Walmart’s slogan is “Save Money. Live Better.”

Now Walmart can help you die better, too — or at least cheaper: According to an article in Advertising Age (11/9/09, p. 10), the retail giant is now selling caskets and other funeral supplies on its web sites.

Costco and Amazon also sell coffins online. Traditionally coffins are sold by funeral homes as part of the funeral package.

Naturally, a spokesperson for the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) said buying coffins online is risky business; if the item is damaged, it may not be possible to fix or replace it in time for the funeral.

The main appeal of buying a casket online is low cost: some online vendors sell pine boxes starting at $200. Walmart has a “Dad Remembered” (how nice) model at $895.

I’m going to skip buying my coffin at Walmart or anywhere else: like 36% of Americans, I’m going to be cremated.

Fortunately for me, Walmart sells low-priced urns, too.

Are you spending too much time studying and reading about Internet marketing or freelancing ? and not enough time actually doing it and getting your business off the ground? Then apply the 25-25-50 rule.

The 25-25-50 rule says that to master a skill or process, and put what you learn into practical action, you must divide your time as follows:

>> No more than 25% of your time is spent studying ? i.e., reading books, going to boot camps, attending workshops, listening to tapes in your car.

>> No more than 25% of your time is spent observing ? watching what successful people in your field are already doing; e.g., if you want to become a direct mail copywriter, this means reading and analyzing the direct mail you get in your mail box each day.

>> At least 50% of your time is spent actually DOING the thing you are studying and observing ? e.g., if you want to sell information products on the Internet, you are creating your first product ? designing your Web site ? or building your list.

I have been giving presentations for decades, and most of my seminar attendees say I’m pretty good at it.

In all that time I’ve had only a couple that were so-so, and only one that was an absolute bomb: a webinar I gave only a few weeks ago.

In this instance, I made the apparent error of showing some offline marketing in a webinar about online marketing.

I was making the point that most of what worked in offline direct response (DR) works spectacularly well online.

But today’s new breed of young marketers don’t believe that.

Several audience members were offended that I showed them direct mail letters in an online marketing presentation, and said it indicated I was old fashioned and out of date.

So if you give seminars or webinars, my advice is as follows: If you are talking about online marketing, show nothing from the offline world, as relevant and powerful as it may be.

Telling the audience that it’s relevant doesn’t work. They are wearing blinders that won’t come off.

The webinar sponsor said I was lazy because I had obviously repurposed slides from another talk.

DUH!

Those slides are treasures — perfect examples of important principles. Why on Earth would I not use them?

Now I know why: my audience cannot make the mental leap to transfer great ideas from one medium or industry to another medium or industry.

And speaker beware: yours probably can’t either.

1–You play the hand you’re dealt.

2–Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

3–There is no “try.” There is only do or not do. (Yoda)

4–It’s not just what happens to you; it’s also how you handle it.

5–Be happy while you’re living, for you’re a long time dead. (Scottish proverb)

6–Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

7–Do something you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.

8–Life is unfair.

9–Be second, not first; the pioneers are the ones who get arrows in their backs.

10–Live below your means.

My wife and I met another couple at a diner for breakfast this morning.

I had eggs and Amy ordered the short stack of French toast.

When her order arrived, it was a single piece of French toast on a plate.

Merriam-Webster Online defines a stack as “a pile” or “a large quantity or number.”

By definition “one” of anything cannot be a pile or large quantity.

I know this seems like another one of my nitpiks.

But this is what happens when Americans do not learn to use the language properly.

In this situation, what would you do?

A–Send it back and ask for a regular stack.
B–Tell the diner owner of his error.
C–Laugh it off and eat the one piece of French toast.
D–Other.

David Armano is a VP at Edelman Digital, and I never heard of him until today when I read his column in Advertising Age (9/21/09), p. 43.

But now, after reading his piece on “separating the social media snake oil from the vinegar,” I’m a fan.

His main message: Don’t think social media will save you, because it won’t.

“Anyone framing social media as the solution to the world’s problems is either drinking Kool-Aid or looking to make a buck,” writes Armano.

He acknowledges that social networking is causing a shift in the way we communicate. But, he warns, “don’t confuse shift with salvation.”

Here’s a no-brainer copywriting technique that works like gangbusters:

If you want someone to read and pay attention to your copy, put that copy in LARGE BOLDFACE TYPE.

When a law required NYC fast food restaurants to post the calorie content of meals on signs in larger type, the number of customers aware of the calories in burgers and other fast food went from 16% to 54%.

But big bold graphics apparently do not increase persuasion: despite the increased awareness, the calorie consumption of customers at these fast food joints slightly increased.

To improve persuasion in copy, you need to change the words, not just the size of the words.

Here are my 10 favorite fiction books. I say ?fiction books? instead of novels so I can include book-length plays.

1??Death of a Salesman? by Arthur Miller.

2??A Prayer for Owen Meany? by John Irving.

3??A Brief History of the Dead? by Kevin Brockheimer.

4??The Time Traveler?s Wife? by Audrey Niffenegger.

5??Creatures of Light and Darkness? by Roger Zelazny.

6??The Stars My Destination? by Alfred Bester.

7??Inherit the Wind? by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee.

8??To Kill a Mockingbird? by Harper Lee

9??The Great Gatsby? by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

10??The Lovely Bones? by Alice Sebold.

Are any of these on your favorite books list?

Are there any of them you DON’T think are worthy?

What others are on your list that I don?t have?