10 classic marketing books you should read.

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 4^th 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.

Why Businesses Fail and what to do about it.

Reg Gupton here.

Why businesses fail - and how to make sure yours succeeds

1. A closed mind

I know. You have been thinking about your business/product for years and years. You (might) have talked to friends, looked at the world and decided that you have it all figured out. Your product/service is the best. Period.

Your product solves a major problem. Your graphics are tops (at least your graphics designer tells you so).

You have fallen in love with your idea and you are going to hold on to it until you die or go bankrupt.

You should consider an Advisory Board to broaden your perspective and gain the help and advice of others. These Boards can be free, meet with you monthly.
They can be a Mastermind Group as described in the best selling classic Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

2. Sloppy or ineffective marketing

Or no marketing. Restaurants and retailers remodel a space, invest in equipment and inventory, and create a great menu. Then the doors are opened. Maybe a few folks show up for a few days.

I call it stumble in the door marketing. You take good to great care of the customers who make it in your door.

Then what? What do you do to get them coming back? Do you capture their contact information? Build a list to market to. A friend with a restaurant in Metro Denver build his list from 650 to 3,500 in a couple of years and his gross revenue from $650,000 to $1,8000,000 over the same time with a massive growth in profit. Just because he build a list and communicated with it regularly.

3. Ignoring the competition

You have identified a slight weakness in the biggest business in your niche. They have been around for 10 or 20 or 30 years. Whenever anyone mentions the product/service, they are who gets mentioned.

You think that because you have indentified a weakness, you can exploit it and exploit it you might.

However this competitor did not get big and last for decades by being stupid. They are likely doing many things correctly.

Make sure that the niche or weakness you have identified is cared about by the people in your market area.

4. Ignoring customer needs

You must listen to your customers. You must do exit surveys, you must do entrance surveys. Why do people use you and why do they quit?

What hours of operation do they need, what sizes, what colors, what days of the week do you need to be open?

5. Inadequate/incomplete business plan

Most business begin operation without a thorough business plan or one that focuses on the product and/or the numbers without adequate thought about how the product/service will be marketed, to whom and at what price.

There is little thought about the Three Ms of Marketing: Who is the Market, what Media will be used to reach them, to deliver what Message?

6. Poor location

Small business owners often believe that if you open your doors they will come.

If the only way into your store is a left turn without a traffic light on a busy street, you are doomed. If there is no or limited parking, you are doomed. If your business is not a destination experience and you are at the edge of a market area, you are out of business.

7. Poor execution/lack of discipline

Owning, starting, and running a small business requires consistent action and implementation of strategies, plans and tactics. For example, your store has to be open promptly at the time you say you are going to be open.

You have to create and follow systems and processes which will deliver a consistent result for your customers.
8. No viable market for your product

In Boulder, CO, where I live, I see engineers and technology people create products with no thought of who will buy them. They are products looking for a problem to solve.

No one cares. No market research has been done. No one had done any market testing to see if anyone is interested. And what price they will pay.

9. Inadequate accounting system/no management of cash flow

Recently I spoke with a local commercial banker working with small businesses about the proportion of people he speaks with who have “workable” accounting systems in place.

His opinion based on his experience: three out of ten. And those who use them monthly: one out of ten. This is a major indicator of impending failure.

10. Hiring incompetent employees and not training them

Many small businesses have an inadequate or non-existent system for hiring new employees. They are not consistent in the process used to hire their employees. Hiring someone who can fog a mirror is suicidal.

Further, people come to you to you so you can deliver a specific result, whether it is a cup of coffee, a tax return, or a properly repaired pair of shoes. Turning your business (and your success) over to poorly hired and inadequately trained high school students will take you to the poor house or bankruptcy or both.

I hope you will learn from this and not make these typical mistakes.

To your continued success,

Reg Gupton
www.businesssuccessvideos.com

What is the difference between Marketing and Advertising and why you should care.

Reg Gupton here: Understanding the difference between Marketing and Advertising is a distinction which will help you grow your business.

This is an important distinction which most business owners don't have a clue about. Having a business with open doors and believing print media advertising is all the marketing you need will not bring you success and might lead you and your family to bankruptcy or worse.

Read this and learn what to do differently.

Marketing vs Advertising | Business on Goldenacts

business.goldenacts.com12/16/11

Understanding what is the difference between marketing and advertising is very important for people in the fields of marketing, advertising and administration.

Note: Here is a classic video from David Ogilvy about direct marketing which is not advertising. Watch and learn from a master.

David Ogilvy: We Sell or Else

Renowned Advertising guru David Ogilvy gives a brief speech on the importance of direct marketing.

Note: What is your opinion or research on this topic. Post a comment below so we can all learn together.