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I’m still working on my next article I’m calling The 10 Backend Offers Any Business Can Make.
So while I finish that up, I thought I’d share an awesome quote from Brian Tracy that can help you as you think of the best backend offers to make to your customers…
If you’d like to use this quote, you can copy it below…
“Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her to solve a problem or achieve a goal, not of selling a product or service.”
– Brian Tracy
I am currently working on my next article that will reveal some of the key elements your content or copy must have if you want it to be effective.
In the meantime, here are four quotes from content marketing experts and copywriting legends that will inspire you to master the 7th marketing fundamental (aka the words you use)…
“Content is anything that adds value to the reader’s life.”
– Avinash Kaushik
“Great content is the best sales tool in the world.”
-Marcus Sheridan
“Copy is not written. Copy is assembled.”
– Eugene Schwartz
“The secret of all effective advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.”
–Leo Burnett
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If you would like to learn more about any of the above fundamentals, then click here to choose any articles you’d like to read. (There are now 34 articles you can read in this series.)
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I love this quote. It captures an awesome perspective that ties in well with your Who...
If you’d like to use this quote, you can copy it below…
“Authentic marketing is not the art of selling what you make but knowing what to make. It is the art of identifying and understanding customer needs and creating solutions that deliver satisfaction to the customers, profits to the producers and benefits for the stakeholders.”
Philip Kotler
Eric Bower: How to Make Lead Generation a Positive Experience (Marketing Quotes)
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I worked late last night trying to get the article I planned for you on lead ready for today.
But I realized that if I want the article to really be great, I’m going to need some more time.
So instead, I want to share with you a quote about lead generation that will begin to get you to think about it beyond the basic understanding.
This quote also reveals a paradigm that I want you to have when you end up reading my next article.
It’s a quote from Eric Bower…
“Making your prospects feel like they have an exclusive membership in a club makes lead generation a positive customer experience.”
– Eric Bower, Marketbright
Stay tuned for my next article and you’ll see how this quote can be applied to your own lead generation.
I used to love going to get my picture taken with Santa when I was a little kid.
But have you ever wondered how the tradition of kids getting pictures with Santa got started? Or have you ever wondered who was the first person to do this?
Well, you’re about to find out.
James Edgar was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1843.
He arrived in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1878 and opened up a dry goods store there on Main Street.
He would have lived a life of obscurity except for one thing: an idea he had one Christmas in 1890.
You see, he wanted to bring in more business during the Christmas season and so he came up with the idea to dress up as Santa Claus in his store.
#/media/File:James_Edgar_clown.jpg "This is the Very First Business Owner to Dress Up as Santa 20")
The crowds that showed up surprised Edgar. Within days, children began flocking to his store.
In fact, the news spread so far that kids began to show up from as far as Boston and Providence.
He discovered that they had come by train just to see Santa.
Because of this, Edgar is credited as the first business owner to dress up as Santa.
And malls and department stores around the U.S. carried on this tradition ever since.
The brilliant thing about Edgar’s idea was that he tapped into the conversation that was already going on in many of his prospect’s and customer’s minds (conversations about Christmas and Santa) and figured out a way to enter that conversation.
Robert Collier famously said it this….
“You want to enter a conversation that’s already existing in your prospect’s minds.”
-Robert Collier
With so much going on nowadays and so many distractions, any way you can break through the static is a HUGE benefit for you.
Doing this is like giving you, your product, or service a little “hook” to hang on in someone’s mind.
It’s the power of association.
It’s time for you to associate your business with what is already on the minds of your prospects and customers. The question is: How will you do that?
(Example: I am doing that with this article.)
One last thing…
Not only was Edgar a smart businessperson, but he also was extremely generous.
According to Elaine Allegrini...
“Edgar shared his good fortune, paying for children’s medical care, offering jobs to youths in need. and passing out pennies to children who came to his store.”
Isn’t that awesome?
Maybe he was the real Santa in disguise as a store owner? 🙂
Source: James Edgar (wikipedia) | Enterprisenews.com | Photo by Rochelle, just rochelle
I heard a story that said that many years ago the Salvation Army was holding an international convention and they had a problem.
Their founder, General William Booth, couldn’t attend because of physical weakness.
Unlike the technology we have available to us today, he couldn’t just call in or “be there” virtually during the conference via Zoom to present his message to the attendees.
Instead, he cabled his convention message to them.
And what was the message he sent them?
It was just one word: “OTHERS.”
In just a minute, I’ll explain what this has to do with advertising during difficult times like the kind that the Coronavirus has brought us.
But first, let me remind you of what I shared in my last article on this same topic.
In my last article, How to Advertise During Difficult Times: Powerful Advice from a Classic Advertising Book, I told you that the best way to know how to advertise during this time is to look at what others have done during similar times.
I then shared some advice from a book that has sold over 8 million copies and that marketing greats have recommended: Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins.
