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.

Three slide shows for you

Hi, Reg Gupton here.

You will find three slide shows uploaded to Slideshare.net for you today.

They cover, six profit starving myths about direct mail, ten characteristics of wildly successful people and your most favorite topic, How to easily write a Business Plan for next year and every year after. You know if you don't have a written business plan, you are leaving massive amounts of money on the table. Get the money for you and your family.

You can view them here: http://slidesha.re/profitbleslideshows

If you like one or more of these presentations, "like" them on Facebook, share on Twitter or just forward this email to your list in your contact manager.

Your friends will thank you.

All my best,

Reg Gupton

How to easily receive all the leads you can handle

Reg Gupton here.

I recently recorded a video which tells you have to earn more than $10 for each dollar you invest in your marketing system.

And increase sales, increase your profit, learn how to prospect and much more.

Watch it here.

It is only 8 minutes long and well worth your time.

Leave your comments either positive or negative below the video. I promise to respond.

Check it out.

Reg Gupton's Lead Generation Tip #1

Hi Folks,Reg Gupton here. I have recently spent some time thinking and talking with my clients about lead generation in personal sales businesses (mostly and not exclusively real estate agents). If you sell anything then at some level you are in the personal sales business.
I don't care if your business is making widgets, you have to sell them. I don't care if you are a retailer, you need leads (read customers) in the door. I don't care if you sell real estate, you need leads (who will buy sometime, if not now).
As a wise man (who I can not remember) said, your wealth is in your database. The larger your database (hopefully automated) the larger your income. Really.
BTW...one of the biggest mistakes I see while watching retailers come (and lots of them) go on the Downtown Boulder Mall is that folks stumble into their businesses and no attempt is made to capture their contact information whether they buy or not. More on this later.
As Gary Keller (founder of Keller Williams Realty) said: "Until you have too many leads you have no other job."
You don't need another (better) listing presentation, another buyer presentation, another class, another preview nor another tour of a neighborhood.
What you need is more leads. Period!!
Everyday you need to spend 80% of your time on generating leads (until you have too many). It must be on your schedule every day.
It should come before doing deals. It should come before selling your listings (if you have any). It is a part of your schedule that should never, never be eliminated. Moved yes, eliminated, NO.
My observation is that lead generation is the first thing to go in an agents schedule when one gets busy. Then the slump starts. The massive drop in income. The fear. The scarcity belief system. The hole to get out of.
Watch real soon for more tips on Lead Generation.

Reg Gupton

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Reg Gupton offers 5 easy steps to use Holiday Direct mail in your marketing plan

Hi, Reg Gupton here.

Now is the time to begin/start your direct mail marketing plan. If you are not convinced that direct mail, pays. We should talk. The average return on investment for target direct mail is over $14 of income for each one dollar invested. If you don't know how to use direct mail profitably, we should talk about that too.

I have seen it done poorly with all the money wasted.

Below are the dates of the major holidays in the US for 2011.

You can use your Expresscopy account profitably in 5 easy steps. Don't have a free Expresscopy account? Open your free acct here http://bit.ly/b48cnM You will also receive 20% off on your first order.

Here are the 5 steps.

1. Decide that you are going to send holiday cards as part of your direct marketing to your Sphere of Influence and Past Clients.

2. Select the holidays you are going to celebrate with cards to you list.

3. Mark your calendar a minimum of 10 days before the holiday date to send the cards.

4. For those days which you choose with no pre-designed cards, upload your own pictures and create a custom card.

4. Sit back and watch the money roll in.

Date-Holiday Number of cards

Expresscopy.com

Jan 17-Martin Luther King Day

Feb 14-Valentine's Day 8 cards

Feb 21-Presidents' Day

Mar 17-St Patrick’ day 5 cards

May 8 – Mother’s Day

May 30-Memorial Day 2 cards

Jul 4-Independence Day 10 cards

Sep 5-Labor Day

Oct 31-Halloween 20 cards

Nov 11-Veterans Day

Nov 24-Thanksgiving Day 29 cards

Dec 25-Christmas Day 104 cards

Sit down with your calendar and get started.

