Comments on: You Got Questions… I Got Answers http://www.john-carlton.com/2005/01/30/you_got_questio/ insight, tactics, advice and mutterings on copywriting, marketing and living life deep... from the most ripped-off world-class ad writer alive... Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:40:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: Gary Halbert http://www.john-carlton.com/2005/01/30/you_got_questio/#comment-169 Gary Halbert Mon, 25 Jul 2005 03:34:57 +0000 http://www.john-carlton.com/2005/01/30/you_got_questio/#comment-169 I,ve tried a few times to post messages on this blog and mostly, for some technical reason, they don,t get posted. I just want to see if this one does. I,ve tried a few times to post messages on this blog and mostly, for some technical reason, they don,t get posted. I just want to see if this one does.

]]> By: gary halbert http://www.john-carlton.com/2005/01/30/you_got_questio/#comment-24 gary halbert Wed, 02 Feb 2005 01:13:03 +0000 http://www.john-carlton.com/2005/01/30/you_got_questio/#comment-24 This is not exactly about the posts that have appeared before. It,s about how I was moved more than I thought I would be by the death of Johnny Carson. I believe he was one of the "anchors" in my life and the life of millions of others. He was on the air for 30 years during the most turbulent years our nation has ever experienced. Yet, somehow he made it a little more endurable. He was a "constant." "Constants" are disappearing. I have known how to look at a watch ant tell the time for many, many decades. I know how to wind it to make it work and set it to a different time if I am going to Costa Rica or California or the watch is running a little fast or slow. No so now. Now, the most of the damn watches are digital and they come with instruction booklets written in one point type, 9 languages. Are they a technological advance? Hell, no! They just represent a new learning curve you have to endure to learn how to do something you already knew how to do before this "advance" came along. Used to be, I could march into Kinko,s , give the girl and handful of papers and tell her to make five copies of each for me. No more. Now {for my convenience] I have to put my credit card into a machine that issues me a KINKOS CREDIT CARD! Then I have to go to the photocopier and learn how to put the kinko,s credit card into the machine. Then I have to learn how to operate the damn machine. I went to brunch with three other people, including Mark Joyner, and the guy who drove me to the south beach resturant was joyous because he had a PARKING METER CREDIT CARD. You put it into a slot in the parking meter and it sucks say $l.50 outta your card. If you only use a dollars worth of time, you put your PARKING METER CREDIT CARD back into the parking meter and it smucks the .50 cents it owes you back into your card. I was outraged. The other guy [who, for real, is a rocket scientist for NASA] couldn,t understant this. He said there,s no learning curve. That,s bullshit. You at least got to know where to get a parking meter credit card. He said I could get one at any Public,s Grocery store. What if I don,t want to go to Publics? I,ve known how to use parking meters since they first existed. No more. Every time I turn around it seems I gotta go through a new learning curve to learn the "new and improved" way to do something I already know how to do. There,s a marketing lesson here. Nobody but an insane person wants their life to be more complicated. Start thinking about not only selling solutions but selling SIMPLE solutions. We are a nation of people STARVING for simple solutions. The government has sorta got the wrong idea about this. Did you know they added an exta 1000 pages to the tax code to simplify it? Did you know there is a book the size of the Farmer,s Almanac that tells you how to get the most out of your PDF. In other words, by trading in a major part of your life you can now learn the new and improved way to do what you used to do by scribbling notes on the back of an evelope. I hate the world. Gary Halbert This is not exactly about the posts that have appeared before. It,s about how I was moved more than I thought I would be by the death of Johnny Carson. I believe he was one of the “anchors” in my life and the life of millions of others. He was on the air for 30 years during the most turbulent years our nation has ever experienced. Yet, somehow he made it a little more endurable. He was a “constant.” “Constants” are disappearing. I have known how to look at a watch ant tell the time for many, many decades. I know how to wind it to make it work and set it to a different time if I am going to Costa Rica or California or the watch is running a little fast or slow. No so now. Now, the most of the damn watches are digital and they come with instruction booklets written in one point type, 9 languages. Are they a technological advance? Hell, no! They just represent a new learning curve you have to endure to learn how to do something you already knew how to do before this “advance” came along. Used to be, I could march into Kinko,s , give the girl and handful of papers and tell her to make five copies of each for me. No more. Now {for my convenience] I have to put my credit card into a machine that issues me a KINKOS CREDIT CARD! Then I have to go to the photocopier and learn how to put the kinko,s credit card into the machine. Then I have to learn how to operate the damn machine. I went to brunch with three other people, including Mark Joyner, and the guy who drove me to the south beach resturant was joyous because he had a PARKING METER CREDIT CARD. You put it into a slot in the parking meter and it sucks say $l.50 outta your card. If you only use a dollars worth of time, you put your PARKING METER CREDIT CARD back into the parking meter and it smucks the .50 cents it owes you back into your card. I was outraged. The other guy [who, for real, is a rocket scientist for NASA] couldn,t understant this. He said there,s no learning curve. That,s bullshit. You at least got to know where to get a parking meter credit card. He said I could get one at any Public,s Grocery store. What if I don,t want to go to Publics? I,ve known how to use parking meters since they first existed. No more. Every time I turn around it seems I gotta go through a new learning curve to learn the “new and improved” way to do something I already know how to do. There,s a marketing lesson here. Nobody but an insane person wants their life to be more complicated. Start thinking about not only selling solutions but selling SIMPLE solutions. We are a nation of people STARVING for simple solutions. The government has sorta got the wrong idea about this. Did you know they added an exta 1000 pages to the tax code to simplify it? Did you know there is a book the size of the Farmer,s Almanac that tells you how to get the most out of your PDF. In other words, by trading in a major part of your life you can now learn the new and improved way to do what you used to do by scribbling notes on the back of an evelope. I hate the world. Gary Halbert

