1. Start a small targeted Google Adword Pay per click campaign. Start sending more qualified traffic to your web site. BUT your web pages must be persuasive enough to convert prospects into leads or sales.

2. Put a sale on. But explain the reason why you’re holding a sale.

3. Target your best customers with direct mail and offer them a preferred discount. They’ll never leave you. Think of what the lifetime value is worth to you.

4. Use direct response advertising rather than ads with your company name at the top of the ad. Do NOT run an ad with your company name at the top.
5. Test different headlines on your web pages, ads and sales letters. Each headline test should test a different assumption of the audience.

6. Start sending regular emails to your list. This way you build a relationship with your list. So when the person is ready to buy they buy from you.

7. Write a Special Report and then advertise the Report. You then build a list of prospects interested in what you’re offering.

8. Do a JV with companies/people whose customer base would be interested in what you’re selling.

9. Swap lists of non-buyers with a competitor.

10. Get a client to do an endorsed mailing for you to their database.

11. Start building a list of prospects from your web site you can target with mail and email.

12. Send out a book of testimonials with your next quote/proposal.

13. Make the giving of 3 – 5 referrals from your customer part of the conditions of doing business with you.

14. Start a regular newsletter to your customers.

15. Come up with an irresistible offer your customers have to be brain dead to turn down. Use this in all your marketing.

16. Follow up on all past inquiries. You don’t know where they are or were in the buying cycle when they contacted you.

17. Make YouTube videos around keywords your prospect would use to find your web site. Then offer a free report or bribe to get the person to go to your web site.

It’s the Copy… Stupid

I’ve recently been approached by two different companies. Both companies needed help with their marketing. In particular their copy isn’t strong enough to convert prospects into customers.

Company A (a multi million pound company) is suffering from very low email open rates, very low CTR’s (Click Through Rates) and very low conversion rates.

Company B is desperately trying to sell tickets for their £300/ticket seminar. And its approach is seriously flawed.

Anyway, I had interesting phone conversations and exchanged emails with both companies. Both companies were very keen for me to write copy for them. But I haven’t ended up working with either company. Why is this?

Company A wanted me to knock 50% off my fee. And dangled the old carrot, “…. We’ve got loads of other projects if you do the first one at a reduced rate.” Give me a break I’ve heard that one so many times its water off a duck’s back.

Company B had no budget left for copy. They hoped they could sell out their seminar via a slideshow. And I don’t mean a video sales letter. Yes, that’s right people would watch their slideshow and that would do the selling for them. Silly.

The approach to copy by both companies is crazy. Seriously flawed.

Your copy is your link between you and your market. It’s the magic glue that brings you both together and can quite possibly make you rich. It’s what stops a £2 million company from becoming a £10 million company or a £50+ million …

The copy is what gets your reader’s attention. It’s the copy that persuades more of your customers to read your ad and buy from you (that’s if you have a great offer). It’s the copy that is your salesman. It’s the copy that enables those prospects who have never heard of you before to do business with you.

So for a company to rank copy so lowly in their marketing is just seriously daft.

Now contrast both Company A’s and Company B’s approach to copy with an internet entrepreneur. Let’s call him Steve.

Now Steve knows the importance of copy. So he decided to see if he could get more sales from his web page. So what did Steve do?

He offered $10,000 to the copywriter who wrote the highest converting page for his product. Steve knows he’ll make more sales with higher converting copy, its guaranteed money in his pocket. I imagine Steve has had quite a few copywriters write on spec for him. After all, $10,000 isn’t to be sniffed at. All Steve has to do is test each copywriter’s sales letter to find his winner.

I’ll leave you with these thoughts.

How highly does copy rate in your marketing? Are you Company A or B or are you a Steve?

Read Neil Ashers post on the importance of split testing:

http://neil-asher.neilasher.com/split-test-results

How to write a squeeze page – a squeeze page is designed to do one thing. And that’s to capture the contact details of the web site visitor. So you can start building g a relationship with them and sell to them.

