Riffing off of the recent sale of the painting “The Scream”…

“Edvard Munch’s The Scream Sells For Record $119.9 Million”

…here’s another great marketing cartoon from Tom Fishburne…

Full post at “marketing clutter”.

From the post…

“There has never been a greater level of marketing clutter. Yankelovich Consumer Research charts that “we’ve gone from being exposed to about 500 marketing messages a day back in the 1970s to as many as 5,000 a day today.”

At the same time, marketing communication is often little more than a string of adjectives: bigger, better, faster, cheaper, etc.

So we marketers are interrupting consumers more, but with fewer meaningful things to say.”

So yes, marketers very definitely have a challenge in getting the attention of their prospects.

But wait!  What’s this I find in an old Dan Kennedy newsletter from November 2004?

Yet another dire prediction of the death of advertising as…

“Consumers Feel Assaulted By Advertising”.

(Gee, what happened?  The ad jumped off the page, rolled itself up and whacked the reader over the head?!?)

…reported a study from Forrester Research.  In fact, what they found was…

“…consumers are shunning ads because the quantity and intrusiveness is too high, relevance too low.”

Hmm. So the real problem both then and today is, in fact, bad advertising.

More specifically, advertising that is not relevant to the prospect.

So how exactly do we make our advertising and copy relevant?

Here are 4 relevance factors…

1. Timing / Timeliness

2. Place / Location

3. Language

4. Customisation

Let’s look a little more deeply at each of these…

1. Timing

Dan Kennedy has a saying “the only difference between salad and garbage is timing”.  Now we rarely have control of ideal timing.  But we can take advantage of topical, timing based opportunities that arise.

One example, holidays, events and anniversaries each month ( for example, as discussed in my regular “Looking Ahead – Marketing Calendar” posts like this month’s “Looking Ahead – Marketing Calendar June 2012″.)

Another example, political events (elections and budgets).

2. Place

Actual physical location can often be highly relevant to your target audience.

Beyond that, you’ll often find that regional identity can be highly relevant.

For example, in the USA, the South is very distinct from other areas.

Consider the number of specialist magazines like “Southern Living”…

…and I found this interesting “Southern Women”.

In Australia, there’s a big difference between the “Bush” and the urban majority…

…and states like Queensland and WA tend to view themselves differently to the rest of the country.

So a location difference often incorporates mental and emotional differences as well.

3. Language

Every distinct group has it’s own “language”, vocabulary and phrasing.  To be relevant you MUST understand and speak the language of your audience.  If you don’t, you’re marked as an outsider, not relevant and not trusted.

4. Customisation

Pretty much everyone thinks that they are different and unique (OK, there may be a few poor lost souls out there who believe they are part of a Borg-like collective, but let’s not concern ourselves with them).

So, the more specific and customised you can make your offer and appeal…

…the more relevance your message will have.

Of course, it will be relevant to fewer people but that’s OK if you’re getting through to the right people.

More thoughts on tackling this issue from my good mate copywriter Pete Godfrey…

“Hey YOU! – Copywriting Tips To Grab Attention”.

So keep these ideas…particularly RELEVANCE…in mind and you’ll avoid prospects turning off to “Scream” in exasperation!

The month of June is approaching…

…and we’re almost halfway through the year 2012!

Time to look ahead at holidays and events that can make up a Marketing Calendar for June 2012…

…that we can use as the basis for event-driven direct response marketing campaigns or promotions.

First, let’s take a look at the calendar in Australia.

June 1 – “Official” first day of winter

June 4 – Foundation Day (WA)

June 11 – Queens Birthday (all states except WA and QLD).

The Queen’s Birthday long weekend also marks the traditional start to the skiing season.

June 21 – Winter Solstice (occurs on June 20 at 23.09 UT which makes it June 21 in Australia)

June 30 – End of the financial year

Moving on, here’s this month’s video overview…

You can view this on YouTube at “Marketing Calendar June 2012″.

Looking at events in the wider world…

…the broad theme can be thought of as “Summer”…

…with Father’s Day (June 17) in the USA, UK and Canada.

In the sporting world, the soccer Euro 2012 starts on June 8 (with the final on July 1)…

…and Wimbledon 2012 starts on June 25.

