First, he’ll reveal the techniques he … Continue reading →]]> As if to debunk rumors that Clayton Makepeace is a mythological creature – a possible cousin of Big Foot — the big guy has agreed to speak at AWAI’s 2012 Boot Camp, October 24-28!

First, he’ll reveal the techniques he uses to create video sales letters that attract armies of new customers…

And, second, he’ll host a workshop on how to make your benefits sparkle!

This is the first and ONLY time Clayton has spoken ANYWHERE in three long years! He’s been too busy creating winning campaigns for his clients. So I’d suggest you jump on over to AWAI and check this out for yourself.

Here’s the link: http://www.awaionline.com/b12/makepeace

We’re looking forward to seeing YOU in October!

Wendy “The Redhead” Makepeace

But, don’t worry…we’re still here!

Please feel free to let us know if you have any questions. You can do so by posting right here on the blog…or…email me … Continue reading →]]> Thanks everyone for all the wonderful comments. They are greatly appreciated.

But, don’t worry…we’re still here!

Please feel free to let us know if you have any questions. You can do so by posting right here on the blog…or…email me at our support email box at support@makepeacetotalpackage.com. I try to check it every day to see if there are any customer service questions that need to be answered.

And, don’t forget, all of Clayton’s articles are still available at the top of this page under the masthead. Just click the “Archive” link.

Plus, you’ll find some very valuable information in the “Copywriters Tools” section. In this section you’ll find our extensive Direct Response Glossary, Interviews with some of the top copywriters in the field and recommendations from Clayton on what you should be reading.

I’ll look forward to hearing from you!

Yours for Every Success,

Wendy Makepeace
General Manager
The Total Package

Dear Business Builder,

Seems like only yesterday I was writing the very first post on this blog. Actually, it was the end of June in 2005; five years and seven … Continue reading →]]> By Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor,
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

Dear Business Builder,

Seems like only yesterday I was writing the very first post on this blog. Actually, it was the end of June in 2005; five years and seven months ago.

Since then, we’ve …

• Attracted nearly 40,000 regular readers …
• Published 1,110 issues …
• Hosted well over 100 marketers and copywriters at our “Power Marketing Summit” at $5,000 per seat …
• Held dozens of webinars and teleseminars and created dozens of products to help you succeed …
• Received more than 1,500 pages of “Thank-You” letters and testimonials for our efforts …
• And learned one heck of a lot about the nuts and bolts of online publishing(!).

And the one thing this experience has made me absolutely sure of is that I always want to have an e-letter and a website that keep you and me in touch with each other.

But now, I find myself at a very different place in life than when I launched this blog in 2005. And far greater changes lie ahead.

For one, I’m turning 59 this year – nearly six years closer to the time when, as my friend Gary Bencivenga so eloquently phrased it, I will “lay down my pen.”

No, I am NOT planning to retire anytime soon – in fact, I still get bored over long weekends. But the fact that my 60s are just over one year away calls for some significant changes.

For instance: I’ve often told you that one of the greatest benefits this copywriter’s lifestyle affords me is that I get to decide how much money I want to make. If I want or need more, I simply accept additional clients and work additional hours.

So, with my 60s rushing at me like a run-away freight train, I’ve chosen to spend the next several years fattening the kitty for my eventual retirement. I’ve already added one additional client and plan to accept one; maybe two more in the weeks ahead. And of course, that means I’ll have significantly less time to spend on The Total Package.

Another big development for The Redhead and me: Our kids are grown up! Our younger daughter goes away to college this year. Our son, who is about one year younger will follow her soon.

That means we no longer need to brave the frigid North Carolina mountain winters. But before we can remove to warmer climes (most likely, to Prescott, Arizona), there are the little matters of selling our 25-acre estate here in the Smokies and doing some serious down-sizing.

With me putting the pedal to the metal at work, supervising all that remodeling and other projects is falling into The Redhead’s lap – a fact that means she will also have significantly less time to spend on running this e-letter.

… So we’re simplifying
this blog in several ways:

First, as you know, we have now closed our online store. If we introduce new products in the future, they will be offered via e-mail and in our regular issues. That alone vastly simplifies our operation.

Second, you are now viewing the new, simplified version of this blog. It still contains all the things you’ve come to value most here – including all of my back-issues, free copywriting and marketing tools, the opportunity for you to comment on articles, etc.

