and investment program designed to help people have enough money to retire someday. You could run a headline that says something like…

"New Survey Reveals That Only 1 in 12 Will Have Enough Money to Retire"

On the surface, this seems like a good, smart headline. It factually and credibly points out a problem that millions of people either have or will soon face.

But in my view it's a weak headline. Here's why…

The first rule of writing body copy is that your first few paragraphs should immediately pay off. They should build upon your headline. Coming off the headline above, you'd have to expand upon it and that means you'd have to waste your critical introductory paragraphs educating your audience about a problem they may face. In effect, you'd be trying to educate your audience into feeling a motivation. This doesn't work!

Whenever you find yourself educating your readers about a problem they may have, consider it a red warning flag! If you have to educate people into realizing they have a problem, you're already losing the battle.

Here's how one of the direct marketing masters wrote the headline. Look how much more efficiently John Caples cuts right to the chase, by using his headline to attract the right audience (an already motivated one) to hear about a retirement income plan.

His headline: "To Men Who Want to Quit Work Someday"

Like a blast of trumpets, this headline instantly calls together the right audience ... a motivated audience ... of people who already know they want to plan now for a comfortable, worry-free retirement. Caples' headline instantly assembles a group of already motivated, prequalified prospects front and center in the courtyard of his announcement, where he can persuade them with news about a solution they already want. He doesn't have to start a fire of motivation, only feed the fire already burning!

Now, go ahead and write website copy that "sells" by persuading your audience who are already waiting to hear what you have to say.

To accomplish your goal, I have arranged to get you this famous web writing e-Course ABSOLUTELY FREE. It normally costs $29.95, but because its author is on our Board Of Advisors, he has given us permission to let you download if FREE for the next 13 days.
Go to: http://myws.sitesell.com/harsonhill.html

It's All About A Love Affair!

Lately our Direct Marketing Brainstormer experts have had the same question asked many times: "How do I convert my website traffic into orders?"

The answer ... create a following of "trust" ... the type of trust felt in a love affair. The buyers will come. Remember the line from "Field Of Dreams" ... "build it and they will come". The baseball field came from dreams and trust for the players. Same thing here!

Most website owners think of their site as an advertising page ... or group of pages ... selling their product or service. The result: viewers see just another site selling something, when they are really interested in information ... information ... and more information. Especially information they can believe in.

Problem is most website owners are impatient and immediately focus on the "end game" ... making a sale. Without knowing it, they immediately come off like a "hyped" automobile salesman trying to close a sale before the prospect is half way through the door.

Internet selling is a process. Your prospect wants to get to know you first ... believe in you ... trust you. The biggest job you have is getting your audience to trust and believe in you before they are willing to buy. To do it well, think of your job as a "romancing courtship" or
"love affair" with your web visitors.

How many of you are familiar with the Japanese way of life? From a very early age the Japanese grow up in an environment of "concentric circles of friends". Once they get to know a new friend, he/she is invited into one of the intersecting circles. Unless you royally screw up, you are part of that circle and the intersecting ones for the rest of your life. These are circles of "trust" and feed your successful existence forever. We call it something less "sexy", less "personal" ... networking. Sometimes I think the Japanese really "get it".

For more information on how you can make your website really work, go to: www.best-website-builder.org

Creating Website Copy That PRE-Sells Your Visitor

There are over 100 books about writing to making web pages sell.

There is only one book about writing to communicate with your online visitor. It's all about writing to PRE-sell.

PRE-selling is the most critical component in the process of building websites that work to create the proper online marketing and seo. Thousands of businesses have proved it so.

All of the Direct Marketing Brainstormer leaders use these PRE-Selling tactics when building websites for their clients. Connect with your visitor and the world is yours.

You can get your copy of this famois course right now. Go to: www.best-website-builder.org, click on the blue tab on the left that says, "FREE e-Course" and download it.

Anyone Can Build A Website That Works

This past week the people at our conference table were discussing the program we use to build most all of our clients' websites. They were amazed I was the one who built them. They all know I have two left feet when trying to understand "computer-speak".

Any person, any small business can build a website that works and ends up in the top 1% on the Net.

So, why do most websites fail?

There are over 100 million active websites on the net. A full 97% of them have no traffic to speak of. Of the remaining 3% just one third of them are truly successful.

They fail because they do not act upon the profound difference between offline and online commerce.

THE OFFLINE “MANTRA”: Put your “brick & mortar” business where the people crowd by and you are all set. It’s all about … location, location…location.

THE ONLINE “MANTRA”: The fundamental reality of how people use the Web is different. No one passes by. They search for…information, information, information.

Websites with great traffic have acted upon the fundamental reality of online behavior. First, they create in demand content for their website. That allows them to attract targeted traffic. If those visitors have been properly pre-sold, the website will make sales and great income.

It all seems quite simple. It is if you take the time to map out a plan for each step. That takes a lot of thought, particularly in discovering the proper and most appropriate keywords.

Trouble is, most website designers and developers focus on what the website should look like first. If that’s the approach taken, the site is doomed to failure. You must learn to write the proper content based upon the best keywords for your site long before the creative mind starts designing the visual look of the site.

Build keywords by writing the content first. Then map out your website, just the way an architect creates plans for a house. Now you are on your way to a website that will end up in the top 1% on the web.

For more information on writing great content that will get your website noticed, download this FREE e-Course: http://netwriting.sitesell.com/harsonhill.html
Or, visit: www.Best-Website-Builder.org

Are You Parents Of A "Broke" Teenager Or Graduate?

Here’s a subject all direct marketing parents can relate to…

Is your teenager at a loss for how to pay for tuition, books, school supplies and rent, not to mention fun & games... without having to go into debt?

Is your son flipping burgers or mowing lawns for income … or your daughter babysitting tonight?

Or have they just graduated and looking for a way to generate income year-round?

Why watch them work hard for peanuts all summer, and then wait tables all winter?

Here’s the answer…

They should build their own thriving online business... and a winning resume at the same time. No work experience, technical knowledge needed here, just a positive attitude and ideas to share. Besides, what teenager or college graduate do you know who isn't into all things "computer and the internet"?

Not only does it beat flipping burgers, it puts a skill set on their resume that is irresistible to future employers... proven Internet marketing skills.

Have them do it the right way, with all the tools they need in one place. We use this easy to understand, very complete, well known program and teaching aid to build websites for all our customers. Since my company is a "one-man-band", I do all the client website building. When it comes to "technology" and "computer-speak", I have two left feet.

This program has built successful websites for all our clients. It's even taught in the business division of over 30 universities around the world ... including Penn State, and the universities of Arizona and Wisconsin. And, the best part, it's not expensive. All your son or daughter has to spend is $30/month.

To find out more, go to: http://students.sitesell.com/harsonhill.html

InfoPublishing

Many of the direct marketing experts sitting in on our conferences publish their own thoughts. They don't simply publish their thoughts ... they make money at it. Much of what you read here for free will cost you when you go to their website or blog. Our contributing expert, Bob Bly is a good example. A lot of our post: All Of Direct Marketing Is An Emotional Medium came from his advice. Just go to: www.copyformulas.com. There you'll find he charges $29 for his information.

So ... how can you do the same thing?

How do you convert your knowledge in business, work experience, hobbies, passions or pastimes into a stream of income? Why not become an "Infopreneur" by starting a thriving online venture?

