a variable. By putting the offer of his full page magazine ads inside a broken dashed box to look more like a mail order ad he got a twenty percent increase in sales. Twenty percent! You might think that’s good until you stop and think his company had left twenty percent of sales and resulting profits on the table for six years.

The cost of knowin

You as a business owner, and me as a copywriter, there is nothing better than having a control.

A control is some marketing collateral that has proven itself successful at generating leads or driving sales. Your sales presentation either face-to-face with, or without “PowerPoint” is a control. Your sales letter or lead generation letter generation that successfully brings in money or leads is a control. You can have many controls in your marketing programs. For example your web site, brochures, white papers, or consumer awareness guides. Your winners, or controls, bring profits to your business, but are they really your ally.

As someone who seeks to write your controls I’d like to think so; but as a pure marketing technique, I know that thinking is wrong. In an interview by Joe Polish with Richard Rossi, President of Learning Unlimited, his perception is that a control is the enemy.

After hearing and thinking about it he’s right. The lesson from Mr. Rossi is that a control can lead you into a false sense of security. The remedy for that is test, test, and test some more. You can test variables in the same ad or you can test one ad against another and measure what works. Here’s a dramatic example:

Master marketer and copywriter Joe Sugarman tells a story that highlights what a control cost his company. After six years of running a very successful series of ads he decided to test a variable. By putting the offer of his full page magazine ads inside a broken dashed box to look more like a mail order ad he got a twenty percent increase in sales. Twenty percent! You might think that’s good until you stop and think his company had left twenty percent of sales and resulting profits on the table for six years.

The cost of knowing

that successfully brings in money or leads is a control. You can have many controls in your marketing programs. For example your web site, brochures, white papers, or consumer awareness guides. Your winners, or controls, bring profits to your business, but are they really your ally.

As someone who seeks to write your controls I’d like to think so; but as a pure marketing technique, I know that thinking is wrong. In an interview by Joe Polish with Richard Rossi, President of Learning Unlimited, his perception is that a control is the enemy.

After hearing and thinking about it he’s right. The lesson from Mr. Rossi is that a control can lead you into a false sense of security. The remedy for that is test, test, and test some more. You can test variables in the same ad or you can test one ad against another and measure what works. Here’s a dramatic example:

Master marketer and copywriter Joe Sugarman tells a story that highlights what a control cost his company. After six years of running a very successful series of ads he decided to test a variable. By putting the offer of his full page magazine ads inside a broken dashed box to look more like a mail order ad he got a twenty percent increase in sales. Twenty percent! You might think that’s good until you stop and think his company had left twenty percent of sales and resulting profits on the table for six years.

The cost of knowin

but as a pure marketing technique, I know that thinking is wrong. In an interview by Joe Polish with Richard Rossi, President of Learning Unlimited, his perception is that a control is the enemy.

After hearing and thinking about it he’s right. The lesson from Mr. Rossi is that a control can lead you into a false sense of security. The remedy for that is test, test, and test some more. You can test variables in the same ad or you can test one ad against another and measure what works. Here’s a dramatic example:

Master marketer and copywriter Joe Sugarman tells a story that highlights what a control cost his company. After six years of running a very successful series of ads he decided to test a variable. By putting the offer of his full page magazine ads inside a broken dashed box to look more like a mail order ad he got a twenty percent increase in sales. Twenty percent! You might think that’s good until you stop and think his company had left twenty percent of sales and resulting profits on the table for six years.

The cost of knowin

at is test, test, and test some more. You can test variables in the same ad or you can test one ad against another and measure what works. Here’s a dramatic example:

Master marketer and copywriter Joe Sugarman tells a story that highlights what a control cost his company. After six years of running a very successful series of ads he decided to test a variable. By putting the offer of his full page magazine ads inside a broken dashed box to look more like a mail order ad he got a twenty percent increase in sales. Twenty percent! You might think that’s good until you stop and think his company had left twenty percent of sales and resulting profits on the table for six years.

The cost of knowin

a variable. By putting the offer of his full page magazine ads inside a broken dashed box to look more like a mail order ad he got a twenty percent increase in sales. Twenty percent! You might think that’s good until you stop and think his company had left twenty percent of sales and resulting profits on the table for six years.

The cost of knowing is peanuts compared to the cost of the sales you may be missing. Don’t get comfortable with what ever marketing communications you are using as controls. You’ll never know what they may be costing you. You control is your enemy.