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How To Sell A Health And Fitness Product Using Direct Response Copywriting: This long sales letter from Tai Chi Chi Kung Shows You How

Direct response copywriting for health and fitness

DISCOVER THE 300-HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD CHINESE SECRET TO A HEALTHY HEART, STRONG MUSCLES, LIMBER JOINTS, AND INNER YOUTH


A Message from Dr. Robert Willix Jr.

Of all the physical and mental healing arts I’ve learned, TAI CHI is the gentlest, easiest to learn, and the most rejuvenating for your physical and mental health. It lowers blood pressure, heals achy joints, stimulates circulation, builds muscle, and mobilizes the immune system…all without stress or strain!

Dear Friend,

All across China, thousands of men, women and children of all ages gather in city parks in the early morning hours to practice the slow, graceful martial art called tai chi.

This “moving meditation”, legend has it, engenders superhuman powers.

And this legend is true. Those who practice tai chi faithfully have a different kind of life well into their 80s and 90s. Their bones are strong, not frail. Their joints are limber, not aching and stiff. Their minds do not wander; they remain focused. Their heart beat is calm, and their bodies are internally fortified against disease.

Last month, I “prescribed” tai chi to treat a number of diseases and painful conditions. If you have arthritis, for example, tai chi is your best stretching exercise, because it builds the flexibility you need to mobilize your stiff joints. If you have cancer, tai chi is ideal because it improves your aerobic capacity and stimulates your immune system without creating free radical damage. If you have heart disease, practicing tai chi regularly not only lowers your blood pressure and helps you lose weight, it also defuses negative feelings, such as anger, frustration, and depression, which can trigger a heart attack.

What I forgot to tell you about this mind body panacea is that the moves are simple, gentle and easy to learn. They need no special skill and can be done anywhere, indoors or outdoors, alone or with a group.

Anyone can become a “master”. It takes just a little practice, focus, and a good teacher.

And I found you a great teacher – a wonderful video that teaches you, step by step, the slow, fluid movements of tai chi, so you can experience for yourself the power of these quiet, flowing patterns – and the indescribable inner energy they bestow.

It’s ideal if you want the pleasure and benefit of exercise, but can’t subject your bones and joints to jarring strenuous activity

Tai chi works wonders for my patients with chronic pain caused by everything from herniated disks to osteoporosis. Some patients came to me on the most complicated pain medicine “schedule” you could dream up, and still enjoyed wonderful results – from major reductions in pain killers to complete freedom from pain. Plus…

It’s exhilarating!

My patients who practice tai chi have a glow about them. Amazingly, the more you give in to the “nothingness”, the more magnetic your physical presence becomes. Tai chi has been said to “tame the wild horses of your emotions.”

Even if you think you’re not coordinated or agile, you can learn these movements at your own pace. In fact, when you first watch Peter John Hudson N.D., tai chi master, going through the moves, you’ll probably think, “This isn’t exercise! It’s too slow, too easy!” But don’t be fooled. These movements build powerful inner focus and strength.

Bordering on the superhuman: How tai chi helped one man prevent permanent paralysis

I recently read the breathtaking story of Randy Jong, a 42-year-old school teacher from San Francisco who fell victim to a tragic car accident when his rear tire blew out on his way to Los Angeles. Randy was rescued by the “jaws of life”, and though his spinal cord was intact, his neck was broken, and his vertebra compressed. The doctors told his family he would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. His family was wise enough to keep this painful information from Randy.

Unaware of his tragic fate, Randy lay in bed practicing the deep breathing exercises and mentally practicing the tai chi movements he once performed every day. After two weeks, “miraculously”, he moved a finger. Weeks later, a toe. Six months later, Randy was back in tai chi class performing the beginner’s exercises. “I was slow, but I could do it,” he says. Tai chi had kept Randy in excellent physical condition, his muscles and heart strong. And Randy had developed an ability to relax and concentrate that turned out to be essential to his recovery process.

This “Supreme” art has endured for over 300 years

“Tai” means “ultimate” or “supreme”, and “chi” is the all-encompassing life force, the spirit of the earth and the soul. Nothing attests more to the value of this healing art than the fact that it’s stood the toughest and most telling test there is: the test of time! Tai chi has been passed down from generation to generation for over 300 years.

The latest medical studies in the West and Far East prove tai chi is the optimum healing activity for people of all ages

Today, the Chinese practice tai chi every day to ensure mental and physical fitness. Studies published in Eastern and Western medical literature show that even though tai chi is a slow, “low-intensity” exercise, it still improves cardiovascular health and fitness, and even relieves depression.

According to a medical assessment published in 1986 in China Sports, practicing tai chi generates a sense of internal peace, as you must concentrate on the movements to the exclusion of all external distractions. And the motions, smooth and fluid, naturally cause your mind and muscles to relax, and your flexibility to increase.

Tai chi also protects against a deadly threat to the elderly. Every year, almost one third of people over 65 lose their balance and fall, leading to serious injury and death. But two recent studies sponsored by the National Institute on Aging reveal that tai chi improves your strength and balance, and reduces your risk of falling. In one Emory University study, participants reduced their risk of falls by 47.5 percent.

A gentle full-body workout that takes just a few minutes a day

For your metabolism, heart health and blood pressure, tai chi is just as effective as walking at four miles per hour. There are no awkward stretches or poses to hold, and no jumping, running or lifting. Nevertheless, when you come to the end of a tai chi session, your breathing will be deep, your muscles flushed and your mind refreshed. The overall effect is a mental and physical fitness that carries through the rest of the day, and, of course, becomes even more profound month after month, year after year.

Since you control your own pace, you can do the whole series of movements without breaking a sweat, or as you become more comfortable, you can push yourself a little harder by bending lower and stretching more.

My wife and I take tai chi classes every night. We started, just like everyone else, with a few minutes a day, and built up slowly. I’m not exaggerating when I say that tai chi has altered my life. I’m stronger and more centered, I wake up happier and more refreshed every morning, and sleep soundly every night.

And I want you to have the opportunity to experience this incredible change in your own life. In the video I’ve found for you, called Tai Chi Chi Kung, The Art of Cultivating the Healing Force, the basic healing and energizing poses are demonstrated by Peter John Hudson N.D., a holistic and natural medicine practitioner with over thirty-five years experience in natural healing.

