(Part 2) Best advertising books according to redditors

It was this guy who literally wrote the book on it (two books actually), he spoke of "invisible hands" and his lack of fame is testament to how good he was! He intended to use it for the public good and was pretty dismayed that Goebbels was using it as a template to oppress Jews.

> The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ...We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. ...In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons...who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.

- Edward Berneys, 1928

Excellent documentary here.

It is easy to say that the media is owned as /u/kroqmin did. This is correct, and causational. However, there is technique to the process, and from the perspective of people working in the media industry, the control is not at all visible (except in unusual situations).

What you are looking for is the work by Edward Bernays. Very few people know of his work, even people in media and public relations. He was Sigmund Freud's nephew, and combined Freud's work with crowd psychology and built the modern field of public relations. Here's a partial list of some of the things he was personally responsible for:

• Women smoking as a symbol of gender equality.
  
  
• Bacon for breakfast.
  
  
• The working man should invest in the stock market.
  
  
• The overthrow of the democratic government of Guatemala in 1954, giving us the term "banana republic."
  
  
• The message that got him started: The role of America is to make the world safe for democracy.
  
  
• Joseph Goebbels used his book to teach the Germans to hate their friends, neighbors, and business partners: the Jews.
  
  One facet of his technique is best illustrated in the overthrow of Guatemala. He paid local actors to perform pro-Communist "demonstrations," then flew down newspaper reporters from prominent magazines and newspapers to view the demonstrations. These reporters saw the demonstrations, saw nothing about the fact that they were 100% staged by paid actors, then wrote about the new beachfront of Communism on America's front door ... at the height of the Cold War. Congress authorized the CIA to move within weeks, and United Fruit Company got to keep their tax-advantaged banana plantation land while the Guatemalans got to enjoy 50 years of brutal military dictatorship.
  
  This technique is widely used today. You can buy his book on Amazon, it's cheap, short, and a good read. Bernays originated the term, "Engineering of Consent." Think what that term means in a democracy. Consent of the governed? Informed consent? The implications are profound.
  
  As far as I can tell, the media ownership by the 1% is really only used to shut down dangerous lines of inquiry. So for example, if anyone had revealed that the Communist activist demonstrators were actually paid actors, that line of reporting would be quickly shut down. This is fairly unusual, since most reporters are just as asleep as the rest of us. However, think about how many times there are rumors of agent provocateurs being the ones instigating violence in protests? Paid actors creating political scenarios? Shit like that gets shut down, and that is where you see the control being exerted.

I'm an avid reader of business books and have read all of these. Anything Tim Ferris is garbage in my opinion. That being said, there are three books you have to read:

1. 48 Days To The Work You Love by Dan Miller
   
   
2. The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller
   
   
3. Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt.
   
   You will get so much mileage out of those three books alone and they're all very easy reads.

These are great suggestions. I would add:

• Contagious by Jonah Berger
  
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (it's on every list, and with good reason)
  
  Also, I'd like to give away 5 copies of each of my books for folks here:
  
  
• Jolt – Unconventional marketing that works
  
• Marketing for Developers
  
  ** Edit: looks like all the free books are gone! Hope they're helpful for you folks!

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Programmatic-Advertising-Dominik-Kosorin/dp/8026096118/ is okay, you can read through it in about an hour or two. Caveat emptor: Someone more experienced with the industry than I said that some of its diagrams are misleading/inaccurate.

Copywriting is about achieving a measurable business result. In your shoes, other than what you're already doing, I would.

• Call the people who are hiring and ask whether they would be prepared to answer a few questions. Mainly, you want to know what their business goals are and what types of assets they typically use in their campaigns.
  
• Spend some time reading about how different types of campaigns measure conversions. Be prepared to say why your writing can help the university achieve the desired conversion rates in the relevant campaign types.
  
• Read Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins (old, but a classic) and The Copy Sourcebook by Andy Maslen. There are loads of other books you can read, but those are enough for Friday.
  
  I think it's fine to say you want the job because you love writing in general. But I would frame that as the stepping-stone that brought you specifically to copywriting. Then you say why you're attracted to copywriting.
  
  Thinking about it, I'd add one caveat: if you do get to talk to them, check to see if they do measure conversion rates. It could be that they just need someone to continually re-write course catalogues, based on input from academics. They may not measure conversions at all. That's a very different prospect.

