• “The time has come when advertising has in some hands reached the status of a science. It is based on fixed principles and is reasonably exact. The causes and effects have been analyzed until they are well understood. The correct methods of procedure have been proved and established. We know what is most effective, and we act on basic law. Advertising, once a gamble, has become, under able direction, one of the safest business ventures. Certainly, no other enterprise with comparable possibilities need involve so little risk. Therefore, this book deals, not with theories and opinions, but with well-proven principles and facts. It is written as a textbook for students and a safe guide for advertisers. The book is confined to establish fundamentals.” - intro
• Claude Hopkins is a legend in the advertising world, writing this book 100 years ago(!!!) to demonstrate new ways to precisely track ads and improve ROIs. He got the nation to care about brushing their teeth in his famous Pepsodent ad, and shares amazing insights on finding your ideal customer and converting them through simple ad strategies…

Advertising is Multiplied Salesmanship

• “When Hopkins joined the Lord and Thomas advertising agency in 1907, Campbell's (Tomato Soup) was his first account and he successfully advertised a number of products for them. His adverts were driven by research and he knew the importance of developing advertising which was based on consumer desires. The approach brought considerable returns, with Lord and Thomas growing from less than $1 million in billings in 1898 to $6 million in 1910 and in 1924 they stood at $14 million.” - he’s considered a legend in the ad world
• “Advertising is salesmanship. Its principles are the principles of salesmanship… The only purpose of advertising is to make sales. It is profitable or unprofitable according to its actual sales… It is not primarily to aid your other salesmen. Treat it as a salesman. Force it to justify itself. Compare it with other salesmen. Figure its cost and result.” - and the main benefit of successful advertising is that it’s salesmanship at scale - “Advertising is multiplied salesmanship. It may appeal to thousands while the salesman talks to one.”
• Jon Acuff’s Soundtrack: “You’re somebody’s LEGO” → People love to be recommended a cool or useful new product that will improve their life!

Pepsodent Toothpaste - A Simple Desire for Beauty

• Hopkins pioneered the use of toothpaste and brushing teeth at a time when most of America didn’t care about their teeth, through his famous Pepsodent ads - he’d describe the gross “film” creature on our teeth, something that we can viscerally touch, and how toothpaste clears that up and makes us feel beautiful smiling (Appealing to our beauty desire) → People care more about their looks than preventing health issues: “A toothpaste may tend to prevent decay. It may also beautify teeth. Tests will probably show that the latter appeal is many times as strong as the former. The most successful toothpaste advertiser never features tooth troubles in his headlines. Tests have proved them unappealing.”
• “In some lines, like Arrow Collars and most in clothing advertising, pictures have proved most convincing. Not only in picturing the collar or the clothes, but also in picturing men whom others envy, in surroundings which others covet. The pictures subtly suggest that these articles of apparel will aid men to those desired positions… So with beauty articles. Picturing beautiful women, admired and attractive, is a supreme inducement. But there is a great advantage in including a fascinated man. Women desire beauty largely because of men. Then show them using their beauty, as women do use it, to gain maximum effect.” → It’s more than just showing the product, but rather the human emotion we’re all craving, like status or to be desired…

Customers Respond to FREE like Starving People at a Buffet

• He’d urge people towards action using the word FREE with 10-day coupons: “With every application, Pepsodent combats the teeth's great enemies in new and efficient ways. To millions, it is bringing cleaner, safer, whiter teeth. Send the coupon for a 10-Day Tube. Note how clean the teeth feel after using, mark the absence of the viscous film. See how teeth whiten as the film-coat disappears. This test will be a revelation. Make it now. Cut out the coupon so you won't forget.”
• One way Hopkins pushes for immediate action is through samples: “Samples serve numerous valuable purposes. They enable one to use the word "Free" in ads. That often multiplies readers. Most people want to learn about any offered gift. Tests often show that samples pay for themselves - perhaps several times over - in multiplying the readers of your ads without the additional cost of space.” → This may be even easier with modern internet businesses that have zero marginal costs, like Netflix or YouTube TV offering trials to bring you in then you rarely cancel… “A sample gets action. The reader of your ad may not be convinced to the point of buying. But he is ready to learn more about the product that you offer. So he cuts out a coupon, lays it aside, and later mails it or presents it. Without that coupon, he would soon forget.” → Dan Ariely: “Want to draw a crowd? Make something FREE! Want to sell more products? Make part of the purchase FREE!… Customers would respond to the allure of FREE! like starving people at a buffet”

Find Interested Individuals and Offer Service

• A core message of the book is to find your ideal customer and scientifically track what is working best: “Give samples to interested people only. Give them only to people who exhibit that interest by some effort. Give them only to people whom you have told your story. First create an atmosphere of respect, a desire, an expectation. When people are in that mood, your sample will usually confirm the qualities you claim… Samples sometimes seem to double advertising cost. They often cost more than the advertising. Yet, rightly used, they almost invariably form the cheapest way to get customers. And that is what you want.” (It may seem expensive in the short term but if it leads to a regular, that’ll more than pay off - Danny Meyer)
• “Don't think of people in the mass. That gives you a blurred view. Think of a typical individual, man or women, who is likely to want what you sell. Don't try to be amusing. Money spending is a serious matter. Don't boast, for all people resent it. Don't try to show off. Do just what you think a good salesman should do with a half-sold person before him.” → Describe how they will be better with your product
• “REMEMBER: the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interests or your profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising. Ads say in effect, "Buy my brand. Give me the trade you give to others. Let me have the money." That is not a popular appeal. The best ads ask no one to buy… The ads are based entirely on service. They offer wanted information. They site advantages to users.”