Third, we will no longer publish articles by other authors. So, to keep up with any of our contributing editors, you’ll need to subscribe to their free ezines and/or visit their websites by clicking the appropriate links below:

• Gary Bencivenga
• Michael Masterson
• Drayton Bird
• Daniel Levis
• Troy White
• John Forde
• Carline Anglade-Cole

Fourth, instead of publishing my articles on a regular schedule (every Monday, come hell or high water,) I will publish articles when I have a new idea or technique that’s just too good to keep to myself – kind of like Gary Bencivenga and others do now.

The best way to be notified when a new article is available will be to use an RSS feed to send each article directly to your computer’s home page. The link is below:

http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/feed/

Fifth, we’re keeping the e-mail address for customer care active; you can still send questions or comments to support@makepeacetotalpackage.com.

Finally, sincere “Thank-Yous”
are in order …

I don’t mind admitting that I’m extremely, unabashedly proud of everything we’ve accomplished in The Total Package since we published our first issue way back in June of 2005.

As I’ve often said, our greatest rewards are the thousands of notes from readers who’ve thanked us for helping them.

So now, it’s my turn to give thanks – first, for the wonderful people who have helped us publish this e-letter nearly every day for all these years … who helped develop our products … and who single-handedly untangled the inevitable customer service SNAFUs that all marketers are heir to – particularly to Jill, Martha and Pete, who will soon be leaving us.

And secondly, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Daniel Levis, Troy White and all of our contributing editors for the wealth of direct response wisdom they have provided in these pages. Without you guys, this rag could never even have begun to enjoy the success that it has.

Finally, thank YOU, dear reader, for your friendship and loyalty over the years. I can’t begin to count how many times your blog posts and e-mails have touched our hearts and made us grateful for the opportunity to help you in some small way.

You also have my word that we will continue to be here for you, publishing special issues when time permits and most importantly, when we have something we’re sure can make a big difference for you.

Until then, I am … sincerely, with all my heart …

Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,

Clayton Makepeace

Pursuing a copywriting career is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme. It can, however, be the single best idea you ever had.

So whatever you do, do NOT be discouraged. If you need encouragement, just … Continue reading →]]> Dear Business-Builder,

Pursuing a copywriting career is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme. It can, however, be the single best idea you ever had.

So whatever you do, do NOT be discouraged. If you need encouragement, just look at how far you’ve come; all the stuff you know now that you didn’t know a week, month or year ago.

Resolve to do whatever it takes in the short term to reap the long-term rewards. Stick with it. Redouble your efforts. Refuse to accept anything but success.

Take my word for it:

The first time a client wires six figures into your bank account to pay you for two weeks’ work, you’ll be glad you hung in there.

In that moment, all the hours you worked to perfect your craft … all the rejection you faced in finding your first few clients … and all the sacrifices you made to build your copywriting business … will all be worth it.

Yes, it’s going to take some effort on your part.

If you think this is easy … if you sleepwalk through your work … if you fail to invest the mental and physical energy required to get the details right … if you resent honest, well-meant criticism … and if you’re going to cut and run the first time the going gets tough, there’s not much I or anyone else can do to help you.

But if, as my high school football coach loved to say, you’re eager to pour 110 percent of your genius, your creativity and your energy into this …

If you’re willing to take the time and expend the energy to do it right … and obsess about the minute details that must be right to bring in every last sale …

If you’re willing to expend every ounce of mental and physical energy at your command … take your best shot … accept the consequences … take a hard, honest look at what you did right and what you did wrong … and learn your lessons …

… And if, when all else fails, you can muster the will to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and do it better next time …

… There’s no stopping you. Whether you’ve made it yet or not, you’re a winner in my book. And someday soon, you’ll find yourself relishing the winner’s rewards.

… Now, it’s time to go to work.

But what if nobody wants to hire you? Or worse: You create the best campaign you know how to create – and it flops?

Look. Let me tell you something that all the gurus out there probably won’t.

It’s not until you begin applying this stuff in the real world that you REALLY begin to learn!

Unless and until you persevere through the rejection that’s required prior to bagging your first real clients … and until you suffer the humiliation of getting your butt kicked – repeatedly and publicly – by real prospects when there’s real money on the line … you’re still just a student.

Students have to pay to learn. Once you begin doing, others PAY YOU to learn.

Sure – you’re going to have to bang the phones for hours every day until you get a client – and those first few clients may not be worth a bucket of warm spit.

You’re going to have to create five, ten, twenty or even more promotions before you get your first huge winner.

Courage – true courage – means being scared to death and then doing what needs to be done anyway.

You can do this. I know you can.

Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,

Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

P.S. What’s standing between you and the success you crave?

What are you afraid of?

What’s keeping you from sending your writing samples to a client who could make your career and then calling him or her to close the deal?

What’s keeping you from partnering with a copywriter/marketer who could take your company to the moon?