Dr. Hudson currently conducts classes and workshops on holistic medicine, including Ayuverds, Taoism, Tai Chi Chi Kung, and meditation.

In Tai Chi Chi Kung, The Art of Cultivating the Healing Force, you’ll be taken slowly through 19 wavelike movements, each performed at a slow pace and repeated four times. You’ll get specific directions on how to hold your body, where to focus your eyes and your thoughts, and how to distribute your weight. You’ll also learn the most important basic healing poses you can do anytime anywhere – in any order.

Three hundred years and stacks of solid medical research tell us that tai chi is the ideal exercise for your mind and body. I’d love to see every one of my patients and readers enjoy this ancient healing art. Send for your video today, give it a few weeks, and then write write in to tell me how it’s changed your life!


Sincerely,


Robert Willix Jr., M.D.


P.S.

I almost forgot your FREE gift! Take advantage of this incredible one-time-only offer. I’ll send you my report Chinese Healing Secrets FREE. Thousands have found powerful cures through the wisdom of ancient Chinese medicine, and I’ll walk you through these cures, helping you determine your own body type, and which cures will work for you. I’ll explain dozens of herbal treatments, healing foods and recipes, and even meditative techniques that have stood the test of time. (Many of these treatments date back thousands of years!)

Chinese Healing Secrets is yours to keep FREE, even if you return the video for a full refund. There’s only a limited supply of reports, so I urge you to call or send in your order today!

START DOWN THE ROAD TO INNER YOUTH TODAY!

Yes! I want to learn the gentlest Chinese healing art – at my own pace, in the privacy of my own home. Rush me

Tai Chi Chi Kung, The Art of Cultivating the Healing Force, right away, plus my FREE gift, Dr. Willix’s Chinese Healing Secrets!

Enclosed is my check for $39 plus $5 shipping Payable to Health & Longevity, MD residents, please add 5% sales tax.

Charge my VISA__ MasterCard__ American Express__


Special Extended Money-Back Guarantee

I know you’ll start to enjoy the benefits of your new healing art almost immediately. But since any new physical art takes some time to really work its way into your body and mind, I’m extending the regular 30-day money-back guarantee to 60 days. If you’re not sure tai chi has improved your health, just return the video – but keep your FREE gift! – for every penny of your money back! No questions asked.

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How to sell a top-tier newspaper publication to a professional demographic. This Newsweek sales letter showcases persuasive copywriting for a leading brand that uses an honest, down to earth approach to sell

Taking an honest and down to earth copywriting style can help you sell your luxury brand. This classic sales letter by Newsweek takes a frank and honest style that manages to persuade the reader that this is a brand they want to be a part of. Whether you are selling luxury cars, hotel bookings or high end fashion, these copywriting tips will work to move sales. Pay special attention to the emotional selling points in the letter.

newsweek

117 EAST THIRD STREET

DAYTON, OHIO 45402

Newsweek

Dear Reader:

If the list upon which I found your name is any indication, this is not the first — nor will it be the last — subscription letter you receive. Quite frankly, your education and income set you apart from the general population and make you a highly-rated prospect for everything from magazines to mutual funds.

You’ve undoubtedly ‘heard everything’ by now in the way of promises and premiums. I won’t try to top any of them.

Nor will I insult your intelligence.

If you subscribe to Newsweek, you won’t get rick quick. You won’t bowl over friends and business associates with clever remarks and sage comments after your first copy of Newsweek arrives. (Your conversation will benefit from a better understanding of the events and forces of our era, but that’s all. Wit and wisdom are gifts no magazine can bestow.) And should you attain further professional or business success during the term of your subscription, you’ll have your own native ability and good luck to thank for it — not Newsweek.

What, then, can Newsweek do for you?

The answer depends upon what type of person you happen to be. If you are not curious about what’s going on outside your own immediate daily range of concern…if you are quickly bored when the topic of conversation shifts from your house, your car, your ambitions…if you couldn’t care less about what’s happening in Washington or Wall Street, in London or Moscow…then forget Newsweek. It can’t do a thing for you.

If, on the other hand, you are the kind of individual who would like to keep up with national and international affairs, space and nuclear science, the arts — but cannot spend hours at it .. if you’re genuinely interested in what’s going on with other members of the human race … if you recognize the big stake you have in decisions made in Washington and Wall Street, in London and Moscow…

then Newsweek may well be the smartest small

investment you could make for the weeks ahead.

For just 11c a week, as a Newsweek subscriber, your interest in national and international affairs will be served by over 200 top-notch reporters here and around the world.

Each week, you’ll read the most significant facts taken from their daily dispatches by Newsweek’s editors.

You’ll get the facts. No bias. No slanting.

We respect your right to form your own opinion.

In the eventful political arena, in

weeks to come, you’ll read about

 

JOHNSON – How will government spending for the Great

Society programs affect the nation’s economy?

FOREIGN

POLICY – What settlement is possible in Vietnam? What role for the Buddhists, the army, the Viet Cong?

THE

ISSUES – Our stance toward Red China. Domestic crises

in civil rights, in education, the war on poverty!

What solutions are best?

 

You’ll stay abreast of events on the world scene as the Kremlin bosses cope with unrest in the satellite nations and with Peking’s bid to dominate Red affairs … as Western Europe develops new economic ties and increasingly competes in world markets … and as chaos and unrest seethe up in Africa and Southeast Asia.

You’ll also keep on top of latest developments in the exciting fields of space and nuclear science. Whether the story describes a manned space probe of the moon or the opening of a new chapter in peaceful uses of atomic fission, you’ll learn the key facts — in plain English — from Newsweek’s regular department on Science and Space.

The fascinating world of art will be reviewed and previewed for you in Newsweek. Whether you’re interested in books or ballet, painting or plays, movies or music — or all of them — you will find it covered fully and fairly in Newsweek.

Subscribe now and you’ll read about

international film awards…controversial art shows at New York’s Museum of Modern Art or the great galleries of Europe…triumphant concert tours by famed virtuosos…glittering first nights on and off Broadway…plus revealing interviews with colorful personalities — authors, prima donnas, actors, musicians.