Typically to get their email address you offer a freebie. This is usually a free special report or audio. And the gift contains something of value that your ideal prospect wants or the benefit of owning it is so intriguing that they’ll opt in to discover more.

So how to write a squeeze page and what does an effective squeeze page look like?

Well, the page may have a short video. And in the video the call to action is to tell the viewer to put their contact details in the opt-in box. In fact, quite often in the video the person will point and say “Put your details in the box on left over there.”

But do all squeeze pages have a video? No. It’s not totally necessary. You can rely on good copywriting.

So have a good headline at the top of the page. And here are some rules about writing good headlines.

1. The headline must have a benefit in it.

2. The headline must enter the conversation the reader is having right now.

3. The headline must be different. You don’t want the reader thinking, “Oh I’ve seen that before.”

Underneath the headline you could have a block of copy explaining the benefits of getting the information.

Then typically I would include some teasing bullets. These would be fascinations taking from the free report that tease the reader into what they’re going to discover once they’ve got the report.

Also I’d want to include some authority and credibility on the page. So if the person has been interviewed by the BBC, appeared in the Sunday Times and is a published author then obviously this carries huge credibility.

If the person has testimonials then I would include three testimonials. And each testimonial would support the person in a different way.

What else? Well, don’t forget to put under the opt-in box that you’re never going to share that person’s details with any third party.

And that’s about it. When you include all these elements then you’ll know how to write a squeeze page – a highly effective squeeze page.

How to increase sales on your website. If your web site isn’t selling there are some simple things you can do to get your site selling. Try these following steps.

1. Test different headlines at the top of the page. A headline grabs your visitor’s attention. It’s the first thing they see. So have a headline with a great benefit the reader wants. If you have a great irresistible offer, then lead with your offer.

2. Have plenty of authority and credibility on your web site. This is a common mistake I see all the time. When I land on a web page I ask myself two questions. Who are you? And why should I believe anything you say?

So make sure you give the visitors plenty of reasons as to why they should believe you. If you’ve featured in Forbes magazine then say so. If you’ve been interviewed by the BBC sat so.

3. Tell the full story of what you’re selling. Look when you want to buy something you want to know everything about it. You’re doing your research. Well, it’s the same for your visitor. They want to know everything about your product or service. Remember the more you tell the more you sell.

4. Call for action. Have a call for action at the bottom. But also test a call for action as soon as you introduce the product.

5. Overcome objections. Why wouldn’t a person buy what you’re offering? Put yourself in the reader’s mind. What objections might the person have? What you need to do is address those objections in your sales copy exactly where the person is thinking of them. This way you have make a persuasive case. And you answer all those questions the reader is thinking about. Otherwise those questions are left unanswered. And this can put the reader off.

6. Fill your sales copy with benefits. Turn every feature of your product or service into a benefit. People buy benefits not features. So list your features and turn them into benefits. A good way to do this is divide a sheet of paper into two. On one side you write the feature and the opposite side you write the benefit of the feature.

7. Build a list on your web site. The thing is you don’t know where the person is in the buying cycle. Are they ready to buy today….next week or three months down the line? So you overcome this by capturing your prospect’s email and keeping in touch with them. So when they are ready to buy who are they going to buy from? The person who has built a relationship with them or the person who they don’t know. It’s a no-brainer.

Now you have seven simple factors on how to increase sales on your website.

www.markpocock.com

So the ‘big five’ High Street banks are set to launch
‘mentoring schemes’ to help SME’s grow.
Santander, RBS, Lloyds, HSBC and Barclays will all
provide access to the scheme, which aims to offer help
to SMEs struggling with hurdles like finance or marketing.

Hmm.

Dunno about this. Are these the same banks who
needed to be bailed out during the crash?

And exactly what sort of marketing are these banks going
to be offering?

Are they going to offer to write your ads, sales letters
and web pages for you?

Are their advisors going to sit down in front of you and say:

“[[firstname]], what’s the conversation going on in your
customer’s mind?”

“What sort of irresistible offer can we dangle in front of
your customer?”

“Shall we test X approach and measure the response to see what
it brings in?”

Don’t think so.

Can’t see it happening.

Personally I think the banks should stick to finance.
And let those of us who know about marketing look after that.

Warmly

Mark Pocock
www.markpocock.com

So a report today in the Telegraph said local shopping
has been driven down by the Internet.

Hardly news you’d have thought. Every body
uses Google to price shop nowadays.

So how does a small business fight back?

What would I do?

Well, first thing to do is start building a list
from your customers. Everyone who walks through your door
or visits your web site you try and  collect their contact info.

Do whatever it takes. Bribe ‘em!
Just get their name, address and email address.

And then you start building a relationship with that person
through snail mail and email.

Yes snail mail. Don’t just rely on email. Sure email is free –
But it’s also dead easy to delete.

Yet, you always open your mail every day don’t you.

And when that person is finally ready to buy who are they
going to buy from? Some company they’ve never dealt
with before or that guy who has kept in regular touch with them?

Make it a no-brainer.

Give your list valuable content. Exclusive offers
and reap the rewards.

Until next time

Warmly

Mark

So what do you think is the most important word you
can use in your marketing?

If you’re like many business owners you probably think
the word is FR*EE. And this word probably would have been in the past.
But not today. We’ve all become immune to it. FR**EE this
and FR*EE that.

Heck the word has been so over used I have to put a star
between the letters in this email where I use it. Just to get
the email through your spam filter.

So if the most important word isn’t the word FR**EE what is it?

Well, if you said the word “You” that would be close as well.
After all, the reader, your prospect, is only interested in
themselves. So the more you can use the word “you” the more the
reader thinks you’re talking about them.

Any other ideas what this magical word might be?

Let me reveal this magical word.

The word is ….”Because…” Always tell the reader why.

It answers the question that pops in their mind as they read your copy.
So your prospect can rationalize what you’re telling them.

For instance:

“We’re the most expensive…That’s because…xyz reason”

“We’re having this 48 hour sale. Why? That’s because my wife
is divorcing me and I need to pay her off…”

“We do 24 safety checks before we release our products to you.
That’s because…”

See what I mean?

Can you now see how the simple word “because” is sooo important?

You can? Good.

Never miss an opportunity to use it. That’s because using the word is so
important in driving your sales message home.

Heck, I even used it there…:)

Warmly

Mark

Mark Pocock

All the talk is of doom and gloom. The newspapers are full of
crashing house prices, unemployment and businesses going under.
It’s depressing news.

What does this mean to you?

How is your business positioned to survive this recession?
Are you feeling confident you’ll prosper and continue to
profit… or… do you fear the worst?

You’re going to have to work harder at persuading potential
buyers, if they’re looking to spend money on a product or
service, you’re the guy whom they should be doing business with.

Here’s the thing.

People are watching what (and where) they spend their money
on more carefully. Your potential customers are more wary.
They’re more sceptical. More suspicious. They’re worried about
their own futures. Their own job security.

And quite right to. Let’s face it when you don’t even know how
solid your own bank is these days….

But there’s still going to be money to be made even in these
uncertain times. You see whole marketplaces aren’t going to
dry up overnight. Nope. And there will still be fortunes to be made.

So let’s take a look at some of the things you should be using
RIGHT NOW to ensure your business continues to prosper in the
current economy.

1. You should be using irresistible offers in your marketing
to attract customers.

What do I mean by this? The answer is simple.

(By the way I wrote an article about this on my web site.
www.markpocock.com. If you’re interested in reading this it’s
titled Don Corleone) – read it here

http://www.markpocock.com/marketing-articles/don-corleone/

Basically having an irresistible offer is like when Marlon
Brando’s henchmen in the film The Godfather were discussing how
to get someone to do what they wanted. They were rabbiting on
about this method or that, … when Brando growled at them,
“Make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

That’s it.

And that’s what you need to be doing to all your customers today.

Making them an offer they simply can’t turn down.

