Posted by: Daniel Levis
January 9, 2008
Issue #328

How To Fill Up Your Copywriting Dance Card with High Paying Clients …

In this special interview series:

• The two biggest obstacles to market differentiation, and how to overcome them …
• How to create your own power positioning in the marketplace …
• How to generate a flood of super-qualified, ready-to-buy leads for your copywriting business …
• Plus more!

Dear Business Builder,

Recently, Jason Leister, President of Leister Marketing Group in Flagstaff, Arizona, interviewed me for his new book, Business Of Copy. It’s about marketing yourself more effectively as a copywriter.

Jason asked me some really good questions about positioning. So good, I believe you can benefit from this interview whether you’re a copywriter or not.

In fact, if you sell a service of ANY kind, you should read it. Why? Because it gives you my ultimate formula for separating yourself from the competition … charging premium fees … and keeping your dance card booked solid!

Jason Leister: Thanks Daniel for agreeing to let me interview you. I’m very interested in hearing your ideas about how copywriters can strengthen their positioning in the marketplace, and craft truly irresistible offers their prospects can’t refuse.

Daniel Levis: Well thanks for giving me the opportunity to contribute to your project.

Jason Leister: I wonder if we can start by having you give us your definition of “positioning.” But I’m not looking for a marketing-speak definition. I’m looking for the in the trenches, “Here’s what it means and here’s why it’s important” definition.

Daniel Levis: Sure, positioning is the perception your marketplace has about you. When they come across you, or hear your name, or visit your website, they unconsciously pigeon hole you as belonging in some niche within the overall market, and occupying a position of relative authority and reputation within that niche.

For example, they might say, "Oh Jason Leister specializes in writing copy for the financial markets or whatever, and he’s one of the top writers in that field." That’s an example of positioning. And along with that positioning comes certain expectations as to what they might expect to pay you, what kind of results they can expect to achieve if they hire you, and so on.

Breakthroughs come in your career when you can position yourself in a unique way that’s seen as extremely beneficial to a desirable target market.

Jason Leister: What do you think the number one obstacle is that really keeps copywriters from differentiating themselves in the marketplace?

Daniel Levis: Well there are two things really. One is exposure. It’s almost impossible to differentiate yourself effectively without repeated contact with your target market.

And second is endorsement. You can’t have power positioning without being knighted by some other authority figure in your marketplace – whether that authority figure is some elite, well known customer in your niche who sings your praises … or one or more of the elite practitioners of your craft who for whatever reason say you walk on water and that anyone with the opportunity to hire you should jump at the chance.

When you have these things in place, you can declare yourself different, people will believe it, and they’ll line up to hire you.

Jason Leister: So how do you do it? If you were starting over today, knowing what you know now, what would you do to build a strong position in the marketplace? What are the steps you would take to do it in the shortest amount of time possible?

Daniel Levis: I like the way you’ve phrased this question. From a tactical perspective, obviously there were dozens of little mistakes that I could avoid if I had a chance to relive the experience. But strategically I don’t think I would do anything differently than what I did.

Let me tell you my story.

When I started in this business, I was already a very experienced marketer, but my background didn’t give me the kind of instant credibility that would differentiate me positively in the marketplace.

In my previous career, I had a rather unique way of selling. I was in high tech. And my job was to prospect for customers, meet with them face to face, and sell them software and services. Transaction sizes were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes over a million.

The typical approach was to pick up the phone and dial for dollars. But what I was doing was mailing postcards and short letters and writing articles that compelled prospective customers to contact me and request information that promised an unbiased exploration of a problem or an opportunity my target market was facing.

When the requests would come in, I would send out the information, and within that package there would be some tacit selling of my company’s solution to the problem, and an invite to call me and request a customized audit of the client’s IT environment to determine the suitability of our solution.

This approach was incredibly effective, because it positioned me as a consultant, rather than a salesman. And because the prospect was calling me, it created a whole different psychological dynamic. It put me in a much more leveraged position. Even more so when I took that strategy online …

Before I even opened my mouth to speak with a potential client, my problem solving information had already done 95% of the selling, effectively minimized the viability of all other potential solutions. Therefore price was rarely an issue.

