Sales Come First

I’m going to make a big confession so I’m sucking in a deep breath before I continue…

OK. I’ve  got an MBA. Now don’t go telling too many people. I’ve got a reputation to uphold

Yeah yeah I know. Another wanker with an MBA. Anyway I did it when I was young and stupid, and before I came across direct marketing. Now I know how I could have spent 3 years of my own time productively. Still…

I did a unit of marketing and I’ve still got the text book. Comes in handy when I get a fly at home and I’ve thrown the newspaper out. In it there’s slightly less than 1 page on direct response marketing. Interesting then that David Ogilvy, who is revered as the father of advertising says that there’s only one form of advertising you should consider, and that’s direct response. And that direct response people should be at the centre of any advertising firm, with all advertising pieces vetted by them first.

Odd that a marketing text book can’t even dedicate a full page to it, out of 500 odd pages of crap.

And its a real shame that so many kids out there are doing marketing in schools and universities and NOT learning about direct response. Because direct response is the only form of advertising where you follow set rules which work. Where you know that, despite how graphically enticing an ad with nothing but a picture and a slogan might be, it’ll never get a better response than a sales copy intensive ad. Where you’ve got a list of elements to include in your ad, and you know which ones to leave aside if space is a critical issue.

Or where you can run an ad, then make a change and see what happens. Where you get direct feedback on what’s working and what’s not.

No, you won’t win any awards for your ads. Only ‘creative’ ads win awards. You know the ones – you’re amazed how great they look but you couldn’t remember the product for the life of you. Or they’re so busy being creative they forget to tell you why you should buy their product in the first place. But the rewards in this game are in your bank account. Watching more and more dollars flood in as you methodically develop and continually improve your advertising.

That’s why direct response is the only advertising to use in your business. It works, and you can prove that it works.

Next week I’m going to give you a quick lesson on how to make your sales copy more visually appealing and easier on the eye.

All the best,

Hugh Thyer

www.salescomefirst.com

PS Go check out David Ogilvy on youtube. Not a whole lot there but what’s there is pure gold.