Stop Making It About You

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Liam Atkins

I did this, we do that, I’m the bee’s knees’ at XYZ…

Take a step back, look at your own website, your own social media profiles and your latest advertising pieces. How many often are you talking about yourself?

I mean, you may well think that’s what you need to be doing when promoting your business and services. Your spending money on promoting yourself…so make it about you, right?

Take a minute and have a good look at printed adverts and online promo’s that do this and ask yourself – ‘who cares?’

Who cares?

Genuinely, who gives a flying f-bomb, if your business has been around for 100 years, or that you’ve invested tonnes of cash in super-duper machinery, or your team are trained to XYZ standard.

The average reader is only interested in how any of these things that are essentially just features of your business or service, actually impacts or interests them – their own lives, their business or their pocket.

Within the copywriting and marketing world, many of the top experts ensure every single statement published by their clients pass the ‘So What..?’ test.

They demand their clients are honest and brutal with every sentence published, asking them – ‘So what?’

So what…your business has been around for 100 years?

So what…you’ve invested heavily in machinery?

So what…your team are highly trained?

If your reader finds themselves saying ‘so what’ to a statement, you’ve lost them. Instead, try accompanying a statement (if it’s really needed) with a clear, tangible benefit to the reader.

So, the above features behind your business can easily turn into clear benefits which pass the ‘So what’ test…

Clear benefits

You can relax knowing that, with 100 years of expertise behind everything we do, your widget is in safe, capable hands.

Get your products produced faster and for less with us. Thanks to our investment in the latest, quickest and most efficient machinery in the industry.

Don’t let technical queries slow down your production. Solve your post-production questions immediately by calling our highly trained staff.

Most of the time, we couldn’t care less about you…especially if your advert / cold call / email is interrupting our day. We all only really care about ourselves, so keep it about US.

P.S. Weirdly, as I’m doing my own research on copywriters and competition across the UK, so many copywriters just talk about themselves vs. their client, or how they can solve the clients problems.

Baffling really, but if it works for them and they’re bringing in the clients they need – good for them.

Next up, more research – I’ve been reading loads into John Carlton and Dan Kennedy’s work. I really enjoy the more ‘Americanised’ direct response side of copywriting, so I’m hoping to be able to adopt it, and perhaps tone it down / hone it more to a UK audience for my own clients.

A New Client + Working For vs. In

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Liam Atkins

Being busy is great, but a problem many business owners face is that they’re working for the business, being the marketer, secretary, admin and service professional. This is how individuals, despite being busy, stifle their earning and income potential. So, given this, onto today’s post…

…with excitement about my first real local business signing up for some copywriting!

New Copywriting Client

A local hair salon owner has contacted me about ideas to drum up new customers. At the moment the owner is the main stylist and – while often fully booked, she wishes to 10x her business and start running it vs. working in it.

There’s lots of things off the bat which we are going to be looking at improving; her website design in general, consistent social media usage and – the lack of digital client database.

Which means that we’re starting from scratch with a few things – not ideal, but if i can successfully turn results for her it’d be a great case study to add to my copywriting and marketing portfolio.

We will be looking to also do a longform piece of direct mail with road, by road personalisation + plus a few extra bits of secret sauce I’m hoping will convert.

I’ll post a proper update once the game plan has been confirmed with the client and, after implementing – the final results.

Liam.

Scrolling Like Social Media Zombies

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Liam Atkins

Another day, another post.

I used to be one of those people who, as soon as I woke up – eyes still crusty, and the smell of morning breath in the air – instantly grabbed my phone to check social media.

Constantly glued to my phone, not only instantly responding / reacting to the latest Facebook notification, but also aimlessly, in a daze, scrolling through social feeds simply ‘cos it was there.

It had become a habit.

After selling my cryptocurrency business, this really hit home. I had loads of new time on my hands, which should be filled with exciting adventures with Archie (I look after him full time), but instead – I was having Cbeebies doing the child caring while I sat, aimlessly, scrolling thru ‘the feed’…

(Archie was also grabbing my phone at times and copying the ‘scrolling’ action; that’s not good for a 22 month old right?!)

