Carol Bentley

In the post I made on 13th March ( 3 Time Management Tips ) I talked about how we can control what we do and perhaps regain some much needed time for ourselves.

Tim Ferris (author of The 4-hour Work Week) describes another time thief in his blog. And d’you know, this is one that might be more difficult for some to handle because of the associated guilt certain people are good at creating!

See what you think…
The danger of expectations and the beauty of duty

And here’s a few pertinent quotes on time management that a business colleague (Nigel Risner) sent to me in his last newsletter…

“Time has a way of getting away from us, because we never have a grip on it
during the day…” — Doug Firebaugh

“Learn to use ten minutes intelligently. It will pay you huge dividends.” –William A. Irwin

“Lost time is never found again.” — Benjamin Franklin

“Don’t mistake movement for achievement. It’s easy to get faked out by being busy. The questions is: Busy doing what?” — Jim Rohn

~ Carol Bentley

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A letter I received in the post this morning broke the two golden rules when writing to prospects, which are:

1. Target your audience
2. Write to your audience

The sender did successfully use some of the copywriting techniques I share with you - but the fundamental research hadn’t been done. Either that or they purchased an inaccurate mailing list!

After the headlines, here’s the start of the letter…

Dear Carol:

As an active investor, you’ve experienced more than your share of losses.

But did you know that professional traders also have losses? Yet they have skills and understanding of the market that makes them successful while others lose a fortune!

A little later in the letter it said…

This FREE workshop is perfect for anyone with an interest in investing.

So what’s wrong with that?

• I do not trade on the stock market so this is not relevant to me. I am not their target audience.

• If I did trade, the writer is making a huge assumption that I’ve made losses. You could say in view of recent events in the financial world this is probably a fairly safe guess. However it could alienate someone whose trading has been a bit more successful than he is implying, but who would otherwise be interested in what he has to offer.

This was a well written letter and if I had been correctly targeted I would probably have responded.

Learning From Others Mistakes

Why am I sharing this with you?

Because we can learn from the mistakes other people make in their copywriting. And it’s often easier to see these mistakes in letters we receive, whereas sometimes we can be too close to our own material and not realise the trap we’re falling into.

Tell me, how well targeted is your audience? How well do you know them? Are you writing your letters with their circumstances in mind and in such a way that you are not eliminating a good portion of your recipients?

And - just for a bit of fun and practice - how would you have started the letter (assuming it is going to a targeted audience of trade investors).  Share your suggestions using the comments link below.

~ Carol Bentley

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There’s a lot of buzz going on over the Internet at the moment about a new product launch. It gives a strategy to resolve the problem of how to sell online when you haven’t got a list or a connection with someone who does.

You may have already heard of it.. Product Launch Formula 2… it launches today (27th March) at 2:00pm Eastern U.S. time (6 p.m. GMT).

I watched the original Product Launch Formula on DVD as a home-study programme and I’ve seen it put into practice successfully by business colleagues. This version of product launch is for a ‘hands-on’ coaching programme and includes many up to date internet marketing practices.

Pop over to Successfully launching products via online marketing if you want to know more… but you’ll need to act quickly - that’s why this post is going up a lot earlier than normal.

~ Carol Bentley

When I talk to business owners, clients or prospects the most frequently asked question is “What works best in a letter or web sales page?”

It is a question any marketing professional or experienced copywriter is asked time and time again.

And none of us know the definitive answer! In fact the only people who do know what’s working is your customers. Because they are the people who responded to your offer and bought.

That’s all very well - but until you get the content of your message right; targeted specifically to the people you have identified as your ideal audience you’re not going to get those customers, are you?

Test, Test and Test Again…

I’ve said it before - and any marketing expert worth their salt will say the same thing - you must test. The 3 minimum things you should be testing are:

• Your offer:
  -what your prospect will receive
  -how it will be delivered (post; special delivery or, if online, digitally)
  -price
  -payment method (single charge or spread payments, or ‘try before you buy’)

• Your headline
• Your guarantee

Fred Black gives a good description of testing in his blog post Test, Test, Test.

