The first step to take before writing your next direct-mail piece or article - even before you do any research or interviews - is to set your goals and objectives. You usually have multiple objectives when you’re writing. They could be to increase sales, generate revenue, educate consumers on a new product, increase name recognition, strengthen a relationship with vendors, or any combination of these. So clearly defining your copy’s purpose before you start can make the difference between average copy and phenomenal copy.

Most copywriters don’t take the time to write down their goals and objectives. If you don’t take the time to write them down before beginning, you can easily focus too much effort on one objective (which may not be the most important one), or unconsciously bounce back and forth between objectives, thereby confusing your reader. Here’s an example of objectives a hospital may have for a direct mailing: The marketing director wants to increase sales. The COO wants to increase name recognition and build relationships with vendors and suppliers. Stockholders want to generate revenue immediately. And physicians wish to educate consumers on what they do and what they have to offer.

Here are specific steps to take to make sure you clearly identify your objectives - and follow through on meeting them:

1. Ask everyone involved with your copy - editor, client, whoever - “What do you hope to gain from this piece?” Write down their answers. Even if you think you know what they’re going to say, DON‘T ASSUME ANYTHING.

2. If you’re writing an article and not a sales piece, what are the requirements of the publication? What do its readers want?

3. Analyze the way the identified objectives interrelate. Is it possible to meet everyone’s objectives and still create an effective, polished sales piece? If not, what do you drop or modify?

Are you missing any important goals or objectives in your writing?

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

Positioning yourself as an expert or a “guru” in your field is a planned and deliberate process. We all know who the experts are in our respective industries.

 

They are the ones we turn to in order to learn about a specific topic. We check their Web site or the book they wrote to find answers to our problems. These experts travel the country and give outrageously priced seminars, and are always quoted in the media. But what do these people do that makes them experts?

 

They may be saying the same things we do, just in a different way. Here are some things you can do to help you become known as a guru:

 

1. Write articles and publish them in trade journals, industry-specific newspapers, or e-zines in your field. Writing articles for trade journals or groups in your industry does several things. It makes you think through and research your industry thoroughly, and puts your name in front of people who are your target market.

 

Although it’s unlikely you will be paid for writing the article, the exposure you receive from others is incalculable. Yes, you are writing the article to promote yourself and your company, but it’s important you don’t write an article that looks like a sales piece. It needs to be educational and informative to the reader.

 

2. Write a book…easier said than done for many of us. Besides requiring a lot of time, research and energy, writing a book requires a specific skill. You may not be a writer, but you can hire one to help you. Nowadays you can write a book and publish it online, have a small publishing company publish it and try to sell it, or try to get a major publishing company to print it for you.

 

3. Give speeches. Being introduced as the keynote speaker at meetings and conventions quickly puts you in the expert chair. A speech is more memorable than an article and doing one immediately enhances your reputation as an expert. Giving a speech is personal, immediate, and puts you in face-to-face contact with your target market. Association meetings are ideal for this.

 

4. Conduct seminars. Seminars are longer than speeches, usually a half-day to three days, and are given by almost all gurus. These presentations are more in-depth than speeches and can be used as both an informative training tool and as an effective marketing tool for specific markets.

 

5. Polish your Web site. Your Web site should provide information about yourself, similar to a resume, as well as be a resource for people gathering information within your niche. Your Web site should be the place people go to when looking for an answer to a question or when researching material for themselves. You should also sell your products online, as well as have ways for customers to contact you and know what services you provide.

 

6. Hone your public relations skills. Be the one the media turns to when there’s a question they need answered or they need a quote for a story. I’m not talking about simply producing press release after press release about your next speech at the Chamber of Commerce meeting. You need to find a “hook” to grab people’s attention.

 

7. Sell smaller versions of the big piece. Now you have all of this information put together. You’ve developed articles, a book, speeches and seminars. Now break this knowledge into smaller parts and sell the pieces. This may include audio and video tapes, booklets and pamphlets, newsletters, software, and resource guides, to name a few items.

 

Achieving and keeping your status as an expert means providing a constant flow of new information to your target market. If you do all of the steps above, are you destined to be a guru in your field?

 

No, you need to have something valuable to say, too. It doesn’t necessarily need to be earth-shattering, but something interesting. You need to have a little different twist. If nothing else, following these steps are sure-fire ways to get you noticed in your industry and lend credibility to yourself when talking with prospective clients.

 

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.amarketingconnection.com

Putting “emotion” into your marketing is something that most marketers don’t talk about. It’s not always the easiest or most natural thing to do. The natural thing to do is for you to talk and sell to your prospects logically. We usually do this by talking about our features.

