Selling and Marketing to Businesses in only Two Words…

What are the two most important words when selling to businesses (in B2B marketing)?

About a year ago, I wrote a blog article called Direct Marketing in One Word. It described the one most important word for direct response style marketing you should know. In fact, it’s probably the most important word you should know no matter what kind of marketing you use.

If you sell products or services to businesses, rather than directly to consumers, there are two important words that you should know and remember and use at all times.

Follow up!

It’s been said that all qualified prospects will buying. All of them.

The question is: Will the prospect buy from you or your competition?

There’s a long sales cycle in selling to businesses. The item you’re selling may require a large investment to purchase, it may require more than one person to approve the purchase, it may require your client to disrupt their normal operations or spend many hours learning how to use and implement your solution. Oftentimes, it’s all of the above.

If you’ve taken the time and money to identify and qualify a prospective client, it’s crucial to finish the job and Follow Up.

The worse that can happen, that you want to avoid, is spending time and money warming up a prospect, not following up properly, and then learning that the prospect bought from the competition because you didn’t finish the job.

Haven’t you, as a customer, done this?

You learn about a new product or service that you’re interested in. The salesperson is knowledgeable and explains all the benefits and features. You’re not ready to buy it right on the spot. But you go back and buy it. Not from that helpful salesperson who spent the time educating you, but from someone else.

It happens all the time.

Follow Up Is The Key To Success

Clients buy when they’re ready to buy. And …

More companies will buy from you if they know:

1) You exist

2) How you can solve their problems

And

3) Are consistently reminded about items 1 and 2 above!

In fact, many times it doesn’t matter how good your product is, how useful your service is, how excellent your offer is, how generous your price or terms are, how responsive your customer service, or how nice and professional you are … clients buy when they are ready to buy.

Follow Up enables you to be the vendor of choice

The interesting thing is that when a client is ready to buy, he wants to buy right now! Don’t make him wait. Clients with money to burn are impatient and want it “yesterday”.

Make sure you’re the person he calls to satisfy his urges.

Follow up and market consistently. When you market to other businesses use different devices such as: Case studies, press releases, sales letters, post cards, webinars, phone calls, white papers, emails, newsletters, special reports, samples, demos, beta-tests…

Finish the job!

Getting the lead and qualifying him is probably less than 10% of the work needed to close the sale. It’s probably 90% of the effort. But it’s that last 10% that brings in the money.

Someone said, “The Fortune is in the Follow Up.” Yes it is.

And that’s why Follow Up are the two most important words in selling to businesses.

B2B Marketing, Resumes, and Cover Letters

How to use well established marketing copywriting principles to write resumes that land interviews, guaranteed.

I’ll be a presenter at the  Holiday Job Seeker Seminar, Mixer, and Fundraiser tomorrow. My topic is how to use well established marketing copywriting principles to write resumes that land interviews, guaranteed.

Most people don’t realize that looking for and landing a job is a lot like B2B marketing. The company is making a business decision on very expensive business equipment. The business equipment of course is…

Check out the rest here [This event has past, thank you for your interest]

Happy Thanksgiving!

When Times Are Bad…

When times are bad, it helps to remember and appreciate all the things, big and small, that you’re thankful for.

Spend enough time doing that and the bad times will begin to feel neutral, feel better, or actually get better. That’s what happens when you change your focus, or better yet, control and be conscious of what you’re focused on.

I forget who said this, “Nothing is good or bad, except what thinking makes it so…” Was it Shakespear? (I’m on a holiday deadline and don’t want to take the time to do a quick search. I’d rather finish this message to you.)

When Times Are Good…

And if times are good. Then remembering and appreciating all the things, big and small, that you’re thankful for will enhance the good times and make them even better.

So Happy Thanksgiving.

If you live outside the US and don’t celebrate, no worries, skip the turkey dinner and take a moment to remember all the reasons you’re thankful anyway. Make a bad day good, make a good day even better.

A Little Gift…

Share this message with your customers, clients, friends, and family. I’ll bet you $100 they’ll appreciate it. And the best part is that you you have about one and half days to use it. It’s my gift to you. Thank you for reading, sharing, being a client, or putting up with me all these years….

