Drayton Bird is one of the world’s best direct-marketing copywriters, but he wasn’t always a success. In fact, when he started his agency back in the late 1970s, he was so far in debt, he went by an alias so that tax collectors wouldn’t be able to recognize him.
Although he can laugh about that now, he can also pinpoint the mistakes he made that kept him poor and the steps he took that made him rich. And in this two-part audio, you’ll hear all about Drayton’s amazing story, including exactly how he went from being bottom-of-the-barrel broke to running David Ogilvy’s multimillion-dollar direct marketing agency.
Part One: 15 Lessons About Results That Will Make You Rich…(Or At Least Keep You From Going Broke)
Even though you’d probably think that all marketing is done for results, according to Drayton, a lot of it is done just because someone said, “Hey. Let’s do some marketing.” And not surprisingly, this ego-driven, “make it up as you go along” approach usually ends in disaster.
So Drayton learned early on that advertising isn’t the guessing game many people think it is – you really have to put in your time and study the techniques that work in order to be successful. And in Part One, you’ll hear how Drayton did it. You’ll also hear about the big names in marketing he’s met, worked with, or studied along the way such as Eugene Schwartz, Monroe Kane, John E. Kennedy, Claude Hopkins, John Caples, David Ogilvy, and the list goes on and on.
Drayton says that as a creative person, he’s tried many things in life. And although he admits that they weren’t all successful, they all led to significant lessons. And in Part One, you’ll hear his top 15.
You’ll Also Hear…
• A little-used secret that earned Drayton two-and-a-half times his salary for doing half as much work
• Exploding the myth about popular Super Bowl commercials and their advertising revenue
• A working strategy to use when things go wrong, and they will
• The kinds of guarantees that are guaranteed to work
• The three biggest mistakes Drayton made that almost ruined him
• A quickie “idiot’s guide” to creating the kind of newsletters people look forward to receiving
• The scary side of forming partnerships and why Drayton says you always need to keep an eye on the money
• How to produce the kinds of headlines, over-lines, and subheads that sell
• All about Drayton’s first big piece of direct mail and how it landed him three job offers right away
Part Two: “Sometimes You Don’t Have To Ask Where The Gravy Train Is. It Stops Right Outside Your Front Door.”
Drayton started his successful agency in the UK with only 700 pounds and a couple of partners. Three and a half years later, they were the biggest direct marketing organization around. And in Part Two, you’ll hear how they did it, along with how Drayton turned that success into the opportunity of a lifetime – working with David Ogilvy.
More Key Points From Part Two:
• The wild ways Drayton sold the idea of direct marketing to businesses
• An exclusive look into the winning business model Drayton used to make money
• The unusual (almost-crazy) ways Drayton overcame his fear of speaking
• Exactly what it is about Drayton’s book that helped him sell more than 200,000 copies
• The creative solutions Drayton came up with for meeting clients and “paying” rent when his fledgling company had no money
• The surprising jobs Drayton has had to take to make money and how that experience helped him when he formed his own company
Sometimes in business, it seems like one failure will inevitably lead to another. But fortunately, just as often, one success will also lead to a bigger and better one as well. And you’ll see those patterns in Drayton’s remarkable story.