]]> By: Phil Alexander http://www.john-carlton.com/2005/01/30/you_got_questio/#comment-23 Phil Alexander Tue, 01 Feb 2005 07:48:36 +0000 http://www.john-carlton.com/2005/01/30/you_got_questio/#comment-23 Not to be a buttinsky, but the composition of pennies has actually changed over the years. Pre 1980 pennies had a lot more copper, and weighed .7 grams more than a post 1980 one. John's right on about the opacity of the paper stock being important. Along the same lines, making sure the type is dark enough. Ted Nicholas always said that if enough ink wasn't on the presses when his letters ran, response went down. I buy that. -Phil Not to be a buttinsky, but the composition of pennies has actually changed over the years. Pre 1980 pennies had a lot more copper, and weighed .7 grams more than a post 1980 one.

John’s right on about the opacity of the paper stock being important. Along the same lines, making sure the type is dark enough. Ted Nicholas always said that if enough ink wasn’t on the presses when his letters ran, response went down.

I buy that.

-Phil

]]> By: Michael Platt http://www.john-carlton.com/2005/01/30/you_got_questio/#comment-22 Michael Platt Sun, 30 Jan 2005 14:57:03 +0000 http://www.john-carlton.com/2005/01/30/you_got_questio/#comment-22 John, Thanks alot for answering my question. Deep down I knew that was the correct answer...I guess I just needed to hear it from someone else. The market I'm targeting also seems to agree with your thoughts. Testing will solve all questions. Perhaps my prevention information given away freely will be a great list building tool. Also, I wanted to alert you that I cannot syndicate your blog to my Feedreader. I'm not sure if it's a problem on my end or yours. Check with your "geek" and see what your traffic numbers look like shortly after posting a new blog entry. If you're not seeing a surge of traffic after a new entry, I suspect the problem might be on your end. Thanks Again, Michael John,

Thanks alot for answering my question. Deep down I knew that was the correct answer…I guess I just needed to hear it from someone else. The market I’m targeting also seems to agree with your thoughts. Testing will solve all questions. Perhaps my prevention information given away freely will be a great list building tool.

Also, I wanted to alert you that I cannot syndicate your blog to my Feedreader. I’m not sure if it’s a problem on my end or yours. Check with your “geek” and see what your traffic numbers look like shortly after posting a new blog entry. If you’re not seeing a surge of traffic after a new entry, I suspect the problem might be on your end.

Thanks Again,

Michael

]]> By: Shelle Castles-Melton http://www.john-carlton.com/2005/01/30/you_got_questio/#comment-20 Shelle Castles-Melton Sun, 30 Jan 2005 12:57:31 +0000 http://www.john-carlton.com/2005/01/30/you_got_questio/#comment-20 Dont'cha just lur-ve clients who change major things like that mid-stream?? I'd be curious about any findings anyone has on front/back printing too. I'll stay tuned to see if you get any feedback. Dont’cha just lur-ve clients who change major things like that mid-stream??

I’d be curious about any findings anyone has on front/back printing too. I’ll stay tuned to see if you get any feedback.

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