if they ever got into direct response…
[dropcap]I[/dropcap] had to fess up to my 14-year-old.
I told him, “you’re a better man than me.”
He’s responsible beyond his years, a straight-A student, captain of the young debaters… and free of his dad’s dysfunctions.
Here he is at the most recent Berkshire-Hathaway shareholders’ meeting.
You’ll recognize the man standing in the photo beneath.
These were taken at Warren Buffett’s favorite steakhouse, Gorat’s.
That evening Brian sent me a text message.
“Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger just walked through the back door near the table where we’re sitting.”
“Get some selfies!” I replied.
I already envisioned the hashtags, #ChillinWithBill and #ChillinWithCharlie.
When he later told me he couldn’t capture any selfies, I asked him:
“What stopped you?”
“Around ten linebacker-sized guys in navy blue blazers!” he shot back.
“Got it!”
I doubt Brian will follow anywhere near his father’s footsteps.
Too early to say for his siblings.
But IF they ever venture into direct response, I’m confident they’ll have the best game plan… be it tomorrow or ten years from now.
It’s called:
“The Advertising Money Machine”
Dear Friend,
I have a confession.
I had a close call recently.
One that drove home with startling clarity my mortality.
I don’t wish to elaborate on that just yet, but I immediately got to work on this new membership site.
You know the feeling you get when you’re about to go on a trip or a holiday?
There’s a strong urge to tie up loose ends: like paying bills, doing things you’ve put off, or contacting people in your personal and professional circles.
That’s exactly how I felt after that close brush.
So, in that spirit, let me level with you.
When I said I’m dysfunctional, that’s the tip of the iceberg.
I’m also a touch reclusive and HIGHLY compulsive.
So, I thank God every day for direct response because I’m certain…
No employer in his right mind would hire me!
But it works both ways.
As one of my favorite quotes from Groucho Marx goes:
“I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member.”
Here are some pictures from inside my office that give a glimpse of where I’m coming from.
The top one is the view of the Santa Catalina Mountains and the bottom is my desk filled with stacks of direct mail.
Over a Million Dollars and 12,000 hours later…
Did I say compulsive?
On second thought, make that certifiable.
Let me explain.
If it were just the the million, I’d be ahead in the game.
That’s estimated from the small fortune I spend each year on subscriptions, product purchase, advisories and memberships.
Which I do for one reason… and one reason only…
To keep my name (and aliases!) seeded on direct mail buyer lists!
But the REAL price is the thousand or so hours I spend each year digging through dozens of online archives in search of NEW ideas from print advertising… past and present.
Multiply a thousand hours times the last 12 years or so and I’m up to 12,000 hours.
Now, it’d be one thing if that were behind me.
But I continue to log many hours each week DIGGING EVEN DEEPER… no matter what other turmoil is going on in my life.
See, when it comes to ad archiving I AM certifiable.
Why fight it?
But I take comfort in a few things…
My namesake is Saint Lawrence.
Did you know he was a 3rd Century martyr who was roasted on a grid iron?
He supposedly quipped during this excruciating ordeal: “I’m done on this side, turn me over!”
For that reason, he’s the patron of cooks and comedians.
Dark meat… and a darker sense of humor.
He also happens to be the patron Saint of archivists and librarians.
My local library wouldn’t have me… so I’m stuck in my catacombs with junk mail.
Then there’s this beaut from George Bernard Shaw.
Shaw is a fellow Irishman (please, don’t ask just now!) and I too have been “unreasonable” for precisely… my entire life.
So, it’s taken only a few decades to get comfortable in my own skin.
I’ll share one more example of my midnight manias and then it’s time to get the show on the road.
Almost ten years ago to the day, I was reading an interview in Target Marketing about one of my heroes, Marty Edelston, founder of Boardroom Inc.
At its peak in the mid 1990s, Boardroom was a $150 million per year enterprise, built on direct mail marketing.
Marty and his righthand man, Brian Kurtz, who now runs one of the sharpest mastermind groups around, were being interviewed by another one of my heroes, the great Denny Hatch, of Who’s Mailing What? and Target Marketing fame.
It was…
The midnight discovery that changed my life!
Listen.
These “Case Studies in Cash Creation” on my new member site will pump you with more energy than a wild insomniac tossing back espresso shots at midnight.
I WAS that wild insomniac!
Here’s the first thing that grabbed me by the lapels in that article.
It’s a quote about Mel Martin, the “father of fascinations.”