Testing Takes Time…

Testing can be time-consuming - especially if you are testing and sending by post. And in this age of ‘instant satisfaction’ that delay may be too much.

If you are getting high traffic (large number of visitors) to your website you may decide to create an online sales page and use that for testing these different elements.

If you are not getting streams of traffic you can use Google Adwords - or a similar PPC (pay per click) advertising to drive traffic to your test sales page. (If you want to know more about Google Adwords check Ed Rivis’ Google Adwords Voyeur [Aff])

One distinct advantage of using an online sales page is that you can test more than one element at a time. It is known as multivariate testing.

You can use testing software to control this more complicated testing. I’ve just discovered a software package that looks extremely easy to use without costing an arm and a leg; I’m looking into it in more depth and if it lives up to its initial promise I’ll tell you about it in a future post.

In the meantime - remember - only your customers truly know what works.

I can only take an educated guess based on experience. ;¬D

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. If you are wondering what the [Aff] I occasionally include in my posts means, it indicates the link I’ve included is an affiliate link, i.e. if you follow the link, like what you see and decide to buy I get a commission from the vendor.

This is one of the ways you can create an income stream with your online blog.

Is there a difference between corporate businesses and SMEs or entrepreneurs? Three questions asked in my recent survey raised this issue. My answer; Yes… and No!

Am I hedging my bets here? ;¬) Maybe… but let’s look into it a bit further.

First here are the three questions posed about dealing with big companies:

Q1: How to generate more interest in my business from larger organisations.

Q2: How do you adapt your copy if your targets are senior executives and buyers in major corporates? Most of what I read about copywriting proposes big, bold headlines with “huge” specific benefits. And I must admit that when buying myself, these offers can be very seductive. Yet I know from over a decade working with senior executives in major companies that this sort of hyperbolic language and copy tends to go straight in the bin - it’s just not credible.

Corporate executives (in my experience) tend to react better to more conservative approaches. Is my experience out of touch? Obviously these people are human too - and have the same underlying psychology. Yet their experience and background (in my view) means they don’t react well to over-strong selling messages.

Q3: How to find out who makes all the purchasing decisions in a large organisation.

Don’t expect to do a bulk mailing to corporate businesses and get a great response. It’s unlikely to happen. You have to work a little harder for those lucrative contracts.

I advise selecting 10 companies to target and work on, adding others as a rolling prospect line as and when you are able to deal with them properly.

Decide and Research

• Decide which companies you want to do business with. Define exactly what you are offering and which companies benefit most from your solutions. When you contact them talk about a specific ‘niche’ area. Don’t give a smorgasbord of products and services that confuse your prospect and - in their eyes - dilutes your perceived level of expertise and ability to deliver a focused result.

• Do your research. Research the company; the department or division your product or service applies to; discover the challenges the company or that division are currently facing. Check news releases (they are often shown on the company website); is something they have announced likely to give them logistic or ‘knock-on’ effect problems you can resolve?

• Find your target buyer. Don’t go to the HR or purchasing department (unless your offer is for them); aim for the person who heads up the area you are targeting. Read the corporate website; some do give contact names in their ‘about us’ section, although this practice is dwindling. Use the phone; call and ask “who takes care of …. in the company?” (you fill in the blank).

  Careful! You are in information-gathering mode NOT selling mode. One whiff of a sales pitch and the person you are speaking to is likely to clam up.

  In her book, Selling to Big Companies, Jill Konrath describes how to make those important fact-gathering calls so you reach your prime target within the company. Steve Brewer also gives pertinent and easy to follow advice in his CD programme High Impact Cold Calling.

A Slightly Different Approach

• Write individual letters. I’d advise against using extremely large, bold headlines - it doesn’t give the right impression for corporate correspondence. But that’s the only change I would suggest to the structure of your letter. You are still writing to an individual who has challenges within his/her work life and wants a solution. So you do have to grab attention immediately.

  Start your first paragraph with a compelling statement of what you discovered about the company or department’s challenges. Then ask a question that is geared towards the problem he has - the one you identified in your research. Explain the value your offer could bring to his company; quoting case studies from other organisations rather than a general self-serving statement.

