“A” PILE VS. “B” PILE
Everybody in the world divides his mail into two piles which I call the A-pile and the B-pile.
The A-pile contains letters that are, (or appear to be), personal. The B-pile contains everything
else: bills, catalogs, brochures, printed announcements, envelopes, that obviously contain a sales
message and so on.—Gary Halbert
The most important thing you can ever do when creating a direct mail promotion is to make sure
your letter gets in the A-pile!-Gary Halbert
A pile envelopes always look personal, from one real person to another real person. The best
(most cost-effective) A-pile envelopes always have a live postage stamp affixed. They never
have teaser copy. They are never addressed by label and they are seldom oversized or odd
shaped.—Gary Halbert
Your mailing has to be startling enough to interrupt the day’s normal routine and the person’s
self-conversation. What’s more, it has to keep on interrupting until the order device is acted
upon them and there. If the mailing is laid aside, chances are it won’t be picked up and
reconsidered, and the sale will be loss.—Gary Halbert
ADVERTISING
Advertising is salesmanship in print.—John E. Kennedy
The only point at all of any kind of marketing—is selling your product or service. Nothing else
matters.—Jeffrey Lant
The only purpose of advertising is to sell; it has no other justification worth mentioning.—
Raymond Rubicam
Business is the act of extracting money from another man’s pocket without resorting to
violence.-Max Amsterdam
Kodak sells film, but they don’t advertise film, they advertise memories.—Theodore Levitt
Marketing is too important to leave to the marketing department.—David Packard
A sales letter is a sales presentation in print.—Dan Kennedy
The striving to “attract attention” instead of striving to positively sell goods is the basis of all
advertising misunderstanding.—John E. Kennedy
Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.—Mark Twain
Sa