“Mel Martin was the world’s slowest copywriter. It would take him three to four months to write a direct mail package. He could get stuck for a month on a letter opening. ” (Martin Edelston, Boardroom Inc.)
Ah! There was hope for me!
It was reassuring to learn a member of the copywriting pantheon was also slow as molasses on a cold winter’s day.
By the way…
Did I mention I’m writing a book on procrastination?
Perhaps, it’s different than you’d imagine.
Because I’m writing the world’s first book on becoming a better procrastinator. Heck, if nothing’s curbed it by now, why not aim for world class?
I started writing it sometime back in the 80s.
If you’d like to pre-order a copy, it’ll be finished in 2027. 🙂
But seriously, ANY problem can be remedied — be it procrastination, a shortage of cash, or even lack of talent — when you’ve got the RIGHT knowledge… and take action.
Back to the interview.
Let me give you the quote that…
Started me on a MANIC tear!
“In the early ’70s, Mel Martin was hired as a copywriter by Herb Nagourney, the toothy publisher of The New York Times books whose business was built on running coupon ads in unsold space in the Times. While there, Martin created what Edelston considers to be some of the greatest book advertising ever written. “I would love to go through The Times on microfiche and find those ads,” Edelston says. “Each was a masterpiece.”
It was after midnight… but I thought, “What’s the problem?”
So I dug into the databases.
These ads aren’t something you’d find in a normal search engine query. Not by a long shot.
Obviously, I went to the New York Times historical database first.
I was fourteen years late to the party — from when the article was originally published — but what the heck?
Bingo!
I’d found the first one. Then the second and third. By the time I’d finished at close to 3:00 am, I’d rounded up dozens of them.
Now it was time to read them!
I stayed up another few hours going through each and every ad.
They were everything Marty Edelston said they were… and more!
And heck, since Marty started a company from a basement desk wedged next to a furnace… and turned it into a $150 million enterprise… who was I to argue?
My next step was clear.
I caught a few hours sleep, then headed over to the copy shop to get the ads printed. Next, I grabbed Marty’s address in Connecticut and had the batch shipped to him, along with a brief cover letter.
A week or so later, I was struck by a bolt from the blue when I went to my mailbox.
Did Marty Edelston just send me a check for $2,000?
I was never going to be on the shortlist of Boardroom’s superstar copywriters.
But getting this check from Marty was the next best thing!
By the way, I cashed it. 🙂
The $2,000 was just a token of gratitude and a drop in the bucket compared with what was to come.
Because I later had several phone conversations with Marty.
And what he revealed was worth 10,000 times the check!
It was…
The lifetime value of a good idea!
You’ve heard of lifetime customer value.
“Customer A” might be worth only a hundred bucks, while “Customer B” may spend a million or more over a lifetime of doing business.
Obviously, these customers must be treated differently.
But what about the lifetime value of a good idea?
How do you calculate that?
That was exactly what Marty and I discussed, in connection with Mel Martin’s fascinations.
Let me give you an example.
Do you recognize this man?
He’s the living legend of copywriting, Gary Bencivenga — now a partner in the world’s greatest gourmet food club.
I wrote about how I went hat in hand to my family members, after I’d crashed and burned, so I could get to his retirement seminar in 2005.
To this day, Gary’s still like a half-dozen of my favorite sporting heroes wrapped up into one copywriting legend.
Here’s a gem from Gary that highlights the lifetime value of a great idea.
My kids believe two things about paper and ink books.
Only dinosaurs like me buy them… and only Amazon has ever sold them.
But long before Jeff Bezos came on the scene, book clubs ran insertions by the thousands every year.
Classics Club was one of them.
They didn’t just sell books — but the dust collecting, hardbound variety — the kind many respondents add to their libraries as a badge of literacy.
How do you pitch Aristotle, Plato and Marcus Aurelius… and get a smashing response?
Here’s the headline from the ad Gary shared.
“Let These 3 Wise Men Into Your Home. Later, you might like to invite their friends.”
Classics Club wasn’t selling mere books,
they were selling the COMPANY of wise men
Ingenious.
The ad ran for over ten years and had hundreds of insertions.
Here’s another from the same advertiser.
Classics Club could have taken the prosaic approach.
“Get your hardbound edition of Homer’s The Odyssey today at a $1 introductory price.”
But who’d care?
“Go With Him On a Fantastic Voyage!”
They cared… and bought a boatload of books.