Other events…

June 2/5 – Royal Diamond Jubilee Celebrations in UK

June 14 – Flag Day (USA)

June 17 – Father’s Day (USA, UK, Canada)

June 20 – Summer Solstice (takes place at 23.09 UT so date may fall on June 21 depending on location)

June 23 – Anniversary of birth of Alan Turing, celebrated mathematician and codebreaker

June 29 – Remote Control Day (in 1964 the remote control device was introduced)

June 30 – Meteorite Day (anniversary of the 1908 meteorite crash in Siberia)

Also keep in mind that school and academic years may be ending in June, which affords an opportunity for a “graduation” theme.

And June 30 / July 1 marks the halfway point for the year.

A “Heads Up”…

…the 2012 Summer Olympics is approaching and runs from July 27 to August 12.

To conclude, on June 18, 1935 the Rolls-Royce trademark is registered.  The logo remains a memorable statement of “strength, dignity and quality”.

Every success with your event-driven marketing in June 2012!

I talk a fair bit about using stories in copywriting and marketing and one story that has assumed almost legendary status in direct response circles is that of the Schlitz Beer company.

Jay Abraham often mentions this story as a great example of the idea of pre-emptive positioning (I’ll expand on that later).  No surprise that it involves the great Claude Hopkins.

As with many things, many people “know” about the story but fewer have actually read the original.  It’s actually in “My Life In Advertising”, not the better known “Scientific Advertising”. So here it is…

Schlitz Beer was another advertising campaign which I handled for J.L. Stack.  Schlitz was then in fifth place.  All brewers at the time were crying “Pure”. They put the word “Pure” in large letters.  Then they took double pages to put it in larger letters.  The claim made about as much impression on people as water makes on a duck.

I went to brewing school to learn the science of brewing, but that helped me not at all.  Then I went through the brewery.  I saw plate-glass rooms where beer was dripping over pipes, and I asked the reason for them. They told me those rooms were filled with filtered air, so the beer could be cooled in purity.  I saw great filters filled with white-wood pulp.  They explained how that filtered the beer.  They showed how they cleaned every pump and pipe, twice daily, to avoid contaminations.  How every bottle was cleaned four times by machinery.  They showed me artesian wells, where they went 4,000 feet deep for pure water, though their brewery was on Lake Michigan.  They showed me the vats where the beer was aged for  six months before it went out to the user.

They took me to their laboratory and showed me their original mother yeast cell.  It had been developed by 1,200 experiments to bring out the utmost in flavor.  All of the yeast used in making Schlitz Beer was developed from that original cell.

Pretty amazing huh?  I’ve read that passage many times before but I still think “Wow…this must be some special beer!”  Hopkins thought so too…

I came back to the office amazed. I said: “Why don’t you tell people these things?  Why do you merely try to cry louder than others that your beer is pure? Why don’t you tell the reasons?”

“Why,” they said, “the processes we use are just the same as others use.  no one can make good beer without them.”

“But,” I replied, “others have never told this story.  It amazes everyone who goes through your brewery. It will startle everyone in print.”

As indeed turned out to be the case and Schlitz went from fifth place to neck-and-neck with first place in a few months.

Back to the idea of pre-emptive positioning.  Everybody pretty much made beer the same way…

…but Schlitz claimed the “purity” position FIRST.  And once you’ve got that position, it’s hard for a competitor to dislodge you. Even if they manage to compete with you, you still have (and cannot lose) the “original purity” position!

As well as the strategic positioning lesson in this story…

…note the tactical copywriting lesson of telling the story behind your product in a way that is meaningful and interesting to your prospect.

And Hopkins gave an example of how powerful copy like this can be.

He tells of how a businessman who had never drunk beer was so impressed by the ad, that he ordered a bottle of Schlitz.  He wanted to taste a product made under such ideals of purity!

Stories are very, very powerful ways to engage the reader and get under the radar to talk about your product or service.  Well worth studying examples like the Schlitz Beer story and seeing how you can apply the power of stories in your marketing and copywriting.

OK, the month of May 2012 is approaching…

…so time for smart marketers to plan ahead and look at some of the holidays, events and anniversaries in the month that can be used as part of an “event driven marketing” strategy.

Locally in Australia, it’s a month with fewer events than April.

It’s Autumn, so that can be used as a theme.

