Make it a point this week to revisit your profiles on the social media sites you’re involved with to make sure you are taking advantage of their options and you have a keyword-rich compelling profile.  Start with YouTube, Twitter, Facebook profile and company pages,  LinkedIn personal and company profiles and remember that “keywords drive traffic”.

Social Media Marketing Profile Tips:

1. Do your research. Take the time to explore each SMM site and see what profiles you like and dislike and ask yourself, “Why?” Then look at your profile and put yourself in the mind of the visitor. Does it represent you and your brand properly?  Is it a disorganized mess or missing content?
2. Use your keywords. We’ve talked about this before, but it’s so important, especially when people are searching for topics, groups, people and solutions. Just like the first tip, search each site for your topic areas of interest and see what comes up. Then review their profile for hints on what you could model.  If you want to supercharge your keyword research go get my Keyword Secrets audio in the store. It’s 60 minutes filled with non-technical, valuable and relevant keyword research training that will help you select the best range of keywords in your sweet spot.. .not too much competition on the keyword phrase and you can capture all of the traffic.
3. Avoid sensationalism. People are smarter than every before. And hype – blatant promotional efforts or sales tactics will most likely backfire or cause your account to be terminated altogether.  Again, don’t spam your users, followers or friends. Add value and they’ll figure out if they want to contact you for business.
4. Stick with regular formatting. Don’t use all CAPS or aggressive formatting tactics. Keep it clear and information benefit oriented.  Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.  I’m talking about using multiple fonts, many colors and sizes and making it hard for readers to get the point.
5. Create your own profile for your business or topic of focus. This account would be for you to use as your main business related account.
6. Create a private “persona” account. This can be an alias or private personal account that you can use to explore anonymously, test new features and keep confidential. It’s better to make a mistake with your persona account than it is with your main account. Accounts at most of the social media sites are free so this can be a way for you to learn the easy way.
7. Add links back to your website. As obvious as this may sound, it’s a common mistake business people make when using Social Media and setting up their profiles.

That’s all for now. Go visit your Social Media Profiles through the eyes of your prospects and then fix up them up with the proper keywords, content and links. Have other ideas or questions?  Post your comments in the reply box below. Thanks!

First, understand that it’s the search-engine’s goal to provide the best search results for the user.  While Google, Bing and Yahoo rank website pages a bit differently they all have the same outcome of a positive and relevant user experience.  That experience comes from listing unique pages on their search result pages (SERPS).  

For this blog posting, I’m just going to use Google as “the search engine”.  

Duplicate content generally refers to blocks of text or entire pages that are virtually the same.

If you have the same article content and it’s used on several different websites, Google will try and decide which website is the originator of the content, give them the credit and show that listing.   Yes, that means that even though it’s your content from your website if someone steals it, or even if you submitted it to them and they posted it with your permission, it’s possible that website and not yours would get the credit.  I’ve seen my blog postings, YouTube video descriptions, and articles used on several other websites without permission or even back-links to my website. 

For clarifications sake, we all want higher search engine rankings and more targeted traffic.  We understand that we have to have keyword-rich content with those keywords used appropriately (keyword density) and optimized according to the rules of the search engines. 

So maybe you started out by creating new web pages targeted around a keyword theme.  Then you wrote a few articles or blog postings about the same subject thinking… more keyword-rich content means more traffic.  Then you took those same articles and submitted them to other websites or even posted them on other social media websites. 

Now you have fallen into the trap of duplicate content and even if you did so innocently, you may find that your website pages or entire site isn’t indexed anymore. That means no search engine traffic. Do I have your attention yet? 

There are several things you can do to get higher rankings, avoid duplicate content and prevent Google penalties.

1.  Understand that you need original, relevant keyword-rich content on your website and that each page should have a unique page title, unique meta-description tag, unique h1 header text, and focused content around a theme.  

2. Article marketing. Having your articles posted on article directories and other websites or blogs with links back to your website is a great way to increase your traffic when done correctly.  Back-links help Google understand the relevancy of your website because if you have several other websites with similar themes or focus all linking to you, like from your articles, you get more rankings.  In short though, you need unique or mostly unique versions of the article posted on different websites with a reference link back to you, not the same article everywhere. Having the same article everywhere is just a waste of time.

3. Check your website and learn more about duplicate content using Google’s Webmaster Tools.  It amazes me that people may think that Google’s ranking structure is a secret. While the algorithm may be secret, Google wants you to build your site properly so it can give you the credit.  

4. You can search for duplicate copies of your content using the online website, http://www.copyscape.com/. They offer a free service and premium service to check if content is unique and original.  Works fast and you’d be amazed by the results. Recently, I re-wrote all of the landing pages copy for our Prime Concepts website and found over 80 other websites that had taken my copy word-for-word, and just switched out the company name.   Go to CopyScape and check your website.

5. If you find infringing websites you can file a notice of infringement with Google.  Learn more about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and how to file a DMCA notice here.

6. Get unique versions of your articles out on different websites. If you send the same article out to 500 different websites, Google is going to look those 500 websites and see the exact article on all of them and simply index only one or two of them and your efforts would have been wasted.  You need to submit a unique variation of each article to each article directory. There are literally hundreds of article directories.  This way Google and the other search engines will see all of the unique content and those pages will get indexed and credit the links back (back-links) to your website.

7. We believe strongly in article marketing campaigns, but the titles, main content, word count and resource box links have to be mostly different to avoid the duplicate content problems.  There are tools, called “article spinners” that can help you modify or re-work the content of your articles, but again, I urge you to use caution, as attempts to manipulate the search engines may cause the Google bitch slap and you’ll lose your rankings.

8. Be careful about services or websites that claim to create quick back-links or automated article submissions to other websites.  There are no short cuts to an effective back-linking campaign.  If you find a service or other tool that you love that’s produced great results, add a comment with details on this blog posting.

Take action now. Go write unique, keyword-rich content for your website and original content articles that you can place on article directories.  Turn them into Videos and podcasts too.  Remember that keyword-rich content drives traffic, so focus on delivering relevant information and watch your business grow!

90 Ways to Grab hold of Your Customers’ Emotions and Move them to Take Immediate Action

90 ways to Relate to your Customers so Well You Freak Them Out

90 ways to Seduce Prospective Customers and Get them to Go On a Second Date

90 ways to Use Emotional Charm to Sweep Customers Off Their Feet

90 ways to Break Down the Wall Between You and Your Prospective Customers

90 Ways to Slay the Emotional Dragon and Win the Heart of Your Customers

90 Ways to Hook Your Prospective Customers Using Emotions as Bait

Clients are always asking me, “How do you get customers to buy more?”

My answer:
You must connect with them on an emotional level. People make purchases based on their emotions, and once you have created an emotional bond with a customer you increase chances of getting repeat purchases from that person. If you tell a prospect your product or service will make her so attractive that nobody – man or woman – who passes by will be able to stop themselves from staring at her in awe and amazement (or with eyes full of envy) you will turn that prospect into a customer. Then, if you deliver enough added value to that customer, she will come back again and again and will become a loyal customer who will even refer her friends to you.

So how do you provoke a desired emotion in a prospective customer and get them to take action? You must make sure your copy addresses certain motivational buying triggers. I made a list of 90 motivational triggers. You’ll notice that all product/service benefits fall into one of these categories. I’m sure there are many more motivational triggers that need to be added to my list, so let me ask you: For what other reasons do you think people make purchases?