Take a further peak at the copy to see what I mean.
“Let this immortal Greek storyteller take you back three thousand years. To a time when gods mingled with men, and giants walked the earth.
Travel with him to the island of the Sirens, women whose song draws men to their deaths.
Go to the house of the sorceress Circe, where men are transformed into beasts.
To a battle so fierce that a river runs red with blood.”
Heck of a lead, isn’t it?
And speaking of battles, remember this one: “If you’re losing the battle, switch the battlefield.”
Now, let’s try some swiping in action.
After all, “We are all imitators.” as ad legend, Robert Collier, said.
Here goes.
Come with me on a fantastic voyage!
That’s exactly what your membership holds as we deep dive through…
“Case Studies in Cash Creation.”
Just as one test is worth a thousand opinions…
One winning ad is worth a thousand pages of theory!
Let’s break down HUNDREDS of winning ideas you can put to work IMMEDIATELY, no matter your industry… no matter what patch of the planet you call home… no matter whether you have an established business… or an idea for a new one.
VITAL NOTE! I hope you’ll join me on this voyage. Let me explain something first.
Have you ever bought a product because you were intrigued by just one fascination… then searched high and low but couldn’t find the source? You’re left high and dry.
Well, that’s not happening here!
Because as soon as you activate your membership, you won’t have to fumble around. All you need do is click on one of the links below.
But first a…
WARNING!
These are BIG IDEAS… some are even potentially dangerous.
Deploying them in the wrong place… in the wrong way… is like lobbing a grenade to shoo away pigeons.
Please use them ethically… and for goodness’ sake, have a good advertising lawyer give you the green light before you run with any advertising.
There’s no point in making a fortune if you’ve got to later trade it in for an “orange jumper.”
Here’s some of what’s inside.
Secrets most marketers and copywriters
will NEVER know!
“H-Bomb on Paper” response booster. Looking for NEW response boosting ideas for your ads? This one’s got the POWER of an H-Bomb.
MAGIC subject line from quarter BILLION dollar company… yanks response from ANY List. So good it was turned into a direct mail package.
SNEAKY subscription selling secrets. An IRRESISTIBLE offer that’s 100% above board… yet wrings out every last ounce of response.
The BIG bookalog that launched a thousand copywriting careers. A 21st Century direct mail list topper for POWER product positioning.
YOUR biggest copywriting BREAKTHROUGH of 2019? The response boosting power of this “late in life” copywriting secret may ASTOUND you… whether you’re doing a direct mail drop to a million… or an email blast to 500. 26-page PDF.
A Tale of Two Ads: one a breakthrough… one a swipe gone off the rails. Inside: a “response rocket” you’ll wonder how you lived without.
AMAZING MONEY making tales from the world’s greatest story seller. 40 pages of the hardest pulling story ads EVER run.
The headline they STOLE from Clayton Makepeace… he stole it too. This HOT headline’s here for the long haul… and the reason why it’s so effective.
The most DANGEROUS ad in history? This advertiser got NAILED by the FTC for a $61 million judgement. Yet… this ad will teach you more about MONEY MAKING proof elements than anything else you’ll ever see.
World’s greatest AFFILIATE marketing model? Some things are too good to share… but here it is. An EVERGREEN concept in cash creation with the power of niches.
How to turn a BORING financial bookalog into cloak and dagger murder mystery. If anyone ever tells you financial advertising is boring, show them this bookalog. “Story selling” MAGIC!
How to run 100,000 ads in print that NEVER fatigue. Likely the ad with the MOST insertions in the history of BIZ-OP.
HIGH TICKET Selling Secrets: Anti-aging, currency trading, MIRACLE pills, legacy programs, cosmetic dentistry, home exercise equipment, gourmet food, travel and MORE!
Case Studies in CATASTROPHE (When the FTC Comes a Knockin’) No point in making a fortune if you’ve got to later trade it in for an “orange jumper.”
Self-defense package my mailman knows by heart. It’s rare when a self-defense or martial arts product crosses solidly into the mainstream. This did.
Ad written on car hood (in 15 minutes) brought in $140 million in a year. Run an ad like this today only if ORANGE is the preferred color in your wardrobe!
World’s Greatest USP & Reason Why “DIRTY Dossier” One of the best retail advertising swipe files you’ll get your hands on.
40 LIFE CHANGING pages that could turn YOU into a fabulous fascination writer... even if you’ve never written one before!