I posed this idea at our conference table last Wednesday and discovered there are some major barriers that defeat people from converting their knowledge into a thriving business.

Two of them stand out like a "sore thumb" ... The Technical Barriers(HTML, FTP, CGI, SEO, etc.) because most people do not have these skills and it's too expensive for them to hire the people who do. Then there's ... Hype And Outright Fraud. Search the internet for help and you find it over-run with snake oil salesmen selling get-rich-answers.

One of the experts who has a permanent seat at our table is Ken Evoy, Founder & Chairman of SiteSell, Inc. He says, "Online business building can be successful ... real ... and simple." Why not go to his website and find out? You can get there by clicking the URL below.

http://infopublishing.sitesell.com/harsonhill.html

BAM … (Brain, Attitude, Motivation)

This blog …Direct Marketing Brainstormers … was started based upon the minds, ideas and secrets of many of direct marketing’s most respected superstars. It has been a lot of fun sitting around our conference table discussing these ideas and bringing them to our readers and blog followers.

The number of readers and followers have grown in leaps and bounds which is really gratifying to all of us. So, we now have a new mission. We must make Direct Marketing Brainstormers be the spark to ignite our reader’s and follower’s creative BAM … (Brain, Attitude, Motivation.)

Our readers and followers include Marketing Managers, Business Owners, Directors of Marketing in both small and large companies, Copywriters, SEO Managers, Internet Marketing Managers …. and that's only a few of the titles. We want to be a reading source that sparks the mind with ideas to take you or your company to the next level.

BAM is important because no real, ongoing business is built overnight. BAM builds the persistence that fuels you through those final extra steps, the steps that all winning ideas take, the ones just beyond the spot where other thinkers stop and give up.

From time to time we will lead you to others in our Direct Marketing Brainstormers group for you to connect with …. here’s one in our group we’ve had a lot of experience with. It was their ideas that contributed to our blog.

When my company, Harsonhill, builds a website for our clients, we use SiteSell. Not only are all of our clients very happy with the traffic and sales they receive, SiteSell was originally built for very non-technical internet brains like me. They have become so good at what they do, today SiteSell is the most taught internet course at colleges and universities around the world, including Pen State, The University of Arizona and The University of Wisconsin.

Many of our readers have a service to sell … or could be. Selling your own or your company’s knowledge and ideas is the most overlooked opportunity on the Net. Anyone of our readers or followers can build an ever growing client base until they can say … “I’m sorry. I am not taking any new clients.”

For more information, go to:
http://service-selling.sitesell.com/harsonhill.html

Please let us know what you think. Direct Marketing Brainstormers is built for you

How To Find “Hot Pockets” Of Internet Customers Eagerly Looking For What You Sell.

By now, I am sure you have gathered I am a big fan of Gary Bencivenga. His “Fuzzy Dice” secret for exploding your sales makes a lot of sense.

A master salesman once told him that selling is quite a simple process, unless you go out of your way to make it complicated. He then taught him his greatest secret for keeping it simple. Gary found it worked like a charm in advertising on the internet as well.

Once you apply this principal to your market, you’ll find it will attract customers the way a large magnet draws metal filings. The key is corral customers by intercepting them whenever they are looking for what you are selling. Applied to the internet, it means matching your selling process to the way people search on line.

Gary calls it his “Fuzzy Dice” Secret.

Let’s say that you sell car accessories. Now, you could create a website and a series of Google and banner ads, trumpeting your product line, “Car Accessories”.

Logical enough, right? It’s what most companies would do. Trouble is, people don’t go online searching for a “product line”. Almost nobody searches for “Car Accessories”. That’s way too broad. When you type those words into the search bar, you get more than 49 million results.

People go on line for a single product. For example, Fuzzy Dice. You know those tacky, spongy dice that dangle from the rearview mirror. Or, leather steering wheel covers, car stereo subwoofers or Mercedes replacement hood ornaments.

Since that’s how people search, that’s the way you should sell. Sell the way your prospects buy … with a rifle shot like “Fuzzy Dice”. Not a shotgun approach like “Car Accessories”. Intercept your hot prospects when they are looking for someone like you.

So … don’t sell a stock market newsletter. Sell a report on “three oil stocks that may soar in the next 12 months because of the worsening worldwide oil squeeze. Don’t sell “retirement planning”. That phrase brings up 41 million internet results. Offer a FREE video on How To Retire To Mexico and Live Like Royalty on $500 a Month or Less.
Don’t sell “gourmet foods” … sell Imported Smoked Scottish Salmon and give it the full sales pitch on why it's the best you can buy.

Yes, you might have many other “gourmet foods” in your quiver …. but you create a simple landing page for each of your best selling products. You then follow up with an e-mail campaign introducing the newly found customer to the other products you have in your gourmet foods store.

The Proper Use Of Emotion & Senses Is Key In Direct Marketing

It’s a lot of fun sitting at our conference table discussing the keys to successful direct marketing.

Yesterday I recounted a situation with a wholesale company that I found very frustrating.

A candy wholesaler on the west coast does $5MM to $6MM in sales per year. Almost all of their sales come from their website. They do no advertising. They have never sent a follow-up e-mail campaign asking for a reorder. All they do is sit and wait for the next order. They almost do not care whether the next order comes or not. They seem to be fat and happy with the sales they have and rather look forward to being lazy.

What a crime! With the proper Customer Retention Management (CRM) they could easily double their sales with the customer base they have.

Here’s the opportunity:

Candy directly affects one of the senses: TASTE. Candy is also consumed. IT IS USED UP and NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. And, candy can relate to certain periods during the year: CHRISTMAS, THANKSGIVING, EASTER, etc. What an opportunity to sell more to the customer base this company already has. Direct marketing is an emotional sale. When the senses are involved, the emotional side of the sale is enhanced.

Hence, this is why you see such a success with the following in direct marketing:

FLOWERS: They involve smell and vision beauty. They also involve certain days of the year with heightened activity …. Birthdays, Valentines Day, anniversaries, etc.

TRAVEL/RESORTS: They involve the eyes and dreams of pleasure. Here pictures of a South Seas Resort can weave the dream of pleasure.

PERFUME/COSMETICS/HAIR STYLES: These products and services involve the sense of smell and vision of beauty. One very smart marketer used YouTube with a before and after picture to sell their cosmetics.

The big point we were discussing was the opportunity many companies have by properly keeping a complete database of their customers. Particularly if they are able to tie in their products and/or services to the basic senses. It becomes very easy to weave the dream to create additional sales.

Don’t be lazy and wait for sales to come in over the transom. Create a compelling reason for your customers to come back and buy more.

Pay Attention To What You Learn From A Merge-Purge

Most direct mailers will perform a merge/purge on the prospect lists they rent for a mailing against their customer or donor file. Obviously, the primary reason is they do not want to mail someone who is already their customer.

However, there's a lot to be learned in the merge/purge process. It has been proven over and over again multiple buyers or multiple donors are better responders. They respond at a better rate and they also purchase or donate at a higher amount.

The first thing to decide is the merge/purge hierarchy. List #1 is obviously your own house file. Many mailers will start the merge/purge process with the rental list that gives them the best response. Then proceed from there. When you find a "hit", a name that appears as your customer as well as a customer on the list you are renting, don't throw the name from the rented list away. In their rental agreement, most mailers make sure they have a clause in the agreement that says they reserve the right to mail that name at a later date.