Marketing on Halloween

** This Article Is Brought Back From the Dead-Files of 2008. Read it and keep away the Satan of financial failure! **

Use Natural Opportunities To Market, Advertise, and Promote Your Local Business

Marketing during Halloween, or the lack of it, is truly frightening…

Recently, a new client said to me, “I’m in the marketing business. And I use [xxx] as my vehicle.”

HE GETS IT!

Replace, [xxx], with your business.

A Pizza parlor, Quick Oil Change, Hair Salon, Art School, Accounting, Insurance, Direct Sales, Information Publishing, Web Design, Chiropractic, Copywriting, Real Estate, Mortgage, Biomedical Testing Equipment, Enterprise Software, Pet Sitting ….

It doesn’t matter what business you think you’re in. You are always in the marketing business.

The business itself, your product, or your service is just the vehicle.

This Halloween We Took The Kids Trick-Or-Treating To The Mall

The kids are small and it’s easier for them to walk around the Mall rather than blocks and blocks of houses.

We hit every store. At least 80 all together. Most handed out candy or stickers. Some had signs that said: “No Candy”.

And can you believe it?

Only two stores bothered to do any special promotion for this annual event.

Just two stores out of 80!

That’s appalling.

I think our economic worries can be solved, quickly, if businesses actually tried to market and advertise, if they just made an effort. Even just a small one.

Here is what these two stores did:

The First One) Good Job: They handed out their store bag with one candy, stickers, and their catalog inside.

EVERYONE who stopped by now has their bag which has their brand and logo on it, plus a current catalog. It’s safe to assume that these “everyones” live within driving distance, are familiar with the Mall, and probably spend money at the Mall. This is a basic yet solid method of targeting potential customers who live within their territory. Not bad.

The Second One) Much Better Job: They handed out a sticker and a business size card, which was a coupon for 15% off any purchase between November 1 and November 10.

WoW!

EVERYONE who stopped by now has their special coupon, which brands them. And also, the coupon is a direct offer to shop at a discount. Plus, there’s a deadline; so there’s urgency!

This is a strong and direct approach. If I didn’t want to use this coupon myself (my wife already claimed it), I’d give it to someone else who could use it before the November 10th deadline.

This is a great approach. It’s simple. And almost anyone in any other business can mimic it with equal success.

Before you spend too much time on advanced marketing strategies and Marketing Guru tactics, make sure to cover the basics…

Mastering and following through on the basics could be enough to beat your competition and make the cash register ring like a Vegas jackpot.

In this Mall, for example, 97.5% of the stores were too lazy to do basic, low tech, Neanderthal-level marketing. All they had to do was hand out a catalog or coupon.

How hard is that?  And it’s cheap, too!

I know that I (my wife) is going to be a happy paying customer at one of the two stores that took the time to market on Halloween. Who knows, maybe our purchase alone will make up their promotional cost for that day?

And guess what?

This Mall isn’t unique. I bet you $100 situations like this are happening in your neighborhood too.

Gasp! Are you guilty of it?!

Besides, it’s not like the Mall was caught by surprise with a sudden rush of FREE foot traffic.

Halloween happens every single year. And this Mall has promoted trick-or-treating for decades (I trick or treated at this Mall as toddler myself)!

Make sure you use natural opportunities to market, advertise, and promote your on-line or local business. It doesn’t take much effort. Doesn’t have to cost a lot. You can keep it simple. And a using a natural opportunity, like the huge rush of foot traffic on Halloween, can give you a lot of leverage and make your marketing dollar stretch much farther. It’s like having the wind at your back.

Make sure your customers know you care about their business.

Even during a weak and defecating economy (when you expect entrepreneurs to be more aggressive) nearly 100% of your competition is probably happy to sit on their hands waiting for “something” to happen. Give me a break!

Strike where they are weak!

