The Finest Argentine Beef? Not when it's described in a boring-as-hell, way!

A worldwide, business choking, cashflow stopping, phenomenon.

What is it?  

Quality products and services represented by weak mediocre ideas and thoughtless boring writing. 

Case in point - 

The following email from Tom Hixon (The world's finest meat, delivered. That's their labelling, not mine)  

Hi Raja

The Black Label Argentine Rioplatense beef is a cross between Hereford and Angus cattle, which are world renowned for it's consistency and delivering exceptional textures and flavours. Save up to 53% off today.

The cuts benefits from the natural skill of our Argentine producers, who ensure that the cattle live a tranquil and relaxed lifestyle through their careful efforts. As a result, the beef is incredibly tender.

Now if you're emotionally salivating over that descriptive ad copy and are ready to order, then you probably need a bunch of tablets.

The best part of that email ad promo?

The picture of the product. (No. Stop. Do not lick the page!) 

The picture renders all that copy, ineffective and unnecessary.

Now what if we were to lead the email with that picture first, and then revamp the ad copy, what kind of effect could that have?  

Let's experiment:

 

Hi Raja 

Can you smell and taste that! 

Because once you get your face into this mouth-wateringly unputdownable sizzling feast, there'll not be one slice left.  You can't but help drool over another serving of this amazingly succulent, richly flavoursome Black Label Argentine Rioplatense beef. 

Frankly, you're not at all sane if there's anything left in the serving dish!

Thinking of calling a few friends over? 

You might think twice about it once you realise the artisanal Argentine farmers who've raised this spectacular cattle (that are a cross between Hereford and Angus cattle), have you and your gloriously greedy taste buds in mind when they created this spectacular offering. But go on, why not celebrate the delicious Black Label Argentine Rioplatense beef today with friends and family.

Make no mistake - you and your beef will be the talk of the evening! 

And the exciting thing about it? Get 53% off the normal price of this sensational beef.  But you need to act right now to secure your lavish savings because this flavoursome Black Label Argentine Rioplatense beef isn't going to be hanging around for long.

Go here, order now, and start planning that amazing, intensely appetising, unforgettable meal.  

And please, do not send any pictures of you and your guests licking your plates clean... we've enough of them already to fill an entire wall!          

-----------------------------------------------

Note any differences?

Well, adopt, adapt and use them for selling and promoting your products and services. 

Now what's the BIG money-making lesson here for us all that'll help businesses grow and scale?

To fuse ALL our communications, promotions, campaigns, ads, emails... with the kind of energy, entertainment, salesmanship and engaging readability that compels curiosity, readership, engagement, consumption and... sales.     

Are you catching on that your communications ARE your business's currency?

And that means... your communications are an asset you'll want to continually refine and develop because not only will you make more money, it'll stand you and your business far apart from all others in your business category who are most likely numbing readers and customers into dull mental submission!  

FREE BOOK to Help You Write Emails That'll Get Opened, Read, Bought From... AND, Can Transform Your Business? 

Help, I'm all muffled... I don't have anything to write about!

What's the big business curse infecting many a business owner's mind?

"I can't think of anything new to write about" 

And that's a curse that's spread right across the whole communication smorgasbord.

• The emails
• The ads
• The sales letters
• The campaigns
• The social media posts
• The special reports
• The blog posts

And when you internalise the fact that your communications really are the heart and soul, the lifeblood and profit centres of most business, the whole thing warrants close scrutiny.

Because guess what?

A bored and switched off customer or prospect, will go elsewhere in search of the good time feeling, in search of a better happier experience, in search of the difference making that makes all the difference.

And that means, a whole lot of customers will soon bail if prodded with enough boringness, and as such... will take with them their referral and residual value profit centres -- and yes... they'll align it to some other business!  

So how can you inject the kind of newness, freshness, the joyful entertainment that enhances the readability factor inside your communications ...the very communications that'll have your customers and audience lapping up all you have to say and share? (And therefore, buy more from you, more frequently!)

Well, you do it by accessing your already existing content factory plant.

What?!!

That's right.

You need not go anywhere outside your sweet circumference in order to have you access the kind of material and content that'll bring the hordes to you.

That's because your content factory machine is already inside you. 

More specifically...

It's all logged and lodged inside the recesses of your incredibly ample and squishily  intelligent brain.

Now the key to getting to all that delicious content nourishment, is to jumpstart and trigger your brain into being that search and collect mechanism for you.

And how do you do that?

By prodding and poking it with a series of laser focussed questions.

Questions that'll help you uncover priceless, and an almost unlimited supply of money- making goody bars.

