Marketing Classics - Must Read Books from the Greats

© 2004, John Calder
http://www.TheEzine.net

A large part of online marketing is really a high-tech version of classic direct sales techniques. From landing pages to affiliate recruitment to attracting list signups, all employ variations on classic marketing methods. With that in mind, there are several direct marketing books that are generally considered classics. These are worthy reading and study materials for all marketers.

One freely available book is "Scientific Advertising" by Claude C. Hopkins. A quick search on Google will reveal dozens of web sites that have posted this entire work for online reading, or that have made it available for download as an ebook. This relatively short book, published in 1923 and now in the public domain, has had a profound impact on many great marketers and advertisers that followed, and is at the very core of more expensive marketing courses. Hopkins believed advertising was "salesmanship multiplied", and isn't that concept true when applied to Internet marketing as well? This book is a bargain at any price, and since it's now available free, there's no excuse for not reading it.

"Tested Advertising Methods" by John Caples, first published in 1932 and now in its fifth revision, is another advertising and direct response masterpiece. This is where you will learn the meat of copywriting and advertising. Caples is the creator of one of the most well-known ad headlines ever - "They Laughed When I Sat Down At The Piano. But When I Started To Play..." . That headline was created at the beginning of an advertising career that lasted 45 years.

Finally, there's "The Robert Collier Letter Book". Like the others, this was first published in the early half of the 20th century, in 1934. Yet it still remains a truly great classic today. This is considered by many copywriters to be "salesmanship in print". Collier reveals techniques that are still effective today because our basic wants and needs are still the same. For many years copywriters paid large sums to buy a used copy of this book. It's now available directly from the Collier family online.