MarketingMoment

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Everything we do involves an ‘underlying motivator’ that drives the motion or action taken. For example, you might take up running to lose weight, in which case, the ‘lose weight’ is the underlying motivator.

Similarly, underlying motivators play their part in getting people to do certain things — whether that be encouraging your bank manager approving your overdraft account, persuading an event organisation to take you on as a guest speaker, or enticing a prospect into buying your products.

The better you understand your clients or customers’ motivating factors or ‘motivators’, the easier it will become to convince them to buy from you…
As well as closing sales, understanding and addressing what motivates your customers will help create clearer and more effective communication.

There are five major motivating factors:

1. Recognition
Those motivated by gaining ‘recognition’ are essentially interested in gaining greater admiration, esteem, celebrity, notoriety, regard or respect.

For example, let’s say you are an image advisor. One of the main recognition motivators your target group shares is that they want to look and feel good. Some might go one step further and aspire to follow the style of, say, Sienna Miller.

Often, people who improve their physical appearance are more successful because of their confidence boost. If you can tap into this prime motivator and understand it well enough with regard to how your product or service fits in, then you will be a lot closer to motivating your prospects to buy from you.

2. Profit
Your prospective customers might be influenced by the ‘profit’ motivator. This involves people striving for success or gaining more acquisitions, growth, income, money, possessions or wealth. Are any of these provided by what you offer?

3. Urgency
This is a good one, but it is often overlooked or underplayed. Just think what would have happened if there were only 10 copies of J K Rowling’s follow-up to the first Harry Potter release! People are more inclined to take immediate action and justify their purchase decision if there is a sense of urgency about whatever it is that they are buying.

4. Efficiency
This is an enormous motivating factor — and an important one to consider, especially with today’s frenetic-paced society. Perhaps you can demonstrate that your product or service will save your prospects time and effort…

5. Internal
Some people are motivated by ‘internal’ factors. So focus on things such as creativity, duty, intellect, honour, morals and philanthropy are important to this group.

Finding out what your visitors want is vital, but finding out WHY they want these things reveals their innermost motivations. Target these motivations with your marketing, advertising, PR and web content. When you write words that tie into the emotions of your readers, and about what really motivates, you will never lose their interest or attention.

In my years as a PR exec, journalist, editor, copywriting and marketing I’ve discovered that telling people the truth and giving a reason WHY you’re saying what you’re saying is one of the most powerful psychological motivators to get people to take action. That might translate into your prospects picking up the phone to place an order, send back a reply card for more information or just simply reading all that you have to say.

I’ve also discovered that pain is perhaps the biggest motivator of all.

All animal life revolves around two powerful psychological motivators: pain and pleasure. And every single minute of the day, we are trying to either seek pleasure (through dreaming, thinking or attaining our goals, aspirations and desires) and/or we are trying to avoid pain (steering clear of traffic jams, not getting frustrated by anything or one, and so on),

People will do pretty much anything to avoid or get out of pain.

So you tie this into the specific pain your target audience — your prospective customers — are concerned about and the pleasure they hope to achieve and whether your product or service can help them.

You could ask questions like, “What would this person lose if she fails to buy my product/service?” “What is the cost of failing to act or delaying to buy?” and “What if this product/service wasn’t available anywhere?”

Just think of ways to slant your marketing messages to include motivational triggers to the emotions generated by carefully chosen and placed words. However, never be aggressive, arrogant or pushy in your presentation. That would only damage your motivational trigger . . .  and your prospect will walk away.

And bear in mind that you are NOT creating pain for your prospects. You are simply helping to see the pain — that is already there — for what it really is, and comparing it to what could happen/would be if the pain was removed and ‘pleasure’ was put in its place.

Essentially, it all boils down to playing detective. Find out what motivates your current customers as well as what motivated them to do business with you in the first place, and use this knowledge to tap into your prospects’ ‘hot’ buttons. That way, you’ll be much closer to closing the deal — and way ahead of your competitor, paarticularly so if they fail to acknowledge the importance of motivators themselves.

By Tracey Dooley, Creative Consultant | PR Doctor | Marketing & Alliance Strategist

Online marketing not getting the results you want? 
Let Tracey teach you how to produce PPC ads, blogs and email 
copy that impresses the spam filters AND your readers: http://tinyurl.com/ywyucg

(Why struggle needlessly when you can get expert affordable mentoring and have fun attracting clients easily?) 

