Sales Focused Copywriting For Direct Response Marketers Who Want More Clients...More Sales...More Cash In The Bank!
Here’s our regular look ahead at the coming month, April 2015…
…and the events, holidays and anniversaries that a smart marketer can use as the foundation for an event-driven campaign or marketing promotion.
The two main events of general interest this month are…
…”April Fool’s Day” on the first of the month…
…and Easter (April 3-6).
Other events of note… [Read more…]
The February meeting of the GKIC London Chapter took place on 24 February 2015…
…at our new venue, “The Happenstance” on Ludgate Hill.
A full schedule with 4 speakers…
…plus the opportunity to catch up with old friends, meet new members and share ideas with like-minded, go-ahead business-folk.
David White kicked off the afternoon talking about…
“8 Very Big Advertising Mistakes To Avoid”.
The cardinal sin to avoid, of course, is not using the direct response marketing approach and the smart copywriting that is an essential part of that.
But, typical of the mistakes made by advertisers who don’t understand direct marketing are… [Read more…]
We’re at the start of the Lunar (Chinese) New Year (19 February is the first day of the new year). The “Year Of The Horse” has just ended…
…but in the West there’s some confusion over what this New Year should be called. Some say it’s the “Year Of The Sheep”. Others, “The Year Of The Goat”…and there’s a case for the “Year Of The Ram”.
The uncertainty (at least in Western minds) arises because the word for the eighth animal in the Chinese zodiac’s 12-year cycle of creatures, yang in Mandarin, does not make the distinction found in English between goats and sheep and other members of the Caprinae subfamily. Without elaboration, yang might mean any such hoofed animal that eats grass and bleats.
The Chinese themselves don’t seem too concerned, being quite clear in their own minds what animal we’re talking about.
Whether it’s sheep, goats or rams we’re talking about they do share some characteristics. They are herd animals that tend to move together. They do what those around them are doing and follow the crowd.
Now, there are times when following the crowd is the right thing to do. Way back in our history, part of our instinctive survival mechanism was to pay close attention to what was going on around us and if the rest of our tribe or herd was moving off someplace, it made sense to follow them. That’s because there was usually a very good reason based on cold, hard reality for that particular action.
Fast forward to today…
…and following what works is still a good idea. In the world of personal development, people like Tony Robbins talk about modelling success. You’ve probably heard the expression “Success leaves clues”. One of the fastest ways to achieve something is to find someone who has already done what you want to do and follow what they did.
And the same applies to modern day marketing and advertising…provided… [Read more…]
I wasn’t going to post anything this Valentine’s Day…
…but the media is, naturally, chock-full of romance-themed articles like “100 best love songs of all time” in the UK “Daily Telegraph” which did remind me of this genuine classic …
“Generous Creative Businessman Wants to Find a Hot, Sexy Woman With a Good Sense of Humor”
A true masterpiece and you can find it at the “Gary Halbert Letter” website at the following link… [Read more…]
I confess I was in two minds about whether to comment about the “50 Shades Of Grey” phenomenon…
…but given the blanket media coverage this week ahead of the film’s release (conveniently timed for Valentine’s Day…a nice marketing touch) I decided it would be remiss of me not to make a few marketing-linked observations.
Plus…it gives me a semi-plausible reason to use the attention-getting picture at the top of this post!
First up, whenever there is a popular sensation like “50 Shades” it gives a marketer the opportunity to tap into the “water-cooler” conversation that’s going on. If even someone like me…
…who hasn’t read the books, has no intention of seeing the film and generally doesn’t have any great personal interest in the popular culture…
…is aware of it, then you can be pretty sure most people out there will know about “50 Shades”. Even if it’s only to poke fun at what’s going on (note the Lego version of the film trailer!). Whatever, pretty much everyone will have an opinion.
The controversy that the film has attracted only adds to the “buzz”.
Now, in your business it might not be appropriate to make a direct link, but with a little imagination you might be surprised at possible connections and it’s an opportunity to tap into the conversation.
Next up… [Read more…]