Authors: William A. Cohen
ISBN-13: 9780471109464, ISBN-10: 0471109460
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
Date Published: February 1996
Edition: REV
Dr. BILL COHEN is Professor of Marketing, Past Chairman of the Marketing Department and Director of the Small Business Institute at California State University, Los Angeles, where he teaches direct marketing. He has served ten years as a director on the board of the Direct Marketing Club of Southern California. He not only has had his own mail order business, but is a pioneer in teaching mail order to students, entrepreneurs, and other professors around the country. Thousands have used his methods to start their own businesses.
With more than 60,000 copies sold, this amazing manual has become a classic in its fieldand rightfully so. Nowhere else will you findin one bookso much valuable information on achieving success in the mail order business. Dr. Bill Cohen has drawn on his decades of experience testing, researching, and constantly refining the mail order techniques described in this invaluable guide. Building a Mail Order Business offers a virtual treasury of techniques and methods guaranteed to work in the real world of selling through the mail. You'll get practical advice and learn tricks of the trade that will get you started quickly, with the fewest missteps and greatest chances for success.
Thorough and completely up-to-date, this authoritative guide covers every aspect of the mail order business, from the basics of getting started to the details of product selection, preparing a marketing plan, copywriting, designing graphics, printing, protecting yourself from competition, telemarketing, and advertising through magazines, radio, and television. In addition, a handy appendix lists hundreds of valuable contacts with complete addresses.
In this new Fourth Edition, you'll learn the latest trends in mail orderwhat works and what doesn't, the most effective look in ads and mailing pieces, how to put together the most attractive offers, and much more.
For entrepreneurs, direct marketers, business owners, and others eager to get into the mail order business,
Building a Mail Order Business has proven itself to be an indispensable resource for the ideas, techniques, and expert advice that will lead to success.
All the success secrets ofone of America's best-known and most respected experts on mail order and direct marketingNow in a new edition!
BUILDING A MAIL ORDER BUSINESS
Fourth Edition
Complete, authoritative, and now in a new edition, this best-selling guide to mail order success covers everything from getting your business started to handling legal issues, preparing copy and graphics, selecting mailing lists, telemarketing, and advertising in all types of mediaan unbeatable source of direct marketing ideas that really work.
Here's what the pros have said about previous editions of Bill Cohen's Building a Mail Order Business:
"Dr. Bill Cohen's book thoroughly explores the many facets, and pitfalls, facing the budding mail order entrepreneur." Henry R. "Pete" Hoke, Jr., Publisher, Direct Marketing
"It took a mail order businessman who is also an educator to put direct mail and mail order guidelines all in one placeand in language we can all understand."Freeman F. Gosden, Jr., President, Smith-Hemmings-Gosden, one of the nation's largest direct marketing advertising agencies
"An outstanding primer for our industry. It gives you the nuts and bolts necessary to carry you through almost every aspect of mail order from the very rudimentary basics to the same techniques used by the pros." Joe Sugarman, JS&A
"One of the best books I've ever read on the subject. I enthusiastically recommend Building a Mail Order Business to any man or woman who is serious about getting involved in this fascinating activity." E. Joseph Cossman, President, Cossman International, Inc., author of How I Made a Million Dollars in Mail Order
"An excellent, informative, comprehensive, illustrative workbook that will help anyone get started making money in the fascinating field of mail order. I highly recommend this professional book." Melvin Powers, mail order entrepreneur
"...must reading for the entrepreneur whose mind is on mail order." Paul Muchnick, Chairman, National Mail Order Association
"Its good sense and nuts-and-bolts, bottom-line approach make it a delightful guide through the mail order world." DM News
Foreword | ||
Preface | ||
Acknowledgments | ||
Ch. 1 | Making Your Fortune in the Mail Order Industry | 1 |
Pt. I | Starting and Growing Your Business | |
Ch. 2 | How to Start Your Mail Order Business | 29 |
Ch. 3 | Important Legal and Ethical Issues | 51 |
Ch. 4 | Maintaining Your Management Records | 69 |
Ch. 5 | Bringing Your Product to the Customer | 79 |
Pt. II | Mail Order Merchandising | |
Ch. 6 | Finding Profitable Products to Sell by Mail | 95 |
Ch. 7 | Pricing Your Mail Order Product or Service | 125 |
Ch. 8 | Developing a Unique Offer | 133 |
Pt. III | Mail Order Media | |
Ch. 9 | Making Money with Classified Ads | 165 |
Ch. 10 | Making Money with Display Ads | 184 |
Ch. 11 | Making Money with Direct Mail Ads | 219 |
Ch. 12 | Maximizing Your Direct Mail Success with Lists | 257 |
Ch. 13 | Making Money with TV and Radio Ads | 280 |
Ch. 14 | Making Money with Your Telephone | 295 |
Ch. 15 | Making Money with Your Own Mail Order Catalog | 300 |
Ch. 16 | Making Money with 900 Numbers | 336 |
Pt. IV | The Mail Order Message | |
Ch. 17 | The Truth about Copywriting | 345 |
Ch. 18 | How to Write Copy That Creates Sales | 370 |
Ch. 19 | Preparing Art and Graphics at Low Cost | 391 |
Ch. 20 | Saving and Making Money with Your Printing | 408 |
Pt. V | Mail Order Measurement | |
Ch. 21 | Testing to Find Out Whether You'll Be Successful before You Invest Heavily | 419 |
Ch. 22 | Cost and Profit Calculations Made Easy | 438 |
Ch. 23 | Developing a Mail Order Marketing Plan | 457 |
A Personal Postscript from the Author | 477 | |
Appendix A: The Direct Marketing Association's Guidelines for Ethical Business Practices | 479 | |
Appendix B: A Potpourri of Mail Order Ideas and Techniques | 494 | |
Appendix C: Mail Order Associations and Direct Marketing Clubs | 521 | |
Appendix D: Some Mail Order Advertising Agencies | 531 | |
Appendix E: Some Sources of Mailing Lists | 533 | |
Appendix F: Mail Order Magazines and Newsletters | 535 | |
Appendix G: A Business Guide to the Federal Trade Commission's Mail Order Rule | 537 | |
Index | 557 |