(C) 2007-2011 T Dooley, All Rights Reserved 

Want to use this article (or any article, tip or post on this blog) on your website, blog, a message board or in an ezine? Not a problem! But please give credit where it’s due. You MUST include copyright info above, along with the following:

Tracey Dooley is a freelance copywriter, editor and marketer. She has spent 18 years crafting compelling concepts and copy that successfully sell, inform, educate or entertains. Her expertise runs across many different sectors and her client list includes marketing agencies, a leading supplier of personal computers, semi-conductors and telecommunications equipment and the UK’s largest TV and interactive production company. =====>  www.mediaminister.co.uk.

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One day it’s pay-per-click (PPC) advertising . . . the next it’s Social Media . . . then it’s a new variation on SEO (search engine optimisation) . . . and the list goes on. While these tools can help a business, not one has proven to be the ‘magic bullet’ to catapult your business to success and really set you apart from the competition.

However, there is a single, often-overlooked tool that can and does.

Many top business-owners and marketers from around the world use it. It has the power to make everything you do for your own business work better — from product launches right through to traffic strategies to customer service.

By disregarding this tool, you run the risk of letting your competition take full advantage of it . . . and so accede to them not only getting better results from ANY marketing technique or strategy they use, but also gain a significantly better market share than you.

So what is this essential business tool?

Copywriting.

“Yes, but I already know how to write,” you’re thinking. That’s great. But while we can all ‘write’, copywriting involves SO much more than simply penning a few well-crafted words. Before she or he writes, a good copywriter will spend a considerable amount of time researching the intended audience. They’ll make sure they understand buyer behaviour and how to craft your message in such a way that it really makes a splash.

The Key to Your Success — Online or Offline

Good copywriting can make confusing policies crystal clear. It can keep inter-company communications running smoothly through the careful use of words. And it can build relationships, be positively persuasive and ethically ’sell’ a company’s products or services.

In short, it is the MESSAGE that you present to your target market — at every stage of the sales process. And, as any top author, business-owner or marketing expert knows, WHAT you say and HOW you communicate with your prospect means everything to your business.

Considering Cost Effectiveness

The problem is that most entrepreneurs and SMEs lack either the time to do justice to their ‘business words’ or they lack the necessary skill sets in order to communicate their company’s message effectively.

There is no doubt that copywriting is labour-intensive and time-consuming. Let’s say you’re a small business-owner and you’re spending at least several days per week writing the copy for your sales letters or your blog posts. How much money could you have earned in that time? Would your business suffer more or less by continuing to write your own copy when you have one-hundred-and-one other things you need to do, as opposed to hiring a copywriter to take care of it for you?

No Short Cuts, Now, Please!

Okay, so let’s assume you have the time and you don’t mind that hiring outside will probably save you a lot more than your time is worth. You can always learn to master copywriting yourself through an assortment of educational tools.

What you need to do here is make sure you ALWAYS carefully choose the right words for the right audience and in the right context. If you don’t adequately explain how you differ from your competition . . . If you can’t convey all the relevant benefits you bring to your prospect . . . or the credibility you have . . . or you don’t know what response triggers to use . . . and more, then you are putting a very low ceiling on your overall business growth.

So don’t be tempted to cut costs or give short shrift to copy development. Instead, make sure you are doing everything possible to optimise the performance of the words you use for the benefit of your company. Believe me, your business will thank you for it.

By Tracey Dooley, Creative Consultant | PR Doctor | Marketing & Alliance Strategist

Better Writing Skills 101 — Write Your Way to Blockbuster Results and BOOST Business to Boot explains the ins and outs of good, effective business writing and shows you how to work within the ‘rules’ (or, indeed, when to break them) to write persuasive or professional emails, letters, brochures and more that are clear, convincing and make an impact. Find out more here:

http://bit.ly/BizWriting101

(C) 2010 T Dooley, All Rights Reserved 

Want to use this article (or any other entry on this blog) on your website, blog, a message board or in an ezine? Not a problem! But please give credit where it’s due. You MUST include the following:

Tracey Dooley of MediaMinister (www.mediaminister.co.uk) is an experienced copywriter, editor and marketer. She has spent 18 years crafting compelling concepts and copy that successfully sell, inform, educate or entertains. =====>  www.mediaminister.co.uk.

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(This is the second part of a two-part article, which I originally published in my ezine last year but is still relevant today. If you missed part one, you can access it here.)

