Archive for May, 2008
« Previous EntriesMarketers - The Perils Of Being In A Commodity Market
Saturday, May 31st, 2008Out doing my weekend grocery shopping I decide to pop into the local Aldi store for a change.
If you’re not familiar with the company, Aldi is a supermarket company with a very clear positioning at the no-frills and very low-cost end of the market. It’s a German company, privately owned by a couple of [...]
Copywriters - The Right Way To Use Questions In Headlines
Thursday, May 29th, 2008Australian copywriting maestro Pete Godfrey is blogging up a storm this week. He has just posted an item titled “The Power Of A Provocative Question”.
Pete provides a great example of how to draw readers into your copy with this question…
“How Much Younger Do You Want To Look?”
And, of course, it can easily be adapted [...]
Copywriting Videos - More From John Carlton On Crafting A Great Sales Letter
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008“The Success Or Failure Of Every Sales Letter Or Advertisement Is Determined Before A Single Word of Copy Is Ever Written”
- Kevin Francis via Sun Tzu
I’m going to backtrack slightly with master copywriter John Carlton’s “Copywriting Checklist” series of videos. The last video I posted was #3 in the series but I discovered there is [...]
Marketers - Is This Apparently Attractive Tactic Costing You Dearly?
Monday, May 26th, 2008Copywriter Michel Fortin recently published a post titled “Customers Won’t Discount Your Dishonesty”. It’s about the marketing tactic of making an “Exit Offer” at a discounted price as a last ditch effort to squeeze some revenue from the traffic.
Now, there is a “wrong way” and a “right way” to make this kind of offer. Briefly, [...]
“Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century” - Part 2
Saturday, May 24th, 2008Welcome to Part 2 of this series “Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century”.
Hopkins begins the second chapter (”Just Salesmanship”) as follows…
“To properly understand advertising or to learn even its rudiments one must start with the right conception. Advertising is salesmanship. Its principles are the principles of salesmanship. Success and failures in both lines are due [...]
Copywriters - Are You Missing Out By Not Using This Unusual Tactic?
Friday, May 23rd, 2008Got your attention? Good, that kind of illustrates the topic of this post!
Copywriter Pete Godfrey, Australia’s own “Wizard Of Words” has made a couple of interesting posts on his blog ( “The Fear Of Loss Is More Powerful Than The Hope For Gain!” and “Persuasion Power…The Two-Sided Coin”) about the use of “negative” emotions [...]
Copywriting Video - Proving Credibility
Monday, May 19th, 2008Here’s another video from master copywriter John Carlton. It’s #3 in his “Copywriting Checklist” series titled “Proving Credibility”
The point about “Proving Credibility” comes about halfway through and it’s quite subtle. It’s not the usual material about credentials and testimonials. It’s about how to present proof points and other elements of your proposition. John talks about [...]
Marketing - Product Review - “The Secrets Of A 10% Conversion Rate”
Thursday, May 15th, 2008A while back I mentioned an interesting report called “The Secrets Of A 10% Conversion Rate” recommended by master copywriter Michel Fortin. I promised a review and (finally!) here it is.
This may sound arrogant of me, but sometimes when you get a new course or book it’s main value is confirming that you already knew [...]
“Scientific Advertising In The 21st Century” - Part 1
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008“Nobody should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book (Scientific Advertising) seven times. It changed the course of my life.”
– David Ogilvy
One of the foundation books in the canon of Direct Response Marketing and Copywriting literature is “Scientific Advertising” by Claude Hopkins (usually found twinned with his [...]
Attention Copywriters! Amazing FREE Headline Swipe File!
Monday, May 12th, 2008As far as I’m concerned, a copywriter can never have too many headline swipe files. It’s a bit like the old adage that you can never be too rich or too thin!
Why are headlines so important? Two reasons, in my opinion…
Firstly, as I’m sure I don’t need to repeat, the headline is what gets someone [...]