You now have found a name that is not only your customer but a customer also on the list you are renting. That person is a multiple buyer. Mark that person on your customer list as a multiple buyer. Mail multiple buyers from your customer list under a separate code. You will find the response rate and average dollar order is higher than those who are not multiple buyers. Since you have reserved the right to mail that name from the rented list at a later date, a month later mail that name again with a different offer. You will find the response will be at least 50% to 60% of the original mailing.

Now what do you do with names you find on both your customer list and several of the lists you are renting. The same thing as above. These are multiple-multiple buyers. Then how about those names that are multiple buyers on the lists you are renting but do not match any name on your customer list. Code these names as "outside" multiple buyers. You'll find these names respond better than those you rent who are not multiple buyers.

You can learn a lot from paying close attention to your merge/purge process.

Make sure you discuss this and make a solid plan with your list broker and your merge/purge supplier.

The Important Rule Of Belief

Yesterday we had a discussion at our conference table regarding the enormous number of e-mails and web site promotions we get … all badly crafted … promising the world if we purchased the product or service being promoted.

In today’s skeptical, over-marketed world, with our search for more powerful claims, we can forget too easily one very important copywriting rule:

Never make your claim bigger than your proof. Then, always join the claim and proof at the hip in your headline. This allows you to never trumpet one without the other. If you remember this rule, there is no more powerful or consistent way to explode your response. Surround your claims right up front with stronger, bolder proof and watch your response soar. Why? Because you have created belief. This is particularly true if you are building content copy for your website.

The famous copywriter, Gary Bencivenga says, “Whenever you face the question: ‘Which of these headlines or main themes will likely outpull the other?’ One of the most reliable ways to know in advance, without spending a dime or precious time on testing, is to ask: ‘Which headline offers the more compelling proof?’

Your prospects are not morons. They are as savvy as you. They can spot sales hype miles away. Hype your copy and they will stop reading your e-mails and web pages right away. This is why the smartest, most reliable way to get a prospect to read your message and respond is not to crank up the volume on your promise. That just makes it look like a bigger pile of hype and disbelief.

With this in mind, take the following two headlines … which one promises the reader more proof?

Headline (A.) Tension Headache?

Headline (B.) When Doctors Have Tension Headaches, What Do They Do?

When John Caples tested these two headlines, headline “B” won by a fat and happy 71%

Gary is so right …. He says, remember this always:

Almost everyone in the world, in every field of endeavor, is desperately searching for someone to believe in. Belief is today’s most overlooked, most powerful key to boosting response in any medium.

To learn more about copywriting's important rules of belief, go to:
http://netwriting.sitesell.com/harsonhill.html

Ordinary vs Extraordinary Companies: Some Final Thoughts

We have discussed many of the important attributes that are the difference between ordinary and extraordinary companies. This final post on the subject focuses on people, questioning, inclusion, mentoring and being able to to go back to find the company's future.

People:

Extraordinary companies have extraordinary people all of whom are passionate. Ordinary companies have average people and none of them are passionate. Extraordinary companies attract extraordinary people. Ordinary companies attract ordinary people. When an ordinary company hires an extraordinary employee, the result for that person is painful and short-lived.

Mentoring:

Extraordinary companies create extraordinary employees and know how to mentor them into becoming future extraordinary top management. Ordinary companies do not focus on mentoring their employees. They are not interested nor do they know how or want to take the time to do it.

Questioning:

The extraordinary company's leaders and employees questions everyone they come in contact with. These are not "accuracy" questions but rather questions to learn something new. The ordinary company asks few questions. And, more often than not, they don't know the proper questions to ask.

Inclusion:

The extraordinary company includes all its trusted advisors and vendors in its research and decision making process. The ordinary company doesn't trust its advisors and vendors. They spend most of their time squeezing another discount from them ending up with fewer sources of supply and ideas.

Going Back To Find The Company's Future:

The company you own, head or work at was once an idea in the mind of the person who had the guts to start it. That idea was so strong it became an obsession. That obsession became a fledgling company eventually growing into what it is today.

Back when your company began, there was a "burning passion" in the person who originated the idea ... an idea his or her concept could become a viable concept around which a company could be built.

Extraordinary companies never forget what the pioneering spirit was that began their existence. They continually revisit the original concept to be able to map the future growth upon that original concept. Ordinary companies have long forgotten the reason they began ... often because they have been purchased and sold several times because their future has never been built on sound growth principals.

We hope this Ordinary vs Extraordinary series of posts contain ideas that you can put to use in your company.

A Possible Enormous Opportunity

The new Health Care legislation has passed. Wading through all the rhetoric, spin and misinformation, there will be opportunities to substantially grow or start your own independent business.

Yesterday Donald Trump spent several minutes on a TV newscast discussing the dramatic affect this legislation will have on the expenses of corporate America. He recounted a conversation he had with one CEO. This new legislation will increase the cost of his present payroll by $2 million. Not only is his company freezing new hires but also will eliminate as many jobs as possible. Then they will hire independent contractors on a 1099 form to handle the eliminated jobs.

One caveat for the independent contractor: Most states have tax and business regulations that clearly define the function of an independent contractor versus an employee. It boils down to the job function being performed. When I was a direct marketing consultant in California, I was performing a job clearly deemed an employee function. The way I circumvented the regulation was to incorporate and have my client hire the corporation rather than me as an individual. My company took on the function of Direct Marketing Director and assigned me to handle the job.

If you are an independent contractor performing creative input to your client, now you can offer management on the front end and production on the back end, just like I did.

Sure, there are many more functional duties to do this right, but your client now has an enormous opportunity to save big HR benefits costs.

What Is The Most Important Ingredient For Success?

Almost fifty years ago Bill Bernbach, the creator of the renowned Volkswagen ads of the 1960’s said, “The magic is in the product or service. Copy doesn’t create an advantage, it can only convey it”.

My very first car was a 1964 Volkswagen because Bernbach’s advertising sold me! The same year I began my direct marketing career. Today, forty six years later, your product or service still remains the most important ingredient. Bottom line … if it is in the “ho-hum” or “me-too” category, all the publicity advertising, direct and social media marketing will see through right to that boring fact.

Yesterday we had a tremendous conversation around the Direct Marketing Brainstormers conference table. It was so good, I wanted to post it to our blog!

So, how do you avoid bringing a “ho-hum”, “me-too” product to market? Your gut tells you because your experience proves Gary Bencivenga’s theory, “No matter how skillful you are, you can’t invent a product advantage that doesn’t exist.”

Here’s What Needs To Happen To Avoid The “Ho-Hum”, “Me-Too” Product or Service:

Research & Development:
Their responsibility is to come up with a product/service with blockbuster advantages. The need to research the market to find out what people want, need and desire. Then develop them based on their findings.

Customer Service:
Once Research & Development have “done their thing”, give Customer Service their assignment. They are your auxiliary sales force. When you are ready to go to market, your Customer Service Department has the ability to build an ever-growing army of raving fans who extol your product or service to others. Create a Customer Service plan based upon the information that has come from R&D.

