Claude Hopkins

One of the founding fathers of modern-day marketing, and more specifically advertising, is Claude C. Hopkins who first published “Scientific Advertising” back in 1923.

It’s an amazing read which I highly suggest to everyone who even remotely comes close to advertising anything, no matter what, why, or how.

In fact, I’d argue you should read it multiple times in a row. That’s what I’m doing right now, in fact—I’m currently on my god-knows-how-many read-through and I keep learning new stuff.

You can read the entire thing in one sitting if you’d like.

And yes, I know what you’re thinking “But Alex, that book is from 1923, surely that’s outdated and there are better books for me to read right now?”.

I thought so too at first.

But boy how wrong I was.

See, advertising and marketing at their core are psychological disciplines. It’s essentially salesmanship in print as Hopkins described it in his book. And if there’s anything to know about sales & psychology, it’s that people’s psyche doesn’t change. If something used to be true back in Ancient Rome, then chances are it still holds true today.

Sure the medium changes, and maybe even certain ideas, beliefs, and cultural ideals. But the underlying principles everything is based on don’t.

Another fact to consider is that the best way to stand out is to “be different”.

So modern books, teachings, and people who want to “compete” with such old-school legends and more-than-holy scriptures on the art of advertising, by definition, have to do things differently or else they won’t even stand a chance in competing.

But what happens when people want to compete with a near-perfect book (in this case at least)?

That’s right…

You end up with something slightly worse at best and completely and utter bollocks at worst.

That’s the case for every piece of information in every market targeted to every demographic and applied to every medium there is. No exceptions.

Something to think about.

Anyway, I’m not saying I’ve got knowledge anywhere near to the level of that of Hopkins. But I always focus on only taking in the best, most-trustworthy, and effective information from the old-school myths, legends, and pioneers.

Take for example Email Valhalla, my flagship course which teaches you all about writing emails that get you sales, no matter what market you’re in or what you’re selling, and keeps readers reading day after day.

There’s nothing truly new in the course.

No shiny bells or whistles.

But it is one of the only (I only know a handful of others) courses that brings everything from the top dogs who knew what they were doing together and teaches it in a modern jacket and a teaching style that’s uniquely mine and mine alone (that means no-nonsense, no bullshit, no time-wasting, and ultimately memorable and effective).

If that tickles your fancy, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla

The average 12-year-old boy is 356% more likely to ask his parents to buy ice cream at the store than a 15-year-old girl.

How crazy is that?

Not only because that’s an enormous difference in the likelihood of a kid asking for ice cream. I mean, it’s not as if ice cream is this extremely gender-specific interest as opposed to playing with dolls or reading your average superhero comic book.

And neither is that 3-year difference that much when you think about the general age range of people who enjoy eating ice cream.

But no, that’s not all. There’s a lot more that makes it a crazy statement.

More specifically…

It’s also crazy because I made up that fact just now. Entirely made up. Total bollocks. I didn’t even do a sliver of research to make it feel more possible.

And yet…

I’m certain there’s a high chance you read that first sentence and simply believed it.

In fact, I know many people did.

Coincidentally, it’s also something Claude C. Hopkins wrote about in Scientific Advertising when he said the following:

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“The weight of an argument may often be multiplied by making it specific. Say that a tungsten lamp gives more light than a carbon and you leave some doubt. Say that it gives three and one-third times the light and people realize that you have made tests and comparisons.”

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Now, admittedly, he didn’t say anything about lying and or making up facts.

Probably because that’s not a good business practice.

But it does work just as well—which clearly shows you the power of being specific.

Now, I’m sure you’re not planning on making up random specific, and believable, facts as a party trick wherever you go.

But you might be interested to know that you’d make, on average, a total of $42 for every $1 you spent on email marketing.

Not a bad trade, eh?

And if you’d like to start learning how to write better emails so you can make more sales while keeping your readers reading day after day, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla