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May
25

Good news for marketers… or is it news?

By | advertising, Copywriting, Direct Mail, Entrepreneur, Leads Generation, Marketing on the web, Success, Wacky marketing ideas

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NEWS FLASH: Long copy ads make a comeback.

Or did they actually go anywhere?

One of the longest standing debates online is whether long copy or short copy works better.

Short copy advocates say “no one will read all that text”.

Long copy advocates say “without the text they have nothing to base a decision on”.

As you probably know by now, I am a BIG believer in long copy ads.

So when I saw this article by Marketing Forecast, it wasn’t a big surprise to me.

The summary – short copy ads are increasing prevalent on the net, and increasing difficult to stand out from the crowd with.

Reaaaaally?

Who’d have thunk it?

Imagine that…

…someone interested in weight loss goes online and sees one page with some pretty pictures of people who lost weight – and an order button.

The next page they go to shows the pictures, and actually tells the story about how Joe was 84 pounds overweight, had poor health, his children were worried about him, his boss gave him an ultimatum about dressing properly to be in front of clients, and his wife stopped having sex with him a year ago.

Eureka!

He finds a simple solution… and follows it to the T.

It shows his journal entries… and his weight loss records. Then it explains what his life is like now being 75 pounds lighter, happy kids he can play with, his wife is constantly dragging him back to the bedroom, and his boss gave him a raise thanks to his increased confidence and sales numbers.

What do you think…

…pretty pictures

…or an actual story explaining the pictures

Which will make more money?

Not too hard to figure out.

If the long copy ad is targeted at people who are overweight and experiecing problems liuke Joe was, the long copy ad will SMOKE the short copy ad.

It. Just. Makes. Sense.

But it is news on the internet.

For some reason.

The point is… long copy is (almost) always easier to tell a story with.

Picture ads look nice, but are MUCH more costly to try and get the sales numbers.

And the small business owners and entrepreneurs I work with are wayyyyyy more concerned about their bank account and ability to feed their family, than the beautiful branding campaign that cost them a second mortgage and brought them nothing in bankable revenues.

I LOVE working with entrepreneurs.

Their passion is contagious.

Their drive is irreplacable.

Their ability to see and do things mere mortals can’t is admirable.

And their entrepreneurial spirit is what drives economies back from the brink.

I never left long copy – and if you did – now is the time to get back!

Let me know your thoughts on the long copy vs short debate.

Troy

Apr
28

9 ways to promote your business in the coming months…

By | advertising, Copywriting, Leads Generation, Neighborhood Marketing, Wacky marketing ideas

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Well, it’s now time to start planning for May/June/July
promotions.

I realize that you may not be using print mail for yoru
marketing, but I DO highly recommend it.  There is a simple 2
page letter I am using with my clients that is seeing exceptional
results for generating leads and sales.

One person saw a 18% response from the first letter to a list
that had NEVER heard from him before.

Another sent a modified version of the letter to her list of clients
(that hadn’t heard from her in years). She saw well over 12% response
from the first mailing and a substantial sales boost from this simple letter.

Try getting those kind of numbers from your emails… not easy.

I am not saying to stop email – I love email – I am just saying
that print mail can be a fantastic way to communicate with people
(and you aren’t bundled in with the 200 other emails they get
that day).

Look at the time it will take to write your promo, organize
printing and envelope stuffing, mailing etc.  3 weeks can fly by
in no time.

Here are a few upcoming events (with grabber ideas to be attached
to top of the letter – see www.orientaltrading.com for a ton of
grabber ideas) that tie in nicely to your promotions:

=============
>>>> MAY <<<<
=============

May 9) Mothers day (ideas: special for mothers, specials for
those who love their mothers, specials for those who want to give
a gift to a mother)

Grabber idea: mini flowers, or a bandaid (mothers were always
great at fixing boo-boos)

May 30) Australia’s first dentist Simon Lear starts to yank out
teeth (1818) – (how many ideas can you come up with around the
idea of yanking teeth – or hating to visit a dentist – or a job
where no one enjoys or appreciates you?)

Grabber idea: tooth on a chain attached, miniature drill, packet
of aspirin

==============
>>>> JUNE <<<<
==============

4) French opera star becomes first women to fly in a balloon
(1784) (how to sail high above the crowds, women breaking free of
everything that held them back, From “singing to sailing”)

Grabber idea: attach a balloon to the top of the letter

13) Alexander the Great dies from over eating (323BC) – perfect
for anything fitness related, food related, over indulging, the
fact that no-one is invincible

Grabber idea: miniature platter of food, mini coffin

15) Benjamin Franklin discovers electricity (1752) – making a
breakthrough discovery, electrify your profits or love life or
money situation.

