From LP re a common marketing idea that rarely works: 

“I had the opportunity to read an essay in which you discussed how to earn extra money by taking surveys. Do you have it available?”

My Response: I don’t remember writing about that exactly, and neither does my editor, so I can’t link you to it. Perhaps it was a speech or a paragraph that was part of a larger essay that was filed under a different topic?

That said, I’m guessing you are referring to a direct-marketing strategy that has been used in the past and gotten fantastic results. But it’s not without risk. And it must be done correctly (from a copy perspective). But when it works, it can work very well.

What you do is publish in a periodical or send out to a list (email or snail mail) a questionnaire on a topic that relates to your product. The people that answer the questionnaire, regardless of their answers, are prime candidates for receiving a second, more direct advertisement.

It’s an expensive way to build a prospect list because it begins with a survey that asks for nothing but answers in return. But because it is not asking for dollars, you can sometimes get a very high response rate. And that can translate into a dollar return on the second effort that more than pays for the costs of the first.

AS re “Famous Last Words” – one of the “Quick Bites” in the July 30 issue:

“You left out two of my favorites: Johnny Carson’s ‘I’ll be back, right after this announcement’ and ‘I knew this was going to happen.’ (Don’t know who was responsible for that last one.)”

My Response: I should have remembered “I knew this was going to happen.” That could be the best of them all!