Archive for the ‘Writing Good Copy’ Category

• The best way to engage anyone is to ask them questions about themselves. Most people have one favorite subject in common and that subject matter is “me…me…me…me…me…me”. Isn’t that your favorite subject?

• I was fortunate to have one of the companies I worked for early in my career force me to go to what I thought was one of the most lame sales training courses called “Dale Carnegie”.  After all, I was 20 something and I knew all I needed to know…right?  Wrong!  I think you find that out when you hit 30 something…you know, not knowing as much as you thought you knew.  Though I was forced to go to this training class I thoroughly hated, I chose to make the best of it and take away as much information as possible.  After all, I was there….they were there and I didn’t have a choice.  So, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade.

• One of the greatest gifts I took away from that sales training coarse was reading the book “How to win friends and influence people” By Dale Carnegie.  I highly recommend this book to any person who will take the short amount of time it takes to read it, it will change you and your relationships.  It will help you understand that people simply want someone to take interest in “their stories”, what is going on in “their lives” and that taking an interest in other people really is the number one way to build better relationships.

• On that note, I would like to encourage you to add questions to your blog posts to better interact with your readers.  There are many simple questions you can ask as you close out your blog posts, here are a few ideas:

1. How will this information help you?
2. How do you plan to use this information?
3. How else might I be of assistance to you with the information I have provided above?
4. What experiences have you had that may add to the discussion?
5. After reading what you read, what is your commitment to implementing in your own blog or website?

• I will close by having you think back to the last social gathering you were at and recall if most of your conversations were about you or the person/people you were conversing with.  Which of those conversations were most interesting to you?  How often were you engaged in “interesting” conversation where you were learning about someone else, what they do, etc.  If you are the type of person who finds yourself learning about others during conversations, I bet those people think you are a GREAT conservationist!  I love the old saying “you have two ears and one mouth….remember to use them accordingly”.

• I really am interested in your thoughts and opinions and truly wish to know how you plan to use this in your next blog post, networking event or sales call.

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• When it comes to marketing one of the biggest and most common mistakes people make is forgetting the CUSTOMER.  You know…the person you wish to attract as a buyer.

• Maybe because your new to all this, you aren’t clear what a landing page is, you don’t know how to set up a registration form, build back-links and you haven’t invested in all of the newest greatest best most wonderful top of the line gizmo for your site because you just can’t afford it.  After all…you are a newbie…how could you? Right?

• Here is a little hand holding for you to help you understand what one of the greatest copy writers of all time Gary Bencivenga understood.  IT ISN’T ABOUT YOU!!!  I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell or upset you, but it isn’t about you.  IT IS ABOUT THE CUSTOMER!!!  Oops, sorry about that…I am yelling again…aren’t I?

• In your next article or marketing piece

Describe the benefits, not the features:

• You may be asking yourself what the difference is so I figured I would explain.  The benefit of any product is “what the product does for you“.  The features of any product is “what it does“, the product specifications.  You have most likely been focused on what you or  your product does vs. what you do/it does for the customer, which doesn’t really help the customer understand how you or your product/service can help.

• People purchase air conditioners because “it keeps them cool“, not because it has a thermostat.  People purchase heaters because they are cold and “it warms them up”.

• When you write your next marketing piece or marketing message, the best way to figure out what your “benefits” are is to make a list of problems people are looking to solve with your product.  Once you have your list of problems, make a list of how your product solves those problems.  It’s pretty easy once you get “in the groove” of it.  You may struggle at first as it really is such a hard habit to break, but don’t give up.  You CAN DO IT.

• Please let me know what you come up with when you list the features of your product and the benefits to each one.  If you can’t find a benefit to the feature, it doesn’t belong on the “marketing” list.  I look forward to brainstorming with you about this!  If you list your features and the benefits below it will help others as they try to come up with their list and this website is about helping people…right?