Marketing & Advertising:
Here’s where the real magic is born. But, you should never build a Marketing Plan or create a word of advertising in support of that plan until the work of R&D and Customer Service is complete.

Back to Gary Bencivenga for a minute. He says to ask these questions before a great Marketing Plan and the Advertising to support it can happen:

1.) Why has this product/service been created the way it is?
2.) What consumer problems, desire needs is it designed for?
3.) What is special about it?
4.) How does it fulfill a customer’s needs better than the competition?
5.) What is the strongest proof to make your case believable?
6.) What are the best features?
7.) How do the features translate into customer benefits?
8.) Can any improvements be made?
9.) Who are the 20% that will give you 80% of the sales?

He finishes by saying, “Learning to spot great products and services forces you to see the world through the eyes of your prospects. That’s the single most valuable trait you can have as a direct marketer”

How Do You Build "Killer" Brand Image Taglines?

Here's the discussion we had today at our conference table with
four of the "all time" great direct marketing copywriters.

How To Build "Killer" Brand Image Taglines.

1.) Killer brand tag lines contain as few words as possible,
each having emense power in formulating the brand's image

1.) Pick a "noun" that properly and completely describes the "brand"

2.) Then select "adjectives" and "adverbs" that do a herculean job'
in modifying the "noun".

The example of BMW was discussed. All of us agreeing their tagline is one of the very best of all time.

(Brand): BMW (Tagline): The Ultimate Driving Machine.

The "noun" ... machine ... describes exactly what BMW is. Ultimate and Driving are "adjectives" that do an outstanding job of modifying (enhancing) what the "noun" is all about. The ... an "adverb" properly describes what the "adjectives" are doing.

Thought this discussion might be useful to those reading this blog who are intrusted in creating brand image.

What Does … CRM … Really Mean?

Having spent almost 50 years involved in direct marketing, I have always thought CRM was the acronym for … Customer Retention Marketing. Today it has evolved into meaning … Customer Retention Management.

So, changing “marketing” to “management” doesn’t sound like that much of a change.

But, in truth, it’s enormous.

Today’s definition of the “management” part of the acronym seems to center around the software and technical structure on maintaining the database for a company’s “customer retention” program. In the company’s conference room a lively discussions ensue on why the technical aspects of ACT is better than Right Now or eCometry … or visa versa.

Forgotten is the “art” to customer retention in the first place. This is a symptom of today’s corporate America. Just as in the practice of medicine, everyone has a “specialty”. This creates marketing managed by committee. The result is very ordinary customer retention creativity with a highly technical piece of software having all the “bells and whistles”. However, in the long run, it doesn’t creatively work for putting together a brilliant marketing plan. That’s what happens when everyone is a specialist.

My comments are not targeted at those who handle the management of the technical aspects of the database software. I am speaking to top company management, especially when the companyis in the $3 to $7 million range in sales and can't yet afford several levels on management responsibility. I fear today’s top management have come up through the ranks as a specialist. They never learned their craft by being the “chief cook” as well as “the bottle washer”.

Years ago we built a creative retention marketing plan … then applied the technology of the day to that plan. Today’s top management must take a step back and look at the big picture they are trying to accomplish. It boils down to one thing … increasing sales from your customer database. It’s not just having software with all the bells and whistles. If top management did their job properly, they’d become horrified on how their “technocrats” have become the “tail that wags the company dog”. Yes, proper technical software management is a vital part of CRM, but it’s one of many parts to ensure more sales from a company’s database.

Here’s a good case in point. One of my associates asked me to contact his nephew, an owner of a candy wholesale company. He felt I could help the company grow exponentially with the proper CRM. It was a $6 million a year operation. All their sales came from their internet catalog. They never once had sent out a reorder mailing, let alone a reorder e-mail. I sent letters, e-mails and even had the owner’s uncle call on my behalf. Did I hear a word? No. Not a peep. Not even a “thanks but no thanks”. Here’s a company with a good CRM plan could more than double their sales in a year’s time.

Ordinary vs Extraordinary Companies: Delivery Satisfaction

Extraordinary companies invest in inventory to build customer satisfaction. Ordinary companies extract investment for the owners pocket and forget having a satisfied customer.


The following comes from my friend, Don Libey's March newsletter.

He says:


"I just received six different shirts I had ordered four months ago. Yes, you read that correctly: four months ago. Not one shirt six times, but six shirts one time each.


The online merchant I purchased from is a specialist in large sizes. The risk they have chosen is that they will be the only place where you can get 3XL through 7XL clothing. The risk ... in a nation of 65% obese people ... seems like a pretty good business model. You probably ought to have that stuff in stock all the time.


So, when one of the roughly 250 million Americans is ready to buy, their answer is 'Sorry, we won't have any of those six shirts for about four months'


Why do they pretend to be in the Big People clothing business when they don't have any of the products they sell in stock? Imagine Don's Hot Dog Stand without any hot dogs. Come back next Tuesday, I should have some in by then. How about some mustard in the meantime?


The foundation of the direct marketing concept is we sell people stuff when they need and want it. The primary rule of customer satisfaction is, YES.


And yet, for ordinary companies, when cost controls take center stage, the first thing they do is trim inventory. Extraordinary companies shift costs from other areas and increase their inventory to assure zero customers are unsatisfied.


Extraordinary companies consider the basic logic in following the rules of direct marketing. They understand they spend a significant amount of money to get new customers. They don't skimp on their inventory and tell their customers, 'Come back in four months'.

Extraordinary companies realize cash now is better than cash later in every instance. The wise CEO of extraordinary companies know never to worry about an extra 5% in inventory because they know it is an extra 20% return on customer satisfaction"

If you haven't read the earlier blog entry on Today's Electronic Direct Marketing,
click on it in the "Archives". I am a big fan of selling products that can be downloaded. If that's the type of product you sell, then having just read the above blog entry becomes a "moot" point.

Ordinary vs Extraordinary Companies: Attention To The Basics

One of Don Libey's "pet peevs", as well as mine, is the attention to the basics. "While leading in innovation, technology and ideas," Don says, "the extraordinary company is also totally grounded and proficient in all the direct marketing basics. The ordinary companies are struggling to cover or discover the basics."

Attention to the direct marketing basics are essential in becoming an extraordinary company. Yes, extraordinary companies break the rules. Even, many of them have made new rules. But breaking the rules doesn't mean forgetting the building of a strong foundation with the basics.

There are basics in every facet of the direct marketing process. As an example, let's take the working knowledge of the prospect lists you rent.

Many years ago I rented the Baldwin Cooke calendar buyers list quite regularly. Today, it's part of the several companies that have melded into the Taylor Corporation's stable of mail order companies. I couldn't understand why this list worked like "gangbusters" in the first and second quarter of the year while response rates dropped off substantially in the third and fourth quarters.

The owners of Baldwin Cooke were regular attendees at the Business Mailers Group meetings, which at that time I was it's President. So, one day I sat down with them and asked why I could be experiencing this response drop-off like clockwork each year.

Baldwin Cook's biggest promotion every year was a dollar sample offer of their executive desk calendar. These mailings, sent out in the third and fourth quarter each year amounted to at least two thirds of their customer list. They didn't put these names on the list rental market until the end of the first quarter of the following year. And, didn't update their database until the same time the next year. By the time September and October rolled around, everyone, his brother and uncles had mailed the list many times over and the names were no longer fresh buyers.

