Copywriting Archives - Page 8 of 31

How to make your marketing massively more effective

By Jim Connolly | May 28, 2019

Take a quick look at the following 2 statements. Which of them do you find the most appealing?

I wrote this blog post, now I want you to read it.
Business owners often struggle with this challenge, so I wrote this quick tip to help you.

Unsurprisingly, your marketplace is massively more attracted to the second statement. Despite this, the majority of small and medium sized businesses use the first approach in their marketing.

Rather than focusing on the wants and needs of their marketplace, they focus on what they themselves want. And it’s costing them a fortune in missed sales opportunities or client enquiries.

I received one such email earlier today. It started off with; “We’re delighted to announce our summer 2019 range is in stock and available to order”.

Let’s unpack that headline and see what message it sends to the reader.

The vendor is excited.
The vendor has an announcement.
The vendor has new stock.
They want me to order it.

As you can see, they’ve given me (I’m an existing customer) very little motivation to do anything. Their message is all about them and what they want. By switching the focus to their customers, they could have built a more compelling message. Instead, they’ll be wondering why that email’s response rate is so low.

The lesson here

The lesson is pretty obvious when you see an example broken down, like the one above. But sometimes in our eagerness to market our products or services, we can unintentionally make similar mistakes.

This is why I recommend you deliberately check, to ensure the focus of your future marketing is always about “them”. Also, review your existing marketing and shift the emphasis of any self-focused material, so that it’s them-focused… their wants and needs.

Show them how passionate you are about helping them. Show them you care.

And make solving their problems the cornerstone of your marketing.

Marketing Tip: How to hide stuff in the fine print

By Jim Connolly | April 30, 2019

Have you noticed something about the fine print we find in marketing and on packaging?

It’s printed really small.

And there’s a reason for that. They would rather we didn’t see it. So, they do their best not to make it stand out. It’s one of the reasons I hate sales and marketing.

The fine print is where they hide caveats. It’s where they bury disclaimers. It’s where they tell us that the promises in their marketing are grossly inflated. Or that their product doesn’t look as good as it does on the packaging, etc.

This got me thinking: Surely there’s an ethical, positive way to use the fine print?

So, I had some coffee.

Then I went for a long walk.

I came back to the studio, had another coffee, put “A Love Supreme” by John Coltrane on… then it came to me.

Imagine this.

How would you feel, if you read the fine print and discovered that it actually confirmed the product to be just as good as they said, in the LARGE print? Maybe even adding an additional benefit?
How would your prospective clients feel, if your fine print confirmed your marketing claims and reiterated you were being totally honest with them?

That’s the kind of eye-popping surprise that people remember. It helps build trust. And it’s also the kind of story, which people like to share with their friends.

Is too much choice destroying your marketing results?

By Jim Connolly | October 18, 2018

How many different levels of service or pricing options do you offer?

That’s a really important question. Because if, like many business owners you offer too many options, it’s needlessly ruining your sales results.

Allow me to explain.

Here’s what happens when we offer too much choice.

The more options we put in front of someone, the more choice they have.
The more choice they have, the harder it is for them to decide.
The harder we make their decision process, the less likely they are to hire us or buy from us.
So, they move on. And we lose a client enquiry. Ouch!

In short: Clarity sells.

Too much choice and ‘toxic complexity’

Too much choice adds what I call toxic complexity to a marketing message.

Toxic, because it causes confusion.

Complexity, because it makes our message too complicated for a prospective client to easily understand.

One of the oldest sayings in marketing is, “A confused mind always says no!”. In other words, when faced with a buying decision, a confused prospective client will not proceed. They’ll say no. And we are the ones who pay the price for their lack of clarity.

The solution?

Seek out unnecessary complexity. I recommend you look at the number of service levels, pricing options and packages you provide. Remember to take into account how many items are listed within each option or package.