The best definition of the word “courage” I’ve ever heard is … “Being afraid and doing the right thing anyway.”

So here’s your assignment for today: Identify the one thing that stands between you and the success you dream about – the one thing that terrifies you the most.

And then – DO IT.

Looking for past issues of The Total Package? Click here for our archives.

Want to share or reprint this article? Feel free. Just give us full attribution and a link to our Home Page when you do.

Attribution Statement: This article was first published in The Total Package. To sign-up to receive your own FREE subscription to The Total Package and claim four FREE money making e-books go to www.makepeacetotalpackage.com.

Dear Business-Builder,

Without it, there would be no second marriages … no cheering crowds behind Hillary, Obama or John on the six o’clock news … and of … Continue reading →]]> “The Triumph of Hope Over Experience”

Dear Business-Builder,

Without it, there would be no second marriages … no cheering crowds behind Hillary, Obama or John on the six o’clock news … and of course, no Las Vegas.

The fact is, no matter how cynical, negative or worldly-wise each of us wants the world to think we are, all of us want to believe. Desperately.

And the simple fact is, hundreds of billions of dollars are earned each year by marketers who do little else but:

1. Identify a deep-seated desire that is resident in a particular market niche,
2. Create a promo that suspends their prospects’ disbelief and
3. Step back and allow the prospect’s desire to believe to do the rest.

Take Vegas, for instance. We all know it’s the world’s greatest fleecing machine. We know that there are no games of chance there – that the odds are heavily weighted in favor of the casinos.

And yet even those of us who never expect to beat the house happily fork over thousands for travel, lodging and food – and then blissfully lose thousands more at the tables, knowing from experience that we’re being played for suckers.

Now I ask you: Is this anything a sentient, self-respecting, intelligent creature would do?

No. And that’s the whole point.

We are NOT sentient, self-respecting intelligent creatures. We only tell ourselves that we are. The truth is, we are driven by emotion. We only use our thinking brain to rationalize those emotional decisions after they’re made.

Think that’s an overstatement?

Don’t tell me, tell one of my former crackerjack copywriters. A while back, she found a medical study you should consider …

Seems some people who suffer minimal brain damage retain their cognitive ability – their ability to reason – but lose their ability to feel any emotion. And when a major medical institution studied these poor souls, they found something fascinating …

When deprived of their ability to feel emotion, these still-intelligent, rational, thinking people were incapable of making ANY decision. They couldn’t even decide which shirt to wear … what to order in a restaurant … or how to manage their money!

I’m thrilled we found that study. Because it proves beyond the shadow of a doubt something I’ve been talking and writing about for years:

If we made our spending decisions on the basis of logic, nobody would buy a new car – suffering the massive depreciation that slams you when you drive it off the lot. Heck: We wouldn’t buy any kind of car – new OR used – for that matter. We’d all be riding the Metro. Or the bus. Or a bicycle.

The same is true about designer clothing … makeup … expensive watches … high-calorie food with low nutritional value.

And who in his right mind would spend more than a few hundred bucks a month on a place to live – especially in these days of plunging home values?

Frankly, I’d be hard-pressed to think of much that we spend money on that makes any logical sense at all. We buy them simply because we want to believe.

We want to believe – so desperately – that these things will make us feel more confident … more successful … more secure … more fulfilled … happier … that we spend our entire lives mindlessly pursuing them.

Just get up early tomorrow morning and turn on CNBC – or just about any cable channel that runs infomercials at night – and you’ll see what I mean.

Put on your thinking cap, now …

If I told you there was a non-prescription pill – made entirely of vitamins and minerals – that will grow hair on a cue ball. Would you believe me?

Preposterous – right? After all: If vitamins and minerals reversed male pattern baldness, only anorexics and bulimics would lose their hair.

How about “the size of a certain part of a man’s body?” Would you believe that a few vitamins and minerals will magically transform a water spout into a fire hose?

Wouldn’t obese guys be the most “blessed” of all?

What? You don’t believe this stuff? You know what? Nobody does!

But you know what else? There’s an infomercial on TV that’s generating millions and millions in sales for an all-natural hair-regrowth product and another that’s making some scam artist rich selling vitamins that make your thingy bigger.

Why would anyone with an IQ larger than his shoe size buy such an obviously stupid product?

Because we desperately want to believe. We want to believe so much that a few simple testimonials and/or a floozy batting her false eyelashes at us causes us to suspend all disbelief and crack open our wallets.

You don’t have to prove your case beyond the shadow of a doubt. But you do have to give your prospect an excuse he can give his spouse for spending the money. A reason why – although he’s surely a sentient, intelligent person, it was logical to suspend his disbelief – just this once.

