Customer Reviews

Scientific Advertising

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All the modern giants of advertising still swear by this book. Ogilvy even claimed it changed his life (in advertising anyway, but who knows, advertising is Ogilvy's life). The book is amazing in both its simple and direct approach. It's relatively short, yet packed with information of use to anyone interested in advertising.

Hopkins essentially invented many of the concepts that so many advertisers take for granted today, chief among them what seems like a simple idea: the coupon. And even today, many advertisers fail to get results when they stray from his teachings.

One of the most famous examples of failing to follow his teachings: the "Got Milk" campaign. Sure, it seems clever and it's definitely high profile, but from a marketing standpoint, it's a flop. Milk sales have not moved upward at all despite the fact that milk producers are now several years into the campaign. Want to know why it failed? Read Hopkins's book.

Whether you are an individual considering a career in advertising or an businessperson trying to figure out how best to market your business, start with Hopkins and then move onto the rest.

All advertising before "Scientific Advertising" flows into it; and all advertising after "Scientific Advertising" flows out of it.

Claude Hopkins invented test marketing, sampling technology and the concept of pre-emptive advertising. The concepts he reveals in this book have been used by advertisers for decades and he is recognized by marketing experts such as Jay Abraham as a genius in his field. Scientific Advertising is an all-time classic book and you'll want to read it at least three times. Each reading will provide you with profound insights into how to market any product or service.

There is an old saying that goes, "there is nothing new but what has been forgotten." Advertising is about 100 years old, but the science and art behind what appears to buying psychology, really hasn't changed that much. If you study this work of Claude C. Hopkins, you will understand that he pioneered methods that are still used today. David Ogilvy was another one of these pioneers, and he said, "no one should be in advertising that has not read Scientific Advertising at least seven times." If you study any of the notable marketing gurus today (e.g. - Dan Kennedy), they are just positioning what Claude has said in a contemporary format. And even marketing for the Internet - if you look beyond the HTML bells and whistles - is still utilizing the basic psychology of sales letter generation, and copywriting, that Claude pioneered.
www.randykempcopywriting.com

This book is great! I read it cover to cover and found many good techniques and strategy's that i applied to PPC marketing.

Scientific advertising is a wonderful book and Claude Hopkins is a genius. He lays down the basis for direct mail advertising. His text is clear, insightful and still applicable in the Internet age...

That said, I would advise people NOT to buy this edition of the book.

It's full of typos, spelling errors and incomplete sentences. The publishers (really simple media) are obviously just a bunch of amateurs taking advantage of the fact that this masterpiece is in the public domain.

Spend your hard-earned cash on a decent used copy of Scientific Advertising instead of buying this unprofessional edition....

Before you purchase this book, you must know that it was written so long ago that the english used is, well... old school for lack of a better cliche.

With that being said, this is the book that started marketing. Before this book and Claude Hopkins, there was no discipline called marketing. So you have to give the man the respect he deserves. In his day, Claude Hopkins revolutionized the world with his ideas on marketing. In particular, he created the science of marketing by applying the scientific principle to advertising. The very definition of marketing which is the ability to quantify and measure your advertising efforts (if you aren't measuring how well your ads are doing then you are not doing marketing at all but instead PR) came from this man, in this book.

If Claude Hopkins was alive today, he would absolutely dominate Internet marketing.

Yes, the concepts are way dated. Yes, the english used is hard to understand and follow at certain points. No, this book will not cause your sales to triple by giving you an easy, step by step roadmap to follow. But does that mean it isn't worth reading? I think not. Anyone who is on a quest to become a master marketer must buy this book. As the cliche goes, if you don't know where you've been, then how do you know where you are going?

From the author of Internet Marketing-Profits That Lie Hidden In Your Website: How To Triple Your Web Sales In 25 Days

Yes, this book may seem a little dated at times. However, its fundamental message is sound and easily applied to todays world.

This book was recommended to me by several other marketing masters. After reading it I could understand why they recommend it so strongly. Too many new marketers get caught up in the latest fads without ever truly understanding marketing. This book explains the "why" behind the strategies. This is especially helpful when you are going to make changes to your marketing or advertising. Now the changes are based on a solid understanding of what works and what doesn't.

When Hopkins wrote "Scientific Advertising" in 1923, there was no internet (nor was there in 1932 when he passed), so to expect him to cover it is a little ludicrous. However, in those few pages, Hopkins gets to the guts of the issue--advertising's intention is to sell products. So many advertising people these days think it is to win awards. If one were to learn the words in this little book, and then follow them, one would make a lot of money selling a lot of product or services. That's what the purpose of advertising is, isn't it?

The advice given in this book is timeless. Hopkins was truly ahead of his time. Do no let the 101 page length fool you. This book is packed with valuable knowledge. Highly recommended for anyone with their own business or anyone in the advertising/marketing game.