They LAUGHED at him on National TV… till he made a killing in the survival market.
A picture is worth TEN THOUSAND ad insertions. This senior supplement is on FIRE in late 2018. There’s MONEY to be made with this concept for a l-o-n-g time.
2 MAGIC HEADLINES Battle It Out… And the Winner Is… The biz-op headline of the year… for a package that mailed from coast to coast.
$100 BILLION firm’s KILLER Lead Gen Magnets One of the greatest (yet brain dead simple) lead generation discoveries of all time.
SYSTEM for selling $39 commodity products for $397. The blueprints for creating insatiable demand. 200-page “Dirty Dossier.”
And so much MORE… because this is just the tip of the iceberg!
Which brings me to…
The greatest advantage you’ll EVER wield online
today… and 10 years from now!
Last May, I gave a presentation to Perry Marshall’s people.
Perry and I go way back. I remember the old days when you could reach him on his mobile phone most of the time.
Everything I remember tends to be old. 🙂
Anyway, I’m usually nervous as heck speaking before even five people… let alone hundreds.
Fortunately, I didn’t need to leave my catacombs.
Here’s what I shared with them.
See the graph above?
The Web’s an infant compared to direct mail and print advertising… which got under way by the 1870s.
I know what my kids would say to this old dinosaur right now…
“Who cares?”
Well, listen up, kids!
Because this is the 120-YEAR ADVANTAGE to CLOBBER your online competition… right NOW in 2018.
And you NEVER have to mail a letter… never have to buy a print ad insertion… if you don’t want to… because you can translate this bounty straight to the Web.
Let me explain.
If you’re already a direct response pro, then you’re also very likely a student.
But if you’re an aspiring pro, then the surest way to get there is by becoming a student. You can start with just 10 minutes a day.
And it’s not about turning yourself into a historian for some kind of bragging rights.
It’s about…
NOT “inventing” things you don’t need to
NOT going through unnecessary trial and error
Here’s an example.
Let’s take something OLD.
Land has been bought and sold for thousands of years.
And at least that many sales pitches have been devised.
But right NOW… someone… somewhere… is slaving over a keyboard… TRYING to come up with a pitch to sell someone else… some land.
That marketer may luck out with a half-decent pitch. But more likely than not… it’ll BOMB!
That’s just the nature of the game, there are near INFINITE ways to go wrong… and only a few that succeed.
But that’s not the worst of it.
Because somewhere else… there’s an even LESS fortunate soul that will see this guy’s pitch… and COPY it!
Just like the majority of those you see today… with the attention span of a gnat…
Most marketers CAN’T SEE the tip of the iceberg
but a lonely snowflake that just fell.
Meanwhile, there’ve been THOUSANDS of successful pitches that have ALREADY been tested with SOMEONE ELSE’S money.
Take this one from 94 years ago.
This ad ran as a full page across the United States in the 1920s… right before the bottom fell out.
An aside.
None of our forebears had perfect information — none of our descendants will — but this ad was a SMASH. We can only work with what we’ve got right now.
While the pitch may be old… human nature remains the same… and the reasons someone would speculate on land today are the SAME as they were a millennium ago.
So any marketer today looking ONLY at the snowflake that just landed on the tip of the iceberg… on a dark night… will remain in the dark.
But there’s hope for all of us because…
We stand on the shoulder of GIANTS!
There are no guarantees, even if you borrow from the best.
But your chances can be 50 TIMES HIGHER… when you stand on the RIGHT shoulders… and you can take a LOT more chances.
Drayton Bird’s forgotten more than many of us will ever learn.
Here’s what he wrote in a recent LinkedIn post.
Of course, the “David” he references is his former business partner and an even bigger advertising legend, David Ogilvy.
“The difference between success and failure, besides your talent, determination and hard work, is how much you know. If you know everything about what works in marketing, stop reading and carry on counting your millions. David never stopped learning, and I don’t either.” (Drayton Bird’s LinkedIn post)
Drayton is 82 years young. He held his “Last Hurrah” seminar in Bristol in June of 2017.
That SLAPS me to attention every time I’m tempted to slack off. If a legend like Drayton is still learning, “What’s my excuse?”
One last item before the main event.
Are you in the UK, Europe, Australia, Canada, South America or Asia?
If you are, I want to share a quick story with you.
Last year, I spent the day with my friend and colleague, Gino from Germany.
We were at Brian Kurtz’s fabulous Titans meeting.
Gino is a reserved kind of guy and all went well, till the evening rolled around and we were having dinner and drinks.
I detected Gino had something on his mind.
Suddenly, I was seized by one thought.
Don’t bring up Trump…
Don’t bring up Trump…
Don’t bring up Trump!
I guess you know what happened next.
Gino couldn’t resist.
See, when you’re from the States and you interact with people from abroad, EVERYONE wants to know what you think of Trump. And this took place right after the election.
Another aside.
I’m so old, I remember when Trump was a minor real estate developer and had his car stolen down the street from my apartment, while eating at my favorite restaurant, Da Umberto.
Anyway, I’ll tell you the same thing I told Gino.
Between my business, my Soviet superwoman wife, and three high maintanace kids… I’m lucky to keep my head above water.
I haven’t got the time or temperament for the million distractions that bombard us every day, especially politics.
Nevertheless, some of my friends and colleagues overseas are anxious to remind me..
America is a SCREWED UP country!
All I know is no one has carted me away yet… and I’m able to ply my trade in marketing.
But who knows?
Maybe they’re right. It just doesn’t matter to me.
I’ll stick with the reply I gave Gino: “We’re not discussing politics tonight, let’s keep our eyes on the prize — money making advertising. Now drink up G-Man. Prost!”
The bottom line is this. No matter what anyone thinks about the States politically… or otherwise…
America is still the KING of the hill
in direct mail marketing!
Seriously, if you’re from outside North America, you don’t know what you’re missing.
Even my friends in Canada get only a glimpse of that powerhouse known as the American mail order money machine.
I’d like you to join me on this voyage and see for yourself.
Your winning ideas will multiply TEN FOLD.
How?
Simple.
No matter your industry… no matter the language you market in… no matter the country you’re based in… when you take the power of American mail order into YOUR world… your business takes a QUANTUM LEAP.
And frankly, if you live in the United States and online marketing is your ONLY reference point, the same goes for you, brother.
Now, it’s time for the MAIN EVENT!
I’d like you to meet…
My LGBT Puppy
Moments before this snapshot, Zeus had stolen a tube of wasabi.
Punctured it clear though.
Believe me… he was sorry he stole the wasabi!
Zeus was supposed to be a Labrador mix. And thanks to the wildly popular genetic testing kits, which I’ll tell you more about in a moment, he is.
But it turns out this cagey critter is not only Labrador Retriever, but German Shepherd, Boxer and Terrier.
LGBT.
It’s a minor miracle Zeus is with us… and it’s all thanks to:
The power of stories
In the summer of 2017, I got a text message from my wife. She’d sent some photos of the then 2-month old Zeus at the animal rescue.
Our 8-year old daughter had been leaning on us for months to get a puppy.
I realized: “If I show her the pictures, it’s a done deal.”
“What’s the urgency?” I thought.
Then I got a call from Anjelina.
“Did you get my text? We’ve got to decide now!”
Then she told me the story that made adopting Zeus a fait accompli.
[dropcap]Z[/dropcap]eus was born on a farm in Willcox, Arizona. One night, a coyote wandered onto the property and before anyone knew what happened, it got a hold of Zeus’s siblings. Zeus’s mother was awakened by the screaming pups and rushed to the rescue. She was badly injured fighting off the coyote, but she managed to save Zeus and two of his sisters.
Wow that was fast.
In one moment, indifference.
And in the next, owning a puppy.
I bet half the pooches in kennels across the country would be adopted overnight with a story like that.
Zeus has been the best new companion for me — he’s knocked twenty pounds off this fat body.
But before Anjelina brought home a few genetic screening kits as Christmas presents — both for humans and dogs — some things didn’t make sense about my furry friend.
He was supposed to be mainly Labrador Retriever, but he was always standing guard, as well as getting into boxing matches with anyone who’d have it. Labs don’t usually do those things.
One screening result solved the mystery.
But whether it’s canine or human, it’s just one link in the chain of…
BILLION Dollar “Story Sellers”
Ancestry.com is a billion dollar entity.
And they know how to use stories that SELL.
“Do You Come From Royal Blood? Your Last Name May Tell You.” is one of their powerful story selling leads.
After all, who’d be attracted by:
“Did half your family survive pogroms in Eastern Europe… and the other half a potato famine in Ireland?”
Well, in my case, that’d be true, so you can chalk up one kit.
But that’s NOT what sells.