  For example, instead of writing “our QR2 system saves production costs” say “Xyz company discovered that 3 months after implementing the QR2 system, production costs had reduced by 2.8% which gave them a projected annual savings of £4.37million.“Be wary of creating a general ’sales pitch’ - it’s unlikely to work unless you are extremely lucky.

• In her book Jill strongly recommends avoiding subservient language such as ‘delighted’, ‘pleased’ or ‘honoured’ and I agree with her. All of your contact (whether letter, email or phone call) should be from a position of equality and strength. Talk as a peer-to-peer. Treat your prospect with respect but expect respect from him too. After all, you are the expert that has a solution to the problem he wants resolved.

Realistic Expectations

• Don’t expect to get an appointment with your first letter or phone call. Have a campaign of actions you will take to secure your appointment to meet. But make sure you deliver valuable information at each contact point; don’t make a self-serving push to get through the door.
  • Let your prospect know about case studies from other companies.
  • Articles from trade publications.
  • Informative reports you can supply (make sure they are informative not just a sales brochure).
  • Gift a copy of a good book you’ve read that gave some good insights to their industry or business or helps address issues they are likely to come up against. (Of course, if that book happens to be one you’ve written and published it gives you an even bigger boost in your prospect’s eyes because you are perceived as knowledgeable; assuming you’ve written good content in your book).

• If it’s practical, be prepared to secure a small contract initially. Once you are delivering great results and the company is pleased with your service you can start negotiating the larger deals.

Share Your Thoughts…

Have experience with larger companies? Either as a provider or perhaps you work (or have worked) within one of these behemoths? Use the comments link below to add your views.

~ Carol Bentley

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I read a great tip in a report for copywriter’s this week. Although it did seem a bit wacky, I thought it might just work. It is a tip that allows your creative juices to flow uninterrupted. Crucial for getting that great bit of copy written.

You see, one of the biggest problems I have when writing is stopping myself from editing as I go. I see a spelling mistake, I go back and change it. I check a phrase - doesn’t quite read right - I’ll stop to restructure it. And it breaks the creative flow - sometimes it even wipes out the great prose sparkling in my mind!

But this tip works! I tried it.

When you’re typing your letter, or copy for your web page, switch your computer screen off!

Yep, that’s what I said - turn it off!

With the screen off you can’t see your mistyping and you aren’t tempted to go back to correct or change things around.

When you’ve finished being creative then you switch the screen on and start editing, correcting any spelling mistakes as you go.  If you have a laptop set the text colour to white so it doesn’t show on screen. Then select it all (Ctrl + A) and set it back to the default colour ready for editing.

The tip originally came from Dr Joe Vitale but Karen Martiny shared it in the report I got.

Give it a try - if nothing else you may give yourself something to smile at when you switch back on and read what you typed!

Have a good Easter break - catch up next week.

~ Carol Bentley

If you are one of the many people who managed to spare me 5 minutes for the survey last week - thank you - I really appreciate your feedback. In fact I was really chuffed with the number of completed forms we got in - far more that I’d expected. I do hope the e-book you got in appreciation is proving handy.

A number of people asked some very interesting questions; many about topics I intend to explore with you in future postings on this blog. The exercise of carrying out this survey gave me some valuable insights, which you might find interesting as well:

It’s no surprise the highest score for what you’d like to see in these posts is copywriting; after all, that’s what this blog is mainly about. But asking the question meant I found out what else interests people who visit this website so I can add variety to the content.

It is so easy when we are in the thick of our day-to-day business to lose sight of what is important to our customers and prospects. Holding a survey like this is a valuable way to discover what your customers think about you and your products or services.

Have you asked your customers recently?

You may be surprised at what they’ll tell you and you may even discover something new they’d really value that you could provide, thus giving you a new revenue/profit stream. Worth asking, don’t you think?

On a blog site like this it’s a fine line between overburdening visitors and satisfying a thirst for knowledge. Of course that ties in strongly with the actual content too. As you can see the overwhelming majority felt that 3 blogs per week is sufficient, with the remainder fairly evenly split between random and every weekday.

Why did I start by posting every weekday?

