25 Million Small Businesses
Eager to Grow …
1,000 Serious Copywriters …
YOU Do the Math!
(And other snippets
from the Cutting Room floor)
Dear Investor,
Happy birthday to me … happy birthday to me…
Since Thursday’s my b’day, I’m giving myself permission to write kind of a different issue this week. Instead of droning on for pages about a single subject, I’m going to give you some top-of-the-mind stuff about things I’m doing right now…
Our IQ Test Results So Far…
I got a wild hair the other day and in a few idle moments, created a little exercise I hoped would give you some giggles, impart some helpful information and hopefully, help remind a reader or two to register for my Power Marketing Summit while there’s still time.
We blasted an email to our file challenging you to “Test Your Marketing IQ,” asking the question, “Are You a Direct Response Millionaire in the Making?”
Our little quiz presents you with 25 multiple-choice questions about direct response marketing. When you’re done, you get your score along with the correct answer to each question.
As it turns out, of the 964 subscribers who have tested their Marketing IQs so far …
- 29 thought AIDA stands for “Annoy, Irritate, Debate and Argue” …
- 14 of you answered that “niche” is “the opposite of ‘nosh’” …
- 57 said “reverse type” is “A special kind of backwards type for dyslexics” …
- 3 think “ROI” is the name of Trigger’s owner, and …
- 73 answered that the best time to write sales copy is “After a half-dozen shots of tequila.”
Alrighty then … guess there’s still work to be done here!
I also got a few helpful emails from test-takers emphatically informing me that the most powerful word in the English language is definitely NOT “you.”
According to my cherished friend Gary Bencivenga, it is, evidentially, “because.”
Now, I haven’t yet read that particular article in Bencivenga’s Bullets – so I could be wrong here – but my guess is, Gary’s suggestion that “because” is the most powerful word is merely a literary device.
My guess is he’s using this device to make the point that – today more than ever – the credibility of your sales message is paramount. And boy, is THAT ever right!
I’ll lay you serious odds, however, that “The Great Gary” never intended to suggest that addressing your prospect in the second person singular is any less crucial than ever.
If one of you literalists disagrees, let me propose a proposition: You write a sales letter filled with “becauses” but never address your prospect directly with the word “you,” or any of its permutations. Talk about your product and other people all you want.
I’ll have my greenest copy cub write a “you” letter directly addressing the prospect’s deepest personal fears, frustrations and desires. He or she will also provide plenty of proof and credibility elements, but because this is a pure test of the relative power of “you” and “because,” he or she will avoid the “b” word like the plague.
If you win, I’ll personally moon a White House cop and take the consequences like a man.
If I win, you’ll promise to take a deep breath and try to stop taking literary devices so seriously.
Anyway – if you haven’t tested your marketing IQ and would like to have a little fun while testing your knowledge, just click here.
Food for Thought
Harvey MacKay of “Swim With the Sharks” fame called a couple of days ago to discuss his banquet speech for the Power Marketing Summit. His first question: “What opportunities should your Summit attendees be capitalizing on right now?”
“Easy question,” I said. “There are 25 million small businesses in America today – companies with 500 employees or less – and hundreds of thousands of new start-ups every month.
“Every one of these businesses needs to do the same two things: 1) Turn more prospects into customers, and 2) Generate greater revenue from each customer they have. That’s their greatest opportunity for growth.
“But to do that, each of them needs more effective marketing strategies and more persuasive sales copy for every promotion they run on the Internet, TV, and radio – and in direct mail and print. That means they need solid, results-oriented copywriters. And that need is a copywriter’s greatest opportunity.
“Just for argument’s sake,” I said, “let’s say there are now 1,000 direct response copywriters qualified to do the job.
“25 million prospective clients; 1,000 copywriters: That’s one writer for every 25,000 growth-obsessed small businesses out there. That leaves TWENTY-FOUR POINT NINE, NINE, NINE MILLION companies still searching for the help they need to grow!”
Next thing you know, he was saying his daughter ought to talk to me about getting into this racket (and he’s right)!
Harvey’s the past master at getting buyers and sellers together in the real world. And he’s coming to the Summit loaded for bear – with strategies to help copywriters land dream clients … and to help clients land plum copywriters. Can’t wait!
I just studied 2,900 headlines
– and boy, does my head hurt!
I don’t think we’re spending enough time on headlines.
Maybe it’s just the late hour or my mood, but after scrutinizing nearly 3,000 actual heads used on direct mail packages in the investment and health industries over the past 20 years, I found maybe 300 that work for me – and only about 150 that really rang my bell.
The vast majority of the leads on these promotions completely fail to say anything unique – anybody could have mouthed them.
