Posted by: Clayton Makepeace
August 27, 2010
Issue #998

Lovable Scoundrels
Part One

My Secret Weapon:
The “unfair advantage” that has helped me
beat the competition into submission since 1995:
How you can have it, too …

Dear Business-Builder,

They say the ultimate in “chutzpah” is killing your parents, then asking the judge for mercy because you’re an orphan.

I know – gross. But you gotta admire people who know what they want and who’ll go to just about any lengths to get it.

Like the guy I knew who landed an airplane, unannounced at a KGB listening post at the Arctic Circle and bribed a Soviet Colonel to lend him a helicopter – just so his son could make it into The Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest person ever to visit the North Pole.

Or the infamous mercenary and publisher of Soldier of Fortune magazine I spent a day and a raucous evening with in 1980 who got himself invited to tag along on the Bay of Pigs Invasion just for grins.

Or the guy I met just last week, who sold Castro a boatload of coffee for $1.8 million – cash in advance – then told the Cuban authorities his boat had sunk on its way to Havana.

I don’t care who you are; this stuff is priceless.

One of the most lovable scoundrels I’ve ever met
is a guy named Larry Owen …

I met Larry at Will’s Honky Tonk – “A sunny spot for shady people” – one of the raunchiest biker bars in Florida back in 1995. I was just walking away from the bar with an iced-down brewski when I overhead someone mention that he owned an advertising agency.

I spun on my heel and introduced myself. “My name’s Clayton; I’m in advertising too – I’m a copywriter.” Larry gave me a dismissive glance; “I’m Larry Owen,” he said in the most disinterested tone of voice imaginable. “Give me your card – maybe I can give you some work, someday.”

Don’t know if it was what he said or how he said it, but something about his reply really torqued me off. “I’m booked for five years in advance,” I said. Here’s my card … maybe I can give YOU some work.”

At that moment a great friendship was born. Over the years, we terrorized Florida on our Harleys. We kicked up our heels at countless Bike Weeks in Daytona – along with a half-million other bikers. We tore up Sloppy Joe’s every fall at the Key West Poker run.

Larry and I also grabbed The Redhead and whichever girlfriend Larry was charming out of her socks at the time and spent weeks touring Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina. And we’ve been invited guests at some of the most obscenely outrageous parties thrown by some of the baddest outlaw biker gangs around (yes, you know their names!).

… And together, we created dozens of direct mail promotions that literally blew away everything my clients’ competitors had in the mail.

Because you see, Larry’s my Secret Weapon …

Without Larry, my now-famous promotions for Safe Money Report … the promos that enabled us to mail up to three million pieces per month while our competitors could only mail one-tenth as many … the promos that made that newsletter the largest and most successful of its kind in the world … wouldn’t have been anywhere near as successful as they proved to be.

And without Larry, my “23-Cent Lifesaver” promotion for Health Resources would not have mailed 30 million pieces over a couple of years.

Now, Larry is known for running with scissors and coloring outside the lines. So a couple of years ago, he disappeared. Turns out, he took almost two years off traveling solo and living throughout Central and South America. He spent months living with friends in a tree house on a Colombian island off Costa Rica, and at the boats-only city of Bocas del Toro, Panama.

And when he returned, his inbox was flooded with e-mails (and more than a few suggestive snapshots) from ladies who’d caught “Larry Fever” throughout Central America.

Now, Larry’s back at work – and once again, he’s turning out amazing direct mail promotions for major national clients in the health and investment industries.

What Larry Owen knows that could rocket your response
– beginning right now …

As you might suspect, I’ve worked with dozens of graphic designers over the years. Most were little more than computer nerds who had learned how to use Quark Express, PageMaker or InDesign – but who knew nothing at all about marketing, let alone how to create direct mail that people will actually read.

And of course, most of the rest were design school grads who’d been taught how to make a page look “cool” … or “pretty” – and who wouldn’t dream of junking up their precious white space with ugly type.

That’s where Larry Owen rises head and shoulders above the pack.

See, Larry began as an ad man – creative director for McCann-Erickson and J. Walter Thompson – cutting his teeth on memorable, even legendary campaigns for Coca-Cola, Chick-fil-A, Bosch & Lomb, Hilton Hotels, Sea World, Six Flags, Georgia Pacific, Wells Fargo Bank and many others.

That means Larry understands what it takes to create direct mail that actually increases response.