AND you’ll be briefed on happenings in the worlds of Business and Finance (What’s ahead now for steel output, auto sales? How will the market react?)…Education and Religion (More “machine” teaching? Closer interfaith cooperation?)…Science and Medicine (New breakthroughs in cancer and arthritis research?)…Sports and TV-Radio (New higher standards, less violence in both?)

TRY Newsweek.

Try it now at this special introductory rate:

27 WEEKS OF NEWSWEEK FOR ONLY $2.97

That’s just 11c a week — little more than 1 1/2c a day!

And try it with this guarantee: if, after examining several issues in your own home, you do not agree that Newsweek satisfies your news interests, you’ll receive a prompt refund on unmailed copies.

An order form is enclosed, along with a postage-paid return envelope. Do initial and return the order form today. We’ll bill you later if you wish.

Sincerely,

S. Arthur Dembner

Circulation Director

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How To Write Sales Copy For An Insurance Policy. This classic example for Old American Insurance Company shows you how to sell your financial and insurance products through direct response marketing

To learn more about the company behind this copy example, please visit Old American Insurance Company, here.

Here is a real treat for financial publishing businesses, insurance firms, brokerages and other insurance businesses. A classic sales letter from Old American, an insurance company with a venerable reputation, that shows you how to use emotion-based appeals in your sales letter. It sets up the premise and promise, and offers a very valuable insurance coverage plan for a low-risk initial investment.

For a greater perspective, contrast this with the other luxury copywriting examples from the Towers of Zeyron recent posts.

This is an ordinary pair of shoes.

They could belong to anybody – BUT…

…SUPPOSE oldshoes

THEY WERE

YOURS?

…Empty shoes – you no longer here.

Who would pay the bills that always arise when someone departs this world? Would those you leave behind have the money to do it? Or would they have to scrimp and save – and do without things they need – for months, perhaps even years, after you have gone, just to get these bills paid off?

Dear Friend of Old American:

I know that you have indicated in the past that you are interested in insurance. But now I want to ask you a pointed (and perhaps undiplomatic) question:

“Are you satisfied with what you have done about it?”

I’m sorry if that question seems blunt. However, you CAN take a positive step — and you can do it right now:

You can apply for an OLD AMERICAN $1,000 life insurance policy — and keep it in force after your application has been approved.

This will provide $1,000 for your family to help take care of funeral expenses and other bills there is just no way of stopping.

It can be mighty difficult for your family when you are gone. You have provided for them to the best of your ability all along the way. They have appreciated it. There is no reason why they shouldn’t keep right on appreciating you when you are gone — remembering that you at least gave them a chance to start out even with the board.

If you died tomorrow, there could be all kinds of bills:

 

— Doctor bills for final sickness

— Hospital bills for related expenses

— Funeral services

— Burial lot and monument

— Unpaid taxes

— Regular unpaid monthly accounts

 

— and the list doesn’t stop there!

Wouldn’t it be comforting to your family if you had made arrangements in advance to help take care of these expenses?

To help you do this, we here at Old American want you to have this introductory rate for our $1,000 life insurance policy:

THE FIRST MONTH’S COVERAGE FOR ONLY $1.00

What you do next is turn to the application and fill it out — and then mail it as soon as possible with your introductory payment of $1.00.

When your application is approved, you will be insured for $1,000 on the introductory term basis. Then, when your first regular premium is paid, your policy begins on the whole life plan and builds up cash values over the years.

You can use these cash values in a lot of different ways. If you have to borrow money, you can do so against your policy (at a reasonable rate of interest, too).

Or you could apply the cash value on a smaller paid up life insurance policy.

Here is another thing that’s important to you. You don’t have to go see a doctor and take a medical examination. You do fill out a statement of health on the application — and since the company only issues policies to people in good health, it does reserve the right to check out the statement should a claim come up in the first two policy years (but the company has this right only during those first two years). Pre-existing conditions are not covered during the first two policy years, but are covered from then on. Like most other companies, we don’t cover suicide within the first two years.

Now — here is an added feature.

In the case of common carrier accidental death (which is always sudden and unexpected), the policy will pay an extra $1,000 — a total of $2,000 altogether. Death need not occur immediately, but at any time within 60 days from the date of the accident.

Of course, defining this type of benefit is sometimes difficult, so that is why we would like to explain it here in language closely following actual policy provisions.

The policy pays $2,000 instead of $1,000 if death is caused solely by accidental bodily injuries which are sustained while (as a fare-paying passenger) the insured is riding in, entering, or alighting from any conveyance engaged at that time as a licensed common carrier of passengers.

Of course, this additional benefits provision will not apply if such death is caused or contributed to by any mental or bodily sickness, disease, or infirmity; by war or any act incident to war; or while the policy is in force as paid-up or extended term insurance.

This is just one of the many features of your Old American policy that make it so valuable — that will help fill your shoes and pay the bills when you are gone.

There is our story.

If this letter has seemed like a lot to read, it’s because there is a lot to say.

But with it is a way for you to spare your family some of the tears and heartaches and sorrow that your death would cause.

You do know the value of insurance. You are interested in your family’s welfare.

So — let me ask you once again — are you satisfied that you have done enough?

Remember — there is no such thing as a second chance after you are gone. What you do for your family, you must do now — not tomorrow, not next week, not next year — BUT TODAY!

That’s why I hope you’ll take the time to fill out your application and send it off today — while you have this handy form in front of you.

You will always be glad you did.

Sincerely,

Joseph J. McGee

President

JM:dp

Enc:L997

P.S  Because we are from the “Show Me” state of Missouri, let us “Show You” that this policy is everything we say it is by making this money-back guarantee of your introductory term payment if you are not completely satisfied.

No doctor will have to examine you when you apply

One of the many reasons policyowners find it easy to do business with Old American is because they are not required to go to a doctor and take a medical examination.

You must be in good health, of course, when your policy is issued. Because the company, as is customary, does require that you be in good health at that time. It reserves the right to further verify this fact in the event of death within 24 months after the policy is issued. (Note that the company has this right only during the first two policy years). We DO care about your state of health, but as a matter of convenience to you, we do not require you to have a medical examination.

OLD AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY

3520 Broadway, KCMO 64111

 

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“The most successful single piece of advertising in the history of the world”: The Wall Street Journal Direct Mail letter that built a brand.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

The daily diary of the American Dream

_____________________________________________

22 Cortlandt Street/New York, New York 10007

Dear Reader:

On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same college. They were very much alike, these two young men. Both had been better than average students, both were personable and both — as young college graduates are — were filled with ambitious dreams for the future.

Recently, these men returned to their college for their 25th reunion.

They were still very much alike. Both were happily married. Both had three children. And both, it turned out, had gone to work for the same Midwestern manufacturing company after graduation, and were still there.

But there was a difference. One of the men was manager of a small department of that company. The other was its president.

What Made The Difference

Have you ever wondered, as I have, what makes this kind of difference in people’s lives? It isn’t always a native intelligence or talent or dedication. It isn’t that one person wants success and other doesn’t.

The difference lies in what each person knows and how he or she makes use of that knowledge.

And that is why I am writing to you and to people like you about The Wall Street Journal. For that is the whole purpose of The Journal: To give its readers knowledge — knowledge that they can use in business.

A Publication Unlike Any Other

You see, The Wall Street Journal is a unique publication. It’s the country’s only national business daily. Each business day, it is put together by the world’s largest staff of business-news experts.

Each business day, The Journal’s pages include a broad range of information of interest and significance to business-minded people, no matter where it comes from. Not just stocks and finance, but anything and everything in the whole, fast-moving world of business…The Wall Street Journal gives you all the business news you need — when you need it.

Knowledge Is Power

Right now, I am reading page one of The Journal. It combines all the important news of the day with in-depth feature reporting. Every phase of business news is covered, from articles on inflation, wholesale prices, car prices, tax incentives for industries to major developments in Washington, and elsewhere.

And there is page after page inside The Journal, filled with fascinating and significant information that’s useful to you. A daily column on personal money management helps you become a smarter saver, better investor, wiser spender. There are weekly columns on small business, marketing, real estate, technology, regional developments. If you have never read The Wall Street Journal, you cannot imagine how useful it can be to you.

Much of the information that appears in The Journal appears nowhere else. The Journal is printed in numerous plants across the United States, so that you get it early each business day.

GREAT INTRODUCTORY PRICE!

A $28 Subscription

Put our statements to the proof by subscribing for the next 13 weeks for just $28. This is the shortest subscription term we offer — and a perfect way to get acquainted with The Journal. Or you may prefer to take advantage of a longer term subscription for greater savings: an annual subscription at $107 saves you $20 off The Journal’s cover price. Our best buy — two years for $185 — saves you a full $69!

Simply fill out the enclosed order card and mail it in the postage-paid envelope provided. And here’s The Journal’s guarantee: Should The Journal not measure uo to your expectations, you may cancel this trial arrangement at any point and receive a refund for the undelivered portion of your subscription.

If you feel as we do that this is a fair and reasonable proposition, then you will want to find out without delay if The Wall Street Journal can do for you what it is doing for millions of readers. So please mail the enclosed order card now, and we will start serving you immediately.

About those two college classmates I mention at the beginning of this letter: They were graduated from college together and together got started in the business world. So what made their lives in business different?

Knowledge. Useful knowledge. And its application.

An Investment In Success

I cannot promise you that success will be instantly yours if you start reading The Wall Street Journal. But I can guarantee that you will find The Journal always interesting, always reliable, and always useful.

Sincerely yours,

Peter R. Kahn

Executive Vice President/

Associate Publisher

P.S. It’s important to note that The Journal’s subscription price may be tax deductible.

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Copywriting Example For Selling A Hobby Magazine Subscription For Trout Anglers. This Is How To Sell A Brand The Right Way

Trout Spoken Here

Also Bass. Salmon. And Bonefish

CRAZY FOR FLY-FISHING? SEND FOR YOUR

COMPLIMENTARY ISSUE OF FLY FISHERMAN —

THE BEST THERAPY FOR VICTIMS OF THE

“INCURABLE MADNESS” DESCRIBED BELOW.

There’s no obligation. But we will throw in a FREE CREEL if you accept our subscription offer.

Fellow Angler:

There’s bait casting. There’s spin fishing. And then they fishing — what Robert Traver (author of Anatomy of a Murder but best known to fishermen for his love affair with trout) called “one of the more amiable forms of an incurable madness.”

If the hairs on your neck tingle at the vision of a dusk-rising brown gently finning as he looks upstream for hors d’oeuvres, you’ve got the madness.

I know I do. I’m the Editor of FLY FISHERMAN. Like Robert Traver I fish because …

“… in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of rebellion ,,,

“… because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience …”

I’ve got it bad; this amiable madness. And so do all of us here at FLY FISHERMAN magazine.

When we’re not hipdeep in New York’s Beaverkill, Montana’s Bighorn or California’s Hat Creek, we’re planning our next trip — swapping stories about our last one — or writing about it in FLY FISHERMAN.

When we’re not waiting for a hatch along Michigan’s Au Sable … skimming the boneflats of the Florida Keys … casting to smallmouths in Virginia’s Shenandoah River, we’re writing about it in FLY FISHERMAN.

When we’re not debating the merits of the Light Cahill, Gray Midge, Royal Wulff, Rusty Spinner, Leadwing Coachman, Tan Caddis Pupa, Marabou Streamer, Muddler Minnow, Black-nosed Dace…

… or inventing better imitations of mayfly nymphs, duns and spinners, caddisflies, stoneflies, minnows …

… creating artificials from ostrich, goose or peacock feathers; beaver, suskrat, or skunk fur; badger, bear or antelope hair …

… selecting, stripping and winding hackle … perfecting our whipfinish knot … polishing our roll-casting technique …

… comparison-testing the latest single-action reels, checking the “feel” of a state-of-the-art boron rod (or rolling our own) …

… we’re writing about it in FLY FISHERMAN.

Share the expertise of our small army of field editors and streamside reporters. In each issue —

Our Fly-Tier Bench reveals how to tie the “perfect fly” you’ve dreamed of. Our Casting About column leads you to pristine lakes and crystal streams. Our New Products section reports the latest in fly fishing gear and clothing and our equipment features help you in selecting that ideal fly rod, reel, lines, and other things you’ll need to improve your fishing.

The enclosed postage paid reply card will bring your complimentary issue of FLY FISHERMAN — with no obligation to subscribe.

If you love it — love the camaraderie of anglers trading tips, techniques and tall tales; love the glowing photos of misty lakes and mountain streams, rainbow trout and rainbow-colored flies — take advantage of our generous reduced-rate subscription offer.