Hope this helps – I’m going to spend some time brushing up on my basic Blackjack strategy now …

[sniplet clayton_sig]

Dear Business-Builder,

I’ve been Googling myself again …

Just to see what kind of scuttlebutt we’re getting on the web these days. That always cheers me up.

And, I found … Continue reading →]]> A rant.

Dear Business-Builder,

I’ve been Googling myself again …

Just to see what kind of scuttlebutt we’re getting on the web these days. That always cheers me up.

And, I found 199,999 positive listings about The Total Package – and one crappy one …

Now don’t get me wrong – the vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of websites that mention us say only good things.

But in one of them – just one – I found a site owner who’s bitching about the fact that we offer products <gasp> FOR SALE!

Now, this person said nothing about the more than 1,000 articles that we offer in our archives – thousands upon thousands of pages packed with business-building, career-building, response-building insights and advice – all for free.

… Or that we bring you the best response-boosting and money-making ideas, advice and insights from legendary pros like Drayton Bird, Gary Bencivenga, Bob Bly, Yanik Silver, Michael Masterson and many others – all for free.

… Or that we bring you tons of extra ways to intensify and broaden your understanding of direct marketing with fantastic articles about what’s working now by working pros like Daniel Levis, Troy White, Carline Anglade-Cole, Wendy Montes de Oca, and others – all for free.

… Or that we’ve also gone to the trouble to create a comprehensive direct response glossary and other online tools you can use anytime – all for free.

… Or that we spend a not-so-small fortune to pay the wonderful employees – administrators, web designers and subscriber services people to bring all of this to you – all for free.

… Or that our readers have sent us nearly 2,000 unsolicited letters thanking us for all of this and saying how much money we’ve added to their income – all for free.

… Or that neither Wendy nor I or anyone else in my family has ever taken a single solitary penny in return for all this – or that every dime earned through the sale of our products is re-invested to help more marketers grow their businesses – all for free.

No, this bitter, angry old gasbag has her panties in a knot because we also offer a handful of products for sale.

Now I’m not sure; but I can only assume that this holier-than-thou blogger gives away her work product for free – and then panhandles on street corners for change needed to stuff Big Macs into her gaping pie hole.

Otherwise, she is worse than just a harmless idiot. She’s also a brazen hypocrite.

But such is the Web. A place where millions of deadbeats have come to believe that they are entitled to benefit from the fruit of others’ labors for free. And most amusing, a place where charlatans posing as marketers can deride good people who overdeliver and undercharge for great products online.

Now, I’d like to be able say this is the very first time
anyone has said anything this stupid to us or about us.

Unfortunately, it is not.

The fact that we spend a bunch of time, skull sweat and money to create in-depth educational products for our readers – and then have the effrontery to ask a fair price for them – has offended other readers over the years.

Heck: I even included a passage for these folks in our “Welcome Aboard” letter – and I quote:

“… Every once-in-a-while, some yahoo is insulted that we have the unmitigated gall to ask for money in return for a service rendered or a product delivered.

“They’re shocked – SHOCKED, I tell you – that we would dare to advertise and market a product in an e-letter on advertising and marketing(!).

“My advice to these guys? “If you think it’s wrong to ask for money in return for bringing tremendous value to people … if you think advertising is evil … there is a very good chance that you could be … IN THE WRONG BUSINESS!

“’Nevertheless,’” I continue, ‘you can still enjoy The Total Package without getting your panties in a knot: Just resolve not to think of our ads as ads!

“’Pretend they’re like a swipe file: Real-world samples of some pretty darned effective sales copy by a top writer that you get for FREE – in addition to your free subscription!’”

“There.” I said, having written the passage above, “That should allow any spoiled-rotten, world-owes-me-a-living bum, mooch or deadbeat … any schizophrenic, conflicted, muddle-minded airhead who holds himself out as a marketer but who inwardly despises marketing … any commie bastard who believes it’s our duty to sweat, strain and spend our money to help them.

“Now even those morons can enjoy The Total Package – just by pretending our promos are just free additions to their swipe files.”

Evidently, it hasn’t worked as well as I’d hoped.

So is there a point in all this? A lesson to be learned?

Sure. Three, in fact.

First, if you’re going to do anything with your life, you need to know right up front that you will have critics.

Scratch that. First, you’ll have doubters. Friends, family, even spouses who can’t dream as big as you can. Hopefully, they’ll love you enough to support you anyway.

