On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.
In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.
The greatest thing to be achieved in advertising, in my opinion, is believability, and nothing is more believable than the product itself.
Don't think of people in the mass. That gives you a blurred view. Think of a typical individual, man or woman, who is likely to want what you sell.
Remember that the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interest or your profit. They seek service for themselves.
The most effective thing I have ever found in advertising is the trend of the crowd.
People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it.
Pragmatists want to buy from proven market leaders because they know that third parties will design supporting products around a market-leading product.
In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failing. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.
The old rule was this: create safe, ordinary products and combine them with great marketing. The new rule is: create remarkable products that the right people seek out.
Instead of trying to reach everyone, focus on the sneezers — the people most likely to spread your idea.
Positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect.
The mind, as a defense against the volume of today's communications, screens and rejects much of the information offered to it. In general, the mind accepts only that which matches prior knowledge or experience.
It's better to be first in the mind than first in the marketplace.
There are exceptional people out there who are capable of starting epidemics. All you have to do is find them.