Knights Templar.
Viking.
Minor nobleman, at least?
They sell.
This segues right into what could become the most powerful new weapon in your advertising arsenal because…
I promise: by tonight, I can help you take your place among the world’s greatest “story sellers”
It’s no particular genius I claim. I’m just an able borrower.
But I’ll tell you this.
Right now you could head over to Amazon and purchase any one of dozens of books about “story selling.”
Probably for around $10.
I’ve looked through many of them. So far, not one has told me a thing about an actual “story selling” ad that’s made someone some money.
Maybe the authors have never run an ad before.
This is my mantra… and it should be yours!
One winning ad is worth a thousand pages of theory!
Join me on this voyage.
Over the next few weeks, you and I are going to deep dive through…
DOZENS of story selling masterpieces
that have made HUNDREDS of millions in sales!
No theory. No fluff.
Everything is the real deal.
In fact, one of the most successful copywriters in history (not John Caples) ONLY relied on “story selling” ads near the end of his career. He made over $100 million with nothing more than a pen… a pad of paper… and his story selling genius.
And moments from now… you could learn EVERY nuance for crafting a world class story pitch that’s irresistible to your prospects.
All you need do is click on the following link to access this tell-all, 40-page dossier, “Amazing Money Making Tales from the World’s Greatest Story Seller”… after you’ve activated your membership.
Is it worth a $3.23 a day for your next million dollar idea?
I’ve pulled out all the stops during this “Big Bribe of 2019” offer.
Activate your Platinum Plus membership and grab a Kitchen Sink of Ads… yours gratis.
Just like a brand new office tower gives sweetheart deals to its anchor tenants, I’m looking for a few good journeymen (and women!) like YOU… who will come with me on this voyage.
Won’t you join me?
One quick disclaimer.
If you’re after a website with fancy design, you should pass on this. But if you’d like an arsenal of advertising ideas you can use to make your advertising make you MORE MONEY, I’d love to have you.
After all, it’s called “The Advertising Money Machine.”
Whether it’s a “Swiping from A-Z Video,” the weekly “Magic Subject Lines” or a fresh “Case Study in Cash Creation,” you never know when your next BIG advertising idea will HIT!
Maybe in the shower… or while you’re stopped in traffic… or maybe while you’re asleep.
Because the more you feed your conscious mind these powerful ideas, the more you’ll engage your subconscious mind to come up with…
WINNERS!
Lord knows, writing a sales letter — sometimes even a simple email — can be excruciating… when you get stuck.
And a world class procrastinator like me needs ALL the help he can get, when it comes to inspiring advertising ideas to keep me moving forward.
The only security you and I will ever have is our ability to produce.
And if you’re in marketing, it’s your winning ideas that will produce for you. You’ll have more than you can ever use.
Join me on this journey through the annals of winning advertising and save a bundle during this special launch offer.
Yours for bolder response,
Lawrence Bernstein
(The world’s most obsessed ad archivist)
P.S. I’ve pulled out all the stops for you to activate your membership today because you’re one of my email subscribers. GRAB a Kitchen Sink of Ads as soon as you activate your membership.
“Lawrence. The truth is I lied ! A few days ago when I messaged you that I had already made the price of admission (7500usd) by just reading half of your direct mail masterpiece well let’s just say it was 10 times that. I thank the Lord for having rediscovered you again.”
(Peter Nicholas, Australian serial entrepreneur and world beating health & beauty brand builder)
“Thanks to your guidance, my business is booming. I literally have more clients than I can handle.”
(Financial copywriter, received 1/18/13. Awaiting permission to use his name.)
“I love receiving packages from you. You’re like a Direct-Response Santa.”
(Dr. Karl Blanks, Chairman and Co-Founder of Conversion Rate Experts with clients including: GE, Lloyds, Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Sony, Vodafone and PayPal)
“If I told you how many times I made my investment back I would lose all credibility.
Lawrence, I really have to thank you for your very clever and powerful marketing tool. The tool responsible for our surge in sales!
Every company — direct response or not — should get their hands on it. If you don’t make at least 25 times or more on your investment I don’t think you opened the package and followed the step by step instructions.
(Direct response founder, Anonymous)
“God, Lawrence, I really appreciate your stuff, so here’s a testimonial:
If you want to succeed gloriously in this business (assuming you have any talent, of course) sit down for a month and read, learn and practice the principles you unearth in this treasury of great stuff. Marvelous!”
