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Many Small Business Owners are silently, some openly, panicked about the prospects of a Recession. So, I’m writing an open letter here that I promised to write… but didn’t… nearly two years ago:

From: Walt Goshert

Dear: You, my reader,my friend, fellow Small Business Pro…looking for Marketing direction,

I just finished reading (again) one of the BEST books on marketing I have ever read, and I thought you would want to know about it. It’s going to change a lot of what I do for the better, and I bet you’d want to act on its suggestions, too.

The book is Dan Kennedy’s No B.S. Direct Marketing for NON-Direct Marketing Businessses— and “no b.s.” it is!

You can get it at any bookstore or online here, or at least get information about it free at nobsbooks.com

Oh, and it comes with an Audio CD by the author that’s fantastic.

You can thank me later. Get the book now!

Walt

Why am I writing you this letter now? (BTW, Dan Kennedy does have this letter in his book)

Well, some of us have been debating that the “Rules” have changed…

Not so says Dan Kennedy.

In No B.S. Direct Marketing, Dan lays the foundation…

The No B.S. Rules

(Dan’s Instructions for using his “Rules”, with minor editing)

Print these out. Post them in front of your desk or computer where you’ll see them often until you memorize them. This will keep you on track, keep you from blowing money and time on crap that doesn’t work, and dramatically improve your marketing.

From this day forward…

Every ad you run, every flyer you distribute, every postcard or letter you mail, every website or blog you set up, every marketing thing you do MUST adhere to these rules. As Dan says, yes, they are simplistic and dogmatic, and there are reasons to violate them in certain situations. But for now, sticking to them as a rigid diet will work. You can experiment later, after you’ve first cleansed your business of toxins.

Rule 1: There Will Always Be an Offer or Offer(s)

Rule 2: There Will Be a Reason to Respond Right Now

Rule 3: There Will Be Clear Instructions on How to Respond

Rule 4: There Will Be Tracking and Measurement

Rule 5: Whatever Brand Building Occurs Will Be a Happy By-Product, Not Bought

Rule 6: There Will Be Follow-Up

Rule 7: There Will Be Strong Sales Copy, Not Vague Hyperbole

Rule 8: In General, It Will Look Like “Mail-Order Advertising”

Rule 9: Results Rule, Period.

Rule 10: You Will Be a Tough-Minded Disciplinarian and Keep Your Business on a Strict DIRECT Marketing Diet for at Least Six Months.

 

So, what do you think?

Have the “Rules” changed?

Or…

Are the “Tools” changing?

Stay tuned… Coming soon: How to use the new social marketing “Tools” with the old marketing “Rules”.

P.S.— WARNING: “Red Bull snorting through your nose all over your keyboard moment” when you read the reviews at Amazon, after you’ve read and appreciate Dan’s “10 Rules”. WTF… a marketing guy whose ideas have helped hundreds of businesses make millions and these morons blast him for marketing in the book?

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