*A Book Review*
Advertising Secrets of the Written Word
By Joseph Sugarman
by Michael C. Gray
May 31, 2001
Before The Sharper Image, there was JS&A National Sales Group. Joseph Sugarman sold high-technology gadgets with full-page advertisements, principally in The Wall Street Journal and airline magazines. Today, Joseph Sugarman is noted for selling BluBlocker sunglasses on QVC.
Mr. Sugarman is one of the great direct marketers who has had a long, successful career and can tell you with authority "what works." You can appreciate his contribution to the direct marketing industry when you learn he was the first person to use toll-free "800" numbers for responding to his advertisements.
Now you can get "A Complete Direct Marketing Course from One of America's Top Mail Order Entrepreneurs", a soft-bound, three-volume set for only $99.95. These volumes contain the same information that people have paid thousands of dollars to learn in seminars presented by Joseph Sugarman. Mr. Sugarman has a writing style that is entertaining and educational, including stories of his personal experiences.
The first volume in the set is Advertising Secrets of the Written Word.
Mr. Sugarman shares the details of how he creates his style of advertisement and the psychology involved.
A typical Sugarman ad has the headline and a captioned photo of the product at the top, with an "advertorial" copy-intensive explanation of the benefits beneath.
According to Mr. Sugarman, the advertisement should be a "slippery slope" of involvement for the reader. That means the main job of the headline is to get the reader to read the first sentence; the main job of the first sentence is to get the reader to read the second sentence; etc.
After explaining his method, Mr. Sugarman gives several of his ads as examples and explains the thinking process behind each ad. Some of the more unusual ads include the "Pet Plane" and the "Mail Order Mansion." Yes, he has even sold a private plane and tried to sell a $6 million mansion with his style of advertisement! He also gives samples of other advertisements and critiques them, including Joe Karbo's classic ad for The Lazy Man's Way to Riches.
If you are interested in learning and applying practical direct marketing techniques from a master, you will want the complete three-volume direct marketing course for your library. To get the complete set in a slipcase, call JS&A Group, Inc. at 800-323-6400.
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