So what are some questions we can begin with that'll get the prodding into motion? 

(And do remember, the answers to the questions can be used as material and content in multiple media formats).

Who has been your most obnoxious customer, and why?

What specific thing goes on in your industry they want no-one to know about?

What's the most absurd 'rule' in your industry that you want to see banished and crushed?

What do customers in your industry generally hate that the majority of businesses do a lot of?

What's been your most successful product?

What's one of the most priceless things about your business that you've taken for granted, yet have been hiding all these years? 

What did you have to overcome to get your business to where it is today? 

What's an admission that you want to make and clear the air with?

Who are your business and non-business inspirations?

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As you're most likely beginning to see, there's an endless amount of material locked up inside your brain, which, if released and poured into your communications, will bring that missing newness, freshness, authentic spirit and energy into your business. 

And yes...

Your readers and customers will LOVE this difference making that you're choosing to make. 

And don't let it stop here!

Keep going back to that content factory plant and pull out all those goody bars by asking all manner of the sane, mixed in with the wild, weird, unconventional and unorthodox questions that'll produce the kind of entertaining answers that'll be the profit making gold for you. 

So let's ask that question again?

Don't have anything to write about?

On the contrary. 

Do the above and you'll have a happy filled mountain of the stuff that you can sort, sift and apply to your heart's desire. 

    

Want MORE proper email education that'll help you entertain more and help you sell more of your products and services? 

Here's where to go!

    

          

   

The swiss army knife technique for being a creative marketing genius

 Here's a picture of a Swiss army knife.

What won't be familiar however, is the writing on the right hand page. 

Now if you want to eavesdrop on what's written there, you can get yourself a magnifying glass or enlarge the screen size so you'll not miss a thing. 

The core idea on that page?

About not having your business be a samey samey derivative, an undistinguishable commodity, a mee too, mee too... in a world filled with mee too derivatives. 

And instead, to thrive for being the difference, the unusual, the unorthodox, the unfancied, the not normal. 

Enter, Swiss army knife unorthodoxy.

How so?

Well, first, let's just take a look at what kind of tools are available at your disposal, all packed into one handy little palm filler.

And when you open this little pocket miracle up, you'll find the following:

a knife

a smaller knife

a screw driver

a file

a scissor

a cork screw 

a saw

a magnifying glass

a bottle opener

It's quite nifty a little problem solver, isn't it!

So how can one use that to create irresistible, topical, inventive, creative, energising and enthusiastic copy and communications for your products and services?  

The way you do that is use the Swiss Army knife as a metaphorical tool. 

And the way you use it is to ask questions about your product or service:

The clearest question you could probably ask is --

How many different ways or angles could I use to speak about my product or service?

Or to if you want to zero in and focus the mind even more on that, ask this question -- what are the dozen different ways I can speak about my product or service, using the Swiss Army Knife tool as a working metaphor?

Now we're cooking.

Because instead of having the mind spin off on various loopy tangents whilst it's trying to find some new fresh angle to sell your products or services...

You'll now have a framework to guide you.

But how exactly would that Swiss Army knife work as a framework to help you come up with fresh ideas or angles?          

Just as the Sak has multiple tools emanating from its centre, your centre (product or service) is also wrapped in multiple tools.

Here are some of yours:

Who

What 

When 

Where 

Why

How

Which

Now you might be thinking those aren't very unique or entertaining. 

But of course, the value and power comes from how and n what context you ask the questions.    

Let's test this out so you can practically see how everything we've talked about so far, all ties up together. 

Let's pick a product or service.

Let's go with a physical product.

You can then use the same framework I'll outline below to help assist you selling whatever it is you sell and promote. 

I'm sitting at my dining table and looking at the various items that are 2 metres away from me. 

I'll list a few of them:

iphone

headphones

trolley

fudge cylinder box

pen

coffee mug

piano

dog basket

chair

photo frame

Okay, so here's the not so scientific test to see what product out of the above gets chosen. 

I'm going to get all the items on a page in front of me. I'm going to close my eyes and I'm going to prod the laptop screen (gently, of course!) and then see what product name my finger lands on.

Here we go.

And the prodding finger lands on --

Fudge Cylinder Box!   

(Okay, so a little side note to the ultimate selection. I closed eyes, prodded screen, and opened eyes.. five times in succession. Why would I do that? Because I wanted to ensure that I land on the nominated product, twice, and not just once. Why? Because I wanted to make sure that all items had a shot, and not be eliminated at the first time of prodding.)    

 

So now we have this luxury fudge in a cylindrical box to apply our Swiss Army knife technique to.

