Review of Marketing Mayhem: Why Marketing Isn't Producing the Way It Used to (Hardcover)

This was advertised as a book explaining why marketing is not producing the way it used to. That is why I bought it as my marketing is not working the way it used to....I also know that Lewis is one of the best in the world at direct mail copy. I have read his works since the early 1980's and his wisdom has pulled me out of more than one hole.

The problem with this book is that all the way through you wonder if this man is pure genius resulting many successful efforts, or if he has he gone off the deep end. Regardless, the book, if nothing else, is way funny. Just the references to Sax Lewis will bust the toughest gut. It kept me in sincere stiches. I did not laugh at him, I laughed with him. He totally destroys the puffery some proudly call advertising. But he does more than destroy, he rebuilds. I needed some serious solutions for effective Web site copy, and I found them in this book. No, the book is not about writing Web copy. But if you combine this book with Nielsen and Tahir's "Homepage Usability" you will have all you need to know to produce a "killer" Web site. Lewis points out, in example after example, all the incredibily stupid mistakes that so-called pros have made inmarketing over the last ten years. He puts all these mistakes under a magnifying glass so powerful that it burns. The ants soon fry. In this intense light it becomes obvious what one must do to gain back the confidence of one's target reader.

This is a book you will either love or hate. But one thing is for sure - everyone in marketing needs to read this book. Why? Within a few hours of finishing this book I knew what I had to do on our Web sites. And within 24 hours of making the changes I got several positive emails. My phone also rang with new business. I was impressed because all I did was follow what Lewis said to do in his list of 5 things at the end of the book. This book paid for itself many hundreds of times over in just 24 hours. I will read it several more times. I can't absorb this much wisdom in one reading.

So why the one star rating? You are a skeptic. That is why you are reading the one star review instead of the 5 star....

Product Description
The author analyzes contemporary marketing to find theanswers to the key question: What has gone wrong with currentmarketing? We Have more statistical models, more computer technology,more "killer apps," and more seminars about CRM and branding andcustomer retention, and yet response rates have gone through the floorand productivity and profitability have followed. And our customersbelieve us less than ever before.

And no one seems to know why. Except for Lewis. He focuses on themisuses of technology, the substitution of flash for substance, andthe inability or unwillingness to keep concern for customer rapport inthe selling and marketing equation.

Why has marketing been failing? The answers are here.

About the Author
Herschell Gordon Lewis, Direct Magazine's Curmudgeon-at-Large, is oneof the world's leading authorities on creating copy and marketingprograms that sell profitably. His columns have appeared regularly inleading advertising, direct marketing, and marketing publications. Heis a much sought-after speaker and appears regularly on podiums allover the world. His books are regarded as standard works on marketingand direct marketing creativity.

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