And when I decided to go out on my own as an online marketing consultant and copywriter, I added an important twist to this strategy. In addition to giving away problem solving “how to” information about online marketing and copywriting, I began selling it.

And I was lucky enough to enlist some other copywriters and online marketers who already had massive credibility in the marketplace to help me to create those products. And several of them endorsed me. So I had both exposure and endorsement. Without ever advertising my availability as a copywriter, my dance card started filling up.

Most copywriters looking to build their practices introduce themselves to the marketplace by advertising their services. I’ve never done that.

My funnel starts with free information, moves on to paid information, and then to high-end copywriting and marketing consulting services. Because people approach me from within my database, and because I’m in a position to pick and choose my clients, I operate in somewhat of a competitive vacuum.

Jason Leister: That’s incredible. What position do you occupy in the marketplace? How did you create it? Does it grow out of who you are, an unmet need in the market, a combination of both … or maybe even somewhere completely different?

Daniel Levis: I position myself as the marketing mercenary of choice for some of the world’s most experienced and demanding information marketers.

I created that positioning by become imminently visible in the marketplace. My marketing is relentless. I’m constantly looking for fresh new joint ventures. I’m always creating and distributing new content and information products. I’m always advertising those products. And because the top of my funnel is information sales, it allows me to immediately monetize those activities, and draw people into my warm sphere of influence.

And yes, I think your positioning should be in tight alignment with your personality. It’s got to be something real. It has to grow out of the person you are, your unique strengths and interests. There’s no point getting involved in a niche that you hate, just because you feel it represents monetary opportunity.

I’m a firm believer in doing what you love, and what you believe in, because life is a marathon, and if you don’t stay true to your passions, you’re going to burn out long before the race is over.

Jason Leister: Just to hammer this home … can you put some number on the value your positioning has delivered to your bank account? For example … think of a project you’ve done recently. What fee did you charge (assuming it was due in part to your positioning)? What could you have charged without a position, USP?

Daniel Levis: My fees are currently $17,500 plus a minimum 5% royalty, and I can honestly tell you that without the kinds of unusual marketing that I do it would be difficult to stay booked full time charging those kinds of fees. The time overhead alone in having to sell my services to people would eat into my income.

But I think being able to justify those fees is based more on my reputation than on my USP. It’s more a matter of notoriety than unique position in the marketplace. My marketing creates a lot of interest, and then the laws of supply and demand kick in.

And naturally when you’re in demand, you can charge higher fees. The good clients – those who recognize that good copy is expensive and bad copy is even more expensive – are glad to pay my fees, because they know they’re going to get results.

Jason Leister: Most copywriters have offers like, “you pay me and I’ll write for you.” Nothing too compelling about that … What are some of the strongest and most successful offers you’ve used to attract clients in your copywriting business?

Daniel Levis: I don’t offer to write copy for anyone. What I do instead is to get people to tell me a little about themselves with the understanding that they’re trying to qualify for a free 30-minute consultation with me. That’s essentially the client attraction offer you’ll find on my website.

Basically I call out my target audience with a pre-head, make a big promise with my headline, and then pose a challenge to the reader. I’m basically saying, read on “only” if you’re convinced you can make the cut.

Then I paint a little picture of the pain that comes from unproductive copy in the first couple of paragraphs, carry on with proof of promise with plenty of documentation of my accomplishments and testimonials and so forth, and then tell them straight out that we probably won’t be working together. I’ve got enough clients. I’m not looking for any more. What I’m looking for are visionaries.

And then I go on to describe the kind of visionaries I’m looking for, I tell them that the bulk of my compensation will be performance based, but that they’ll probably end up paying me much more than other writers.

Then I spell out what happens after the 30-minute free consult if they qualify. And then ask them to apply. That in essence is my client attraction offer.

Of course the only people who see it are people who have already raised their hands as high probability candidates by opting in to my database or buying one of my information products. Since they’ve already experienced my marketing, they’re already predisposed to hiring me.

Jason Leister: What are the steps you use to create a powerful offer that will help attract clients and set you apart from the competition?