 

Your sales messages should talk to your prospects like you would talk to a friend. One way to do that is to use your prospects name often. But in an advertisement, newsletter, or other mass communication you won’t be able to call your prospect by their name — but there are other ways to “talk” to the reader in a more personal tone.

 

Here are a few different ways you can put emotion into your marketing messages:

 

     1.   Don’t talk in corporate speak. Use terms like “you” and “your” rather than “the”. For example, “your coffee” versus “the coffee”.   By making it more personal, you reach out to the reader as if you’re speaking directly to them.

 

     2.   Have a clear idea of who you are talking to. Picture one specific person you are talking to, not the variety of people that will be reading it. I tell my copywriting students to actually put a photo of this person on their monitor while they’re typing so they remember to talk to that one person. The picture helps you stay focused.

 

     3.   Talk to your customers and prospects like you would a friend. Be conversational. One way to check your copy is to read it out loud. Does it sound like you talk or does it sound like you write? They are different. In school we are taught to “write” scholarly, not conversationally. Throw everything you learned out the window – write like you talk for your marketing pieces.

 

     4.    Let your personality shine through. It’s ok to be different – people like you for it. People “see” you because of it. If you like to travel, have three crazy kids, or love bungee jumping – share that with your readers. Your personality will make you stand out from the other 3,000 advertisements your readers are exposed to each day. A great example of this is my new friend Michelle. Check out her web site at www.mlsalater.com. Can you tell what she loves to do in her spare time?

 

     5.    People buy based on emotion, not logic. While it is important you include logical reasons in your copy to justify a purchase, those logical reasons should be only a small part of the actual selling you do. Talk to prospects emotions by addressing the benefits your product provides. Talk emotionally about how it will help them.

 

What ways can you add emotions and feelings to your marketing?  Can your prospects see the real you?

 

To your success!

Kelly Robbins         

www.amarketingconnection.com

 

When you are hired to write copy for a client, there are many things your clients will ask you to do. You’ll find that often times they have multiple objectives for one piece. It could be to sell their product or service, in addition to positioning their company or product in a certain way.  Other times you’ll be asked to announce new information to the public or to their employees. The list goes on.

Whatever the reason your client hires you to write copy, it is important when writing the copy that you show an advantage or advantages to the reader.

What do I mean by advantage? For example, think about:

Why is it better? Why is this product better? Why is this doctor better? Why is this company better? Why is this new announcement better? What’s in it for them (the reader)? I’m sure you’ve heard of WIIFM (what’s in it for me) phrase before - focus your copy on that idea!

What you need to do in your copy is tie the specific advantages of the product/service with the needs or desires of the audience reading your copy (Or at least most of the readers).

You want to show the reader, with your words as well as with pictures, what they gain, as well as what they could lose if they don’t take advantage of the product/service. What the reader gains or loses can be tangible things like money or sometimes even better, use non tangible things like emotions, security, spiritual growth, embarrassment, keeping face with their friends, etc.

So, how do you do this?

As a copywriter, you first need to know the advantages of what you were hired to write about. Ask the person that hired you what they are. Ask in any interviews you do, what they see the advantages are.

A tip…one question I always ask when I interview someone, “What is the number one advantage of this product as your clients see it?”

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.amarketingconnection.com

At one point or another in our healthcare careers we face the challenge of coming up with new marketing ideas. Consistently coming up with ideas for new ways to attract prospects attention or to keep your name in front of existing clients can be exhausting and frustrating.

 

Sometimes we just plain run out of ideas. If you feel that you have implemented all the ideas you have, or are just looking to approach things in a different way this year, here are some tips to get the ideas flowing if you find yourself stuck:

 

1. Read. Read everything you can get your hands on. Marketing articles (like this one), business articles, industry journals, the daily newspaper. You don’t get new ideas from doing the same thing every day. Be learning and looking all the time.

 

2.Go outside of your industry and read what others are doing. It will give you a different perspective on things. Read general business or start-up magazines like Entrepreneur or Business 2.0. These publications are filled with success stories from a variety of businesses.

 

3.Find someone (or several others) that does what you do in another part of the country. Watch their ideas and marketing techniques. Sign-up for their ezine. Try to get on their mailing list. In addition to finding similar companies online you may try to network with someone through a national association or at a networking event.

 

4.Allow yourself one day a month to get outside your office — outside your normal work environment — and brainstorm. Find a relaxed setting where you can sit down for a while and just write. Write down what’s happened over the last month or so, where you’re heading, and where you’d like to go in the future.

Find out what environment works best for you to do this exercise. It may be finding a big comfy chair at Starbucks for a few hours, or working from home instead of the office. It’s hard to come up with ideas when you’re in the thick of things, so get out of your work environment and relax. The ideas just might flow.

