Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xiii
Preface xv
Introduction xxiii
Chapter 1 Meet the Legends Who Created the Rules of Modern Promotions 1
The First Scientist of Advertising Claude Hopkins 2
The Philosopher Ad Man Robert Collier 4
The Maestro of Headlines John Caples 7
The Advertising Wizard David Ogilvy 9
The Breakthrough Advertiser Eugene Schwarrz 11
The Godfather of Copywriting Gary Halbert 15
Common Threads 19
Chapter 2 Creative Salesmanship-A Little Genius and a Lot of Sweat 21
Tricks of Showmanship 22
The Ideal Sales Letter (or Any Other Promotional Material) 27
The Rolls-Royce Effect 33
The Number-One Rule of Success 36
Selling Creatively 40
Chapter 3 The Psychology That Sells 43
If You're Going Fishing, You Need Bait 44
When It Comes to Every Kind of Marketing, Emotions Pay! 47
The Chimpanzee Brain 51
How to Sell with Emotion 57
Chapter 4 Secrets of Writing Great Copy-Part I 63
Hopkins' Laws for Writing Copy That Sells 64
More of Hopkins Laws for Writing Copy That Sells 69
The Six Essentials-Plus That Extra-Special Ingredient 72
Chapter 5 Secrets of Writing Great Copy-Part II 79
How to Increase the Selling Power of Anything You Write 79
How to Produce Advertising That Sells 86
More David Ogilvy Secrets: Necessary Expenses, Secret Weapons, and Killer Copy 92
Final Thoughts on Writing Great Copy 98
Chapter 6 Headlines: It's All About Getting Your Prospect's Attention 99
Be Shrewder Than Your Rivals 100
Understand the Real Purpose of Your Headline 101
Ogilvy Wisdom on Headlines 105
Caples: The Most Important Part of an Advertisement 109
Writing Headlines That Really Work 112
Headlines by Any Other Name 116
Headlines-Yesterday and Today 120
Chapter 7 How to Be Creative 121
Never Have Writer's Block Again 122
Gary Halbert's "Most Important Technique" for Writing Copy 128
The Key to Creativity Is Knowledge 134
Chapter 3 How to Boost Your Response to Every Ad 137
"Taking the Guess Out of Advertising" 138
Caples' 32 Ways to Get More Responses to Your Direct Mail Sales Pieces 144
How to Get More Response without Changing Your Copy 153
Always Work to Find a Better Way 159
Chapter 9 Test, Test, and Test Again 161
The Value of Testing 162
Getting It Down to a Science 165
18 Miracles of Research 169
Surprising Ways to Test Your Advertising 175
Some of My Own "Miracles of Research" 178
These Principles Work for Every Medium 181
Chapter 10 The Top Ten Lessons from the Legends 183
Lesson 1 Know Your Product 184
Lesson 2 Know Your Audience 186
Lesson 3 Get Started 188
Lesson 4 Make Sure You Get Every Part of the Package Right 189
Lesson 5 It's All About the Prospect 190
Lesson 6 Be Passionate about What You're Selling 192
Lesson 7 Showmanship Will Differentiate You 193
Lesson 8 Be Clear and Consistent 194
Lesson 9 "Advertising Opportunities Are Now Infinite" 197
Lesson 10 Testing Trumps All 198
About the Authors 201
Index 203
