Copywriting Dynamite: ‘Scientific Advertising’
If you are a serious student of marketing you will want to read and study Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins. Published in 1923, it continues to be an invaluable reference work for copywriters and marketers. David Ogilvy claimed that it changed the course of his life.
Claude invented test marketing, sampling by coupon and copy research. He was forever experimenting and testing new ideas in search of better results. “Almost any question can be answered, cheaply, quickly and finally by a test campaign. And that’s the way to answer them - not by arguments around the table”, he wrote.
7 Recession Rescue Strategies
Maybe everything is going swimmingly well for you? If so, you can skip this and continue to enjoy the fruits of your labours. If not, here are seven simple things to focus on:
- Don’t throw in the towel emotionally just because things might be a little tricky right now. They are supposed to be. Strong headwinds challenge and test even the most experienced of sailors so why should you be any different? So long as the basics are sound and you are putting measures in place to keep going forward, however slowly, then that’s okay.
- What keeps them awake at night?
- What frustrates them the most?
- What problems do they need solving?
- What current trends are they following?
- Who else might they be talking to, if not you?
Lessons To Learn From Hot Dog Marketing (Video)
Sometimes it pays to look at how completely unrelated businesses market what they do. As this short video clip shows, there is a lot you can learn from the way this site markets training courses for would-be Hot Dog Cart sellers.
How To Find Your USP
The business you think you are in is probably different from the one your customers want you to be in. Whether you have set up a new business, or have been established for some time, it’s essential to take the time to understand in detail everything there is to know about your customer. Get to know them intimately.
This is because a lot of small business owners either fall into their business or set up because of a particular passion or interest. They don’t always know if there’s a need for their services and why. In order to find out, you need to start asking questions:
Eighty percent of your time, you are in the problem-solving business. Once you understand this, it’s much easier to position and market your services.
What You Can Learn From An American Scottie Dog Lover
Following my Letter from America and my observations about what was going on over there, a number of you e-mailed asking me to give a bit more detail.
The Scottie Lover
On the first day of the conference I sat next to a lady called Margaret who must have been in her 60s and who, frankly, was not the sort of person I expected to see at a marketing super conference. She was someone whom you might expect to be taking it easy and enjoying her time with her grandchildren.
When I asked her what she did, I learnt that she specialised in selling products about and for Scottish Terriers. She had an online business that sold to customers all over the world who were mad about Scotties including, she proudly told me, to owners in Scotland.
If you go online and Google ‘Scottish Terriers’, you will discover a whole world of Scottie mugs, trays, leads, coats and tea-towels. For those who love these wee dogs, you are in Scottie heaven.
Margaret has five of them and is obviously a passionate owner. But, more importantly, she has turned her passion into a niche business. She is an expert on Scotties and knows exactly the sort of things that Scottie lovers want. Also, by developing this niche, she is making a very good living. And at her time of life probably the last thing she would have expected.
There is definitely riches in niches and if you can marry it with a personal interest then so much the better.
A Remarkable Mindset
But this story has another lesson. It’s to do with mindset. I made an incorrect value judgement about Margaret when we first met. As I discovered, not only is she is a successful online marketer but also a member of a high-powered Peak Performers mastermind group to which she pays c. $800 a month to belong. That reflects a particular commitment and ambition.
Margaret has not allowed age to restrict her goal and vision. She is continually learning new things about how to market her business and she is using the internet with more success than those half her age. Why? Because she has taken the time and trouble to find out how it works.
I believe that only in America will you come across this kind of thinking. The idea that you can move into areas and do things that previously you had never dreamt of. Coupled with this is a willingness to take action. To do something very proactive with what you learn and then bank the results as a consequence.
The Internet allows you to exploit niches in an exceptional way. If you have a niche in mind and your research shows that there are other similar businesses then that’s good. It shows that there is an existing business demand.
And if you are ever thinking that the technology and the processes involved are too much and beyond you, then think of Margaret and her Scotties.
On a personal note I have two Border Terriers; an elderly lady called Tilly and a young thug called Truffle. If at some time in the future, you find me selling you Border products you will know that I’m either rather advanced in years or the temptation got too great.
Go find that niche.
Podcasting As A Marketing Tool
Whatever your experience, there is significant evidence that a growing number of companies are using podcasting as part of their marketing communications. At the same time, an increasing number of individuals are integrating podcasts into their daily information gathering routine.
It is worth tapping into this kind of behaviour. Here’s how:
How To Manage A Web Agency
Whatever you do, at some point you will be looking for a ‘good web-design’ agency or designer. For a long time, I’ve thought that this is a misleading term to describe what these companies do in relation to what a client needs.
Generally, you require a web-design agency to help you to:
7 Tips On How To Write Effective Web Copy
Writing copy for a website is different from direct mail. You have even less time to attract the attention of the reader. This means you have to be astute about what your reader is looking for and how you’re going to satisfy their need.
1. Don’t Forget The 1% and 8 Second Rule
Only 1% of visitors to your page will take some form of action. This means that on average only 1 out of every 100 will make a purchase, sign-up to receive something or telephone your office.
And you have only 8 seconds to convince your reader that they have arrived at the right place, after that 50% of them will go in search of something better.
Read more
Why A Webpage Is More Powerful Than A Website
You probably think of your website as the place that most accurately reflects what you do. It’s somewhere for visitors to check you out to see if what you do is right for them. It has a beginning, a middle and an end and you think of it as a large, significant entity.
5 Sales Letter Writing Mistakes To Avoid
The copywriter Jay Halbert wrote: “The answer to every business problem is a good sales letter”. Unfortunately, sales letter writing is often low on everyone’s list of priorities because most of us:
• Hate writing them
• Are not very good at doing them
• Don’t believe they work terribly well
As the recession settles and the New Economy dawns, it looks as if we are all going to have to get better at writing such letters. Not just one-off letters but a series of consistent letters targeted at different market sectors.