If you don’t — ?

Simply write “cancel” on our invoice and mail it back without paying or owing anything. Worth a try? Then mail the reply card today.

Cordially,

John Randolph.

P.S. We’ve ordered enough FREE CREEL — we think — to meet the anticipated response. But they are likely to go fast, so why risk waiting months while we re-order? Since your creel will be shipped as soon as you pay for your subscription, why not get it immediately by enclosing payment now?

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Rocking The Brand: Ditch Your Cookie Cutter Copywriting For Marketing That Turns Customers Into Fans

Out With Boring, How Do I Make My Brand Exciting!

Unless your brand is rocking the boat and making waves, you’ve sold yourself short on your advertising and marketing campaigns. If that’s you, you need this rectification like a symphony needs violins. Or, if guitar is more your thing, your brand still needs rectification like a riff needs a Les Paul.

Strap yourself in and prepare to be blown away in this rock symphony of brand energy.

Let’s Go Back To The Start. Why Creativity Matters

steve-jobs-quotes-creative-apple-design-04

If you sell luxury products or are building a luxury brand, this post could be the most important you’ll read in a while so buckle up.

BMW can engineer cars about as well as Mercedes Benz can engineer them, and both of them about as well as Jaguar can. The differentiator in the selling power of these equally solid brands, is going to come down to creativity in the execution.

Creativity pays. Ask Nike. Or Apple.

In the end, I won’t so much give you the copy or brand images to use to raise sales for your products, as give you the blueprint that unlocks your creativity and genius in pushing your brand far beyond where you ever thought possible.

Ask Jonathan Goldsmith, the actor who plays The Most Interesting Man In The World for his take, and he will tell you, “It’s foolish to compare interesting – either you are, or you aren’t. There’s no secret to the recipe.”

Before we proceed, just a word that this is not some secret program or psychological mumbo-jumbo. What we are doing can be simply described as changing the approach you take to marketing your brand, from the roots up.

That means we start with a radically different foundation to most marketing you might have done, and therefore wind up at a drastically different destination. One, hopefully, where you can sell more than ever before.

Take A Page From The Most Interesting Man In The World And Prepare To Be Different

Marketing professionals and brand owners gravitate towards the ordinary. After all, if you are in charge of a $10 million or more revenue a year brand, you don’t want to do anything that might alienate your target market. The bigger your brand, think Coca-Cola, the more conservative your advertising tends to be.

It takes a bold and brash brand owner like Steve Jobs with his incredible vision for the Apple brand to drive a brand identity that can stand out amidst the crowd of cookie cutter marketing messages.

When it rolled out, the Most Interesting Man In The World campaign would go on to double sales for Dos Equis beer, and unlocking a phenomenal 15% year-on-year growth at a time the rest of the industry was only growing 2%. With brand growth like that, Dos Equis went from a no-name beer, to the sixth biggest import beer in the United States. Pretty impressive for a guy who “doesn’t normally drink beer”.

Yet the Most Interesting Man In The World advertising campaign deliberately avoided the cliches that were the staples of beer advertising: flashy sports cars, women in revealing clothes, and dropped young men for a much older character with a unique take on beer, and life.

“This work showed us all the value of breaking out of category cliché and convention,” according to Susan Giannino, Publicis Worldwide Chairman. “It also showed us the power of hyperbole when it is expressed masterfully.”

Could The Most Interesting X Formula Work For You?

dos

Chances are, your brand, whether you’re in fashion, autos or hotels, is effectively on auto-pilot. Sure, you are marketing and advertising it, but you’re not growing, and there’s no growth in excitement for your brand in your target market. The same is likely the case if you’re in financial services, information publishing or travel.

Brands that make their bread and butter by selling to a corporate audience often make the mistake of “trying to be like everyone else”.

That can get you promotions in accounting or engineering, but as any salesmen worth his salt will attest, nothing repels that creature called “the consumer” faster.

If your advertising department looks anything at all like your legal department or engineering department, you are likely trying to sell using the cookie-cutter method. Guess what? That only comes out as boring to consumers. Sell like everyone else, and you will have a market share like everyone else, or worse.

The Most Interesting Man In The World shows you a way out of the doldrums. Going bold and brash like that could vault you to the top position in your field. The key is to studiously avoid the cliches of your industry. Start with a blank slate, and, if it’s helpful, imagine you were marketing in a completely different country and different culture. What would your product’s promises look like then? What would you play up? What would you get rid of entirely?

Maybe your copy would look less like a corporate meeting, and more like the Most Interesting Man In The World:

“When he goes to Spain, he chases the bulls”

“Once he ran a marathon because it was ‘on the way’”

“Bear hugs are what he gives bears”

Moving Beyond Formula: Here’s The Blueprint For Creativity And A Heart-Melting Brand.

Running AGAINST the bulls.
Running AGAINST the bulls.

It looks like a secret but it’s not so much a secret as an ignored reality. People like Oprah, Steve Jobs and Steve Ballmer have mastered the art of getting a market to fall in love. Call it seduction in a business context.

Steve Ballmer had it really tough. Try making Windows XP sexy to a Fortune 500 corporate division? Microsoft’s dominance in enterprise I.T. is testament to how well Ballmer succeeded at this uphill task.

Your challenge, if you accept it, is no less daunting: getting customers to fall head-over-heels with X Company brand, where X Company is your very own problem child brand, dear reader.

I can see your incredulous smile. What will it take for the market to show your brand some love? Well, if Ballmer did it in a field as boring as I.T., surely you and yours stand a better chance! Let’s see how it’s done. This next part is critical!

If There’s A Secret, It’s To Learn A New Mode Of Signaling That’s Called: “Communicate Love To Your Customers’ Brains”

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This one is tough and you might not get it until you’ve had a beer or two, but read it over again until it kind of sinks in. This is the most important section of this entire masterclass.

I came up with that atrocious name for it, but that’s because it’s a good description of the effect this new form of communication has, in your copy, positioning, brand image, everything. But the concept itself is old like a hit song from the 40s that most wunderkids today have no idea even exists. It’s not a secret, just an old, discarded piece of expertise.

But those who are the most popular in their fields do this every day.

Elon Musk. A model for geeks.

