A Very Useful Checklist For Creatives

Do you have to judge creative work ?

Bloody hard, isn't it?

So maybe you're not that amazed at some of the weird stuff that emerges.

Do you recall an old TV campaign for Barclays? It must have cost millions, and featured Samuel L. Jackson walking though the country accompanied by a most appealing pig.

Being a bit thick, I didn't see what this had to do with banking.

So I asked an audience of 1,500 salespeople if they thought it would persuade a single person to switch to Barclays. One person did. Most of the rest thought it would do nothing - or actually lose customers.

Then I asked a class of marketing students what they thought. Not one could even understand it - and even if they had, the most lucrative customers for any bank are middle-aged or older.

To be honest, I wonder if those who created or approved the ad had any idea what makes advertising persuade and sell. I imagine they just fancied the idea of meeting and working with Mr. Jackson. Or maybe they just liked pigs.

Nothing changes. Now Barclays runs guff like "the hole in the wall" and deeply embarrassing stuff about their staff outside their banks. Trying to be matey and friendly, I imagine.

What do you want from your bank? I know one Barclays customer very well. She just wishes they could be vaguely efficient from time to time. No signs of that, though.

Enough! Here is today's helpful idea.

For more years than I care to contemplate I have tried to determine what makes messages sell. Not based on my opinion, but on all the available research and testing.

So here's a checklist based on what I learned you must look for if you want to sell.

A quick creative checklist

1. The opening must quickly offer or clearly imply a clear, strong benefit.

2. Is everything instantly clear. If it's funny, clever or obscure - beware.

3. Unless you give every sensible reason to buy, answer obvious questions, overcome all reasonable objections, you'll lose sales.

4. Is what you sell fully, clearly described?

5. Is the tone right? Don't be funny about serious things (eg, charity, business or money)

6. Show it to someone uninvolved, preferably a likely prospect. Ask if they understand it - and if they would buy

7. Do you prove your claim is true? Testimonials? Independent figures?

8. Do you ask firmly enough for a reply, tell people precisely what to do? Repeat your arguments at that point.

9. Is the coupon, order form or request to reply big enough, clear, simple and easy to use?

10. Read the copy aloud. Does it sound like someone talking? Good!


You may find using this check-list a bit of bore. But a lot less boring than stuff that flops.

Because if you want to sell, you'll find that some, perhaps many of your messages miss one or more of the points above. And if you look out for them I promise you will improve your results - perhaps so much it will surprise you.

By the way, the principles are similar, but not identical, in advertising not designed to sell immediately, which usually (but not always) has less copy. And usually (but not always) would be a damn sight better if it did try to sell immediately.

Best,
Drayton

P.S.  This is number 15 of Drayton Bird’s 101 free helpful marketing ideas.  You can sign up on the link below for the rest.

—————————————–

Website: www.draytonbirdcommonsense.com / www.eadim.com

How to Become a Successful Self-Publisher

Today's topic is about two little-known action tips that will help you succeed in the world's most ideal business.

I know there is huge worldwide interest in what constitutes an ideal business.

How?

When I first wrote about this subject in my news-letter in the early nineties, I received more feedback on it than any other topic.

What constitutes the ideal business?

1. Enjoys low overhead.

2. Products can be sold throughout the world.

3. Is portable—can easily be moved and operated
anywhere in the world.

4. Requires little capital or major investment in
equipment.

5. Enjoys high profit margins.

6. Has minimal labor requirements.  Can be
operated with few or no employees.

7. Can be operated from home.

8. Is relatively free of government regulation and
control.

9. Is highly respected in the business community.

10. Sells on a cash basis instead of offering
extended credit.

11. Competitors cannot duplicate.  Creation of
product is legally protected.

12. Is fun for you while satisfying your intellectual
needs.

13. Helps make the world a better place.

Self-publishing best meets the above criteria
for the ideal business.

Tip: Publishing unique, helpful information can
be an unbeatable marketing tool. Further in this
issue I'll show you how to use it successfully
for any business.