A few people asked why I posted so often… I promise it’s not because I like the ’sound of my own voice’ ;¬D - there is a strategy behind this.

I’ve mentioned previously starting a blog is a great way of keeping in touch with existing customers and prospects. It’s also a great way of finding new prospects… but only if they find your blog first.

To do that they need to become aware of it; search engines, other blogger’s posts and ‘word-of-mouth’ recommendations are some of the ways to get a website known and encourage people to visit.

But…

• A stale website doesn’t show up on search engines; they like dynamic sites with constantly changing content.

• Other bloggers only talk about someone’s blog if there is something interesting to mention - that can’t happen if the posts are infrequent.

• And why would anyone recommend a blog if very little useful content is delivered?

So it was a deliberate decision to make my posts as frequent as possible with the intention of delivering interesting content to everyone in my prospective and actual audience. If you’ve followed this blog for a while you’ll know that I do try to cover a variety of topics to make sure there is something to suit every reader at some point and keep the blog as vibrant as possible.

I will continue to make regular posts - sometimes it will only be 3 during a week. But on other occasions, if there’s something to tell you that I believe is important, I may slip a few extra posts in. ;¬D

I hope that satisfies what you’d like to see.

Other Website Promotional Activities

I’m currently exploring other methods of getting visitors to this website. I’ll let you know how successful those are once I start seeing results.

Thank you once again for sharing your views and helping me to make sure I deliver what you want to read.

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. If you want to run a survey there are a lot of websites offering different solutions. The one I used for my survey, which automatically created the graphs above, is SurveyGizmo [Affiliate link] which offers a free account.

Want to get your message across to your target audience? Want to get them excited and eager about your product or service? Want to draw them inexorably towards the sale without a moment’s hesitation?

Master the art of writing powerful ‘hit the mark’ bullets and you increase your chances of success ten, even one hundred-fold.

Look at the winning sales websites; those used to launch highly successful products, programmes, self-study courses and marketing programmes and you’ll see they all have one thing in common - bullet paragraphs drawing a clear picture of what you can expect when you take up the offer; or bullet descriptions of the problems you face to which they have the perfect solution.

Ever found yourself so caught up reading a website or letter you can’t draw away? It’s acted like a magnet to your eyes and senses? Why? What has fired your imagination?

Short, to the point, focused - a rapid-fire - of bullets.

Bullets are ideal for catching the skimmers - they are short and succinct. Great for highlighting the key benefits and results the offer is making.

Writing Bullets

You can learn how to write bullets. The easiest way? Write them!

• Find the web or sales letter that grabbed your attention, one that you found hard to resist (or maybe you didn’t; maybe you succumbed!).

• Grab a pen and paper and find somewhere quiet, where you won’t be disturbed.

• Copy the bullets in your own handwriting; absorb the phrasing, the rhythm. Notice the words.

• Repeat the exercise with other letters; just make sure the bullets you copy are vibrant, alive and speak to you.

Mark Hendricks, whose newsletter I receive on a regular basis, recommends taking the next step.

• Re-write every bullet point again for your own product or service.

Did You Know…

If you’ve followed some of my previous tips then you are already writing bullets - or at least the start of a bullet. Write 100 headlines, as I advised in my post Do your headlines grab your reader’s undivided attention? and some of those that are not powerful enough for your main headline are a good foundation for your bullets.

Examples of Stunning Bullet Writing. . .

Here’s a few websites where bullets are used to great effect…

Rich Schefren’s Strategic Profits

Shrink Wrap your Brain

Ultimate Success Program

Write Letters - Win Sales

I urge you to take the time to write these bullets out - it’s the only way to really get the skill under your skin!

~Carol Bentley

technorati tags: copywriting sales letters writing bullets

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If you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to claim your copy of Offline Marketing Strategies in exchange for answering just 7 questions. The survey is open until 12p.m. (GMT) today at copywriting4b2b survey

If you have already given me your answers - thank you. Your feedback is really appreciated and will help me to keep this blog vibrant, relevant and interesting.

If you’ve completed the survey and asked a question about web marketing, getting visitors to your blog etc. then please check the Q&A’s at this posting on Ed’s blog, which may give you your answer immediately.

