Why a promotion by Melvin Powers succeeded one year, then bombed the next....

Hi Gordon,

I really enjoyed this post.... :)

> For those of you that have downloaded or
> read the free lesson in FameBrand Marketing,
> you know that you can “forecast” the news. I
> think it wise to stay with positive event
> oriented concepts, but if you know something
> is going to happen you can use it too. One
> example of this in the most recent past was
> the Australia Olympics. So there was a huge
> spike in the interest of things from down
> under.

> Likewise, you can BANK on it that there will
> be tremendous interest in the China
> Olympics, even though it is years away. So
> that would require some long range planning.
> You can plan on a much shorter time frame,
> from a few days to a year, if you tune in.

Yes, great suggestions!

I've been reading through sections of several mail order books lately.... Anyhow, after reading your post, I happened to stumble on this part of Melvin Powers' book "How to get rich in Mail Order"....

He gives an example of a direct mail piece he created to sell a book called "Extraterrestrial Intelligence." (The headline to his letter was "Scientists Find Statistical Cues For The Possibility Of Extraterrestrial Intelligence".) But here's what's really interesting....

This promotion did extremely well one time. Then suddenly, the exact same promotion stopped pulling orders.

In 1979, this promotion did very well, and sold a lot of books. It also happened to be the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's birth, so "spacey" topics were in the media, and also on people's minds perhaps more than usual.

After 1979, it stopped pulling, probably because people were no longer concerned about these topics any more.

Then Melvin Powers proposes an interesting question....

"Can we therefore assume when you have a topical subject the advertising copy might not be that critical? Can we also assume when the public interest is low, the best advertising copy in the world isn't going to make it?" (p. 174)

Gordon, what do you think?

By the way, this is why I think your ebook Remote Hypnosis is so valuable, Gordon, and it ties in well with your course.... It's about how to find out what's on people's minds, so that you can write something they'll read and WANT to have! And on these special occasions, whether they are annual holidays or special events, you have a pretty good idea what a lot of people are thinking about.... :)

That is more important, I think, than all the flippy flowery flowing language in the world.... :)

- Dien