Category: General Marketing

“On a bed made of money…”

Coming across quotes from the incredible MadMen series is inevitable on a copywriter’s blog.

Well, perhaps not the above quote, but, we could all learn something from Don Draper’s core message here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBl0L5R0I_w

“People want to be told what to do so badly that they’ll listen to anyone. ” – Don Draper

It’s true.

It’s what your prospective customers want.

They want and need to be told what to do.

To read this post, to give you a call, to take any form of action.

And while they may listen to anyone, you can make their job even easier by branding yourself as a perceived expert in your field.

This way they’ll feel confident in their decision. They won’t look stupid, because after all, you’re an expert – right?

We trust and do what our GP or accountant tells us to do because they are the experts.

It’s your job to do the same, prove you’re an expert, and in turn, you’ll gain the respect and trust of your prospects.

Do this, and they’ll be putty in your hands, willing to do what you’re advising because…you’re the expert.

Want some ideas on how you could come across as an expert in your industry?

Drop me an email: [email protected]

“No thanks is the answer. Nobody really uses email anymore. Marketing with it won’t work in 2019.”

The above note dropped into my inbox this morning.

It’s an EMAIL response to an outreach EMAIL I sent to some stone cold prospects last week.

Oh, sweet baby Jesus, the levels of irony…

It’s something I do hear quite a bit.

The favourite quip from know-alls being…

“You do know, EMAIL IS DEAD!?”

I get why they say this. Apparently, we spend about TWO HOURS per day using social media.

With Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat and everything in-between to entertain us, who wants to check their boring old email aye?

It’s true, we spend less time in our inbox than we do on social media.

But, it doesn’t mean email is any less critical.

After all, try signing up to most of the social networks, or using online banking, or paying utilities, or shopping online WITHOUT using your email address.

You can’t. We all use email in some form or another daily.

As we’ve just shown, every business, large or small, whether you like it or not, is an EMAIL business.

So, given how much we all still use email, you’re missing out on a massive chunk of potential customers if you don’t use email marketing as a central cog of your marketing efforts.

Someone’s email inbox is one of the few sacred, intimate areas where you can still get your messages delivered.

They hate spam, but they will open, read and respond to messages if it’s relevant to them, their pain, or their need.

Think about it; you don’t even see every social media post or advert as you’re endlessly scrolling on Facebook.

But, you at least *notice* an email that’s popped into your inbox, even if it’s just to delete it.

It’s your job to make that subject line and email snippet enticing enough to save it from the Trash bin.

Need a hand with your email copywriting?

You need a Freelance Email Copywriter

And you’re looking straight at one…almost.

Whether they’re stone cold emails, part of a longer-term email marketing campaign or you need help to start a newsletter; I could be your man.

For a freelance email copywriter who focusses on driving sales and not just creating more content, give me a bell.

01424 307 037 or email [email protected]

Speak soon,

Liam

I expect you’ve noticed the rain recently, right?

There have been sinkholes on the M25, a section of the rail line here in Eastbourne blew up (genuinely, it did), and worst of all…

…we woke up to a power cut this morning.

UK Power Network was on the issue, but I didn’t know until much, much later.

Because in January clever dick over here ditched his iPhone.

Which means…if there’s no WiFi to use with my laptop (or Archie’s iPad) – I’m snookered.

It felt strange being so cut off — no CBeebies for Archie, no much-needed coffee for yours truly.

Eventually, I received a text on my trusty Nokia from my energy provider telling me it will be sorted shortly.

And it is, hoorah.

Being so dependent on electricity, as we all are is a scary thought.

But, on the same idea of dependency, from a marketing perspective, I have an even scarier idea.

Being Dependant on One Marketing Tool

The thought of those businesses who rely solely on a single channel for their lead generation and marketing.

Particularly those businesses which pour tonnes of money, time and effort into just one channel.

Facebook, for example.

It’s easy to do, especially if you have it on your phone, alongside FB Messenger you have an all-in-one lead gen and customer service machine in the palm of your hand.

But, you’re putting all your eggs in one basket. What would happen if you dropped it?!

What if Facebook banned you tomorrow?

You’d have to start again from scratch.

You need to own the data, which is why having some kind of email list or database is so important.

Think of ways to get your audience off Facebook and get into their inbox.

Mix the two while the sun shines, and you’ve got an even more successful lead generation formula.

And then, when it does rain, it’s not the end of the world.

You’ve not lost the lot, and you can continue to talk to your audience by email.

Worth a thought.

Speak soon,

Liam.

Just imagine you’re at home.

You’re relaxing on the sofa.

When suddenly, you remember.

That thing in the corner.

That device that’s always on.

It’s now glowing.

The blue light is on.

You freeze.

Your blood turns cold.

You feel beads of sweat on the back of your neck.

It’s listening.

… it’s your friendly Amazon Alexa, eavesdropping on you again.

Maybe Bezos was inspired by it?

I doubt it, but, you can see the similarities between home devices such as Alexa, and the scary, always listening, always on, Telescreens from George Orwell’s 1984.

Big Brother is Watching YOU

(Can you tell I’ve recently reread it!?)

1984 is more than an uncanny glimpse into the possible future (or present) from almost 70 years ago.

From a marketing perspective, you can take copy notes from the Party’s invented Newspeak language.

Newspeak, is a controlled language of restricted grammar and limited vocab, meant to limit the freedom of thought — personal identity, self-expression, free will etc.

The average prole like us will find almost any sentence made up of Newspeak challenging to read, let alone understand and act upon.

For example, the only way to express the meaning of “bad” is through the word “ungood.” Something extremely bad is called “doubleplus ungood.”

Catchy right?

