One of my most popular posts of 2005 was "What's a Good Marketing MBA Dissertation Topic?" in which I extolled the virtues of learning to write great copy. It was a useful post, I guess, but let's face it: I am to professional copywriting what Dennis Miller was to Monday Night Football. I understand copywriting and can provide color commentary about it, but I've never actually played the game.
Marketing Tip: Learn the Fundamentals
If you're just tuning in, you might well ask "Why is it so important to know how to write great copy?" The answer is simple: Nothing forces a marketer to know her product and buyers so well as writing a sales letter with an arc to it -- a beginning, middle, and end -- constructed in the problem, agitate, solve format. The goal is to tell a ripping yarn which makes your reader Roy Rogers (the hero) and your product Trigger (his trusty steed). When you can do this, then you know how to put your fingers on the laces of the proverbial marketing ball.
It ain't easy. In fact, an increasing number of marketers today are simply relying on shock value to sell their products. I'm not moralizing on this point. Long term brand equity and pricing power are seldom built by pissing people off.
But there's more to it than that: For marketers who don't understand the basics of persuasion, shock value can become a crutch. Having few techniques at an artist's command limits the artist's ability to create -- and to break new ground. Such hard-earned versatility explains why Jerry Seinfeld is in reruns and Andrew Dice Clay can't get arrested. Or why Diego Velázquez's or the Beatles' work is more enduring than Andy Warhol's or the Sex Pistols'. Timeless marketing requires no less a degree of artistry, for there's no such thing as ground-breaking banality.
Bly Leads the Blind
As it pertains to copywriting, my blog has been a case of the blind-leading-the-blind. My readers have had to grope along with the copywriting tips and book recommendations of a marketing headhunter. But today I found two resources from Bob Bly that will enlighten marketers of all stripes.
Mr. Bly is an award-winning copywriter and the author of more than 50 books, including his priceless primer on Business to Business Direct Marketing. The guy's a genius, and for the benefit of marketers everywhere he has posted a Word file called 10 Marketing Books Actually Worth Reading. Some of the books are out of print, but they're worth tracking down on eBay.
Additionally, Mr. Bly has posted a 47-page report called How to Double Your Response Rates at Half the Cost. The report, usually costing $29, is a compendium of Mr. Bly's best columns from DM News. If you love marketing as much as I do, you'll appreciate this resource and want to share it with your fellow marketers.
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Q: Need the number of a recruiter who "gets it?"
A: Download Harry's contact info for future reference.