I truly believe that we have ALL the power at the individual level to make a positive impact on the world.

Also related, I recently read this book called Contagious: Why Things Catch On, and giving a homeless man $20 (or anything else useful like food - to anyone!) is a perfect example of how to spread an idea, which in this case, is positive vibes.

Art of Innovation by IDEO is good on design & some aspects product development: http://www.tenfacesofinnovation.com/ideo/books.htm

This is a good one on emerging markets and how marketing is evolving around the world in places like Brazil, China, etc.: http://www.amazon.ca/Brand-New-World-Billions-Millions/dp/1554683963

This one is also amazing, about how brands miss cultural trends and in doing so screw up their marketing/product/bottom line, lots of interesting stories like how Levi's missed the boat on baggy jeans. http://www.amazon.ca/Chief-Culture-Officer-Breathing-Corporation/dp/0465018327

The Idea Writers - Tons of Case Studies, but they're all told excellently.

It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be - Inspiration not to settl and to do great work.

Baked In - A lot like an updated Purple Cow. All about integrating product, management, and marketing.

Blink or Tipping Point - About the little things that cause shifts in culture to happen.

Also, some Seth Godin action never hurts. Definitely recommend his blog.

If you want more "How to make ads" type stuff there are more down that path, too. Just let me know.

This site has some good ads to swipe, with explanations for some of them:
http://swiped.co/

To start off, these books should help to get the basics down pat:

1. https://www.amazon.com/This-book-teach-write-better/dp/0989895300/
   
2. https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Sales-Letter-Attract-Customers/dp/1440511411
   
3. https://www.amazon.com/Adweek-Copywriting-Handbook-Advertising-Copywriters/dp/0470051248/
   
4. https://www.amazon.com/Write-Copy-Sells-Step-Step/dp/161448502X/
   5.https://www.amazon.com/Online-Copywriters-Handbook-Everything-Electronic/dp/0658020994
   
5. https://www.amazon.com/CA-HVERTISING-Ad-Agency-Psychology-Anything/dp/1601630328/
   
   If you want to go deeper, and become an expert copywriter follow what the late great Gary Halbert says here --> https://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/newsletters/zfkj_hands_on_experience.htm
   
   All the best on the journey.

The name of the game today is: platform. With a website, a blog, a youtube, channel, etc.... you can get the word out on something you've made. If you get enough subscribers, followers etc.... you can get an audience to get your book. Something like 2%, but it could vary. Books I would recommend would be:

Platform: how to get noticed in a noisy world by the former publisher of Thomas Nelson Publishing

The art of Social Media by Guy Kawasaki He's the former Chief Evangelist at Apple. A great small book that has as it's premise someone who is using social media to promote a book.

And if you want to go the traditional route, give these books a try:

The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published

Christian Writers Market Guide 2020

A few years back I asked Tim Challies how he got his first contract and he said he wrote the first two chapters, created an outline of the rest of the book, and submitted a query letter to publishers. It did help that he had a platform over at challies.com so he had some name recognition. And if none of that works, self-publishing works too.

Learn to write sales copy. If you're not from a sales background you need to get up to speed on how to sell - a lot of new people to the broader industry and dropshipping in particular never seem to understand this.

Go read a book, for example - https://www.amazon.com/Write-Copy-Sells-Step-Step-ebook/dp/B01BKS3VFG

I recall this book being a good read 10 or so years ago: https://www.amazon.ca/Rebel-Sell-Culture-Cant-Jammed/dp/0006394914

I think it's actually written from a fairly pro-status quo standpoint but it makes some really solid criticisms of the commodification and commercialization of reactionary movements. It was probably more relevant when things like Adbusters magazine were still around.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. It was fascinating and read like fiction, despite the fact that the whole thing was non-fiction.

The Rebel Sell: Why The Culture Can't Be Jammed by Joseph Potter and Andrew Heath

The Technology of Orgasm: "Hysteria," The Vibrator, and Women's Sexual Satisfaction by Rachel P. Maines. A really awesome history of the medicalization of women's orgasms and sexual issues.

First that comes to mind is The Rebel Sell by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter.