1. Satisfy Curiosity
2. Make Money
3. Save Time
4. Avoid Effort
5. Achieve Comfort
6. Enjoy Health
7. Be Popular
8. Gain Pleasure
9. Enhance Enjoyment
10. Feel Clean
11. Be Praised and Admired
12. Be In Style
13. Satisfy an Appetite
14. Own Beautiful Possessions
15. Attract the Opposite Sex
16. Be Independent
17. Emulate Others
18. Take Advantage of Opportunities
19. Get a Surprise
20. Be Successful
21. Make Work Easier
22. Gain Prestige
23. Be Sociable
24. Express Creativity
25. Be Efficient
26. Protect Oneself and Family
27. Protect the Future of a Family
28. Be a Good Parent
29. Be Liked
30. Be Loved
31. Express a Personality
32. Be In Fashion
33. Avoid Embarrassment
34. Fulfill a Fantasy
35. Be Up To Date
36. Own Attractive Things
37. Collect Valuable Things
38. Satisfy the Ego
39. Be First At Something
40. Enjoy Exotic Tastes
41. Live In a Clean Atmosphere
42. Be Strong
43. Be Healthy
44. Renew Vigor and Energy
45. Get Rid Of Aches and Pains
46. Find New and Rare Things
47. Be More Beautiful
48. Win the Affection of Others
49. Satisfy Sexual Desires
50. Bring Back Pleasant Memories
51. Be Lucky
52. Live Longer
53. Feel Important
54. Gain Knowledge
55. Be Recognized As an Authority
56. Enhance Leisure
57. Save Money
58. Have Security in Old Age
59. Overcome Obstacles
60. Do Things Well
61. Get a Better Job
62. Be Your Own Boss
63. Gain Social Acceptance
64. Keep Up With The Jones
65. Appreciate Beauty
66. Be Proud Of Possessions
67. Resist the Domination of Others
68. Relieve Boredom
69. Gain Self-Respect
70. Win Acclaim
71. Win Advancement
72. Seek Adventure
73. Satisfy Ambition
74. Be Among the Leaders
75. Gain Confidence
76. Escape Drudgery
77. Gain Freedom from Worry
78. Get On the Bandwagon
79. Get Something for Nothing
80. Escape Shame
81. Avoid Effort
82. Protect Reputation
83. One-Up Others
84. Replace the Obsolete
85. Add Fun to Life
86. Work Less
87. Relax
88. Avoid Criticism
89. Avoid Physical Pain
90. Avoid Trouble

Like I said, I’m sure there are many more motivational triggers, and as an experienced marketer I’m always open to feedback.  So, I hope you can now go review your copy, see what motivational triggers you have used (or should have used), and let me know what you think so I can add your ideas to my list. Post your additions in the comments box below.

This blog is about both, because when you make your marketing materials more effective — you’ll increase your bottom line.

I’m a big believer in systems, formulas and concepts… anything that’s proven to produce positive results. Here is a basic formula that you probably have heard of… or at least are familiar with if you’ve ever read any good sales material.

It’s called the AIDA Formula.

AIDA is an acronym for the formula used in creating powerful and effective marketing communications, sales letters, and is widely used in advertising too.

A – Attention (Awareness): attract the attention of the customer. Stand out!

I – Interest: raise customer interest by demonstrating features, advantages, and benefits.

D – Desire: convince customers that they want and desire the product or service and that it will satisfy their needs.

A – Action: lead customers towards taking a specific and measurable action.

Gather up a few samples of your marketing materials or view your website and ask yourself these questions:

1. What’s the PURPOSE for the specific marketing Piece or web page? Again, the AIDA formula applies to your website, print materials and Radio or TV advertising too!
   1. Is it to provide information & support the sale? – Is it to help prospects gain knowledge? Or…
   2. Is it to get the prospect to take immediate action? – For selling & promotion?
2. Is there an attention getting headline? Sub-head?
3. Is there a clear Benefit Message?
4. Who is Your Target Audience?
5. Is it designed with Your Prospect in Mind?
6. How would you score this piece on effectiveness from 1 to 5 stars with 5 being very effective-and 1 being boring and a cure for insomnia?
7. Always ask yourself: “Does this convey the message I want my reader to get?”

Now, make a note of this Action Step: Review all of your materials and see if they follow the AIDA formula, and then identify your super stars! You might be surprised by what you find when you look at your materials through the AIDA formula. This exercise will help you identify which pieces are designed well, and which ones need to be re-designed.

Of course the best measurement for any marketing materials is the response it generates. But when you’re planning your designs you’ll have a head start when you follow the AIDA formula.

Now that you know what to look for, let’s see what you should do when planning new marketing materials? Our goal is to follow the AIDA method. Remember, regardless of your role in the process, if you’re the CEO, Marketing Director or staff member, it’s important for you to understand and use these strategies even if you’re only using desktop publishing or creating more elaborate materials.

Plan ahead by answering the 5 W’s… This is very important.

Get focused on:

Who are you designing to? Who is the target prospect?

What do you want them to know or do?

Why should they care? Why should they pay attention?

Where can they get more info?

When should they respond or take action?

It’s helpful if you actually create a Word Document or template with the 5W’s… Who, What, Why, Where, and When? This will help you and/or your designer understand the purpose of the piece.

Now that you’ve have an understanding of AIDA and the 5W’s, I’d like to explore the two main parts that make up every marketing piece or advertisement… The first part is crafting a compelling message-writing the copy (the words you’re going to use to communicate value). The second part is the layout & design.

Subscribe to this marketing blog’s RSS feed in the upper right hand corner to be notifed of future blog postings where we’ll explore more on how to design effective marketing materials. And of course, post your feedback below!

Whether you’re an actual designer, the CEO, Marketing Director, Entrepreneur or on the team, I’ve got success strategies for every stage in the development process. I am going to assume you already know who you target markets are, and have a clear understanding of your products and services… If not, that’s the first thing to put on your list of action steps.

There is only one reason to create marketing materials… to get your prospects to take action.

This blog posting and video comes with a little warning… because I’m not known for sugar coating my marketing advice. My philosophy is “add value-make a profit” and I want to give you insights that can make a positive impact in all of your marketing efforts… without worrying about your ego or office politics. So if you’re feelings are easily hurt when someone gives you constructive feedback… you may want to read a different blog posting. But if you are ready to get better results-come along as we explore how to improve your results.

I’d like you to make a list of the marketing materials and methods that you’re using now:

Here are a just a few ideas to get your list started:

• Websites
• Ezines
• Banners
• Blogs
• Auto-responders
• Thank you Pages
• Brochures
• Flyers
• Sales letters
• Direct Mail
• Postcards
• Sales letters
• Newsletters
• Catalogs
• Presentation folders
• Media kits
• Signage
• Point-of-Purchase displays
• Product Packaging
• Advertisements in different forms, like radio, tv and print, And so on.

Why do you think most marketing materials don’t get the results you expect?

Well, let’s see if this scenario sounds familiar?

It’s Tuesday morning and you’re gathered around your conference table with your marketing staff, (which might be just you) and your goal is to create a new marketing brochure for one of your new products or services. So you start by spreading out all of your competitors marketing materials to get your ideas flowing.

You read the headline on their brochure, “Full line of Services” so you jot down “Complete line of Services” on your note pad. Next you look at their stock photos and graphics and think, we’ve got something similar to that we can use and away you go! You finish with a nice looking piece… copied after your competitors, with no way of knowing if the competition’s marketing piece was actually effective.

Or maybe, you’re lucky enough to hire an ad agency to help you with the design. Wonderful, they should be experienced to help you create a masterpiece. You give them your objectives and ideas. They create the collateral materials for you. You pay them well for their services. Everyone’s happy. Or are they?

The customer might not be so happy. Why? Because the typical ad agency is in the business of creating “image” type advertising pieces that makes the company look good-often times without effective marketing messages or specific action steps. So they design your piece with a big picture of your building, your logo, or your company president/CEO. Heck, maybe all three.

The problem is that the customer doesn’t really care about your building, logo or even the CEO-they care about what’s in it for them. They want the benefits of your products and services. They want to be informed, entertained and educated. They want solutions to their specific wants and needs.

I heard it all before… “My agency has won several awards”-but awards don’t sell products-marketing messages do. And if the person in charge of the creative hasn’t spent their own money learning the hard way or isn’t experienced in marketing tactics, then you’re doomed to the crap that’s filling up most land fills.

