I was approached by one of the top members of my Titans Xcelerator Mastermind (with “top” defined as “supreme contributor”), about a student of his who he thought would be an ideal member.
Obviously, I paid close attention…because if this top contributor had someone in mind to join, who was a student of his, there was close to a 100% chance he was right.
It takes a giver to know a giver. 🙂
He then made this request:
Could my student come on a call to check out Titans Xcelerator?
I explained I don’t have a “try it before you buy it” program (i.e. come on a call, see if you like it…so we can badger you for years to join).
That last part isn’t true.
The reason why I don’t do this sort of thing is because the mastermind is a one-year commitment…every call is so different…and I have a fear that one random call could end up being a misrepresentation of the full value of Titans Xcelerator…which not only could lead to the prospect not joining now…but they could then be lost forever.
Not that any one call would be “bad” …in fact they are all excellent, causing me to exclaim at the end of each one “this has been the best call ever” …but it’s the cumulative effect of 30+ live calls per year that sells people on the mastermind for years to come.
As indicated by the 80%+ renewal rate once they have multiple years inside the group.
It’s a family with a love grip that is hard to resist. 🙂
One call might not hit the bullseye…it’s random (i.e. the prospect is a victim of the agenda for that call) …and I hate basing anything (and then everything) on limited data.
I learned this lesson selling subscriptions and books through direct mail over three decades to the tune of mailing over a billion pieces of mail…using “free issues” and “send no money” as our basic offers.
Here is how I got to my current thinking on “sampling”…how I made it work in direct mail…and how it pertains to “trying it before you buy it” for any offer today:
The “magalog,” the “bookalog,” and the “advertorial,” whether you’ve heard of them or not, are three offline marketing formats from the last century (i.e., that would be the late 20th) which I believe set the stage for so much of what we do online today.
And rather than make this a history lesson…which is always instructive (and I will give some history) …I will share with you why these three formats are so important…and how to continue applying the genius of all of them into the future.
The magalog
Occasionally, something comes along that disrupts everything.
In today’s marketing landscape, it happens every 15 minutes…or so it seems.
Regardless of the speed of change, change is inevitable…and when the “magalog” came to be in direct mail in the 1980’s, it was a phenomenon.
There’s even a Wikipedia entry for it (so we know it’s legit) 🙂
A magalog is a promotional copy of a magazine, usually in a 12-page catalog format. The name is a portmanteau of “magazine” and “catalog” and was coined and used by Gary Bencivenga, a direct response copywriter.
Magalogs help introduce magazines to new readers, or function as a catalog formatted as a magazine. An alternative use can include catalogs that are presented with content, not just advertising.
Magalogs are used in other verticals and have been used successfully to sell dietary supplements, books, information products, and sports equipment.
Magalogs vary in size from 8 pages to 64 pages. Results from magalogs are closely measured to determine the ROI of the mailing.
And since I was not 100% satisfied about the “original source” of the magalog (despite being thrilled that Gary Bencivenga gets credit for naming it and perfecting it), the term seems to go back to 1970… “the year that Mongomery Ward first developed its ‘magalog’ concept…where the catalog meets magazine” (according to “The Google”).
But I’m also cool with making Gary B. the original source.
Here are some of the reasons why the magalog was a game changer…and why it is a precursor of online launches and many other online techniques that rule the marketing landscape today:
- It’s long copy with a purpose. Once the A-List copywriters got their hands on the format (folks like Gary Bencivenga, Jim Rutz, Clayton Makepeace and the lesser known, but equally influential, Dick Sanders et al.) they were able to prove (again) that it’s not about long copy vs. short copy but rather engaging copy vs. boring copy. Those of you who are aware of “The End of America” video Sales letter (from Agora) knows what I am referring to as an example of this principle at work in the 21st century.
- Magalogs tell a story…usually in color…which was a departure from long, meaningful copy inside an envelope with a 12-page letter. With anywhere from 20 to 32 pages to work with, the narrative and flow became part of the promotion…and the format created some of the most successful mailings of all time…along with the development of dozens of meaningful and talented designers…including Rob Davis, Alice Taus et al.).
- Design is paramount. While it was still the words that propelled the promotion, those design techniques changed with each new magalog…with creative use of sidebars, two-page spreads and all kinds of variations making each magalog its own “Broadway production” …while selling throughout. Hmmm…you could substitute “webinar” or “video sales letter” for magalog with the same Broadway-like effect, no?