I remember reading this book when it came out in 2005 and it really pushed me over the edge from the anti-capitalist, hard left perspective that I'd been attached to for many years. It was particularly important because it argued directly against Adbusters and their Culture Jamming practices that I thought were potentially, if not actually effective.

The way they described the cyclical nature of counter culture growth and co-option by mainstream commercial culture was something that I had noticed in the background of my mind but had never seen laid out so clearly.

I had also just finished reading Kalle Lassn's Culture Jam and Micheal Albert's Parecon prior to this. Those two books by people I really respected were so badly thought out and so obviously written without critical input that I was already starting to move away from their ideas anyway. The Rebel Sell was the catalyst that let me see how pointless and silly some of that stuff was and let me completely break away.

I just finished reading Contagious: Why Things Catch On and really enjoyed it. I started How to Read Literature Like a Professor the other day and am enjoying it so far.

For a quick dose of non-fiction read Edward Bernays - Crystallizing Public Opinion. Written in the '20's, this one was penned by the venerable father of public relations. This book is as close to being a modern version of The Prince as any other book; Bernays gives the reader a glimpse of his hand as he explores the craft of manipulating and contorting popular opinion that is PR. A true puppet-master of the masses.

Nephew to Freud, he was very much influenced by Freud's theories including his assumptions about symbolism and the unconscious mind. He used Freud's work, along his far stretching connections in all forms of media and industry, to implant an opinion, notion, or taste in the public's mind.

For an unknown author, I think it's absolutely essential to do everything possible so that credibility is as high as possible when you do get someone to the buy page. So this means:

• strong, professional cover design.
  
• both ebook and paperback.
  
• competitive price.
  
• compelling description
  
• testimonial blurbs
  
• book landing page on your own hosted domain (e.g. http://avogadrocorp.com)
  
  Then the question becomes how you get people to that.
  
  

1. Friends and family buy initial copies, tell other people, give you initial word of mouth and reviews. Reviews increase credibility, word of mouth increases exposure.
   
2. Use very targeted Facebook ads to go after your niche audience.
   
3. Have a compelling book with a call to action ("If you enjoyed this, please tell your friends or share on social media")
   
   The goal is to make an initial push to try to sell ~500 copies over a few months. If you can achieve that you get word of mouth, online reviews, into the Amazon recommendation engine, and onto the Amazon category bestseller lists.
   
   All of that then creates ongoing sales. Somewhere in there you hope that you land a few fans who have a large online following, which greatly magnifies the word of mouth.
   
   And sorry to pimp my own book, but I explore this in more detail here: http://www.amazon.com/Indie-Small-Press-Book-Marketing/dp/1481034936
   

Just in case the embedded link doesn't work, here is the direct link again - http://www.amazon.com/Step-Step-SEO-Complete-ebook/dp/B00ELRTNAQ

I'm no expert but I would like your opinion on the following thoughts & suggestions:

• Simplify. What is the point of having a "Home" link on your menu, what does it tell me? Ditch it. Up your categories from Shop+ to the main menu, if they are hidden odds are I won't be able to find about them. In my opinion quilts are not throws and should not be bundled together.
  
  
• The search bar is so hard to find, can you make it more visible? This is not high priority since you have a small catalog, but still most e-commerce's have easy access to the search bar.
  
  
• Contacting you is hard, can you give me just an email or a direct phone together with service hours? Can you show this to customers directly on the footer or the top Nav besides cart?
  
  
• Experiment with different price points. I think free shipping is interesting, but if you are adding too much to the individual product price to offer this, consider removing it, or finding a cheaper way to ship. Key questions: Would it be fair to pay 5x the shipping for someone buying 5 products? Do you expect customers to buy only one product or multiple on one order? If just one, rid the cart option and go directly to checkout.
  
  
• Experiment limiting your product line at first to throws, it's easier to optimize and to manage for just one product instead of a hundred. Some of your products are actually the same but different color, try combining them into one and then give the option of choosing the color.
  
  
• Keep the 100 days returns policy. Make it more visible through the checkout process.
  
  
• Keep the advertising, google, pinterest, facebook etc. Try to improve the metrics for each ad, either more visitors for less money, or more conversions per money.
  