Let's briefly look at what self-publishers and
conventional publishers typically do when they
decide to market a book or special report.

1. The book is written, taking up to two years
of effort. Little or no thought is given to the
marketing process.

2. The title is decided by some editor often over
lunch in less than 20 minutes.

3. The book is published. Absolutely nothing
happens. This has been called "the calm before
the calm."

The book never sells out its first printing. (This
is the fate of more than 96% of all books published.
Is it any wonder!)

Here are the two most important actions I always
take.  I recommend both as an indispensable part
of your action plan.

1. Write an ad to sell the book before a single word
is written.

Tip: The result is the eventual book will have the
best chance to do what it should--serve the readers'
self-interest. (Most books are incredibly dull and
boring and are an ego trip for the author.)

Plus, of course, you can use the ad to market
the book.

More than 90% of your time as a self-publisher must
be spent on marketing. For my book HOW TO
FORM YOUR OWN CORPORATION WITHOUT
A LAWYER FOR UNDER $75, I've written more
than 120,000 words of advertising copy.  The book
has just 32,000 words in it. Sales are nearly
2,000,000 copies to date.  The reason for all the
success is not the book itself, but all the marketing.

As Tom Watson, the late founder of IBM, said so
well, "Nothing happens until a sale is made."

2. Create a great book title. A book title is actually
a headline for the book. It's crucially important.
When I create a book title, I write a huge number of
potential titles.  For my books HOW TO PUBLISH
A BOOK AND SELL A MILLION COPIES,
MAGIC WORDS THAT BRING YOU RICHES,
and HOW TO TURN WORDS INTO MONEY,
I wrote over 120 titles for each before choosing the
final one for each of these best sellers.

Best-selling authors like Harvey Mackay, author of
"Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive"
and "Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His
Shirt," invest about $60,000 in fees for an expert to
create each title for their books. They know how
important it is.

Tip: Here is a business-building blockbuster.
Regardless of the business in which you are engaged,
whether you market online or offline, you can use
books and special reports as free bonuses to build
your sales.  Here are some examples of businesses
and the type of material they could publish that could
dramatically boost their business.

Real Estate Developer:
"Seven Easy, Low-Cost Tips Which Will
Increase The Value of Your Property"

Plumber:
"How to Stop Leaking Faucets Yourself
in Less Than 60 Seconds"

Architect:
"How to Build The Beautiful Home
of Your Dreams Below Budget"

Restaurant:
"How to Prepare Ten Terrific Gourmet
Meals in Less Than 20 Minutes"

Vitamin Distributor:
"Maximum Health Secrets
On a Minimum Budget"

Tip: Your information should be written in such a way
that it is (A) immediately useful to the reader, and
(B) you do not directly benefit in any way.

What you are seeking is a special feeling of
reciprocation on the part of the reader: "I got so
much out of this special report, when I think
about possibly availing myself of your type
of product or service, I will think about you first."

The result in increased sales will delight and
astonish you.

Stay tuned for more tips on self-publishing
success.

Your correspondent,
Ted Nicholas

—————

“This article appears courtesy of THE SUCCESS
MARGIN, the Internet’s most valuable success and
marketing e-zine. For a complimentary
subscription, visit http://www.tednicholas.com/

Why Jargon Muddies The Water

Do you know what single thing in modern life annoys people more than any other?

Here's a clue.



Yes. The dear old automated touch-tone system.

And I learned what irritates business people most a few weeks ago. It's people using jargon in meetings. In fact a few years ago I read that over 25% of business executives admitted to using jargon they didn't understand in meetings

No wonder, then, that when it comes to selling technological things so many messages dissolve into a sort of linguistic swamp.

Here's a good example from an e-mail someone sent me this morning:

At Blah-co we have just developed an email stationery online software package that allows one in house member of staff to deploy all email users with a professionally designed Email stationery template, designed by one of our team of designers to all users and to include their unique contact details, meaning not only will the presentation of their emails improve but equally as important all be consistent throughout your organisation. (whew!)