Copycat marketing hurts you and your customer.

Lastly, you cannot measure the performance of your marketing piece or website by how much you spend on it. It’s not what it costs; it’s the response it generates and the profit that it produces that makes it worth it.

So, now that you have your list and materials… go through them through the eyes of the prospect. Ask yourself if you have a compelling headline, sub-headline, attractive offer, social proof, testimonials, and specific measurable action step? Rate them from 1 to 10 with 10 being best. Then strive to improve your results.

Do have examples of great marketing materials or sites? Post a comment below with a link and tell me why you think it worked or didn’t work?

Everyone I talk to as an Internet Marketing Consultant wants to know how to get more site visitors from search engines.  It starts with a basic understanding of how the search engines work-or rather what their responsibility is to their user-the searcher.

The search engine’s job is to provide the best and most relevant results to the person using their search engine to find solutions to their searches. To do that they need to catalog a site’s content and while there are every-changing algorithms for top rankings a critical element for search engine optimization (SEO) is the content, which of course is made of WORDS.

Those words when filled with your “keywords” make up your content.  Knowing which words to use and where to put them on your site is a huge element of SEO to get more traffic.   Keywords and keyword phrases are the same thing.

Here are a few tips for keyword success:

1. Make a list of the main types of prospects you want to attract.

Create a marketing profile for the typical prospect and customer for your business in a word doc. Get as specific as you can so you can put yourself in the “mindset” of the type of people you want to attract.  Ask yourself and evaluate what keywords you think they would type into a search engine to find you, your products or services.

2. Do your research.

Look at your website statistics because that will show you what words people are using now to find you. It doesn’t mean they are the best words, but your stats will show you what keyword phrases they are using now.  We use “Google Analytics” for sites. It’s a free service, easy to implement and offers a ton of benefits.

You want targeted traffic that will convert into customer leads and sales.  Many years ago I optimized my Internet Marketing Speaker website for my name “Ford Saeks” but because my first name Ford is also a major automotive company I was receiving tons of spill over traffic for people looking for Ford cars and Ford car parts, and not my professional services to help people improve their marketing results and profits.  The keywords we use now are related and relevant to what our prospects and customers are searching for to find our solutions.  The research results, our site statistics and usage of the popular keywords research tools all help us optimize our sites for top rankings.

Two of my favortite Keyword tools are:

Google Keyword Tool Sandbox:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

and the WordTracker Free Keyword Tool

There are several other sources for keyword research and they all offer specific advantages and benefits. WordTracker’s Free Keyword Tool and  Google’s Sandbox Tool will keep you busy for a while and help you create a nice list of keywords.

3. Use your Keywords on your website content, blog headlines and postings, articles, media releases, and social media website profiles.

Remember, keywords… sorry scratch that… The right keywords, meaning most relevant keywords that your prospects would type into a search engine are what you want in your content.  This includes the content on your website and any content that you place on other people’s website.

For exampke, if you have your company profile or products listed on directory sites or association listings you want to include relevant keywords.  If you have a blog then your blog headlines and blog postings or comments you place on other people’s blogs should include relevant keywords.  If you are using Social Media Marketing Websites — like FaceBook, Linkedin, YouTube, MySpace, and many others to grow your business — then you need to include your relevant keywords in your profiles and postings.

Make certain that your webmaster understands the proper SEO elements necessary for top rankings so you can take advantage of your keywords.  Or hire an SEO Specialist like me, Ford Saeks, to help you and your organization dramatically improve your search engine rankings and make more money. There are 7 critical places you must place your keywords to get top rankings.  One of the best places on your site is the PAGE TITLE and it must be unique on every page.

I explore over 10 other keyword research and SEO strategies going into much more detail on finding the best keywords, including the seven critical places you must use your keywords to increase your targeted site traffic on Keyword Secrets: 60-Minutes to Simple Keyword Success Audio.

Also, WordTracker offers a 7-day free trial and 7 free keyword videos and a Keyword Basic’s Guide that you and your webmaster will find extremely helpful.  I guarantee it!  

Start Now. Add a comment below on this blog posting with your top keywords and put a link to your website.  This will give you an in-bound link that also helps your site rankings.

Start by putting yourself in the mind of your prospect.  Think about what they want and why they would take action.

Most importantly, target your message to each type of specific prospect.  This applies to your website, print materials, and multimedia.

Sending the same marketing message to multiple markets waters down the message and will most likely reduce responses.  Aim for sending specific messages to specific audiences.

For example, I’m promoting my Profit-Rich Marketing Event to three specific target markets; Professional Speakers, Corporations, and Non-Profit Organizations. Each target market has unique reasons for attending. One message simply won’t work.

The headlines and sales copy for each target market is unique.  Here’s what I mean…

Market #1:
Professional speakers, authors, and consultants — Headline:

Earn What You’re Really Worth!
Get More Bookings! Sell More Products! 
Create Residual Income from Your Expertise!

Market #2:
Business owners, entrepreneurs and marketing professionals — Headline:

How to Ignite Creativity, Improve Your
Marketing & Sales, Grow Your Customer Base,
Get a Competitive Edge and Increase Your Profits!

Market #3:
Non-Profit, Not-for-Profit Organizations & Associations — Headline:

How to Grow Your Non-Profit Organization, Increase Membership,
Reduce Attrition, Attract Funding and Make the Most of All Your Marketing Efforts!

Each message is tailored to the specific audience. You can see the examples of this target marketing technique at http://www.marketingmasteryevent.com/

Think about your business… are you trying to send the same message to multiple markets? The benefits that appeal to consumers are not typically the same benefits that appeal to dealers, distributors, and retail stores.  

Target Marketing Action Items:

1. Review the sales and marketing copy on your promotional materials and website to ensure that it’s targeted to the specific type of reader.

2. Remember, you want to attract their attention using benefits and then substantiate your claims with features.

3. Set up tracking key codes, special links, phone extensions, etc. so you can track responses.

4. Work to improve your conversion rates.

Any questions? Enter your comments or questions below.

If you ever made up a story for your children, you’re a copywriter. If you’ve ever gathered with friends as a teenager and told ghost stories, you can write copy. Great copywriters simply paint visual pictures of events. Events that happened in the past, events that may happen in the future, or events that won’t ever happen, unless you buy their product. You either paint the picture of the joy the prospect will get using your product, or you paint the picture of the hardship he will continue to endure without it. Why?

Because people love stories. No one is interested in dry facts and statistics about your product. But they will be captivated by a story that tells them how it will impact their life. And the more emotion that you bring into that story, the more compelling it will be to your prospect.

The reality is that if you can talk, you can write great copy.

Start right away… go get some of your marketing materials or look over your website and see if you are writing emotion-based, conversational-style copy using stories that people can relate to in their life.

A great source for learning more about copywriting is Randy Gage’s “How to Become A Copywriting Stud” home study course. Get the details at www.cashcopywriting.com It’s mandatory for all of my sales and marketing staff and I know it will help you too… that is if you want to increase your sales and profits!

“How to Become a Copywriting Stud!”

Write Killer Copy for Sensational Sales of Any Product or Service, Even If You Flunked English…

We’ve may have never met, but I bet a major portion of your business comes from referrals. It comes from satisfied customers who talk about your work with their friends, colleagues, and people on the street.

Why not take the power of those satisfied customers and use it to help new prospects decide to spend their money with you?

There’s no better way than to showcase your work and build your credibility than through testimonials, case studies, and endorsements. These can be displayed in your offices, included in your marketing materials, used on your website, and featured in your advertising.

Building trust and credibility are major factors in the buying process. Although the use of customer testimonials may seem ridiculously low-tech in today’s world of big-budget marketing campaigns, it is a proven and successful method that really works for companies of all sizes. If you’re not including customer testimonials in every aspect of your marketing, you’re more likely to lose sales unnecessarily.