Grabber idea: light bulb, kite string with key attached

26) Fat, drunk King George IV dies from over eating (1830) -
similar to Alexandar the Great above – could combine the 2 to
make for a VERY powerful introduction – 2 of the worlds greatest
leaders fall to the simplest of pleasures…

Grabber idea: Kings crown, miniature platter of food, mini coffin

==============
>>>> JULY <<<<
==============

8) World’s first supermarket opens in USA (1912) – when
convenience really matters – share the difference between how
things used to be compared to how they are now then compare to
your offering and how much easier you will make things

Grabber idea: mini shopping cart, grocery receipt, savings coupon

15) Flush toilet invented (1588) – are you flushing your money
down the toilet? – things we take for granted (flush versus most
of world without flush)

Grabber idea: mini toilet, toilet paper made into coupon, flush
handle

30) Henry Ford’s B-day – famous quotes from Ford “one color only
- black”, automating things that used to take too much time,

Grabber idea: toy antique car

============================
How can you make the most of this email?
============================

The possibilities to tie in holidays to your promotions are
endless.

The key is to pick one, craft a sales letter around the theme,
and get it sent out in a timely manner.

===========================
If you need help with getting started,
here is one option I can provide right now
===========================

1) Take the Sales Letter Success Workshop and Home Study Course
For a very minimal investment, you can learn exactly how to
create sales letters that sell.

“A great handout package and resources
kit. Lots of unique and inspiring
marketing techniques.

You always deliver more than you promise!

Thanks Troy.”     Kim Palmer

“Huge volume of useful material. Great
value Troy!”

Ann Stewart

PLUS, I will bonus you a copy of the 2 page letter we are using
if you decide to invest in the home study program.
http://saleslettersuccess.com/homestudy.html

Look forward to more marketing reminder tips in the next few
weeks.

***> If you can’t find an idea or two for a promotion with all
these big holidays coming up – we REALLY need to talk!

To your marketing success,

Troy White

Apr
11

Promotion Power (and proof of results)

By | Leads Generation, Main Content, Neighborhood Marketing, Success

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Some of the best lessons to learn from are from unrelated businesses and industries.

While I never think price slashing is the real answer to cash flow issues, it can bring in some serious numbers.

The car industry is in serious turmoil right now.

Which meant they did slash prices.

What did it do to sales numbers?

The results are in for March, 2010.

US highlights:

- Industry wide sales have run at the fastest pace last month since 2009′s cash-for-clunkers rebates.
- General Motors Co. posted a 21 percent increase in March U.S. sales.
- American Honda was up 22 percent, in line with predictions.
- Subaru, the only automaker to post U.S. sales gains in each of the past two years, rose 46 percent.
- Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. rose more than 40 percent as higher incentives industry wide helped lure buyers to showrooms.

Canadian highlights:

- Ford Motor Co. of Canada led all auto makers in the country in sales last month with a 29-per-cent increase.
- Subaru Canada Inc. said March was a record-setting month with a 33% increase over March 2009.
- Toyota Canada Inc. reported a 24% jump in year-over-year sales in March.
- Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. reported a 25% spike in sales.
- Kia Canada furthered its year-over-year sales by nearly 25%.

So there are definitely some big increases in sales numbers.

Profits of course must decrease with a revenue per purchase decline.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the long term with their new pricing strategies.

It could save them…

…or put the final stake in their coffins.

Wait and see.

Nothing wrong with doing a one-off price slash sale…but never make it part of your routine.

Once people notice you are a price slasher and always have a sale on… they will never pay full price again.

Something to watch for.

Mar
30

The Belly Dance Bonanza… and 11 ways to grow a business

By | advertising, Entrepreneur, Leads Generation, Marketing on the web, Social Networking, Success, Wacky marketing ideas

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I gotta tell you an amazing story because…

… you just never know where your next “Big Idea” might come from.

This is a story that was told by one of my Wild West Wealth participants. Actually, she stood up and told the whole crowd about it at our Wild West Christmas Bash in December.

I was relating the story of how I got the whole Wild West Wealth event going … about how frustrated I was over always having to travel all the time to the US for marketing seminars and training … how I didn’t even come up with this idea until January and started promoting in March (for a summer event)…

… and how my “business coach” (a position he didn’t hold for long) advised me, none too delicately, that it was an awful idea and I should just forget the whole thing.

Yeah, right … that just got my hackles up!

This was, after all, my … BIG IDEA.

Long story short … as you know, I went ahead full steam … got my speakers lined-up (including the major coup of getting Ted Nicholas to come all the way from Switzerland to teach us all a thing or two … or thirty!) … and the Wild West Wealth Summits were a HUGE success.

There were HUNDREDS of strategies presented by our line-up of experts.

But, y’know … sometimes the tiniest spark can ignite YOUR next ”big idea”.

One person, in particular, took an off-hand comment of mine and turned it into…

Well … I’ll let Daphne tell it from here, in her own words…

“When I went to the Wild West Summit in the summer, I was inspired by something you mentioned. You were saying you always go to the United States to study what you need to study … and how that was the inspiration for you to put together a seminar right here in Canada … and I thought, ‘Oh my god … I can totally do that in MY business!’