But then, as you actually begin to succeed, a jealous and insecure few will attempt to reduce you through criticism. Because the bigger you get, the smaller they feel. And of course, the more successful you are, the more critics you’re likely to get.

A while back, a presidential candidate was heard to say, “You know you’re over the target when you begin taking flak.” When losers criticize you, consider it a badge of honor.

Second, examine your core beliefs. You’d be surprised at how many people who inwardly hate marketing have chosen to become marketers simply because they believe it’s a good way to make money.

The best marketers are those who rejoice every time a well-done promotion hits their mailbox or inbox … who study it carefully for the thoughts behind the thoughts and for the nuances that make the difference between merely great copy and truly excellent copy.

As the great Bob King is famous for saying, marketing should be the art and science of bringing value to consumers’ lives at a price that is insignificant relative to that value.

If the products you promote do that, you are doing mankind a favor. Any core belief that prevents you from feeling good about improving your prospects’ lot in life should be unceremoniously discarded.

Of course, if you don’t honestly believe the products you’re promoting provide tremendous value, you’ll be a much happier and much more fulfilled person if you’ll find another product that does.

And if you’re promoting great products and still despise what you do, please – for Buddha’s sake – find another career! No amount of money in the world is worth loathing yourself for earning it.

Third, everything in life – including a free subscription to The Total Package – is a transaction. There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Or as Robert Heinlein was wont to say, “TANSTAAFL.” Or, as the Apostle Paul famously wrote, “"You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing," and "The laborer is worthy of his wages."

Never, never, NEVER hesitate to require compensation that’s commensurate with the value you’re bringing to your clients.

[sniplet clayton_sig]

Back in the old days – when 99% of my business was creating direct mail promotions – it was a well-known fact that there are two crucial “hot points” for marketing every year: January … Continue reading →]]> Dear Business-Builder,

Back in the old days – when 99% of my business was creating direct mail promotions – it was a well-known fact that there are two crucial “hot points” for marketing every year: January and September.

Why? Well, because these two months signal watershed events in our prospects’ lives.

In January, we’ve just endured the holidays. We ate too much, drank too much, gained too much weight and did too little work.

In September, we’d just survived the summer. We ate too much, drank too much, gained too much weight and did too little work.

So on these two dates, we feel guilty, fatter, poorer – and more than a little panicked that our lives deviated from the mean – than at any other time of the year.

And so, beginning bright and early on January 2 and September 2 as our heads begin to clear, we observe our semi-annual penitence: A time for agonizing reappraisals of our priorities. A time for resolutions. A time to reapply our proboscises to the proverbial grindstone.

You know what? Nothing has changed. Because human nature never changes.

Ever hear of The Hangover Prayer? Most of us have used it. First you kneel (usually in front of a porcelain alter), close your eyes, and tug on The Almighty’s robe: “Dear God,” you intone, “please, please, please don’t let me die. I promise I’ll never, EVER drink again.”

“Oh – and this time, I mean it!”

I’ve often thought that, because of the sheer volume of praying that occurs on those two days – they should be declared official religious holidays. I mean; why not? Almost nobody shows up for work anyway!

At any rate, since January marks the beginning of a period of renewed commitments and intensity, millions of our prospects will be looking for products and services to help them actually deliver on their resolutions this time around.

So expect more ads for Weight Watchers and NutriSystem on TV … more health and wealth promotions in your mail box … and more promos for self-help products of all stripes in your inbox.

Also, you may want to mark your calendar: The next big opportunity to sell the heck out of your self-help products comes in just 235 days.

But that’s not what I’m really writing about, here. I’m thinking about the resolutions I’ve already made this year …

• To shed a ton of weight and get back in shape.
• To launch a new consumer product online every six weeks – eight in the next year.
• Most importantly, to spend more time with the two greatest kids on the planet. And to do my darndest to make sure that The Redhead is the happiest married lady in the galaxy.

But that’s just the “what.”

Now, it’s time for the tough part: “HOW?”

See, this is where most resolutions fall apart. We all know what we should do and beyond that, what we need to do to turn our dreams into reality. It’s crafting an action plan – and then sticking to it – that flummoxes us.

Now, I’m not going to try to tell you I’m the most disciplined guy you’ll ever meet. If I did, The Redhead and all our employees and friends would probably jump on this blog and make me into a laughingstock.

Truth is, I’m probably the least disciplined guy I know. I love to procrastinate. Giving myself the day off is one of the great joys of my life. So if any of my resolutions have a prayer of lasting more than a nanosecond, I know I’ll need three things:

1. A clear vision of what I want my life to be like on September 2, 2011 …
2. A detailed daily or even hourly action plan that ensures that I do everything required to get there, and …
3. People to keep me accountable along the way.