Imagine how easy it would be to differentiate yourself from the competition if a prospect saw your “Wall of Fame” in your office. The “Wall of Fame” approach is simply a prominent wall or display space dedicated to framed letters, photos and testimonials. I know one company that took a photo of every satisfied customer before they left the premises. They attributed an increase in sales of at least 30 percent to their efforts.

Think about how powerful your website would be if you included testimonials on your homepage, “About Us” page, and product detail pages. You can also add a testimonial submission form on your website where customers can go and send you their feedback.

Don’t forget testimonials in your traditional marketing either. If you’re sending out a direct-mail post card for an upcoming promotion or special event, include a couple of powerful testimonials. Don’t try to cram in too many, just one or two well-written, specific endorsements of your products and services will suffice in most cases. The more expensive the product or service, the more testimonials you’ll want to use.

Testimonials can really punch up your print, TV and radio advertising too. Look around and see how often TV and radio commercials feature testimonials, or how often you read them in print ads. They are everywhere in successful marketing because they work.

In essence, your customers are helping you make sales through third-party endorsements.

Testimonial Tips

A testimonial is a brief statement of satisfaction from someone who has done business with you (usually satisfied customers or vendors). Customer testimonials can take many forms. The best is a video testimonial—perfect for creating a demo video to loop on a TV in your shop or for your website.

The next best would be an audio testimonial, great for websites or your music-on-hold systems. Another great format would be a photo testimonial with a written endorsement. And finally there’s the simple written testimonial that can be used as part of your sales brochures or advertising.

Testimonials don’t need to be long, but they do need to communicate value. For maximum effect, they should describe a specific and measurable benefit. It’s best if you can include the person’s and/or the firm’s name, but this may not be practical, depending upon your business. You can always say “a leading supplier” or just use their initials or first name.

Avoid non-specific testimonials because they don’t create as much credibility. They may be sincere, but generic “you’re terrific!” notes don’t express specific benefits.

How Do You Get Testimonials?

This is the hard part… you just ask! It really is that simple. When you’ve completed a new or especially noteworthy transaction, ask that customer to fill out a feedback form.

Or you can mail a form along with a thank you letter, but it’s usually easier to get their input while they are in your store. Remember, you can use a video camera, digital camera or voice recorder to capture the gems. There are no excuses; you can pick up a video camera for a couple hundred bucks or even use your cell phone camera, making the cost negligible.

Soliciting and using customer testimonials increases credibility, builds buyer confidence and helps you grow your business. Start today and make it your mission to compile your arsenal of testimonials.

Yes. Most people already know how to do it!

That’s because most people already know how to tell stories… and storytelling is was great copywriting does. The reality is that if you can talk, you can write great copy. In part two, we continue our journey into the psychology and copywriting strategies that are used by the pros to generate millions of dollars in sales. We’ll explore more of the secrets that will help you craft compelling copy. One of the most critical – if not the most critical – elements you must master to be a great copywriter is the headline. Did you know that on average, five times as many people will read a headline as read the content of your copy? Unless your headline sells your product or service you may have wasted 90% of your money!

Why? Because it doesn’t matter how great your offer is, how compelling the body copy is, or what a bargain your price is. If you have a lousy headline, no one will read further to discover the other stuff. The headline also sets the tone of the copy, and puts the reader in a certain mindset before she even begins to read.

Let’s suppose your headline is something like:

How Badly is Your Lawyer Ripping You Off?

The reader is likely approaching the copy with an expectation of finding out something her lawyer doesn’t want her to know, with an expectation of uncovering ways that she can save some money.

So assuming your product can address these issues, your prospect is already predisposed to your offer before she’s read the first sentence! And that’s a pretty strong position to be in.

Your job is to grab your prospect’s attention. Anyone who is not a prospect isn’t important to your copy. For example, let’s say you are selling some kind of insurance for motorcycles. A good headline for you might be something as simple as:

ATTENTION MOTORCYCLE OWNERS!

Naturally anyone that doesn’t own a motorcycle will likely skip your ad. So what? You aren’t writing for everyone – you’re writing for qualified prospects.

Headlines and subheads help you get the prospect’s attention. They entice to into reading the rest of the message. This is more important today than any other time in advertising history because prospects have never been so distracted before, so bombarded with information, and so overwhelmed with stimuli.

There are probably as many different permutations of headlines as there are copywriters. But I believe that they can be grouped into some major categories. Each of these types serves its own purpose, depending on the product, service, concept or idea you are promoting.

You will likely find a type that you gravitate to, and it works well for you. That’s fine; you are naturally going with your strength. But be open to using other types occasionally, as the situation calls for them.

Types of Headlines

The Question Headline: Do You Make These Mistakes in English?

The News Headline: Amazing New Medical Breakthrough for Fat Loss

The Benefit Headline: Lose 30 Pounds in 30 Days!

The Scare or Fear of Loss Headline: Act Now or Miss this Chance Forever!

The Intrigue Headline: Can You Pass the Prosperity Test?

The Testimonial Headline: “My Hair Started Growing Back in two Weeks!”

Headlines are not the only assault weapon in your arsenal of attention-grabbing actions. Subheads allow you to expand what you’re doing with your headline. You can bring in other elements, or simply continue what you started with the headline. Here’s a couple examples using some of our earlier headlines, but adding a subhead this time around:

Lose 30 Pounds in 30 Days
Wear your new bikini next month!

Can You Pass the Prosperity Test?
Or are you destined to remain poor your whole life?

This next technique comes from my colleague and master copywriter, Bob Bly, to help you Rate and improve your Headlines using the 4U’s.

Please write down the words: Urgent    Unique    Ultra-Specific    Useful.

Then write these two headlines: “Free Ezine Subscription”

Leave a couple spaces… then write: “Get Targeted Traffic And Higher Sales …In Less Than 27 Days”

Now, using a scale of 1 through 4, with 1 being the weakest and 4 being the strongest, rate each headline according to the 4U’s.

“Free Ezine Subscription”
Is this headline Urgent? On a scale of 1-4? Nope. I give it a “1.”
Is it Unique? Hardly… another “1.”
Is it Ultra-Specific? Maybe a “2″ because you know it’s free and
an ezine, but what is it about? Probably a “1″ or “2.”
Is it Useful? Score another “1.” It’s not useful because you don’t
even know what it’s about.
The total score for this headline is only a 4 or 5 out of a possible
16. Not very good.

Repeat the process on the other headline…

“Get Targeted Traffic and Higher Sales… in Less Than
27 Days.
Is this headline Urgent?
Is it Unique?
Is it Ultra-Specific?
Is it Useful?

Sure it’d be great if all of your headlines scored 16, but it’s not about having all 4U’s in all categories. Use them to help improve your headlines and you’ll get better results.

Practice writing headlines using the six different types of headlines. Add subheads if you’re feeling especially creative!

Then look at your current marketing materials and website. Review your headlines and go rate them using the 4U’s. They don’t have to score all 4U’s, but this method will help you see were you can improve your headlines.

Easing Prospects into Your Body Copy

You need headlines that make the prospect read your subhead. And you need a subhead that makes them want to read your opening paragraph. And you need an opening paragraph that makes them want to read the next paragraph and the next. Every paragraph has the same function; to pull the reader through to the next one.

For most copywriters, the opening of a sales letter or ad is the hardest part. Once they get into the flow of the copy, they do fine. Many copywriters take a few paragraphs getting “warmed up.”

Unfortunately, those few paragraphs are likely to be the ones that drive away a large percentage of prospects.

No matter what medium you’re working in, your prospects are busy, skeptical, and distracted. Many open your sales letters over the trash. They scan a page in a magazine or newspaper before they commit to reading it. Their fingers are on their computer mouse ready to click or on the TV remote, just waiting to punch a button.

You don’t have time to warm up. You’ve only got a few seconds to grab them by the collar, throw them up against the wall, and shout, “This is important to YOU! Pay attention now!”