  
• Read this book on optimizing Adwords: http://amzn.to/2cNtL22 (Not sponsoring, loved it and found great results)
  
  
• Follow the potential customer journey from
  
  • "My life is so stressing and my house is so cluttered" (Potential), to
    
  • "Hey this ad for Scandinavian homewares speaks to me, let's see what they've got" (Acquisition), to
    
  • "This hoo-gah site is telling me that I can buy this sweet Scandinavian throw so I can cuddle in winter" (Landing Page), consider: Is this what I thought I would find when clicking this ad? Is this something that fills my needs? Is this product in my price range?
    
  • "Alright, this is an awesome product, GBP 100 seems affordable, free shipping is great and If I don't like it I can return it" (Pre-checkout / pre-purchase), consider: I've added a free shipping product to cart but "Excl. shipping" shows below the total, why?, What does "Cart" mean, should I click here to pay? Can I call someone to get help here?
    
• Your checkout phase is Checkout phase is simple, and straight forward, no suggestions here.
  
• "Awesome, the throw arrived on the expected time, quality is great and I would recommend this company", (Post-sale) consider: How can you invite your customers to keep buying? How can you ask them or incite them to recommend your company?
  
  
• I'm a e-commerce owner and online shopping veteran and still have problems navigating and following the check out process, try to make it as easy as possible to me, each hurdle is a customer leaving. Imagine any potential customer has the money but is completely computer illiterate (assume your grandma is trying to buy online).
  
  
• Are the 2.5k visits from actual people or search engines?

Others have pointed you to the excellent sidebar.. If you want books, those are a rarity. These are among the few though, and are actually good:

Targeted by Mike Smith

Introduction to Programmatic Advertising by Kosorin

Avoid Ad Serving Technology by Cristal. Its very thorough, but essentially unreadable.

I believe its also important to have a healthy background in how the Internet, etc. works. Understanding the Digital World by Kernigham is excellent for this.

Brainfluence by Roger Dooley gives you some practical insights into what is a very interesting and exciting aspect of marketing.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1118113365?pc_redir=1407908411&robot_redir=1

All Marketers are Liars by Seth Godin http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1591845335?pc_redir=1408028870&robot_redir=1

Also, subscribe to Hubspot's newsletter for almost everything you need to know about digital marketing.

This Book?

"Contagious: Why Things Catch On" by Jonah Berger

http://www.amazon.com/Contagious-Things-Catch-Jonah-Berger-ebook/dp/B008J4GQKW/

read:
The Idea Writers
http://www.amazon.com/Idea-Writers-Copywriting-Marketing-Advertising/dp/0230613888
Winning The Story Wars
http://winningthestorywars.com/

both are recent.
Ogilvy is a classic for sure. Ogilvy is great on the craft of writing

You sure can! Here's a link: http://www.amazon.ca/Step---Step-SEO-Complete-ebook/dp/B00ELRTNAQ/

Question Based Selling by Thomas Freese is really good.


http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Question-Based-Selling-Powerful/dp/1570715882

I was pretty bad at copy and got to be OK with "How to write Copy that Sells" https://www.amazon.com/Write-Copy-Sells-Step-Step/dp/161448502X

I mean, eventually we just hired a copy writer who just makes magic for everything, but it was a good stop gap between copy writers.

Well, then you may want to check this out:

http://www.amazon.com/Contagious-Why-Things-Catch-On/dp/1451686579

An excellent book about viral marketing, I applied it's principles to my game and plan on doing so to every other game I make. (Sure hope that this link doesn't get removed too..)

Well, it's my job, so definitely I can recommend some resources for you to learn from.


Customer Manipulation - Chloe Thomas

Seductive Interaction Design Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences - Stephen Anderson

Gamify How Gamification Motivates People to Do Extraordinary Things - Brian Burke(2014)

Tested Advertising Methods

The Irresistible Offer How to Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or Less - Mark Joyner 2005

Brainfluence 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing - Roger Dooley

No need to thank me Jeff Bezos, you rich smart man.

I have so many thoughts about this that I don't have time to go into right now, but have you read this book? It's not specifically about goth but it's about how the idea of rebellion itself became a commodified fashion statement. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rebel-Sell-Counter-Culture-Consumer/dp/1841126551

For a lot of bored middle class kids, affecting punk's anti-authority, edgy grittiness is a form of escapism in itself, I think. A way to dissociate themselves from their comfortable upbringings that they're embarrassed about. And then they sneer at working class people for having "bourgeois values" if they want a bit of beauty or style or romance (yes, maybe of a kitschy sort) in their lives.