Of course, reams have been written by self-help gurus about #1 and #2 above.

Item #1 is simply positive thinking … keeping your vision before you … and making it as tangible as possible in your mind.

And we’ve all heard – ad nauseam – that the tactical part, item #2 above is crucial because the Devil really is in the details.

But you know what? Giving ourselves excuses for our failure to carry though – justifying our lack of discipline – is the killer.

So we all need a nag.

Someone who knows us as well as we know ourselves … who can see through our excuses … and who doesn’t mind (better yet, delights in) providing the swift kick in the keester we need to get back on track.

And we also need help from people who aren’t quite as close – strangers, even.

I’ve heard that Weight Watchers is far more effective at helping folks lose weight than any other diet plan out there. And for me, that has proved true.

Why? Because every Thursday at 5:30, I knew I’d hear a total stranger say, “OK – so jump up on the scale and let’s see how you did.”

And every week, the number that stranger would give me blew away every rationalization, every excuse, every little indulgence I thought I’d gotten away with right out of the water.

In that one moment, rationalization I’d indulged in was exposed for what it was: Mental monkey-spanking; pure and simple.

So priority #1 is to find people who’ll nail me when I screw up.

Next, someone who’s job it is to notice when I do things right.

Like Martha-the-customer-care babe, for instance. I once told her, “Your new job is to notice when I lose weight and to say so.”

Next day, I had an e-mail: “You look so skinny,” Martha said, “It looks like a whole family of Gypsies just moved out of the seat of your pants.”

I beamed.

That’s my plan – what’s yours?

What are your goals for the next 235 days? Where do you want to be on September 2, 2011?

What do you need to do to get there?

Who’s going to help keep you honest as you work towards your goal?

Share your ideas with us – and maybe pick up some helpful ideas in the blog below …

[sniplet clayton_sig]

Dear Business Builder,

The New Year is officially here, and Clayton is getting back in the proverbial saddle after a … Continue reading →]]> Here’s your SECOND holiday gift
… to start your New Year off with a bang!

Dear Business Builder,

The New Year is officially here, and Clayton is getting back in the proverbial saddle after a much-needed break.

But that doesn’t mean he isn’t thinking about you!

In fact, he told me to give you a special gift to get your New Year off to a revenue-rocketing start. It’s a recording of one of our most popular webinars – a "masters" class Clayton taught with Bob Bly on creating …

Red-Hot Headlines that
Double Your Response

In this power-packed webinar, you get EVERYTHING you need to craft headlines that grab your prospects by the eyeballs and compel them to read every word of your promotion.

Clayton and Bob reveal:

• 4 essential sales every headline MUST make …
• How to instantly engage any prospect – no matter how distracted …
• 21 questions to ask BEFORE you write your next headline …
• John Caples’ 35 headline idea starters …
• David Ogilvy’s headline acid test …
• 15-point headline checklist …
• And much, Much MORE!

Below is a link to a Flash file that
is roughly 86 MB. It’s a streaming file, meaning it has to load some
of the movie before it will play. Please expect some delay before the
movie and audio will start.

Click Here for Red-Hot Headlines that Double Your Response – If you experience difficulties viewing the Flash file, you may also listen in on the MP3 as you follow along with the PDF slide show from Clayton’s PowerPoint presentation.

PDF LINK (3.37 MB) – Feel free to print and then follow along while listening to the audio MP3 file of the webinar linked below.

AUDIO LINK (18.93 MB) – To download the audio, right-click on the audio link above…selecting “Save Target As…” and save the MP3 file to your desktop.

Get the gift that will keep on giving 25%, 35%, even 45% lifts in response and ROI throughout 2011 and beyond!

Happy New Year!

Wendy “The Redhead” Makepeace

Looking for past issues of The Total Package? Click here for our archives.

Want to share or reprint this article? Feel free. Just give us full attribution and a link to our Home Page when you do.

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Dear Business Builder,

It’s the actual audio of an interview I did a while back for my EasyWriters Marketing Club with … Continue reading →]]> I have a special holiday gift for you
… and you’re gonna LOVE it!

Dear Business Builder,

It’s the actual audio of an interview I did a while back for my EasyWriters Marketing Club with legendary copywriter/entrepreneur JOSEPH SUGARMAN!

While the club is no longer around, this interview is timeless and remains one of my all-time favorites. So I’ve decided to pass it along to you.

Joe’s direct response exploits are the stuff of legend. And he’s a great case study for copywriters looking to hit the big time with a business of their own AND for business owners and marketers eager to generate a flood of new customers, sales and profits.