- The magalog is much more than “sizzle” (i.e. teaser) promotion. It had “steak” (useful content that could be applied immediately whether the reader/prospect bought the product or service). Doesn’t that sound familiar with what you do online regularly? More on that below.
- The magalog spawned other long form formats. The bookalog (64-page digest size promotions that you didn’t even recognize as “advertising”) …more on that below; the tabloid (oversized magalogs which dominated mailbox real estate) …and the “faux issue” magalog, which mirrored the publication you were selling in promotion form. I’m proud to say I captained mailings of all these formats with tremendous success using each one.
So how did the magalog “invent” online marketing?
According to A-Lister Don Hauptman, in an article he penned for a trade magazine in 1990:
“Enhancing the illusion are a price and date [on each magalog], magazine-style cover teasers and headlines, four-color photos and super sharp layout and graphic design.”
And “illusion” doesn’t mean it wasn’t real…or deceptive.
He goes on:
“…my view is that these pseudo-magazines have the power to shake advertising-jaded prospects out of their lethargy.”
And finally…
“Both ethically and practically, one ‘secret’ to making this approach work is to provide genuinely useful information: news, facts or advice which will help the prospect whether he or she responds” [which I mentioned above]
One caveat from me if you ever plan to create these elaborate promotions:
Don’t leave this revolutionary format (or any format in any era for that matter) to amateurs.
It’s no coincidence that the success of the format became synonymous with the copywriting masters who perfected it.
Only a select few mastered it…and they were in the highest demand.
And masters are masters in each subsequent generation.
This is 100% aligned with how we do online marketing today:
- Creating email, launch videos, webinars that capture the reader’s or listener’s imagination…long or short…with intrigue, narratives and stories.
- Making sure it feels like an “event” or one time only promotion (e.g. the price and date listed on the “promotion”). And making sure “it doesn’t look like advertising” while keeping it “real.”
- Writing in pictures was made famous by Gene Schwartz in The Brilliance Breakthrough…and it is a universal component in every magalog promotion…and with all its kissing cousins, magalogs were words with pictures that told a story…as are the best online promotions.
- But here’s the key: Giving away “steak” in direct mail was a new concept…before the magalog, direct mailers shied away from giving away too much in their sales letters for fear of “giving away their best stuff” while paying for postage and printing and not making a sale; with the advent of the magalog, giving away some steak became the rule.
And in today’s online environment, the best marketers give away much more of their best steak up front (even for free) because they have the confidence that there is more/better steak…dare I say filet mignon…behind that…and they will never have to pay postage and printing to deliver those delicious meals.
For you vegetarians and vegans who are disgusted by all these meat references, fill in “your favorite meat substitute” every time I mention steak. 🙂
- The magalog is analogous to a webinar or online launch…the list is targeted and curated, the offer is solid…and giving away your best content up front, with long but engaging messaging (i.e., not boring) …focused on the transformation of your reader/viewer…especially if you are an unknown entity or brand…is the only way to sell in most cases.
- Just like we needed only the world’s best copywriters and designers to create magalogs, bookalogs and other variations, today we need specialists in launches, email marketing, webinars, social media advertising. That is, no vendor can cover everything and no jacks of all trades need apply. State-of-the-art marketing demands state-of-the-art practitioners.
- The “Faux Issue”: This is where “try it before you buy it offers” merged with the magalog format…when selling subscriptions to publications (e.g. magazines and newsletters). Rather than just sending a random current issue, the top copywriters created a promotion that mirrored the look and feel of the publication itself…with steak and sizzle…incorporating greatest hits of the magazine or newsletter rather than whatever is in a current issue.
It doesn’t sound revolutionary…but the results said otherwise. We created “Faux Issue Magalogs” that achieved over 100% lifts in response over other formats.
And it’s why giving away a random issue as a promotion for a publication can be as dangerous as giving away a random call to a virtual mastermind.
Sometimes.
See the P.S.
The bookalog
I want to be sure to give the magalog’s kissing cousin some love.
The bookalog almost became a “product” on its own.
They were 64 pages, designed like a digest-sized publication, full of useful content with targeted sales techniques…and they had a much longer shelf life than any other format I had ever used, or have used, since.
