Dien -

> decide what to do with it later.... :) )

I used to use extras like this for contest give aways for my e-zine. So we'd have a contest to see who could get the most new subscribers in a month and the winner would get a free copy of whatever extras I had hanging around. Worked great! (Give you any ideas? *g*)

> I've also been looking at my copy of "7
> Steps to Freedom II" (by Benjamin
> Suarez) lately too.... I think among the
> various books on mail order I have, this is
> the most comprehensive. I've found some good
> information in there I couldn't find
> anywhere else.

It truly *is* top-notch. I've got back to my reading of it.

> I also recently got a lot of original back
> issues of the Gary Halbert Letter, which are
> fantastic! It's going to take me a while to
> read them all.... :)

Cool!

> Which leads me to ask.... Which books on
> mail order / direct response do you like the
> best? (I have plenty of them, but it'd be
> interesting to know what everyone
> thinks....)

Ooooh! Well, "7 Steps" is right up there. I think *my* favorite would *have* to be "How to Write A Good Advertisement" by Victor Schwab. My copy is *full* of highlighted pages. I have used it for a number of marketing projects. It's not just theory. There's plenty of "how to" in it. I'm getting very tired of all these books that are long on theory and short on "how to." For example, one book that seems to be the darling of a lot of folks is Jack Trout's latest, "Differentiate or Die." So I took a look at it at Borders. I thought I was going to buy it. Then I started looking through it in detail. Want the gist? The title says it. Oh sure he goes through a bunch of case studies to prove the point. But I couldn't find any examples where he told in *detail* what the steps they took to differentiate company A from company B. So. We know we have to differentiate. The question is how. Trout never answered it for me. I can tell IFF will be much better in that regard.

While not "marketing" per se, I'm thoroughly impressed with Paul Hartunian's publicity course. I just received it a couple of months ago. It's *excellent*. Worth every penny. And I get nothing for that recommendation.

> Oh, and also, how about videos? With my GHL
> order I also got a free video, which is from
> some "Direct Mail Bootcamp" I
> think with Bill Myers, Ted Nicholas, Gary
> Halbert, and other marketers.... I'm new to
> watching "marketing videos" -- are
> there any which are "must sees" ?

Ask Gordon if I have any marketing videos. *g* Here are some of the best IMO (not in any particular order)

1. Bill Myers Product Development series. (No longer available from Bill but stay tuned...)

2. Ted Nicholas' self-publishing series.

3. Several of the seminar videos from the last seminar Ted Thomas and Dave Bancroft did together;
Dan Poynter, Paul Hartunian, there are a couple more. These used to be available from Dave but he sold his company awhile back and I can't remember the name of the company. BTW, Paul's segments are *not* on publicity. One was on speaking for $5,000 a day and the other details how he runs his publicity business from home. Absolutely excellent.

Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"




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