So that has to happen first with your headline – and then in your copy lead-in.

What’s the best way to cut right to the chase, and grab the prospect without meandering around, warming up?

I learned this secret from legendary copywriter and my business partner Randy Gage. You’ll want to start with one of his six body copy lead-in templates. Use any one of them, and you are immediately into the copy narrative. Once there, the copy will flow naturally. All are effective; it’s simply a case of deciding which one is appropriate for the offer that you are making.

Randy’s surefire body copy lead-in templates are:

• The Burning Question(s)
• The Invitation
• The “Behind the Scenes” Story
• The “YOU” approach
• The Take-Away

Here are some examples:

The Burning Question(s): “First, two questions, if I may…”
You can use one or more questions… but no more that three in most cases.

The Invitation: “You’re invited to be one of the first in your area to receive…”

The “Behind the Scenes” Story: “It was 8:00 on a Thursday morning. I arrived at my office to find…” or “Well it happened again. I proposed a marketing strategy to a new client who told me it wouldn’t work.”

The “You” Approach: “Executives like you are a very special breed. You’re the kind of person that…”

The Take-Away: “Odds are that you don’t even qualify for the offer I’m about to make. But on the slight chance that you do…”

So let’s review. First, if you’ve ever told a story to your friends or family, you have the makings of a great copywriter. Use these simple techniques to help paint a mental pictures of the joy the prospect will get by purchasing your product, or the hardship he’ll continue to endure without it.

You have a system now for writing effective headlines, subheads and lead-in body copy templates. Use the 4U’s to rate and improve your headlines too.

You don’t have to have a degree in English to be a copywriting pro! Practice, evaluate, and keep on practicing! You’ll know you’re copy is working when your prospects convert to customers.

I get asked that all the time and always tell the person the same thing: Yes. Chances are you already know how to do it!

That’s because you already know how to tell stories, and great copywriters are great storytellers. The key is that you just have to learn the proper structure, and “unlearn” all the stuff your elementary and high school teachers taught you about writing.

If you ever made up a story for your children, you’re a copywriter. If you’ve ever gathered with friends as a teenager and told ghost stories, you can write copy. Great copywriters simply paint visual pictures of events. Events that happened in the past, events that may happen in the future, or events that won’t ever happen – unless you buy their product.

You either paint the picture of the joy the prospect will get using your product, or you paint the picture of the hardship he will continue to endure without it.

Why?

Because people love stories. No one is interested in dry facts and statistics about your product, but they’ll be captivated by copy that tells them how your product will impact their life. And the more emotion that you bring into that story, the more compelling it will be to your prospect.

The reality is, if you can talk, you can write great copy.

Your job as a copywriter is to get into your prospect’s head and learn intimately what is causing him a headache. Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes and find out what is keeping him awake at night. Then, if your product or service can help him – tell him that in no uncertain terms.

A plain, rational ad with all the logical reasons why your prospect should buy may not be enough. You’re going to need to break through the clutter of other marketing messages; the clutter in your prospect’s mind and his possible denial and apathy.

That requires copy with emotion – usually charged, and sometimes confrontational.

Master copywriters tend to be curious about life. They read a great deal, like to travel, have a variety of interests, find other people interesting, and they are very good listeners.

To be a great marketing copywriter understand that you should write like you talk - not in formal, perfect English, but in a clear, conversational style of writing.

There is no “right” way to write copy. The only real outcome you are looking for is “effective” copy. By that I mean copy that leads the prospect to buy your product or service. The more you write copy – the better you will get at it. As long as you practice your skills will improve!

A Few Copywriting Basics

You must become an expert on your product and service before you can attempt to write about it. You need to know your customers. Who are they? How to they behave? How to they buy? Make a list of the questions that you think the prospect has about your products/services. Write to one specific person in your target market.

Identify the inherent emotion in the situation. Is it fear, success or something else? Make a benefits list of your product or service so you’ll know how to capture attention.

In addition to these tips, here are 15 basic guidelines that develop these ideas a bit deeper. These are just guidelines. In part two of this article I’ll cover writing interesting headlines, subheads and body copy, but for now, get familiar with these steps.

15 Copywriting Tips

1. Benefits come first. Benefits are inherently about the prospect; the things he or she will get if they purchase your product or use your service. When you write about benefits, you’re writing about how the prospect will lose weight, get more energy, re-grow his hair, make money, save money, or find a way to bump off his mother-in-law without getting caught. The most effective copy leads with benefits, and validates with features. Features are the things about your product or service, such as “it has 300 hp,” “it contains 15 special vitamins,” or “open 24 hours.”

2. Validate with features. Benefits are personal and emotional – pride, satisfaction, prestige. Features are facts. A car’s 300-hp engine is a feature, it’s fast acceleration and feeling of exhilaration is the benefit. It’s critical that you understand the difference between benefits and features.

3. Create a compelling offer. Tell the whole story using “word pictures,” metaphors or stories to highlight the prospect’s problem and the solution your product/service provides.

4. Brain dump your first version, then edit later. If you attempt to edit while your being creative you’ll interrupt your flow. Let it all flow out during the creative process, and wait to edit and evaluate it later.

5. Write for ‘scanners’ and ‘readers.’ Use both short paragraphs, paragraph headings and bulleted lists for prospects who scan mailers, and longer, content-filled paragraphs for people who prefer to read your every word. You’ll need both types of copy to get both types of prospects to read your copy.

6. If you make a claim, be prepared to prove it!

7. Use bold, italics and underlining sparingly. The only purpose of the formatting is to help the reader get through the message. Abuse it and it loses its impact and is hard to read.

8. Use “flow devises.” Things like dramatic fragment sentences, split paragraphs at the bottom of the page, etc. keep your prospects reading.

9. Reveal a minor flaw. We did this with an inventory overstock and sold $25,000 in one weekend. When we placed orders for CD sets, there was a mix up on the purchase order and we ordered 1,000 instead of 500. So I wrote a sales letter e-mail on a Friday telling my list that they could benefit from our mistake and buy them at cost if they ordered in the next 24 hours.

10. Ask for the order. Use specific language and action steps to guide the reader to your desired conclusion – the sale.

11. Give an incentive to ‘act now.’ Offer a limited-time lower price, an extra gift or bonus, free shipping, etc. to sweeten the deal for your prospect.

12. Talk in “YOU” terms. Always write copy toward the prospect and their needs. Don’t fall into the “I” or “we” trap.

13. Present benefits before price . Don’t rush to name the price before you’ve told you’re your prospect why your product or service is so terrific. When you do reveal the price, briefly justify it.

14. State your guarantee after price. Guarantees reduce the prospect’s sense of risk, and aren’t used as often as you might fear.

15. Raise questions and provide answers. Think of probable questions your prospects might have, and then provide answers. An example could be “You’re probably thinking… how much does this cost?”

Other Copywriting Strategies to Consider

Give your copy “news” value - don’t be afraid to write it as if it was a newspaper article, a TV Special Report, an advertorial, catalog, magalog or even an infomercial. A great way is to model great copy used in another industry or medium. Just keep yours eyes open and pay attention - million-dollar ideas for copy are all around you!

I know we’ve covered a lot of ground already, so let’s end part one here. Think about what you’ve read and try putting these tips into practice on your next copywriting project. Remember, you’re telling a story… and the more often you tell it, the better you’ll be at it.

Recently I was asked to copyright someone’s book title. I told her it couldn’t be done. That if a book title was to be protected at all, it would likely be through trademark protection or some form of contract. “You’re wrong,” she insisted, “My friend copyrighted his book.” As I listened more closely to what she said, I began to realize she was confusing copyrighting her book with copyrighting the book’s title. I thought to myself, I wonder how many other people have made that very same mistake. How many people in some way have confused copyrights with trademarks?

While copyrights and trademarks are both part of the family called intellectual property – something you own, which you design, develop, conceive, or construct with your own creative mind or intellect – the similarity ends there.

