Direct Response Marketing Copy & Strategy
12:20pm Monday
Saint Paul
I am not in the path of today’s eclipse.
But it reaches totality at 1:40pm Central time here in the US.
And I plan to watch NASA’s live footage of the moon perfectly blocking earth’s sun on YouTube.
Now, an eclipse is not a common event.
And it has everyone talking.
Which means marketers are tapping the eclipse as a reason to start a conversation with their audience.
Continue reading “What Robert Collier said about the Eclipse”1:27pm
Saint Paul
Last week I sat—virtually—with a few dozen other copywriters in a webinar about Financial Copywriting.
If you don’t know, Financial is one of the “Big Three” markets. The other two are Health and Relationships.
This webinar, no doubt, was filled with good advice on writing for companies that sell financial “get rich this week!” type info.
And those promotions generally do well. Because most everyone wants to get rich.
Including the webinar attendees… including me… who were promised that the financial info companies were all in desperate need for copywriters.
“If you can write an email like this one,” said the guest, showing a simple, 5-line message, “then you too can earn big royalties!”
Continue reading “Did I just meet Bruce flippin’ Barton on LinkedIn?”9:31am
Saint Paul
What’s your To-Do list looking like today?
I ask because this past weekend I started reading “The Ultimate Sales Machine” by Chet Holmes.
In this book, Holmes advises making lists of your To-Dos. Limiting it to six items or fewer. And tackling the hardest one first in the morning.
Continue reading “What’s on your To-Do List?”10:20pm
Saint Paul
I was browsing my bookshelf the other night, looking for something to start.
(I have more unfinished books than I have fully-read books. Not every book is worth finishing, I’ve learned… though many I plan to return to… I think…)
Now, I noticed my slightly neglected Dan Kennedy section. Dan is a prolific and accomplished copywriter and businessman who has recently fallen ill.
I pulled down my worn copy of The Ultimate Sales Letter and Continue reading “7 things you’ll learn in Dan Kennedy’s “The Ultimate Sales Letter”“
Do you ever feel unfocused and a bit antsy… when you should be working?
You have a To-Do List as long as your, er, arm. And even though part of you wants to get to work, other parts of you are doing everything they can to steal your attention.
And when you live in a distracting world, it’s easy to find something else to focus on.
If you look back at old books — even really old books, like Seneca’s “Letters From a Stoic” in which he writes,
Continue reading “How to Improve Your Focus and Get More Done in Less Time (aka “Deep Work” book summary)”Could you make better decisions?
I think we all could.
Do you have a hard time deciding what to order at a restaurant?
Do you ever make the “wrong” decision and, looking back, feel that you “knew” it would turn out bad?
Continue reading “Better Decisions with Annie Duke (Persuasion Play Podcast 010)”9:46am Tuesday
This morning I read a Sweepstakes Letter from the Publishers Clearing House.
With a no-obligation entry I have a chance at winning $7,000 per week for life.
That’s a lot of money!
The letter spent no time trying to be clever or discussing something that couldn’t tie into the benefits of their promotion.
Do you remember most brands behind your favorite commercials?
Continue reading “Give Me One Reason!”9:12
Saint Paul
I post on WordPress for my sites (RockPaperShootLLC.com and here on PersuasionReadingList.com) and use I MailChimp to email to my list.
And on the creator side, both of these services have completely changed their interface.
There’s no better way to frustrate your customers than to change something that works just fine.
Especially if that change causes more work for those customers, like creating new MailChimp templates.
That’s true in marketing, too.
Rosser Reeves wrote about the importance of a consistent and repeated message in his book Reality in Advertising.
1:37pm Monday
Saint Paul
Last week I wrote about my daughter’s violin lessons and how she doesn’t like having to put forth effort in order to progress.
She’s happy to practice the few things she knows, but the moment there’s a whiff of effort required…
I don’t think she’s alone. My wife’s a teacher and she sees in her students the same avoidance of effort.
“That’s extra!” they’ll complain. About anything.
“Doin’ too much!” is another common refrain.
Today she said, “We don’t ask kids to do hard things any more.”
My daughter has started violin lessons following the Suzuki Method.
After one week of classes… after every practice session… she decided she’s ready to give up.
As a parent, this is incredibly frustrating: of course I want my child to develop grit!
The Suzuki method was developed by Shin’ichi Suzuki in the 1940s and later, and documented in his book, Nurtured by Love.
The Suzuki Method focuses on baby steps, frequent positive feedback, and fun.
Continue reading “The “Karate Kid” Method to Music Mastery”