As elsewhere, the main occasion is “Mother’s Day”, which this year falls on Sunday May 13.

In Queensland, there’s the Labour Day holiday on Monday May 7 (also a holiday in the Northern Territory but named “May Day”).

Talking of “May Day” (May 1), this is an occasion widely observed in the northern hemisphere and originally was a pagan festival linked to Spring and fertility.

Wikipedia has more about May Day traditions…

…including in the UK the May Pole, the May Queen and Morris Dancing.

Like many originally pagan festivals, May Day has been co-opted by the Church and in many Catholic countries May is a month honouring the Virgin Mary.

In the modern era, May Day has also come to be known as “International Workers’ Day” and associated with the labour movement.

Here’s the overview video for this month…

You can view this on Youtube here –  “Marketing Calendar May 2012″.

And here’s a more detailed list of events…

May 1 – May Day (also “Lei Day” in Hawaii)

May 3 – World Press Freedom Day

May 5 – Cinco De Mayo (Mexican holiday often observed in the USA)

May 7 – “May Day” holiday (UK)

May 8 – World Red Cross Day

May 10 – “Thank You” Day

May 12 – Anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale (in 1820)

May 13 – Mother’s Day (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, most countries in the British Commonwealth outside the UK, northern Europe)

May 14 – Star Wars Day (birthday of George Lucas)

May 18 – Endangered Species Day

May 23 – Mesmerism Day

May 28 – Memorial Day (USA)

May 31 – World “No Tobacco” Day

More ideas over at www.BlueMountain.com (look for the “On this day” section).  Seems to be a  bit of a musical theme this month with “Boogie Woogie Day” on May 22 and “International Jazz Day” on May 24.

Finally, a couple of business related anniversaries…

In 1794, the US Post Office was established on May 8.

And on May 5 in 1921, the perfume Chanel No. 5 was introduced by the legendary Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel.  A breakthrough perfume; it was without any feminine floral scent and came in a revolutionary cube-shaped bottle.  The first designer-named fragrance, it soon became the world’s best seller.

That’s it for this month. Remember to look out for local events and those specific to your industry as well as the ones listed above.

Every success with your marketing!

UPDATE (8 May 2012):

Today (8 May 2012) sees the annual Australian budget.

Depending on the details there may be a specific reason for a promotion to your clients.

Regardless of the specifics, events like a budget speech give the opportunity for a promotion with a financial theme.

Note also that in Australia the end of the financial year is approaching on 30 June.

“The tai-pan is always alone, that being the joy and the hurt of it.”
– from “Noble House” by James Clavell

One of the most powerful concepts in marketing is the idea of “positioning”…

…put simply, “owning” an idea in the mind of the consumer.

For example, in the world of cars, BMW for most people means “The ultimate driving machine”.

Volvo used to mean “Safety” before they lost their way.

Positioning is similar to the idea of the Unique Selling Proposition (“USP”)…

…but it’s more strategic.

Think of it this way.

Positioning is selecting the general market position you want to dominate…

…the USP is the specific offer you make to potential customers.

They MUST be consistent with each other of course.

The concept of positioning was introduced to the world by Al Ries and Jack Trout in their marketing classic “Positioning – The Battle For Your Mind” back in 1976…

…and still big companies struggle with the idea.

Couple of recent examples of this.

Firstly, Westpac bank in Australia.

Frankly, I have no clear idea of Westpac’s position outside of them being a “bank”.

This is not unusual in the banking arena.  In Jack Trout’s book “Differentiate Or Die” there’s a table showing the degree of differentiation in 75 categories.  Amongst banks the percentage of differentiation was…

…ZERO!

However, very clearly, Westpac is a bank.

Which makes their current campaign to sell insurance…

…shall we say, an interesting move.

Look, there are some good things about the ad.  With the spate of recent natural disasters in Australia there are more than a few people who have discovered that their insurance didn’t quite cover what they thought was covered.

So insurance companies might not be the most popular group in Australia.  In fact people might dislike them almost as much as they do…banks!

Westpac might find that people won’t necessarily trust them any more than the insurers.

Also, the ad lacks any great offer or compelling call to action.  Nothing unusual there in a run-of-the-mill corporate ad.

The bigger flaw is in the positioning.  Westpac doesn’t mean “insurance”.

