I was on the phone earlier this week with copywriting legend John Carlton and we were ranting about all sorts of things…and he made the brilliant observation that the next “big things” in marketing may not be in the areas of whiz bang technology but rather in the blocking and tackling that we career direct marketers ...

“Networking” may be the most overused term in the business world today…and with social media, the idea of creating a network is often in the hands of amateurs. Simply accepting anyone and everyone who sends you a friend request on Facebook, LinkedIn etc. is far from the gold standard…and I would like to share ...

The subject line for this week refers to the question: “What do you call the person who graduates last in the class at Harvard Medical School?” Answer: “Doctor” I was thinking about this in relation to the upcoming “Titans” event that I am hosting in September… Specifically, when I was planning the event, my ...

Don’t let Gary Bencivenga fool you into thinking that he’s simply the nicest man in the world (which he is).He is warm, charming, smart and a joy to be around.And when he said he would speak at my “Titans of Direct Response” conference after saying some years ago that he would never speak again ...

For the past year, I have had the privilege of being a member in “Strategic Coach,” the company founded by the top coach for entrepreneurs in the world, Dan Sullivan. Dan has a knack of creating life-changing frameworks, worksheets, exercises and mindsets to make sure we live in a world of abundance, not scarcity; and a ...

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 dreams, ...

  I was blessed to know Gene Schwartz…and not just casually, either. Gene was my friend, mentor and business partner…and I learned so many lessons from him. Those of you who don’t know who I am talking about, Eugene “Gene” Schwartz was one of the most successful and prolific direct response copywriters who ever ...

The phrase “I’ll meet you halfway” hasn’t existed for me for most of my adult life…and I can thank the lameness of some people I love as much as anyone in the world for that… I have a group of ten buddies from high school who are like brothers to me. However, we all ...

Your foreign correspondent is at it again…this time from Paris…my first time in this amazing city.And my thoughts turn to romance, crepes…and of course e-mail marketing… One of our first tourist stops was the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris…an amazing edifice…home to a guy who is more hunchback than me! I worked off ...

Those of you who have been regular readers of my weekly e-mails…and maybe some of you who are new…know that I lost my mentor (and direct marketing hero) Marty Edelston last October.One of the posts where I talked about our special relationship was titled “The Myth of Work-Life Balance.” I think you will get a better picture ...

One evening almost 20 years ago, when I was leaving the office very late, I walked passed Marty Edelston’s office…Marty is the founder of my beloved company Boardroom and he’s my lifelong mentor, friend and business partner.It was probably 8:00 p.m.–he and I were the only people in the office–and he was playing with some ...

One of my favorite books is by the great baseball writer Tom Boswell…it’s called “How Life Imitates the World Series.” I think I want my first e-book to be “How Life Imitates Direct Marketing”…but that’s a topic for a different day. But today’s post is about baseball…and direct marketing…what else is there? If you ...

OK…I know what you are thinking after reading that subject line…Brian is once again trying to justify his existence as a serial direct marketer by making it sound like everything he does is for the good of society…blah…blah…blah… But those of you who know me know that I have no shame around the fact ...

As I’ve been planning my epic event for September (yes, that is an open loop/tease), I keep thinking about the most monumental, life-changing events I’ve attended…and the one at the top of that list is the “Bencivenga 100.” Those of you who never heard about it, it was the “farewell tour” (over two days) ...

This week I will play foreign correspondent…While I rarely travel much internationally, I will brag that I’ve spent the last two weeks in Germany, Prague, Vienna and Budapest. Poor me! 🙂 I will confess that I was not “stationed” on any dangerous battlefields and I am far from roughing it… However, there were some street vendors ...

I recently wrote a piece for copyblogger.com that talks about many of the issues I’ve been speaking about around the country…and for this week’s post, I would like to share that article with you. Here’s my thesis: The fact that e-mail is cheap should not give marketers license to send anything via e-mail that is not given the ...

The subject line of this e­mail was worth millions to Boardroom, the company I’ve helped build over the last 30 years. And the story about how “Deeply and Irrevocably Personal” became part of one of our most famous control packages ever is a story packed with valuable lessons. In his prime, Bill Jayme was the most sought after copywriter in the world…every major magazine/publisher/non profit and every other major mailer in every category wanted him to write for them. He charged top dollar and you had to wait over a year to get on his writing schedule. He wrote some of the most famous (and successful) promotions in the history of direct mail and I am proud to say that we have every one of them on CD for posterity. Bill became close with Marty Edelston (the founder of Boardroom) and I–which led to him helping us launch many products for Boardroom­. After one winning assignment, Marty sent Bill flowers…or balloons…or some other celebratory gift. That was always Marty’s style. Bill then sent Marty a note in a plain white envelope that simply said on the outside: “Deeply and Irrevocably Personal…” Enclosed was a thank you note filled with the pure poetry Bill was famous for –the guy could write eloquently about anything to anyone. He was a one-of-a-kind talent. Marty took Bill’s envelope, marched into to our art department, and told the artist who was mocking up a direct mail piece for one of our niche books, “The Encyclopedia of Estate Planning” (EEP), that he had an envelope test for him to execute. The rest is history… ...

Richard “Dick” Benson was a true master when it came to direct mail…for my money, no one could hold a candle to him when it came to discussing anything to do with that medium. Of course that also made him the most knowledgeable person I could go to on anything to do with direct ...

Sorry if that subject line felt like a bit of a downer…but I wanted to share two of the most important quotes from my 30+ year career…and it’s all about “launching” properly… By the way, the word “launch” was NOT invented by an online marketer (although my buddy Jeff Walker certainly owns it now)! ...