 

5.Search for marketing ideas online. You may have some ideas you’ve been kicking around but haven’t fully materialized. Jot down some key words and just go digging around. You never know where your next great idea will come from.

 

6.If you don’t have much time and are feeling pressured to come up with a marketing promotion right away, at least try to back away from your problem for a little while. Ideas don’t generally flow when you’re under pressure. Watch a movie; read a novel. Your great idea may come while you’re sleeping or in the shower once you relax. Oftentimes you have to let things go so they can come to you.

 

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.amarketingconnection.com

As an entrepreneur we are forced to make decisions every day. Really, as human beings we make decisions every day. Ranging from what to make for dinner, to who you should hire to fill a new position, the consequences of our decisions can be long lasting. Making decisions feels very permanent with far reaching effects which causes us to over-think, rather than make the right decision.

 

This is why many people hesitate and second guess themselves when the time comes to make a decision. When it comes to making the decision they start to think about how they will implement their decision, and what could happen if they make a particular decision. Not putting the outcome they want first.

 

Before they decide, they run through their head how they will implement their decision, what it’s going to cost them, what will happen if they fail…all the reasons they shouldn’t make a decision.

 

I would like to suggest a different process to use when making a decision.

 

I was taught this technique from David Neagle and it works very well.  

 

First make the decision. Put the “how am I going to make this happen” aside. Don’t think about what others are going to say or think - put your energy into making the right decision for you. If you need $20,000 to invest in your business, but you have terrible credit and nothing in your accounts receivables, you may start thinking about why you can’t get $20,000.

 

What I am asking you to do, before you think about how or why, is to make the decision to move your business forward. Make the decision that you are going to manifest $20,000. Just make the decision you are going to do it and nothing else.

 

Once you’ve made the decision (whatever it is) write it down on a piece of paper. Draw a line down the center of the paper. On the left column write down these words “Why I can’t”. On the right column write down “How I can”. Cross off “Why I can’t” with a big X. You are done with that column. Why I can’t is no longer an option for you. You’ve made the decision to manifest $20,000. The Universe will bring it to you once you make the decision.

 

Brainstorm for the ‘How I Can’

 

Now write down every single thing you can think of for “How I can”. EVERYTHING; even if it seems crazy and impossible. Once you’ve written everything down, methodically exhaust every item on the list. Somewhere on that list is the solution to making your decision a reality. Somewhere on that list is the how.

 

It may be that one of the items you wrote down leads you to something else, which makes your decision a reality. The answer is somewhere on that list.

 

The key is to make the decision without thinking about the how. The universe will make the how happen. Your job is to go through that list tirelessly until you find what you are looking for. In this case it’s $20,000.

 

Here’s an example of what the decision to manifest $20,000 could look like:

 

Decision:  $20,000 

 

 

Why I can’t

How I can Loan from bank Money from mom Sell 30 ebooks Gain 25 new clients Ask friends Etc.

Try it. See if it works for you.

 

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

 

Whether marketing a specific division of your business, such as a hospital’s cardiac division, or branding your business or hospital as a whole, creating “the brand” or personality of your business has a huge effect on both your advertising and public relations efforts.

A colleague recently shared an experience with me. Her hospital had a strategy meeting with some of the executives. A marketing executive asked the question, “What makes our hospital different from all the other hospitals in the area?” One of the doctors kept saying “We care. That’s what makes us special. We care.” She tried in vain to explain her point to the doctor, saying, “We’re a hospital. All hospitals care about patients. That’s the nature of working in a healing environment - we all care. That doesn’t make us different.” His reply was, “But we really care. We REALLY mean it.”

I’m sure situations like this are more than common in healthcare marketing departments across the U.S. But my colleague brings up a good point. How do you brand your business? What persona do you portray to the public?

Developing a brand or persona is difficult for many, many companies, especially those perceived as a commodity. If there really is nothing that differentiates you from everyone else, what do you do? Why should people choose you over your competitors?

Here’s what many marketing experts recommend. Pick ONE of the things you do really well (even if the others do it well, too) and claim it as yours. If your organization is the first one to say it, then you’ve claimed it and no one can take it away from you. Let me give you an example I used to give my marketing students.

There are three toothpaste companies that control about 80% of the $1.3 billion U.S. toothpaste market: Colgate, Crest and Aquafresh. For most of us toothpaste is toothpaste. But think for a minute about how each of the companies (and the tons of spin-off brands they have) market themselves. Colgate gives you “fresh breath.” Crest “fights plaque and is endorsed by the American Dental Association.” Aquafresh offers “triple protection.” What these companies have done is take a commodity - toothpaste - and created their own unique identity.