“I own a belly dance academy … so I go to The States or to Europe to study with masters and I thought, ‘Well, I can   bring some of these people to Canada’ …

…so I did. And I had the largest belly dance festival in Western Canada. http://bellydance.ca

“People came in from Alaska, from The States and across Canada.

“That was in October … so, from the summer to October, I put all this together and brought in three major instructors …

and

it was a huge success. All from one little comment.

“So thank you, Troy!”

And therein lies the secret of success…

Look for people who are achieving the things you want in YOUR business and in YOUR life … find out how they’re doing it …

and TAKE ACTION!

There’s no substitute.

What do you think Daphne’s Big Idea will do for her business?

What will YOUR next Big Idea do for YOUR business, your bottom line?

There’s only one way to find out … IMPLEMENT it.

Just like Daphne did.

Take action!

One simple step a day to grow your business will do immense amounts of good to your bank account.

…One blog post
…One personality driven email to your list
…One online press release
…One phone call to a past client
…One comment on your favorite blog
…One article written and submitted to the directories (I’ve been having great success using odesk.com to find excellent
assistants and researchers)
…One hand-written note to a customer or prospect
…One quick and dirty video tip you can send to your customers
…One top 10 list you can use on your website
…One call to a like-minded entrepreneur who sells to the same type of buyers as you (to set up a joint venture)
…One birth of a new workshop idea your clients and prospects would want

Here’s to greater success in 2010 than you’ve ever experienced!

~ Troy

Mar
18

The Importance of Subheads in Your Marketing

By | advertising, Affluent buyers, Copywriting, Direct Mail, Entrepreneur, Leads Generation, Main Content, Marketing on the web, Neighborhood Marketing, Success, Time management and productivity, Wacky marketing ideas

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You need to seriously look at the layout of your marketing materials.  Look at your web pages, your brochures, your emails, your handouts, your sales letters – and all of your advertisements.

Are you using subheads?

You should be.

It’s easier on the eyes to have a scanning ability built in.  And subheads make it easy on the reader to quickly find the areas that are of interest.

Chances are… they will not read your sales piece from start to finish.  They will skim and scan – looking for things that catch your eye.

And the subheads job is to guide them (by scanning) to the order page without having read the entire thing.

Good subheads can tell the story and get them to order.

Good subheads are powerful headlines in themselves.

For example…

3 Things You Must Do Today To Improve Your Business

REVEALED! The secrets behind their success… and their fall to lose it all.

When you are crafting subheads – put them in bold and centered. Even a font size bigger and a different font can help guide the eyes down the right path.

The path that leads to a sale and another happy customer!

To your success,

Troy White

Mar
17

Tips to make your sales letters, web pages and promotions more successful

By | advertising, Affluent buyers, Copywriting, Direct Mail, Entrepreneur, Leads Generation, Main Content, Marketing on the web, Neighborhood Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Social Networking, Success, Time management and productivity, Twitter, Wacky marketing ideas

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How to structure your sales material is just as important as the content in it.  If it doesn’t look appealing to read – they won’t read it.

And the things that make it appealing can be disturbing to many who are unfamiliar with direct response marketing.

For example…

1) Use a headline on everything you use for marketing your business. And not the form of headline you see all over the web… “Welcome To Our Home Page”. One like that will get your prospect more turned off than turned on.  It says nothing about why they should keep reading.  And online – you have 5 seconds to state your case and get them reading before they click away to the next site.

Strong compelling headlines on why they should keep reading…

Discover 5 Easy Ways to Turn Your Website Visitors into Buyers

Learn How to Turn Your Words into Wealth

Warning: If You Are About To Hire a Website Designer – Read This First

Are You Using Illegal Means To Capture New Clients? The Answer Will Surprise You! Read This First Before You Hear From A Lawyer.

And so on.

Headlines will make or break your success online or off… make sure you use them

2) After the headline start with a short, snappy lead that feeds off the headline. The headline is designed to get them to read the lead line – the lead line designed to get them to read the next line – and so on – and so on.

E.g.

It’s true.  Your website visitors are being wasted and there is a simple way to make them stay and get them buying.

or…

Believe it or not… a single 3 word change on your web page can increase your sales by up to 470%.

or…

You web designer and copywriters have put your company in a very dangerous legal situation.

Make it intriguing and promising a solution and they will keep reading.

A few other tips keep them reading…

Indent the first line of each paragraph

Double space between paragraphs

Use short paragraphs (even one sentence paragraphs)

Use spaces or gaps in the paragraph.  When we talk – we pause.  And it should be the same while reading. So use pauses in your writing as well to flow like we speak.  You can use the – or … to indicate a pause.  Use them as you would while speaking.

Read it out loud – if you stumble over certain words or structure – redo it until it flows.

Try changing your sales and marketing pieces using these techniques and test to see the results for yourself. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

To your success,

Troy White

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