KickAss Copywriter

Here’s another motivational message from the Daily Guru, which
I think is applicable to our business, as well as personal lives …

LEADERSHIP IS ACTION NOT POSITION
 
All successful people became successful because they gave
some talent or ability in the service of others.

You can contribute in some way to others, no matter how small
your talent.

You too, can become successful.

No one achieves success, without being of service.

Successful people don’t use others.  Other people use the
uccessful — for above all, success is of service.

Everyone has to be someone to someone to be anyone.

Service is the essence of success.

END

In my own life, I can honestly say that I’m happiest when I’m
giving to others in some way.

Living a life of service is a mindset I feel. I don’t think I
have to constantly give all my money away to the poor, in order
to be of service …

But I do have to come from a place of giving, instead of taking –
in order to fully grok the spirit of service.

If I come from a place of fullness or abundance, then I have much
to give.  It’s giving out of an overflow. 

Conversely, if I come from a place of scarcity, then I create lack
and, therefore, have nothing to give or share.

Service in Business …
According to the quote above, “… no one achieves success, without being of service” …

I’m sure we could all point to people we’ve known, who seem to enjoy tremendous success, without giving back.

Maybe they’re actually selfish and hoarding?  But, for now, I’d like to focus on the brand of success I think the quote for today refers to.

We’re all consumers, and we all sell something to consumers, if we’re in business, right?

I think it’s pretty easy to figure out how we like to be treated, when we are buying something, don’t you? 

So, let’s just treat our customers the way we would like to be treated.  Simple, yes?  (The Golden Rule, actually.)

I Will Treat My Customers The Way I Want to be Treated:
1. Tell the truth
2. Speak kindly
3. Provide a genuinely good product or service
4. Offer a guarantee or refund policy
5. Always take care of their questions/problems
6. Rewards/special offers for repeat business

In all our marketing, whether email campaigns, SEO web copy, sales letters, landing pages, direct response snail mail, articles or press releases …

Let’s all commit to great service!

I think it’s rewarding, both financially and emotionally.

Be sure to choose a talented copywriter to effectively communicate to your valued customers and prospects.

http://www.kickasscopywriter.com

In my Daily Guru messages, here’s the one for today:

EVERY FAILURE IS A STEP CLOSER TO SUCCESS
 
People who try to do something and fail are infinitely
better than those who try to do nothing and succeed.

Experiencing failure is inevitable on your journey to
be successful.

Every defeat is merely an installment to victory.

You’ll find that the number of times you succeed is
in direct proportion to the number of times you fail
and keep trying.

You won’t be judged by the number of times you fail,
but by the number of times you succeed.

Failure is nothing but education, nothing but the first
step to something better.

You can’t be a winner and be afraid to lose.

END

I was struck by how ‘right on’ this feels to me.  Both
in my personal and business life … how can I learn, except
by doing?

I think it’s true to say that I can’t be a winner and be
afraid to lose.  Trial and error is the best teacher.

I always think of Thomas Edison and how many times he failed,
before he finally invented the light bulb. Yet, no one remembers
him for the failures, but just his great accomplishment.

Imagine what might have happened, if he had given up?

And then, there’s Thomas Jefferson:  “Never give in, never give
in, never give in.”

In your marketing, are you afraid of failure?  Or do you try one
thing after another, until you find something that really works?

The market is fickle at best.  The economy is in the pits and the
political machine is all clogged up, with lies & deceit. 

So, what are you doing to make sure your message is believable?

Now, more than ever, marketing has to make sense.  Whether your
market is B2B or B2C, your message had better be in-synch with
your market’s real needs.  (And rank low on the B.S. meter.)

From your web site copy to your email campaigns to your articles
and press releases … you must consider your readers’ state of mind, if you want to have a chance at reaching them.

And be real!

Tight money, shaky economy = tight, honest message and sensible
offer.

Choose a copywriter, who understands your audience’s wants, needs and state of mind.  And knows how to connect with them on a deeper, emotional level … and will pass the B.S. test.

When anyone feels heard and understood, they’re more likely to listen to what you have to offer.  Assuming it’s legit.

Go ahead, try it.  Be different.  Be willing to test.  Be real.

http://www.kickasscopywriter.com

Does anyone actually feel sorry for ole Eliot?  I sure
don’t.  I never liked him from the very first time I saw
him — for what it’s worth.   
Unless I’m missing something, he hasn’t really apologized
for what he did. 

He’s just done a soft-shoe shuffle around his dalliances
with women of ill-repute, after prosecuting “escort services”
in New York … and closing them down.

Reeks of hypocrisy to me!

And have you heard the latest?  The girl, with whom he was ’seeing,’ had worked with the New York group that he shut down?  Curious irony, eh?

And his poor, ignored wife, standing by his stoic, puffed-up
side, while he pontificates in a manner that has nuttin to do
with nuttin.  Posturing, no doubt.

I guess the bigger deal, for him anyway, will be to hope and
pray that the money he used to pay for his little flings was
NOT public money.

Or, if it was, he’ll work real hard to keep that out of the
news, don’t you imagine?

Even before his debacle over issuing drivers licenses to illegal
aliens, he gave me the creeps.  (Keep in mind, as soon as I saw
the first plane crash into the WTC, I knew it was no accident.)

Devoid of emotion, he was and is as cold as an igloo in Iceland. 

So, I’d like to make two observations about all this:

1. My radar for distinguishing genuine from fake.
2. What we all can learn from this very unlikable fella.

To the first point … I just want to share how much my radar,
my BS meter, woman’s intuition or my sensitive Cancer sign allows
me to read people and situations SO quickly and accurately.

In my personal life and in my work as a copywriter and marketing strategist, this is a most valuable tool. 

