In 1955, David Ogilvy, one of the best ad copywriters of all time (and the model for the Don Draper character in Mad Men), shared his approach to writing copy in a typed letter to a Mr. Ray Calt:

April 19, 1955

Dear Mr. Calt:

On March 22nd you wrote to me asking for some notes on my work habits as a copywriter. They are appalling, as you are about to see:

1. I have never written an advertisement in the office. Too many interruptions. I do all my writing at home.

2. I spend a long time studying the precedents. I look at every advertisement which has appeared for competing products during the past 20 years.

3. I am helpless without research material—and the more “motivational” the better.

4. I write out a definition of the problem and a statement of the purpose which I wish the campaign to achieve. Then I go no further until the statement and its principles have been accepted by the client.

5. Before actually writing the copy, I write down every concievable fact and selling idea. Then I get them organized and relate them to research and the copy platform. …

Read more: Letters of Note: I am a lousy copywriter

See also: How to Create Advertising That Sells by David Ogilvy

P.S. Ogilvy created my favorite advertisement of all time—The Man in the Hathaway Shirt. Can you guess which present day campaign pays homage to Hathaway Shirt ad?

Leah Busque, founder of the site TaskRabbit.com, reminds us that focusing on your comparative advantage—that thing (or things) you do well—is the best way to maximize your most precious resource: your time.

In 2008, when I founded a company called Task Rabbit—which allows you to hire others to perform simple tasks—I wasn’t thinking directly about comparative advantage. I just wanted to build a platform that could help me get dog food for my 100-pound yellow lab while simultaneously making sure I was on time for dinner. In developing the idea, though, I quickly realized the power and potential of comparative advantage in making everyday life better and more efficient. There is tremendous power in focusing on the things you are most skilled at, while relying on others to do the rest; it creates jobs and reduces stress. You, your community, and society are definitely better off when you do.

If You Want It Done Right, Don’t Do It Yourself | Co.Exist

See also: How to Grow Your Freelance Writing Business by Working Less: Outsourcing for Writers

What’s that’s got to do with you? A lot actually. The takeaways from the study apply to ALL marketers and brands on Facebook, even ones not using the Subscribe feature.

Here’s what boosts engagement, according to Facebook’s own data:

1. Ask questions. In an earlier study, Facebook found that posts that sought a response received 64 percent more engagement (comments, likes, and shares).
2. Share interesting links—and be sure to add your $0.02. When reporters include analysis with the links, those links receive 20 percent more referral clicks on average.
3. Issue a call to action. Posts with a call to action (e.g. “read my link,” “check out my blog post”) receive 37 percent more engagement than an average post.
4. Be funny. Humor in posts can yield a 1.5x increase in likes and almost 5x increase in shares.
5. Show, don’t tell. Posts with photos receive 50 percent more likes than posts without photos.
6. Highlight fans. Facebook reports that reader shout-outs can increase in feedback by as much as 400 percent.

Read more: How Journalists Are Using Facebook Subscribe | Facebook.com

via Neiman Journalism Lab

• How to Become an Effective CEO: Chief Emotions Officer | FourHourWorkweek.com
• In Tech, Starting Up by Failing | NYTimes.com
• Successful Sales Management: Trust Me, I’m a Salesman | Steve Reeves
• Why Brands Like Puma and GE Are Flocking to Instagram | AdAge.com
• How to Write a Thank-You Note That Matters | Inc.com
• A Word to the Resourceful | PaulGraham.com
• 97 Ideas for Building a Valuable Platform | ChrisBrogan.com
• Open Rate Madnezz | BenSettle.com
• Progress Killer #3: Don’t Try to Go it Alone | Copyblogger.com
• A 10-Step Diagnostic for Your Small Business | NYTimes.com

Don’t use Instapaper yet? Get it here.

According to Copyblogger, it’s good manners.

Look at the people whose businesses do well over the long run, and you’ll find people who are good at getting along with other people.

They might be opinionated, brash, or outspoken. (They might also be quiet, reserved, and introverted.) But they know how to make connections, and they know how to take care of their friends.

So true. Paul Graham made a similar point last week.

See also: How to Write a Thank-You Note That Matters | Inc.com

A couple of weeks ago, we blogged about how to create killer landing pages that convert visitors into new customers. We listed some tried-and-true elements that seasoned copywriters have used for decades (in sales letters and then later in landing pages) to drive engagement and boost sales. One of them was to use “liberal amounts of text formatting, esp. bold, italics and ALL CAPS.”