A Copyright is a legal form of protection afforded to any original work of art or authorship that has been reduced to a tangible or physical form. And, your work is protected the moment you convert that original idea into something you can hear, see or touch. That’s what’s meant by tangible. Absolutely nothing else has to be done. (However, later in our process we’ll explore additional ways to protect your valuable copyrights.) For now all you need to know is for a copyright to be valid the work must be original and tangible.

We’ll look at trademarks more closely a little later in other articles, but for the sake of distinguishing a copyright from a trademark, here is the definition:

A trademark is a distinctive word, name, phrase, logo, design, symbol, sound, color, smell, or a combination of the above, which identifies the source of the goods and/or services. It simply tells the marketplace, including you the consumer, who owns what. It let’s you know who to purchase products and services from and who to complain to when there’s a problem. For example, the golden arches is a protectable trademark of the McDonald, Inc., the swoosh symbol is a protectable mark of Nike, Inc, the doink doink sound on the television show Law & Order is a protectable mark of the Law & Order franchise, and the color pink used in fiberglass insulation products is a protectable mark of the Owens Corning company.

(This is a special contribution from Francine Ward.)

Get more bang for your marketing buck when you align your sales message to your target market, using the most effective marketing method.

Here’s a quick story that uncovered my multi-million dollar strategy that has help me and my many clients improve their sales and profits.

Fall 1987. I was living in a cramped, one-bedroom apartment in Wichita, Kansas. My roommates: two Italian racing bikes that always seemed to be underfoot.

One day, as I untangled myself from the spokes of my Medici Criterion Bicycle, it came to me: a design for a product that stored bicycles in an apartment or house without taking up too much space or damaging the walls or ceiling. After some development, I decided to call this floor-to-ceiling oak bicycle rack PedaStyle®.

Now came the easy part: selling my product. Or so I thought.

I didn’t have much money, but I did have enthusiasm. I read over 30 books by famous marketing gurus. I took careful notes. I wrote a detailed marketing plan.

My first tactic: sending a sales letter and brochure to 10,000 bicycle club members.

Now, this was a bit of a stretch for me. Renting the lists, printing the brochures and paying for the postage cost $6500 – a small fortune for a guy who was overextended with monthly bills, big car payment and on a fixed salary. But that didn’t bother me. I knew I had a great product, a marketplace brimming with potential buyers and a proven marketing strategy. My only concern was whether my tiny mailbox could hold all the orders the mailman would soon be stuffing inside it.

After four days, I checked my mailbox. I figured a couple of people would have sent their checks in by now.

Nothing.

Three… four… five weeks went by.

Not a single order.

Direct mail, I concluded, doesn’t work.

Has this ever happened to you?

You read the tips, studied the strategies, implemented the techniques to a “T,” and… nothing?

Let’s face it: Most marketing books are filled with hundreds - even thousands – of strategies that promise better results and higher profits with a few simple steps.

So why do so many people fail to get the results they want? Is it because those strategies don’t work?

Rest assured, the strategies do work. (I know. I found out the hard way.)

But it takes a special system to make the strategies produce the results they promise. The system is simple and easy to use. It can generate impressive results with very little wasted money or effort. And in a minute, I’m going to share it with you.

But first, let me take you back to 1987.

Despite my direct mail disaster, I was still convinced that PedaStyle was the storage solution thousands of bikers had been looking for… and that I would get rich delivering it to them.

If direct mail wasn’t the answer to my marketing dreams, I figured, maybe advertising would do the trick. So I placed ads in five major cycling magazines, set up an 800 number and offered a special low price.

The ad space cost me $7580, and the 800 number added $50 to my tab. (I knew Aunt Belle, rest her soul, would have been pleased to know that the small inheritance she left me paid my bill at “Bicycling Magazine.”)

This time, I was convinced I had it made. My ads would reach over 350,000 bicycle enthusiasts. Even if only 2 percent of them responded, I’d soon be trading in my one-bedroom apartment for a down payment on a country club estate overlooking a golf course.

The issue with my ad in it came out… Only a handful of checks trickled in.

So I took the show on the road to cycling events… I barely broke even on gas.

I experimented with telemarketing… Another bomb.

I tried advertising in trade publications, direct mail, and in-person sales calls. Sales were pathetic.

I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I had the right product: The 27 people who did buy the PedaStyle raved about it. I had the right approach: I thought I followed the marketing strategies to the letter. I knew there was a market: Every article I read said that more and more Americans were buying (and presumably storing) bikes.

But, despite my commitment to PedaStyle, my opportunity to market it was drawing to an end. I’d stripped my tiny savings accounts to pay for my campaigns. I’d sold one of my bikes to cover my living expenses. I had become so reliant on credit cards that I gave new meaning to the question “paper or plastic?” at the checkout line. I knew I’d hit bottom when I called my landlord to ask if he took MasterCard. Next, I’d be trading in my one-bedroom apartment for a pup tent.

In a last-ditch effort to save my faltering business venture, I registered to exhibit in the fall 1987 Bicycle Dealer Showcase in Long Beach, California - the premier trade event for the bicycle industry.

I was just going through the motions as I packed my old van with supplies and product samples. I wasn’t sure how this attempt would succeed after all the others had failed. My friend Steve Sims agreed to come along to help. (You know you’re pathetic when your friends feel so sorry for you that they’ll take a week of vacation to sit behind a booth in a trade show.)

Off we headed for California.

On the first day of the show, we handed out more than a thousand brochures. That was the good news. The bad news: People loved PedaStyle, they said… they just wanted to look around before they placed an order.

Right.

Three days later, with the trade show’s close just hours away, we’d had only $700 in sales.

“Well,” I said, “we’ve given it a our best shot. I guess PedaStyle just isn’t going to make it.”

Steve and I decided to pack up early so we could get a head start on the long drive back to Kansas.

I was stacking brochures in boxes when a man walked up to the booth.

“Wait a minute… are you leaving?” he asked. “I’m the senior buyer for Performance Bicycle Catalog, and we’re interested in your product.”

Six minutes later, he’d placed an order for $7,500.

The next person to stop by ordered $1,600 worth of products.

We got orders for three units… 30 units… 300 units. By the end of the show, we’d sold more than $20,000 in confirmed orders. And we had projected re-orders worth more than $75,000 for the first six months.

What I had accomplished - well, let’s face it… what I had accidentally stumbled upon - was getting the right message in front of the right market using the right marketing methods.

Over the next 12 years, using that same foundational elements, I sold millions of dollars worth of bicycle storage solutions around the world. Since then, I’ve used the right mix of these three key elements - message, market and method - to duplicate that success in dozens of other distribution channels and with hundreds of other products.

I’ve refined that system - matching message to market with method - into the Mix Marketing System(tm).

To learn how to use it, read on…

More than just the four P’s…

Almost every marketing book I’ve read, or marketing seminar that I’ve attended isn’t complete without mentioning the four P’s. They were introduced over 40 years ago by Neil Borden and then modified later by many others, including me. That was the mix of trying to get the balance right between product, price, promotion and place.

Product: Defining the characteristics of your product or service to meet the customers’ needs.

Price: Deciding on a pricing strategy.

Promotion: This includes advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, etc.

Place: Looking at location and where a service is delivered.

While there are similarities, I’ve found the Mix Marketing System(TM) takes a unique approach by showing you how to determine each element and their interrelationship, then transforms them into a system to get the best results. With both systems it is easy to assume that one part of the mix is wrong, when in fact it is another. For example, if response to a direct mail piece is poor, it could be that the answer is to change the offer, or to send it to another market, or improve the quality of the promotional piece, instead of cutting the price. We’ll look at how to test the elements in a few moments…

Elements of the Mix Marketing System(tm)
–> Your Unique Benefit Message (the WHY…Arrow)
–> Your Specific Target Market (the WHO… Target)
–> Your Mastery of Marketing Methods (the HOW…Bow)

First, we’ll take a closer look at each concept. Second we’ll explore how to define each concept for your product or service, and third we’ll explore how you can achieve powerful marketing results by mastering the combination of these three concepts.