I intuitively know what the ‘real deal’ is and am able
to zero-in on what really matters to the audiences my copywriting is written for.

To the second point … I think we all can see from a business
POV, being an unlikable person is the kiss of death. 

Who wants to do business with someone so abrasive and next to
impossible to deal with?  I sure don’t.

And then there’s the little annoyance called honesty.  Don’t
you think that everyone (esp Americans) is quick to forgive
someone, who admits he/she has done wrong?

Lessons to take away from the Eliot Spitzer fiasco …
1. Be a genuinely nice person
2. Care about others
3. Be warm, considerate
4. Don’t be hypocritical
5. Be honest and admit your mistakes
6. Take responsibility for your actions

What do you think we can learn from this BIG news story?

http://www.kickasscopywriter.com

Questions:
Are you a business, with a web site?

Do you sell a product or service on your web site?

Do you have a mailing list that you’ve collected, from site visitors, who have opted-in to receive information from you from time to time?

If you don’t have your own in-house list, have you rented an email list from a reputable 3rd party provider … and emailed to them?

Do you test your responses to various campaigns that you run to see which ones convert better?

Assessment:
If you are in business, with a web site.  And if you do have a product or service to sell …

then you should absolutely take advantage of the amazing results you can garner, with email marketing, if you aren’t doing so already.

You will need a good email service provider (ESP).  I use aweber, but there are many others out there, like Constant Contact, getresponse, Campaigner, etc.

It’s vital for you to use one of these services because they are SPAM compliant.  And the last thing you want is a spam complaint.

You can format the emails properly, so they look very professional and they use an unsubscribe link.

You can also put the entire campaign into one of these systems and set the dates for the sequence. 

If you have 5 emails in one campaign, you can set the first one to go out on day one, the second one to go out 2 days after that one, etc.

Research tells us the days to avoid are Thursday and Friday.  Best days are Sun, Mon, Tues.

Subject Lines:
The most important part of your campaign is the subject line.

If your emails don’t get opened, they won’t get read.  And your links won’t get clicked on.  Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Never, ever use the word, “FREE” in your subject lines.  The spam filters hate that word, as do most recipients.  It screams of spam, even if it’s from a legitimate company.

Don’t make huge, bold promises that sound too good to be true.  Again, spam filters hate this … and they’re real smart nowadays.

The Body:
You can use plain text or html, with good success.  Studies show that simple html emails have a bit better open rates.

One thing to remember is to use a gripping headline right at the top of your emails, before the salutation.

The reason for this is that so many people access their emails from mobile devices and some email clients have preview panes these daze. 

So, with a compelling headline, it’ll show up and they’ll be more apt to open it.  (A little known tip.)

Make every word count and don’t allow any typos.  Period.

Be very conscious and respectful of their time.  So, please don’t try to sell shoes to a list of people interested in dog clothing.  You’ll get spammed.

Always remember that whatever you’re selling, the reader only cares about one thing:  WIIFM.  (What’s in it for me.)

They aren’t that concerned that your running shoes are made for 100% pure silk innersole … unless you tell them that they’ll feel like they’re running on air. 

They’ll be able to run in these shoes twice as long, without any discomfort at all.

The way you connect with the reader is most important.  They must feel that you feel them.  They’ll need to know that you know what they need and you care about them.

Find an expert email marketing copywriter for this job.  It’s deceptively easy.  But it takes a master to do it right and to persuade them to buy.

The Offer/Close:
Give them an offer they can’t refuse … and they can’t find anywhere else.  Always offer a no-brainer guarantee as well.

Build in scarcity, by giving a time limit on your offer.  Like:  This special offer is only for the first 2,000 orders, so hurry!

Give them links to your site, where they can buy these fabulous shoes.  And make sure your order form maximizes conversions.

Finally … remember, it’s the number of conversions that matter and not the number of visitors to your order page.

http://www.kickasscopywriter.com

If you’re looking to build traffic, in order to increase
conversions — will social media traffic really do that?

I recently read an interesting article, by ETR’s Patrick
Coffey, concluding that getting exposure on social media
sites like, Digg, Stumbleupon, Reddit, Del.ico.us, Myspace
and Facebook …

Does NOT convert to paying customers.

You may get lots of hits, but limited conversions.

His definition of HITS:  How Idiots Track Success.   
It’s simple really.  Do you care how many people visit
your site or how many buy from your site?

He says that one of their natural health e-letter sites
got a ‘boatload’ of traffic from Stumbleupon.

But, of the 28,000 social media visitors to their site,
only 80 bought their newsletter … 

That’s a whopping 0.2% conversion rate.

They are used to conversion rates of up to 50%, by using
email marketing, PPC, website ads, SEO and even direct mail.

So, in conclusion, these types of visitors are resistant
to advertising and tend to zip in and out quickly. 
They don’t buy.

Maybe CPM Advertising Model Would Work?

If you had advertisers on your site, paying a CPM, then
driving this kind of otherwise useless traffic (eyeballs) to your
site may make some sense.

To me, I think the best way to think about social media
is for back links (one-way links). 

To the extent your blog or article is tossed around on
other sites, you’ll get more links to your site and,
therefore, it’ll help with your SEO.

So, if Google finds you ‘relevant’ enough, with all the
links to your site, you’ll come up better in the SERPS …
which will, in turn, lead to more buyers or subscribers.

Once again, you get what you pay for, yes? 

If you want targeted visitors … the kind of folks who
have an interest in what you offer … pay for effective
email campaigns, text link or solo ads and/or PPC advertising.

If you don’t have your own email list, you can rent lists.

If you need a copywriter to write your ads, articles or email
campaigns … I may know of someone to recommend.

http://www.kickasscopywriter.com