Many entrepreneurs don’t know what they don’;t know about sales and marketing. This often has dire consequences for the bottom line. Good sales copy is an example of something that most business owners know nothing about. Dan Kennedy, aka the Millionaire Maker calls creating great sales copy, “writing your own check”.

Basically it is a salesman on paper that keeps working and working without the need for profit sharing or vacation days. There is nothing particularly special or unique about good advertising copy, except that it works. The fact is that most businesses never make use of the power of good advertising copy in any form.

Failure to make use of the power of good advertising copy and it is noticeable in lost profits. Just so it is clear, there is no set “format” for a sales letter to work to create customers. No reason to worry. Take the attitude that even bad copy is close to your goal because there are very specific things you can do to make it good, fast.

First: Hit the library and go to the magazine area. You want magazines from the categories of sports, fitness, health, fashion and entertainment. From each category, pick a specific title and a more general title. For example, in beauty pick up Cosmopolitan and one of the magazines on hairstyles or something. Browse through them lightly and make note of the ads.

A sales letter aka advertising copy most often offers a free report or gift, (although sometimes you can buy direct) and is advertising for a non major corporate entity. The sad truth is that most of your big operation corporate advertising, like the guys who drop $1,000,000 for 30 seconds during the Oscars or the Super Bowl, don’t have the foggiest idea about basic advertising principles and even less about effective sales copy.

Trust me, you’ll know really good sales copy right away. It is interesting to read and makes you interested in the product or service being sold. Put a book placeholder and go get two or three past issues. If you see the same or very similar ad in those back issues, the ad is very likely a successful ad.

What the big companies do is promote a brand with entertaining ads with dancing lizards or whatever. Before you begin to think that sort of thing is real world advertising, remember that advertising must be readily measurable. Did it work or didn’t it. Often, these companies can’t measure the return on the millions spent. This is not for you. You have to get the benefit of your product to the average potential customer right now.

Strategy #2 is to provide your unique benefit to your customer. You want to answer the question: “Why should I be doing business with you and not others offering the same product or service. What is it can you do for them? Always keep that question in mind in creating winning advertising copy.

It is widely documented that a simple USP can have a powerful impact on a business. When Tom Monaghan started Domino’s Pizza, he basically took a fledgling mom and pop and turned it into an empire based on the USP: “Fresh Hot Pizza delivered in 30 minutes or Less, Guaranteed”.

A billion dollar empire ensued. With that USP, and the guts to try to back it up on a mass scale, Domino’s eventually had the big boys racing to catch up.

So you might be wondering where Rule #1 is?

It is the headline. The headline is the first thing that captures the reader’s attention. It is vital. How to put together a good headline is a great topic for future discussions.

Posted: June 11th, 2008 under Copywriting.
Comments: 1

Dan Kennedy is known in business and marketing circles as the “millionaire maker”. His fame comes from his results. He takes his clients and shows them step by step how to take and idea and turn it into money.

When entrepreneur magazine says about you: “Dan Kennedy has 101 money making ideas for any business owner.”, that is powerful stuff. He is able to take his principles and put them to work for his clients in any industry or business. He currently works with clients in roughly 60 businesses. In any given year, he’ll make as much as a quarter million dollars in a month providing strategies in direct marketing, copywriting and marketing materials, video production and infomercials and profit improvement systems.

Kennedy works with small businesses and huge corporations. A small operation littered with debt and failed advertising will turn to Dan’s instruction. Less than two years later, the business has zero debt and a home-based mail-order business generating over $200,000 a month with insanely high profit margins.

On the other hand there is Dan’s marketing consultations with billion dollar information marketing company Guthy Renker. Dan helped U.S. Gold increase its revenues by millions. The list goes on and on.

In the case of my business, Dan brought it to good health with one simple principle I wasn’t applying. I think it is a principle ignored by many businesses. It is the principle of total customer value. Basically, the crucial skill of having relationships with existing customers is an essential profit center. He sees it as even more vital than how well a business is attracting new customers.

The thing that made the biggest difference in turning around our business was learning about what it meant to give excellent customer service and to set out to doing those things consistently. This means dealing with the customers in all states of emotion. Customers are just easier to deal with when everything goes the way they want it. The fact is that things don’t always please them. So customer service is really about managing the times when they aren’t happy. It is a much harder skill to master but with the potential for great rewards. The goal is to take the difficulty and grow customer loyalty by how you handle it.

