"Scientific Advertising" by Claude Hopkins (1923) with Jay Abraham

About the Book

Whether you are considering a career in advertising or trying to find the best way to market your product, start with Hopkins (1866-1932) and then move on to the rest.

In this interview, legendary marketer Jay Abraham talks about how Scientific Advertising changed the course of his career and life.

In Scientific Advertising , Hopkins explains the process of getting (and measuring) results from your advertising.

Claude Hopkins wrote Scientific Advertising in 1923, but his insight into consumer behavior still holds. The aim was to explain the rules of advertising and what makes consumers buy so that advertising returns would become a certainty and not a guess. Learn how to use his techniques to write ads that sell with certainty.

Hopkins clearly shows how to write copy, provides methods for testing it, and shows how evidence-based advertising gets results in a measurable and cost-effective way.

It is a must-read if you are in business, sales, or advertising. Hopkins shows what makes us buy and how you can make it happen.

“Nobody should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times. It changed the course of my life.” ~David Ogilvy

In 21 short chapters, Hopkins reveals a variety of tested techniques that he used throughout his successful career in advertising:

1. How advertising laws are established – What the professionals in advertising already know and how we can use this knowledge to develop better ads.
2. Just salesmanship – What is advertising and how is it best used?
3. Offer service – The best ways to offer service to increase sales.
4. Mail order advertising – What it teaches us and how we can apply it to our advertising.
5. Headlines – A lot of headlines get a poor response in email marketing, websites, and adverts. Learn how to increase your response rate.
6. Psychology – Use Hopkins’ experience to direct people to buy and use your product.
7. Being specific – Are you being specific enough in your advertising? Hopkins shows that using specific facts can increase sales and outperform your competitors.
8. Tell your full story – How telling your story is important and why some advertisers make the mistake of missing out on this.
9. Art in advertising – Should we use bespoke artwork or tried and tested visuals?
10. Things too costly – What strategies are too costly to attempt in advertising?
11. Information – How to give the consumer the best information to help them buy.
12. Strategy – Rules for directing a campaign.
13. Use of samples – How getting samples into people’s hands can increase sales.
14. Getting distribution – Hopkins lays out how to get national distribution by starting small.
15. Test campaigns – How to test different campaigns on the same audience.
16. Leaning on dealers – Ways to get dealers to help your campaign
17. Individuality – Set yourself apart from competitors and what your tone should be.
18. Negative advertising – Will it help your sales?
19. Letter writing – Hopkins shows how to write a sales letter.
20. A name that helps – How does a product name impact sales?
21. Good business – See how good business impacts consumer behavior.

Excerpts from the book:

The only purpose of advertising is to make sales. It is profitable or unprofitable according to its actual sales.

I never ask people to buy. The ads all offer service, perhaps a free sample. They sound altruistic. But they get a reading and action. No selfish appeal can do that.

I set down these findings solely for the purpose of aiding others to start far up the heights I scaled.

About Jay Abraham

As Founder and CEO of The Abraham Group, Inc. (Los Angeles, California) , Jay has spent his entire career solving complex problems and fixing underperforming businesses.

He has significantly increased the bottom lines of over 10,000 clients in more than 1,000 industries.

Jay‘s books include Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition and The Sticking Point Solution: 9 Ways to Move Your Business from Stagnation to Stunning Growth In Tough Economic Times which was featured on episode 299 of The Marketing Book Podcast in 2020 .

Jay’s most recent book is Business Wealth Without Risk: How to Create a Lifetime of Income & Wealth Every 3 to 5 years , co-authored with Roland Frasier.

And, interesting fact: Jay has the same birthday as Elvis Presley!

Listen to the Interview…

Links…

• Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins (Amazon)
• Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins (free PDF download)
• Scientific Advertising (Wikipedia)
• Jay Abraham (website)
• The Sticking Point Solution: 9 Ways to Move Your Business from Stagnation to Stunning Growth in Tough Economic Times by Jay Abraham (Marketing Book Podcast interview)
• High-Impact Content Marketing: Strategies to Make Your Content Intentional, Engaging, and Effective by Purna Virji (Marketing Book Podcast interview)
• Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy
• My Life in Advertising by Claude Hopkins
• Taken at the Flood: The Story of Albert D. Lasker by Gunther John
• Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy
• Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples
• Business Wealth Without Risk: How to Create a Lifetime of Income & Wealth Every 3 to 5 years by Roland Frasier and Jay Abraham
• Roland Frasier (website)
• Fire Them Now: The 7 Lies Digital Marketers Sell…And the Truth about Political Strategies that Help Businesses Win by Phillip Stutts (Marketing Book Podcast interview)
• Overdeliver: Build a Business for a Lifetime Playing the Long Game in Direct Response Marketing by Brian Kurtz

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