Archive for April, 2009
The Teddy Roosevelt Approach To Selling And Copywriting
April 15th, 2009 | 
Author: It’s irritating. Ask most people how they feel about being sold to and this is the answer you’ll probably get. Today, more than ever, people don’t like being told what to do. That’s why sales tactics of a decade ago simply aren’t working today. And that’s also why sales people and copywriters today are approaching the sales process in a different way.
When Theodore Roosevelt was New York Governor he achieved what many people believed to be the impossible. He managed to develop a great relationship with political heavyweights, yet at the same time manage to get these same political heavyweights to vote for a number of sweeping reforms that they were often bitterly opposed to.
What was his secret?
Posted in Copywriting, Selling | 
Tags: copywriting, roosevelt, Selling, teddy roosevelt | 
No Comments »
The Sales-Killing Mistakes That Small Business Owners Make On Twitter and Facebook
By now most people have seen all the “hoo-ha” about employees being fired over negative comments they’ve made on Facebook. But the even crazier thing is small business owners don’t seem to have taken the hint and continue to post very damaging tweets of their own.
I was initially reluctant to write this article because I figured that these mistakes were being made by a minority of people, but considering how frequently I’ve been seeing certain tweets pop up, I guess I was wrong.
This article is written in the hope of helping small business owners preserve their relationships with their clients in the future.
Posted in Copywriting, Customer experience, Marketing, small business marketing |
Tags: facebook, Marketing, sales, twitter |
No Comments »
Tested Copywriting Sentences And How to Penetrate the Cloud
Sales “scientist”, Elmer Wheeler was an absolute master of understanding how buyers think and understanding how to really connect with a buyers’ hopes and fears, conversationally.
In the following article, Mr. Wheeler talks about “penetrating the cloud”. In other words, it doesn’t matter whether we are walking down a street or scanning through a newspaper, we are all walking around in a fog. It’s then the job of an advertisement, to penetrate that fog. If it doesn’t, your advertising dollar has been wasted. If it does, you have captured their attention and you’re one step closer to generating a sale.
Here’s an excerpt from our “College of Copywriting” Freelance Copywriting course where Elmer Wheeler talks about this in detail …
Posted in Copywriting, Marketing, Selling, Writing |
Tags: copy, copywriter, copywriting, elmer wheeler, words that sell |
No Comments »
12 ways to Spice Up Your Yellow Pages ™ Advertising
1. Inject your personality into everything you write including your Yellow Pages ™ ad.
You’ll be amazed at the response. No-one wants to read boring and stuffy legal-ease. It makes them switch off. But - if your copywriting is engaging to read, your reader will read it, even if it is on the wordy side.
2. A friendly copywriting style builds a warm and lasting relationship with your prospect.
People like dealing with people they like and won’t deal with people they don’t like so make them like you.
3. Write as you speak
When writing your Yellow Pages ™copy, tell your reader what’s in it for them. Your readers are selfish. They really don’t care who you are. They just want to know how you will improve their lifestyle. So …
4. Describe the features of what you’re selling as benefits.
Some benefits could be that they’ll save money, they’ll save time, they’ll be envied by their friends… the list goes on.
In your copywriting, paint a picture of how your product or service will transform their lives. Spell it out.
Posted in Advertising, Copywriting, Writing |
Tags: advertising, copy, copywriter, copywriting, words that sell, yellow pages |
No Comments »
How to Dramatically Improve Your Yellow Pages ™ Advertising Results
Each year businesses spend a small fortune on Yellow Pages advertising. It’s perhaps one of the largest single investments you’ll make in advertising all year so it makes sense to ensure your ad packs the biggest punch — and gives you the very best return on your advertising dollar.
Doing this is simple if you know the right formula. I’ll share this formula with you inside this article.
Unlike with press advertising, people looking in the Yellow Pages are ready to buy right now. While on the surface of things that’s great news, the challenge is that you need to ensure that your prospect sees your ad first and acts upon it … amongst the sea of competitor’s ads.
Posted in Advertising, Copywriting, Marketing, Writing |
Tags: advertising, copy, copywriter, copywriting, words that sell, yellow pages |
No Comments »
How To Write a Powerful Headline
There are so many elements that play a very important part in every ad, sales letter, brochure or any piece of business communication that you write. And one of the most important elements is the headline.
