Re-reading, for the 9th or 10th time since 1980, “Scientific Advertising” by Claude Hopkins. It’s a great refresher.

Written in 1923, Hopkins was a pioneer in what is today called Data-Driven Marketing and Advertising.

Anyone involved in content marketing or advertising should read this “at least 7 times,” said David Ogilvy.

This ground-breaking book is still relevant in a digital world and covers from salesmanship to art in advertising, telling your story, testing campaigns, and good business… and a lot in-between.

One of my favorite sections:

“Some say [about marketing copy], ‘Be very brief. People will read but little.’ Would you say that to a salesperson? With a prospect standing before him or her, would you confine the seller to any certain numbers of words? That would be an unthinkable handicap.”

“So in [marketing copy – your virtual salespeople]: The only readers we get are people whom our subject interests. No one reads ads or marketing for amusement, long or short. Consider them as prospects standing before you, seeking for information. Give them enough to get action.”

Scientific advertising, claude hopkins

I’ve had so many executives tell me that they want content to be short. “Nobody has time to read all that,” they say. That’s because they are looking at it from their point of view only, and not the audience – the customers.

Some audiences want it short and sweet. But others want all the details. I structure content so it satisfies both.

Why is marketing about the science and math?

Because getting new leads, action, conversions, sales, ROI – all math related – are more important than the creative used in the content.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the right content matters. But, don’t obsess over the content to the detriment of getting the content done, tested, distributed, and measured for its efficiency and effectiveness. The content is just one part. It works together with the science, measurement, and investment – the math – and that matters more.

Remember when it comes to content, perfect is the enemy of great.

Claude Hopkins was an engineer by trade before he got into advertising. So was I.

In fact I was a double major in college: Ocean Engineering & Journalism and worked in engineering and the tech world for six years before I got into public relations and marketing. I naturally gravitate toward the scientific way of doing marketing.

An example: When I took over marketing and PR for the new homes construction companies Pulte and DiVosta Homes in the state of Florida, they were averaging between $5,000 and $7,500 in marketing cost for each house sold. Within two years, using my scientific methods, I cut that average cost per house sold to $1,200. So instead of spending over $21 million in marketing, I cut that to just over $5 million per year. Plus, during that same time our prospect list went from 70,000 to over 300,000 qualified buyers to sell 4,200 homes per year. The difference greatly increased the profits to the business.

See why the math is so important?

Want to know more? Contact me and I’ll show how tested scientific marketing methods work, including examples of the math.