Pitney Bowes postage machine buyers (lease holders). This is a very big list. It's updated every quarter. However, if I started my lease in February, I would not come back as a Hot Line buyer until the following February. In this case, you have to test monthly Hot Lines vs. Lease Renewal Hot Lines. I have found there can be a big difference in response.

The "pet peeve" of one of our newest readers, Marjorie Bicknell, a well known direct marketing copywriter, is the basics of proper copy testing.

I mention all the above for one reason. Extraordinary companies go the extra mile to understand all the direct marketing basics. Ordinary companies are miles behind trying to discover and understand the basics.

The Master Key To Your Success

My company’s website home page states:

“As in romance, court your customers and prospects with your insight and pearls of wisdom. Get them into the habit of welcoming your contacts, because what you say is so valuable, useful and interesting. If you do this, sales will automatically follow.”


So many companies literally “don’t get it”. They automatically focus on the product or the service they are selling. Then when they apply “benefits” and “features” to their copy, still no one seems to be interested

Here’s some advice from one of today’s internet gurus … Perry Marshall. He gets it!

“Nobody who bought a drill actually wanted a drill.

They wanted a hole.

Therefore, if you want to sell drills, you should advertise information about making holes ... NOT information about drills!"

There are so many people out there selling the drill (their business), when people actually want to know about making holes instead. What you should be offering are tips on how to drill a hole, and suggest using your drill to make the hole! Now that is effective marketing.

That’s what I mean about “courting your customers”. You must deliver answers to their problems, pain or desire. If you do this with information that is valuable, useful and interesting, sales for your “drill” (your product or service) will soar.

Ordinary vs Extraordinary Companies: The Proper Use Of Money

My good friend, Don Libey says, "The Extraordinary companies spend money. The Ordinary companies take money out of the business. The Extraordinary companies know the value of talent and investment in prospecting. The Ordinary companies try to get by without investing in their future. Consequently, often they don't have one."

I am lucky to have an Extraordinary company as a client. Like any decent direct marketing creator, I designed a mailing that broke even at less than three tenths of a percent. We tested a 25,000 segment of a 250,000 list. By the "half life" date we were 400% above break even. The client called me and asked how fast could we be back in the mail with the remaining 225,000 names?

Now, you tell me? Are you a manager or work for one who will roll out to an entire list having tested only 10% of it? Almost certainly the answer is ... NO!

Let me tell you his reasoning. The test pulled 400% above break even only 12 days into the results. That's the half way mark. When all was said and done the mailing would record 800% above break even. (We had measured. We were at 50% in sales in 12 days of results with this product and offer.) Even if the roll out produced results at 10% above the test, we would be at 80% above break even. My client was laughing all the way to the bank! He wanted to be in the mail before the competition could catch up!

This is an example of an Extraordinary company with a passionate owner not afraid to invest his money to acquire customers. To this day, he enjoys the "fruits" of being Extraordinary.

Ordinary vs Extraordinary Companies: Elegance

The extraordinary company has an elegance of mind as well as style. Their warehouse and personality are orderly, clean, automated and totally organized. They treat their employees well, almost as if anyone of them are more than welcome in the owner's home as a trusted friend. The ordinary company is just ordinary. Their employees are not treated as equals, things are a little disty and unorganized.

I have a client who prizes their employees. They fully believe they are the biggest asset to their business. Since this direct marketer built themselves on outstanding 24/7 customer service, they treat their employees to surroundings that make them feel they "belong". There are employees at the company "around the clock", so the owners have built a kitchen for the employees that would rival any one belonging to a famous chef on the Food Channel. This allows those who work crazy hours to cook themselves and others a fabulous meal. Viking stoves, two Sub-Zero refrigerators, beautiful granite counter tops, the works. The rest rooms are what you would find in extraordinary hotels with beautiful hand towels and elegant excessories.

The elegance of their company facilities spills over to the elegance and passion each of the employees have for their jobs. I look forward to meeting with this client each month. Everytime I do, I come away with ideas that turn into successful marketing ideas.

Ordinary vs Extraordinary Companies: Boldness

My friend. Don Libey talks frequently about the following: Extraordinary companies are fearless. Ordinary companies are fearful. One attacts the future. The other defends the past. One is comfortable with challenge and the unknown. The other is comfortable with only the known and what once worked. One leads. The other follows. One takes risks. The other is riskless."

Back in the 1980's my largest client was Butcher/Forde, the political fund reaising agency in Newport Beach, CA. They were the power behind Howard Jarvis and his California Proposition 13, the property tax abatement proposition that had big national publicity. They mailed millions of direct marketing petitions to California property owners requesting their signature on an official petition to the legislature to reduce the California property taxes.

One night on my drive home, I started to think about how Butcher/Forde could apply the same type of petition marketing on a national basis. Two days later I called Bill Butcher, told him I had an idea I wanted to present to him. The following morning I was in his office.

Now, Bill was the type of person who would listen very intently. His eyes would pierce through a stare, that if you didn't know him, he could be intimidating to say the least. I made my presentation. When I was finished, he asked if I had 10 to 15 minutes. I didn't realize it, but he went right to talk to his partner, Arnold Forde.

Ten minutes later he returned to his office and said both he and Arnold had agreed to commit $200,000 each to my idea and wanted to start right away. Within 40 minutes Save Social Security and Medicare was born. Talk about boldness!

Ordinary vs Extraordinary Companies: Ideas

Extraordinary companies surround themselves with more ideas than they can handle. Ordinary companies spend a lot of time pushing ideas away, mainly because ideas require investment.

Ideas can come from anywhere ... any time of the day or night. Back in the late 1970's I was watching the Johnny Carson Show. Johnny was interviewing Bob Hope. He asked, "Bob ... if this was your last day on earth, what would you like to eat for your last meal?" Bob answered by naming his most favorite dishes from one famous restaurant after another.

That interview gave me an idea. I put it in my memory bank. A few years later I was at the Los Angeles Airport waiting for my plan to Santa Barbara, where I lived. The flight was canceled. So, I decided to rent a car and drive the 90 miles and asked if anyone waiting wanted to drive with me. One of my fellow passengers was the Executive Vice President of Triad America, owner of many restaurants across the country.

I told him my idea. Build a restaurant based upon Johnny's question to Bob. If this was your last day on earth, what would like to have for your last meal?

First of all, I went on to say, this is the closest ordinary America will get to a celebrity like Bob Hope. Second, you could have 10 or 12 celebrities' favorite meals on the menu and not have to maintain a lot of different foods in the freezer like most restaurants. The idea became a very successful restaurant by the name of Their Last Supper.

What does my story have to do with direct marketing? Nothing. But it has everything to do with where good, viable ideas can come from. They can come from anywhere ... at any time ... and hit you like the ad where some dumbfounded fellow hits his forehead and says, I could have had a V-8.

Good ideas are not about making sales. Ideas that build extraordinary companies are about helping people get fulfilled ... helping them solve a problem ... answering a painful difficulty or solving a problem. If your ideas do this well, money becomes the by-product.

How A Direct Marketer Can Get Anything They Want

The great motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, has said, "You can get anything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want."

Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, put the same thought this way, "The only way to influence someone is to find out what they want, and show them how to get it."