I’ll be covering the questions that were specifically for marketing and copywriting in my future blog posts.

Have a good weekend - I’ll catch up with you next week.

~ Carol Bentley

I’ve been taking a peak at some of the questions people have been asking in my blog survey that’s currently running. (If you haven’t seen the survey yet - it is here: www.copywriting4b2b survey)

And ‘how to find the time to do things’ whether copywriting, marketing or other things has come up a few times. So I thought I’d share just 3 effective tips I’ve discovered with you and also recommend a book that I got some good pointers from.

Change Your Mind…

We all have just 24 hours a day (yes, I know you’ve probably heard that from every time management expert) and I believe that changing how you think of ‘time management’ is probably the first step towards using that time effectively. I don’t think of ‘time-management’; no - I tend to regard it as ‘activity management’; deciding what activity you want to do and complete in any given workday.

So here’s 3 of the tips I’ve picked up over the years. I bet you’ve come across them before or you’ll say “well, that’s just common sense!” True - but does that mean you’re using them to make yourself more effective?

1) Get Rid of The 21st Century Time-Thief

Emails! Go on, be honest - how much time do you waste every day on your email? Which of these do you find yourself doing…

• Sorting & deleting spam emails - even with filtering software too many still get through
• Checking your spam-filtered emails in case anything urgent has been caught by accident
• Checking your inbox regularly throughout the day - especially when you’re expecting a reply to an email you’ve sent
• Stopping to read and reply to non-urgent emails - effectively getting distracted from what you are meant to be doing

Guilty as charged m’lud!

Yep - given the chance, I’m a confessed email junkie! And it was draining valuable hours of my time. So what did I do? Simple…

1. I decided on a timeframe when I would check incoming emails, e.g. 11a.m. for morning emails and 3p.m. for afternoon missives for just half-an-hour or less.
2. I had numerous email addresses. I redirected ALL my incoming emails, except those coming to a personal, unpublicised address, to Kelly, my P.A. (Yep, this is one of those solutions where you need someone to delegate to. If you aren’t in a position to employ a P.A. I suggest you seriously consider a virtual assistant).Kelly checks the content and forwards the emails I need to attend to personally. You wouldn’t believe how much time that has grabbed back for me.

The second action took care of the spam controlling and the distraction problem because I only see emails that are important.

2) Organise and Prioritise

Different people do this in different ways… blocking time in my diary when I intend to do something specific… like working on a particular project; write posts for this blog; work on products; studying (yes, that is continuous for me) and so on works for me.

I prioritise my tasks as I set my time blocks. By the end of the day or week I have a clear picture of what I’ve achieved and what remains.

I must admit I do get a real sense of satisfaction and achievement as each activity is completed and ‘ticked off’.

3) Stop those rude interruptions

The rudest interruption you suffer every day, without fail, is the telephone. Think about it - if you were in the middle of doing something or having a conversation and someone barged into your office and started shouting at you “Listen to me NOW!!” you’d be understandably extremely annoyed. And yet that’s exactly what we tolerate with incoming phone calls.

The phone is a rude and distracting interruption.

And it is something that, as the business owner or an entrepreneur you need to take control of. Here’s my advice…

• Don’t answer the phone yourself. If you haven’t got staff to take the calls organise a top quality, personal telephone answering service. Dependent upon your business I would suggest you do not rely on an answering machine or voicemail. It may not give the right impression to prospective clients. After all, if you call a business number and get an answering machine what do you think?
• Use gatekeepers. This is obviously part of the previous point. Make sure that whoever is answering your phone doesn’t just put callers through without checking with you first. In fact I tell my PA at the beginning of the day if I’m expecting any calls I need to take. All others are a definite “No” and she deals with them appropriately.
• Make telephone appointments with clients. If they want to speak to you set a date and time when you will take their call. You’ll find that clients are far more respectful of your time if you start your relationship this way.
• Don’t give your mobile phone number out too readily. I have the same mobile phone number that I started with back in 1995. I have never had to change it. And that is because I do not tell anyone - other than private clients, family and close friends - what the number is. And even with private clients I’m selective about who gets the number. I only ever give it to people who I trust not to abuse it by calling me at ridiculous times of the day. They respect my time and privacy, whilst knowing they can get hold of me in an emergency.
• Set a time of day when you will follow up on any incoming calls that need your attention. Perhaps, like with emails, a half hour in the morning and/or afternoon.
• Set a time of day when you will take calls, for example from your team or work colleagues, let them know when they can call you and expect to get through. Explain you are not available at other times because you are working on projects and cannot be interrupted.