Want a sample of Larry’s work for your swipe file?
OK – here’s one …

Take a look at this PDF and you’ll see: Larry knows five things that have rocketed my response – and that can do the same for you:

1. If it doesn’t stop your prospect in his tracks, it won’t get read. As Larry’s laying out his promotions, he visualizes his prospect standing at the mailbox or at the kitchen counter sorting the mail. He imagines that the mail is full of strong controls by his client’s biggest competitors. And he crafts covers and envelopes that make it impossible to look away.
2. If it doesn’t make reading inviting and easy, it won’t get read. Larry is a past master at using the findings of the legendary Daniel Starch/McGraw-Hill Readership Study to lay my copy out so that it almost reads itself. From his type selection and size to his line length, to his management of widows and orphans, he removes every possible barrier to readership. And every spread is replete with pull-quotes and other devices to stop scanners in their tracks and to pull them down into the text.
3. If it doesn’t use photos, illustrations and other devices to communicate quickly and add credibility – and to keep prospects reading – it won’t produce a sale. In all my years, I’ve never seen a designer who’s better than Larry at incorporating images into copy in ways that deepen interest and readership – especially crucial in the long-copy tomes I’m known for writing.
4. If it doesn’t use what we know about color psychology to emotionally “heat up” the prospect, it won’t do jack. See, Larry knows how to use colors to put prospects at ease while your copy raises their emotional temperature.

Put simply, Larry knows that he only has five tasks in every promotion – and none of them have anything to do with making it “pretty.”

That’s why every promotion Larry creates does an outstanding job of …

A) Grabbing his prospect’s attention and instantly convert that attention to readership …

B) Making reading the page inviting and easy …

C) Forcing casual scanners into the text …

D) Including action devices on every spread with your toll-free number prominently displayed along with directions on where to go to find your order form, and …

E) Making your response device inviting and easy to use.

My advice:

• If you want a crackerjack designer who’ll add response points to your next campaign … who’ll turn your project around lickety-split … and who will NOT charge you a king’s ransom, drop Larry an e-mail at larryowen26@gmail.com. (Important: Better do it now; he’s laying out his work schedule for the next six months and his dance card is filling up fast!)
• If you’d welcome a way to learn how to create direct mail formats and design that amplifies response, stay tuned! Larry has generously agreed to take time from is busy schedule to break it all down and show you how a graphic designer thinks when creating a winning package.

So, watch your inbox next Friday for part two as my buddy Larry gives you his anatomy of a direct mail WINNER!

Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,

Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

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9 Comments »

1. Comment by Doc Rogers — August 27, 2010 @ 10:25 am

   Very, very great advice!! Thank you.

2. Comment by Robert Schwarztrauber — August 27, 2010 @ 10:50 am

   I’m constantly blown away by your ability to come up with the most interesting stories that lead us to the point.

   Maybe you could share a post on “How to tell a good and relevant story.” Or, “How to create (or find) good story threads for your promotions.”

   You certainly have it mastered. No doubt an important ingredient in your phenomenal success.

3. Comment by Doberman Dan — August 27, 2010 @ 1:06 pm

   I worked with Larry on a direct mail project recently and was completely blown away by the magic he performed.

   The guy knows marketing like no other… and is one of the most talented designers I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with.

   I was hoping to keep him all to myself… but now that Clayton has spilled the beans I guess I won’t be able to do that.

   If you have any direct mail design work you need done, you should do WHATEVER it takes to get on Larry’s calendar… while you still can.

   All the best,
   Doberman Dan

4. Comment by Mike Humphreys — August 27, 2010 @ 1:53 pm

   Great story and great swipe too!

   One quick piece of advice for you (or your webmaster for that matter). Don’t use clickable links for email addresses like Larry’s… it makes them harvestable for spammers that collect emails to bombard. I’d suggest making it a graphic instead.

   Take care,

   Mike

5. Comment by Robert Heiney — August 27, 2010 @ 6:20 pm

   OK. I confess. I actually came here first. Why? Because the teaser email was just so damned good. I checked the by-line and sure enough - good ole Clayton Makepeace with another double espresso full of great advice. The email was irresistible. I was dragged out of my comfortable Outlook mail client like a helpless baby taken from its crib, right into this website. And that is truly the essence of great copywriting. Generating readership which leads to action. Hopefully purchasing action. That’s the reason why Clayton has made so much money over the past few decades.

6. Comment by Jonathan Gunson — August 27, 2010 @ 9:54 pm

   The power of a story and a hook eh Clayton?

   As always

   Jonathan Gunson

7. Comment by Rezbi — August 28, 2010 @ 12:20 am

   “If you’d welcome a way to learn how to create direct mail formats and design that amplifies response”

   Now that’s something to look forward to.

   You’ve got my attention.

8. Comment by Buffalo Roofing Dan — August 30, 2010 @ 10:59 am

   Loved your response to Larry! Hilarious! I have to remember to keep that kind of confidence and wit!

   Great article with great content as always.

9. Comment by Alkaline Water Guru — August 31, 2010 @ 12:35 pm

   Thank you for this excellent information, Clayton. I would love to do this, but how would you tie in the direct marketing campaign to match the website? Wouldn’t the website it referred to be of the same message? I would think that would need to be in order first. If it’s only direct mail, that shouldn’t be a problem, but more likely than not, a website is referenced?
   Thanks,
   Brad