But before that, what typically are the ideas and angles to sell something like this? 

Delicious creamy/luxurious taste? Yep

Uniquely packed and packaged? Yep

Customers love us? Yep

Anything else?

I don't think so. at least, nothing unusual, novel or different comes to mind. 

Okay so let's pull out our toolbox of Swiss Army Knife, goodies and see what we can create here:   

As a reminder, here's that list again:

Who

What 

When 

Where 

Why

How

Which

So let's take the first tool: 

Who? 

So what kind of questions (angles and ideas) can we create around the 'who', as it relates to this cylindrical box of luxury, clotted cream fudge?       

Who are the kinds of people who buy this product? An idea could be a to list them out. Maybe even create a series of mini promos or ads around one kind of person, and then the next kind, and so on.

Who are the people making this product? What life tidbit could be shared with potential readers of the ads, promos, etc. 

Who buys as a recurring purchase each month? What kind of joy and adventure is happening at these people's homes, and how does the fudge fit in by way of who eats the most, etc. 

Who are the fudgelings in the box? Why not create a series of communications coming from the fudge pieces themselves. Fudgelings. Remember where you heard that first!     

Now you can keep going with the who, and you'll probably come up with a few more novel and creative idea angles for your ads, emails, promotions, sales events.   

Then...

Once you've finished that, you can move on to the next 'tool' on the list. The What. 

Keep on doing that for the rest of the list and lo and behold, at the end of the exercise you'll have 50, 60, 70 to a 100 selling ideas and angles that you wouldn't have thought about before. 

Do you think by employing those ideas and angles to YOUR promotions and communications, for YOUR products and services, that you'll be seen as a mee too derivative commodity in your marketplace?   

Not on your life will you and your products be seen as a mee too commodity.

And in fact, why not we take this angle and creative idea generation a little further, so you can see you'll definitely NOT be bracketed in the same category as any else selling or promoting the same or similar products or services like you do.     

Do you remember the Swiss Army Knife tools I listed out for you on that actual Swiss Army Knife? (zoom up to the top of this post to see the pic or refer to the list that I'm er, listing out for you below): 

a knife

a smaller knife

a screw driver

a file

a scissor

a cork screw 

a saw

a magnifying glass

a bottle opener

Okay, so now you've got the list in front of you, how about we actually use the same list above to carve out even more ideas and angles to sell that cylindrical tube of luxurious clotted cream fudge. (And of course, apply this all to what it is you sell and promote) 

So the first one the list was... 

a knife. 

Ideas and angles. 

Our fudge is cut and carved out by the finest knives available. 

Our fudge is definitely a cut above the rest. 

We're carving out a box of luxury delivered right to your doorstep, and we can't wait to send it to you.

See how that all works?

Let's try out the 3rd tool on the Swiss Army knife (the 2nd tool on the list was a small knife so we'll just bypass that and move on to the next one on the list)

A screwdriver   

Ideas and angles.

It takes 45 wood screws and a proper good screwdriver to box up our weighty box of pre-packaged fudge that'll last you upto 3 to 4 months of luxurious indulgence

You're going to need a tamper proof box, a screwdriver and a handful of screws to hide the luxury mini hamper of clotted cream fudge away from everyone else who'll be drooling for one or more of YOUR luxury fudge's!

a file / rasp (A rasp is a coarse form of file used for coarsely shaping wood or other material.)     

Ideas and angles. 

Luxury Fudge - No File included. If you'd like to 'powder down' your luxury fudge into the finest luxury particles that you can, then ask us about our special LFF (luxury fudge file) and we'll have one sent over to you with our compliments.

--------------------

The idea here is to let your creative mind flow and express itself, without you editing or censoring anything that raises itself as an idea in your mind.

As you can probably see, by carrying our this Swiss Army Knife exercise for your products and services, you'll stand proud and alone.

You'll have ZERO competition for what it is you sell because your uniqueness and your originality in your ideas and your communications and campaigns, will be too clear and obvious for all to see that you are no derivative and no commodity. 

Swiss Army Knife.

Use it.

It'll come to your rescue over and over again, both in your marketing and business... and... in your personal relationships.          

  

  -------------------------

Want personal help with creating fresh unique ideas, campaigns and promotions to help sell your products or services? Start here by getting on my private email list   

         

What if your 50k Customers, PAID newsletter subscribers or members, were ZAPPED?

How would your life be if you had 50 thousand PAID subscribers to your publication, subscription services or membership?

With huge deposits of cash pouring in each and every month.

Absolutely like clockwork.