That is, because it had so much perceived value and “bulk,” prospects would put it on a table or on their nightstand (as opposed to dumping it into the circular file) for days if not weeks.
It created havoc when trying to read response patterns to bookalog promotions…but since they were so effective, I learned to wait a few extra weeks to get rich.
One blockbuster bookalog promotion we did said it all:
It read “Free Gift Inside” on the outside of a 6” X 9” envelope.
And the “Gift?”
It was a promotional bookalog inside the envelope, of course. 🙂
The advertorial
For many of the same reasons magalogs and bookalogs paved the way for online marketing techniques of all kinds, so did “advertorials.”
In fact, the online folks have co-opted the term and now call it “native advertising.”
Although Wikipeida says not so fast:
“The concept of internet-based advertorials is linked to native advertising; however, whether the two terms are synonymous is contested”
Including being contested by me.
The origin of this format is worth studying if only for a lesson in ethics (more on that in a minute).
But there’s more to it.
Here’s how Wiki defines it:
An advertorial is an advertisement in the form of editorial content. The term “advertorial” is a blend of the words “advertisement” and “editorial.” Merriam-Webster dates the origin of the word to 1946.
[How’s that for the original source? That’s mid-20th century]
Wiki goes on:
In printed publications, the advertisement is usually written to resemble an objective article and designed to ostensibly look like a legitimate and independent news story.
Advertorials, especially those that are not clearly disclosed * are the subject of controversy in journalism ethics and marketing ethics.
Researchers have found that they often mislead readers who are unaware of their origin, co-opting and damaging a publication’s reputation. As many as two thirds of readers confuse advertorials for reporting, according to a 2016 study.
[*NOTE: Advertorials being “clearly disclosed” as advertising are part of the rules of the advertorial game]
The difference between fooling a reader (and possibly creating a bait and switch) vs. engaging a reader with useful content (like magalogs, which is a “long form advertorial”) is the difference between sloppy/possibly unethical marketing and elegant/ethical marketing.
And maybe the difference between doing something that is illegal or legal.
I understand that one can be unethical and not break the law.
But why reside in either of those camps?
However, whenever you use an advertorial style ad, there is no disguising that you are “disguising” an ad as editorial material.
Doing it right makes all the difference.
Speaking of the “controversy in journalism and marketing ethics” …
There was an “advertorial format” that got a lot of bad press in the 1980’s…they were called “tearsheet ads”…where you would send an “article” seemingly ripped out of a newspaper…put it in an envelope with hand addressing…with a post it note on top it saying something like, “Read this” or “Check this out” signed with an initial.
That was deemed to have crossed some line…folks were penalized who used it extensively and without certain additional markings (e.g. “this is an advertisement” in some specified font size) …but you can also see how variations of this can work by thinking of ways to “decriminalize” it.
That is, as many of you know, these types of ads can work like a charm (if you follow proper guidelines and compliance).
Companies who do it right…then and now…are to be applauded…and emulated.
And they are all over the Internet today.
I can’t help but think fondly about Joe Sugarman, who created advertorials in newspapers for the products he wanted to eventually feature in his catalogs.
I will reprint my tribute to him in March…what a pioneer and talent.
If they worked as stand-alone ads in regional newspapers, he was assured they would work even better, supported by a catalog of branded products around it.
Simple but brilliant.
Based on past results and testing.
But isn’t that true with anything new in marketing?
Even disruption (and game changing) needs planning. 🙂
Warmly,
Brian
P.S. Addendum to my Titans Xcelerator member’s request to have one of his students “sit in for free” on a random call.
I consented (against my better judgment).
And lo and behold, my fears were not justified.
He joined after attending!
Maybe every call is “the best ever” after all. 🙂
And with this non-statistically significant success rate of 100% (1 of 1), I’ll offer up a “best call ever” to any one of you who is interested in trying Titans Xcelerator before you buy it.
All you need to do is respond to this email with “Best Call Ever” as the subject line.
And answer this question:
“What is the biggest challenge or opportunity in your business right now?”
Then, at my discretion, I will pick an upcoming call (based on the most appropriate guest speaker, particular hot seat, or Titan Spotlight) that I think could help you the most.
Yes, I will try to stack the deck in your favor.
You’ll need to excuse my desire to overdeliver.
With no obligation to join afterwards.
You can check out what Titans Xcelerator is all about by clicking here.
Then email me.
Let’s see how this goes…