** So how about you? **

Are you letting too many natural marketing events slip through your fingers? Halloween is just one. And New Years, Christmas, and the Holiday Season is so competitive it’s hard to stand out. Do you wish you had more time to develop simple marketing campaigns that leverage natural events that happen every month? Do you want to stretch your marketing dollar, make your cash register ring, and fatten your pockets with crisp dollar bills?

Then check this out…

“Calendar Marketing”

What is it? It’s a simple yet power marketing package that allows you to reach out to your customers, past customers, and prospects and invite them to spend money with you.

But it’s much more than that, because there’s a problem with advertising.

Your customers don’t look forward to receiving it.

Even if what you sell is important, and necessary, to their life or business, your customers feel it’s an intrusion into their day.

So how do you get around it? How do you go from being seen as a pest to a welcomed guest?

Use the natural events that happen each and every month as a reason to say “Hello”. Send your customers a positive message. Send them good wishes. Write them a nice letter that will brighten their day. Send them something that’s different and that they’ll find useful. And while you’re at it, tactfully mention that your doors are open for business and invite them to make a purchase.

Easier said than done, of course.

You’re busy as it is. You probably hate to write. You don’t know where to start. And you don’t even know what or how to say what should be said so you’re welcomed as a guest and not a pest.

No worries!

Purchase the “Calendar Marketing” Package

1. 12 marketing letters pre-written, ready to send, and customized for you and your customers.
2. One for each month.
3. Each letter focused on an important event per month. The reason for dropping by and saying hello.
4. Each letter will lift their spirits. Endear the reader to you and your business. And make you a welcomed guest.
5. The letter will also ask for their business and make them an offer they can’t refuse.
6. The letters can be sent as a post card or email, or both
7. The package also includes the Calendar Marketing Quick Start Guide (a $9 value) — FREE. This guide holds you by the hand and shows you how to successfully use your letters and run a monthly marketing campaign — On Autopilot!

Most people fail at marketing because they simply don’t get around to it.

They put it off. They get caught up with something else (that’s what probably happened to 97.5% of all those businesses in the Mall on Halloween). But if you can automate your marketing  it gets done, with or without you! That spells success and that’s what you’ll find in this guide, for Free.

And it’s important to mention…

Market research suggests that for each month that you don’t communicate with your customer (we’re talking about a paying customer, not a prospect or a lead) you effectively loose 10% of your professional relationship, goodwill, and affiliation with her. What this means is that in as little as 10 months of not engaging your customer, she reverts to a cold, cold prospect toward you and your business.

If you want her back, you have to reinvest all the time and money you spent the first time around, to get her back through the door. What a waste of time and money!

The simple and affordable solution is to stay in touch with her and engage her every month. And now it’s easier than ever with the Calendar Marketing Package. Plus, she’ll enjoying receiving your letters and even look forward to them. That’s a strong relationship!

The package is affordable at $850. But if you book your package before November 10, 2009 at 11:59pm you can save $50.

That works out to only $2.19 a day for a marketing campaign you can deploy by mail, through email, or both. Plus, the complimentary Quick Start Guide shows you how to automate the whole process so your best customers don’t turn against you as a cold prospect.

Just one sale during the next year can easily pay for the entire Calendar Marketing Package!

So call my office, 1-818-887-8898 from 9am to 5pm PST Monday – Friday and book your Package. Or send an email to tmjhero [at] gmail . com before Thursday November 10, 2009 at 11:59pm with the subject line: Calendar Marketing Package.

We’ll connect by phone and work out the details about your business, your customers, and your product or service.

One last thing,

Subscribers to my ezine, “Response, Results, and Direct Marketing“, receive an extra special bonus deal. Just $500 for everything mentioned above!

That’s less than $1.40 per day for an on-going monthly marketing system. Heck, that price is so low I’m scarring myself this Halloween.

Hurry though, the deadline is on the same day: Thursday November 10, 2009 at 11:59pm. Just mention, by phone (1-818-887-8898) or in your email (send to tmjhero [at] gmail . com), that you’re a subscriber and the email used on the ezine list. I’ll double-check it and if everything is on the up and up you’re in for the super savings.