Notice that both these masters of influence say that success lies in what others want.

Ignoring this simple insight is the most common cause of direct marketing failure. Over and over, one of our experts who regularly sit at our conference table has seen otherwise sharp direct marketers launch a product because they want to sell it, not because anyone wants to buy it.

He says. "Remember this always ... you will easily avoid embarrassing failures and discover great riches only when you look at markets through the other end of the telescope ... not the lens of what you want to sell, but the lens of what people want to buy.

Let me tell you something ... I've never bought an aspirin because I want a relationship with my druggist. I buy aspirin because I have a headache!

Headaches, problems, desires and human wants ... these are your markets! Solve a problem ... relieve a pain ... or, answer a burning desire.

"Identify these wants, these hungry crowds, as Gary Halbert puts it, and you can make more money than is likely good for you." Help enough people get what they want, and you can get virtually anything you want.

So, if you are preparing any direct marketing campaign, be it direct mail, a newspaper ad, a magazine ad or an e-mail campaign, make sure you focus on what your audience wants to buy ... by all reasoning, that's what you should want to sell.

All Of Direct Marketing Is An Emotional Medium

Herschell Gordon Lewis hits the nail on the head. He says, "In direct marketing, when emotion and intellect come into conflict, emotion always wins. Replace intellectual words with emotional words and you'll sell more because you'll trigger an emotional response."

He uses the following as examples:

Intellectual Word: accelerate Emotional Words: speed up
Intellectual Word: additionally Emotional Words: there's more
Intellectual Word: aid Emotional Word: help
Intellectual Word: avid Emotional Word: eager
Intellectual Word: challenge Emotional Word: dare
Intellectual Word: concerned Emotional Word: worried
Intellectual Word: hope Emotional Word: desire
Intellectual Word: famished Emotional Word: hungry
Intellectual Word: fearful Emotional Word: afraid
Intellectual Word: futile Emotional Word: hopeless
Intellectual Word: learn Emotional Words: find out

Whether you are creating a direct mail package, e-mail, magazine or newspaper ad, try writing utilizing more emotional words. They will make a big difference in response.

Today's Electronic Direct Marketing: Even Small Products Make Money

I have long been a supporter of products that can be downloaded over the Internet.

In today's electronic marketplace, here's the ultimate marketing to the end user.

Available 24/7, distribution happens automatically. This story will thrill any one who has direct marketing running through their veins. It may just give you some ideas on how you can do much the same thing.

Often overlooked in all the online chatter about direct marketing is how the “little guy” can make some decent money. Sure, we all like to hear about the person who made millions, but what about the man or woman who had a good idea and earned enough money to make it worthwhile, but not enough to buy an island in the South Pacific.

Take Jamie Lewis, for example.

Jamie was born into a family of musicians; his dad a violinist, mom a cellist. Jamie learned, as one would expect, violin, cello and piano. But in high school, his ear heard another calling ... rock. So, he went into the music business as an artist. By the age of 18 he was composing, producing and developing hip-hop beats and instrumentals.

Fast forward a few years. Jamie was a struggling musician in New York City. He just wanted to make a living and knew that the Web was part of his answer. He didn’t know how.

The advent of powerful yet inexpensive audio software had led to an explosion in music creation and production for an entire generation. Unique beats can be created that individuals rap over or use as part of a song.

Seeing this large and growing market, Jamie set up a Web site to sell hip-hop beats. At first sales weren’t that good. Then he found ClickBank.

ClickBank provides product vendors ... e-book authors, software writers, game creators, and now hip-hop beat producers ... access to over 110,000 online outlets (with millions of readers) that are looking for products to market and sell. These outlets are called affiliate marketers.

An affiliate marketer is an individual or organization who operates a Web site, blog or other online channel that is devoted to a specific topic ... similar to a brick-and-mortar boutique retail store. The affiliate marketer doesn’t produce anything, but promotes other people’s products.

In Jamie’s case, it’s hip-hop beats. “It was like a light bulb went off,” he said. “Affiliate marketing popped out at me because it made sense and I was thinking, ‘Wow, I can really do this.’”

And Jamie really did do it with www.beats365.com.

“I soon found that the affiliates made my business,” he said. “I stopped promoting myself and focused entirely on developing new beats and other offerings.”

Because of ClickBank and affiliate marketing, Jamie “could sell my intellectual property for the first time.”

Now, OK, at this point you’re probably thinking you don’t know a soul that works with hip-hop beats for fun or profit. That’s the point, even very niche products can find an audience and make money. That’s the power of ClickBank and affiliate marketing.

One of the measures of a successful product is the “conversion” rate. Meaning, of all the visitors that visited a product site how many actually converted into paying customers.

Niche sites get a smaller number of visitors, but the conversion rates are much higher than other sites. “There is no doubt that niche sites convert really well,” Jamie said. And, high converting products are very attractive to affiliates that are looking for products to promote. “Almost everyone who promotes my site has had success with it,” he added.

5 Savvy Tips For Direct Marketing Yourself

These tips come from Bob Bly, long recognized as one of America's best and most creative direct response copywriters.

All great ideas are passed on, as in this case from Bob's colleague Joe Pulizzi. Here are some savvy tips for marketing yourself with social media and blogs:

1.) Have your own blog ... and post to it at least 2 to 3 times a
week.

2.) Find 10 to 15 blogs that really matter to your niche ... read
their posts ... and comment when you have something helpful to say.

3.) Publish great content on your blog ... and share it out on Twitter,
Facebook, and LinkedIn.

4.) When you start your blog, begin to think about writing posts as
chapters for a book ... after 6 months of blogging, you may have
more than half the book done. A printed book is a business card
that will never be thrown away.

5.) When you are asked to give content away ... as a guest on a
webinar, a presenter at a conference, or writing an article for a
newsletter - say yes. Give your expertise away.

The Benefits Of A Direct Marketing “Ancient Mariner”.

In my opinion, those of us who started in direct marketing back in the 1960’s and 1970’s are a tremendous asset and advantage to have on your marketing team today. Day in and day out we prove the saying … “what’s old becomes new again”.

That’s because we were taught to be a direct marketing general practitioner. I like to say, “Not only were we trained to be the ‘chief cook’ but also a ‘bottle washer’.

Back some 40 years ago, I was a Marketing Product Manager at The Amsterdam Company. There were 7 of us. Two times a week the company owner conducted a “Green Chart” meeting. The green chart was an 11” x 17” piece of green tag paper containing the updated results of every mailing made for the last several months. Our Honeywell 1600 main frame computer hadn’t been programmed with a results spreadsheet. That forced several secretaries to spend many hours updating the information the chart contained. They too were in each green chart meeting to lend their updating background knowledge.

The company owner conducted the meetings by discussing the results of each mailing on the chart. He would make the decision to roll out, wait for more results or kill additional mailings based on the updated trends shown on the chart. Then, he would assign tasks to the 7 Product Marketing Managers. Update the art and copy; order the printing; research list continuations; recommend new list tests; negotiate prices and order product for inventory; test new premiums (gifts); test new offers … and so forth and so on.

Thus each of us were involved in every mailing from “soup to nuts”. However, we soon had so many mailings to manage, we were then assigned the responsibility of a Product Division. Pens. Key Tags. Miscellaneous Ad Specialties. Business Forms. Storage Products. Business Products. Consumer Products. That’s what the owner called our “Vertical” responsibility. We also had a “Horizontal” responsibility affecting each Vertical. List Research. Premium (gift) Research. Competition Research. Sweepstakes Rules & Regulations Research, etc.

