I received a mailing today promoting a stock newsletter.

In big, bold type, the headline on the outer envelope reads:

Inside: Three stocks set to quadruple in price in the next 12 months.

Now, if you are a new copywriter … or new to financial subscription promotion … you might think this is a good headline.

But to anyone with experience, it’s fairly lame.

Yes, it makes a big promise.

The problem is, I — and everyone else on the mailing lists used in financial direct mail — have read this headline (or others nearly identical) about a zillion times before.

The lack of originality robs it of impact — and reminds us that it’s a pure sales pitch.

You can’t know this unless you are an active writer or reader of financial DM.

That’s why you need to be on as many mailing lists as you can — online and offline — and read all the print and Internet promotions that come your way.

Not only does this give you ideas and show you what’s working.

But it also educates you on what has been done to the death — and should be avoided in your own work.

Doctors, engineers, and scientists keep up with the latest developments and current activity in their respective fields.

Copywriters and marketers must, too.

So … how would YOU rate “Three stock set to quadruple in price in the next 12 months” as a headline — good, bad, or terrible?

If you say to me that social media is the most significant marketing development of the 21st century and will become the dominant marketing channel, I can see your argument — though I don’t necessarily agree with it.

But in an interview with DM News (6/9/08, p. 47), Saul Colt, VP of FreshBooks Marketing, goes way too far when he suggests that one single social media site — Twitter — could by itself be the next big thing in marketing.

Colt states: “Twitter is here to stay and in time could be your most valuable marketing tool.”

His reason: “There is a good chance your customers are already there and perhaps talking about you.”

Saul, are you serious?

Do you really think that Twitter specifically — not social media in general — could become the #1 marketing tool of any B2B or B2C marketer?

Does anyone else out there think Twitter is an important, powerful marketing medium? Do you already get business from Twitter?

For years, auto makers have been selling used cars under the semi-pretentious label of “pre-owned vehicle.”

So I was shocked yesterday when I heard a radio spot for Honda talking about their “certified used cars.”

The whole reason the industry switched from “used car” to “pre-owned vehicle” was to avoid the negative image of the used car industry — in particular used car dealers.

So does Honda know something we don’t? Have they conducted market research that indicates consumers are wary of — or see through — the high-fatutin B.S. of the whole “certified pre-owned vehicle” thing?

Will the market eagerly rush to by Honda’s used cars because of the refreshing honesty of their new commercial?

Or will consumers say “no thanks” to used cars — and stick with pre-owned vehicles instead?

Your thoughts?

My friend Peter Fogel is writing a book on reinvention in the workplace.

It’s rare for people these days to have one career and stick with it for decades.

Most of us have several careers during our life — which often necessitates a difficult period of transition, training, and reinvention.

Have you “reinvented” yourself at work or in your business?

Did you do it by learning a new skill … or finding a mentor … or growing a new profit center?

And did you reinvent yourself out of choice — or did your industry become moribund or your skills obsolete?

When Yale librarian Rutherford Rogers said “We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge,” he could have been talking about Chris Schroeder.

In a speech at the Specialized Information Publishers Association (SIPA) conference this week, Schroeder, CEO of Health Central Network, said RSS feeds were a great way of keeping up with what’s new in your field.

He then showed a slide of his own RSS feed inbox and noted that it had 2,000 items awaiting his attention.

Mr. Schroeder, I have news for you: if you have 2,000 unread items in your RSS feed, then it is anything BUT an ideal way of getting information.

Schroeder and many other people I know subscribe to so many data sources, their RSS feeds deliver hundreds or thousands of items a week — more than they could ever hope to read.

I believe Mr. Schroeder over-estimates his own need for information — or is unable to distinguish between what he needs to know vs. what he would like to know.

In today’s information age, more scientific knowledge is published every 24 hours than you could read in 5 years.

The key to managing your information is to be more selective, not less. Ruthlessly unsubscribe to e-zines, RSS feeds, newsletters, and magazines until you get only what you absolutely need.

Even then, you won’t have time to read even a small fraction of it. But at least your inbox will be somewhat under control.

But over-subscribing to free content via RSS feeds is an invitation to information overload disaster: equivalent to getting a Sunday New York Times delivered to your door every day of the year.

In an interview with DM News (6/2/08, p. 23), Andrew Trent, director of Web content for Journyx, gives advice on using blogs as a marketing tool that seems — to me, anyway — to be a tad off base.

Specifically, he says: “Your blog should provide the same content as any direct marketing pieces you send out.”

(He does add that your blog can include “so much more” than your promotions … such as “links to relevant materials.”)

Andy, are you serious?

Blogs are supposed to be conversations and content, as I understand it — not sales pitches for products.

Do you take copy from your e-mail marketing campaigns and direct mail packages … and post that same sales copy on your blog?

I cannot believe anyone would do it, or that if someone DID do it, his readers wouldn’t flee from his blog like rats abandoning a sinking ship.

What do you think? Can sales copy be recycled in a blog? Or is that cheating your loyal blog readers?

The tag line of Budweiser’s new campaign is:

SUPERIOR DRINKABILITY.

I don’t think I’ve ever, in my half century of living, heard anyone, anywhere, use the word “drinkability” when describing a beer or any other beverage.

If you accept the premise that copy should be written in the prospect’s language, then Bud’s new slogan fails the test.

But what’s YOUR opinion of Budweiser’s “Superior Drinkability” — good, bad, or terrible?

Social media evangelists are in love with Twitter, Facebook, and their ilk because these networks enable continuous “naked” conversations.

Robert Scoble, I believe, has stated that his goal is to have at least one naked conversation a day.

When I started in the corporate world in the late 1970s, we too had naked conversations — in the cafeteria, at the coffee machine, and at the bar after work.

But if we spent too much time having conversations during working hours, the boss would break us up … and send us back to our desks, to do the work we were being paid to do.

That’s good advice: if you are spending endless hours reading posts, comments, and messages online, those are hours you are not spending on the tasks for which you are paid a salary — or in the case of the self-employed, on billable work.

Naked conversation advocates will tell me that, without these never-ending online gossip sessions, they would not be able to keep their finger on the pulse of the marketplace.

I disagree, and suggest these alternatives:

* Become a people watcher. Observe them in restaurants, stores, and at the bowling alley.
* Read a daily newspaper.
* Watch TV news and listen to talk radio.
* Talk with the person sitting next to you at the lunch counter or standing next to you in line at the bank.
* Read the Letters to the Editor in your industry trade publications.

If your only exposure is to people who are as obsessed with blogs, Twitter, and Facebook as you are, I would argue that you are talking with a limited (albeit large) cross section of the marketplace, and in a limited (online only) way.

My suggestions above allow you to participate in the conversation during your free time, not your work time. As a result, you get more work done … and make more money.

Yes, social media gives you more of a voice than the newspaper or radio. But in conversation, you always learn more when you listen than when you talk.