You will be glad you did.

To your continued success,

Reg Gupton

Reg Gupton's Top 10 Referral Business Builder Tips

It is an old saw that it is more expensive to acquire new customers than to work with established ones. This has certainly been my personal experience and the experience of others that I have consulted to and coached over the years.

Ignore these habits at your peril.

1. Be honest at all costs. No matter what.

2. Never pressure someone just to make a sale

3. See every customer as a friend not just as a sale or money.

4. Don't work with everyone that crosses your threshold. Be selective and work with those that you genuinely like.

5. Stay in touch after the transaction is over. If nothing else, be in touch with cards, letters and newsletters. In person or on the phone are the best.

6. Perform a written post-transaction quality survey. Then listen to what your clients say.

7. Follow the "Platinum Rule." Do unto others as they would have you do unto them.

8. Give small referral gifts to everyone that sends you a lead whether it becomes a sale or not.

9. Learn the biggest problem in your industry. Solve it for your customers.

10. If your industry offers advanced designations, earn them and display your credentials.

Reg Gupton's Top 10 Database purchasing tips

Reg Gupton here. Here are the Top 10 mistakes I see when watching people purchase an electronic database.

Follow these simple steps and you will make a better decision when buying database software.

1. Ask friends what they use and how they use the database software that they have.

Surely one of your friends uses relational databases. They will be able to tell you what works and what does not with the package that they use.

2. Do your own due diligence on the features that you need

After receiving suggestions on several packages from your friends, get on the web; use Google to search for the software

3. Purchase a Relational Database.

A Relational Database simply put is a lot of data like name, address, city, state, zip, phone number, e mail addresses etc that is searchable in too many different ways to list here.

The power comes in allowing you to find any single record (read person) or group of records (group of persons) quickly and communicate with them in numerous ways. For example you can search for past customers that live in Colorado Springs. This search might be helpful if you are going to be in the city and wish to visit your existing customers.

4. Hire a coach/consultant/trainer to teach you how to most effectively use the software you acquire.

Your time is too valuable to noodle around in a database program trying to figure out how to perform the basic tasks that you wish to accomplish. An hour or two of a skilled consultant for the software will save you tons of time and get you productive in hours not days.

5. Make sure that the program will allow you to setup and implement marketing campaigns to both individuals and groups.

Some programs will allow you to send communications (e-mails, postcards, and letters) to individuals but you need to send each one individually. The better programs allow you to send all the necessary letters (for example) with a single mouse click (or two).

The program that I use sorts through all the letter and/or emails that are to be sent off into the future and lets you know how many are scheduled to go out today.

This should be done in the main program without add-ons or additional pieces of software.

6. Think about the expenditure as an investment and not a cost.

Investing in database software and building the list of names is truly like buying a printer or other piece of software or a high-speed connection to the Internet.

You will be able to conduct business in ways you never imagined prior to owning and building your personal database.

7. Assure that you can send emails directly from the database software that you acquire.

Some database packages force you to use intermediary steps or use the e-mail client that came with the software. Many are not supported nor are they in the mainstream.

8. Make sure that the software will allow you to mail-merge a group of people receiving different letters or e-mails.

Mail merge allows the software to look up the name, address, etc and the letter or e-mail put the two together and send them. Other pieces of software force you to do this manually. Not a good use of your time.

9. Realize that in the beginning there is a huge investment of time entering the data from your paper system.

Be aware that it could take you only 60-120 seconds to enter each person's contact information. And also be aware that you will only have to do this one time. Ever. Then you can use your personalized database as a Rolodex, phone list, birthday card reminder system and to carry out marketing campaigns just to mention a few uses. Once the contact information is entered, it is there forever.

10. Realize that once the database is built, it's effective use will feed you, your family and your business forever.

After you enter all the people that you know in the world, you can begin to make them well crafted offers for your goods and services.

