No B.S. Direct Marketing: The Ultimate No Holds Barred Kick Butt Take No Prisoners Direct Marketing for Non-Direct Marketing Businesses by Dan S. Kennedy
Love the titles of these! And yes there’s entire series, so if you like one of them then you’re in luck.
Some of the stuff covering direct marketing does seem quite dated in this as it’s often about mail order catalogues rather than email, which would be more relevant these days.
However the lessons around writing are relevant across multiple channels and I must say I like this no B. S style of writing!
Here’s a few of my favourite pieces:
(all quotes directly from the book)
On big companies
“It’s also worth noting that, very often, the bigger a company grows, the dumber it gets. This is the result of having more and more people in it spending somebody’s money other than their own…”
On the agenda of big companies
“Big Company’s Agenda for Advertising and Marketing 1. Please/appease its board of directors (most of whom know zip about advertising and marketing but have lots of opinions) 2. Please/appease its stockholders 3. Look good, look appropriate to Wall Street 4. Look good, appropriate to the media 5. Build brand identity 6. Win awards for advertising 7. Sell something.”
On your agenda
“Your Agenda 1. Sell something. Now.”
On human behaviour
“Hesitation and procrastination are among the most common of all human behaviors.”
On creating action
“The most powerful urgency by exclusivity is having only one available.”
On imagining your customer
“My friend, top direct-response copywriter John Carlton, always advises imagining your prospective customer or client as a gigantic somnambulant sloth, spread out on the couch, loathe to move his sleeping bulk, phone just out of reach. Your offer must force and compel him to move now. Your goal is immediate response. A plain vanilla, dull, mundane offer won’t do it.”
On writing great copy
“Most great sales copy is written backwards, from the customer’s interests, desires, frustrations, fears, thoughts, feelings, and experiences, journeying to a revealing of a solution or fulfillment tied to your business.”
On writing styles
“…your best approach is to write like you talk, and like you and he would talk—and to infuse your writing with enthusiasm and with deeply emotional appeals.”
On buried treasure
“Develop a follow-up system, because the real treasure is buried there.”
Like the sound of these! Fab, cos there’s a WHOLE series to read – enjoy!
Here’s to the end of B. S
C x
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