Element #1:

Your Unique Benefit Message (Graphic: Arrow)

A common mistake in marketing is sending the wrong benefit message or no benefit message and expecting the buyer to figure it out. With the bicycle racks I had a different benefit message for marketing to bicycle dealers than to exporters. Bicycle dealers wanted accessories where they could make at least a 50% profit margin because they barely made any profit from the sale of bicycles.

Exporters wanted secure territories and multiple year deals so they could build their markets and benefit from the natural growth curve that it took to increase a new products market share. The main benefit to consumers was saving space, but the benefit to the catalog companies was a product that created exceptional profits from the percentage of space on the page.

I worked with a company called Floating Swimwear® to define its messages. Floating Swimwear manufactures a one-piece swimsuit for children with a flotation device sewn inside. It helped protect children in and around water while giving adults peace of mind.

That message - the kids won’t drown - appealed to parents and grandparents. But the benefit to pool and spa dealers was different. They were attracted to the company’s easy payment terms (convenience), a starter kit at a special introductory price (higher margins), great premium for pool owners and excellent impulse item for their customers year round (increased sales).

It applies equally to service businesses also. Quantum
Expositions International, Inc., produces national career & job fairs and has a different benefit message to attract attendees, a different benefit message to attract event sponsorships, and another to attract exhibitors to their expos.

The large size of their events and targeted sponsorship advertising attracted large attendance giving the exhibitors a better chance of finding quality applicants, which saves them time and money. The attendees get the opportunity to preview and interview with perspective employees face-to-face and be recognized, instead of just sending in resumes to personnel departments, which gave them an increased advantage of securing a new job. The event sponsors, usually newspapers, radio and television stations benefited by receiving a percentage of the exhibitors’ payments from booth spaces.

With my consulting & training business, the unique benefit message I promote is that I help businesses make the most of every marketing dollar through a system that gives them a competitive edge and increased profits – guaranteed! How can I afford to offer a money-back guarantee? Because most businesses are only using one or two marketing strategies and get the majority of their sales from only one target market.

Therefore, using the Mix Marketing System(tm) we are able to evaluate their current results, find new combinations based on their resources and compliment what they are already doing to add more value to more people, thus increasing sales and profits. The results come from new channels of distribution, increased effectiveness of their marketing efforts, higher repeat sales, and higher profit per order. You too can achieve even greater success by mastering these three key concepts and designing the combinations for your particular business.

The problem is, most companies focus on the features… and forget the benefits. That’s because companies are so close to their products and services that they take the benefits for granted and focus on promoting their features.

You can’t leave out the benefit and expect the buyer to figure it out.

This is important, because benefits are the only reason people pay attention to what you’re selling. People want what’s in it for them and what your solution will do for them.

Features are important… they add credibility, but are only valid once the buyer is aware of the benefits to them.

Creating your Unique Benefit Message

Why should I do business with you instead of someone else? What benefits do you offer that make you unique to your target market?

The answer to those questions is your message. You might also have heard your message referred to as your “unique selling proposition” (USP), a term coined by Rosser Rieves in the 1950s.

To create your message:
———————–

–> Identify your features and benefits.

Gather your company’s promotional materials, ads, website pages and Yellow Pages listings. Next, take a note pad and draw a line down the middle of the page. Label one column FEATURES and the other column BENEFITS. Now search each item for the features and benefits offered and record them in the appropriate column.

Be careful not to confuse features for benefits. If you can put the words “you get…” (as in the buyer gets) in front of it, then it’s most likely a benefit.

If it’s about you, your product, your service, or your company then it’s a feature.

For example:
* “Open 24 hours” is a feature; the benefit is convenience.

* “Low Price” is a feature; the benefit is saving money.

* “In business since 1985″ is a feature; the benefit is the feeling of confidence it provides the buyer.

* “Quick delivery” is a feature; the benefit is saving time.

* “Handcrafted from solid Appalachian Oak” is a feature; the benefit is that it’s attractive.

* Offering a “100% money-back guarantee” is a feature; the benefit is that there is no risk.

* “Available in five colors” is a feature; the benefit is variety.

* “Radio dispatched” is a feature; fast response is the benefit.

* “Pentium IV” is a feature; higher performance and speed is the benefit.

* “Windows XP” is a feature; the benefit? _________ (Okay, I couldn’t resist.) The benefit is a visually driven operating system that’s easy to learn.

Repeat the process for each product or service group on a separate piece of paper. By now, you should have a long list of benefits and features. Don’t be concerned at this point if some of your benefits don’t appeal to all of your audiences. What’s important at this stage is that you have a list of why people should buy your products and services.

What are the top five benefits from your products or services?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Are those benefits clearly stated on your promotional materials in the way of headlines, subheads and body copy? Are they aimed at your target markets? If not, how are your customers supposed to figure out why they should do business with you? The key is to craft a message that communicates the benefit of each product and service you sell to each segment of your buying audience.

Now that you’re armed with your unique benefit messages you have to focus them at the best targets and send them using the most effective methods.

Element # 2: Your Specific Target Markets (Graphic: Target)

In today’s highly competitive, high tech marketplace knowing as much as possible about your specific buyers and their habits is critical to achieving maximum results. Results can be measured many ways… as in total responses or total percentage of profit. I’m always aiming at adding the most value that maximizes the return on investment. Therefore I want to sell to target markets that have the largest volume potential and still make a profit.

When I was selling PedaStyle, for example, my most profitable sale was direct to the consumer, although 90% of the revenues came from the specialty mail-order catalog companies, like The Sharper Image®, Frontgate®, Herrington®, and William Sonoma’s Hold-Everything® catalogs. That meant we had to carefully craft specific benefit messages for each target market while making sure we didn’t create conflict between the different distribution channels.

For example, the bicycle shops didn’t want us to sell to the catalog companies because customers could use their store to view the product, and then order from the catalog company to save money. Likewise, the catalog companies didn’t want us selling to the mass merchants because of the reduced retail price points. Understanding, this issue goes way beyond the normal issues of just demographics and into the psychology of the target market. What’s issues are important to them and then matching that with the benefits of your products and services.

Who you think your market is, may not necessarily be the most profitable market or the only market you should pursue. For instance, I knew the many benefits of my bicycle racks, and thought that one large target market was bicycle racers. They fit my preconceived idea of a target market. Most bicycle racers owned more than one bike, each bike was valued at over $500 each, so they should want the benefit of saving space, and protecting their investment in bicycles… right? But even though they seemed like a target market, they were more interested in spending their money on new components and traveling to bicycle races, than on storing their bicycles.

When I first met with the owner of Floating Swimwear, they were operating out of their basement and selling their product at consumer boat shows. Makes sense doesn’t it? People that own boats, probably have children and are definitely around water. They were in their 8th year of business with annual revenues that hadn’t exceeded $30,000. This was an absolute shame, because the product had so much more unused potential. While that was a market that wanted their product, it was only after applying the Mix Marketing System(tm) that a much larger target market was developed. Changing their target market from consumer direct to selling wholesale to pool & spa dealers, Floating Swimwear transformed itself into a market leader with sales over 750,000 in just a few years.

Quantum Expositions International started by producing their career fairs in the mid-west, with their only source of income from selling exhibit space at their expos. After looking closely at their target markets, they decided to market to major television and newspapers for sponsorships. This single move in target marketing tripped their revenues from the following two events.

Celebrity speaker and national best-selling author, Les Brown gives motivational talks to corporations, associations and conventions with annual revenues measured in millions. While he receives several talks from corporate audiences each year, the bulk of speaking and product sales come from events filled with entrepreneurs and network marketers. It fits since his theme is “Live Your Dreams” and “It’s Possible.” By focusing marketing efforts on that target market, and developing new products designed for them, we were able to dramatically increase his income and he continues to be in high demand.