Sure, they can sell insurance to their existing clients.  But a company can’t be both a “bank” and an “insurer”.  In the mind of the consumer these are different.

The concept has been tried in the halcyon boom days…remember the trendy “Bancassurance” idea that was responsible for numerous ill-fated mergers and acquisitions between banks and insurance companies?

So it will be interesting to see how this campaign performs.

Ironically, the more successful Westpac are at selling insurance…

…the fuzzier and weaker their position as a bank becomes.

My guess is the insurance campaign will run for a few months and then it will get forgotten as Westpac move on the next marketing fad.

Fortunately for Westpac, they don’t actually have to be very smart or good at marketing to make money.  Most businesses don’t have that luxury.

On to the second example…

…Google!

I’d be pretty confident that most people would associate “Google” with “Search”.  They own that position and it’s the foundation of their business (where their revenue comes from advertising, of course).

Of late, however, Google has shown signs of losing their way.

Good article from Ryan Healy…

“Has Google Finally Lost its Way?”

…and from Perry Marshall…

“Google+ Team Leader Defects To Microsoft”.

The guys at the top of Google seem to have a serious case of “Facebook-envy”.  They don’t seem happy that they’re no longer the coolest guys in the room!

Look, I know that in geek-land there’s the view that Google’s moves are all part of a cunning strategy to extend their dominance of search even further.

That could be the case….but it seems equally plausible to me that Google has lost sight of their strategic positioning (if in fact they were ever consciously aware of it).

Unfortunately, Google can’t own Facebook’s “social connection” position as well as “search”.

Leads us back to the key point about positioning…

…it’s all about cutting through the clutter and owning one clear (and meaningful) spot in the mind of the consumer.

And to that quote at the start of the post.

Get positioning right and you can dominate a market niche.  That’s the “joy”.

But you can only own ONE position with a brand.

(Google got this right when they bought YouTube.  They didn’t do what would have been incredibly stupid and rebrand it as “Google Online Video”. Google means “search”, the separate brand YouTube means “online video sharing”).

That’s the “pain”…you have to choose.

Time to bring this somewhat sprawling series on “Better Website Conversion Tips” to a close.

Below are the links to the individual posts in the series to make it easy for you to review and revisit particular sections.

To summarise the key points…

1) Design your pages with the principles of direct response marketing in mind

…then…

2) TEST!

Better Conversion Tip #1 – Get Rid Of Anything That Doesn’t Advance The Sale

Better Conversion Tip #2 – Periodically Test Your Site

Better Conversion Tip #3 – Watch Your Outbound Links

Better Conversion Tip #4 – Add Captions To All Your Photos

Better Conversion Tip #5 – Create Redirect Links

Better Conversion Tip #6 – Use Google Analytics

Better Conversion Tip #7 – Have a “3C” Call To Action

Better Conversion Tip #8 – Create Targeted Landing Pages

Better Conversion Tip #9 – Test

Better Conversion Tip #10 – Test Credibility And Proof

Better Conversion Tip #11 – Test Different Testimonials

Better Conversion Tip #12 – Use Takeaway Selling To Increase Urgency

Better Conversion Tip #13 –  Review Your Copy

Hope you found this series useful.

Please feel free to leave a comment and add any conversion tips you have found useful.

Better Conversion Tip #13 – Review Your Copy

(You can find the previous post in this series here “Better Website Conversion Tips – Part 12″.)

In this series, I’ve assumed that you’ve already got some sort of web page up with some copy in place.

This isn’t a series about how to write copy. But for long term success it’s important that you understand what goes in to a successful sales message.

Depending on your budget and the income potential of your site, it may well be worth hiring a professional copywriter to at least provide a critique and suggestions for improvements.

If you want to learn more about effective copywriting, here are 3 good introductory level texts to get started…

“The Ultimate Sales Letter” – Dan Kennedy

“How To Write A Good Advertisement” – Victor Schwab

“The Online Copywriters Handbook” – Bob Bly

With that covered, here are 7 points to review in your copy to get the best response…

Copy Point #1 – Does the headline grab attention and get the visitor to stay on the page?

Copy Point #2 – Once you’ve got attention, is there something to hold that attention by making it very clear quickly what the page is all about?

Copy Point #3 – Does the copy create desire by making clear what the visitor will gain?