I appreciate that for many people some of the pointers above may seem to be impractical - but you’d be surprised at just how readily people will accept your working method and respect your time.

Worth Spending The Time On Reading…

There are many books, courses, seminars and systems that seemingly offer a solution to this age-old problem of time management.

One of the easiest and most entertaining to read, as well as the most useful, I’ve found is Dan Kennedy’s No BS Time Management for Entrepreneurs. Dan’s thoughts on the time-wasters we all face every day are sometimes colourful - but I think you’ll probably find, like me, that you’re frequently nodding in agreement. I’m sure you’ll find some good tips in there.

~ Carol Bentley

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If you have a website and are familiar with the idea of online marketing you may have come across the term ‘Landing Page’. An ideal web landing page is specifically designed to target a specific audience with an end result in mind; that your visitor takes the action you want.

The design, structure and content of your landing page all have an impact on the outcome of any visit to your webpage. Are you creating a true landing page that makes your visitor feel they’ve arrived somewhere worthwhile - or do you leave them floundering; wondering why they are wasting their time?

• How exciting is your landing page?
• Is the headline so strong your visitor’s eyes are magnetically drawn by it into your message?
• Is the offer you are making compelling? One that no-one in their right minds would dream of ignoring?
• Do you get high conversion rates; you know, the number of visitors who go on to take the action you’re asking them to? That’s the real test of how successful your landing page is.

Testing each element of your landing page moves you closer to the ‘perfect page’ - if there is any such thing - but having a plan before you start also gives you a greater chance of realising your goal.

Get your landing page planner plus…

Ed (I know, I’m always mentioning him - but hey, why not when he’s giving valuable info I believe you can use!) is gifting 3 useful tools for marketing on the web; Landing Page Flow Chart, Web Marketing Tactics and a nifty little tool that calculates the lifetime value of your average customer. And all you have to do is sign up for his blog posting announcements.

So - if you’ve not yet visited Ed’s blog, or if you have signed up but haven’t yet checked out your gifts, I suggest you pop over there and grab them now. Visit his post Three Powerful Resources

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: Internet Marketing Landing Pages Business Resources

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Will you help? Will you answer just 7 questions and in exchange I’ll gift you an e-book giving you a wide scope of off-line marketing activities you can use to drive visitors to your website - actually you can even use these for generating your business sales off-line as well.

Why do I need your help?

Keeping the posts on this blog fresh, pertinent to what you want to read and offering valuable advice is both interesting… and challenging. Most of the time I’m asking myself “What would I be looking for?” “What useful advice would help me achieve my goals?” “What have I seen or experienced that has impressed me or created a measurable result I can share with you, my reader?”

And then I remember that only your ‘customer’ knows what’s right for him and you only get to find out when they respond to your offer.

And that’s where you come in… because only you can tell me…

1. Are these posts useful?
2. Have you taken any of this advice and put it into practice?
3. Have you got results from implementing these tips?
4. Am I delivering what you really, really want?

So now I’m asking you. Please give me your feedback in a short, 7-question survey (there is a question 8 but that’s optional). copywriting4b2b survey

And in return - as a ‘Thank you’ for your time, support and insights you get a great little e-book called Offline Marketing Strategies for Online Businesses; 24 pages packed with crucial tips on how to use ‘real-world’ marketing to effectively promote your website (valued at $47, aprox £25).