Finally, if you’re interested in receiving the ezine (your info is never shared or treated inappropriately and you can cancel or opt-out at anytime), just click here http://RobertNomura.com. Enter your name and email address into the area mentioned. Wait for your confirmation email (which can be a while depending on how busy the internet is) and accept your invitation. There’s no cost to it, and if you join before Thursday November 10, 2009, you’ll be eligible for the huge savings on the Calendar Marketing Package.

But wait there’s more…

Order your Calendar Marketing Package by the November 10th deadline and also receive a one-year no fuss guarantee.

If you don’t make back the cost of your package, I’ll refund the amount you paid for it. Plus, you get to keep the Calendar Marketing Quick Start Guide for your troubles. It’s full us useful information on automating marketing campaigns that you can use as a handy guide in your other marketing efforts. This is a fair deal if you ask me.

So call my office and book it. First come, first served. 1-818-887-8898 from 9am to 5pm PST Monday – Friday and book your Package. Or send an email to tmjhero [at] gmail . com before Thursday November 10, 2009 at 11:59pm with the subject line: Calendar Marketing Package.

Poor Man’s SEO: How I Got on Google’s First Page

** This post originally appeared here: http://www.awaionline.com/2009/06/poor-mans-seo-how-i-got-on-googles-first-page/

It was an accident.

The accident got me five calls. Of which, three prospects hired me. The gross fee for the three projects was over $4,000.

The first time it happened, I was a total newbie. I was a new freelance copywriter with no book of business, no in-house mailing list, no testimonials, and no decent samples to share.

I had no idea what the prospect was yammering about on the phone. He was on the East Coast, I was in California and he kept saying he found me online …

… I was thinking, “How?“

I didn’t tell him, but at that time, I didn’t own a website. In fact, I didn’t have a website, landing page, squeeze page, not even a free blog.

So How Did It Happen?

How did I end up on Google’s first page without a website or any online property?

Around AWAI and the Wealthy Web Writer they like to say Ready, Fire, Aim. In my case, it was Fire, Fire, Cross My Fingers.

As I polished up my SEO, PPC, keyword, web writing, and online marketing skills I was able to reverse engineer this mistake.

And by the way, if you do have a website, blog, squeeze page, landing page, or other online property – this works even better because it can be automated to run on it’s own.

“Find A Thirsty Crowd And Sell Them Water”

I advertised and marketed my services without online tools. I wrote long-form ads. I used direct and descriptive headlines. And the only way an interested client could reach me was by email or by calling a NON-toll-free phone number. Those five calls were all long distance!

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was actually optimizing the ads for organic search. The long-form nature of the ads gave prospects a lot of information they wanted. And writing emotionally driven copy persuaded the client to send me an email and even call long distance.

The Best Part: Top Ranking Within a Month!

There was no-out-of-pocket-expense for this promotion. The ads were posted on FREE online classified ad websites: such as Kijiji, Oodle, Backpages, and Craigslist.

These sites have a ton of traffic and high page ranking. If I posted an ad well, it could turn up in an organic search within a month! Not the typical 6 months or longer that many SEO firms advise.

Plus, You Get Two Bites at the Apple

Poor Man’s SEO shouldn’t replace any other SEO strategies. However, it can easily be added to your bag of marketing tricks.

For instance, if your online client was selling a service such as … hmmm … Canine Weight Loss Expert, you could be hired to write online ads and place them on FREE classified ad websites.

This way, the best prospects, those concerned about Fifi’s belly and heavy breathing, could find your client’s service in the classifieds, and also possibly by running an organic search for Fat Dog Help. It’s like being in two places at once.

It’s Simple and Practical

Use this with clients who are moving online for the first time and who need to make sales, now.

Think about it: Who knows why your neighbor is searching Google, Yahoo, or MSN? He could be looking to buy something, helping his daughter on a school project, or goofing off.

SEO, developing content, and disseminating content is work and takes time. There’re no guarantees because no one really knows how search engines are programmed. It’s top secret. And Google, Yahoo, and MSN can, and do, change the software parameters often.

But … buyers search classifieds.