No more hand writing (unless you chose), no more looking through stacks of business cards for a number to call.

All you have to do is enter the name and up pops their contact information to use in a money producing way.

Top 10 reasons to use color postcards

Think about it: You spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on a nice newspaper/magazine ad and not hear from a soul. Why is that? One reason could be (and likely is) that they were not in the market for your service when you made your offer. Just as likely, they did not read the page that contained your ad. Think about it, if I don't look at the page that contains your ad, you just flushed your money.

Print media salespeople will tell you that it pays to advertise - that you must spend money to make money. They offer you significant discounts. And you buy. Focusing on the discount(s), not on the results.

What they don't tell you is that advertising does not equal marketing. There are many other ways to market your service.

There are 4 ways to touch a targeted audience. And targeting is what you should do.

Here are the 4 way:

1. Face-to-face

2. Phone

3. Direct mail

4. E-mail.

I've found a way around this dilemma by using color postcards. They have been an essential part of my marketing toolkit for years

Experts say that if a marketing effort is to be successful, it must be repeated. You will get results from your targeted postcards if you repeatedly send to the same audience. Not spread them around.

Continue advertising in the paper, but only if it has worked for you in the past. Measure your responses. If you are not getting the sales/calls that you want, stop.

1. Even for the smallest of businesses can afford postcard mailing.

If you have as few as 50 customers/prospects in a database you can afford to send a targeted color postcard.

2. You can make a sneak attack.

Your competition will know if you're advertising in the newspapers/magazines! It will take them longer to find out with direct mail postcards.

3. It's easy to track your results.

Your card can tell recipients to call for a free (value added) report. Further you can direct them to use a special code when they place an order on your web site.

4. Postcards are versatile.

In a single mailing, you can seek business from prospective customers, and solicit repeat business from existing customers.

5. Postcards can establish and support your brand.

When you use a systematic, direct mail postcard program, you and your business will become familiar to your target audience.

6. No more wasted marketing campaign money.

Send your proposed/test card to a small sample of your database. Measure the response. If you are pleased with the response, mail to the rest of the target audience. If not, change one thing and test again.

7. Postcards are read quickly.

You have only 6-8 seconds with the reader of your mail. That is enough with a postcard.

8. Postcards don't take up a lot of space.

If appropriate, they can be easily carried around until the time to redeem them for your great offer.

9. Postcards are easy and inexpensive.

Visit http://bit.ly/simplesolutions I am a partner with this great company and make a few cents when you purchase. You will find powerful new tools that make sending color cards inexpensive. Your investment will be from $ .48 to $ .60 cents per card including postage, addressed, printed (in four color) and laminated. Then delivered to the post office.

10. Postcards are fast and simple.

You can create/use a template so that the majority of the card stays the same (for great branding) and just change your offer/message.


Add color postcards to your marketing mix in your Business Plan for next year and every year in the future. Your business will thank you.

Reg Gupton's Top 10 database marketing tips

Steal these database marketing tips

1. Start small.

Don't wait until you have your database has been completely assembled. It will never be totally finished. You will be constantly adding, deleting and changing information in it. You will get measurable benefit by starting now.

2. Build your list every chance you get.

Whenever you get the name (and contact information) of someone that you can do business with or more importantly, who can send you business, put them in your database. You can never have too many names.

3. Send messages (letters, cards, e-mails, calendars and notepads) until they ask you to stop.

Remember you are sending information of value to your list. The operative concept is "of value" The value can be notices of new products or services, birthday cards, special pricing.

4. Mix message content.

Send special offers, community service announcements, holiday greetings, and other items of value to them.

5. Send a minimum of 24 times per year.

We each get thousands of solicited and unsolicited marketing messages every day. You need to cut thru the clutter to be noticed. You will be bored by the process of sending to them before they even see your messages. Don't give up. Keep touching your client/customer base.

6. Mix the media.

Send messages delivered thru different channels. As mentioned above, send letters, cards, and emails. Keep changing the method of contact until you discover what works the best and provides the greatest return on your investment.