The headline of your piece will either makes your reader so excited they’ll want to read the rest of your ad, letter etc. or it will make them switch off completely.
Here are some tips to help you do that.
Posted in Advertising, Copywriting, Direct Mail Marketing, Marketing |
Tags: copy, copywriter, copywriting, headline, words that sell, write |
No Comments »
The Art of Writing a Sizzling B2B Lead Generation Letter
So your sales force need to bump up this month’s figures. And to do that they need more appointments which means they need a killer B2B lead generation letter.
What do you do?
In direct marketing we live and breathe “salesmanship in print”, however the approach used for a great lead generation letter is different.
It’s more about “relationship building in print”.
A great lead generation letter doesn’t sell a product or a service. Instead it flirts with the reader … arousing them just enough to want to take that next step and find out more. The selling part is then up to the salesperson.
Posted in Copywriting, Direct Mail Marketing, Lead Generation, Writing |
Tags: copy, copywriter, copywriting, words that sell |
No Comments »
7 Signs Of A Newsworthy Media Release
If you’re wanting to get more P.R. for your business here are some public relations and press release writing tips to help you get more media exposure.
1. Facts
Journalists and editors love to write news stories around the latest statistics or test results published on a certain topic. If you can secure these results, write a press release around these statistics and weave in some of your own personal experiences and case studies — by doing this you stand a better than average chance of getting published.
7 Customer Attraction and Copywriting Secrets to Attract More Real Estate Leads Than Ever
If you could wave a magic wand, what would be the one thing that would make a massive difference to your success as a real estate agent?
The answer that most people tell me is that they’d love an easy way to write copy that generates leads.
In fact, most people I speak with in the industry tell me that the way in which they generate most of their leads is through opens and through their branding on vendor paid advertising.
Is there a better way? Here are 7 secrets for attracting more real estate leads than ever.
The Surprising Maxim that Maximises Your Copywriting Results
Who was it that said, “Modesty is a virtue”?
Well, whoever it was I’m sure they weren’t referring to the field of sales, copywriting and marketing, where self-promotion is the name of the game … or were they?
Take a good look at anyone who is a roaring success in sales, in copywriting or in marketing and you’ll see that one of the secrets of their success is in being able to really connect with people one-on-one, on their level. Sure, that means developing a great rapport with them, being a great listener and being a great communicator and more. But there’s one factor that separates these greats from the wannabes …
It’s called the “Modesty Maxim”. The people who master this element of rapport, achieve mastery.
Posted in Copywriting, Marketing |
Tags: copy, copywriter, copywriting, words that sell |
No Comments »
How To Write Sales Letters That Sell
Decades ago, one of the pioneers of the advertising industry, Claude Hopkins wrote the book “Scientific Advertising” in which he wrote of how advertising isn’t about being creative; it’s about following a precise formula to achieve a desired result. Mr. Hopkins words still ring true today.
Great copywriting is about remembering that advertising is nothing more than salesmanship in print.
Understand Your Buyer
Let’s say you consider yourself a pretty decent caliber of salesperson. You can uncover your client’s needs at the drop of a hat. You’re gifted when it comes to making them feel good about themselves and you can handle objections and gain commitment with the greatest of ease.
Selling on paper follows the same process only you need to be part psychic too.
At a client’s home you can interact with them in person. You ask them questions about what their situation is, what their needs are and then tailor your presentation depending on the outcome.
With direct mail you don’t have that luxury. Instead you need to use all your psychic powers to get inside the head of your audience, understand who they are, what they are thinking and then be able to use words that relate to their situation.
The Beginning
The opening paragraph is the most important piece of copy in your entire letter. It’s the piece of copy that will either capture your reader’s interest enough so they want to keep reading or, it will make them throw it away.
Here are some ways to capture their interest:
Posted in Copywriting, Direct Mail Marketing, Writing |
Tags: copywriting, Kristina Mills, sales letter |
No Comments »
"the ability to communicate with words in a way that few people possess" ... Paul Dunn - Results Corporation & ResultsNet Australia |