So, use this to give yourself a jump-start on a new copywriting practice even without a fleshed out web presence or to add an extra twist to your online marketing efforts (buyers search classifieds).

Here’s What You Do …

• Write ads that inform and persuade
• Encourage a result: “Click this link, call this phone number”
• Place your ad in the appropriate category so prospects can find you. A Canine Weight Loss Expert ad might be placed under the Family, Home, or Pet services category
• Use a direct phone number or email address so that highly motivated prospects reach out to you, now
• Combine your website, blog, squeeze page, landing page, or other online property to automate the process
• Encourage interested, but NOT highly motivated, prospects to join your mailing list
• Follow-up with your mailing list

What under-the-radar, street-smart marketing tricks have you discovered? Share it in the comment section below.

###

Read more from the AWAI’s (American Writers & Artists, Inc) Wealthy Web Writers letters:

Add Social Media To Your Marketing Toolbox

Social Media Marketing: Proven or Unproven Method?

What a PR agency can teach you about writing blogs

What a PR Agency Can Teach You About Writing Blogs

This post originally appeared here:  http://www.awaionline.com/2009/05/what-a-pr-agency-can-teach-you-about-writing-blogs/

Most clients get into a bind when they set up their blog. It’s an insidious problem. Clients start a new blog full of enthusiasm. They write, create content, and post like crazy. Then, it quickly loses steam. The enthusiasm fades away …

This problem isn’t unique to blogs, of course. Excitement-turned-stale happens to newsletters, comic books, syndicated columns … and even hit TV shows.

This is great news for you. You write for the web and can take the stress away from your online client and keep her blogging goals attainable. But –

How Do You Avoid Falling Into The Same Lost-Steam-And-Stale Trap?

In other words, how do you keep yourself fresh to write a consistent blog that interests the reader, keeps him coming back for more, and attract organic search? Especially, if you’re an independent freelance web writer or a solo online entrepreneur?

Many winters ago I worked at a PR agency in Boston. As a PR peon I wasn’t allowed to write press releases or pitch clients. One of my menial duties was to sit on the phone and deliver a one-sentence script:

“Hi … could you fax me your media calendar … “

What’s A Media Calendar And What’s It Got To Do With Modern Day Blogs?

Glad you asked.

Most magazines, trade journals, TV talk shows, talk radio, and even newspapers know what they’re going to discuss — ahead of time. Some know a year in advance. And they list it on a calendar for all to see: The Media Calendar.

For instance, I’m writing this article in May. I’ll bet you $50 dollars Martha Stewart Living magazine knows what stories they’ll have in their October, November, and December issues. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have some of the holiday stories (Halloween, Thanksgiving, maybe even Christmas) completed now.

I bet you another $50 Oprah knows today, in May, who her special guests will be in the Fall season when her talk show returns from the summer hiatus.

Create A Media Calendar For Your Or Your Client’s Blog

Run your blog like a magazine. This way you know ahead of time what you’re going to write about. It will give you structure and reduce your headaches.

At the PR agency we had a shoe designer as a client. Our job was to get them as much ink in the press as possible. With the media calendar from a fashion magazine or footwear trade journal, for instance, we knew that the publications planned a special summer issue.

With that information the agency worked hard at pitching the editors, in February, about a possible “Chic Summer Sandals” story for their June issue.

Using A Calendar And Planning What You’re Going To Blog About Allows Your Subconscious To Do A Lot Of Work For You

If you’re new to blogging use the change in seasons and holiday events to start stimulating your subconscious.

List them out and brainstorm ideas on how to weave these events with your product or service, no matter how silly it appears. Then leave it alone and do something else and let your subconscious fill-in the gaps.

As an example, if you sell marketing or online copywriting services you could use the upcoming 4th of July as a story starter. It may feel like a stretch, but your subconscious will help you, even while you sleep.

Here’s what my subconscious came up with … “Even back in the seventeen-hundreds Americans were using Web 2.0 and online social networking fundamentals to create viral-marketing-like results. It was so effective that the viral effect grew to a fever pitch and led to America’s independence from Britain.”