Copy Point #4 – Prove the price is right. If free, as in a lead generation exercise, make that clear

Copy Point #5 – Establish credibility and create confidence that you’re genuine and worth dealing with

Copy Point #6 – Make it easy to act now (make it VERY clear what to do)

Copy Point #7- Give the visitor a reason to act NOW

Effective copywriting is a vast subject, but if you cover these 7 points you’ll at least have the essentials of a good sales piece.

Been intending to write a post about Pinterest…the latest social media marketing craze…when this superb cartoon from the great Tom Fishburne popped up!

 Full post at “pinterest marketing”.

First up, why would you consider Pinterest for your marketing?

“Pinterest is the talk of the marketing town. It’s the fastest growing social network, stars a highly engaged high-income audience, and is driving more referral traffic than Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, and MySpace combined.”

One other point, according to my understanding, is that a very high proportion of Pinterest users are women.  So, as with all social media marketing, if your prospective audience is using Pinterest, it’s worth taking a look to see if it can fit in with your marketing plans.

Having said that, pay CLOSE attention to this comment from Tom…

“As brands jump on the Pinsanity bandwagon, remember the lesson from every social network that preceded it. What’s more important than the platform is what we’re asking our audiences to share. It’s not about the network. It’s about the content. More than ever, brands need a plan for content worth sharing.”

At this point, let’s take a step back and review some marketing fundamentals.

In direct response marketing, in the modern era, you can think of the way you attract leads as falling into 2 “channels”.

Firstly, there is what you might term the traditional “direct” channel…

…that’s to say, advertising.

Put up an ad with an appeal relevant to your prospects…

…and then capture their details in some way so you can continue to market to them.

Them there’s what we might call the “indirect” channel.

(OK, I know it’s a little bizarre to talk about “indirect direct response marketing”, but it will have to serve for the time being.)

With this approach, the strategy is to attract the attention of your prospects with relevant content and then direct them to your lead capture device.

This approach covers areas such as social media…

…but also more conventional strategies such as article marketing and blogging.

The important point to keep in mind is that social media activities are in essence a traffic building strategy…

…which is merely what should be the first step in a well-constructed plan to acquire leads and convert those leads into paying customers.

If it seems to you that I am merely stating the blindingly obvious…

…I apologise and salute you.  You are one of the few.

When it comes to social media and whatever the “craze-du-jour” happens to be…

…my observation is that even many capable direct response marketers seem to go into a swoon and lose all sight of the fundamentals and what’s important.

Back to Pinterest and Tom’s comment.  If you’re going to use Pinterest, you’re going to need plenty of attractive graphical content that people can use.

If you’re not prepared to provide that kind of content…

…then Pinterest is probably not for you.

Now, if in principle, this is a channel that could work for you, how do you go about integrating Pinterest into your marketing mix?

To start with, here’s the basics of what it’s all about…

“What Is Pinterest?”

Next, read this to double check this is going to be an effective channel for you…

“What Marketers Should Know About Pinterest”.

This might help as well…

“Pinterest Infographics Reveal Marketing Potential”

Then you’re ready to tackle…

“Pinterest Marketing: The Ultimate Guide”.

Finally, here’s a pretty good “Pinterest Primer” video…

Second of two guest posts from Troy White on the subject of lead generation and conversion,

First part is here…

“Lead Generation The Direct Response Way – Part 1″

In this next part, we focus more on the vital task of turning those leads into actual sales and real dollars in the account.

*****

Step #2: Turning Your Leads Into Sales

No matter how great your leads are, unless you have a solid follow up system in place, you won’t convert nearly as many as you could.  Once the follow up letters are written, tested and improved – you can send these out as often as possible and you will know that you can make $xx,xxx every single month as long as you are sending out a certain number of letters.

If your letter #1 converts 10% of your prospects into buyers, letter #2 converts 5%, and letter 3 converts 3% – you have 18% of your prospects that you can convert to paid clients – without a single meeting or phone call – the letters can do ALL the work.  

{insert video, email, autoresponder, etc in place of letter – the system is the same for all}

So remember, the goal of all these exercises is to build you a business system that makes you money month in and month out.  Something you can repeat, grow, or shrink, depending on how much business you need or don’t need.

The most powerful way to do your follow up is through direct mail, email, audio or video.  