Well, today I have some more advice on how to advertise during a recession like we’re in right now.
And that advice comes again from the same book and the same author.
Remember what I said in my last article about this book.
In it, Claude Hopkins shared fundamental advertising lessons that he had seen work inside and outside all of those many years of recessions and economic downturns.
With that in mind, listen to the next important piece of advice he gives…
“Don’t try to be amusing. Money spending is a serious matter. Don’t boast, for all people resent it. Don’t try to show off. Do just what you think a good salesman should do with a half-sold person before him.
“Some advertising men go out in person and sell to people before they plan or write an ad. One of the ablest of them has spent weeks on one article, selling from house to house. In this way, they learn the reactions from different forms of argument and approach.
“They learn what possible buyers want and the factors which don’t appeal. It is quite customary to interview hundreds of possible customers.
“Others send out questionnaires to learn the attitude of buyers. In some way, all must learn how to strike responsive chords. Guesswork is very expensive.
“The maker of an advertised article knows the manufacturing side and probably the dealer’s side. But this very knowledge often leads him astray in respect to consumers. His interests are not their interests.
“The advertising man studies the consumer. He tries to place himself in the position of the buyer. His success largely depends on doing that to the exclusion of everything else.“
– Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
Do you see the now see why I said General Booth’s message contained an advertising lesson? Let me explain…
You see, the common mistake most businesses make during or after a recession is that they study and focus mainly on their product.
As Hopkins said, this kind of thinking will only lead you astray from influencing your prospect or customer.
(*You might be able to occasionally get away with that outside of a recession, but not when we’re in one and people are holding on more tightly to their money.)
That’s where General Booth’s message and Claude Hopkins message line up.
The way to advertise more effectively during a recession is by focusing more on others.
This is where effective advertising in (or outside of) a recession begins. Honestly, it’s where it ends too.
As Hopkins said, “Your success depends on it.”
When you become a member of my DRCM Member’s Resource Area, you’ll have access to a free PDF copy of Claude Hopkin’s book Scientific Advertising.
You’ll not only get access to that book, but you’ll also get access to other books, resources, and rewards such as:
NOTE: All of this content will not available to the public! You can see the current resources in our member’s area here.
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After my post yesterday, about the best Super Bowl commercials (based on ROI, II thought that these quotes that I came across from David Ogilvy were really interesting…
“A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing
attention to itself.”“If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”
– David Ogilvy
After reading and thinking about these quotes, I’d encourage you to ask yourself these questions:
I love this quote from Jim Rohn because it applies to life as much as it does to marketing…
“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.”
Jim Rohn
If your marketing results are stuck, or you are looking for breakthroughs, then I want to encourage you to go back to the fundamentals.
Begin to ask yourself this question…
Which of the marketing fundamentals have I forgotten or been overlooking?
I’m sure that if you really ask yourself this question, and really apply the answer you come up with, you will see new and better results with your marketing,
I love this marketing quote from the old school marketer, Howard Gossage.
Why? Because it reveals an interesting clue about how to create more powerful marketing.
“I don’t know how to speak to everybody, only to somebody.”
– Howard Gossage
The problem with most marketing is that it has been created with a group of people in mind, instead of a specific person in mind.
And when you create marketing targeting everyone, you won’t be able to influence anyone.
I want you to think about this quote when you’re creating your next piece of marketing. And I want you to answer this question:
– Who is the somebody that I’m trying to influence?
This marketing quote from Seth Godin is great because it reveals the common mistake that many marketers make…
“Don’t find customers for your product. Find products for your customers.”
– Seth Godin
After thinking about the above quote for a while, really ask yourself these five questions:
– Who are the customers I am focusing on?
– What do they need?
– What do they want?
– What solutions are they looking for?
– How can I provide them with any (or all) of these things?
I really love this quote from Dave Kerpen because it reveals the often-overlooked influence that every one of your customers has…
Dave Kerpen is a New York Times best-selling author, serial entrepreneur, and global keynote speaker. (See more at
https://davekerpen.com/)
If you’d like to copy and paste this quote, then here you go…
“It’s important to think of every customer as an online celebrity with followers, friends, and above all, influence.” – Dave Kerpen
After thinking about the above quote for a while, really ask yourself these two questions:
I love this quote from Bill Bernbach because it counteracts the myth in the mind of the public (and in some ignorant marketers’ minds) that advertising is based on deception and manipulation.
Effective marketing is NOT based on lies and deceit. Listen to how Bill says it…
William “Bill” Bernbach was an American advertising creative director. He was one of the three founders in 1949 of the international advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach.
If you’d like to copy and paste this quote, then here you go…
““The most powerful element in advertising is the truth.”
– Bill Bernbach
After thinking about the above quote for a while, take a look at your content marketing or direct response marketing and then really ask yourself:
What is the most powerful truth I can reveal in the copy or content I am creating? How I can I show our prospects or customers why this truth is so important in their lives?
I love this quote from Peter Nivio Zarlenga because I think it’s a great reminder for marketers of all kinds about the most important question in marketing.
When we answer this question, our marketing is effective and impacts people.
When we fail to answer this question, our marketing is ineffective and misses the mark.
If you’d like to copy and paste this quote, then here you go…
“In our factory, we make lipstick. In our advertising, we sell hope.”
– Peter Nivio Zarlenga
After thinking about the above quote for a while, take a look at your content marketing or direct response marketing and then really ask yourself:
Is our marketing focused more on what we make or what our market needs, desires, and craves?
Now that I am getting settled in at my new job, in our new state (See I’m Back! The ‘Natural Marketing Forces’ That Caused Us to Buy Our House), I’ll be posting up videos on our brand new YouTube Channel.
Until that time, you can catch up on the first 12 videos that I have up there already. When you do, you’ll learn why I say, “Without attention, there is no marketing.”
Go here to subscribe and watch the videos now!
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I really love the perspective that Craig Davis shares in this marketing quote…
If you’d like to copy and paste this quote, then here you go…
” We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.”
– Craig Davis, former chief creative officer at J Walter Thompson
If you want to figure out how to create content and copy that people are interested in, then I’d encourage you to do two things:
I don’t know if you’ve realized this or not, but if you want your company, product, or service to be remembered, it all starts with attention.
You will need more than attention to continue to be remembered for an extended period of time. But you will never be remembered if people don’t pay attention to you or your marketing in the first place.
I will be talking more about the importance of attention, memory, etc. in future posts.
But for today, I want you to really think about this famous quote from Samuel Johnson about the true art of memory…
If you’d like to copy and paste this quote, then here you go…
“The true art of memory is the art of attention.”
Samuel Johnson
I’ve been thinking more and more about the fact: being successful today is all about being paid attention to and being memorable.
With that in mind, I want you to ask yourself these questions:
I love this quote from management guru, Peter Drucker, below.
It reminds me a lot of what I just talked about in our member’s only email newsletters “Synergy” that I sent out this morning.
It also goes really well with the ideas I shared in my article The Secret to Getting People to Buy (Buried in a Book Written by an Advertising Legend in 1927).
After writing about a similar idea in the above-mentioned post, writing that article in “Synergy,” and thinking about this quote, I’ve come to believe this more than ever before…
The marketers and companies who know and understand their customers the best will be able to create to most powerful and effective marketing and have the greatest success in their markets.
If you’d like to copy and paste this quote, then here you go…
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”
– Peter Drucker
After thinking about the above quote for a while, take a look at your content marketing or direct response marketing and then really ask yourself:
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Leo Burnett (October 21, 1891 – June 7, 1971) was an American advertising executive and the founder of Leo Burnett Company, Inc.
He is responsible for creating some of advertising’s most well-known characters and campaigns in the 20th century.
Here is a list of some of the characters and campaigns that he was responsible for:
Source: Wikipedia
He said something really interesting about what he considered the danger of advertising that I wanted you to see…
(The danger is probably not what you think it is.)
If you’d like to copy and paste this quote, then here you go…
“The greatest thing to be achieved in advertising, in my opinion, is believability, and nothing is more believable than the product itself.”
– Leo Burnett
This quote reminds me of something that marketing guru, Dan Kennedy, says… “The greatest marketing sin is being boring.”
After thinking about the above quote for a while, take a look at your content marketing or direct response marketing and then really ask yourself:
Am I (or Are we) neglecting this danger and committing this marketing sin?
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You might not realize it but Ben Franklin once gave some really important advice and inspiration for all content marketers and direct response marketers who are trying to make an impact in their industry.
And his advice is all about content creation and acting boldly.
“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.” – Benjamin Franflin
After thinking about the above quote for a while, let it inspire to create amazing written content and to attempt things that might be worth writing about!
P.S. Hopefully direct response content marketing will accomplish both of these things!
Claude C. Hopkins is considered one of the great advertising pioneers.
Even though he lived from the years 1866 – 1932, his ideas sound surprisingly modern and are still as applicable as they always have been.
Here is and example of what I am talking about. Claude believed that advertising existed only to sell something and that all advertising should be measured (analytics) and justified by the results it produced (ROI).
If your marketing in general, and your content marketing in particular, is only focused on you and your company’s needs, then your content marketing will never be as effective as it could be.
Read the Claude Hopkins quote below and really think about what he’s saying and why he’s saying it.
“Remember the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interests or profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising”
― Claude C. Hopkins, Scientific Advertising
After thinking about the above quote for a while, take a look at your content marketing or direct response marketing and then really ask yourself:
Is my marketing focused on our prospect’s selfish needs or just on our own selfish needs?
If you have any thoughts about Claude’s quote and/or any experience (positive or negative) with this truth, then leave a comment below and let us know!