10 classic marketing books you should read.
Reg Gupton, here.
While these books are mostly about advertising and direct response writing, they should be in every business person's library and read often. Many times. Add them to your reading library today.
1)
How to Write a Good
Advertisement by Victor Schwab (Wilshire Book
Company, 1962). A common-sense course in how to write advertising copy that
gets people to buy your product or service, written by a plain-speaking veteran mail order copywriter in 1960.
Best part: 100 "archetypal" headlines that people are
still using in various forms
today to create new controls (e.g., "When Doctors Feel Rotten, This is
What They Do").
Availability: Still in print (Wilshire Publishing) and available on
amazon.com.
2) My First 50 Years in Advertising by
Max Sackheim (Prentice-Hall, 1970). Another plain-speaking, common-sense guide that stresses salesmanship over
creativity, and results over awards. The author was one of the originators of
the Book of the Month Club.
Best part: The
oversize format allows full-size reproductions (large enough for the copy to be
legible) of many classic direct response ads (e.g., "They Thought I Was
Crazy to Ship Live Maine Lobsters as Far as 1,800 Miles from the Ocean").
Availability: Out of print and difficult to find.
3) The
Robert Collier Letter Book by Robert Collier. While Schwab and Sackheim
concentrate on space ads. Collier focuses on the art of writing sales letters,
of which he is a master. You learn how to write persuasive sales letters in a
friendly, natural, conversational style.
Best part: While
some of the letters may seem old-fashioned and dated. Collier's timeless
principles still apply.
Availability: Comes In and out of print. Somewhat difficult to get.
4) Reality in Advertising by Rosser
Reeves (Alfred A. Knopf, 1961). The book in which Reeves introduced the
now-famous concept of USP (the
Unique Selling Proposition).
Best part: The idea that every successful ad must (a) offer a benefit,
(b) the benefit must differentiate your product from the competition, and (c)
the benefit must be big enough to motivate buyers to purchase your product
instead of others.
Availability:
On Amazon.com
5) Breakthrough
Advertising by Eugene Schwartz. A copywriting guide by one of the
greatest direct-response copywriters of the 20th century.
Best part: The notion that advertising does not create desires; rather,
it focuses already existing desires onto your product.
Availability;
Available from Amazon.com.
6) Tested
Advertising Methods, Fourth Edition by John Caples. A classic book on
the principles of persuasion as proven
through A/B split tests.
Best part: The A/B
split headline tests with the results (e.g., for an air conditioner, "How
to have a cool, quiet bedroom – even on hot nights" pulled 2 times the
response of "Get rid of that humidity with a new room cooler that also
dries the air").
Availability: In print. Available in bookstores and online. Make sure you get the 4th
edition
7) Confessions
of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy Charming
autobiography of legendary ad man David Ogilvy, packed with useful advice on
how to create effective advertising.
Best part:
Chapter 6 on "How to Write Potent Copy."
Availability:
Amazon.com.
8) Scientific
Advertising by Claude Hopkins (Bell Publishing, 1920). A book on the
philosophy that advertising's purpose is
to sell, not entertain or win creative awards - and how to apply this
philosophy to create winning ads.
Best part: His
observation that "specifics sell; superlatives roll off the human understanding like water off a duck's
back."
Availability: Since
the copyright has expired, this book is now in the public domain and is
available as a free downloadable e-book on several Web sites. You can also buy it
as a paperback on amazon.com.
9) Method
Marketing by Denny Hatch (Bonus Books, 1999). A book on how to write
successful direct response copy by putting yourself
In the customer's shoes. Packed with case histories of modern direct response success stories,
including Bill Bonner of Agora Publishing, and Martin Edelston of Boardroom.
Best part: The introduction of the concept of method marketing,
which states: "You cannot write copy without getting inside the head of the
person to whom you are communicating and becoming that person."
Availability: In print and available on amazon.com
10) Advertising
Secrets of the Written Word by Joseph Sugarman (DelStar, 1998). How to
write successful advertising copy by a modern master of the space ad.
Best part: The 24 psychological triggers that get people to buy.
Availability: In print and available on amazon.com.