Daniel Levis: I use the same techniques that I use when my clients hire me to craft marketing campaigns for them. I call it my 5R conversion system. 5R is a systematic approach to quickly creating the most powerful and persuasive sales positioning possible for my clients. In a nutshell it works like this …

5R stands for the right person, communicating the right message, to the right audience, at the right time, and in the right way.

And you can see from what I’ve told you that I’ve been very deliberate about positioning myself as the right person for discriminating info-marketers hungry for productive copy.

I’ve done that by front ending my entire business with information. People are exposed to me all over the Internet. I cast a very wide net, because the front end of my sales funnel is very easy to fall into.

Actually I make $4 for every dollar I spend promoting myself before I even bring a copywriting client in the door. So those clients come to me at zero cost in time or money, apart from the 30 minute free consults that I only do when I find a potentially hot customer that I may want to work with.

For me, the right message is not “hire me as a copywriter.” I’ve found it much more profitable to say, “invest in my copywriting and web marketing information, and explode your sales and profits,” because I know that my ideal clients are already buying this information anyway.

They are my right audience. They understand direct response. They know that even if they end up hiring a copywriter, they’ve got to be smart enough to recognize productive copy when they see it. And they appreciate what it takes to bang out productive copy.

And I plant the bug in their ear that “hey, maybe we should work together” at the right time – after they’ve already had plenty of exposure to my written and recorded works. They’re 95% sold before I ever speak to them on the telephone.

And everything about the messaging I use to get them to take that final step is designed to be consistent with my positioning. It gets the message across in the right way – a way that makes people feel like they’ve really pulled something off when they have a chance to work with me. Fees are rarely an issue.

It’s not about them deciding if they want to hire me. It’s about them proving to me that I’ll want to work with them. As a service provider, I believe it’s essential to start the relationship off in a position of power. Clients respect you for that. They feel compelled to do business with someone who doesn’t need their business.

Jason Leister: Would it be fair to say that your positioning and your offer are related … that one grows out of the other?

Daniel Levis: It absolutely would. Ultimately what people are buying is “you.” They’re not buying copywriting services. They’re buying results, yes, but they’re also buying a relationship.

People buy from people. And your positioning is much more than a USP. It’s also your persona. I love to quote Emerson in this regard, who said, “Who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear a word that you’re saying.” Sellers rarely realize the significance of this.

Your offer has to be in sync with the person who’s making it. Imagine if I were to take the kind of approach I just outlined, asking people to qualify to hire me, if I didn’t have the positioning that I do.

It would come off as cocky and insulting. But because of the credibility and persona that I’ve built up with my front end products, and the relationship I’ve established, I get away with it.

The fact that they feel they know me through the information they’ve already bought from me, combined with the uniqueness of my offer, absolutely differentiates me from everyone else they may be considering.

Jason Leister: I think that’s great advice. OK, last question. What can our listeners do to find out more about the information marketing business, if they’d like to consider following in your footsteps?

Daniel Levis: Sure, well I know most of the people listening to this are probably well on their way to learning the craft of copywriting, so I’ll point them in the direction of some information specifically designed to help you with this whole idea of using information marketing as a lead generator.

I’ve put together a little package that gives you a firm basis for selling information about anything, both as an end in itself … and of course as a front end for a service business. Virtually any kind of service business can profit from this.

And right now I’m offering some amazing bonus materials with it as well that you can pick up for free if you’re quick. Click here to check it out.

Jason Leister: Great. Well thanks for stopping by Daniel. I really appreciate this wonderful information.

Daniel Levis: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

 

Until next time, Good Selling!

Daniel Levis
Editor, The Web Marketing Advisor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

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2 Comments »

1. Comment by Bob Clarke — January 9, 2008 @ 11:52 am

   Daniel … there isn\’t any way you can make me pay for this information after the fact, is there? I always read your email because, I know whatever you have to say will make me more money and I\’ll make it easier. And now I also know how much I just saved - $17,500 plus minimum 5% royalties! I feel like the gal on the IKEA commercial … START THE CAR!

2. Comment by Art Speakman — January 9, 2008 @ 8:53 pm

   I loved the 5 r\\\’s and the part about who you are says volumes.
   Great stuff man!

3. Comment by bile — January 10, 2008 @ 12:13 am

   waxaan salaamay dhamaan dadkaan isoowacay