Only the good die young? Another one bites the dust? How do you describe the unthinkable? My mouth literally fell open at the news today that Tim Russert had died suddenly. It felt like a death in the family, although I never knew him except from his television appearances and books. Tim was one of […]
Yearly Archives: 2008
Free gas and the psychology of copywriting
It will be the hottest marketing promotion of the summer — until it runs out of gas. Companies of all kinds are giving away tankfuls of free gas as long as you buy something: a new car, hotel room, even Calloway golf clubs. With $4 a gallon fuel prices and $50-75 fill-ups becoming part of […]
Direct response "complaint" letter
When is a complaint letter like a sales letter? When it gets the immediate, affirmative response you’re looking for. Take the letter “professional complaint letter writer” Bruce Silverman wrote to the Ritz-Carlton that ended up getting him a week, totally comped, at the company’s Kapalua in Hawaii. As today’s Consumerist detailed, Silverman has been amazingly […]
Which is worse: Voice mail? Or human operators?
You could practically hear poor Seth Godin’s teeth grinding Sunday when he wrote about a recent agonizing encounter with corporate voice mail. You know the drill: you finally work your way through four or five menus, then end up with a recording, “Sorry, we’re closed.” No human employee could get away with that kind of […]
Fixing up the old blog house
Clean up, fix up, paint up” used to be the springtime motto. After a long winter of laziness and neglect (or was that just me?) the air is warm, the sun is shining, and everyone feels energized to spiff things up. For the past day or so, I put a scaffolding around this old blog […]
Google says I'm the #1 copywriter
Well, for the search term “b2b sales letters” anyway. It’s true. Of all the millions of copywriters in all the gin joints in all the world, my modest copywriting site shows up first when you Google that term. That’s way cool, I gotta admit. Even cooler is how I found out. I got a call […]
Spring: A great time for creative constipation
Overcome creative constipation — have fun