7. Buy a relational database and take classes to learn how to use it.

It is critical that your software will allow you to do marketing campaigns to a specific part or combination of parts of your database. This means that you can attach a plan made up of the items mentioned above to an individual or group of individuals easily. Most software will not allow you to do this.

8. Focus on your existing and past customers.

It is much, much more expensive (as much as 5 times more) to do business with new prospects than with current customers (who know, like, and trust you). Go here first.

9. Make an appointment with yourself for a minimum of 1 hour per week to work on your database marketing program.

It is too easy to get caught up in the crush of your day to day activities and forget this critical program. Set an inviolate appointment on your calendar to work moving your database marketing program ahead. Don't allow anyone to get in that time block. No one.

10. Talk with your friends (or others) who are experts at database marketing.

Remember that you are an expert at what you do. It is unlikely that you are an expert at database marketing too. Find an adviser or consultant with years of experience in this rapidly evolving field.

Implementing these tips will move your business forward with a high ROI and provide you with more free time once it is up and running.

Are you enjoying these top 10 lists? Share them with your friends, family, and associates.

Are you making this marketing mistake?

Reg Gupton here again.

In 1967, I graduated with a Bachelors in Business Administration from Eastern Michigan University. Then in 1969 I got my MBA in marketing and quantitative methods. From that time on I have been a student of best marketing and sales practices.

Marketing Basics

The way that people and companies market has obviously evolved over the years, but there are some facets that remain the same and have for over 90 years..

Three things that I have seen work consistently throughout the years are as follows:

1. Building and nurturing a relationship with your clients and prospects creates an environment that is conducive to marketing and sales, which become more like suggestions and referrals.

2. Providing value above and beyond what is expected will help to nurture relationships and also help people to know, like, and trust you.

3. Putting systems or processes in place to handle tedious or menial marketing tasks makes accomplishing your goals and objectives seem much more simple or less monotonous.

Marketing continues to evolve in conjunction with the ways that people communicate with each other. As you can imagine it is tough to keep up with the changing trends, but you don’t have to be doing the latest greatest thing to be generating leads from your marketing.

No Need for New Tricks

Even in our fast paced world there are some tools that continue to produce great results even today. Of these tools, a personal favorite of mine is direct mail. Direct mail delivers a physical presence to the client/prospect and has numerous applications.

I would recommend that you use ExpressCopy for direct mail for several reasons:

There are many occasions that warrant sending out a touch to a client or prospect and ExpressCopy has hundreds and hundreds of pre-made postcard designs and layouts to make the process easier

You’ll find scheduling mailings a breeze, the time you will save is undeniable
ExpressCopy postcards are professional and protected by UV lamination, ensuring that they arrive looking like they are hot off the press

It’s a Win Win

If you sign up for ExpressCopy through me, I will make a little bit of money, but in return I would like to offer you something extra.

After you sign up for ExpressCopy through me I am thrilled to talk with you for a free 1/2 hour session (a $150 value) with me during which we can talk about to whom and with what frequency you should be sending direct mail.

Sending direct mail is not always obvious. Over my 30 years in the housing I have seen many, many agents waste their money by doing this wrong.

Until August 20th, ExpressCopy is running a summer special on their direct mail pieces. This means that you can save 4 cents per postcard, which will add up. If you were to schedule all of your holiday mailers now, by pre-purchasing and scheduling their send out date, then you could lock in the summer discounted rate. I called to check on this. It is true.

Even if you don’t get to lock in the summer special price, ExpressCopy still provides an excellent value and will always save you time.

To your continued success,

Reg Gupton

Only 83 days left for this opportunity

Hi, Reg A quick note to remind you that your buyers (both first time and repeat) only have 84 days to be under contract on their new home so they can take advantage of the Tax Credit.

Don't miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Not sure how to market to them? It's easy using expresscopy.

Just open a free acct by going here Yes, I am a partner with this fine company and make a little money when you send cards using their service. That being said, I would recommend them if I did not earn anything.