This was the stark wake up call for me. Social media, for all it’s positives, connecting people across the globe, enabling brands to market directly to consumers etc – is, most of the time, let’s be honest… a massive waste of time.

Too many of us accidentally get sucked into the void and become social media zombies.

Instead of living in the moment I was scrolling through Facebook, reading threads on Twitter about subjects I couldn’t give a fuck about, and becoming more and more envious of everyones perfectly PR’d lives on Instagram.

And you know what, social media drains you.

It doesn’t make you happy, it just makes you more and more unhappy. Constant reminders of what you don’t, can’t or will never have / be like.

Picking up your phone, again – one more time, is like mindlessly stubbing your toe over and over hoping for a different reaction to ‘shit, that hurts’. It’s dumb.

It becomes an addiction.

After letting the likes of Hey Dugee and Mr Tumble be Archie’s caregivers for all too long, I deleted every social media app from my phone.

Image source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/something-special

And it felt like a giant relief!

A massive weight off my shoulders – and now, two months down the line, I couldn’t care less.

I’ve not deleted my social profiles, I just have to manually log on to my laptop to be able to use them.

Sitting upright with a laptop isn’t as convenient or as enjoyable as scrolling thru in bed, or on the toilet – so, like checking your email, it’s a quick mooch around on each channel, and then I log back out.

Doing just this simple action has made me far more comfortable and grateful for what I have around me, the people and material things, and I’ve got loads more done – and I’m now no longer glued to my phone.

Meaning a happier Liam and a more entertained Archie.

Don’t get it twisted though, like any addiction – going cold turkey like this – although it sounds ridiculous, was hard. I reinstalled Instagram a few times…and then deleted it again after getting ‘my fix’.

So I can completely see how we’re now seeing genuine mental health problems related to social media use, selfie addiction etc.

But, as with anything, social media usage, like alcohol – even chocolate, coffee – is fine, in moderation. It does boast a truck load of positives, but there is the dark side which we all have to be wary of.

What does this mean for marketing?

Despite the recent Cambridge Analytica / Facebook data issues, it merely reinforces the point that data works. Social media can be used by businesses and brands to get their messages in front of their audience.

The audience endlessly scrolling, ready to be sold and marketed to, on the 4.5inch screen in their pocket – all from the comfort of their bed, sofa…or even toilet.

…this wasn’t meant to be an overly cynical post. Social media has a role and is important in today’s world, especially for business and brand relationships. This is just my personal experience tbh, and may be completely different for you.

Received the mind map of content from the crypto client today ahead of their big launch. Eager to get started on their content this week.

Losing Trust With BS Copy Techniques

Liam Atkins

Back to the blog, and straight down to it.

Have you ever seen a piece of marketing, a sales letter, landing page or email and you just think “I call bullshit…”?

Lately you see it on Facebook and Instagram with the ‘I can help you make £10k a month’ BS posts.

We all know they’re bullshit, often praying on someone’s desperation, or just greed to get a sale for their crappy ‘make money while you sleep’ course.

These posts do work though. Which made me think, what else do we see on a daily basis which – perhaps more subtly, you can call BS on while still being used by proper businesses selling stuff? – And how you could use them, without an bovine whiff…

Exclusivity.

I saw this example in an email from Wayfair today, the subject line reading ‘Exclusively for you: Welcome offers for every room’.

A solid subject line – it’s targeted, shows their list is segmented and pushes exclusivity – a marketing technique we all fall for.

I immediately opened the email, and what did I find…? Just a long boring email full of generic product photos and links, which are hardly exclusively available or offered for me.

The Wayfair email database knows I haven’t bought yet, they’ve got that right, so they’re enticing me to make my first purchase with the ‘Welcome offers’ section. But then the rest of the email lets it down.

 

Now, if this is your business, definitely use this subject line, and ensure your email list is segmented between leads and existing customers, – but actually offer something exclusively for ME. Perhaps try to segment your email list further into male / female and age so you can target this exclusive content even more, to include offers on products I may actually be interested in.

Another one which gets me is a technique you will see constantly when you delve into trying to improve your marketing and copywriting efforts.

Scarcity.

‘We only have X coaching spots left, so book now to avoid disappointment’…

Scarcity is an important, and pretty effective technique to use in your copy, encouraging prospects to immediately sign up / buy now etc instead of saving it until later for fear of missing out.

