naturally you would help a friend - right?

If you get a personal email from a good friend who seems to be asking for your help, you would respond - wouldn’t you? And maybe it would not occur to you that the email didn’t actually originate from where it was supposed to.

Perry Marshall had that experience and he nearly fell for it - he described it as The Cleverest Email Scam.

You can see what he’s talking about at Perry nearly fell for this

We all know about other email scams from ‘messages from your online bank’ to the ‘Nigerian Minister’ to your ‘unexpected inheritance’, but this one really does sneak up on you, so please be vigilant.

~ Carol Bentley

ways to find testimonials I hadn’t thought of…

Sometimes I read someone’s blog post and I think ‘That is sooo-oo obvious, why didn’t I think of that?’ And that’s what happened today when I popped over to take a look at Aweber’s latest blog post on gathering testimonials.

I’ve always urged clients to collect as many testimonials as they can and in Rebecca’s post she describes some great up-date ways of finding those accolades.

Pop over to How To Collect Testimonials for some nifty ideas (opens in a new browser window), but before you do…

Collect a Gift…

download this PDF containing an article I wrote that describes how to get a truly effective testimonial and how to use it to dramatically boost the impact of your sales message:

How To Acquire & Use Powerful Testimonials

And, after you’ve read and used those insights, pop back and let me know what you think and how successful using testimonials has been for you… you never know you might get an email from me asking for permission to use your comments!

~ Carol Bentley

21st century marketing strategy

In the 1900’s the most powerful marketing strategy for any business was direct response marketing… and it still is today, but…

In the 21st century the delivery mechanism for your marketing and sales message has expanded and - as a result - the ability to reach more people in your target audience has increased exponentially.

One of the most exciting media for delivering your marketing message is video. And the explosion of video on the Internet, through websites like YouTube, has seen a proliferation of customer-attracting messages as well as the more amateurish, social video clips. The true power of these videos is the potential for your message to go viral.

So how can you use this interesting, viral type marketing as part of your business strategy?

I’ve just listened to an audio in which an Online Marketing expert reveals why video is a crucial part of modern marketing and he shares some mind-blowing YouTube stats… stats that are crucial to anyone who is in business today. Did you know, for example, that the average age of YouTube viewers is higher than you might think?

He also reveals 3 quick and easy ways to make your video clips look professional - even if you’re using a hand-held video camera.

It’s worth listening to… Branding Through Video

[Incidentally, this interview is a pre-amble to the launch of The Super Business Conference 2010. I am one of the speakers at this event (explaining how to write stunning sales letters) so if you decide to take part you will make a point of saying "hello", won't you?]

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. If you pop over to The Super Business Conference 2010 you can get a free download of Claude Hopkin’s Scientific Advertising… arguably one of the most valuable books on direct response marketing.

Charismatic sales letters

Have you noticed how some presenters connect with an audience immediately? They have charisma. And have you noticed how some letters seem to connect with you straight away? They draw you in and create an instant rapport with you. How do they do that?

Well letters can have charisma too. [...] Continue Reading…

updating subscriber gift

Since starting this blog I’ve invited readers to subscribe so they don’t miss a post they would find useful. And when people subscribe I give two thank-you gifts.

One of these gifts is entitled How to Banish, Forever, The Hair-Tearing Frustrations of Microsoft Word When Writing Your Sales Letters! [...] Continue Reading…

am I losing the plot…

OK – I admit it! I give in and confess that I must be losing the plot because I’m guilty of not taking serious note of one of the most powerful marketing trends to hit the business world.

What am I talking about? Video Marketing, that’s what.

Now, before [...] Continue Reading…

protecting your documents

I was reading one of Michel Fortin’s blog posts when he gave me a sudden shock. He explained how vulnerable the folders where we store our PDF downloads are on our servers. A simple solution can reduce the risk.

The post (you can read it at Mileage Emails) is [...] Continue Reading…