6. Email Marketing

Despite the increasing problem with spam, email marketing still works. In fact, 2010 will still see to it that no other marketing vehicle will be as powerful, efficient and inexpensive as a regular eZine (email newsletter).

When done well, an eZine keeps your name in front of your customers and prospective clients, is a great showcase of your expertise and works to build relationships and trust with them.

Some eZines are nothing more than blatant advertising, so try to include as much valuable information as you can. It might be as simple as a local massage therapist regularly sending out a one-page update of case studies or offers, or news on the complementary health industry. Make it a New Year’s resolution to start or improve your e-newsletter in 2010.

Further reading: “E-Newsletters: Where to Start” — http://bit.ly/3Q8ZGL

“Newsletters that Build Customer Relations AND Fill Your Inbox with Orders” — http://bit.ly/6NYZGT

Aweber eZine Management — http://www.aweber.com/?212431

7. Web-Blog Synergy

Growth in e-commerce is leaping ahead of other sectors. According to figures from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, online sales in July 2009 alone grew by 15.7% compared with the month before, and by 16.8% compared with a year ago.

This growth shows no signs of slowing down. So it’s vital that ALL businesses  have an online presence in order to get or remain competitive in today’s fierce marketplace. 
 Even a relatively simple website will do to begin with. Just something to get you online and that allows your potential customers, business partners, investors and employees to find out more about you quickly and easily.

The best websites integrate their website and their blog, the latter designed to keep the web presence ‘fresh’ and to update people on news, thoughts and ideas.

Further reading: “Is A Business Blog Worth It? — http://bit.ly/biz-blog

“Using Online Marketing to Your Advantage” — http://tinyurl.com/ywyucg

“Website Copywriting Secrets that Convert Web Readers into Buyers” — http://bit.ly/5UDTPR

8. Stress Benefits, Not Features

With all the companies and marketing messages out there claiming to have the best of X, Y and Z, you have to go that little bit further than most if you are to help people understand why they should buy YOUR product or service.

That means not turning features into benefits. By doing so you will position your business away from simply offering a commodity that everyone is presenting to delivering something special.

Further reading: “Are Your Benefits Featureless?’ — http://bit.ly/5jp5oj

9. Marketing is NOT Negotiable

We all know that well-managed companies are the survivors in any climate. They know how to pull through any recession or economic dip, and often come out stronger than the rest.

One of the most valuable lessons to be learned in lean times is that we need to be marketing more thoroughly and more smartly than ever before. After all, people will always need advice and services and products — regardless of what the economy might be doing.

As the study “Turning Adversity into Advantage: Does Proactive Marketing During a Recession Pay Off?”, shows organisations that a) value marketing, b) feature a corporate culture that rewards risk-taking, and c) are willing to up the ante on marketing efforts are those who come out on top.

“The firms that had all three characteristics did very well in a recession. But firms that are missing any one of them, they’re in trouble,” says Dr Gary Lilien, one of the report’s authors.

Marketing is something that ALL businesses absolutely must invest in if they wish to remain in business now … and in the future.

Further reading: “Turning Adversity into Advantage: Does Proactive Marketing During a Recession Pay Off?” — http://bit.ly/8REmTN

10. The Unexpected

Under promise and over deliver, that’s become my business motto. And it works. Good hotels leave guests chocolates on their pillow. Exceptional hotels will leave an eye mask or something equally useful and unexpected. These more thoughtful and imaginative hotels will gain by attracting customers that are fiercely loyal because they know the hotel has their desires and best interests at heart.

Over-delivering is quite simply the number one way to stand head and shoulders above your competition, and grow your business, to boot.

As well as providing excellent products and support to my clients and customers, I try to always go the extra mile. For instance, a regular client recently contacted me at 5pm on a Friday to see if I could fit in a small copywriting project over the weekend. It didn’t take me long at all, and the client was more than grateful. Yes, I do work typical business hours and I could have charged overtime and rush fees, but nurturing a strong client relationship — and repeat business — is worth a lot more to me.

I hope that some of my marketing insights will become your marketing practices for 2010 and beyond. Why not implement one or two today? You might find they transform your business for the better.

By Tracey Dooley, Creative Consultant | PR Doctor | Marketing & Alliance Strategist

Psssst . . .  Not sure where to start? As well as offering worksheets and home-study tools, I can give you profit-multiplying advice and pointers on things you can do straight away to attract new business with my Powerfully Effective Marketing sessions. 