Because of the way the templates are constructed our solutions avoid all types filtering ensuring your mail always arrives.

Well, I think I understand the beginning and the end and recognize all the words but I'm damned if I know what they mean when put together.

Here's another series of examples extracted from mailings sent by another firm.

"Are you one of those lucky few who have bedded down IT operations?"

"Would you realise a significant increase in business agility, accelerated decision making, employees pursuing a common agenda and a heightened awareness of your strategy?"

"Miss or ignore priority system availability or leadership messages"

"Adopting a new change driver that communicates change and strategy in a high impact and engaging way"

"Intranets suffer the limitations of pull technology"

"A controlled feedback channel enables you to capture a snapshot of employee morale in real time"

"Cascade this down to your people"

They actually have something great to sell, so I tried to translate their stuff into English.

Every day, you send tens, hundreds, maybe thousands of e-mails to people who want or need to hear from you.

Maybe they're your colleagues, your customers, your employees or your prospects: many may actually have asked to hear from you.

Then what happens?

Your "wanted" messages get lost in a sea of Spam. So the poor recipients go through the infuriating task of fishing out what really interests them from all that rubbish.

A **** sends your messages on a different route. One that avoids the traffic jams. It's a desktop alert that jumps onto your screen no matter what you're doing. You can't ignore it; it appears whether you're onscreen or off.

And that's why firms as varied as Sky, Arsenal Football Club. Kelloggs and Warner Brothers use them.

Winston Churchill said, "Use simple words everyone knows, then everyone will understand."

This is important especially if you're selling a financial or technical product or service. Use a bit of jargon to reassure the anoraks, but put the rest in English.

So just to repeat, beware jargon, stick to plain English. And NEVER run a 70 word sentence like the one from Blah-co at the top.

And please don't use words like "access" as in "access the world's leading independent experts and other practitioners" when you mean "hear" or "meet" - which is what someone invited me to do when I was drafting this. Maybe they thought they were sounding important. I thought it sounded pompous and silly.

Oh, and if all else fails, just e-mail me: we sell the weirdest stuff pretty well.

Best,
Drayton

P.S.  This is number 13 of Drayton Bird’s 101 free helpful marketing ideas.  You can sign up on the link below for the rest.

—————————————–

Website: www.draytonbirdcommonsense.com / www.eadim.com

How To Turn Your Ideas Into High-Priced Information Products

Have you heard of Eben Pagan? or David DeAngelo? That's a trick question, because he's the same guy.

Eben Pagan, or rather David DeAngelo, is the mastermind behind the Double Your Dating site. An Information Product business he has grown to almost $30 Million in sales - starting out at his computer in his bedroom...

http://gurublueprint.directanddigitalmarketing.com/

At the end, he walks you through an exercise to target and identify the knowledge YOU have that you can turn into an "Information Product" to sell online (and if you own an Info business already, it will give you a new mindset that will really take your success to the next level).

There's also a free PDF download of the exercise for you to print out - which is cool.

In the video, you're going to learn:

• How a simple eBook that was written in a few weeks became an "empire" of almost $30 Million in sales - with a business that's run FROM HOME


• Important new insider trends in the Information Industry that you NEED TO KNOW if you want to succeed


• The mistake that most Information Marketers make that prevents their products from succeeding


• The key mindset shift that allows you to identify market and product opportunities... where there are buyers who NEED to buy Information Products - but don't have products to buy

And again, you'll get a free PDF "Blueprint" exercise (and step-by-step guidance through it) to target the knowledge you ALREADY HAVE that you can turn into an Information Product (or Coaching) that you can sell for high prices online.

This is a SUPER-high value honest view into an online money-making machine that will blow your mind.