I mean if you make an irresistible offer to your prospects and
your competitors aren’t doing this, it becomes a no-brainer for
someone to do business with YOU. Your business is going to be
chosen every time above every other one of your competitors. So
basically you increase your market share. You clean up.

So start thinking about the type of irresistible offer you can
make to your prospects.

2. You need to be developing your list.

This is your list of buyers and prospects. And you need to be
developing a relationship with this list. Contacting them often

and offering them valuable free content which is relevant to them.

You should also be using this list to generate sales from.
People have either indicated an interest in what you’re offering.
Or they’ve bought from you in the past.

Remember it’s cheaper to sell to someone who has bought from you
before than continually going out and finding new customers.

And one way of doing this is using email. Especially as it’s free.
Or use a sales letter.

Want to do a sales promotion, send out an email or sales letter
and watch the sales and inquiries come in. You should use email
to drive traffic to your shop as well.

Need extra money to pay Johnny’s university education? Send out
an email.

Look, you’re probably on various email or mailing lists already.
And you already receive special offers. Such as Clothing companies,
golf companies, guitar lists.

You need to be doing the same thing with your customers.

3. You’re familiar with Ronseal the garden paint manufacturer?
Of course you are! And their catch phrase, “It does what it says
on the tin.”

Well you need to prove to your prospect you do what it says on
your tin. Your business will do what your prospect expects from you.

How can you do this? How can you provide proof?

It’s simple.

There’s four ways you can provide proof and boost your credibility
in your customer’s eyes:

a. Testimonials. Use customer testimonials in all your marketing.
You haven’t got any? Well start collecting them.
b. Case studies Provide case studies of people in a similar
position as your ideal client. Somebody they can relate to.
c. Your history. Provide your company history. Show them you’re to
be trusted.
d. Your track record. Show your track record of helping customers.

Use these and you’ll put your prospect’s mind at rest. Let your
customers do their boasting.

And please, one thing.

Never say you’re the best. UNLESS you can prove it with facts
and figures. And have irrefutable proof. Otherwise you’re just
full of horse manure.

4. Like I said prospects are more wary where they spend their
money today. They’re more choosey. More selective.

So how can you tip the most cynical prospect over the edge so
you’re the one they spend with?

Simple.

Include some free bonuses with your product or service. Bonuses
which have a high perceived value to your customer. And bonuses,
which (hopefully) don’t cost you much. Or, only cost you time.

Just adding a few bonuses can help to tip your prospect into
doing business with you.

5. You know, 80 years ago ads and marketing pieces actually sold.
They had to earn their keep. It wasn’t a matter of keeping your
name out there. And hoping you’d attract sales. Marketing back
then had to bring in a return on investment. Or else the company
went out of business.

This was true direct marketing.

Nowadays for some reason all you hear about is build your brand.
Keep your ad in front of people and build brand awareness.

Why just the other day I was on a business forum online and a
business owner was inquiring about whether he should start his
business with his logo or build his brand. He was unsure what
to concentrate first.

It was amazing the advice he received. One said get a logo first.
Another said build his brand from day one.

I was gob smacked.

My advice was to write sales material which targeted the dominant
desire in his hottest prospects.

And I’d advise you to do the same.

Don’t just shove a web site up, sit back and think my web site is
beautiful and prospects and customers are going to flock to it to
order from me. If you do you’re in for a shock.

Listen up.

Your web site is your sales person. It’s your direct marketer.
It’s talking to your hot prospects. It’s gotta sell for gawd’s sake.
So make it work for you.

Make sure it sells and talks to your prospect. Spells out the
benefits of doing business with you. Overcomes objections. And
then lights a fire under your prospect so he’s galvanized into
action.

So think of these three things:

a. Who is your prospect?
b. What does this person need or want?
c. Show them your solution

Do this and you’ll make more sales.

6. Make sure you’re a business which puts your customer first.

Don’t talk about yourself to your customer. If you say “We do
this” or We’re …(fill in the blanks)…

STOP right now.

