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
I’m familiar with the work of Claude Hopkins, John Caples, David Ogilvy and Gary Halbert. Not so much with Robert Collier and Eugene Schwartz, although I know their reputations.
There are two ways to to write this book. The easy way was to summarise the main ideas of each in their own chapters,or the much better way, to synthesise the insights of the six legends across the topics. I’m pleased to say it’s the latter done here.
After a quick introduction to the six men and their contributions to direct marketing, the book gets going with a look at creative salesmanship. This includes what is now called lumpy mail and what Garry Halbert called “grabbers” which originated with Robert Collier. More recently, Bill Glazer has been promoting this type of outrageous advertising. It then drills down further into advice from Collier. While the promotion needs to look and feel different, Schwartz and Ogilvy emphasised how effective research replaces the need to be creative.
The next chapter looks at the psychology of selling and draws heavily on the work of Collier and Schwartz. I’m sure you have heard the saying”we buy emotionally and then rationalise the decision logically”. This chapter explains very clearly why this happens and how it can be used to the advantage of the copywriter.
I could carry on describing the contents of the book but it won’t change my simple message.
If you’re interested in copywriting and direct marketing, buy this book. Whether you’re a novice or highly experienced, whether you’ve read the underlying books or you haven’t, I’m confident you’ll get a lot out of this book.
You can buy the book from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
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