Just opt-in to watch the video. No obligation, and you don't have to buy anything (in fact, there's nothing for sale on the website). Go check it out now:

http://gurublueprint.directanddigitalmarketing.com/

Best,
Rezbi

Sales Tip...Choose Bonus Gifts Carefully

It was almost impossible to find direct marketing mentors when I started in business. Therefore, much of my education was by necessity trial and error. One of the many marketing blunders early on in my career was this.

A book I published through my company,
Enterprise Publishing, that was written by a
prominent lawyer was my first big flop. Of
course, I had lots of remaining copies in the
warehouse. And this was after I had tried several
different copy approaches to sell it.

So, I came up with what I thought was a brilliant
idea. I would beef up and enhance the offer of a
very successful $70 book I was then marketing.
How? By simply adding a free copy of the failed
$25 book. My assumption was overall sales
would be even stronger than without the free gift.
Of course, I wrote some sales copy.

Much to my amazement, sales not only didn't go
up. They went down by more than 33%!

Tip: The important marketing lesson is this. If
you can't sell it, you can't give it away
successfully either. If people won't buy it when
offered in an appealing way, they don't want it,
free or not. Period.

Lesson learned: With any failed product, after
you have gone back to the drawing board and
exhausted every creative approach you can think
of and it still doesn't sell, get rid of it. Write it
off. Burn it or toss it if you have to. Just
don't try to sell it, or try to use it as a free
bonus gift. You will waste lots of time and
money.

I was again reminded of this important marketing
principle above just recently.

A big client of mine who is highly successful
catalog marketer asked me to take a look at three
recent covers of his catalogs (I write all the copy
for this entrepreneur, but I haven't always chosen
his free bonus gifts which are featured on the
cover).

He informed me that sales response was down on
these particular catalogs and asked me to please
take a look and comment as to what may be the
reason.

When I looked at the covers, everything looked
really good. The headline and subheadline copy
(which I wrote) as well as the photos were well
done graphically.

But there was one glaring problem that popped
out to me. The free bonus gifts featured on the
cover complete with photos were not at all
appealing. Therefore, there was little or no
added inducement to order from that particular
catalog. (Actually, a company employee in the
marketing department purchased the three free
gifts because she was offered a special low price
by the supplier. It's easy to see how the decision
to choose them was made.)

Tip: To do its proper job of increasing sales,
what counts is not your cost of a free bonus gift.
The key is that it must be appealing enough to
your customers to induce an order, especially
from "fence sitters."

I'm sure with better selection of bonus gifts
(that I have now been asked to approve before
use) my client's future catalog sales will
undoubtedly be much more successful.

Tip: To increase sales on any offer, add the
incentive of free gifts. Everyone likes free
gifts. I've never seen any offer that didn't get
a more successful response when the inducement
of appealing free bonuses was added. In fact,
many offers today online and offline will not
succeed or even cover front-end costs without
them.

By all means use free bonus gifts. But choose
them carefully. They can be terrific sales
builders. I've seen sales double on a previously
successful offer simply by adding hot bonuses.

As always, here's to your greater success, which
is always in the margin.

Your correspondent,
Ted Nicholas

—————

“This article appears courtesy of THE SUCCESS
MARGIN, the Internet’s most valuable success and
marketing e-zine. For a complimentary
subscription, visit http://www.tednicholas.com/

Write From Me To You

I just got a message from "The IDMF Team". The people who run the International Direct Marketing Fair.

What is this obsession with initials? Aren't there enough around? And what is this obsession with teams? Are we all playing football?

It's like being greeted by "the onboard team" - when I was on the train hopelessly delayed somewhere between Stafford and Crewe.

• If I want to reply to this message, who do I reply to? (I did - and got no response).


• Come to that, do you like dealing with a "team" or would you prefer to talk to one person and maybe build a relationship?


• "Team" is a negation of direct marketing - and service - which are about serving individuals better, based on their special characteristics.


• Somebody made a fortune by calling it "one-to-one" marketing - which it isn't, by the way.

Don't be a team - unless you've got 11 heads. Write from me to you.