Then consider whether you actually need to offer so much choice, so much complexity, so much potential for confusion. And if not, reduce. Everything that needs to be there should remain. But nothing else.

By simplifying the decision making process for your prospective clients, you make it easier for them to hire you or buy from you. And when that decision is easier, more prospective clients will become actual clients.

Content creation: Music, coffee and prayer

By Jim Connolly | September 27, 2018

People often ask me if I follow a routine for content creation.

I do. It’s pretty basic. It’s built around music, coffee and prayer.

Music: When I write, I always have music playing in the background. I find lyrics distracting, so I listen to instrumental work. Right now, I’m listening to Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. Other writing companions include John Coltrane, Moby, Bach, Skrillix and Tchaikovsky.
Coffee: Once the music is on, I grab some coffee. (By the way, most of my blog posts are 2 coffees long). I’ve seen various studies regarding how coffee works on the brain. I’m not sure there’s any neurological benefit whatsoever. I drink coffee because I love the taste. As a type 2 diabetic, I don’t add sugar. Just a splash of cream.
Prayer: This is obviously a very personal part of my routine. Before I start, I say a very simple prayer, asking God to inspire me. I used to try and do everything myself and found it a lot harder.

That’s pretty-much it.

Your content creation routine

Obviously, you need to find something that works for you. And one size does not fit all.

For example, many of my friends can’t have music playing when they work, they don’t drink coffee, and most of them are atheist. There are others I know, who have to write from a coffee shop or café, because the atmosphere gets them into a resourceful state.

The key is to experiment. Try different inputs and atmospheres. Keep what works for you. Discard the rest. You’ll be amazed how much easier your content creation becomes, when you have an effective routine.

By the way, a lot of you have told me that you found the 6 Idea Trick extremely useful, for generating content ideas. If you haven’t tried it already (or you read my stuff via Gmail and never saw the post), give it a try.

NOTE: Gmail users typically miss over 40 percent of my posts. Here’s how to stop that from happening to you.

The most incredible article about headlines you’ll ever read

By Jim Connolly | June 3, 2018

Here are some ideas, which you can use to dramatically improve the results of all your written marketing.

It’s all about the marketing power of headlines.

Your headline has to capture the reader’s attention

Headlines are important. Really important.

You see, it doesn’t matter how great your message is, if too few people read it. That’s where your headline (or title or subject line) comes in. The headline’s primary job is to attract attention, gain interest and then motivate the reader to carry on reading.

Think about it:

The headline is what inspires prospective clients to open your marketing email.
It’s what motivates them to read your blog post or article, when someone shares it on a social network.
It’s what compels them to listen to your podcast or watch your video.
It’s also what grabs their attention and interest when they see one of your advertisements.

Advertising legend David Ogilvy was in no doubt regarding the importance of headlines. He famously said:

“When you have written your headline, you have spent 80 cents out of your dollar.”

Treat your headlines with the importance they deserve. Give yourself plenty of time to craft the best headline possible. The following tips and examples will help you get the balance right.

Your headline should accurately reflect your content

Because headlines play such a huge role in getting your content noticed, it’s tempting to over exaggerate them. (Yes, the headline of this post is a tongue-in-cheek example of what I mean).

Sometimes called clickbait, these attention-grabbing headlines are proven to generate traffic. The reason I strongly recommend most people reading this not to adopt that headline strategy, is this:

Your headlines make a promise, which your content MUST deliver on.

Make your headlines as compelling as you can. Use words that will compel people to read what you have to say. But make darn sure that your content backs up the promise of the headline. You may be able to fool someone once or twice with clickbait. But unless your content delivers on the promise of the headline, people will quickly learn to ignore you.

Your headline needs to be written for your target market

Your marketing message is intended to connect with a very specific group of people: Your prospective clients or customers. The headlines you use should do the same. This means speaking their language and addressing their concerns and opportunities.