Here are several testimonials for you to check out. You can read about their excellent service, the new listings rec'd, the money made and the cost savings over previous ways of doing the same job.

This is a great way to easily send laminated regular sized 4-color postcards to your target audiences for 56 cents including postage. That is right. They print the card in beautiful 4-color, laminate, address and deliver it to the USPS for 56 cents or less. You also save 20% on your first order.

After you view the page and before you set up your account, call 1.800.260.5887, then ext. 3219 for a lesson on how to send cards with very little effort.

All you need is the desire to make some money, a digital list and the money to invest in this program. You can reach 100 people from your database for $56. I can not imagine that you won't find someone from your list who either knows someone or wants to take advantage of the Tax Credit. Can you?

I checked the available cards and found that there are 13 pre-designed regular size (4.25 by 5.6) and 11 jumbo size ( 5.5 by 8.5) cards. Jumbo cards cost a little more.

Your Sphere of Influence and Past Clients and you need to move fast. Under contract by April 30 and close by July 1, 2010.

Take advantage of this opportunity to easily and professionally communicate with your SOI and Past Clients. They will thank you for it.

Not sure how to do this, feel free to call me for free 1/2 conversation on what I have learned about using expresscopy to make sales to your SOI and Past Clients.

Reg Gupton offers a way to build Top of Mind Awareness.

Reg,

I just wanted to share with you my thoughts on the 8x8 system you encouraged me to set up. Prior to the 8 x 8 when I'd meet a new person or potential client I had no consistent way of reinforcing who I am and what I do with them. It was hit or miss. If we were looking at property then we'd speak often and they'd get lots of email but if it was someone I met say, at an event, I might remember to send them a letter or two and then they'd get lost in my database.

My experience shows the 8x8 lends continuity. Each week I send out an informative brochure on some home ownership issue like carbon monoxide, asbestos, or how to reduce humidity in your home. I've received phone calls from recipients saying they like what I'm sending and find it helpful and informative. People who have gone through my 8x8 and are now on the 33 Touch program have come up to me in the grocery store or the mall to thank me for being different than the other agents out there.

I can't buy that kind of favorable opinion with anything else I've tried. Thanks for pushing me to "just do it".

Best regards,

Debra Berman
Accredited Buyer's Representative (ABR)
Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES)
Sales Representative
Royal LePage Partners Realty, Brokerage
169 Willowdale Avenue
Toronto, ON M2N 4Y7
T: 416-229-4454
C: 416-803-8712
deb@debworksforyou.com
www.debworksforyou.com

Reg Gupton wants to know: do you want top of mind awareness with your prospects?

Hi Folks,

Rec'd this the other day from a client. Thought you might find it interesting.

All my best,

Reg Gupton

I just wanted to share with you my thoughts on the 8x8 system you encouraged me to set up. Prior to the 8 x 8 when I'd meet a new person or potential client I had no consistent way of reinforcing who I am and what I do with them. It was hit or miss. If we were looking at property then we'd speak often and they'd get lots of email but if it was someone I met say, at an event, I might remember to send them a letter or two and then they'd get lost in my database.

My experience shows the 8x8 lends continuity. Each week I send out an informative brochure on some home ownership issue like carbon monoxide, asbestos, or how to reduce humidity in your home. I've received phone calls from recipients saying they like what I'm sending and find it helpful and informative. People who have gone through my 8x8 and are now on the 33 Touch program have come up to me in the grocery store or the mall to thank me for being different than the other agents out there.

I can't buy that kind of favorable opinion with anything else I've tried. Thanks for pushing me to "just do it".

Best regards,

Debra Berman
Accredited Buyer's Representative (ABR)
Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES)
Sales Representative
Royal LePage Partners Realty, Brokerage
169 Willowdale Avenue
Toronto, ON M2N 4Y7
T: 416-229-4454
C: 416-803-8712
deb@debworksforyou.com
www.debworksforyou.com