by John Cole | Mar 17, 2015 | Buyer Personas, B2B Copywriting, Direct Marketing, Lead Generation, Advertisements, Conversational Writing
“In an article published in the Harvard Business Review, Charles K. Ramond described experiments designed to measure advertising effectiveness,” writes Bob Bly in The Copywriter’s Handbook. “The experiments showed, not surprisingly, that advertising is most effective...
by John Cole | Nov 9, 2010 | B2B Copywriting, Direct Marketing, Headlines & subheads, Lead Generation, Advertisements, Direct Mail
The most effective way to write a strong B2B headline is to brainstorm a list based on proven formulas. Then you pick out the ones that look the most promising and refine them until one really stands out. Previously, we’ve talked about why you should use a benefit...
by John Cole | Jun 7, 2010 | Direct Marketing, B2B Copywriting, Advertisements, Call to Action
All salespeople, even raw trainees, know there is one specific thing they must do at the end of every sales presentation: They must ask for the sale. Salespeople are trained that if they don’t ask their prospect to take action right then and there, he or she may never...
by John Cole | Aug 21, 2009 | B2B Copywriting, Collateral, Lead Generation, Advertisements, Case Studies, Landing Pages
One of my clients is always saying to me, “I want something short. People don’t read anymore. They don’t have the time.” But is that really true? Will business prospects not take the time to read long copy? Or are there times when long copy is better? And how do we...
by John Cole | Jul 9, 2009 | Captions, Articles, B2B Copywriting, Corporate Brochures, Sales Brochures, Collateral, Headlines & subheads, Advertisements
I spent a couple of days at the Paris Air Show last month. And as I usually do at such events, I picked up a bunch of product brochures to take home and study. Reviewing them, one thing jumped out at me. I saw the same costly mistake being repeated over and over...
by John Cole | Jan 7, 2009 | Direct Marketing, Headlines & subheads, Lead Generation, Advertisements, B2B Copywriting
You’ve just drafted a handful of benefit-driven headlines for your next space ad. You’ve picked out two or three that look fairly promising. But each…just seems to lack something. You’re wondering to yourself, “Will any of these really work? Can I be sure? How could I...