Mel Robbins. Exemplary ambassador for the entrepreneurial.

Nike. Can you even think of a different partner for your endeavors if you are an athlete.

Oprah, top of the heap. Such a good example.

Sadly, most of you are the wrong demographic for Oprah so you’ve likely never sat down for an entire episode of the Oprah Show. In the process, you also skipped out on a masterclass from the world class expert in “communicating love to your customers’ brains”. Note, I didn’t say hearts. There’s a reason for that. The Fortune 500 CEOs Ballmer was selling Windows to have brains, thank you very much. And they very much like to use them.

If, like most, you are selling to the heart, you’re gonna go right over their heads. Not effective!

You need to get into their heads, but in a good way, like fans at a Los Angeles Lakers game. Or Oprah fangirls. See, you really should have binge watched the Oprah Show earlier in your marketing career. Too late now to remedy that.

But why would you use this communication mode, and what is love to a customers’ brains?

We’ve been taught to ignore customers’ brains and go for their hearts instead.

Yes, you must make emotional appeals, but you yourself must be in firm brain territory. Only then can you unpack what’s going on in your customers’ brains and rationalizes all their emotions.

The truth is, customers put up all these barriers to you and your product or message, and these barriers we are talking about, are all in their head. So unless you can do something about that, you might as well be communicating with a rock.

The thing is, your customer is beset by these core brain/psychological barriers that block all but the brands and signals they already love

  • worry
  • fear (they are afraid you are just out to scam them)
  • risk-aversion
  • protective of their time

In their minds, since you’re not on the list of “things they love”, the things they already love, you and your product and services can only be a threat. You threaten their security, fulfillment, time, money, wallets, and you might even sell to them! Eww.

Hopefully you can see now what a formidable task it is going to be to break into your prospective customers’ minds! And you can’t break in, because if you break in, you won’t win them.

Pay attention now, this is why a customer can hear 100 advertising campaigns and totally ignore them, because those products and brands are not on The List, so they get tuned out.

To get your point across, you need a totally different approach.

The words you use and the signals you send are making them tune out of your copy because you are reinforcing all these barriers when you go to sell them your stuff.

Why don’t we see a different approach that deals with this problem at its root causes?

The only way to break through the wall this time is to coax. But you are not going to trick anyone, you are going to genuinely rework your entire approach to suit the audience. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Here, your potential customers only want things they already love. You’ve got something else they could love, if only they were aware of it. A neat clothing brand, a whiskey, a watch brand, a hotel, spa, whatever.

You need to send your customers a love message. Remember those barriers? You target customers’ brains must read a love message, and so your entire communication must change to provide that.

How do you send a love message to customers’ protective brains?

Funny you should ask! This is 2017 and everything is possible after all!

You beam love to them by composing and spreading a heart-warming symphony that

  1. captures their imaginations
  2. makes them believe again
  3. frees them from their jaded self
  4. makes them truly live again

Capturing the imagination

Capturing the imagination is hard but it’s the key to the customer love game. There’s a reason so many guys are fans of James Bond. James Bond appeals to their imaginations.

Ditto Jack Daniels, or Marlboro cigarettes. You should spend a bit of time studying these brands to see what spreading a message of love to customers’ brains looks like.

The Most Interesting Man In The World is good at capturing the imagination. Maybe you can create such a persona for your brand. That well might appeal to your market.

Making prospects believe again. WARNING: If your product is ordinary, you will do well to replace it. Pity the customer who believes in a mediocre product.

Making your prospects believe again helps you, and them. Nothing for a biker like stumbling into a bike shop with a fresh set of wheels they are enthusiastic about. A gamer stumbling on a remarkable find. But that takes standing out from the crowd. Your product better be not average or ordinary.

Maybe you should revisit your product at this point. Is it anything to write home about?

Most products are not. And so, maybe they deserve to struggle in the market! They will fall roughly where they deserve, which may not be very far from the proverbial apple tree.

If you want breakthrough marketing, then you had better be prepared to put the work into a breakthrough product. That’s just not the popular thing to say, but it’s what many of you need to hear.

You can’t pretend you are a major league player when you have a D-league product.

Remember that famous statement, “On the internet no-one knows you are a dog”?

Well, if you are building a luxury brand I got news for you. This is not the internet (yeah I know it is), but now your customers have been burned enough times and they know if you are a dog!

Do yourself a favor, and invest into creating the most premium quality product you can. It had better be good. Your reputation will live or die on the impressions those first buyers have after actually using the product.

“Your market is jaded. You need to bring some fresh new jazz”

If you play the same tune everyone else is playing, you will be out of a stage very soon. And there will be no sales in your pipeline.

It’s amazing how many brands settle for boring in their copy, when customers have made it clear over and over again.

They are so done with boring! You had better ditch that “safe”, boring image and get some fireworks.

You want to see brands that are NOT boring, that got fireworks?

Check out Ash Ambirge. She has a fantastic, fun brand. Same for Victor Pride of Bold and Determined. Your brand could learn a note or two from their playbooks.

“Makes them truly live again”

Dennis Green/Business Insider
Dennis Green/Business Insider

Design something special in the experience or the packaging.

When you buy a pair of shoes or outdoor pants from the American outdoors outfitter L.L. Bean, the product comes with a lifetime guarantee. This company does business better than your great grandpa’s village store ever did it, let alone today’s fickle corporations. It’s like stepping into another world.

This writer returned an old pair of shoes to the company years after they were bought from L.L. Bean, and got a brand new replacement, plus free shipping, no questions asked.

What kind of customer will not feel like they are some kind of princess or prince when you do that kind of thing for them?

 

“Making customers feel more alive?” Yeah, like a breeze in their hair. Oh as Neil Young would say, “Like A Hurricane”.

“We’re the only company I know of that completely empowers the customer to determine what satisfaction means to them,” L.L. Bean spokesperson Mac McKeever told Business Insider in August.

L.L. Bean is such an usual brand for getting this right, and it’s time you followed their example.

Brands that do this win. And they are not boring.

Your Move. Time To Adopt A New Media Playbook For Your Marketing Campaigns

businessman in front of two roads fingers crossed

The traditional media and advertising playbook involves bludgeoning prospects with your message until they buy your product. Such an approach is lacking in tact and in an understanding of what builds long-term brand equity.