So pour yourself a cup of something hot (mine has a little brandy in it) … put your feet up and click play below to give it a listen.

(If a player doesn’t appear below and all you’ve got is that angry, little, red X, click the yellow bar at the top of your browser and select "Run ActiveX Control.")

Or you can right-click here to download it.

It’ll make you money – I promise!

Happy Holidays!

Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

P.S. Watch your inbox next monday for one more holiday gift from me. It’s a doozy!

Looking for past issues of The Total Package? Click here for our archives.

Want to share or reprint this article? Feel free. Just give us full attribution and a link to our Home Page when you do.

Attribution Statement: This article was first published in The Total Package. To sign-up to receive your own FREE subscription to The Total Package and claim four FREE money making e-books go to www.makepeacetotalpackage.com.

Dear Business Builder,

Rather than attempt to focus on one topic, let’s try a little stream of consciousness stuff today – … Continue reading →]]> Random Musings and Brain Droppings
On the Current State of Direct Response Marketing

Dear Business Builder,

Rather than attempt to focus on one topic, let’s try a little stream of consciousness stuff today – stuff I’ve been thinking about that I’m hoping will help you get some bigger winners …

Type Questions: Recently, I’ve seen a lot of debate online – and a lot of confusion – about which typefaces promote maximum readability.

Common wisdom says that in print, serif typefaces like Times Roman (the face used by most newspapers that has little ruffles and flourishes on the characters) are the most readable. The characters are heavy enough to be easily readable even when they’re relatively small – as in the 9 point type commonly used in newspapers.

In direct mail, type selection is usually driven by the format you’re using. In print ads, magalogs, special reports, bookalogs and tabloids, most marketers use Times Roman (or a close cousin thereof) for body copy.

In sales letters – promotions designed to look as though you just tapped them out on your trusty Smith-Corona typewriter – most mailers go with a typewriter font like American Typewriter.

And because many of our prospects are older, we insist that the type be 12 points or larger in size. (Wouldn’t do to require that grandma go find her spectacles before reading our promotion!)

On the web, most folks use sans-serif fonts like Verdana, Arial or Helvetica. Because our computer monitors pixelate everything, they can mangle the little flourishes on serif letters, causing eyestrain and fatigue.

And while Amazon and eBay and most other massive sites use little, tiny 10pt and even 7.5pt type on their pages, I try to stick with 12 point Arial or 11.5 pt. Verdana for long copy.

Now, here’s where it can get a little sticky:

Just because a typeface has serifs (in print) or no serifs (on the web) does NOT mean it is readable.

In print, many serif faces can get so fancy with all their little curves and flourishes – and line weight can get so light in places – they’re virtually unreadable. Bell or Bodoni MT, for example.

Ditto for sans-serif faces on the web: Some of them are so light, they almost melt into the page. Corbel, for example.

And trust me on this: Given the choice between the same old “boring” Times and Verdana typefaces and something artsy-fartsy and virtually unreadable, most designers will go the creative route, rendering your copy indecipherable.

My philosophy: Marketing is fraught with risk. There’s a risk your theme will fail to resonate with prospects … that your headline will perform a not-so-graceful face-plant … that your opening copy will leave prospects cold … that nobody wants the benefits your product offers at the price you’re asking … or that your spokesman reminds your prospects of the bully who stole their lunch money in third grade.

There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to add to this list of risks by experimenting with the typefaces you use. Stick to what is proven to work.

Size Matters: Still on the typeface issue, but this is important stuff.

A bunch of folks seem to think that all reverse type is evil; and they are dead wrong.

I know – we’ve all been taught that anytime the type is lighter than the background, it renders your words unreadable. David Ogilvy even made that point – quite eloquently, in fact – in Ogilvy on Advertising.

Problem is, it’s not always true.

Sure – if you set 12-point Times Roman in white on a black background, you might as well be setting your copy in hieroglyphics. Nobody will get past the first line.

But is the prohibition against reverse type true for headlines or deck copy set in big, fat sans-serif letters?

Before you answer, consider this …

• Stop signs are white lettering on a red background. Are they unreadable?
• McDonalds, Wendy’s and many other huge franchises spend hundreds of millions on market research and their signs are unanimously yellow or white type on red or dark blue backgrounds. Unreadable?
• The Hollywood sign is made up of white letters set against the dark background of the hillside. Unreadable?
• While Rodale tends to follow the “no reverse type” rule, Boardroom has made hundreds of millions using “Nazi colors” – yellow and white headlines on red and black covers. Unreadable?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you may have a disease called reverselexia – kind of like dyslexia, only it won’t have you on your knees praying to your dog.