The result: Each one of us were so well trained that we learned and felt the “heartbeat” of each Product Division. We felt the rhythm of “the music”. At any given time we could step in and take over if any one of us were sick or on vacation. But, more important, it didn’t take long to discover absolutely everything in direct marketing is intertwined. Or … akin to a concert being beautifully performed by a well known orchestra. List (Market); Offer (Why Should I Buy From You?); Copy(Features and Benefits); Graphic Layout (Presentation) are all in turn affected by Timing.

And, each of these play a role in the company’s living and breathing “heartbeat”. One is never exclusive of the other. It’s the director on your team feeling the complete music the marketing orchestra makes who will deliver your company’s success.

Like everything else in our instant 24/7 society, direct marketing management today seems to come from collection of unconnected specialists. Those who are a whiz at list research do not know the first thing about writing killer copy. Conversely, those from whom great copy flows on a daily basis have little or no concern about lists and market research. It’s not their job.

Sadly, this fractured specialist approach shows up in today’s “committee managed” direct marketing. Committees are forced to read the notes that make the music. Because of their compartmentalized training, they truly do not know how to throw the printed notes away and feel the music. Those very successful direct marketing companies are lead by people who understand how to integrate all the marketing functions in order to bring out the true living and breathing “heartbeat” of their company.

There’s a place for the specialist. Like our green chart of 40 years ago, specialists provide the necessary information for the proper decision making. But, just like yesterday’s family doctor, those of us who were trained to be a “chief cook as well as a bottle washer” truly are very important to have on your team to jump start your company’s heartbeat for success.

(Editors Note: The “gang of 7” Product Marketing Managers mentioned above you may or may not know by their individual names. But I guarantee you have heard of all the companies they went on to manage, own, buy and/or sell. Today, collectively, these companies enjoy over $800 million in annual sales or donations.)

A Simple 7-Step Formula for Succeeding Online

(Here's another "pearl of wisdom" from Gary Bencivenga. If the last one didn't convince you to subscribe to his "Bullets", this one surely will. Information on subscribing to his "bullets" is at the bottom of this blog.)

If you want the easiest, surest and most rewarding way I’ve found to succeed online, here is the simple 7-step formula:

1.) Carve out a niche. Be known for something specific. Use the rifle, not the shotgun. When in doubt, go narrower than others in your field.

2.) Give something valuable away free. Within your narrow specialty, create an e-zine (or course, collection of tips, series of mistakes to avoid, seasonal recipes, any regular communication) that demonstrates your expertise and is so helpful, interesting and informative, your prospects will want to keep getting it regularly.

3.) Promote your free e-zine every way you can — in Google ads, articles you write for the media, speeches before trade groups, press releases, radio interviews, communications with your customers, take-ones at related retail outlets, space ads, newspaper classifieds, direct mail, co-ops and swaps with others in your industry, etc. Explore any and all avenues.

4.) Capture e-mail addresses. Never give away your valuable free tips on your website! Share them only in exchange for an e-mail address when someone signs up for your e-zine. Consider offering one of your best free tips in the form of a free report to induce people to sign up. This automatically gives you permission — and the means — to stay in touch with your market, building your most valuable direct marketing asset, your list.

5.) Pile on the value. Work hard to make your free e-zine so valuable and interesting, your prospects eagerly open it. As in romance, woo your new prospects with your bouquets of insight and pearls of wisdom. Don’t be shy about opening up and getting personal. Become a friend. Resist the urge to keep lunging at them with sales lust. Your goal: get your prospects into the habit of welcoming your e-mails like love letters because they are so valuable, useful and interesting … not in the habit of deleting them on sight because they are self-serving sales pitches. The rule: establish trust before you sell with lust.

6.) Never sell hard in your e-zine or free course. Instead, dance the two-step. The biggest mistake even savvy marketers make in their e-zines is selling too much, too soon, too hard, and too often. Let your e-zine be an oasis of value in a desert of hype. Always, and especially in your first several communications, let the value of your free information far outweigh your sales copy.

Eventually, after you’ve proven your value to readers and it’s time to sell something, dance the two-step. First, mention that you have a great product that enhances the valuable, free tip you’ve just shared in your e-zine. To learn more, "click here."

Second, when readers click on the link, they land on a dedicated page elsewhere, where you can sell your product or service as hard as you want.In other words, never sell too hard, too often or too early in your e-zine! Doing so makes your reader perceive it as a vehicle of hype, not a trusted vehicle of value.

Once your prospects categorize your e-zine as sales hype, you will lose them by the score. Game over! Their door will shut as closed as a coffin, as tight as a tomb. Your e-mails will bounce off their mailboxes like corks off granite. In your eagerness to sell, you will have trained your best prospects to shun you. You will have taught the legions of people who were ready to trust you, who had hoped you were different, to conclude that you’re just like all the rest — just another "me-first" marketer pushing too hard to sell, not serve.

Once you’ve painted yourself into this portrait, your identity remains fixed. Every time your prospects see your name on an e-mail, they’ll automatically think "sales pitch" and most will delete you on sight. You will have committed list suicide. Don’t make this fatal mistake!

Remember — use your e-zine to deliver pure, rare, refreshing, beautiful value — interesting, useful tips that your market is yearning for and delighted to receive. Introduce sales messages only occasionally, briefly, lightly, as I’ve described above, using the soft two-step — tying a brief mention of your product into the valuable tip you’ve just shared, then using a link to a hard-selling page that resides elsewhere.

A Little Secret for Boosting Your Sales Up to 400%

7.) For even better results, capture their physical addresses. Once your prospects have a relationship with your e-zine, offer them another free gift. It must not only be valuable, but something you have to send to their home, such as a report, CD, DVD, paperback book, newsletter, cool poster, free sample, gift certificate, etc.

Why something physical? Because this gives you the right to ask for — and get — their physical address. And why is that so important? Two reasons … First, a physical gift normally has higher perceived value than, say, an e-book. But far more important, getting a physical address enables you to send a compelling direct mail promotion with your gift, and to follow up later with additional direct mail.

And why is that important? Let me relay the experience of my friend, the late Gary Halbert, from whom I originally heard this idea. Gary reported that sending your direct mail promotion to the physical addresses of prospects who originally signed up online usually pulls up to 400% higher sales than the same copy delivered on the Web only.

* * *

And that’s all there is to it. Repeat these seven simple steps for every major product or service you want to sell. Are there other roads to Rome? Of course! But for me and others I respect in direct response, this has been our express lane.

So saddle up, marketing gunslinger, and ride out to claim your stake of the Wild Web frontier. Yes, the hills are full of renegades, bandits, and wolves. But you will prevail. You, Top Gun, are packin’ better ammo!

Sincere wishes for a good life
and (always!) higher response,

P.S. If you know any copywriters or marketers who would enjoy this
Bullet, or my entire Bullet collection, just send them an email with this link: http://marketingbullets.com/index.htm

P.P.S. Your e-mail address will never be shared. If you ever wish to unsubscribe, just let me know and I will vanish from your life like a shadow in the night.

