Direct Marketing Books

The full title of this book by Craig Simpson with Brian Kurtz is

The Advertising Solution: Influence Prospects, Multiply Sales, and Promote Your Brand

In my review of the book posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a rating of Five Stars. This means it is Excellent and Very Highly Recommended.

Here is my book review.

I wish I hadn’t ignored this excellent book for so long after buying

I’m ashamed to say I bought this book in November 2016 and hadn’t even opened my Kindle copy until January 2019. Why? Well I tend to go on buying binges and there’s the constant risk I start my next buying binge before I’ve worked my way through my last purchases.

The problem was I don’t like the main title – The Advertising Solution – or the subtitle if I’m getting picky because it mentions brands. After I’d bought it, I’d forgotten it was based on the work of six direct response marketing legends. Nor did my unfamiliarity with the main author – Craig Simpson – help me. It became a book to read some time, not next [continue reading…]

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…]

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…]

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…]

The full title of this classic book by Victor Schwab is

“How To Write A Good Advertisement: A Short Course In Copywriting“.

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I rated it at the FIVE STARS level, which means I consider it to be excellent.

Here is what I wrote.

A classic copywriting guide

I’m not sure what else I can say to persuade you to buy this book when there is already a five star review from British copywriting legend, Drayton Bird, on here.

It seems to me that there are three types of copywriting books available. [continue reading…]

The copywriting training business, AWAI reviews the classic direct marketing book Ogilvy On Advertising by David Ogilvy.

The review is special because it’s done by Marcella Allison and special guest David Deutsch. It’s one of a series of book review videos from AWAI focused on highly acclaimed copywriting books.

I should warn you, it goes into the ideas into the book quite deeply and it’s 75 minutes long so get yourself a drink and press play…

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The full title of this book by Dan Kennedy is

“The Ultimate Marketing Plan: Find Your Hook. Communicate Your Message. Make Your Mark“.

In my review on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a Four stars rating. This puts it in the good to very good category.

Here is my review.

A good introduction to Dan Kennedy but not so good if you want to prepare a marketing plan

This is a book that has given me mixed feelings so let me explain why.

*** What I don’t like about The Ultimate Marketing Plan ***

Rant 1 – the use of the word “ultimate” makes me mad. Regular edition updates prove it wasn’t the ultimate.

Rant 2 – Dan Kennedy takes you through many different topics – and it makes great reading – but I didn’t feel that I was reading a book about preparing a marketing plan. There is a form at the back which tries to pull the topics together to create a marketing plan with a worked example – but it didn’t work. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Seth Czerepak is

The Sexy Sales Letter Formula: How To Use “Value Mechanics” To Craft Smoking Hot, Seductive Sales Letters.

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a Four Stars rating. This means I consider it to be good to very good.

Here is my review.

An interesting look at the issues involved with copywriting for different buyer stages and personalities.

I read this book because I thought the author’s first book, The 24 Hour Marketing Miracle was excellent.

That book introduced the ideas of value mechanics based on axiology and as this had the same topic in the subtitle, I thought it would be the main focus of the book. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Seth Czerepak is

“The 24 Hour Marketing Miracle: The FIRST Marketing Book EVER to Be Backed Up By a 500% Money Back Guarantee“.

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a FIVE STARS rating. I don;t give the five stars away easily and this means that I think it is EXCELLENT.

Here is my review.

A direct response marketing book so good you don’t want your competitors to read it

This book isn’t for everybody. The writing style is quite abrasive at the start and the author doesn’t pull any punches over what he thinks is right or wrong.

The book looks at direct response marketing and copywriting. While you may not want to do it yourself, I believe business owners need to know and understand the process. [continue reading…]