COPY TECHNIQUES
A fake ad example of both exclusivity and scarcity in play.

But, in the same example as before – the product or service you’re actually selling needs to be scarce – you need to have a finite number of spots / widgets available.

You don’t want to find out that you’ve been hurried into signing up for something, only to discover later down the line they’ve ‘found new spots’ or ‘stumbled across a lost batch of widgets’.

If you’re using scarcity – make sure you do actually run out! Otherwise, this technique is just lying and you’ll lost trust and credibility, and seem kinda desperate…and you might sound a bit like a cheesy second hand car dealer…

…Hardly a good look. Can you tell I’ve been stung by this pretty recently?

Phew, off my chest. It’s Easter Sunday at last, so even more chocolate today and a family visit to my Grandparents today for roast.
W

casual copywriting

Casual Copywriting: Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

Liam Atkins

So, straight to it; Lots of progress has been made today, I’m really excited about the services I hope to be offering businesses over the next few weeks and it seems to be taking off already…

Today I scheduled my first meeting with a possible client to write cryptocurrency related copy.

(Just 4 – 5 months ago I was hiring copywriters to write cryptocurrency articles for my own business! A funny old world, but I’m looking forward to getting stuck in as it’s a topic I know well and, importantly – enjoy.)

This crypto client liked my casual writing style and dropped me a Facebook message about some article writing and an email marketing campaign.

Trying to write ‘how we speak’ in a more casual way, oddly is actually more difficult than it seems. We can jibber jabber all day long about a subject, but for many of us – when we’re sat before a blank Word document – we suddenly become the stuffy legal department of a Fortune 500…

‘Dear Sir…I’m writing to inform you about….Best Wishes…’? – WTF is that?

It’s weird when you think about it, especially when you consider the way we consume content most of the time. Video is one of the most consumed types of content on the web, we enjoy watching or listening to content because it has real people in it.

Using this sort of informal content is what works for many businesses, after all – people buy from people, they connect with the messages being given, they can empathise with the author and see themselves in the words on the page “this business is talking just like me…they must understand me and my problems”.

Why aren’t more businesses using casual, ‘how we speak’ copy writing styles???

Because it takes you out of your comfort zone. It’s not ‘normal’, it’s not what other businesses do, and it’s certainly not what your competition is doing. Which, is exactly why you should be doing it.

Standing out and injecting some much needed personality into your website and marketing material.

Hopefully I can help change that in the coming weeks and months for you.

So then, what’s next on the agenda?

Finishing up this website is a start. I’ve created hundreds of WordPress based websites for clients in the past, so I know I can get it done pretty quickly when the time comes, but I do need to get the actual content written for it.

Heck – if I can’t write converting copy on my own website…who’d end up hiring me right?

Then, back to drawing up my list of dream target clients. I know a couple of local businesses here in Hastings that I feel, from some of their own online stuff could benefit from some help, so I’ll contact them this week.

Speak soon – Easter Sunday tomorrow…Hot cross buns and roast lamb time…yum!

Liam 🙂

Peppa Pig, Easter Eggs and Timely Email Marketing

Liam Atkins

 

Day two on the official journey to starting my new venture, aka – the conversion copywriting agency, to help businesses get more out of their online marketing efforts by driving up conversions with good, relevant copywriting.

But, today is Good Friday, so not much has happened on the business development front. Instead, we’ve been indoors all day, eating chocolate easter eggs, and watching way too much rubbish kids TV.

One thing that I have however been doing as and when examples crop up, is taking an objective view of the email campaigns that jump into my own inbox. I signed up to some of the websites I knew would hit me with emails almost instantly (think home shopping, furniture, electronics etc) and have been keeping an eye on what they’re doing really well on, and what others could improve on.

Even some of the basic ‘rookie’ email marketing issues have been cropping up from some larger companies, ranging from the email itself not showing up in my email reader as the entire thing is made up of images (I have images turned off), to completely irrelevant products being pushed, or even simply not being responsive – forcing me to zoom in and out to read them.

While some internet marketing “guru’s” will claim email marketing is dead, it isn’t – we just need to think differently about how it works, and how readers will be consuming the content.

