CA$HVERTISING

After more than 30 years in the ad business, Drew Eric Whitman lays out over 100 psychological techniques that, he says, copywriters and designers at New York's top agencies use to persuade people to buy. He holds that the methods work for any product or service, in any location and any medium, whether the advertiser is a corporate giant or a small pizza shop. Topics include pressing a prospect's hot buttons, developing a unique selling proposition, writing headlines that stop readers, making claims believable, creating ads, brochures, sales letters and websites, and the mistakes to avoid. Along the way he cites research figures, such as the claim that six in ten people read only the headline.

Roger Dawson, author of Secrets of Power Negotiating, endorsed it as a blueprint for persuading consumers and called it fast and fun.