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A little learning is a wonderful thing
July 19, 2010
I am amazed how little people study in this business. It’s very hard to pick it up as you go along. More to the point, why spend years learning by painful trial and error when you can get guidance over a weekend from someone ten times as smart as you, who spent years finding out what works?
So if you agree that a little learning is better than no learning at all, here are some of the books I have learned from most. They are not all about marketing or advertising. If you learn about nothing but these two subjects your vision will be very narrow, your development as a human being stunted and you’ll have nothing to think about when you get old.
A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. This convinced me that you probably can’t actually know anything, but you can explain even the most complex thoughts clearly if you learn to write well. It also helped me think a little more logically – though not enough.
How To Write A Good Advertisement by Vic Schwab. He was a partner in one of the first specialist mail order agencies. Well-written, practical – with a list of 100 good headlines that I’ve often used as a starting point when looking for ideas. You will find many of them copied or adapted by internet marketers.
Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy. Almost as amusing as Confessions of an Advertising Man by the same author, but more informative. If you work in this business and haven’t read it, you’re really making things hard for yourself. It reminds me of something important every time I pick it up.
My Years With General Motors by Alfred P. Sloan. His approach is no longer in fashion, but few people had more impact not just on business but on the 20th century than the man who built up General Motors.
How To Make Your Advertising Make Money by John Caples. Caples explains better than anyone what works, what doesn’t, and why, because he conducted more tests than anyone. Ogilvy once told me he learned everything he knew from Caples.
The 100 Best Advertisements edited by Julian Watkins. We learn best from example. This is the best selection I know – many described by their creators.
Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins. Judges who should know – like Ogilvy – consider him the most able advertising man ever. In his day that encompassed marketing. This very short book, written in 1924, is near-perfect. You can download it free at www.draytonbirdcommonsense.com.
There are quite a few more books I like, listed at www.draytonbirdcommonsense.com, but that little lot will keep you busy. More to the point, they’ll give you a priceless competitive edge.
Drayton Bird is a renowned direct marketing teacher, speaker and author. Find out more about him on his profile.
Tell us about the books that have inspired, informed and entertained you.
What shape is your recession?
July 12, 2010
As a writer/editor, I have a vested interest in the way people use the written word. With the Donut sites (and our other small business offerings), for example, we editors encourage all of our house writers and external contributors to write in a clear, straightforward way.
Jargon doesn’t help anyone, except the select group of people who speak it. Likewise, unnecessarily long words or complicated phrases are both barriers to clear communication. When you write for a general audience, as we do, you can’t afford to lose them because you’re speaking the wrong language.
Unfortunately, the business world loves a bit of jargon. Why spell things out when you can come up with a smart-sounding phrase that makes you look like you belong to the club? What amazes me is how quickly these things are picked up and how readily people use them without really thinking about what they mean or whether they are even making sense.
Last week , a colleague interviewed a spokesman from a well-known small business body, who suggested that we were experiencing an ‘L-shaped’ recession. I’ve heard about a ‘W-shaped recession’ before, which at least is reasonably self-explanatory – although the alternative phrase, a ‘double-dip’ recession, is a bit clearer.
But an ‘L-shaped’ recession? Does this mean a total economic collapse, followed by a period of zero-growth? Surely not, because the reality is very different. Perhaps this person meant an ‘L-on-its-side, a-bit-like-a-tick’-shaped recession - ie a rapid fall followed by a slow climb back to where we were before. Something like this, I suppose (though with a shallower tail):
To make things even more confusing, he went on to say that instead of a “double-dip” recession, we ought to watch out for the “triple tumble”. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve always associated tumbling with gymnastics. So I had a vision in mind of a young woman hurling herself across the floor, bouncing and flailing, legs and arms akimbo, before finally coming to rest – miraculously – on her feet.
Are we really saying the economy is like a gymnast? I’m sure we’re not, because what on Earth would happen if the gymnast took to swinging around the parallel bars? Would that be an ‘O-shaped’ recession?
There’s a lesson here. Keep it clear, keep it simple, say what you mean. And if you don’t really know what you’re talking about, just admit it. There’s no shame in that. Let’s face it, nobody has made any reliable predictions about the economy in the last three years, so why do we keep pretending we can?
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