We’ll say it again: use liberal amounts of text formatting, esp. bold, italics and ALL CAPS.

Maybe you’re skeptical that something as simple as text formatting can make you more persuasive. Well, don’t take it from us. Take it from Science. In 1969, the psychologist Robert Zajonc published an article summarizing his experiments in how people react to the presentation of words. After showing his subjects an assortment of made-up words—kardirga, saricik, biwonjni, for example—Zajonc found that people attribute positive connotations to words that are repeated more frequently and set in boldfaced type. Zajonc dubbed this phenomenon the mere exposure effect.

Zajonc’s research has seen renewed popularity recently with the publication of Daniel Kahneman’s new book, Thinking, Fast and Slow. (Nobel-winner Kahneman was one of the first economists to look at economic phenomena through the lens of human psychology, creating the field known as behavioral economics.) Here’s an excerpt from Slate.com’s review of Kahneman’s new book:

Psychologists have devised other ways to make a message more persuasive. “You should first maximize legibility,” says Daniel Kahneman, who describes the Zajonc experiment in Thinking, Fast and Slow, a compendium of his thought and work. Faced with two false statements, side-by-side, he explains, readers are more likely to believe the one that’s typed out in boldface. More advice: “Do not use complex language where simpler language will do,” and “in addition to making your message simple, try to make it memorable.” These factors combine to produce a feeling of “cognitive ease” that lulls our vigilant, more rational selves into a stupor. It’s an old story, and one that’s been told many times before. It even has a name: Psychologists call it the illusion of truth.

Faced with two false statements, side-by-side, readers are more likely to believe the one that’s typed out in boldface. (See what I did there? I used repetition as a rhetorical device.)

Now look, I’m not suggesting that you pack your landing pages or whatever with false statements and baseless hyperbole. That would unethical. But I am suggesting that you use text formatting to reinforce your messaging and bolster your argument. That would be smart.

Read more: The Effect Effect | Slate.com

Lo, in the twilight days of the second year of the second decade of the third millennium did a great darkness descend over the wireless internet connectivity of the people of 276 Ferndale Street in the North-Central lands of Iowa. For many years, the gentlefolk of these lands basked in a wireless network overflowing with speed and ample internet, flowing like a river into their Compaq Presario. Many happy days did the people spend checking Hotmail and reading USAToday.com.

But then one gray morning did Internet Explorer 6 no longer load The Google. Refresh was clicked, again and again, but still did Internet Explorer 6 not load The Google.

Continue reading at McSweeneys.net…

In much the same way that all you have to do is give the right sort of founder a one line intro to a VC, and he’ll chase down the money. That’s the connection. Understanding all the implications—even the inconvenient implications—of what someone tells you is a subset of resourcefulness. It’s conversational resourcefulness.

Like real world resourcefulness, conversational resourcefulness often means doing things you don’t want to. Chasing down all the implications of what’s said to you can sometimes lead to uncomfortable conclusions. The best word to describe the failure to do so is probably “denial,” though that seems a bit too narrow. A better way to describe the situation would be to say that the unsuccessful founders had the sort of conservatism that comes from weakness. They traversed idea space as gingerly as a very old person traverses the physical world.

A Word to the Resourceful | PaulGraham.com

Marketing

1. Targeting. Do you have a strategy to reach your best potential customers with your sales and marketing efforts? A shotgun approach is too expensive and inefficient for any company, especially a small one. What percentage of the people you approach actually buy a product or service like yours?

2. Advertising and Public Relations. There are many choices for where to place an ad and how to execute a public relations campaign. The problem with many small businesses is that their marketing activities are driven primarily by which salespeople happen to call on them. Ineffective advertising or public relations can be not only a tremendous waste of money but a tremendous waste of opportunity. If you are doing things the same way you did them 10 years ago, you are probably getting less response.

3. The Message. Lots of companies still use this line: “We will exceed your expectations.” I even saw it on the back of an ambulance. (I don’t know about you, but I have pretty high expectations when I call an ambulance! Are the technicians going to give me a haircut after they bring me back to life?) It was a good line when someone first thought of it. Now, it is old. It is tired. It needs to retire. You need to exceed people’s expectations by coming up with your own line. Maybe it is not a line at all. Maybe it is a message. Whatever it is, it should say something about your company that means something to potential customers.

Great stuff.

How to Diagnose What’s Wrong With Your Business | NYTimes.com