Why copywriters must convey the truth
Frank Sinatra, Drayton Bird, David Ogilvy and Peter Hobday all agree: your words must be believed or they won’t sell much product
What is a subscription copywriter?
What does a subscription copywriter do? How different from ordinary copywriting is subscription copywriting? There are, broadly, two kinds of copywriters: business copywriters and marketing copywriters. A subscription copywriter must go a step further than these chaps . . .
Publishing in a recession
Now that we are in a recession, what’s the best strategy for publishers and marketers? Here’s some subscription marketing advice we gave in the Subscriptions Strategy newsletter back in January 2008:
So you think you understand your audience?
Does Cosmopolitan magazine understand?
In the TV series American Idol, thousands of young contestants audition to a tough panel of three judges. But although the show has a massive worldwide audience, do the producers have any real understanding of how to grow an audience? And for that matter, do the publishers of Cosmopolitan magazine or Mother and Baby?
Drayton Bird on selling subscriptions
Having been in the industry for over forty years, Drayton Bird has seen at first hand the best, and worst, of subscriptions marketing. In 1982 he wrote Commonsense Direct Marketing, seen by many as THE industry textbook. Here he reviews his life in subs
Warfare Marketing: lessons from General George S Patton
U S Army photo
General George S Patton is widely considered the best field commander of World War II and was certainly the officer most feared by the Germans. His success was based on rapid offensive action and an understanding of how people react in the field. Patton’s principles of warfare can be – and are – applied to great effect in marketing today.
Is yours a strategic marketing organisation?
When acquisitive chief executive Julian Turner of Electric Word assesses a publisher, one of the key measurements is its approach to marketing.
Fundraising by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton
Barack Obama, US presidential candidate, has attracted much more funding than his opponent Hillary Clinton – around 23% more. How? By some basic online-marketing. His team uses the Internet to appeal to new and individual donors. It’s simple direct marketing at its best.
Should editors be marketers too?
Stacy Morrison, editor of Redbook is helping readers ‘protect’ their children from her articles about sex.
But believe me, the average teenager needs no such ‘protection’. This is all about protecting embarrassed parents.
Fundraising with Obama
Over I go to Arkansas USA to talk to one of Barack Obama’s election volunteers. He tells me how wonderful Obama’s marketing is. Never mind all that – every Tom Dick and Harry can get that from newspapers and TV. What marketing tricks is Obama pulling?