976 Numbers

Listen:
Advertising can work two ways. If you really are not a real estate or
marketing expert, don't promote yourself. Hell, all you're going to
do is spend thousands of dollars to let people in on the fact that
you're an idiot. (There's a couple of marketing newsletters out there
that I'm sure glad I don't have to sign my name to.)

But
look, if you got some really good valid info you can deliver in a
recorded message, you'll position yourself as a person who delivers
and you'll whet their appetite for more of the same.

Onward.
I started this month's issue on the subject of sex and, now that
you've got me going, I think I'll rave on a little more. You know, I
very seldom use sex in the advertising I create. I don't know why
exactly, I just never have. But darn it, it sure seems to work. It
sure seems to be the number one subject that occupies all of our
"Enquiring Minds." Remember, in my issue on
Haldeman-Julius' Little Blue Books how, back in the 1920s, the number
one subject people wanted to read about was sex?

Well,
it's the same today. Go to any big city magazine stand. Look at all
those hundreds of magazines and you'll soon discover you can divide
them into two, approximately equal categories:

SEX
And Then.... Everything Else

And
just look at this 976 number situation. I bet that 99.9% of all 976
calls are sex-related. You know, that's sort of a shame. Here's a
great new way to generate leads and a positive cash flow at the exact
same time and hardly anybody is using it except people selling
titillation.

Another
"sex story". Once upon a time, I was introduced to a guy
who claimed he was the greatest living income tax expert in the
world. I don't know if he was or not, but I do know he went bankrupt
not too long after I met him. Anyway, this guy spent some really
serious money in advertising in the Wall Street Journal and his ads
usually developed the theme of: