John Newtson Rambles

Who the heck is Dick Benson and why should you study the crap out of him?

Hey, great question.

Dick Benson is one of those giants of direct marketing most online marketers have never heard of. (more…)

Michael Masterson of Early to Rise told the story about how making over-the-top, unrestrained claims in copy built a $5 million business in two years, and killed it in five.

Why? Because of the difference between buyers and quality customers.

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Here’s a great way to be a jackass online in three easy steps.

Register on forums and blogs under a pseudonym.

Participate in the conversation for say 20-30 posts. Make sure you give good advice so people start to trust you.

Then start schilling your own products as if you were an honest third-party.

Basically, build trust with people so you can exploit it.

That little tid-bit is actually being passed around internet marketing circles these days.

Klassy.

The sad part is I’ve heard, otherwise intelligent marketers, exclaim this is a cool technique. Instead of the stupid, unethical garbage that it is.

It’s stupid because it’s a terribly weak way to market in the conversation-oriented environment of today’s Internet.

I hate to be overly simplistic BUT why not just get a good product into the hands of talkers and ask them to talk about it instead? Just a crazy idea.

It shouldn’t have to be said but apparently it needs to be said: (more…)

I was talking to Pat Corpora the other day (he was president of Rodale Books for 15 years, head of AOL’s direct marketing for 3 and president of HCI Direct for 4-5 more) and he said something REALLY interesting about the long-standing long vs. short copy debate. (more…)