When is enough?

Here’s a little story about a very bright and creative man named William Bernbach: During the 1960’s and 1970’s William Bernbach was very instrumental in a number of the biggest ad most well-known creative breakthroughs in American advertising. He was one of the three founders of Doyle Dane Bernbach (which is still one of the largest ad agencies in the world, with 206 offices in 96 countries), and was involved in MANY well-known campaigns of his day, like the “Think Small” campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle… “We Try Harder,” for Avis Car Rental… “Ask Mikey,” from Life cereal (I loved that stuff when I was little.)… “You Don’t Have to be Jewish to Love Levy’s,” for Levy’s rye bread (very popular when I was a kid growing up in New York City), and… the “It’s so simple” campaign for Polaroid.

Bernbach was also one of the ad greats interviewed in Denis Higgins clever book, “The Art Of Writing Advertising.” In it, Bernbach made a very profound statement related to research. He said, “One of the problems is worship of research. We’re all concerned about the facts we get, and not enough concerned about how provocative we make them to consumers.”

Before I talk about his comment, it’s worthy to note the word he used, “provocative.” If you look the word up in the American Heritage dictionary, provocative means “Tending to provoke or stimulate.” But in reality, there’s a much more sensual edge to this word. Implied in provocative, is “edgy, racy, seksy, salty, and suggestive.”

Bernbach was right on in his use of the word provocative, regarding how advertising SHOULD be. And you don’t need to be a Rhodes scholar to know that most advertising is bland, dull and vapid instead.

Which means, if you work even a little bit, you’re going to be light years beyond everyone else.

Now, back to the story. If you are serious about your business, and your ability to craft clever sales messages, then you already know how important the “research” is, which Bernbach referred to. In fact, in this month’s Seductive Selling Newsletter, there’s some very specific items about “research” and the value of it in your marketing, especially in your ability to write sales copy that’s effective.

No doubt this is critical to your success — I explain it fully inside. But… there’s another side of the coin when it comes to research. And that is…

When is enough? How much research is enough?

The amount of research you sometimes do, especially when you’re new, often borders on the absurd. Very similar to how when you first get into a new field or a new business, you’ll consume so much information, and you realize how much there is to know, to the point where this actually delays your execution.

It’s the same way with research.

The truth is, you can analyze and review something until your eyes are bloodshot and your head is spinning. And especially with the internet — I don’t care WHAT you’re researching, you can go on forever.

But is there an “enough”? And how do you know when you’ve reached it?

On Tuesday I’ll give you the answer by showing you a checklist you can use, that will make your job MUCH easier, and save you hours of wasted time researching more than you need to.

It will benefit anyone who writes anything.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

P.S. Read Seductive Selling FREE for 30 days, and get FIFTEEN gifts worth over $3,632. Check it out yourself at http://tinyurl.com/2g9pvg

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