The Little-Known Marketing Secret That Lets You Write Advertising Homeruns

You remember Sherlock Holmes, right? Holmes was the fictional consulting detective invented by the Scottish physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes, as you know, is famous for solving difficult cases and solving them with almost magical abilities.

So, grab your inspector hat and let’s play Sherlock Holmes for a moment. Let’s do a little espionage today and see if the “Sherlock” in you can find some profit clues lurking everywhere.

This is the shortest path to profit land in this crazy fun business. The direct marketing or “mail order” business, as we shockingly call it, has a “secret” way of “spying” on the competition. Is named “sowing. ”

Very simply, seeding is where you get on other companies’ mailing list

… for the sole purpose of spying and finding out what’s going on in the selected market.

This does several things for you.

First, you will start receiving offers from the company you inquired about, as well as competing companies. And these offers can be golden for you by seeing exactly who is sending what.

You’ll see first-hand what your winners are, how the copy reads, what offers are hot, and ideas will start to ignite.

And if you go the extra mile and actually buy something, you’ll experience first-hand how they treated you, what upsells they offer, and how they manage the customer service side of the business.

Simply put, this is one of the best direct marketing training you can get. And best of all … it won’t cost you a fortune.

Basically, you get a master’s level marketing education for the sheer cost of a postage stamp and the time it takes to “sign up.”

Pretty cool, right? As my late marketing mentor Melvin Powers once told me: “There are no secrets in the mail order business.”

You will be attuned to ‘real world real time’ marketing methods and strategies. This is one of the best ways to keep up with the powerful trends and effective marketing that is at the forefront.

Planting brings you another great benefit …

… A slip file at your fingertips.

What is that, you say? Slide file? YES! Slide file!

What is a slip file? Hey, I’m glad you asked.

A slip file is a collection of marketing pieces that have a proven track record of positive results. These ads are generating a lot of profit, leads, store visits, or whatever action the ad prompts the customer to do.

But how do you know if these ads are profitable or not? It’s really not that difficult to understand this … and you don’t have to guess.

If you see a marketing promotion (advertisement, sales letter, compression page, etc.) that is repeated over and over again or mailed over and over again, then you know for sure that you are a winner.

Most marketers, especially direct response type companies, hate spending money. Again, if you see a repeat ad over and over again, you can be sure that you are making money for the advertiser.

Once you start building your slip file, you’ll want to see how your marketing stacks up against the competition. The ideas that shine from your slip file can be used to improve your marketing.

There is no reason to reinvent the wheel. In direct marketing (or mail order), you have learned that there are no secrets. Everything is ready for you.

And by the way, did I mention that swiping is legit … it’s a big part of the learning curve?

Let me tell you a short story about one of the most successful, profitable and effective direct marketing promotions of the 20th century.

It was 1974 and Martin Conroy was commissioned to write a sales letter to sell subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal.

It’s not a big deal, is it? After all, it was only two pages printed front to back … a mere 780 word letter.

But this is the question. Did you know that one of the most successful and profitable sales letters ever written …

This highly successful sales letter has been mailed for 28 years with almost no change to the original copy. Raised approximately TWO BILLION DOLLARS in gross revenue!

Take one of the most famous copywriting checks, The Wall Street Letter written by the late Martin Conroy. In fact, it was taken from a sales letter written many years before.

So what was the secret to this mega hit letter?

The secret, according to industry experts, is that Conroy relied on a little-known “trick” to to cheat his way of writing the speech.

It is useful to know that Conroy’s letter was not passed until 2002. It was passed in two consecutive tests … the first test Conroy’s letter was passed by less than 10%. The second by a whopping 24%.

The second letter was written by copywriting legend Mal Decker.

So the question is how did Mal Decker come up with a card to beat ‘unbeatable’ control?

The answer … again … is surprisingly simple … and you, my friend, can use this ethical “trick” to produce blockbuster ads, web pages, sales letters, and just about any piece of marketing you need. to write.

I am not saying that it is okay for me to directly copy the ad word for word. No way… I’m saying it’s okay to borrow or slip compelling ideas, concepts, and parts that intrigue you and adapt them to your marketing.

Swiping your finger is a great way to breathe new life into old text and can often lead to more sales and leads.

So start your slip file today and let the ideas flow.