17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extraordinary value & at least one actionable idea per page, August 16, 2009
This review is from: Outrageous Advertising That's Outrageously Successful: Created for the 99% of Small Business Owners Who Are Dissatisfied with the Results They Get (Paperback)
Some books written by top marketers are essentially just sales letters, however poorly or masterfully disguised. This is not one of those books.
This is really a decade-spanning swipe file of the very best marketing campaigns Bill Glazer has seen and done.
This book is messy in the same way that good marketing is messy. It's not a book about brand-building or graphic design, it's a book about getting attention, surprising and delighting customers with provocative messages and promotions. It's sort of like Bill dumped the contents of his filing cabinet on the floor and started going through them one by one.
Most of the examples in this book are direct mail. Direct mail is a whole lot less fashionable than Facebook and online video, but done properly it commands far more attention. And since the size of most peoples' "junk mail" pile is at an all time low, mailing to existing customers and high-probability prospects is a strong bet. No sensible person can go through this book and not find a great idea they can use.
This is outstanding for retailers because of Bill's retail background. Many examples in this book are from retail.
As for my own audience, online marketers, it's good for us because it FORCES you to consider things you would never otherwise think about. Just by executing one or two of these ideas you'll put yourself in elite company.
Ideas in this book include examples of making web pages more outrageous with documented response percentages; sending things like popcorn and lunch bags and birthday specials. Placemats and x-rays and collections of winning headlines.
The only drawback is that the print in the book is sometimes fuzzy and you can't read the fine detail in the pictures. Fortunately, however, he offers a CD with all the exhibits.
Bill, thanks for putting out such a great addition to my swipe file.
Perry Marshall
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stand Out, Get Noticed and Generate More Customers, August 18, 2009
This review is from: Outrageous Advertising That's Outrageously Successful: Created for the 99% of Small Business Owners Who Are Dissatisfied with the Results They Get (Paperback)
In a world where your prospect is bombarded with millions of marketing messages this book teaches you how to get attention. Bill Glazer deconstructs outrageous advertising and shows you the components that have to be present for the outrageous to generate customers.
At the beginning Bill gives you a lot of background on the effective ways to use advertising to generate customers. Bill's an advocate of direct mail and he shows you several examples of campaigns that have worked for other people. But, rather than talking about advertising theory, Bill provides you real examples of mailings that business people have used to promote their business. Anyone can tell you what should work. Bill gives you examples that did work and tells you why.
You've probably seen ridiculous attempts by advertisers to get attention that leave you asking, "What?" In this book Bill dissects effective advertising campaigns to show you how to turn the attention you get from the outrageous and into buying activity. In chapters 5-8, Bill gives you the essential components to make your advertising effective as well as several ideas you can select from to boost your response. This book includes several split test examples so you can see the results of the letter mailed one way compared to the results of another method.
Appropriately, there's an entire chapter about follow-up campaigns. Outrageous advertising isn't all about one mailing and then done. It's about persistent communication with your customer. And, Bill's book gives you several examples of follow-up letters that are equal parts outrageous and easy to create.
I'm so glad to have this book. It'll be a huge short-cut when I'm looking for ideas to get attention and a checklist for the elements I must include to turn the attention I generate into new customers. I recommend that you add this book to your library. It'll be one of those books that pays dividends to you for years.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you have to feed your family with the ads you write, get this, September 1, 2010
This review is from: Outrageous Advertising That's Outrageously Successful: Created for the 99% of Small Business Owners Who Are Dissatisfied with the Results They Get (Paperback)
Summary: If you want better results from your advertising, and you're a small business owner, or an entrepreneurial decision-maker in large company, this could be the most valuable marketing book you read all year.
Why?
Because there are more proven, effective, immediately useful advertising tips and examples in this book than any other I can remember.
Advertising rookies will benefit from this because, if you read it early in your business career, you'll have far, far fewer bad habits to unlearn later.
Advertising veterans (like me) can pick up a half dozen new tricks every chapter on such topics as direct mail, offers, deadlines, headlines, premiums, holiday promotions, and sequential mailings.
Bottom line: If you have to feed your family tomorrow with the ads you write today, get this book.
Three takeaways:
1. Understand that there are 3 possible responses to every ad: "yes," "no," and "maybe later."
Key corollary: When you pay attention to people who say "maybe later," your profits will soar.
How to do it?
Follow up multiple times and offer valuable information that educates, informs, and ingratiates your business with your prospects. You can deliver marketing-based information to convert more "maybe" prospects into "yes" customers via web pages, email, direct mail, tele-seminars, webinars, brochures, articles, etc.
2. Think of your business card as a mini sales letter. Because it is one.
Your business card must stand out or get thrown out. Don't scrimp on this and get the $25 "name, rank, and serial number" type cards from Vista print.
Instead, put some thought into your business cards. What would you include on your cards if they were the only chance you had to impress prospects enough to call you? If you're stuck, Google "creative business cards" to get ideas.
3. You can't sell to people who don't know you exist.
This is actually the thesis of the book. Anything you can do to stand out and be memorable (within reason) will improve your advertising. Examples from the book include:
* mailing a sales letter inside a coconut, a bank pouch, a wastebasket, etc.
* personalizing your sales letters wherever possible with the prospect's name
* taping a rubber band, a nickel, or other "grabber" atop your sales letters
* tying your promotions to holidays, current events, prospects' birthdays, etc.
No, you don't have to dress up in a straitjacket and imitate the local used-car dealer on late night cable. But yes, you do have to get noticed to get customers.
Not only can you do it with your dignity intact, but you can use Outrageous Advertising to make your business fun again. That's important. Just as most cars rust out before their engines wear out, most small business owners tire of their businesses before their customers and markets tire of them.
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