Posted by:
Troy White
June 20, 2008
Issue #442
In this issue:
- The Small Business ATM Machine - or the curse of the advertising sales rep?
- Silliness 101 and why most small businesses are fed up with their marketing and Yellow Pages efforts
- The 3 proven rules for writing a money churning display ad for any business
- And Much More!
Fellow business builder,
Over the past 5 years, I have noticed a very scary thing with small business owners. They tend to believe the people who are selling them advertising space! Considering that most advertising sales reps know very little about direct response (or even how to spell it), and that they are paid on the space they sell - not the results their clients get … there couldn’t be a worse place to get advertising advice.
Yet, a decent Yellow Pages ad or small display ad can bring in a constant stream of paying clients.
Today I want to discuss how effective display ads can be used for the average house painter, massage therapist, Laundromat, restaurant, printing company, etc.
These are not the type of ads that Clayton would be writing - these are much easier for the typical small business owner to write, and run themselves.
Small display ads …
You see them everywhere!
They are plastered all over the local newspapers.
They are in the phone book.
They are on the Internet.
They are used as brochures.
They are used in e-mail promotions.
They are used on eBay listings.
They are used on web pages.
They are used as handouts.
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Posted by:
Gary Bencivenga
June 19, 2008
Issue #441
Ask this simple 5-word question,
stand back and watch
your breakthroughs — and response — erupt.
Dear Marketing Top Gun:
In this Bullet, you will learn a simple five-word sentence that gives you an almost unfair advantage in boosting your response, outselling your competition and triggering an ongoing stream of creative breakthroughs.
Asking this simple question is the easiest way I know to get yourself and your staff to think outside the box. It can literally make you wealthy and establish your reputation as a marketing visionary with a Midas touch.
This is true whether you’re an entrepreneur, infopreneur, copywriter, marketing manager, CEO — anyone with anything to do with marketing.
Shameless overpromising? Not at all, as you’ll now see.
Here’s the question:
What are we really selling?
Just five little words. But let’s explore their revolutionary power, first on a basic level, then advanced.
A Little-Known Secret of Master Closers
First, always remember that advertising is nothing more than salesmanship multiplied by a mass medium. This is why it can unleash such powerful leverage in making you rich and successful. It is a persuasive salesperson able to close thousands or even millions of sales at once. And then do it again tomorrow and the next day.
Knowing this, the happiest hunting ground I’ve ever found to uncover new ways to explode response is to learn the secrets of master salespeople and then apply them to direct response.
What follows is easily one of the most powerful.
Early in my career, a wizened old Copy Chief taught me that one of the shrewdest questions master closers always ponder is, "What are we really selling?"
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Posted by:
Daniel Levis
June 18, 2008
Issue #440
Dear Web Business Builder,
Seems some people have a lowly opinion of us copywriters who write to sell …
There I was working away, minding my own business, when for some reason I became distracted and opened up an e-mail from Brian Clark — a.k.a. Copyblogger.
The subject line, “Warning: Narcissistic Marketing Can Be Dangerous to Your Business Health” caught my attention.
The article was what’s known as a “hit” in blogger parlance. Brian was challenging the point of view of another blogger, Julie Rubiner.
It seems Ms. Julie (BA in Creative Writing and Literature) had detected an editorial emergency on my website. I had been singled out as the lead poster boy, (ahead of Ron Popiel even) for everything she detests about hard hitting direct response copy that sells.
She says my copy is jivey … says I sound like a fair barker or used car salesman … and implies I must not care about my customers or have any desire to create long term relationships with them. Ouch!
Of course anybody who recognized where the copy in question came from could see that Ms. Julie was misrepresenting it to make her point.
She had deliberately taken bits and pieces from different parts of a 5,000 word sales letter and strung them together to make them look asinine. And then went on to say that putting numbers in your headlines is bad … implying there are “secrets” is wrong … exclamation points should never be used … ditto for dollar values and limited time offers … and other erudite nonsense.
Like Narcissus, (who died of thirst because he was so in love with himself he couldn’t bare to disturb his own reflection in the water long enough to drink) … people like Julie who are in love with the kind of copy they like to read would starve in a heart beat if their copy was judged by the sales it made.
They’re all about making an image. If their copy strokes their client’s ego, then it’s good copy. Whether it makes sales or not is immaterial.
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Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
June 16, 2008
Issue #439
In today’s special issue, Internet marketing legend
FRANK KERN grills me to discover …
- How I create e-mail sales campaigns that generate up to $80 million in online sales each year …
- Two essential components of every great e-mail sales campaign …
- The missing ingredient that makes my e-mail copy up to four times more profitable than even the top online marketing gurus’ …
- The massive business opportunity the biz-op experts are completely missing now — and how it could make you millions in 2008 and 2009 …
- And much more!
Dear Business Builder …
I’ve been hearing about and watching Frank Kern work for over a year now and so has pretty much everyone else who works for me.
The guy is astonishingly prolific … a leading light in the Product Launch Formula arena … and a darned good copywriter in his own right.
Plus, Frank is known for having the most outrageous sense of humor in the entire online marketing space.
So when the great Frank Kern asked if he could interview me last Friday, I jumped at the chance.
And now, the recording of that interview is today’s issue of The Total Package!
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Posted by:
Troy White
June 13, 2008
Issue #438
Fellow Business Builder,
Today, it happened.
In Calgary where I live there is a shameful shortage of well-written marketing material. Business owners are scared of actually doing something that gets results - and there’s a miniscule number of people who actually understand the direct response business. (Sad for a city of a million people! - but also a good opportunity for helping them learn.)
Imagine my surprise when I opened the perfect direct mail envelope (white #10 - return address without a name – looks very much like personal mail) … and it came from a furnace company!
Headline: "Troy, Are You Thinking About Replacing Your
Furnace?"
(Hint: why can’t you replace the furnace with your business and send out the same headline to your prospects? Also note, my name was in the headline – a very good way to improve your response)
Subhead: I’ll buy you dinner at the Keg Just for Letting Me Give You A Quote - But Only If You’re One Of The Next 20 People To Call …
BRILLIANT!
A furnace company using direct response … wonderful to see.
So, what does Troy do?
Phones the owner of the company of course! :o) And he is happy to share his results so far …
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