The point is, when it comes to reverse type, size matters. The large lettering on a stop sign … on a McDonalds sign … and the 45-foot-high letters on the Hollywood sign … make the characters eminently readable – while the brilliant color contrast makes it impossible to look away.

The Bottom Line: Avoid reverse type in body copy at all costs. But for large headlines, white, yellow, or hot pink type on a black, red, blue or lime green background can actually give your promotion greater attention-getting power and impact.

Shortcut City: Several companies are now marketing programs – a popular one is called “Glyphius” – that purport to score the power of your sales copy for you before you actually test it in the real world.

The programmers claim to have loaded the program with words that have been most often used in successful promotions – and if your promotion contains those same words, you get a high score.

Sounds interesting – and I admit Glyphius is fun to play with. But how useful is it really?

Well, we’re running some tests now, and I’ll let you know what we discover in an upcoming issue.

What concerns me though, is that some gullible noobs have suggested that Glyphius is actually a substitute for real-world testing.

According to one of these Glyphius pimps, he could have saved me the $200,000 I spent split-testing several headlines simply by running them through Glyphius.

Sorry – that’s worse than merely ignorant – it’s dangerous.

Because, as important as your word choices are, they pale in significance when compared to the importance of the message your copy conveys.

If Glyphius and these other programs could rate how well your theme connects with your audience … the persuasiveness of your selling propositions … and how compelling your offer is … it would be worth its weight in gold.

But it can’t. Because those things change from market to market, from product to product and from minute to minute. It takes immersion in your market … great instincts and lightning reflexes to get it right most of the time.

It takes a human.

More than that: It takes a talented, creative human who knows more about his prospect than the prospect knows about himself.

All a canned copywriting program can do is tell you if you’re using words that have already been used in promotions that your prospects have seen a gazillion times. If you are, Glyphius thinks that’s a good thing.

But if you present the world’s most compelling theme, propositions and benefits without employing overused words like “GUARANTEED!” in every headline … that, according to Glyphius, is a bad thing.

My advice for now: The software that really will get you the response you’re looking for runs only on the world’s most powerful computer: The one sloshing around inside that one-quart container perched at the top of your spine.

It consists of lessons you and others have learned about how to persuade and motivate human beings in the real world – and it’s the only kind of “copywriting software” I’d be willing to pay for.

The Day the Hype Died: “Hyperbole” is one of those words that everyone uses but almost nobody understands.

Most folks think “hype” refers to sales copy that makes exaggerated claims. Or copy that has a lot of high-energy words in it.

Not so.

The dictionary says hyperbole is “an obvious and intentional exaggeration,” or “an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as ‘to wait an eternity.’”

In other words, true hype is nothing more than a literary device that can come in pretty darned handy when you need to drive a point home.

… Like when I said in a health package, “A surgeon will cut a hole right through you just to get at your wallet.”

See? Hype. “An extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally.”

But when someone tells you your copy is “hypey,” they mean something completely different – don’t they?

In most cases, they mean your copy has too much energy. It’s too exciting. To emotionally exercised.

Over the years, I usually let those kinds of comments roll off me like water off a duck. So long as the level of emotion in my copy felt appropriate for the subject at hand, I figured emotional energy was a good thing.

But the direct marketing world has metamorphosed in recent years. Since about 2001, if I had to set a date to it.

The saturation of our markets with bombastic high-energy copy – combined with advent of mainstream Internet advertising – calls for a very different approach to setting the tone of our copy.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m NOT saying high-energy copy doesn’t work anymore. It can and it does.

But so does low-energy, warm, personal copy that leverages a relationship with prospects and customers to slip through their anti-advertising defenses …

… and then appeals to the intellect with logical, persuasive sales arguments …

… and then counts on the intellect to trigger the emotions that will produce the sale.

Right now, for example, we’re using high-energy copy to sell a supplement product online.

And, we’re using much lower-key copy to sell an investment service.

Both campaigns are doing gangbuster business.

What’s more, each campaign mixes it up.

After purchasing the supplement above, you get a mix of high-energy and warm, personal communications from my client.

And from time to time – when the investment news from overseas is particularly exciting, we blast a high-energy message for our international investing service.

My rules of thumb:

1. Make sure the emotional tone of your copy is appropriate for the subject at hand
2. When planning a series of promotional e-mails to existing customers, realize that, when everything’s emphasized, nothing is emphasized. Create a rich emotional texture in your campaigns – alternate between warm, personal bonding communications and higher energy copy when appropriate.

Hope this helps …

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