Effective Direct Advertising: The Principles and Practice of Producing Direct Advertising for Distribution by Mail or Otherwise
A 1921 textbook of about 600 pages by Robert E. Ramsay, past president of the Direct Mail Advertising Association and author of Effective House Organs, published by D. Appleton.
What it is
A 1921 textbook of about 600 pages by Robert E. Ramsay, past president of the Direct Mail Advertising Association and author of Effective House Organs, published by D. Appleton. It treats direct advertising as a production system in five parts: history, from an Egyptian papyrus about a runaway slave to William Penn's 1681 pamphlet selling Pennsylvania; physical factors, meaning the form, the list, the returns and the envelope; mental factors, meaning campaign planning, the follow-up and copy; mechanical factors, from typography and colour to paper, printing, addressing, records and postal rules; and practice, with cases by field, such as an Armenian relief letter mailed to 4,000,000 people at a cost of $200,000 that brought $1,200,000. Every paragraph is a numbered section, results are given as pieces mailed, replies and cost, and appendices hold a copy checklist and standard sizes.
Why read it now
The core still holds, and it underlies modern CRM and email work. Ramsay ranks copy fifth, after the list, the market, the appeal and the campaign plan; the later 40/40/20 rule of direct marketing gives the list and the offer 80 percent of the weight. He refuses to name a normal return rate and has the reader work out break-even instead: 500 names, a $3.50 book, $1.16 profit a copy, $32.45 in costs, so 28 orders are needed before the letter pays. His test for copy, checking whether a rival's name would make your ad just as true, is still one of the fastest ways to catch generic writing. What has dated: postal rules, multigraphing and engraving detail, the claim that five impressions fix an idea, which he credits only to 'some psychologist', and results reported without control groups, so they show what a mailing brought in, not what it added. Use: before any WhatsApp or email campaign, clean the list, write down the break-even response rate, and run his name-swap test on every line of copy.
Passages worth keeping
The list, therefore, means everything in direct advertising; it is the first and foremost essential in any use of this form of publicity whether you are getting out two pieces or two million or more.
القائمة هي كل شيء في الإعلان المباشر، وهي الأساس الأول سواء أرسلت قطعتين أو مليوني قطعة.
It is always a mystery to me why people will spend so much on a campaign and so little on their lists.
تتعجب هيلين كارتر من شركات تنفق الكثير على الحملة والقليل على قوائمها، مع أن القائمة هي التي تحدد من يصله الإعلان أصلًا.
the more nearly you approach the appeal of a personal letter the more likelihood you may have of securing returns, though results may be better through the use of some other form.
كلما اقتربت القطعة من روح الرسالة الشخصية زادت فرص الرد، وإن كانت أشكال أخرى قد تخدم أهدافًا أخرى بشكل أفضل.
Some psychologist is responsible for the statement that it takes at least five repeated impressions to implant firmly an idea in the mind of the average human being.
يبني فكرة المتابعة على مقولة أن الفكرة تحتاج إلى خمسة انطباعات متكررة لتثبت في الذهن، وينسبها إلى عالم نفس لا يسميه.
Can you eliminate your brand name from your copy and substitute another brand name and have both advertisements true?
اختبار سريع للنص: إن بقي إعلانك صحيحًا بعد وضع اسم منافس مكان اسمك، فالنص عام ولا يميزك.
What it teaches best
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