Outrageous Advertising That's Outrageously Successful

Created for the 99% of Small Business Owners Who Are Dissatisfied with the Results They Get from their Current Advertising

Bill Glazer

• Publisher: Glazer Kennedy Pub
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780982379301
• eBook ISBN: 9780982379394
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Advertising
• Index: Business

The legendary marketing consultant shares the secret to getting the most out of your advertising—by being outrageous—in this classic small business guide.
When a sprinkler malfunctioned at his Baltimore menswear store, Bill Glazer could have done the normal thing and sold the wet merchandise to a Jobber—a business that buys damaged goods in bulk. Instead, he did something OUTRAGEOUS: he created an out-of-the-box ad campaign that resulted in far better returns. And it was easy.
In this classic guide to small business advertising, Bill teaches readers the secrets to advertising that actually works. Rich with examples and stories showing exactly how to implement a successful OUTRAGEOUS program, this book cracks the code on getting noticed in ways that increase your sales!

1) Take The OUTRAGEOUS Path To OUTRAGEOUS Success

This is about taking the OUTRAGEOUS path and getting noticed.

OUTRAGEOUS doesn’t always mean getting wild like me in a straitjacket. It can be as simple as changing the font in a letter you send off to prospective customers so that it looks like you wrote it with your own hand.

By the way, if you’re wondering how to get your picture taken in a straitjacket, it’s not as hard as you think. The first time I did it, I just rented one from a local costume store and had one of our staff take my picture with a digital camera. The one that you see on the cover was actually taken by a professional photographer in Dallas, Texas. (Douglas Bryan is a professional photographer who specializes in OUTRAGEOUS shots, including placing you in a straitjacket. He can be reached at [phone] or through his web site www.bryanphotography.com.

the path less traveled, think differently

The first mass-produced handwritten sales pitch I’d ever seen was a letter that was sent out by Dan Kennedy. He first saw this tactic used in a letter written by political candidate Ron Paul. As soon as I saw it, I knew that it was something different, and I’ve always looked for ways that others have used to cut through the clutter (see chapter 10).

It’s not easy. The clutter of advertising messages can be overwhelming, but you must cut through it and understand that of the three possible answers—yes, maybe, or no—you have the best chance of getting a “yes” or “maybe” if you do something OUTRAGEOUS enough to get noticed. So I decided to try it at my retail store, Gage Menswear.

Handwrite a letter to my customers? OUTRAGEOUS!

But mine was more than just handwritten; it appeared spontaneous with big letters and small, wildly drawn parentheses, scratch-outs, and hand-drawn arrows pointing to a side note. And it was on yellow legal pad paper. Plus, get this—it was five pages!

C’mon! No one sends out a five-page handwritten sales letter. No one! I mean, who would read it?

Well, it turned out that lots of people read it. But more on the results later. First, take a look at the letter.

As you can see, there is a lot of copy in a five-page handwritten sales letter.
But here’s the thing: it’s not blah, blah copy; it all serves a purpose.
And if you study the letter, you will see there is even more.
I will summarize the approach.

OUTRAGEOUS yet systematic

This approach was not simply OUTRAGEOUS. There was madness, sure. But there was definitely a method to my madness.

I am about to give you an outline of the five pages. You can certainly see the progression and, in fact, the elements of OUTRAGEOUS advertising, which you will learn in detail in chapter 5.

OUTRAGEOUS resource City Print specializes in printing on legal pads. To contact City Print, call 1-866-907-1222 or visit http://www.cityprintusa.com.

Page #1 of Bill Glazer’s award-winning five-page handwritten sales letter
written on a yellow legal pad. You can see this in full color when you claim your
FREE CD of all of the exhibits in this book by using the form on page 312.

PAGE ONE - The first page, as you can see, introduces that a sale is going on, why I am writing the letter, and that the recipient of the letter is a preferred customer. I also note that the business is in a tough cycle and I need to do something drastic to reduce inventory before the new stuff arrives.

“Reason why” copy is critical for results. The response goes way up when you give the recipient a reason why you are making him or her an offer, and it is best relayed in the form of a story, as I did on page one of this letter.

That’s right; everyone needs to know the reason you are doing something. What have we all heard about a free lunch? There’s no such thing! No one believes in a deal that’s too good to be true. So I gave the readers a reason why I was making what was about to be a tremendous offer and a reason why they were receiving a handwritten letter from me. (And in a side note on page one, I refer to “Shameless Bribe” coupons on page five of the letter.)

In fact, all great copywriters and marketers often use stories. People like hearing stories. It’s because we were raised on stories. Our parents and relatives told us stories when we were children growing up, so we were trained to listen to stories.

So there you go. On that first page, I gave “reason why” copy in the form of a story.

OUTRAGEOUS exercise Develop your business story. • Why should people utilize your products or services? • Develop a main story. • Think of three others you can use for a particular offer or promotion or event.

Page #2 of Bill Glazer’s award-winning five-page handwritten sales letter
written on a yellow legal pad. You can see this in full color when you claim your
FREE CD of all of the exhibits in this book by using the form on page 312.

PAGE TWO – The second page provides details of the offer—all the pertinent information. How much will I save? What’s on sale? What brands? What categories?

Pertinent information is another key element when you are developing an advertisement. Just think about it. If you left out just one piece of pertinent information, it could make the difference (and often does) as to whether someone responds to you or not.

For example, let’s say you are a dentist and you forget to list your phone number. How are potential or current patients going to call you to make an appointment?

Heck, I even know one company that forgot to put their name on their advertisement. I guess they’re still waiting for someone to call.

OUTRAGEOUS exercise List the pertinent information that prospects or customers would require in order to help them make a decision whether to respond to your advertising or not. Here’s a partial list to consider: • Name of the business • Location • Hours of operation • Phone number • Web site • Items you sell • Brands you sell After you make your list, include it in its entirety every time you write your advertisements.

Page #3 of Bill Glazer’s award-winning five-page handwritten sales letter
written on a yellow legal pad. You can see this in full color when you claim your
FREE CD of all of the exhibits in this book by using the form on page 312.

Once again, the handwriting itself, along with the copy, gives the letter tons of personality as well as personalized selling with hand-drawn ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Preface
• Contents
• 1) Take The OUTRAGEOUS Path To OUTRAGEOUS Success
• 2) Defining Advertising And The Three Possible Responses
• 3) Applying OUTRAGEOUS Advertising
• 4) Using The Most Powerful Tool - Direct Mail
• 5) Presenting Critical Components
• 6) Going The Extra Mile For Extra Money
• 7) Harnessing The Power Of Testimonials
• 8) Using Premiums To Skyrocket Response
• 9) Reminding Sequentially Until They Buy
• 10) Swiping Ideas And Deploying Them Into Your Business
• 11) Celebrating Holidays & Special Occasions
• 12) Sampling Some Really Outrageous Ideas
• 13) Putting All The Pieces Together
• Appendix A - The 100 Greatest Headlines Ever Written
• Appendix B - Holidays To Inspire You
• Appendix C - “Out To Save The Retail World From Mass Destruction”
• Bonus