(Drayton Bird, Direct marketing legend, London)
“You’re one crazy dude to do all this work, but until you get therapy, I’ll take advantage of it with glee!”
(Dr. Jack Booman, Leading Chiro copywriter, Spring Grove, Minn.)
“As a marketing enthusiast and dedicated student of the craft, I’m constantly searching for valuable insight and information. And once I found YOU (many years ago) I felt like I had finally found what I was looking for.
I was right.
Since that day, EVERY marketing strategy, sales system, retention model, acquisition model, process, advertisement, etc., that I have executed started with FIRST referencing one or more elements from you, your website, or your partners. From my own house ads to ads for my clients, the foundation of everything I have done began with listening to your teachings, or the teachings of those that you reference/endorse. Dead or alive.
I now own and operate a successful digital ad agency with over 50 employees (give or take a few employees depending on economics 😉 and feel as though I owe you more than a bit of gratitude for my success.
(Digital agency founder, received 1/7/14, prefers anonymity)
“I get loads of emails from online marketers looking to sell me stuff to improve my marketing, but I trust Lawrence to deliver quality every time.”
(Jamie Sylvian, London)
“By the way, Lawrence, I should thank you directly…
Back in early November, Michael Masterson and I gave a speech at the AWAI Copy Bootcamp in Delray that dealt, in part, with the value of focusing on one theme rather than many in headlines and leads.
And the example I threw into our Powerpoint came directly from your website (attributed) where you compared two products for better vision. Naturally, I don’t remember much about the convoluted example. But the better version came from Gene S., “Your Eyes Can Heal Themselves…”
I don’t know where you find this stuff, but the examples were invaluable at making a strong point quickly.
I hope some of the 300-400 people present took my advice during the talk and went looking for your site.”
(John Forde, A-List copywriter and Parisian)
“Lawrence is the world’s greatest direct response researcher.”
(Gary Bencivenga, Copywriting legend)
This is REALLY GOOD STUFF! Also, GREATLY, appreciate the fact that you blew up the examples and published them in a Tabloid format.
Not everyone would go to the expense of doing that, but its the BEST way to see these examples. Thanks, AGAIN, for making this course available.
(Real estate marketing guru, Name withheld)
“Your manual has been instrumental in me writing an ad that generated over $20,000 in just two weeks, so cudos to you Lawrence.”
Dr. Ivan Carney, Temecula, CA
“My jaw is literally black and blue from hitting the floor over and over again as I got to see the techniques you’ve uncovered. I never dreamed many of these things were even possible, let alone how easy you’ve made them. The word ‘miraculous’ comes to mind.”
(Ken McCarthy, System Seminar Founder)
“If you want to learn what it really takes to sell – well, every single thing he shows has a lesson. I got two ideas this morning for something I am working on, which is actually a get-rich-slowly-but-surely educational service for marketers.”
(Drayton Bird, David Ogilvy said of him: “Drayton Bird knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world.”)
“I want to take a moment to thank you for providing these updates. You are one of those rare marketers who supports his customers LONG after the sale.
(Karl Barndt, Kuncketown, Penn.)
“I want to thank you very much for coming out to Paradise Valley. It was a great day together with you. We very much appreciate your deep knowledge, insight and love and passion for the history and present of our industry.”
(Norman Rentrop, Founder Rentrop Verlag and one of Europe’s biggest direct marketers)
“Lawrence, you are probably the most dedicated direct response scholar I’ve ever met.”
Tony Flores, Financial Copywriter and longtime #1 to Clayton Makepeace
“I think you’re a genius.”
(Christian Godefroy, European direct response legend)
“I saw you on the Gary Bencivenga retirement DVDs that I purchased. Great publicity for you.
I have to tell you, combining Gary’s wisdom with your swipe files is a lethal weapon.
Confidentially, because I’m not a braggart (in fact, you’re the first person I’ve told this to), my design partner and I have beaten A-list, world-class copywriting and design competition – 4 straight times. That’s how much I’ve benefited from–and appreciate – your material.”
(Rich Silver, Crow Moon Marketing, Dahlonega, GA )
“Brilliant examples, great commentary. This one just gave me an idea for a newsletter we’re about to launch that I think will hit large. I don’t know where you find this stuff, but I’m glad you do.”
(John Forde, Paris)
“If Lawrence has got a product for sale, you should get it!”
(Marty Edelston, Direct response legend and Founder of Boardroom Inc.)
