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An SEO Copywriting Makeover – Turning “Not” Into “Hot” Part 1 of 2
by Karon Thackston © 2003 http://www.copywritingcourse.com I recently took on a project for a Web site that sells gas logs that I thought would make an interesting case study. As many people ask me what goes through my mind when I write search...
Five Sections of Your Copy Guaranteed To Get Read
by Karon Thackston © 2005 http://www.copywritingcourse.com Only about 20% of your copy is going to get read. The rest will simply be scanned. I'm sure you've heard the statistic before. It's nothing new. While it might sound frightening or...
Hiring a GREAT Copywriter
Hiring a great copywriter can be a challenge. There are a lot of good writers out there. There are even a lot of great writers out there. But a copywriter- a great copywriter, does more than just write. A great copywriter has the ability to write...
What's So Different About Writing Web Copy?
To write persuasive web copy, it really is an advantage to know how to successfully write for off-line publications. Because Copywriting techniques that work off-line, also work equally well on-line! We have to make some changes of course to...
Winning The Customer Through Weakness
There is a saying in my country that goes something like this: "A fisherman never says that his fish is bad!" But should he if he wants to make more sales? "Hype" has become a word that many online marketers are shying away from. Yet each person...
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3 Lessons From A Marketing Superstar
I was just rereading Jeffrey J. Fox's marvelous book, How To
Become A Marketing Superstar this week, and had to start jotting
down some notes to pass along. Fox has a wonderful knack for
distilling his hard-won wisdom into two or three page chapter
nuggets that others would have to teach an entire college
semester to get across.
Here are a few of my favorites:
* NEVER USE WE. Eliminate the personal pronouns "I,"
"me," "we," "us," or "our" in advertising, packaging, sales
literature or anywhere else in marketing communications. "We" is
about the marketer and its story. "We" is in the first person.
"We" is a bad proxy for your brand name or company name. Your
job is to draw the customer into the conversation by focusing on
her and her story, her concerns, her headaches, her wants. Your
job is to build brand awareness, not "we' awareness...Never use
"we," "us," or "our" in the headline. The advertisement is not
about you, it is not about your success or experience or hard
work. It is about the customer and what the product will do for
her or him. To confound this sin, these same advertisers often
follow their "we" with trite clichés like, "We put customers
first," or, "We are committed to excellence."
* SELL CONSEQUENCES. Always communicate the consequences
to the customer of going without your product...It is always
more effective to influence the customer by showing the cost,
damage or loss they incurring right now by going without your
product. Few customers knowingly ignore consequences and then
deliberately buy an alternative product on the basis of a lower
price alone....What is it costing your prospect right now to not
be doing business with you
each month? What other consequences
will occur if she delays taking action right now?
* DIFFERENCES. If you flip through any small stack of
magazines you will quickly find many examples of ads that inform
of such things as "our people make the difference," or "little
details make all the difference," "feel the difference," or
even, "the right choice makes all the difference." These are all
signs of lazy marketers who have not taken the effort to think
through what makes their product "different." And yet it is
these differences that are your selling points and even your
competitive edges (or are they just "wishful differences" with
your competitor having the real competitive edge.) If the
marketer is too lazy to think through the differences and
articulate them, how can he expect the customer to do it for
him? If you can't illustrate to the customer why your widget
is different and better than the Brand X widget, he will either
choose based upon price, or by what his cousin Ernie thinks he
once heard someone say about your brand).
If you haven't read How To Become A Marketing Superstar yet, go
pick up a copy. I'd loan you mine, but I'm still rereading it.
COPYRIGHT © 2005, Charles H. Brown
About the author:
Do you need to turn the written word into profits? Charles Brown
is a freelance commercial writer located in Dallas-Fort Worth
area, who is available to help write professional web content,
organizational newsletters, direct marketing material and other
copywriting projects for business and non-profits. Put Mr. Brown
on your team today. Visit him at
www.bizwriterstudio.blogspot.com or you may contact him at
817.715.3852 or charbrow@gmail.com.
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