The best luxury brands are not after the one quick sale. They are after life-long brand loyalists, who will buy their products and share the experience with the brand.

Tear out this page and stick it in your media playbook. It will change your brand.

And throw out the old playbook, the one that involves forcing people or “tricking” them. The old tricks are dying out, just so you know.
In the end, the brand that wins in this brave new world is the brand that builds up fans, NOT prisoners!

Building a brand image that rocks starts with a free inquiry or consultation with Tendai Mutunhire, the Rockstar of luxury brand copywriting. You can reach me on Towers Of Zeyron.

Posted on by Ten Mutunhire · 5 Comments

The Sales Letter That Made A Billion Dollars For American Express Shows You How To Win Customers For Your High End Brand

The following sales letter by American express is responsible for sending them billions of dollars worth of new business between 1976 and 1988. As you can see, adding a personal touch to your sales letters can do wonders for the numbers.

In addition, watch for the subtle signals that communicate that the American Express Card is a first-class product for first-class customers. In other words, if you want the royalty treatment in more than 1000 locations around the world, this is the Card for you. If not, we wish you well!

Without further ado, let’s get right into it.

AMERICAN EXPRESS TRAVEL RELATED SERVICES COMPANY INC

AMERICAN EXPRESS PLAZA, NEW YORK, NY 10004

Diane Shaib

Vice President

Marketing

 

R. S. Hoogson

Box 46

Westtown, PA 19398

 

Dear R. Hoogson:

Quite frankly, the American Express® Card is not for everyone. And not everyone who applies for Cardmembership is approved.

However because we believe you will benefit from Cardmembership, I’ve enclosed a special invitation for you to apply for the most honored and prestigious financial instrument available to people who travel, vacation, and entertain.

The American Express Card is the perfect example of the old adage, “You get what you pay for.”

For example, you get a truly impressive array of extra privileges, all designed for your convenience and security:

  • A Worldwide Network of Travel Service Offices* is at your Service. Enjoy personal attention at any of the nearly 1,000 American Express Offices — your “home away from home” — around the globe.
  • Cash your Personal Check at Thousands of Locations. Cash up to $250 at participating hotels and motels, and up to $1,000 at most American Express Travel Service Offices all over the world. (Subject to cash availability and local regulations.)
  • Card Lost or Stolen? You’ll Get a Quick Replacement. If the Card is lost or stolen, an emergency replacement will be provided at any Travel Service Office in the world, usually by the end of the next business day.
  • Obtain Emergency Funds Instantly. Once you’ve enrolled in this convenient service, our network of automated Travelers Cheque Dispensers lets you obtain up to $500…in 60 seconds or less!
  • Carry $100,000 of Travel Accident Insurance. Just charge your tickets to the Card, and you, your spouse or dependent children under the age of 23 are automatically covered when traveling by common carrier on land, sea, or in the air. It’s underwritten by Fireman’s Fund Insurance Companies, San Rafael, California, for approximately 35c of the annual Cardmembership fee.
  • Your Hotel Reservations are Assured. As an American Express Cardmember, if you request, your hotel room will be held for you until check-out the following day, at nearly 8,000 participating hotels.
  • Enjoy Special Express Hotel Service. Speedy check-in and check-out is available to Cardmembers at more than 1,000 hotels, including Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Sheraton, and more.

Extras like these only begin to tell the story of American Express Card security, emergency protection, and convenience.

You’ll also enjoy:

  • Unequalled Mobility. The Card is welcomed by the world’s major airlines, car rental agencies, rail-roads, and cruise lines. Plus it pays for auto parts and servicing at thousands of locations nationwide.
  • A Worldwide Welcome. Fine restaurants, hotels, resorts, and a host of other establishments around the world, and right in your hometown, recognize the Card and welcome your patronage.
  • Purchasing Power. No need to carry large amounts of cash. The Card takes care of shopping needs, whether you’re choosing a wardrobe, buying theater tickets, sending flowers, or hosting a dinner (even if you can’t be there!)
  • Financial Freedom. Unlike bank cards, the American Express Card imposes no pre-set spending limit. Purchases are approved based on your ability to pay as demonstrated by your past spending, payment patterns, and personal resources. So you are free to make your own decisions about when and where to use the Card.

In  few words, American Express Cardmembership is the most effective letter of introduction to the world of travel, entertainment, and the good life yet devised. Yet surprisingly, these benefits are all yours to enjoy for the modest fee of just $35 a year.

Why not apply for Cardmembership today? All you have to do is fill out and mail the enclosed application. As soon as it is approved, we’ll send along the Card, without delay.

Sincerely,

Diane Shaib

Vice President

P.S. Apply today, and enjoy all the benefits of Cardmembership.

Those listed here are just a handful of what’s available.

A full listing is included in the Guide to Cardmember

Services you’ll receive along with the Card.

Posted on by Ten Mutunhire · 2 Comments

Email FROM LUXURY COPYWRITER Showcases The Good Parts Of The Victoria Falls Hotel. Selling Luxury Through Email Marketing Can Add A Personal Touch To Hotel Marketing, Convincing Readers To Visit

January 12,

Victoria Falls Hotel,

Sunny, the party is going on

Hurry. The Hippos Are All Waiting To Take Photos With You. Buffet In The Grand Lounge Afterwards. Great Fun For All.

royalsuite

Hi John,

We are glad you have taken this opportunity to explore lovely Victoria Falls.

You will know this is an unforgettable destination for you and your loved ones. Suffice it to say, you and your family will be talking about your trip to Victoria Falls for decades to come.

And what better place to call home while you are in town than the historic Victoria Falls Hotel? There is simply nothing like it.

It is the grandest and oldest hotel in Zimbabwe, and one of the oldest hotels in all Africa.

Established by the British in 1904, this grand and exquisite hotel has played host to such illustrious visitors as the Queen of England, prime ministers, presidents, world-famous artists, and not a few glamorous rockstars.

Maybe you are next?

If you act now, we can reserve for you the decadent Batoka Suite, a spacious living space of unparalleled delights.

Or how about the Royal Suite, available on a strictly exclusive basis, giving you a rarefied retreat from the rigors of everyday life, with the best luxury Africa has to offer.

