Years ago, I was given a challenge by a client of mine. They asked me to help them create stronger direct-mail advertising packages than those being used by their main competitor. Problem was, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the packages my client was using. They had good products. And they were well known [...]
By Don Hauptman | Thu, Mar 18, 2010
New words, or neologisms, are coined all the time. Not so long ago, we didn’t have blog, downsize, iPod, megatrend, shareware, Wi-Fi… and many others. But not every newly coined word becomes widely used or even enters the language. As you might expect, there’s a term for this phenomenon: nonce word — one that’s invented “for [...]
By Michael Masterson | Thu, Mar 18, 2010
I spend at least half of my time teaching writers how to write better. I’m speaking of writers who work for the information-publishing companies I consult for and for other publishers who pay me to help them make more money. Over the 30 odd years I’ve been doing this, I’ve developed many complicated theories about good [...]
By Clayton Makepeace | Wed, Mar 17, 2010
The other day, a guy — a real sad sack — left a post on my blog. Said he’s been a copywriter for decades but has not been very successful at it. It’s not his fault, of course. It’s the world’s fault. More specifically, it’s the direct-response marketing world’s fault. And to get even more specific, [...]
By Jason Holland | Wed, Mar 17, 2010
What downside could there be to owning a cherry-red Porsche 911? And what does that have to do with creating compelling advertising copy? Clayton Makepeace has the answer in his essay today. ——————————————Highly Recommended————————————— “The First Major Shift in Business Thinking Since the 1937 Publication of Think and Grow Rich“ Michael Masterson’s New York Times and Wall Street [...]
By Early To Rise | Wed, Mar 17, 2010
To eschew (es-CHOO) — from the French — is to abstain or keep away from; to shun or avoid. Example (as used by Clayton Makepeace today): “By eschewing the use of hype in his sales copy, is he telling me that he is opposed to saying, for example, ‘I could eat a horse’ unless he had [...]
By Early To Rise | Tue, Mar 16, 2010
Something that’s vapid (VAP-id) — from the Latin for “flat, insipid” — is dull or tedious; lacks life, sharpness, or flavor. Example (as used by Paul Hollingshead today): “[A] lot of people do like to write… And the very idea of being able to say ‘goodbye’ to a vapid job, work from the comfort of their [...]
By Early To Rise | Tue, Mar 16, 2010
———————————————-Highly Recommended——————————————– Ready to Impress Your Boss? All you have to do is read Michael Masterson’s book — Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestseller Ready, Fire, Aim — cover to cover. You’ll know more than your boss does about business and marketing. And you’ll be ready not just to make the business more profitable… [...]
By Paul Hollingshead | Tue, Mar 16, 2010
I was fiddling around with my calculator the other day, and I discovered something pretty amazing… I just turned 50, and after a lifetime of free spending and not nearly enough saving, I decided I was going to do whatever I could to make $500,000 a year. That way, I could put a few hundred grand [...]
By Michael Masterson | Mon, Mar 15, 2010
"If you want to be a writer, you have to write." I was sixteen years old when my father said those words to me. They were both kind and cruel. And I never forgot them.
By Michael Masterson | Sat, Mar 20, 2010
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