Breakthrough Advertising Review

Schwartz' classic is not an easy study. These five lessons above are simply short summaries of data that sometimes is explained across and between several chapters. Again, your own mileage will depend on your study of this and other classics – to boil down and internalize the principles and patterns of these author's experience into a working philosophy you can employ. “No one school has all the teachers” goes a ancient Oriental maxim. So having and regularly re-studying even a small library of proved marketers is a must to succeed in any marketing... Visit and Join: https://livingsensical.gumroad.com/l/BreakthroughAdvertising

Probably the most vital breakthrough Gene Schwartz developed as he wrote the book was based on just two elements and their maturity. Both of these may seem obvious to someone who has a long history in copywriting. 1. The maturity of the prospect (awareness) 2. The maturity of the market (sophistication)

Schwartz and other copywriters immersed themselves in our culture, recommending that you get subscriptions to the most popular magazines, and you buy and read the blockbuster books, and you see all the most popular movies several times. All to help you spot the mass desires where they occur. Where those migrated from a private want into a mass desire that drives the markets. The first half of Breakthrough Advertising is devoted to the headline. The second half is devoted to the rest of the copy. And a single chapter named “The Final Touches” (which should have been elevated to a Part on its own) is how to put everything together and make it work... Visit: https://livingsensical.gumroad.com/l/BreakthroughAdvertising

1. Keep a regular monitor on all the popular media to be aware of mass desires. Tabloid magazines, movies, bestselling books. Media that people have to pay to acquire or view. What passes for “social media” may be too mercurial to analyze for profitable trends. Any of several online trend analysis tools may or may not be of long term use in helping you determine these – and are hard-pressed to determine profitability. The key here is to develop a greater personal understanding and an innate sense of what is driving our culture in that snapshot of time. 2. Analyze the product itself and find its claims. If a book, you'll note the written claims made by the author. If it's a physical product, you have to find the claims by interviewing and studying everything about it, from its manufacturing process, packaging, and delivery methods. Note all of these down. 3. Study and research the claims to find the mechanisms... Visit: https://livingsensical.gumroad.com/l/BreakthroughAdvertising

Anyone can use cheap knock-off, copy-cat headline. The top pro's use only one universal solvent for each and every copywriting puzzle. Schwartz' book lays out his general prescription for asking and resolving these copywriting problems. And despite how great that book is, it's just the tip of the iceberg. So this field guide. The mastery of Schwartz' materials lies in understanding them thoroughly. Because no one else in all of advertising has covered even half of his materials. The underlying trick is in knowing what the “right questions” are... Visit: https://livingsensical.gumroad.com/l/BreakthroughAdvertising

Make all your ads pay for themselves. How? Simple: study the classics. Over and over and over. Again, there's maybe a dozen books that lay out all you need to know. The rest is studying the markets you are trying to reach. And for copywriters, there's a small set of long-lasting ads that ran for decades with minor changes. There are many like this. The reason these ads ran that long was simple – they kept getting sales. Once you internalize those, and also understand how they work – then you can duplicate their success. Routinely... Visit: https://livingsensical.gumroad.com/l/BreakthroughAdvertising

Schwartz says that good advertising is based on Mass Desires. He defines those as the “mass spread of a private want”. Meaning – there is something I want out there and someone has produced a product that will help me become or attain that want I need filled. The problem with most advertising is that it's really schlock. (You can fill in any other word you want there.) Most advertising is “schlock” because copywriters, advertising managers, and even CEO's won't look up and study the classic books on copywriting and advertising. By the quality of advertising today, anyone can estimate that it's far more than half-wasted these days. The vast bulk of ads out there are wasted marketing dollars... Visit: https://livingsensical.gumroad.com/l/BreakthroughAdvertising

Eugene Schwartz lays out the premise and breakthrough of his classic “Breakthrough Advertising” within the few pages of its introduction: “I've written this book – not from the mail order perspective alone – but from the universal problem of all copy writing: How to write a headline – and an ad that follows it – that will open up an entirely new market for its product. .... “In copy writing there are the hopes and fears and desires of millions upon millions of men and women, all over the world. And the copy writer does not create the desire of millions of women all over America to lose weight; but he can channel that desire onto a particular product, and make its owner a millionaire...” Visit: https://livingsensical.gumroad.com/l/BreakthroughAdvertising

A public meeting about Disasters brought this book to life. This meeting was simply to help people get organized so they could help each other when the worst happened. Saving lives, property, everything of real value. So human life could get going again after Nature got through with its extreme weather. The biggest problem at that meeting was their paltry turnout. The poor turnout was because this meeting wasn't effectively marketed – the needs and wants, the emotional connection – all missing. Vital information which actually saved lives had been communicated in such a fashion that only a few were interested in finding out about it or doing anything with it. The moral: - Marketing (and copywriting) is a form of communication. - It sits at the point where emotion and logic meet to cause action. - Poor or missing marketing results in inaction. Visit: https://livingsensical.gumroad.com/l/BreakthroughAdvertising