Not to mention the Victoria Falls itself. This wonder of nature is a sight to behold. You will never forget it as long as you live! Victoria Falls places you within nature for a rejuvenating immersion. You will feel more alive, and with good reason! The locals call the Falls “the smoke that thunders”. They know a thing or two about the surpassing grandeur of this signet ring of nature.

We look forward to welcoming you to this insuperable home. What are you waiting for? The hippos and swordfishes are waiting to greet you.

Yours,

Tendai M, Esq.

Maitre De

The Victoria Falls Hotel

victoriafallshotel

Posted on by Ten Mutunhire · 2 Comments

Hotels face struggles selling effectively. Rockstar of luxury copywriting reveals how hotels can sell luxury through online funnels

Adapt Or Die: Your Hotel Needs A Smart Strategy For Marketing Luxury

Marketing has gone digital at an alarming pace. Nowadays, a luxury brand’s customers are as likely to get there via a digital platform like Facebook as from a TV or print commercial.

In other words, adapt or die.

You customers are spending inordinate amounts of time inside Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest, VK, WeChat, Whatsapp and platforms like that.

Your brand needs to adapt quickly to this new state of affairs.

Old media is not dead. Not by a long stretch.

Customers for your hotel are still going to watch a show on TV, okay? They are still going to listen to their favorite radio shows. So you can reach them there.

But a good part of the game is flowing now in channels that did not exist 15 years ago.

Take a second to let that sink in. It’s truly phenomenal.

A whole lot of the new value in marketing luxury for hundreds, thousands of hotel brands is now going to occur in all-new platforms that have rolled out only very recently.

In fact, if you jump on some of the latest digital platforms early as they come out, you can see a big boost in brand growth. And that’s what matters after all, no?

And be prepared to watch your competitors who refuse to adjust become roadkill.

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Now that you let that sink in, you may be asking, “All good by me, rockstar, but how do I reach customers effectively through these channels and sell my luxury hotel brand. How do I get bookings?”

You can play the smart game or the dumb game.

The smart game is hard, the dumb game is easy.

Look at me here.

I’m writing this blog post. I could be writing copy for a hotel or spa instead.

But, besides the fact that I get a kick out of effective marketing and copywriting and want others to do it right, this is one very effective way of putting my brand above everyone else. When I show you real marketing that works for your brand, I become the leading brand in what I do.

So, writing copy is all well and good, and I’m even good at it. But writing a blog post like this scales so much better. I help, and can reach, potentially a lot more people.

When it comes to taking advantage of digital platforms, the low-effort way is what you will find most of your competitors doing.

Spamming Facebook groups to get “likes” and page views.

Reaching out to influencers without prior relationships to link to their brand, and getting very little ROI for the effort.

Throwing up the most hastily put-together landing page with second-rate copy and design to interest prospects in a discount.

Low efforts strategies work some of the time.

But not when your competition is doing the exact same thing. The more competition you have, and now there’s plenty, the more these low-level techniques lose their effectiveness. This happens because customers stop paying attention. If everyone is spamming a group with landing pages, for instance, legit customers, after a while, learn to stop paying attention. And out goes that strategy. At that point, everyone trying that same old strategy is, in a way, taking a gamble and potentially wasting time and money.

What your hotel brand needs instead, is to create COMPELLING FUNNELS, and compelling is the operative word here. Create compelling funnels that signal to customers that you have something of value at your hotel business, an offer that they can’t come across anywhere else. Something unique.

Maybe your hotel is in a unique location.

Maybe you host a special country music act.

Maybe your hotel has just been around for 120 years?

If so, you can play up these attributes in creating a compelling funnel.

It takes a bit of deep thinking and analysis of your brand to find compelling attributes that would interest a certain persona or individual.

Then you open up the floodgates of targeted traffic. Think Facebook or Google AdWords.

And you present them that compelling set of attributes that you know are just the fit for this group of targeted individuals.

And if your copy is right, and you don’t do something stupid at the last minute, like say, “Oops, I was just joking”, or something silly like that, you can convert a good percentage of these visitors into customers or fans of your brand.

Those who want it right now will book, and buy themselves a piece of what you have to offer.

But if you are targeting buyers only, you are doing it wrong and will have a much steeper hill to climb.

Everyone who is not a buyer, should at least become a fan of your brand.

Think about another luxury offer, a Ferrari dealership.

If the proprietor has done his job right, even the visitors who haven’t got the money to buy, should walk out of the room thinking,

“What cool cars. What an incredible dealer. When I get the money, this is the place I’m going to come to!”

These fans of your brand become buyers later on, when the offer is right, or when they have a more urgent need to buy.

It’s hard to turn random visitors into fans. So what can you do?

Well, there’s a whole art to turning random people into fans.

Why are you a fan of your hometown football team?

Because you live there! Good.

What about your high school. Why are you a fan of them? When random adults around the country couldn’t care less about XYZ School?

Because you have a history with them, simple. You’ve done “business” together, you’ve exchanged value, you’ve shared experiences there, the people there have helped you, most likely in a major way, in the past.

If I saved your life when you were stranded with no supplies or rope on top of Mount Everest, would you forget me? Ever? As long as you lived?

The reason all those web site bounce rate visitors don’t care, are not fans of your brand yet, is exactly that. You just haven’t begun to matter to them yet.

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Oprah has given away cars to viewers of her show.

Those fans will likely bring Oprah so much more value in the support they lend her brand everywhere they go than the money it cost to get them those cars.

But cars cost money, right?

Well, do you want to be Oprah or just some random showbiz hotel no-one has ever heard of?

 

Posted on by Ten Mutunhire · 1 Comment

Resources For Copywriting And Selling Luxury etc.

Complete Guide To Selling Luxury Products On eBay

  1. Part 1: Understanding Luxury Buyer Personas
  2. Inside A $30 Million Luxury Brand

Swipe Files For Luxury Product Copy

  1. Swipe 1
  2. Swipe 2

My Luxury Launch Email Cheatsheet

My Series On Improving Existing Email Copy

My Series On Luxury Brand Landing Page Optimization

 

Read My Science Fiction

  1. The Towers Of Zeyron
  2. The Rats

My Business And Marketing Books

  1. Why Your Copy Is Not A Bestseller

The Towers Of Zeyron Fashion Guide

  1. 10 Best Suites For Men
  2. Towers Of Zeyron Suits silva-cream-jacket-640x321silva