I’ve started working on a major long-term project. The book, tentatively titled The Persuasion Manifesto (the name a copycat of the pretentious Cluetrain Manifesto), is a compilation of the most successful persuasive communications techniques ever developed. My primary research method … Continue reading →

How well do you really know your customers? Reading the list data cards is a good way to find out something about the folks you are mailing to, but it’s not enough. Knowing that you are writing to farmers, Information … Continue reading →

Online marketing expert Debbie Weil recently asked me, “How do you know whether an e-zine is successful?” “An e-zine is successful if it achieves its stated marketing objective,” I replied. “Conversely, if you have no written marketing goal for your … Continue reading →

When prospects get your e-mail marketing message, they make a quick decision, usually in a couple of seconds, to open or delete it based largely on the subject line. But given the glut of promotional e-mail today, how can you … Continue reading →

Before the Internet, there was a niche in mail order marketing that involved selling books on how to get rich in mail order, the audience primarily composed of business opportunity seekers.   Now the Internet has created an equivalent market … Continue reading →

“I want to market my business on the Web, but how do I get traffic to my site?” one client asked recently. “And if I want to sell my product or service using e-mail marketing, who do I send the … Continue reading →

False logic, a term coined by my friend, master copywriter Michael Masterson, is copy that manipulates (but does not lie about or misrepresent), through skillful writing, existing facts. The objective: to help readers come to conclusions that those facts, presented … Continue reading →

There are two types of marketing in the world today: (1) “Traditional” marketing with its relatively larger budget and reliance on standard methodology and mainstream media, and (2) “guerilla” marketing, which is reliant on non-traditional tactics, alternative media, and such … Continue reading →

In 1961, Rosser Reeves published his classic book Reality in Advertising in which he introduced the notion of the Unique Selling Proposition, or USP. Today the book is out of print and difficult to get. As a result, most practicing … Continue reading →

It’s not uncommon for a marketer to invest a tremendous amount of time, effort, and money in a new direct mail package, and then create the outer envelope almost as an afterthought. That’s a mistake, because tests have shown that … Continue reading →