Killer Copywriting

Me again folks with Part #2 of why panic in difficult times won’t help you and how in fact to ensure your least and last affected, not first and most affected in business by a difficult economic climate – a competitor wanting to gate-crash your party or anything normally considered out of your control.

Remember the analogy I used with the last Rant was, and I quote “A tree with shallow roots in a storm is vulnerable to falling compared to a tree with deep roots in a storm. The analogy applies to business when it comes to panicking when things get tough. So what constitutes deep roots for a business that would stop them from toppling in difficult times?”

Now last month I explained that your list of clients and your reputation with them is the most important “deep root” you can have. If you missed it and you want to read about it, simply go to www.rebelliousrant.com and read last week’s rant.

Now the next most valuable and important strategy you must become a master of is…

You must master marketing…

But not ordinary, everyday boring, non-specific vague and general marketing. What I’m talking about is Emotional Direct Response Marketing.
What that implies is that your advertising and marketing produces a result that makes you money and that is measurable against the cost of doing it.
What it is not is branding.

Here I’m going to provide you with my definition of what Emotional Direct
Response Marketing IS and what Emotional Direct response Marketing is NOT.

Switch from “Image Branding” to Emotional Direct Response

What Emotional Direct Response Marketing IS NOT:
Knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do. EDRM is not getting your name out there. It isn’t name recognition. It isn’t building an image. It isn’t getting your name in front of as many people as you can get your name in front of. It isn’t bragging about how excellent you are. It is not copying Fortune 100 companies’ inane or funny advertising. It is not cold prospecting. It is not begging people for referrals. It is not going to network meetings and social events to meet clients and prospects. It’s not manipulation or unethical tactics. It isn’t taking people to lunch or playing golf. It is not having a fancy brochure and business card. It’s not having a website or being very good at what you do. It’s not winning an award, having letters after your name or a plethora of business and achievement certificates on your wall.

What Emotional Direct Response Marketing IS:
A systematic, sustainable marketing system that allows you to achieve maximum productivity, maximum leverage, and will allow you to conduct your business to achieve massive results with the least amount of expense, time and effort.

All this leads us to my valuable 17 Point Checklist for getting your client’s and prospect’s attention… After all, copywriting is Emotional Direct Response Marketing in print.

This is the same checklist that I myself use before I send out any direct mailing material.

Remember that any marketing you do, and any money you spend on that marketing is wasted unless it grabs your prospects attention and gets them hammering on your door wanting to do business with you.

So before you send out anything, be sure to check the following to maximise your return on investment…

14. Have One Objective Only With Your Copy

That might be to get a prospect to buy your product or service, make an appointment, get on your database via a free offer, etc.

Either way if you try and do more than one thing with your copy there’s a good chance you’ll confuse them and confused prospects do nothing! That’s why niche is so very critical to your success. After all the riches are in the niches. The tighter the message to market (herd), the better the response and the less it will cost you to expose that message to them.

For example a beauty salon whose marketing talks about all the services they provide is likely to confuse the prospect and the message will be too broad, given all the services beauty salons provide. However, if the message was about cellulite only, as opposed to all the other services a beauty salon can provide, the message to women who suffer from cellulite is clear and defined. In fact that niche would pay you handsomely to solve their problem for them.

This is a classic example of having one objective only and that is to speak to women who suffer from cellulite and giving them a reason to call.

So figure out the one thing your market wants a solution to that they’ll pay you handsomely for and only talk to them and enter the conversation they’re having in their own mind, preferably what they go to bed thinking about and wake up worrying about. Do this and your results will dramatically improve.

All the best,
Mal Emery

Committed to Elevating the Financial Wealth and Wellbeing of Society Through Entrepreneurial Excellence and Guilty of Conspiracy to Create Capitalism

So why does panic descend on people like a pandemic virus?  As an aside I needed to see my doctor recently about something, only to be told I’d need to wait days for an appointment. In fact I never got to see my doctor, I had to see someone else at the practice.

I even sent a friend in need to see my doctor.  He was told “We’re not taking any appointments and we’re not taking any new clients on”.  This is pretty much endemic with all medicos at the moment.  Cause?  The panic around swine flu.

Of course the first thing I said to my doc was “Have you put your prices up?”, to which she chuckled and dismissed quickly.  Anyway, back to the point of the Rant.

A tree with shallow roots in a storm is vulnerable to falling compared to a tree with deep roots in a storm.  The analogy applies to business when it comes to panicking when things get tough. So what constitutes deep roots for a business that would stop them from toppling in difficult times?

First and foremost would be your list of clients (herd) and the reputation you have with them.  Herd is a term I used to describe my list of clients and it is my most valuable asset.  The term implies that I put a fence around them and nurture them and I suppose in a sense that’s what this Rant is about – nurturing you with free information that can help you in business.

As I stated previously, of course your reputation with that herd is the next most important aspect.  After all, there’s no point or value in a herd that doesn’t have a predisposition to choose you to do business with, based on the value you deliver to them.

Similarly a herd you haven’t contacted in months or years is valueless.  Simply because, your list deteriorates 10% every month you don’t contact them, so basically in 10 months it’s worthless and your chances of reactivation are nominal.

Most business owners of course think their product or service is their most valuable asset.  Frankly there’s no valid argument that can be made against a herd you have a reputation with, where when times get tough, you can send the bill to them anytime you want money.  It’s like owning one of those toll gates – probably your only chance to ever own one.

Besides, the internet has seen herd-gathering businesses that have never made a cent change hands for billions of dollars…

“Google Acquires YouTube for $1.65 Billion”

“eBay buys Skype in a deal worth $2.6 Billion”

“News Corp bought Intermix Media, owner of Myspace.com in $580m Internet Buy”

“Facebook Has Bought FriendFeed for an Undisclosed Sum”

So the key here is to value your clients that do business with you now, particularly the 20% that deliver 80% of your income, and treat them differently to how you do in good times.  Spend more money and effort nurturing the 20% and less on the others.

A good reason for this is in unsettled times it’s more costly and difficult to replace them and they have more and more options to choose from as people scurry for their business.

So the name of the game is to build your herd and your reputation with them daily.  A great way to do that is with great copywriting.

But before we do that, next week I will reveal the next most important strategy a business owner must master to ensure their business has strong foundations (deep roots) and can weather any storm.

Now back to my valuable 17 Point Checklist for getting your client’s and prospect’s attention… This is the same checklist that I myself use before I send out any direct mailing material.

The next point in “17 Ways to Ramp Up Profits” is…

13. Write to One Person
Enter the conversation in your perfect prospect’s mind.

Direct mail gives you the opportunity to talk directly to hundreds, thousands, and even millions of potential customers. A letter is like a dialogue between you and your prospective customer. It is one person talking to another.

It gives you the opportunity to make the most compelling case on how your product or service will benefit the recipient…speaking “friend to friend”.

Speak to your prospect by creating an image in the mind of the reader. Set the scene by appealing to a desire or need, then flow smoothly into the visionary part of what you’re promoting.

This visionary process describes in detail how wonderful life will be and how good the prospect is going to feel after the product is purchased or the service has been performed.

Your message should give your prospect a clear vision of the benefits they will receive or take away from what you are offering.  Do this and you’re well on your way to getting their attention and increasing your sales.

All the best,
Mal Emery

Committed to Elevating the Financial Wealth and Wellbeing of Society Through Entrepreneurial Excellence and Guilty of Conspiracy to Create Capitalism