There is a large group of people that care about having fresh breath, and Colgate targeted this group. There is another segment of the population that really worries about cavities and health; hence, Crest jumped on that bandwagon and became the first to receive a recommendation from the American Dental Association.

Does brushing your teeth with ANYTHING give you fresher breath? I think so. But Colgate jumped on that claim first, marketed it to consumers first, and became THE toothpaste for people worried about bad breath. Think about the other worries toothpaste companies address…white teeth, sensitive teeth, gum disease. Are you a smoker? If so, there’s even a special toothpaste just for you.

Taking this example from the toothpaste industry, how can you take the perceived strengths of your business and use it to your advantage? What strength can you claim as your own before your competition does?

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

The most important issue I find when I do copy critiques is that my client might write a great headline, but doesn’t back up the facts in the copy. You must answer the question or address the issue you bring up in your headline right away in your copy. When I say right away I mean in the first or second sentence. This is important because if you don’t address the claim you are making (which is big enough to grab the reader’s attention) you will lose both the readers interest and your credibility.

For example, if you make a bold statement such as “Over 50,000 children die because their mothers love them TOO much”, that’s going to grab someone’s attention and they are going to read the article. However, if you do not back-up your claim immediately in the piece, you will lose credibility with your reader. Clearly show the reader how these mothers loving their kids too much are killing them. And quote it from a credible source.

Write the headline last

You MUST continually go back and make sure the headline is explained in the copy. I recommend you write the headline last. A headline is easier to write after you have finalized the rest of the copy. If you HAVE to write the headline first (and some of us do), brainstorm 10 or more headlines and put them off to the side. Put one up at the top of the page if you must. After you’ve finished writing reevaluate

the headlines you came up with and decide on a final headline when your copy is done.

Reach out and GRAB your reader

Remember, the headline is what is going to attract the readers’ attention…what is going to make them stop everything and read on, or what will make them throw the information away without taking a glance at what you’ve got to say.

Take the time to ensure your headline is as high quality as the copy you wrote.

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

The headline is the first thing people read in everything from advertisements and sales letters to newspaper articles and flyers. How good your headline is affects whether or not your piece is going to get read. Therefore, your headline is one of, if not THE most important part of anything you write.  

People quickly glance at the headline, then scan through the headings and subheadings before making a decision to read a piece in its entirety.

 

 

Your headline has one purpose — To grab the reader’s attention and entice them to read the rest of your copy.

 

There are several good techniques for headline writing. Some of the most popular ways are to:

• Describe a benefit. This can be tough to do successfully unless your product/service is different than everyone else’s
• Use emotion. “Liars, Liars, Liars. I’m tired of doctors telling me surgery is the only cure!”
• Combine a benefit with an emotion.
• Ask a question. “Are you tired of not being able to play ball with your kids because of back pain?”
• Have a how to. “How to bring in 15 new clients a week with a sales letter”
• Give a command. “Stop rushing through your day and missing the little things”
• Pain. Capitalize on a pain your reader has that your product/service solves.

Here are a few samples of great, attention grabbing headlines:

 

“Have you got these symptoms of (degenerative disks or deviated septum)”
“When doctors are in pain, this is what they do”
“Health secrets that drug companies don’t want you to know about”
“5 Ways to get rid of neck pain”

 

How can you punch up your headlines and pull your clients into the heart of your article?

 

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

This saying is one of the many quips I absorbed at the David Neagle seminar in Las Vegas some time ago. I ask you to stop and really think about what that sentence is saying and how it affects your dealings with prospects.

Sales is not something you do “to” someone, it’s something you do for someone. This one sentence suggests to me that I should be open about how I can help someone when I am talking to them. To me it suggests you shouldn’t think about how much you are going to make, or how much you can sell them, but you should concentrate on how this person needs help and how they can best be served. Let God or the Universe be a conduit through you. The answer may be that you refer them to someone else.  

David also suggested that when people are telling you they can’t afford your services, or telling you other objections, you are letting them sell you on their beliefs. The person with the most certainty wins the discussion. Is it you or is it them?

Beliefs are another subject we delved into quite a bit at the conference. What are your beliefs about running a business or having a life of abundance? Do you believe that being an entrepreneur is easy - that it’s easy to help people? Do you believe that money is abundant and easy to come by? Do you believe living the life you desire should be effortless? Or not.

Your beliefs control your perceptions.

If you perceive your business as not being successful, you have a belief leading you to perceive that. Uncover the belief and you can change your perception. If you have a belief that money is easy to make, or raising children is fun and effortless, then it is! If you believe success is only for people that work 16 hour days and had multiple degrees, then that is your truth.

What do you believe?

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com