By the way, their e-mail included a game. They call it an involvement device as it sounds posher than game - but which would you prefer? A game or an involvement device?

The team told me it was "an innovative" idea.

That's a word people use because they think it sounds a posher than new. Actually it sounds like something you've heard a million times before - and it bores you.

It really means something less than new. Sort of "new-like".

Don't use hackneyed language like that, please. It makes you sound like a politician.

Best,
Drayton

P.S.  This is number 10 of Drayton Bird’s 101 free helpful marketing ideas.  You can sign up on the link below for the rest.

—————————————–

Website: www.draytonbirdcommonsense.com / www.eadim.com

Click here to get 101 free helpful marketing ideas. Marketers from all over the world think they’re a pot of gold.

Use Emotional Appeal

Do you think the British are morphing in some weird way?

We were always known as a pretty dull, phlegmatic bunch, compared to the excitable French, the fiery Spanish and the sexy Italians.

Well, something strange seems to be happening in business.

Across the road from our offices a building firm says it's passionate about whatever it does. Pret-a-Manger is passionate about food. The North East is full of passionate people - and passionate country, too, so their posters claim. And Churchill are passionate about insurance.

Do these people have no sex lives, I sometimes wonder. (Though it certainly proves that many agencies are pretty passionate about copying each other.)

More to the point, all this passion reminds me of a big mistake many who sell to businesses make. That is to assume that business decisions are made on rational grounds and emotion doesn't come into it.

This is nonsense - and to prove it I often ask audiences whether they can think of anyone they work with that they hate. It never fails to raise a laugh of recognition.

Only human - with feelings

Don't you agree that the way we love to label things often does more to confuse than help?

We talk of above the line and below, of b2c and b2b. "Consumers" and "Business people". Is that how our customers see themselves? Do they have lines running through their brains?

They are all human beings. And we know perfectly well what things motivate people when we sell make-up, a car or even a hair-remover. People want to be looked at, admired - and definitely not shunned.

In business they want what? To be looked up to, admired - and definitely not shunned. To be successful, quoted as examples for other people to emulate - not seen as losers - in life or business.

Pretty similar, right?

So we repeatedly find when selling to business that if something isn't doing well, a dash of passion makes all the difference.

• For an express delivery firm we suggested delivery managers could go from zero - never noticed till something went wrong - to hero by relying on them.


• For a credit collection firm we focused on the stress credit managers experience when trying to reconcile the conflicting demands of the finance and sales directors.


• For a telephony service we wrote about the rage touch-tone services inspire in most people and contrasted it with their solution.

The truth is that you don't grow a second head on your way to the office; and you may spend more waking hours there than anywhere else. It's not necessarily less interesting or emotional a life than the one you spend at home. It is often more so.

People lie, cheat and finagle their way to whatever business goal they may have. And they kill for money - which is what most business revolves around.

Man is not a rational animal at work any more than anywhere else. He (or she) makes decisions on emotional grounds then tries to find logical arguments to explain them away.

So, if you want better results when selling to business, look in your heart - then use your head to find a way of explaining why the emotional argument makes sense.

A few people have asked for comments on various things. Thanks. Keep 'em coming.

Best,
Drayton

P.S.  This is number 9 of Drayton Bird’s 101 free helpful marketing ideas.  You can sign up on the link below for the rest.

—————————————–

Website: www.draytonbirdcommonsense.com / www.eadim.com

Click here to get 101 free helpful marketing ideas. Marketers from all over the world think they’re a pot of gold.

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Marketing for Dummies, UK edition (Paperback)

Review

"…an invaluable, practical guide to marketing for those new to the subject…" (Marketer, September 2006)




Review

"…an invaluable, practical guide to marketing for those new to the subject…" (Marketer, September 2006) "…useful, practical and, above all, reader–friendly…this book certainly takes me to a new level…I heartily recommend it". (Oldham Evening Chronicle, March 2007)  








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