Book recommendation.

I know exactly how to solve your problem. Read this book

I think that with the integration of increasing perceived value techniques, Jeff Walker style Launch marketing, some persuasion supplementation, using stories in marketing, Neuromarketing, Web Copy techniques, and many others, all put together in combination - anything's possible. How possible something is I think depends on your perception, and how and if you are familiar with persuasion and how businesses persuade and make something sound 'fair'.

Second, I don't actually mind getting pirated. If those people want it and can't afford it, they should have it. I don't want to stop them. I don't view it as a loss.

I'd rather not go the route of donations... it's honestly too much work.

Your in a position that many would love to be in and many more would never be able to get to.

Your marketing campaign,
Get the following books (quick easy and enjoyable reads):
The Brand Gap ,
22 laws of marketing

• Offer cloud services and support to startups for free for three months, they apply via your website, pick the most promising ones. They must have your logo/link on their website somewhere e.g. "Hosting provided by" etc.
  
• Sponser hackertons or hacker meet up related activities.
  
• Offer free services to blogs you like.
  
  Your company,
  Rebrand your company within 2 months. Top notch website+server control panel UI. Get Blogging.
  
  Your Services,
  
  
• Focus on something, cloud hosting or dedicated servers. Which ever you feel your best at.
  
• Provide Cloud Hosting Images pre-installed with apache, mysql, php, webmin, vhosts, mail etc. Make it easier for new customers to setup a ready to go server quick as possible knowing all the configuations are correct.
  
  Your Sanity,
  Discuss with your best respected staff.

Not sure exactly what happened to get ello the sort of viral spread they had... but I think this book gives a great framework for understanding viral trends in general if you're interested... Contagious - one of the better books I've read on the subject. Full disclosure... I'm a marketer by trade so I study this stuff as habit.

Suggest urgent reading of Indie & Small Press Book Marketing

Once finished, refer to /r/selfpublish and /r/Write2Publish

Be quick.

You aren't buying movies to watch them. You are buying them for the purpose a marketer calls "an identity good."

> An identity good is something people buy to express their tie to a group or category they belong to or would like to belong to. People buy The New Hacker's Dictionary because they are, or want to be, the kind of person they think should own a copy of it.

You have to give up identity goods altogether. It's a ruinous practice. Ruinous for the wallet indeed, but above all it's ruinous for the soul. There exist means of expressing your identity that don't require dependence on large corporations' marketing departments. Find them.

Some more reading:

• The Origins of Prestige Goods as Honest Signals of Skill
  and Knowledge
  
  
• Consuming Symbolic Goods: Identity and Commitment, Values and Economics
  
  
• The Rebel Sell

Thank you. Is it this book ?

Not a well known book outside of the UK I think but brilliantly simple and impactful. Has been a cornerstone in my view of media along with Manufacturing Consent and Propaganda. Once you've gone through those you'll probably be more inclined to focus on your own life.

It depends on what kind of level you would consider yourself to be. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultimate-Guide-Link-Building-Credibility-ebook/dp/B00BAHA0Q6/ is pretty good if you are getting started or want a good overview. To be honest I don't think you learn much about SEO or link building by reading books... getting your hands dirty is the only way because by the time its been printed in a book, chances are a competitor has already deployed it or the industry has already over-indulged in it and you're working from an outdated textbook so to speak.

1. Conspiratard now defined as a person who says "a marketing department can take a shitty situation and turn it into money"
   
   That is not a conspiracy. It is a profession. Spin doctors, its what they do. Read up on it. It is not a secret.
   
   A good book on this is "Doubt is their product".
   If you dont like textbooks then try "Doubt Factory" a fictional book based upon the book above. An oldie but goodie is "Propaganda". None of those texts delve into mysterious conspiracies. Doubt is their product is a well researched defence of science in the face of highly skilled spin doctors. You can also learn a lot, but from a different angle from George Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language" its free. In this day and age it is vital for a citizen in a democracy to understand the constant barrage of propaganda from all sides.
   
   
   > The problem with you conspiretards is your arrogant assurance of how right you are in spite of how obviously wrong you are, with your convenient knowledge of being right without any evidence to support anything you say.
   
