Posted by:
Troy White
December 25, 2007
Issue #316
In this issue:
It is my great honor to be writing the Christmas Day edition of Small Business Mastery.
I want to first wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope you are enjoying some quality time off with friends and loved ones.
For today, I wanted to give a brief description of one of the most powerful techniques you can use to wrap up your year, and start your new year with a big bang.
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Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
December 24, 2007
Issue #315
Here’s your SECOND holiday gift
… and you’re gonna LOVE it!
Dear Business Builder,
It’s the actual audio of an interview I just did for my EasyWriters Marketing club – and now for you – with legendary copywriter/entrepreneur JOSEPH SUGARMAN!
Joe’s direct response exploits are the stuff of legend. And he’s a great case study for copywriters looking to hit the big time with a business of their own AND for business owners and marketers eager to generate a flood of new customers, sales and profits.
So pour yourself a cup of something hot (mine has a little brandy in it) … put your feet up and click play below to give it a listen.
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Posted by:
John Newtson
December 22, 2007
Issue #314
Dear Business Builder,
You’re about to get annoyed.
Why? Because you’re about to meet a 21-year old copywriter who is succeeding, big time.
It’s okay, he annoys me too. (If you’re anything like me, you were decidedly NOT doing anything so professional at 21. Not by a long shot.)
Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great guy. But c’mon, his copy was getting praised by legends in the business before he was old enough to buy a beer.
Seriously, how annoying must it have been to be in a room full of copywriting and marketing veterans and hear THIS from the lips of Gary Halbert himself …
“This letter is so good – I recommend everyone here get a copy of this letter and put it in their swipe file!”
And then you realize the copywriter in question was a TEENAGER at just 19?
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Posted by:
Julie McManus
December 21, 2007
Issue #313
Dear Business Builder,
Happy Friday and welcome back to In the ‘Net Trenches. The holidays are afoot and I suspect many of you will have plenty of opportunity to step from behind the warm cocoon of your computer and actually spend some time socializing face-to-face. E-Gad!
In a world were social networking is done from behind a computer screen in the comfort of your own home (and often under a pseudonym or behind an avatar), I suspect this whole face-to-face situation could get your palms sweating and your heart palpitating. And I’ll tell you a little secret … I’m no different.
People that know me well are probably laughing hysterically that I say that, because I do spend as much time as possible cracking jokes and being a general goofball … think a high school cheerleader wearing combat boots with her pigtails pulled back a little too tight. But it’s true … for me the thought of attending parties, business functions and seminars where I don’t know a soul sets my heart to racing.
And now that I’ve admitted that, let’s see if we can’t work on this together because apparently I’m not alone.
A full 13% of the population has what is called Social Anxiety Disorder. People with Social Anxiety Disorder typically have a persistent, intense, and chronic fear of being judged by others and of potentially being embarrassed or humiliated by their own actions. Because of this, they avoid social situations like the plague. For many, the problem is so severe they have to be treated with medication to overcome their fear.
Social Anxiety Disorder is the extreme, but I suspect if you asked 10 different people how they feel when placed in a social situation in which they don’t know a soul, at least 8 will say “extremely uncomfortable.” I’ll even wager 4 of those 10 people (or more) would opt to hide in the bathroom rather than mingle.
So, if you’re one of the eight here are …
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Posted by:
Drayton Bird
December 20, 2007
Issue #312
A few years ago a marketing magazine asked me to write about “ambient marketing”. This used to come under the heading of stunts.
About 100 years ago Claude Hopkins had the idea of baking the world’s largest cake and putting it in a store window to promote Cote-o-Suet. If only he’d known he was doing ambient marketing.
Another magazine asked me to write about “confusion marketing”. This used to be called weaseling, a form of adroit misrepresentation. A good example is “Nothing acts faster than Anacin” – which makes you think Anacin acts faster than anything else.
It sometimes feels to me that every day someone with an eye for a fast buck renames something as old as the hills, and hoodwinks at vast profit another big fat segment of the people who’ve never bothered to study what makes messages sell.
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