by Paul Simister
on September 11, 2018
The full title of this book by Craig Simpson with Dan Kennedy is
The Direct Mail Solution: A Business Owner’s Guide to Building a Lead-Generating, Sales-Driving, Money-Making Direct-Mail Campaign
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a rating of 4 Stars. This means it is good and well worth reading.
Here is my book review.
Useful guide for mass mailings but it won’t teach you how to write the sales letter
This is a useful guide to direct mail although it’s more targeted to B2C mass mailings than it is for anyone who wants to mail to B2B targets and small lists.
As is often the case when there is a bug name author sharing credit with a less known author, it us the less well known one does most of the work. To be fair, there are more chapters from Dan Kennedy than I expected. As is normal in his books, you’ll be urged to buy plenty of other DK books. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on September 10, 2018
In my review of the book,
Inside Story on B2B Copywriting by Tom McCauley
posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a rating of 4 Stars. This means I think it is good and well worth reading.
Here is my review.
A refreshing focus on marketing to business customers
Many of the great copywriting books focus on selling to consumers by generating emotional wants and ignore the more rational b2b markets where products and services have to be bought to satisfy needs.
In fact, there is very little on offer which focuses on b2b copywriting and marketing so this book fills an important gap. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on August 31, 2018
The full title of this book by Michael Masterson is
The Architecture of Persuasion: How to Write Well-Constructed Sales Letters
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Five Stars. This means it is Excellent and Very Highly Recommended.
Here is my review.
Very interesting with an emphasis on the teaser, headline and lead
I read a lot of business books and especially about marketing. I have to admit many of them are quite dry and only appeal to my inner geek who wants more knowledge and understanding.
Thus book is different. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on June 30, 2018
The full title of this book by Drayton Bird is
How to Write Sales Letters that Sell: Learn the Secrets of Successful Direct Mail
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it Five Stars. This means it is Excellent and Very Highly Recommended.
Here is my review.
An excellent book for people interested in copywriting
When I first became self employed, I decided I wanted to split my time between small businesses and bigger businesses who had challenging projects. My problem was how to reach the key executives in these bigger companies. LinkedIn didn’t exist back then and my answer was direct mail. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on June 24, 2018
The full title of this book by Marcia Yudkin is
No-Hype Copywriting: The Keys to Lively, Appealing and Truthful Sales Writing
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it 4 Stars.
Here is my review.
Well meaning guide to copywriting
I believe there is a big difference between he British and the Americans when it comes to selling and “hype”. We are more sensitive and likely to be put off by the appearance of a long for sales letter or a website that screams “we want to sell” badly disguised as “you will want to buy” copy. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on June 11, 2018
The full title of this book by Shlomi Shraga is
The Business Owner’s Scientific Marketing Handbook: How The Direct Response Marketing Legends Would Fix Your Broken Advertising & Sales System
In m,y review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Four Stars. This means it is Good and Well Worth Reading.
Here is my book review.
Good summary of direct response copywriting
The book started by reminding me of the 40/40/20 rule of direct marketing. This emphasises the critical importance of the audience and the offer.
The book then follows through talking about the market and finding the big idea as a bridge between customers needs and wants and your product or service. It then looks at the offer, bonuses and guarantee. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on June 6, 2018
When I reviewed this book by Jon McCulloch,
Why Your Copywriting Sucks
on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it a rating of Five Stars. This means it is Excellent and Very Highly Recommended.
Here is my book review.
A fascinating book split into two parts
The author concedes too many copywriting books and courses are sold through hype and admits that the copywriting isn’t as important as the offer, the people who get to see the offer and any existing relationship.
The book is split into two sections and it’s almost as if these are two different books rammed together, the first for beginners the second for more advanced copywriters. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on June 6, 2018
The full title of this book by Daniel Kaplan is
How To Write Great Website Content: Get High In Search Engines and Increase The Leads, Sales or Donations Of ANY Website
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Four Stars. This means it is Good and Well Worth Reading.
Here is my book review.
Part SEO guide and part copywriting guide.
A useful guide to preparing copy for a website.
I wasn’t entirely convinced by the advice on writing for Google. Ten years ago it used to be fairly easy to write for a high search engine ranking position but Google have deliberately made it much harder to predict. Updates called Panda and Penguin punished aggressive action. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on May 22, 2018
The full title of this book by Peter A Schaible is
The secret weapon of a master direct response online copywriter: How to position your brand for success, based on the research of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung
In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Four Stars. This means it is Good and Well Worth Reading.
Here is my book review.
Very interesting way to think about customers
The book explains how the three parts of the brain – reptilian (primitive fight or flight survival), limbic (emotions) and neocortex (rational thought) – are affected by marketing.
It then goes on to explain the 12 archetypes based on the work of the early psychologist, Carl Jung. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on May 4, 2018
The full title of this book issued by the people behind the Copyblogger website is
“How to Write Magnetic Headlines: The Fundamental Guide to the Most Important Copywriting Skill on the Planet“.
In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a FOUR stars rating which means I consider it to be in the good to very good category.
Here is what I wrote.
Good summary of headlines for blog posts and Twitter.
Reading the Copyblogger website is on my list of things I should have done more but never seemed to find the time so it was interested when I saw this book about writing headlines.
Yet also a little nervous. A “how to” headline is probably the easiest there is to use and one I fall back on when I’m short of inspiration. [continue reading…]
