{"id":21686,"date":"2011-06-15T11:04:42","date_gmt":"2011-06-15T15:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/fx\/?p=21686"},"modified":"2011-06-15T11:04:42","modified_gmt":"2011-06-15T15:04:42","slug":"a-highly-profitable-laughably-simple-lesson-from-the-great-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2011\/06\/15\/a-highly-profitable-laughably-simple-lesson-from-the-great-depression\/","title":{"rendered":"A Highly Profitable, Laughably Simple Lesson From the Great Depression"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Early To Rise<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I have a daughter in Montclair, New Jersey \u2013 hometown of the inimitable Yogi Berra.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, I have made a bit of a study of his remarks. And one of my favorites is, \u201cYou can observe a lot just by looking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Well, one thing I have observed a lot is the disinclination of most  marketers to look at the past \u2013 and see what they can learn from it.  They just don\u2019t study enough.<\/p>\n<p>Coincidentally, a client recently asked if I had any good examples of marketing during shaky economic times.<\/p>\n<p>I was stumped for a moment, because wise marketers do the same things in any economy:<\/p>\n<p>They avoid trying to be \u201ccreative\u201d like the plague; don\u2019t settle for  the first idea they come up with; test everything \u2013 and, for God\u2019s sake,  do everything they possibly can to <em>get that response<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>That last point is so important. And so often ignored. When I look at  marketing copy \u2013 which I do every day \u2013 I am struck by how weak the  calls to action are, especially when I consider how much difference even  tiny changes can make. For instance:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When I worked briefly with the astonishing Gene Schwartz, I learned  that writing \u201ctear out this coupon\u201d instead of \u201ccut out this coupon\u201d  made a significant difference in response rates.<\/li>\n<li>When I got into catalogue marketing, I discovered that if you put ordering details on every page, sales went up.<\/li>\n<li>When I wrote my first insurance mailings, tests showed that doubling the size of the order form boosted sales 25%.<\/li>\n<li>And one of the first things I learned about TV direct response was  that the longer the phone number is on the screen, the higher the  response.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I just looked in my files and found the following \u2013 the end of a leaflet. It dates back to the Great Depression of the 1930s.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/earlytorise.net\/emails\/images\/yellow-paper.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"247\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Now that final paragraph really is a call to action. You can tell that whoever wrote it <em>really <\/em>wanted people to reply:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet nothing, absolutely nothing, interfere with immediate action,\u201d  he wrote. \u201cA change for the better justifies no delay. Don\u2019t watch  others make money which you can make. Be up and doing now. Some other  time may be too late. Place your order and application this very minute.  Take the action now that means more money next week, independence next  year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The business promoted by that leaflet was successful for many years.  And if you read the copy, you can see that it is in a field that\u2019s very  popular now on the Internet \u2013 making money by selling stuff.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>**** Advertisement ****<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do You Make the 4 Middle-Class Mistakes?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A wealthy Florida businessman (worth millions) says middle class  Americans almost always follow the conventional wisdom\u2026 and as a result,  make 4 huge mistakes when it comes to investing.<\/p>\n<p>I can almost guarantee you\u2019ve never heard <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stansberryresearch.com\/pro\/1104PBLWAGVD\/MPBLM604\/PR\" target=\"_blank\">these ideas<\/a><\/strong> before-but a few simple changes could make you a lot of money over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>How to Go for the Sale<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is easy to forget that your advertising merely acts as a  substitute for a live salesperson. If you could afford it, you would  send the finest salesperson you have to do the job for you. So when you  look at your marketing copy, you must constantly ask yourself, \u201cIs this  how a great salesperson would do it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you want to make a sale, you must:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Remind people what they get when you ask for the order.<\/li>\n<li>Put a value on what they get. (\u201cYou could pay more for a lunch for two.\u201d)<\/li>\n<li>Remind them what they will <em>miss<\/em> if they don\u2019t respond to your offer.<\/li>\n<li>Emphasize the deadline or the limited numbers. (I\u2019ve seen that boost response by 50%.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here are some of the ways I like to end my sales copy:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cWhy not make this the very next thing you do?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWhy not reply the minute you finish reading this?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cIt\u2019s so easy to put things off, isn\u2019t it? Why not reply now?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWhy not order now, while this is fresh in your mind?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I always try to ask for the sale at least three times at the end. And  if I\u2019m working with long copy, I ask early on too. (That gets people  who are keen to buy right away.) And then I keep asking at intervals.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How Many Ways Can You Sell People on Responding?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Now, here is an instructive little exercise for you. Read through the  last paragraph of copy in the leaflet example I gave above. Here it is  again:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cLet nothing, absolutely nothing, interfere with immediate  action. A change for the better justifies no delay. Don\u2019t watch others  make money which you can make. Be up and doing now. Some other time may  be too late. Place your order and application this very minute. Take the  action now that means more money next week, independence next year.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Now count the number of reasons it gives for acting.<\/p>\n<p>I got <em>eight<\/em>. Did you?<\/p>\n<p>That gives you some idea how hard you have to fight for business in  tough times. (Remember, that leaflet was written during the Great  Depression.)<\/p>\n<p>The moment of truth comes when you ask for the order.<\/p>\n<p>Believe me, few things cost less or make more difference than doing that as though your life depends on it \u2013 because it may.<\/p>\n<p>[<strong>Ed. Note<\/strong>: Veteran copywriter and direct-marketing  strategist Drayton Bird has worked with American Express, Ford,  Microsoft, Visa, Procter &amp; Gamble, and scores of other clients  during his five-decade career, which included a stint as international  vice-chairman and creative director of Ogilvy &amp; Mather. In 2003, he  was named by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 living  individuals who have shaped today&#8217;s marketing.<\/p>\n<p>Ready for more marketing insights from Drayton Bird? For 101 ideas,  free case studies, and articles on topics like the one you just read &#8211;  and a 28-day free trial of <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.draytonbirdcommonsense.com\/introducing-cmm-free-trial?a=422\" target=\"_blank\">Drayton&#8217;s Commonsense Marketing Series<\/a><\/strong>, go here.]<\/p>\n<p>This article appears courtesy of <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.earlytorise.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Early To Rise<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, a free newsletter dedicated to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.earlytorise.com\/issue-archive\/\" target=\"_blank\">creating wealth<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.earlytorise.com\/issue-archive\/\" target=\"_blank\">success<\/a> through inspiration and practical, proven advice. For a complimentary subscription, visit http:\/\/www.earlytorise.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, one thing I have observed a lot is the disinclination of most marketers to look at the past \u2013 and see what they can learn from it. They just don\u2019t study enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}