Often, You’ll End Up With Too Much Information

Once your subconscious is on a roll you’ll probably end up with too many ideas to pack into one article. That’s great!

Break it up into an ongoing series. It works for TV, like the hit show “24″. They take a one-hour story and stretch into 24 one-hour episodes. Genius!

The Calendar Is A Guide And Is As Flexible As You Want It To Be

A News Flash often interrupts “regularly scheduled” programming on TV, radio, magazines, and newspapers.

What’s great about the blog format is that the production schedule is short — maybe even instant. You can take advantage of any Late Breaking News and plug it in mid-stream and keep your blog fresh and in the micro-moment.

Heck, you could have done a “What The Swine Flu Can Teach You About Viral Marketing” and been a hero to all your customers and prospective clients.

When Your Blog Becomes Successful

You’ll have a media calendar already established. You can share it with new bloggers you hire, use it as a point of reference for guest contributors, and use it as your basic blueprint on how you’re going to manage your Blog Empire. Check out this little blog co-founded by Arianna Huffington that turned into an online juggernaut.

What suggestions do you have for keeping a blog production rolling full steam ahead? Tell me about it in the comment section below.

###

Read more from the AWAI’s (American Writers & Artists, Inc) Wealthy Web Writers letters:

Add Social Media To Your Marketing Toolbox

Social Media Marketing: Proven or Unproven Method?

Poor Man’s SEO: How I got on Google’s first page

Happy 4th of July

Freedom and Independence
Come With Great Responsibility

If you’ve never read the declaration, you should. As a marketing
copywriter I appreciate its simple, yet powerful language. You can
read it here:

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm

I’m thinking of starting an annual family tradition. Reading the
Declaration of Independence out loud and remembering that each one
of the signers volunteered to put a target on their head when they
signed it.

Freedom and Independence comes with great responsibility.

You can look through the profiles of each of the signers here:

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/index.htm

And if you’re feeling especially independent, read through the
original ten amendments of the Bill of Rights. The first thought
that came to my mind was, who’s idea was it to complicate things?

http://www.ushistory.org/documents/amendments.htm

Happy 4th of July

Social Media Marketing: Proven or Unproven Method?

** This post originally appeared here http://www.awaionline.com/2009/05/social-media-marketing-proven-or-unproven-method/

In the last edition I mentioned that marketing through social media is a very new approach. No one really knows whether it’s an effective marketing method, yet.

Let me clarify.

Social media doesn’t have a framework that can be applied, by various businesses, to generate predictable results.

For instance, TV infomercials are darn expensive to produce. I heard that it could cost $200,000 to get an infomercial to the audience testing stage – before buying airtime!

Yet, there is a method used in that medium that generates huge profits. Blogs, had a lack of respect just a few years ago. But the pioneers cracked the code and today there’s a methodology that business can employ to make a blog a practical marketing tool.

I’m not implying that everyone who uses a proven marketing method experiences instant success. Nor am I implying that everyone executes the same method in the exact same manner.

I do mean to say that a proven marketing method, or marketing media, is one that has a body of successful case studies, which is often repeated by dissimilar businesses.

In other words – it just works. And you’d be considered a prudent businessperson to consider it and invest in it.

Social Media Doesn’t Have a Body of Success Yet, But …

On a practical matter, you may want to stake your claim with social media because you have a pioneering spirit and don’t mind a bloody nose to crack the code for the rest of us. Or, perhaps, you realize that social media is the trend and clients are prepared to pay you to manage their online social media ambitions … today.

Who Am I To Stop You?

If anything, I’d like to help you. Below is a checklist that’ll help you establish a good social media marketing foundation – for yourself or your web copywriting clients. It’ll save you time and give you direction and hopefully keep you from wandering aimlessly through cyberspace.

• Have a Website ready. Members of social media sites are nosy. Give them your website and invite them into your world. Many will check it out. Use your online copywriting skills to engage them, ask them to opt-in to your list, and possibly convert them into paying customers on the spot.

• Have a Blog ready. Share your blog posts with your social media connections. It gives you another reason to invite them to your world, plus your connections will share it with others and expand your reach.