So, tell me, why do so many big corporates insist on using Newspeak on their websites, literature and general copy?

I write a lot of copy for corporates across a tonne of sectors.

From financial services, to manufacturing, to marketing.

I’ll read the brief, and visit their website to gain some background info myself.

I’m telling you, the sheer amount of fluff and unnecessary wording is troubling.

I mean, I’m being paid to help them, and even I get lost.

I feel for any prospective customers who come across their sites; these are real-life people WITH MONEY TO SPEND.

So, unless they’re equally lifeless corporate entities, ditch the Newspeak.

Speak soon, Comrade!

…and remember, “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear!”

“More ‘woodwouse’ – Daddy, more ‘woodwouse’?”

That’s Archie, he’s three.

One of his favourite things to do is search for woodlice.

It’s the same almost every morning, straight after his breakfast, while still in his PJ’s he’ll throw on his wellies and trek into the garden.

He stomps around with a bamboo stick looking for his favourite ‘woodwouse’.

Looking in the lawn, under his sandpit, on his slide, in his paddling pool.

Sometimes he’s lucky, most of the time he’s not.

He hasn’t got a system, he just jumps from one location to the next.

If only he realised all he had to do was look under the plant pots, or within the woodchip and he’ll find more than he would know what to do with.

It’s the same for most small businesses.

They too, stomp around with their business card or flyer (their bamboo stick), hoping to find new customers.

Jumping from one marketing tool, trick, platform and method to the next.

If only they realised they just needed to find where their customers were hanging out, find their pant pot, and impress them.

They don’t have a system for finding leads.

Measure and test every marketing trick in the book until you stumble across one that works consistently and then squeeze every last prospect from it.

You really can do prospecting better than a three-year-old and his bamboo stick!

Cheers,

Liam

You click on Facebook, or even worse – LinkedIn, indulging in your daily (or more probably hourly) hit of social media dopamine. 

**Endless scroll, endless scroll, endless scroll**

I bet a pound to a penny you’ve seen something that made you grimace and think… 
“Who cares?!”

Now put yourself shoes of anyone who isn’t one of your customers.

What do they think about YOUR marketing? 

Individuals, potential customers, just don’t care about you. 

Your rich history. Your extensive boring product line. Your qualifications or awards. 

No, they only care about themselves.

Their family.
Their income.
Their issues.  They don’t care about you.

Remember this and you’ll start to see better results.  

No more elevator pitches, BS LinkedIn updates, or emails talking about how good you are or your latest la-di-da widget.

Focus on how your product:

Solves THEIR problems. 
Soothes their aching pains. 
Delivers their secret desires. 

Make it about THEM, not YOU. 

Legendary ad exec and copywriter John Caples ran a test among some of the best performing ads at the time, and guess what the most common word was?

YOU

He said:

“Every copywriter should remember the value of hammering away at you, you, you, both in headlines and in copy.” – John Caples

Happy marketing. 

Liam

Wow, a hell of a long time since I’ve updated this blog.

C’est la vie, we’re all busy, and who reads this stuff anyway?

Well…you might be now, so, let’s get straight to it.

Rewind to the beginning of last week. I received this email…

“Hi Liam,

I provide XYZ services in the Crawley/Gatwick area. I’ve written lots of content for my own website, and I’m always on social media – but I’m not getting the results I want.

If you could take a look over what I’ve done and let me know your thoughts, we could perhaps then arrange a conference call to discuss it?”

It’s the same old marketing story.

People frantically tap tap tapping away, creating ‘content’ but failing to get results.

No one is responding, reading or buying.

You’d feel like chucking it all in after a while.

So, why isn’t it working?

Among a tonne of possibilities, it could be because YOU’RE NOT PREPARING.

It’s all well and good churning out content like a production line on heat…but…if you’ve not considered a couple of crucial elements, it probably won’t even be seen, let alone convert readers into leads.

So, when you’re next at the keyboard think of this writing formula.

Ed Mayer’s 40 / 40 / 20 rule for marketing success:-

40%: The quality of the list (the audience)
40%: The offer (what you’re flogging)
20%: The creative (the actual thing you’re producing, email, leaflet, direct mail)

Since most of us tend to just get on with writing (turning that 20% into 80%+) without thinking about how right the audience is or how juicy the offer is, is it any wonder some marketing pieces are destined for the bin before they’re even sent out?

The list needs to be worked on, some experts believe that provided you’ve got a hungry list, full of prospects who are DYING for your offering, it doesn’t matter what you produce, or what it even looks like – they will buy.

That’s how important the audience is.

And then, there’s the offer itself.

When there’s any doubt in your offering, if a prospect can think of a hundred and one objections – then it’s not strong enough.

Remember, “The right offer should be so attractive that only a lunatic would say ‘No’.” Claude Hopkins said that, he’s considered one of the pioneers of advertising…it’s worth a thought before you crank out that next email blast.

Happy tapping 🙂

So, a prospect has made contact with you.

Perhaps they’ve asked for a quote, a sample or a call back.

You’ve handed over the goods, provided said quote, tried to give them that call, but…

This lead goes quiet.

They’re ignoring your calls, they’re even reading your follow up emails, but they still don’t respond.

Stone cold silence…

Frustrating right?

It happens to the best of us, after all, they say sales is a numbers game right?

But, it doesn’t have to be this way.

What if you could up your response rates?

If you could almost guarantee at least *some* kind of response from these leads?

You can.

By working with me to re-write your follow up emails.

I specialise in cold and follow up messages.

Using my nifty sales copywriting skills, I will work with you to re-write your current arsenal of sales and follow up emails.

Ensuring each message you send out gets opened, read, and responded to.

Want to know more? Drop me an email: [email protected]