The Two Most Powerful Words In Advertising

No, they're not FREE and NEW.

One of the best and most respected direct marketing copywriters is Gary Bencivenga. To all his clients he's more than a copywriter. He's a trusted advisor. Now retired, he's talking about his craft. Here's his unique look at what many believe are the basic "foundation" words in any direct marketing effort.

Dear Marketing Top Gun:

In this BULLET ..... (I'll show you how to subscribe to Gary's "BULLET" Library at the end of this Blog) ..... you'll discover the two most powerful words in advertising and how to use them to explode your response fairly easily and consistently.

Which Headline Pulled Best?

First, to illustrate the secret, can you guess which of these two magalog headlines was the big winner for a financial newsletter?

HEADLINE A: (next to photo of financial guru, Charles J. Givens):

If you've got 20 minutes a month,
I guarantee to work a financial miracle
in your life.
(caption under photo)
Charles J. Givens, the self-made $200-millionaire,
entrepreneur and best-selling financial author of all time.

HEADLINE B: (same photo and caption):

The Millionaire Maker
(subhead) Can he make YOU rich, too?

* * *

Which of these headlines absolutely smashed the other in a split-run test, out-pulling it by a huge margin and becoming a profitable control for years?

Rather than just tell you the winner, let me describe how you could know in advance, once you understand the two most powerful words in advertising today.

By the way, no BULLET you will ever read will give you more sheer power to boost your response consistently, beat existing control packages easily and create your own blockbuster products than the simple yet profound secret I will now share. Yet I doubt if you have ever read this anywhere, even if you have been a lifelong student of advertising.

Conventional Wisdom That's Wrong ...

First, you must understand why some of what you have been taught about direct marketing is wrong, or at least outdated and incomplete.

Most of the few great books on direct response were written more than a generation ago by legends such as John Caples, David Ogilvy, Claude Hopkins and one or two others. Most of their response-boosting secrets remain valid, as we will see in future BULLETS.

Their main teaching: benefits, big benefits, are the key to high response.

Makes sense. But there's a problem. These giants wrote this advice long ago when, compared with today, prospects were under-marketed. So, yes, back then, flat-out big benefits and words like FREE and NEW got people excited.

But today, more often than not, these same words and super-sized claims instantly trigger rejection. The problem is, words like FREE and NEW and the big-claim style of advertising they reflect, have been so overused, they have become bright red flags that instantly scream to your prospects, throw me away!

As proof, if I were to send you an email with the words "new" and "free," I must misspell them, or your spam filter may bounce my message.

Best proof: just ask yourself, do you get overly excited when you encounter an email or direct mail package trumpeting free or new or some fantastic claim to make you rich, change your life overnight or grow body parts bigger than you ever dreamed?

Of course not.

You have heard such claims too many times. Your own exquisitely sensitive mental spam filter rejects all such messages instantly, as you think to yourself, YEAH, SURE.

And those, Top Gun, are the two most powerful and influential words in advertising today. Yeah, sure.

They are the near-universal response of a too-busy world awash in marketing.

These two words are merciless tyrants, mass murderers of response, because they are exactly the words your harried prospects think every time they must slog through the daily, ever-rising tide of advertising claims.

Get rich quick! Yeah, sure (toss it).

Lose weight fast! Yeah, sure (toss it).

Make $1,000 a week stuffing envelopes! Yeah, sure (toss it).

Elect me and I will make the world safe, cut your taxes and give everyone universal health care. Yeah, sure.

And so on, including almost all of the big-promise messages you were taught to trumpet by the direct response scriptures.

A Simple Secret for Exploding Your Response

As a result, the vast majority of B level copywriters spend most of their days dreaming up ways to pump up ever-bigger claims ... which is why their mailings are almost always beaten easily by the tiny handful of A level copywriters who know this simple secret of successful selling in an overmarketed world...

Never make your claim bigger than your proof. And always join your claim and your proof at the hip in your headlines, so that you never trumpet one without the other.

There is no more powerful nor consistent way to explode your response. Surround your claims with stronger, bolder proof and watch your response soar.

And I am not talking just about testimonials, which do help but have become so overused themselves, they have lost some of their magic. I am talking about every method you can possibly find to bolster your proof and credibility.

There are many ways to do this, as I will teach you in future BULLETS.

One of the easiest ways is simply to avoid like the measles phrases so overused, they instantly trigger the Yeah, Sure response, phrases such as get rich quick ... lose weight fast ... and, yes, become a millionaire.

Another way is to sandwich your big promise inside an IF ...THEN construction in your headline.

When you say IF (followed by a requirement your prospects have to meet), it seems to magically switch off and bypass their Yeah, Sure alarm and usher you right in their front door to sell.

Surprisingly, it even works when you make the requirement easy to meet.

And now you know the winner, headline A:

If you've got 20 minutes a month,
I guarantee to work a financial miracle
in your life.

I know, the promise still seems so big and hard to believe. But that is the power of the IF...THEN construction. For some reason, it seems to put the universal Yeah, Sure alarm to sleep, like punching in the alarm code when you enter your home.

The formula: a reasonably easy requirement, followed by a strong promise. Think up ways to use this for your own product.

Of course, be sure to pay off in your body copy why and how the benefit can be achieved by such an easy requirement. And if it is not extremely easy, but only moderately easy, that is even better, as it is more believable. Surprisingly, candor is gloriously effective in boosting response.

Anyway, test this IF...THEN idea sometime soon, measure the results, and you may be startled by how much it outpulls the typical big-promise headline most ads rely on.

In fact, the headline above was so successful for Givens, his publishers asked me if they could adapt it for another of their products, a weight loss newsletter by Richard Simmons. Against a strong control package that had beaten off all comers, they tested this headline, keeping all other elements in the package the same:

(Next to photo of Richard Simmons)
If you've got 20 minutes a month,
I guarantee a thinner, healthier you.

It worked like a charm and handily beat the previous champ. (BTW, notice the absence of exclamation marks, the overuse of which increases the aroma of hype and a resulting Yeah, Sure response.)

The Best Example I've Ever Seen

The most effective use I have ever seen of this IF...THEN technique was a famous ad for a speedwriting course.

I saw it when I was a copy cub, commuting to Madison Avenue by subway. It was addressed to secretaries and ran for many years. As you were standing there, hanging on your strap and swaying with the motion of the train, you'd read this poster just above eye level. The headline was a sentence handwritten in script across a spiral, steno-type notepad. It read:

F u cn rd ths msg,
u 2 cn dbl yr incm
w spdwrtng.

When I figured it out...

...I flt lk a blumn gnys!

So did legions of secretaries who responded to this ad for many years.

Coming in Future BULLETS...
...Many more ways to switch off the Yeah, Sure alarm and easily get your foot in the door, which is half the challenge in direct marketing.

In your next BULLET: The most important advertising question you can ask. This, too, is a secret you have never read elsewhere, yet it will make a huge difference in your marketing fortunes. You will see.

Sincere wishes for a good life
and (always!) higher response,


P.S. If you know any copywriters or marketers who would enjoy this
Bullet, or my entire Bullet collection, just send them an email with this link: http://marketingbullets.com/index.htm

P.P.S. Your e-mail address will never be shared.
If you ever wish to unsubscribe, just let me know and I will vanish from your life like a shadow in the night.