The point is to evaluate who you are actually targeting with your marketing & promotional efforts. What evidence have you gathered, from what tests that prove that you should continue to pursue or go after a specific target market?

How to Define Your Target Markets.

Ask yourself these questions.
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1. What are the top three largest markets of people can benefit most from the value of my products or services?

2. What criteria am I using to categorize the different target markets?

3. Do they have the means and authority to make purchases?

4. What is the growth potential of the top three? Are they growing or shrinking in size of market?

5. Who are we aiming our benefit message towards right now?

6. What characteristics are being used to distinguish our target markets?

7. What markets are my competitors aiming at?

8. What are we using to track customer data?

9. Do we have a database of prospects and customers?

10. How often do we send a benefit message to them?

11. What demographic data have we collected?

12. What do we know about their reasons for buying from us?

The answers to those questions will help you recognize your specific target markets. Each product and service is unique and it’s critical for you to gather and track information about your customers and the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Did you notice any new target markets in your list? What can you do to improve the gathering of data about your customers?

By now you should have your list of unique benefit messages and know who you want to reach with them. The next key concept explores the different options available send your message to the target to score a winning combination.

Element # 3 Your Mastery of Marketing Methods

This is the element that most people are familiar with in terms of understanding what the methods are but not necessarily how to use them to their best advantage. The purpose of this section is to make you aware of the major categories of marketing methods, not to teach you every option available. It’s also to help you recognize that the methods do not stand alone, but must be combined properly with the other two elements of your unique benefit message and target market.

The marketing methods are divided into two sub-categories:
“CASH” methods that you have to pay for like advertising.
“NO-CASH” methods that you get for free or almost free like publicity.

Methods that cost you money.

This consists mainly of advertising and selling mediums were you pay to have your benefit message sent to a particular audience. For example, either through print, radio, television, Internet, tradeshows, telemarketing, or in-person sales calls and varies greatly depending upon your business.

Avoid image advertising and stick with direct response methods.

Image Advertising should be avoided. Often, businesses fall prey to the media advertising salesperson who talks in terms of image advertising. Where there is no way to accurately measure whether or not the advertising was successful. If sales go up, then they want to take the credit, if sales don’t then they explain that it must be due to the lack of repetition and suggest running the campaign again.

Now, I’m not against advertising… I just want people to use it effectively it help their business. When I ask clients if their prior image advertising is working they say, “we’re not sure but we are getting our name out and getting exposure.” Do you know what you get from exposure… a cold! So if you are going to spend your resources on advertising then make sure you lead with benefits, substantiate your claim with features, have a specific offer and an action step that tells the prospect what to do… call, write, etc. Support it with a system for tracking the responses.

Direct response advertising methods are measurable, and therefore easy to know immediately if they are working. An example of direct response advertising for the bicycle racks was an advertisement in bicycle magazines offering buy two and get one free with no shipping expenses through the end of the month by calling 800-946-7804 x 230. Even though we didn’t have an extension 230, we knew which advertisement the lead came from.

Floating Swimwear advertised a “new dealer starter kit” for $548 in their industry trade magazines using a special toll-free number. They also exhibited at the National Pool & Spa shows across the country and generated more orders in each three-day show, then in the entire previous year.

One of Floating Swimwear’s distributors decided to run display advertisements in the Wall Street Journal. They were convinced that running only a couple of advertisements would yield hundreds of orders because of the shear numbers of circulation. That’s a dangerous assumption. They spent $18,000 in advertising and only sold 36 swimsuits. The benefit message was right, but the target market and use of the marketing method not effective and they lost all of their money.

In an attempt to sell a large number of floating swimsuits in a short period of time, another dealer decided to create a television commercial. His deciding factor was that he was getting such a great deal on the airtime he couldn’t pass it up. They did their initial research and selected markets that had large numbers of homes with pools… hardly a proper marketing test. They invested over $50,000 and sold less than 75 orders. The commercial was fine, the problem was that not many parents with small children are up watching television at 3:00 am. Again, it was not the method that failed, but the combination and implementation of the method.

For my consulting and speaking services I send direct response sales letters to targeted lists offering solutions to increase sales, productivity and profits, supported by free “added-value” special reports and audio cassettes filled with marketing techniques that they can implement immediately to achieve better results. For each specific market, I craft a new unique benefit message and track the results in my database. I start with smaller mailings as tests, and test different offers, pricing, and lists. Once I find a combination with a good response I increase mailing on a larger scale.

For the bicycle racks we testing many different paid methods of marketing. Each target market and channel of distribution had it’s own combination of these concepts that made it successful. We attracted most of our dealers, catalogs and exporters from industry trade shows, but the awareness of our products came from the thousands of dollars worth of free publicity we received year after year.

List the paid forms of marketing methods that you are currently using on a piece of paper. Are you tracking the response and their effectiveness?

Why spend money when you can get it for free?

When was the last time you send a media release about your products or services? Free publicity is often overlooked and under utilized. It’s amazing that people don’t take advantage of this category of marketing methods more often.

With the line of bicycle racks I sent out hundreds of media releases each quarter. When the editors had the room in the magazines, they would run my release. It created credibility through third-party validation. Each year, we would hear “we see your ads everywhere, how can you afford to run so much advertising?” We couldn’t, it was mostly the free media releases. Sending media & press releases continues to be one of our best methods of marketing for our clients.

Mastering the Marketing Methods
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There are several great resources that go into step-by-step detail of how to use different marketing methods, many of them can be found throughout this site http://www.primeconcepts.com. Think of the marketing methods as the devices used to send your unique benefit messages to your specific target markets. Each concept by itself is important, but only when they are used in the right combinations do they become powerful. Your results increase exponentially when you combine publicity and multiple marketing methods tailored to each target market.

Putting it all together…

In one word “testing.”

I’ve sat in on several focus groups and meetings where people sit around and try to speculate which market would be better than that market, which method should they use.

I recently worked with a company to write a direct marketing sales letter. They were clear on their market and the benefits, but not sure about the method. I wrote two different headlines and split the initial test mailing in half. Each half received a different headline with a unique extension after the phone extension so we could track the responses. One headline out pulled the other by 2 to 1. Imagine if we wouldn’t have tested.

Of course you should gather market research and plan a marketing strategy, but you’ll never really know without testing. Testing, testing and then, that’s right… testing again.

Test by sending your unique benefit messages to different specific target markets and tracking the responses from each marketing method. Start small and repeat the tests until you get the response rate that is acceptable to you.

Marketing is a science and not an art. Test everything, your headlines, the copy, the colors, the markets, your benefit messages, price points and keep track of the results. Once you find a winning combination, repeat it and expand it.

MIX Marketing System™ “Keepers”

–> Even if you have the best product idea in the world you still have to get it in front of the right decision-makers.

–> It’s not the marketing strategy that works or not, but your application of the strategy that counts.

–> You must clearly understand who your buyer is and know as much about them as possible.

–> Who you think your market is, may not actually be the people you are selling to.

–> Selecting the right benefits and target them for each buying market.

–> Start with a small test. Test, and then test again. Then increase your efforts.

Action Steps: 6 Steps to your Success with the Mix Marketing System(tm)

1.Complete the features and benefits exercise and design your unique benefit messages for each valuable solution that you offer.

2.Select the top three or four markets that you feel have the most potential and gather as much information about them as possible.

3. Study the different marketing methods (CASH) and list the ones that you feel would be the most effective to send your message to the target market.

4. Send out press-releases (NO CASH) with benefits to each specific audience.

5. Apply the Mix Marketing System™ elements and implement a test.

6. Evaluate your results, make a modification to only one element at a time and test again until you find the best combinations.

Best of Success,
Ford Saeks,
Internet Marketing Speaker, Business Consultant