• Search Keywords Within The Social Site. Websites like Twitter and Facebook allow you to search for other people using a keyword. This function helps you sift through the millions of registered users and better target your market within the site.For example, if you or your client sells outdoor paving stones, try outdoor paving stones as your first keyword search. Anyone who mentions that phrase in a post, or has it on his profile may come up as a search result and would be someone you’d want to connect with.

• Invite Your In-house List To Join You. Today, the gross number of connections you have on a social media site lends credibility. Yes, size matters. So, if you can bulk up your numbers, do it. It may convince other potential contacts, and strangers, to connect with you, too.Besides, you can bet that many people on your in-house list are already registered on the better-known social media sites like MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter. Facebook alone, reports 200 Million members. That’s more than the total population of Japan – 127 Million!

• Join Groups Within That Site. Similar to using a keyword search to better target individuals, you can join groups to better target through affinity.There are two ways to go about it. One, choose a group where you can network with your peers. Two, choose groups where your best clients hang out.As an example, if you sell outdoor paving stones you can join the Professional Paving Stone Distributors Group and/or join the Home Gardening Group.

• Create Your Own Group. Start your own group within the site and make it related to your business. This takes a bit more time, but …If you sell outdoor paving stones, why not start a Do-It-Yourself Landscaping group. This would put you on top of the pyramid and give you more recognition, exposure, and credibility. Plus, it can become a niche P.R. machine.

• Play Around With Posting/Comment Ratios. That is to say, questions, posts, and comments that are helpful, fun, or interesting equal 80% of your posts. Versus straight pitches (that lead to your squeeze page, sales page, website, or personal blog) which equal 20% of your posts.The importance to understand here is that too much pitching tends to turn people off (as can happen in ezine/auto-responder promotions).On the other side of the spectrum, though, if you’re too cute and fluffy with all your posts and comments – you’re not doing your job.You’ll have to test it and find a happy medium.

• Play around with this idea too. Reveal a slightly different persona on each social media site. Each site has it’s own personality. Linkedin is more professional. Twitter is much more informal. Would you behave and speak about the same things in a boardroom meeting as you would at a backyard BBQ?

This list is not the final word on social media marketing, that’s still being written. As a web copywriter, I hope you can see the income opportunities available just to help a client reach a basic social media foundation: a Website, a blog, starting and building a new group …

I believe, and I think you do too, that it’s dumb to argue the theoretical merits of marketing with social media. It works! It doesn’t work! So What!

Let others bicker, while you rake up all the online marketing and copywriting cash.

###

Read more from the AWAI’s (American Writers & Artists, Inc) Wealthy Web Writers letters:

Add Social Media To Your Marketing Toolbox

What a PR agency can teach you about writing blogs

Poor Man’s SEO: How I got on Google’s first page

Add Social Media to Your Marketing Toolbox

** This post originally appeared here http://www.awaionline.com/2009/05/add-social-media-to-your-marketing-toolbox/

Old Man Guru says: Using Social Media sites like MySpace or Twitter to market your business is as dumb as image advertising.

Che Guevara Yogi Guru says: Social Media is revolutionary!

Full Disclosure: I use social media, but think it’s the online equivalent of the office water cooler. A place where too many people idle their time away. I also feel that arguing the merits of social media in marketing is moronic. I’ll explain in a moment.

First, let me tell you that I’ve been conducting personal research on the effectiveness of social media in building a business, increasing sales, and actual ROI on money – or time – invested …

I asked a simple, “How’s it working for you?” Out of my 2,000 friends, spread across the World Wide Galaxy, only two people gave me a useful response. Hmm … the research is ongoing.

To be fair, I had twelve total responses. Except for the two mentioned above, the others were pitches to buy something, or to take a look at a squeeze page for help.

I’m Not Ready To Give Up On The Virtual Water Cooler, Yet

Despite explosive growth and hundreds of millions of registered users (Facebook alone, reports 200 Million members) I believe social media is still a baby and may prove to be revolutionary, in the future.

Why Is It Moronic To Argue Social Media’s Merits?