• 9 proven ways to advertise that do NOT involve the Internet.
• 8 ways to evaluate if your website is ready for offline promotions.
• Why print publications (like newspapers) aren’t going to disappear anytime soon.
• 3 tips for placing an ad in the classifieds.
• The secret to getting ads into newspapers and magazines for free.
• The number one rule you must follow if you’re going to invest anything in TV or Radio.
• How to launch your website’s presence with direct mail advertising.
• An easy way to add direct response (and direct profits) to your business plan.
• How to determine if your response and conversion rate is high enough.
• 6 places in your town you can likely advertise for free.

But it’s not just good for promoting your online website… all this important advice applies just as much to your ‘real-world’ business promotions.

You have 6 Days… but it only takes 10 minutes

The survey closes on Friday 14th March at 12p.m. (GMT) and, because there are only 7 easy questions, it only takes about 10 minutes to complete.

I wonder… are you like me?

If I don’t act on something straight away; if I put it to one side there’s a pretty good chance I’ll forget about it until it’s too late. If that’s a trait you recognise then, do me a favour, take a few minutes now to answer these 7 questions (they’re mainly multi-choice so you only have to click to choose your answer). Click here to go to the copywriting4b2b survey

I look forward to getting your feedback - have a good weekend,

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: copywriting marketing strategies survey

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Applying the Pareto Principle to your activities is the way to truly achieve more in the time (or even less time) than you currently have is the claim from some experts.

Although not an exact science, many studies frequently seem to show 20% ( or thereabouts) of effort generates 80% of the results achieved.

OK - hands up (mine are already waving high in the air) how much of your time is not as productive as you’d like it to be?

Gary Bencivenga (have you heard of him?) gives a great description in his Bencivenga Bullets newsletter of how this principle applies to copywriters and marketers; how he discovered it for himself many years ago and what action he took to turn it around so he didn’t continue to waste 80% of his time.

If you have ever looked back over your day and thought “Where the heck did the time go today? What have I got to show for it - nothing!” then some of the insights Gary shares in this bulletin (and his next one) may give you back a feeling of being in control. Read it here: Bencivenga Bullets

And talking of being in control… tomorrow’s post is an important one for making sure you get what you want from these snippets - don’t miss it.

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: copywriting Pareto Principle Bencivenga Less time more productivity

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This post is giving you very short notice - and I’m sorry if you don’t see it in time.

I’ve mentioned previously about Ed Rivis publishing his book The Ultimate Web Marketing Strategy [Aff]. If you took a look at his blog then you already know about his startlingly low priced 24-hour launch of his book which commenced yesterday (4th March) at 10.30 GMT.

As I write this post that means there is just over 2.5 hours before it goes from £6.99 back to its normal price of £19.97.

The description on the front of the book cover says…

“How everyday business owners can use the world’s most tested and proven online marketing strategies to attract thousands of new customers, hyper-gear revenues, boost profits up to 2.5 to 25 times and grow their business or professional practice within the next 12 months or less.”

I think that says it all - I’ve watched Ed testing and proving these strategies over the last year and, what’s more, in his book he shares how he’s discovered what works as well as explaining what to do.

If you want to take advantage of his ridiculous starting offer pop over to Ed Rivis’ 24-hour Special

~ Carol Bentley

I wonder if, like me, you turn to the internet as your first port of call when you want to find something; whether for business or personal use.

I’m always amazed at the stuff that is out there - literally at the end of your fingertips. And when I was looking for inspiration for verses for my Father’s memorial service that’s where I started to look.

Why am I sharing this with you? Because I found something unexpected - although I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was an online website at which you can set up a memorial page. I thought it was a great way of sharing with family that is spread far and wide and is especially nice for those who can’t attend a funeral. www.imorial.com/bobcliff/

So what does this have to do with copywriting?

Everything!

Because there are times when your writing skills are needed for occasions outside your business; writing speeches for christenings, weddings, special birthdays and anniversaries and, of course, memorial services.

Writing for an emotional occasion is probably harder than when you are writing for your business. For me, I found that following the same principle of ‘writing to a friend’ helped me write Dad’s eulogy and the natural flow of the words made it easier for my brother to read out at the service.

And writing can be therapeutic as well, it certainly helps with the healing process.

Isn’t it nice to know that as you’re developing your writing ability you are creating a skill that is useful in all aspects of your life, not just business?

~ Carol Bentley