As a business owner, it’s your job to get your product or service messages in front of your target audience, at the right time and when they have an intent to purchase. Email is still one of the best ways to do this…and done properly, it does work.

An example of bad vs good email design, found within my own email inbox.

Back to Peppa Pig…

…and sticky, chocolate fingers…While cuddling with Archie today, my iPhone buzzed – it was an email from Dean Morrison (a very funny greetings card firm). This email was responsive (I could read it properly on my phone), personalised to me, and timely.

…Just a few clicks later and I had bought two birthday cards for Zoe’s birthday at the end of April, and Dean has another sale – all because they sent an email newsletter out at the right time, to someone with high intent to purchase.

There’s nothing stopping you from doing the same, you just need to work harder to get the message right and the audience primed and ready to buy.

This is something I’m working on providing for clients, helping them reap the rewards well crafted and planned email marketing campaigns can bring.

New Business Ventures: Where do you Start?

Liam Atkins

Knowing where to start can be hard. You sit there with your laptop open, ready to ‘do business’ to smash your to-do list and get results, your fingers eagerly stroking the keys…

But where? Where do you start?

We have all been there. Whether you’re running an established business which is doing ‘OK’ but really could do better, or if you’re like me – looking to start something fresh, but not knowing where to start, we’ve all been there.

This is the problem I’m facing right now, so – a little about me.

liam atkins consultantMy name’s Liam Atkins, I’m 27 and live in Hastings – aka 1066 Battle of Hastings county…

I’ve recently sold the business which had been my main income source over the past 6 months (and one which I did really well from).

I launched a cryptocurrency trading venture in July 2017 and shortly after hitting GBP £1 Million in turnover mark, I sold up and stepped away with a (for us at least) nice number in the bank.

Now, after a 3 month work break to focus on quality time with my 22 month old son Archie, I’m ready to get back into the world of work.

Up until this Bitcoin rollercoaster of a business venture, almost my entire business life had been in the internet marketing world – working as an online marketing consultant helping small businesses with everything from website redesigns, to email marketing – social media – the lot.

This background came in pretty handy as I launched the crypto business, enabling me to quickly establish and online presence – and achieve an almost GBP £200K turnover within just a few months – all, from scratch. With zero initial customers and a tiny GBP £1,000 budget loan from my Dad.

As as side note, this is something I believe all internet marketing ‘consultants’ – experts, guru’s – whatever they want to be called, must have been able to do. Launch, grow and profit from an online business venture using the stuff they’re getting paid to tell you to do…

If your marketing consultant hasn’t personally been able to achieve anything like this for himself – why are you trusting him / her to do it for you?

Anyway, started – and sold within 6 months all with thanks to the Internet marketing techniques and skills gained over the past 7+ years of consulting.

Working with small businesses was great prior to this, giving me my first chances in the business world aged just 19 and enabling me to build my skill base while working on their projects, but, this ‘jack of all trades’ approach will never work with any business – and it certainly didn’t pay off for me bank account wise for a very long time.

Which is why over the past months, between watching endless Peppa Pig and playing with Archie, I’ve been brushing up on my own skills and enrolling in hyper-speed in depth training, in an area that I absolutely love – copywriting, and more specifically – conversion copywriting.

Conversion Copywriting

Building upon the solid foundation that is my 7 years of internet marketing experience, helping businesses not only get their messages out there and seen by potential clients – but crafting those lead generating messages in the first place.

…and then using those same online tools to drive up conversions and generate a much better ROI for their initial business spend / efforts.

And that’s where I currently am, case studies under my belt, recent real life experience launching and selling a profitable business to hand – but yet… I’m still staring at my shiny new Macbook Pro (upgraded from the 4 year old Macbook Air), eagerly stroking the keys – not really knowing where to begin.

On the brink of launching a whole new venture – looking to actually focus on something I love, something that’s lucrative, and something which businesses both large and small can get genuine value from.

So there I go – day 1 sorted, hopefully these ongoing blog posts will help you if you’re in the same position as I am, whether it’s launching a new business, undergoing a re-launch – or just struggling to get your marketing game together.

Until tomorrow – 🙂

Liam