For two reasons:

Reason #1 You’re going to add social media (if you already haven’t done so) to your marketing bag of tricks, no matter what others say …

You — like Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo — are a pioneer and don’t mind getting beat up to clear a path for the rest of us

God bless you …

I remember, not too long ago, that blogs (ahem, web logs) didn’t get any respect. But the blog pioneers spent hundreds of thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars, plus pure grit, and discovered how to bend the blog to their will and make it work.

Today, online copywriters and marketers have them to thank for creating effective blogging benchmarks. For instance …

• Post often
• Use keywords in the copy
• Write a good title
• Write in your personal voice
• and many more …

Social media isn’t there yet. But, you may be the pioneer that climbs this mountain — Because It’s There.

Everyone will thank you for showing the rest of us how to make boatloads of cash for online clients and web-based businesses — in a predictable and methodical manner.

Reason #2 You wanna get paid to manage social media campaigns for clients

Halleluiah!

It doesn’t matter what any of the guru’s think — the engraved truth is that social media is the trend! The trend is your friend so, go with the flow …

Social media, the posting, responding, engaging, research, and pitching eats up time and requires solid online copywriting to execute. Clients need a hand and are willing to hire a web copywriter to do the handiwork.

And just in case you’re a social media hater … Would you turn down a bus bench or billboard ad because it goes against your online-direct-response-marketing-dogma? No you wouldn’t!

You’d charge well for your expertise and time. Do the best job you can. Make a new client. AND THEN consult the client on the Jedi ways of online direct response marketing.

Wealthy Web Writing Guru says: Allow others to argue social media marketing merits — while you mint your own coin.

But what if you’re new to social media? No problem. In my next edition I’m going to give you a checklist that’ll help you establish a good social media foundation. It’ll save you time and give you direction to achieve your, or your clients, social media goals.

###

Read more from the AWAI’s (American Writers & Artists, Inc) Wealthy Web Writers letters:

Social Media Marketing: Proven or Unproven Method?

What a PR agency can teach you about writing blogs

Poor Man’s SEO: How I got on Google’s first page

Short Copywriting Sells Very Ordinary Products

Part 4 of 4:

Strong Copywriting Improves Your Response Rate And Your Chances For a Sale

Making a sale using a short format, or in a small amount of space, or in a few words is hard. The challenge of limited space, and also limited time, appears in many areas of marketing: post cards, classified ads, PPC ads, packaging, catalog copy, emails, radio ads, and more.

If you find yourself in this situation remember to know your market and know what their hot buttons are. Let’s take a look at an example I found in a store recently.

Have you ever been frustrated by teaching a kid to ride a bike?

I saw this metal pole that attaches to a kid’s bike (without training wheels) and helps you help your kid learn to ride a bike.

“How lame”, I thought. “I’m not going to spend $29.99 on a pole.” I didn’t use one to learn to ride a bike. So I’m prepared to run behind my kid’s bike like my parents did…

But then I read the package copy…

Name: Balance Buddy

Package Copy: Fully adjustable

A step above bicycle training wheels

Make one of your child’s most memorable experiences the best it can be!

Fun! Easy!

Quote: “My child learned to ride in less than 15 MINUTES!” – Actual customer testimonial

Graphic/picture:  A smiling mom holding the balance buddy (metal pole) behind a smiling kid on bike. Both are happy and enjoying themselves.

Package copy: Stop the hassle and frustration…

START ENJOYING

Graphic: “check mark” Parent approved

Graphic: “check mark” Toughness tested – strength tested to 300lb rider weight

Package copy: NO MORE BACK PAIN

Damn, I was sold.

No more back pain? No hassle? No frustration? Learn in 15 minutes? I want to buy one for every niece, nephew, neighbor’s kid, and schoolmate too.

This is a strong example of copywriting and knowing your market’s hot buttons. It’s also a great example to remember to Never waste an opportunity to communicate your value and benefits no matter how limited your space or time to do it in.

Want more short copy ideas?

Short copy creates exclusivity

Short copy sells complex products

Short copy can be strategic

Feel free to share your own examples in the comment area below.