Until now, they have put up their hand to say they are interested in your offer.  You have taken down their contact information and sent them the gift offered.  Now you need to get them to buy into your products and services.   And a 3 step follow up campaign is the most powerful way to close the deal.

I don’t have enough room here to properly show you how to create follow up campaigns that work.  But I can give you a formula to use throughout.

Have a look at www.smalldisplayads.com – notice the letter there.  It sells a $20 special report which converts very well.  The formula that I used there is the same one you should be using:

Attention – get them to read it right off the bat. The headline you use is KEY and will make or break your success with the follow up.  Some of the best formulas for headlines will be found in… you ready?… The national Enquirer and Cosmopolitan Magazine.  Those have some of the best headline writers in the world, and you had BETTER pay attention to how their write their cover headlines (email me if you want a list of the 100 most effective headlines ever written – email address at end of this chapter).  Right under the headline you need to continue with the same thought you were on in the headline.  Leading to…

Interest – You got them to stop and read your letter.  Now you need to build up their interest and show them you have something that they will want (if you have done your research, targeted the right person, and gotten them to put up their hand for more information… you know they are interested).  Now you have to build on that interest and further the reason for them to keep reading…

Desire – This is where you introduce to them an incredible offer that they have ever seen before.  I like to bundle numerous products or services together and offer them a fabulous deal on the bundle (call the bundle something different so they can never compare apples to apples with your competitors).  Offer them an incredible guarantee.  A price plan.  Testimonials from happy clients.  Proof that you deliver on your promises. And then…

Action – The most important (yet neglected) step in the entire marketing system.  Ask them to take action NOW.  Give them reasons and incentives to visit or buy right now.  Give them every reason in the book to trust you.  And make sure they understand what will happen if they don’t take action NOW.

Not exactly rocket science – but it certainly makes money on demand.

Step #3: Measuring And Testing

As mentioned previously, you need to track EVERYTHING.  Noting what works, what didn’t, how well it works or didn’t, exactly what you did, etc. The easiest way to do this is keep a simple excel spreadsheet (or something similar) detailing everything that has happened. Then it is time to rank the results you got.

Rank it:

1 – stellar success and either brought in a ton of sales, new leads, or positive comments from your customers and prospects.

2 – marginally successful – broke even on profits (or small profit), got a few new leads or positive comments

3 – not good results at all – lost money or time for nothing, no new leads or sales, no one even noticed you during your attempt

4 – disgustingly bad – big loser, negative feedback and comments, complete waste of time for your business

Rank everything you have done in your marketing campaigns – from 1 through 4.

Then separate them into 1’s and 2’s (the winners) – then another group of 3’s and 4’s (the losers). The 1’s and 2’s you are going to do again… the rest you will hold off for now and revisit them in 6 months or so (things change – what didn’t work now may work exceptionally well in 6 months – the internet and society is on warp drive right now – never throw out your test results).

You can even go further into detail and give your honest thoughts on why some things worked and didn’t. These notes you make could be worth a fortune to you in 6 or 12 months.  Rather than reinventing the wheel – you may find you tested it already but forgot it didn’t work – or did work.

Now write out how you can make them better, more fun, more exciting, more profitable, more enticing, more powerful, more appealing to the emotions… anything you can think of to make it better – write it down.

Post these types of results on a regular basis.

Keep in marketing results binder – review monthly – or whenever you need new promotion ideas.

With the above example – you would definitely want to run ALL the 1’s at least one more time a year, test the 2’s again – and don’t bother running the 3’s.

THINGS TO TEST
(only test one thing at a time or test is invalid, test must be run to exact same list or publication as initial control)

• Put in columns
• Free samples
• Quantity discounts
• Method of payments (cash, check, ccard, multiple credit card options, purchase orders, extended payments)
• Method of response: phone, mail, email, web, fax, in-store
• Regular envelop vs larger
• Live stamps vs pre-printed
• Teaser copy on envelope vs none
• Window envelope vs regular
• Signature in blue ink vs black
• Different headlines
• Handwriting in margins or spread throughout
• 1 page letter vs multiple page
• Opening paragraph
• Change the PS
• Color vs black and white
• Font size
• Different font
• Bonus bundles
• Deadlines vs no deadlines
• Write as if from you vs write as if from someone else (staff, spouse, client, supplier)

[NOTE: Do NOT ask your friends, family, or co-workers for their impressions on your marketing! They are the worst ones to ask.  Either hire a professional, use the templates here as a foundation, or test your campaign to see the real results.  I can’t count how many times a spouse or employee has completely destroyed the effectiveness of a campaign with their “thoughts about it”.  Stick with the formula here – it works in the real world.  Your best friends advice doesn’t work in the real world... guaranteed]

Once you have a campaign that works for you–keep using it! 