(Why struggle needlessly when you can get expert affordable mentoring and have fun attracting clients easily?) 

(C) 2009-10 T Dooley, All Rights Reserved 

Want to use this article on your website, blog, a message board or in an ezine? Not a problem! But please give credit where it’s due. You MUST include the following:

Tracey Dooley of MediaMinister (www.mediaminister.co.uk) is an experienced copywriter, editor and marketer. She has spent 18 years crafting compelling concepts and copy that successfully sell, inform, educate or entertains. =====> www.mediaminister.co.uk.

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I caught Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff earlier on today — not literally, but while I was eating a late breakfast with the TV on. Doh!

The presenter Matthew Wright was asking for views on the coalition’s plans to mark down pupils for poor grammar and spelling, as part of the education reform proposals. As a practising wordsmith who verges on the anal side of being pedantic, my ‘editor-antennae’ had no choice but to automatically switch themselves on.

For once, I wholeheartedly agree with the coalition.  Pupils should get a rap for not being ‘bovard’ to use correct spelling, punctuation and grammar. But surely the teachers, past governments and the current ‘mamby-pamby’ teaching system should share some responsibility. Let’s face it, the dismal standard of teaching in our schools during the last few decades has a lot to answer for.

Case in point: it has been reported that most employers are increasingly concerned about the poor standard of literacy among job applicants, the majority of whom don’t seem to be able to correctly construct a simple sentence, let alone consider the implications of a misplaced apostrophe.

Cor blimee, wots the world cum in 2? 

The point is, if your copy is going out into the public realm and is to represent either yourself or an organisation, it really shouldn’t be riddled with errors. While the occasional typo needn’t be the end of the earth, inattention to detail and sloppy copy will serve to confuse readers (and annoy them, even).

As one reader referred to as ‘Jaded’ perfectly sums up (in response to an online forum debate regarding the same): “Poor grammar and spelling, whether intentional or not, are like CAPITAL LETTERS. They slow down comprehension. ”

The English language is wonderfully rich and is meant to evolve, but it doesn’t mean that it should be abused as a result of simple ignorance (or even pure disdain). Attention to detail always counts.

“But, really, who cares if people are able to get the general meaning across?” you might argue.

Then caveat scriptor, say I . . . Let the writer beware.

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Here’s a question I received from reader Latoya Pennant, which, along with my answer, I though you might find helpful:

Question: “How can I write clearly and concisely?”

Answer: I cover this in detail in my TeleClass Better Writing Skills 101 – Write Your Way to Blockbuster Results and BOOST Business to Boot. Basically, it’s about using simple language (not using ‘utilise’ or ‘employ’ when ‘use’ will do, for example), writing short sentences and paragraphs, and sticking to one main point in your communication.

For example, compare this sentence: “High-quality, high-yield learning environments are a necessary precondition for facilitation and enhancement of the ongoing learning process.”

With this: “Students need good schools if they are to learn properly.”

The latter is much clearer and to the point. As a result, it’s also a LOT easier to understand than the gobbledygook in the first sentence.

Almost anything or anyone can be written about using plain English. That doesn’t mean you have to ‘dumb down’ your writing. Rather, just make sure you really think about the message you wish to impart and keep things simple. Don’t just write words willy-nilly. You have to make every single word count.

Also, make sure you write in logical sentences and paragraphs that can be easily understood. That way, your writing will be much better received … and more effective.

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Laughter is the best medicine, or so people say, and, in light of this being a bleary-eyed Tuesday I thought I’d share some of my favourite headline howlers (which, believe it or not, are taken from actual newspapers):

1. Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
2. Miners Refuse to Work After Death
3. Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
4. Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted
5. Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case
6. Survivor of Siamese Twins Joins Parents 
7. Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge

Do you know any other howlers? Or perhaps, on the flip side, you’ve been suitably impressed by a newspaper’s headline… Please share using the comments link below. I hope to compile the best (and worst!) ones for a future post.

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Tags: headlines, English grammar gaffes, headline howlers, funny headline 

Despite the official end to the recession, the UK’s economy is still wavering and the immediate future looks anything BUT bright. So it’s little wonder if you’re feeling like most people in business; looking over your shoulder, wondering if you’re next in line to lose your job. If you own a business, then it’s likely you’re worried about the latest ’sales slump’. One thing is for sure; you can’t afford to be complacent right now. You absolutely MUST continue to market … perhaps more aggressively than ever before. (See my blog post, Business Survival Tools: Don’t Get Left Behind: http://TwitPWR.com/au6/)

The lead article in MediaMinister’s latest newsletter, Communiqué for Success, shows you how you can promote yourself in new, creative and low-cost (or F.R.E.E.) ways to bring customers through the door in ANY economy.