Most fail to establish the credibility of the spokesperson or his message – give me any reason to believe that the spokesperson was anything more than just another guy with an opinion.
Most also failed to intrigue me with a proposition, paradox, irony or even an interesting story.
And most utterly failed to convince me that reading their message is the single most important thing I could do in the next 10 minutes.
Imagine getting a promotion with a headline proclaiming “Achieve all your financial goals” (a real headline someone actually paid money to mail) for example …
… on the same day as Agora’s “The Man Who Said ‘Buy Microsoft’ In 1988 Now Says: ‘SELL EVERYTHING!’” hit your mailbox. Or Boardroom’s “Twelve Smiling Swindlers” … or Phillips “The Great Retirement Hoax” … or my “7 Horsemen of the Stock Market Apocalypse” for Safe Money Report.
Imagine also getting a promotion with the faux benefit headline, “Dissolve Plaque!” in the same stack of mail with Arthur Johnson’s “Get Smarter Overnight!” … Jim Rutz’ “Read This or Die” … or my “Forbidden Cures!”
I’m guessing the special session I’ve scheduled on creating killer leads at the Power Marketing Summit – with 39 great idea-starters and 83 killer leads (so far!) will be time VERY well spent …
Seven Impressive Direct Response Companies
Asked Me to Make Them Clients Last Week.
In a normal week, I have the sad task of declining – or at least postponing the acceptance of – two or three prospective clients. I have no choice: Even with the dozen other writers who work with me, I just don’t have the time to say “Yes” to everyone who asks.
But recently, the trickle of direct response companies looking for help has become a torrent.
Seems my March 27 issue, All the New, Paying Customers You Could Ever Want – For FREE! struck a major chord with a bunch of business owners and marketing folks. And they’re all asking the same question: “What do I have to do to get you to help with my web marketing?”
Dunno. Maybe the number of a reliable cloning lab?
Someday – maybe soon – I’ll have enough red-hot, seasoned copy cubs to accept a few new clients. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to help you get up to speed in THE TOTAL PACKAGE.
Plus, I’m going to spend three full hours on the Internet marketing breakthroughs we’re engineering right now at my Power Marketing Summit (Saturday morning from 8:00 to 11:00 AM).
I’ve asked a certified genius to help me help you. His name is Daniel Levis, and he’s by far the sharpest Internet marketing strategist I know. Not only that, he’s a smokin’ hot copywriter in his own right. Daniel’s so good in fact, I hired him to help me create email and web-based campaigns for my prime clients.
This is going to be the good stuff. Hope you’re there.
THINK.
What’s the biggest limitation for Internet marketers today?
For me at least, that one’s easy: Finding a web designer who has it all:
- A great eye for design …
- Who really know their programming stuff – including rich media like Flash, video, audio and other rich media …
- Who knows how to find ready technology to accomplish more complex programming chores quickly and cheaply – without creating from scratch …
- Who can get emails and websites up and producing sales almost as fast as I can come up with the ideas, and …
- Who are willing to invest the skull sweat to make sure everything works.
The good news is, we’ve found one!
Leista Burnett is THE TOTAL PACKAGE’s newest employee – and she fits the bill in spades!
Leista is a great phenomenal graphic designer with a great eye for color, photography and layout – the stuff that helps make sure sales messages get read. She’s also a crackerjack techie who cranks out even the most complex rich media emails, banners and sites blazingly fast.
Plus, as a former Miss Florida Model, well … suffice it to say, Leista is a highly decorative addition to our office!
So stay tuned, Investor – we’ll be giving you a ton of exciting new web-based tools for getting bigger winners more often in the weeks ahead!
Oh – and be sure to say a big “Hello” to Leista and the rest of “Team Makepeace” at the Power Marketing Summit. You’re going to get the chance to meet the whole cast of characters up close and personal …
The winsome Julie McManus, who’s charged with introducing THE TOTAL PACKAGE to new subscribers each week…
The breathtaking Carline Anglade-Cole, who hires and copy chiefs our copy cubs and produces grand-slam winners for my clients …
The lovely & talented Daniel Levis – the brains behind the web initiatives that are generating thousands of new customers on the WWWeb …
The stunning Tanya Lopez, who handles all the back-office work …
And of course, Wendy “The Redhead” Makepeace – my wife, best friend and boss, and the real brains of the outfit.
Well that’s it for this week. I’ve got another 1,000 promotions to review and another hundred or so PowerPoint slides to prepare for the Summit, so I’d better go.
Hope this helps …
Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,
Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE
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Editor’s Note: Sorry the links to the IQ Test no longer work. This campain has ended.
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