Some of Dobkin's best articles on marketing, direct marketing and humor are found in this new compilation. Written in Jeff Dobkin's own breezy conversational and grammatically-challenged style of writing.
Table of Contents
The 23 Best Lines In Marketing Page 11
Using Incentives to Increase Sales Page 19
Big Discounts and Better Direct Response in… Newspaper Ads Page 27
29 Points to Creating an Effective Press Release Page 39
Determining Market Size Page 47
The Simple Objective of a Marketing Campaign Page 52
The 2 Minute Interview Page 59
14 More Questions In Marketing p66
Finding Markets for Your Books Through Magazines p72
Pre- and Post-Tradeshow Mailers p80
How To Figure Out If Your Mailing Will Make Money BEFORE Mailing it p85
Marketing with Post Cards p91
10 More Tips on Creating Effective Post Cards p100
Bringing Traffic in your Front Door p104
Bringing Traffic in your Front Door Part II p109
11 Best Marketing Practices for Retailers p113
7 Lessons in Successful Advertising p118
Free Catalogs of Mailing Lists p125
Promotional Marketing p130
Getting Customers Through Direct Marketing p146
Thinking about going on-line? Insurance. And Mailing Lists p160
Shopping for a List On-Line? p172
Making the Telephone Work for You p179
Creating an Effective Customer Service Plan p189
Building Loyalty and Customer Retention for Under a Dollar p198
The Strategic Use of Letters p203
The Most Effective Single Sheet of Paper in All Of Marketing Is... p207
A Technique For Delaying Brain Death in Heart Attack Victims p212
Excerpt
Disclaimer: While due care has been taken in the printing of this book, we are not responsible for typographical errors, misspellings, errors in addition, subtraction, multiplication and especially division; names, pricing, locations and so forth which may have occurred, because sometimes this stuff just gets out. Sometimes we misspell words on purpose to see if you’d notice. Or so that picky people have something to complain about. There, see how nice we are? And maybe the names have been changed to protect the innocent? While we’d like to accept responsibility, we don’t. In fact, we are not responsible for anything. Please buy this book as we may need someone to blame. We can then point to you and say - you read it last and it was your responsibility. We didn’t say it was actually your fault, we just said we were going to blame you. Thanks.
The opinions in this text are not necessarily those of the publisher. Or the author. We’re not really sure whose they are. Please see our full disclaimer on page 222 or 233 or somewhere around there in the back of the book. Thank you.
Chapter One:
The 23 Best Lines In Marketing
Like old friends, these lines are of great value to have at your side. This reoccurring arsenal of words is a center point in almost all of my campaigns.
In Direct Mail:
“Gift Certificate Enclosed”
The best envelope teaser copy ever. How many times have I said this? Whew. My very favorite line for getting my clients’ direct mail packages opened. The reasons?
• Gift certificates are inexpensive to print, at 1/3rd or 1/4 of a sheet of paper - or less.
• May be printed on the same sheet as the letter, catalog or the order form - for extra savings in printing costs.
• Ship flat, and adds very little weight to your mailing package.
• They’re much more upscale than coupons.
• Gift certificates have a high perceived value.
• Cheap to redeem - in fact, have no cost at all until redemption.
• May be targeted to specific merchandise or offers - good for overstock or high margin items.
• Naturally easy to track.
Any arguments?
“Free Offer Inside…”
Works almost as well. When a gift certificate just won’t suffice in a business-to-business mailing, this is usually my next choice. And more often than not, the other writing on the envelope is:
Bring the ZING into your marketing and advertising. Be More Successful is a perfect guide for new, aspiring, and established authors. Start using the tips before you finish reading--writing wisdom from Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author
Bring the ZING into your marketing and advertising. Be More Successful is a perfect guide for new, aspiring, and established authors. Start using the tips before you finish reading--writing wisdom from Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author
Bring the ZING into your marketing and advertising. Be More Successful is a perfect guide for new, aspiring, and established authors. Start using the tips before you finish reading--writing wisdom from Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author
