Rant warning: what follows may offend some people. But I wanted to throw in my three cents on the topic of “forced continuity,” which seems to be the subject of a lot of debate these days.

Several well-known marketers have made offers of late with forced continuity. What it means is, the intended product you want to buy can only be purchased when you buy another (often, a continuous subscription) billed to your account every month or so until you cancel.

Forced continuity is nothing new. (In direct marketing, they call these “Til Forbid” offers.) It’s another type of offer, pure and simple. It’s marketing. And there’s nothing wrong with that. What’s wrong is not the way the offer is made.

The real problem is its lack of transparency.

But that’s not what I want to rant about today.

What a lot of people seem to be missing here (and something my brilliant wife brought to my attention, which makes perfect sense to me), is that there is a deeper, much darker side to this whole thing.

Something all marketers need to be aware of…

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I come from a family of 6 girls. When we sat around the dinner table, we had to raise our hands if we wanted to say something — not because we were repressed, but because we were almost irrepressible!

After a day of school and play, we were all busting with news, feelings, opinions and plans.

What a clever dad. His unwritten rules prevented chaos. They also gave Lesley, the comparatively shy one, her chance to talk.

• Rule 1: Take turns.
• Rule 2: Don’t be mean.
• Rule 3: Listen to others.
• Rule 4: Don’t hog more than your share of the time available.

Unrolling The Conversation Online

You can see where I’m going with this…

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Almost any question can be answered, cheaply, quickly and finally, by a test campaign. And that’s the way to answer them — not by arguments around a table. Go to the court of last resort — the buyers of your product.

On every new project there comes up the question of selling that article profitably. You and your friends may like it, but the majority may not. Some rival product may be better liked or cheaper. It may be strongly entrenched. The users won away from it may cost too much to get.

People may buy and not repeat. The article may last too long. It may appeal to a small percentage, so most of your advertising goes to waste.

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Pictures in advertising are very expensive. Not in cost of good art work alone, but in the cost of space. From one-third to one-half of an advertising campaign is often staked on the power of the pictures. Anything expensive must be effective, else it involves much waste. So art in advertising is a study of paramount importance.

Pictures should not be used merely because they are interesting. Or to attract attention. Or to decorate an ad. We have covered these points elsewhere. Ads are not written to interest, please or amuse. You are not writing to please the hoi-polloi. You are writing on a serious subject — the subject of money spending. And you address a restricted minority.

Use pictures only to attract those who may profit you. Use them only when they form a better selling argument than the same amount of space set in type.

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Whatever claim you use to gain attention, the advertisement should tell a story reasonably complete. If you watch returns, you will find that certain claims appeal far more than others. But in usual lines a number of claims appeal to a large percentage. Then present those claims in every ad for their effect on that percentage.

Some advertisers, for sake of brevity, present one claim at a time. Or they write a serial ad, continued in another issue. There is no greater folly. Those serials almost never connect.

When you once get a person’s attention, then is the time to accomplish all you can ever hope with him. Bring all your good arguments to bear. Cover every phase of your subject. One fact appeals to some, one to another. Omit any one and a certain percentage will lose the fact which might convince.

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If you’ve ever been a follower of Napoleon Hill’s “Think And Grow Rich,” then you’ve certainly heard of the concept of the Mastermind Group.

The concept is quite simple: find people you want to associate with, and try to meet with them regularly. People who you admire and trust, who are supportive, and whose opinions you value.

But there’s a big difference between what Napoleon Hill teaches, and the way most groups today are formed. (And in that category I include blogs and forums, too.)

In fact, participating in one may hurt you. And perhaps do so without you even knowing it.

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Michel Fortin: Gary you on?

Gary: Let’s roll.

Michel: Hey, Gary, welcome. Well folks, we’re gonna have a great call tonight. I think it’s going to be one of the calls that I would do, I’d be on if I was just an asserting copywriter because what we’re going to do tonight is talk about some of the most effective strategies, some of the most pressing questions that you have about writing an effective copy itself.

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