“If you can’t advertise yourself, what hope do you have of advertising anything else?” -David Ogilvy As marketers, copywriters and entrepreneurs, it is critically important to never lose our confidence…and to be able to talk about our passions, expertise and accomplishments in a way that conveys trust so that people will buy from us
This subject line is not an attempt at hyperbole. I respectfully submit, “Marketing isn’t everything…it’s the only thing” as a credo to live by. I’m pretty confident that I am preaching to the converted (i.e. you) when I say that nothing significant happens with our ideas or missions without marketing. In addition, marketing practiced
Jim Rutz was one of the greatest copywriters of all time. And he was one of the most colorful characters this business has ever seen as well. If you are a working or aspiring copywriter, you owe a debt of gratitude to Jim whether you have ever heard of him or not…he was a
Just so you know…this subject line is not a justification for all of the bad grammar I’ve used in my weekly blogs; rather, it is an important consideration when you write or oversee any promotional copy…more on that in a moment… First, I want to make sure that most of you have purchased your
I may not have captivated everyone with that subject line…I am well aware that many members of my online family aren’t aware of too much that happened before the Internet…and this reference goes back even further to the 1970’s. But please stick with me. Annie Hall is the movie that won the Academy Award
This subject line seems like a setup to talk about some political conspiracy…but it’s not. It’s actually my way of sharing some important “lessons from Mom” we all have tucked away somewhere…since last Sunday was Mother’s Day and I first shared this story on Mother’s Day three years ago. I think the only people
I recently asked a doctor who is not a true believer in taking nutritional supplements this question: Is there ONE vitamin or supplement that you could recommend to your patients that you feel has no downside but also has clear upside for most people? He replied, like many others have (including skeptics), that the
I’ve been thinking about “original source” a lot this week with the release of the “Titans Marketing edition” of Breakthrough Advertising by Gene Schwartz. Gene was one of many “originals” who paved the way for everything we do today in marketing, copywriting and the study of human behavior. And as mentioned above, Gene is
I will make the assumption that if you are part of my online family you are “one of us”…a serial direct marketer…and marketing terms like “branding,” “public relations,” and “publicity” give us the creeps, right? Our favorite question: “How are you going to measure THAT?” I recall a case of those “creeps” turning into
I hate the word “networking.” But I love connecting with people I can learn from any chance I get…and I think the notion of “contributing to connect” is a much better way to think about “networking.” Those of you who are new to my online family might have missed my post where I talked
You probably know by now that I never get “political” in these weekly posts…and I won’t start now…but since the lead story on the news every day seems to be about what is happening in our nation’s capital, I am reminded of a dinner I attended in the early 1990’s in Washington which on
After telling you a few weeks ago that “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated” and attributing that quote to our old friend “Direct Mail” and not Mark Twain, I wanted to follow that up with some video to make you laugh (and hopefully not make you cry!) this Sunday morning. I am
Last week I had the honor of spending three days with 40 of the most heart-centered and highly skilled entrepreneurs, marketers and copywriters on the planet who were all attending Titans Master Class (a one-of-a-kind mastermind). And there was one word that seemed to describe everyone’s overall philosophy about their business (and their life):
My first trip to Paris was three years ago…and I fell in love with the place. And as you might imagine, my thoughts turned to romance…gluten-free crepes (do they exist?)…and of course email marketing. I’ve been back to Paris twice since then—both times to speak—and I actually did three interviews/videos for my friends in
Believe it or not, the Titan I want to talk about this week is NOT a direct marketer! And while he’s pretty far removed from the usual folks I talk about in this space, I think about him often because I believe that without his decisive actions, none of us would be pursuing our
When talking about the greats in anything—sports, entertainment and yes, even direct marketing!—thinking about your “Mount Rushmore” is a great way to put your best of the best on a pedestal…or better yet, etched into the side of a mountain. At the Titans of Direct Response event, we created a swipe file from the
One of the most important lessons I learned from Dick Benson, the man who knew more about the science (and art) of direct mail than anyone in history, was to spend more time on lists. And to this day, the thing I teach the most is the importance of list research and segmentation as
“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar”
Good thing my Mom doesn’t read my blog because that subject line would have gotten her very worried… However, the author of that quote (today) is not me…nor is it Mark Twain. It’s from my good friend “Direct Mail.” I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that there is a huge appetite for testing
Of all the “Hallmark holidays” I love Valentine’s Day the best. It takes the “gratefulness” from Thanksgiving and adds in “all love, all the time.” And rumor has it that sex may be part of the deal too…but this is a “G-Rated blog…” I started writing this blog February 14, 2014, in honor and
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