   I provided a prediction. Call it a hypothesis. In that prediction I said I might be wrong. Very arrogant that. Then my prediction came true. I urge you to try to read a post before you start raging for no reason.
   
   
   
2. You do NOT go from a nation-wide release of tens of thousands of theaters to ONLY 200 THEATERS
   
   It is up to 300 theaters now, and now it is offered nationwide or possibly world wide for $14.99 and $5.99 watch it at home. Your raging arguments gets weaker every day. I have proof. Just read the papers. It is happening.

Try this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Copywriting-Sourcebook-Andy-Maslen-ebook/dp/B0084Z51N4/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485716002&sr=1-2&keywords=copywriting
He has a course here too: http://www.copywritingacademy.co.uk/

Back in the day, I did my copywriting training with these guys, though their sites and offerings have changed since then:
Peter Bowerman http://wellfedwriter.com/
Steve Slaunwhite http://copywritingtrainingcenter.com/

These cost more, but it's an investment you may want to consider if you want to fast-track your writing and confidence. TV/film/fiction writers study the craft. No reason why it should spoil your flow.

I only read 2 books on PPC and read the PPC Hero and WordStream blogs (checkout PPC university). I started my company soon after and I'm currently managing my own campaigns, spending thousands each month. Go to Amazon and get:

Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords: How to Access 1 Billion People in 10 Minutes

Advanced Google AdWords

I only read the first one, but I wish I'd read the second one by now. Instead I read Ultimate Guide to Pay-Per-Click Advertising. It's good, but there are a lot of weird little mistakes and confusing topics. YouTube is also your friend.

There are better ways to learn than from a book, but this one is good to get a sense of the fundamentals

https://www.amazon.in/Ultimate-Guide-Link-Building-Credibility-ebook/dp/B00BAHA0Q6?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1&deviceType=desktop&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect

-
But to really learn well I would suggest you either try and implement what you read by promoting your own website/blog. Thats the best way to learn. You'll see traffic coming into the website, your rankings improving, you'll learn how to 'ask' people to promote you.

DO try this on your own blog/website.

Good luck!

Here's a few I recommend:

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-22-Immutable-Laws-Marketing/dp/1861976100

The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Strategy-Tactics-Pricing-Thomas-Nagle/dp/0136106811

[This one isn't technically a marketing book I guess, but it's a very (very!) good way to think about packaging and pricing. And I think marketing is one large component of that process and think it is a must-read.]

Purple Cow: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Purple-Cow-Transform-Business-Remarkable/dp/014101640X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

[This one is a lighter read but still a goodie]

Everything I did for my coffee shop had to be free or very very cheap. They were very emotionally supportive but not all that financially supportive. Mostly I did stuff like offering free drinks on Twitter and Facebook to anyone who could recite Ice Ice Baby by heart or who brought in a baby Jesus stolen from a manger scene. I made funny signs encouraging people to sit together. Just tried to be creative and make myself laugh.

As far as breaking into the industry, I would say the best thing you can do is make interesting stuff. If you have an idea for a blog, do it. I have a copywriter friend who has a blog of pictures of people first thing in the morning. So simple but also kind of brilliant. Creative directors love stuff like that. One of the coolest things about this industry is that it really does not matter how much experience or training you have. If you can demonstrate an ability to consistently have good ideas and carry them out, you will absolutely get a job.

If I was just starting out (and not married) I would apply for WK12 through Wieden+Kennedy. People who get accepted don't have to apply for jobs ever again, jobs apply for them. I would also recommend reading up on the industry, Hey Whipple Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan is the classic place to start. And The Idea Writers by Teressa Iezzi is excellent and a little more up to date.

I'm going to PM you a link to my personal portfolio, which I made specifically to get my current job. I'd never done anything like this before and had zero training/experience. I really just pulled it all out of my ass in about a week and a half but I've gotten really positive feedback about it. I hope this helps. Keep me updated, if you feel like it. And please feel free to ask as many questions as you can think of.

Here are Amazon links for the ones interested as well:

Book Yourself Solid Illustrated by Michael Port

48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

You Can’t Teach A Kid To Ride A Bike At A Seminar by David Sandler

How To Get Rich Felix Dennis

Life’s A Pitch by Philip Delves Broughton

Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall

Unstoppable Referrals by Steve Gordon

22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Ries and Trout