Here’s why this matters:

By focusing your headlines around the interests of your target market, you help your marketing message to attract the attention of the right people.
Conversely, by using headlines that attract the attention of a wider group of people, you cease to be directly relevant to your target market.

In other words, use headlines that are directly relevant to your prospective clients.

Your headlines should match your medium

If you’re writing a headline that’s intended for a print magazine, newspaper or flyer, you have certain freedoms, which you don’t have when writing for the internet.

For example, if you want your internet article’s headline to be fully displayed in search results, you need to use around 60 / 65 characters or fewer. Going beyond that will see your headline cut short.

If your headline is intended for email marketing, you need to take other things into consideration. For example, if you include exclamation marks!! in your subject line, along with a number and maybe a word that’s in ALL CAPS, it’s highly likely to end up in a lot of spam or junk filters. Email software looks for certain common factors used by spammers and if it sees them in the email headlines you use, it could wrongly treat your marketing as spam.

In short, you need to adapt depending on the medium you’re using.

The only 2 types of headline that matter

There is a lot of debate among marketing professionals, regarding the correct way to use headlines.

They take entrenched stances, each insisting that their approach is the only strategy that’s professional or effective. In almost every case I have seen, they totally miss the point!

When it comes to the headlines you use in your marketing, there are just 2 broad categories worthy of your attention.

Headlines that work for you and your business goals.
Headlines that are failing you and your business goals.

You need to find the correct balance for what you want to achieve. And it will differ depending on your brand, your industry and your business model.

For example, BuzzFeed has grown into a very successful media business, initially relying heavily on a controversial, yet powerful headline formula. Many labelled their approach as being linkbait or clickbait. And they were wrong. That’s because the quality of the BuzzFeed’s content was consistently compelling, so their readers returned. In fact, they returned and re-shared, which helped the readership grow even faster.

In summary

Experiment until you find what works best for you. Test and measure your headlines, titles and email subject lines. Just make sure that your content delivers on the promise they make.

Get this balance right and you can dramatically and measurably improve your marketing results.

I’m getting enquiries from idiots

By Jim Connolly | April 10, 2018

I was emailed by a service provider recently, about a problem he has encountered with his marketing. It’s something a lot of business owners struggle with. So, I’m sharing it with you along with my reply.

Here’s part of his email, published with his permission.

“I needed to boost traffic to my web site and the number of people who read my newsletter. […] I was advised to start using attention grabbing headlines and dumb down my content so it was more inclusive. It worked in a way because I get more traffic but now I’m attracting enquiries from idiots!”

Before I reply…

Enquiries from idiots?

Up front, let’s deal with his use of the word idiot. I’m extremely uncomfortable about the use of that word, in this context. If your marketing attracts the wrong type of people, this doesn’t make them idiots.

It means your marketing sucks!

That type of inaccurate labelling of people disavows your responsibility. It passes the blame from you, to them. It’s extremely unhelpful.

Okay. Now we’re free to look at the actual problem.

The cause

In order to increase the reach of their work, build their list or get more social media shares, many people swap meaning, for clicks. Before they know it their message is no longer resonating with the right people.

It’s being seen. But by using mass-appeal, clickbait headlines, their marketing is no longer attracting the right people. And when you combine that with a message that’s “more inclusive”, you end up with a toxic mix of the wrong people and the wrong message.

In short: Poor targeting + Poor content = Poor results.

A better approach

Focus on the right thing.

If you want to get more traffic or build your list, there are thousands of places offering ways to do it. Most use a version of what the guy who emailed me described. And if you’re selling ads on a website based on clicks, this may prove (somewhat) useful.

However.

If you want to attract more clients, you need a strategy designed to attract more clients. First, you determine exactly who your ideal client is. Next, you focus like a laser on being as useful as possible to this niche. Then, make it extremely easy for them to hire you or share your work. It works. Really, really well.

Just don’t confuse the two. Because those 2 different challenges require 2 very different strategies.