I got news for you. It’s all about the customer. Why? Because
they’re only interested in one thing:

WIIFM.

What’s in it for me?

Talk about what you can do for your customers. Put yourself in
their shoes and ask yourself what’s their major concern right now.
And show how you can provide the solution to their problem.

Think of it like this. You need to enter the conversation going
through their mind right now.

When somebody types into Google a keyword or keyword phrase about
the service or product you’re selling, and they find your site,
your site needs to reflect exactly what they’re thinking at the
time. Otherwise they ain’t going to be hanging around very long.

So put your customer first and you’re stacking the odds in your favour.

Ok I hope these quick tips help you generate more business in this
economic downturn.

Warmly

Mark

PS. If you’re struggling to make sales – then give me a shout.

So imagine the scene. Last night the rest of the family are
watching some program on TV. As usually it’s all rubbish. So
I idly pick up a newspaper. This newspaper is a free one.
It’s called the N***h C******* Advertiser.

Anyway, I start flicking through the newspaper. And start
looking at some of the ads. Now I want to play a game with
you. I want to look at the following headlines. Then I want
you to figure out what they’re trying to sell. Ready? Here
are some headlines I’ve picked out at random.

1. Stop The Rock
2. Sea Side – Oh We Do Like To Be
3. Celebrate With Us This Christmas
4. A Natural Smile Makes Such a Difference – Elizabeth’s Story

Well, what did you come up with?

I bet you had fun trying to figure what the heck these
headlines refer to. I certainly did. Some headlines confused
the hell out of me. Others, I thought WTF are they going on about.

So let’s look at them.

1. Stop the Rock. This is a headline of an article beside
an ad. Would the headline make you want to read on? I mean
what the hell does Stop the Rock refer to? It could be anything.
The headline is just so vague why would you stop and read the
article? You wouldn’t.

The headline is actually trying to sell you on tooth implants.
And the Rock bit in the headline is referring to having dentures
sliding around in your mouth.

Weird. The writer certainly didn’t have a clue when he wrote
that headline.

2. Sea Side – Oh We Do Like To Be

This is a FULL page ad for an upmarket hotel-restaurant. This
ad must have cost thousands of pounds. Yet, the headline is so
pathetic… so weak…. it can’t have drawn any response.

Why would you read the ad? The headline isn’t promising you any
benefit for reading on.

3. Celebrate With Us This Christmas

Well, did you guess the answer to this one? Again this headline
is very vague. If you guessed a restaurant you did well.
The next question is why I should celebrate with you this
Christmas. You just want my money.

4. A Natural Smile Makes Such a Difference – Elizabeth’s Story

I read the headline and first thought cosmetic surgery. But I
was wrong. The headline is for a denture ad. Adding the word
“story” I suppose could draw people into reading the ad. That’s
because as people we like to read about stories. But again this
headline is weak.

So there we have it four contrasting headlines.

Look if you’re going to run a ad, have a headline that enters
the conversation running through the reader’s mind. Make sure
the headline has a benefit in it that the reader wants. Then
spell out that benefit to the reader. Don’t make the headline
hard to understand. Don’t try to be cute or clever. Don’t try
to be funny. Make the benefit in your headline crystal clear.

None of the above headlines have any benefit for the reader.
Not a single one. Yet having a benefit laden headline has been
proven to generate a higher readership of the ad. And the more
people that read the ad the higher the response to the response.

The funny thing is I actually pitched this newspaper a few years
ago to see if they’d like marketing column or help in writing
ads for their business clients. The newspaper declined my offer.
Because they thought I might contradict what they have been
recommending and this might upset their advertising clients. Take
that how you want!

But I feel sorry for the business owners who are paying to be
advised to run such lukewarm ads. They’re spending their hard
earned cash for advertising that is never going to generate a
response. No wonder business owners think advertising doesn’t pay.

You’re better off taking your partner away for a break in a 5
Star hotel rather than spending money on ads with headline that
don’t catch your reader’s attention.

Till next time

Mark
www.markpocock.com