Don’t stop just because you are tired of it.  Send it out to every new lead that comes in the door. If it works once – it will work again.  That is the beauty of this kind of marketing.  You write a direct response campaign using the principles laid out here, you test the results, you try variations of, find a winner, and keep using the winner as many times, and as often as humanly possible.

That is how fortunes are made and how small businesses become big businesses (or at least very profitable businesses, for those who want to keep it small).

A CHALLENGE TO YOU…

Don’t just read this post, take action on it.

NOTHING good comes from inaction.

…especially in marketing and sales.

Troy

*****

By Troy White at http://blog.smallbusinesscopywriter.com. Troy publishes consistent marketing tips for entrepreneurs who are tired of the hype and just want street-smart ideas to grow their business.

Sign up and grab his “Million Dollar Lobster” report – powerful information!

*****

Some direct response marketing topics bear regular review.

Lead generation is one of them.  Gaining a new customer is widely regarded as one of the hardest and most expensive marketing tasks to accomplish.

So here’s a guest post from fellow copywriter Troy White.

I’ve posted guest articles from Troy before.  At the much missed “Makepeace Total Package” blog…

…when they were posting regularly I always looked forward to his articles.

So here is the first of a 2 part series…

…”Step one in lead generation and follow up”.

*****

We ALL need a fresh supply of leads coming into our business.

Yet, it can be one of the most difficult things you can do.

They can be expensive… difficult to find (quality ones anyhow)…and converting a lead to a buyer is not always simple.

Step #1 in the process is outlined here today, and the follow up steps will follow.

Enjoy…

Rule #1 Must Have A Good Headline

– And Possibly A Different Font To The Rest Of The Ad

All Bold – NOT ALL CAPS – which is difficult to read

Your ad must visually stand out from other ads (look at the ads in the section you’ll be advertising in and make yours look and sound different)

Either an attention getting headline – or a benefit based headline (WARNING! STOP! IF YOU ARE ABOUT TO… or the Fastest and Easiest Way To Lose Weight- For FREE… or… How To Win

Friends and Win Friends and Influence People)

Rule #2 You Must Address The Readers – Not Yourself

Use “normal people talk” not “advertising” talk – make it sound like a conversation you would say to a prospect the first time you try to get their attention

Again, you must contrast with others in the section – talk like one of them

Write your ad as if you are talking to one person only. Most ads are written as if they are talking to a group (use words like you and yours – actually count the use of you and your versus I and we – there should be less than 5% of the use of I , me or we)

When people are looking at ads – they are typically interested in buying – so always remember you’re talking with people who already have a burning desire for your offer

Rule #3 Make Your Display Advertisement

As Long As It Needs To Be

There is a false belief that you must keep your ad as short as possible (again – false advice from people who have never been accountable for the results they get from their advertising. The more you tell the more you sell has always been true – and it always will be)

Always be addressing the benefits of what you provide to them – not the features. List out everything about you, your business, your product or service – then ask “so what?” – do you answer that? Do you tell them what it means to them? What is in it for them to read your ad and to call or come by your business?

Rule #4 Find A Way To Leave Them With An Emotion

After Reading Your Ad

Create a picture in their mind of their new lifestyle – using your product or service – enjoying the benefits – thinking how glad they are that they used your service or bought your product

BY FAR – the biggest mistake made – you MUST have call to action (most people miss this one. ask for them to take action – request your report – get their free coupon – book a free consultation – make it a limited time offer – or limited quantity – or a single day of the week)

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By Troy White at http://blog.smallbusinesscopywriter.com. Troy publishes consistent marketing tips for entrepreneurs who are tired of the hype and just want street-smart ideas to grow their business.

Sign up and grab his “Million Dollar Lobster” report – powerful information!

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All good points from Troy…

…the second part will follow soon.