To read the full article and gain *hidden links* to recent CfS newsletter editions, you’ll have to become a subscriber. (That’s a good thing, by the way, or so CfS readers tell me!) As well as being FREE, you’ll receive a business-building report and audio CD that can dramatically improve sales simply for signing up and trying it out.

Subscribe here.

(You can unsubscribe at any time, and I NEVER abuse my subscriber’s email address. Your details are safe with me.)

Recent CfS newsletter issues cover:

Subscribe here.

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If you read copy written by someone other than a copywriter, chances are it will scream Features! Features! Features! OK, features are a very good thing indeed and, yes, readers do need to know about them. But not all of them. And NOT right up front.

Instead, you need to do what every good copywriter 
MUST do in order to educate or make the sale: turn features into benefits, and put those benefits at the beginning of your copy.

These benefits must be tied into your readers’ desires, needs and wants. So, when you solve your readers’ problems, they’ll go looking for the features — meaning they WILL bother to read the rest of your marketing message.

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When I used to work at the largest consumer-magazine publishers in the UK, the one thing that used to really grind away at the section editors was time-wasters. Specifically, people who would send in long, meandering, non-newsworthy or just totally unfocussed press releases. Rather than try to make sense of the tens of releases like this they would receive each day, they simply went into the ‘reject’ pile…

So if you truly wish your release to stand out and make sure it has a future, take note of the the ‘press release wish-list’:

1. Do your homework. Get to know your editor’s audience, and make your release appeal to that audience. How? By studying at least several of the latest issues of the publication in question.
2. Make sure you have something newsworthy to say. Although it sounds obvious, you’d be surprised to learn of just how many releases I saw that did not make this crucial grade.
3. Place your news at the beginning of the release, preferably in the headline or at the very least in the opening sentence.
4. Provide nuggets of information the scream “must be interviewed”. Be fresh, be original.
5. Include a short yet compelling bio (aka boilerplate) at the foot of your release. Ideally, your USP, or point of difference, should be here, too.
6. Finally, proofread your release for errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar. On the magazines I mentioned earlier, if we spotted more than one error in the first paragraph, we’d throw the release in the bin (unless it was a REALLY great story). If people couldn’t take their work seriously, why should we have?

Need more structured help in finding the right story angle, hook, even publications for your release? Powerhouse Publicity – How to Profit from the Media and Get FREE Publicity is a step-by-step system offering ‘tried-tested-and-proven’ techniques that, when followed, can give you the tools to publicise you, your company, your product or service! It’s packed with facts and tips that you can start applying straight away, too.

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There you are sitting at your desk sneaking in a quick game of WordTwist on FaceBook / cleaning your keyboard for the 15th time today / reading blogs, Tweets, websites, anything but tend to the actual task in hand. You know you SHOULD be writing content for your first email newsletter. But somehow you just can’t get motivated. That blank screen beckons. Another game? Help!

Don’t panic!

There are a number of ways – ranging from the ridiculously easy and quick solutions, to the more involved.

One of the first options is to start with what you have to hand.

Have you kept any interesting emails – either from customers, quizzes, quotes, competitions or even junk mail? How about questions from clients, prospects, colleagues, friends, etc?

Think about what came through the door today – is there anything you can share with your readers? What about industry news, statistics or trends? Perhaps you have new products or services to offer. You can write about those. How about a ‘subscriber only’ special? An interview with your marketing director or an industry leader?

All these nuggets – and more like them – will form great fodder for your newsletter. They could take the form of articles, news, events, competitions, ads, interviews, tips, and so on. I’ve written pieces on how social media impacts on business, the secret to turning a postage stamp into a stampede of customers, the significance of proofreading a business document, how to write good headlines and so on.

Excerpt from ’Newsletters that Build Customer Relations AND Fill Your Inbox with Orders‘ – my step-by-step  MasterClass home-study system shows you just how easy-peasy it can be to create or polish a so-so newsletter that reflects your business in the best light. Chock-full with useful tools and specific examples on how to set-up, write and send out your business-building newsletter, it really does remove the pain from newsletter publishing. Get the full scoop here.  

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