It is no surprise that customers can complain about any number of things. It could be the product, prices, or your service. Also, even when all those things are excellent, some customers just find things to gripe about. Whatever happens, avoid the temptation to simply ignore them. Instead own up to the problem and calm the situation by:

Thanking them. Often the customer will express themselves impolitely. Start by thanking them regardless. None of this is personal. Stay calm and composed.

Start your response with: “Let me see if I understand you completely.” Then restate the person’s complaint back to them. What this accomplishes is vitally important. First of all, it gives the customer a chance to cool down. It also shows the client that you are truly listening and are serious about their concerns.

Making sure you find one thing in their complaint that you can agree with. It doesn’t matter how baseless you may see their complaint, pick one major point you can agree with. Build your rebuttal on that point. As an example: “Well, Mr. Thomas, I can totally understand you being upset about the delivery being late. I will see to it that it doesn’t happen again. Now, about your other concerns…” This shows them that you are not defensive about the situation, and you would rather help solve their problem than make excuses.

Solving the problem. The only reason a client picks a fight in the first place is to let you know that they have a problem. It’s your job to play along and solve that problem. Remember, this is your chance to turn a negative situation into a positive one and actually gain your client’s loyalty.

I have no doubt that these lessons saved my business. Refocusing and staying locked on the concept of total customer value can, by itself, turn your entire business around. It can go from dull and pain inducing to exciting and profitable. Dan’s “Magnetic Marketing” is loaded with these sorts of techniques. Simple, inexpensive if not free, and having a quick noticeable impact on profits.

Dan backs up Magnetic Marketing with a full year’s money back guarantee. Anytime you want to send it back, there will be no hassles, just a full refund. I think that many times, the student really has to be ready for the right teacher appears. With a new business, with limited money to lose, missteps or wrong trails can destroy you before you even start. If you are already going, but just haven’t solved the riddle of how to market for big money profits, you might be ready for Dan Kennedy and the magic of Magnetic Marketing. It could make all the difference and you have nothing at all to lose.

Simply walk the path of the millionaire business men. I am betting Magnetic Marketing and all Dan’s other real world profit making teachings will be the bedrock of your business and all your future businesses.

Posted: June 11th, 2008 under Marketing.
Comments: 1

Using some highly concentrated online marketing PPC campaign is a great strategy for improving sales in the UK. But occasionally the necessary time to manage a PPC campaign is just too much to handle without some outside help. If you reach this point, there are several available PPC management companies in the UK that offer varying types of campaign management service. This article talks about what they offer.

There are three basic features that PPC management companies offer. First, most will tout their ability to carefully research and choose effective keyword phrases that will form the backbone of your campaign. The results from varying companies should be similar, as they are viewing the same data. Most PPC management companies UK will try to get a nice and diverse mix of high traffic keywords and very specific phrases, creating diversity within your campaign and maximizing its success rate.

The next thing that most PPC management companies UK will offer is an ad writing service. Though this varies based on the company, most reputable PPC management companies will afford you this option for an additional fee. By writing different text ads for each keyword group, they should be able to increase the relevance of your ads, and subsequently increase the amount of clicks you get. And by providing a more specific ad, your clicks-to-sales conversion rate will likely improve once customers arrive at your sales page.

The last feature that PPC management companies generally offer their customers is the continued monitoring and adjustment of the PPC campaign. In many cases, this is the one feature that is more valuable to companies than any other. This is because it simply takes a large amount of time to continually monitor a PPC campaign - a step that is necessary for improving its chances of success.

After taking these factors into consideration, you should determine if a PPC management service is a good fit for your needs. If you are conducting a smaller campaign, it will probably not be cost-effective to hire out a professional service. With a larger campaign, it may be worth it to save yourself valuable time. And, on a larger scale, you have a greater chance of offsetting these costs with increased margins. It is important to remember that a PPC management UK company will charge you for setting up your campaign, and then take a percentage of your monthly budget. If you can’t afford this double billing, then it may be best to run your own PPC campaign - something that is very doable.

Posted: June 11th, 2008 under Advertising.
Comments: none