Life would be pretty rosy, right?

But, what happens if your subscriber rate, tanks, crumbles, suffers a heart attack... what then?

More...

And what happens if you resurrect the publication, but now, the subscriber rate and the publication is perceived as just another commodity amongst a bunch of commodity publications?

Bummer.

The Rosengarten Report had, in it's peak to 2008, over fifty thousand paid subscribers to its restaurant and food guide publication.

FIFTY THOUSAND!

It was the bees knees.

The publication was hailed by James Beard (Google him) as the best written food publication in the world.   

If you were lured into the publication, you'd want to eat it the page it was printed on.

The publication was THAT good.

But why?

Here's the secret ingredient.

The recipe for their success.

Now I'm not 100% sure of this but much of the content was written by Gary Bencivenga, the best copywriter (salesman in print) in the world at that time - he's retired now.

Some of his special reports and written pieces for the company were devastating masterpieces in persuasion, gluing you to the spot, making your tummy rumble and your taste buds drool. 

David Rosengarten suffered major health problems and the publication closed down for a number of years.

The RETURN;

Now, with health of the owner better, there's an online version of the non paid for newsletter.

It came out late 2012.

Sadly, It's NOTHING like the original publication.

It's weak.

It's lacklustre.

For me, it's instantly throw-away-able.

How so?

The writer.

They've gone cheap.


They've slayed the golden goose and have not replaced it with the same money producing, customer attention readership magic that a communication-in-print-specialist like Bencivenga could create.

Instead, they've hired some 3rd or 4th rate communicator whose skill is in creating a 'so so' experience for the reader. 

What tells us the experience isn't a great one? 

A few examples; 

I'm not raving about it.

I'm not hailing the positives.

I'm not drooling over the screen, not googling the recipes, not hunting down the recommended suppliers, not becoming a member, not itching and eager to to wait for the free online newsletter publication version to drop into my inbox. 

And look, we all know good writing, incredible persuasive and compelling writing when we read it.

The difference in the quality of writing in this newsletter probably amounted to some really sizeable numbers.

The Rosengarten people didn't do much except hire mediocrity with a CAPITAL M.

What kind of written communicators have you engaged? 


www.RajaHireker.com 

Fix The PRODUCT LIES And HYPE And You'll Fix Bad Marketing Karma

With $10m a year in sales in his current business, Anik Singal, reveals that his fortune is based on a SPECIFIC marketing tool, email.

AND he goes on to suggest that it's easy to create a successful business based on his simple email business model, something that anyone can follow. 

He proclaims that it's easy to get a 40% opt-in rate compared of course, to the 50 or 60% he gets on his opt-in pages, thanks no doubt to very expensive, and accurate analytical information to create such wizardry.

He goes on to display a financial model where he shares that it's pretty simple to get 125 subscribers a month, and then 250 subscribers the next month, etc, majority by free traffic methods.

And, he goes on to tell that when you get those subscribers it's the automation and technology that takes over by having your emails sent out in a timed and on a sequential basis, with the money being made in selling those subscribers via a link in an email to a product, ones own product, or an affiliate product.

However...

Here's the 'drive through so you can't detect it line' in his promotion product launch for the product.

You just quickly write a few lines in your emails which then drives subscribers to buy...

DON'T MAKE THIS ERROR OF JUDGEMENT - DON'T BE FOOLED BY ANY MADMAN TELLING YOU THAT IT'S EASY TO WRITE A FEW SIMPLE EMAILS (or write any promotional message that doesn't require a brain) AND YOU'LL EARN A FORTUNE.

MEDIA IS MEDIA IS MEDIA

What does that mean?

It means WHATEVER media you use; email, direct mail, postcards, sales-letters, printed adverts, video, Fax... whatever you use to make sales or to get a response in some way, the COPY, the words you use, what you say, how you say what you say, is CRUCIAL to the response you receive.

You CANNOT send a blank email and expect RESULTS that will build your business up to $10m a year. You've got to KNOW what you're writing INSIDE that email -- or other media.

The WRITING is the KEY ASSET and NOT so much the media. That's because you can transfer the advertising or communication message from one media to the next.

And, it certainly DOESN'T come by quickly writing a few simple lines.

Naturally of course, Singal would rather you didn't dig too much into that idea that the WRITING isn't anything too complicated, because he's selling a BUSINESS SYSTEM that works on a very simple formula that he's using to generate huge numbers so... you can too... and he'd rather you didn't see the joins!

(KEY: He has most likely paid expensive direct response copywriters a fat amount to create the various SELLING MESSAGES in the variety of media used in the launch. And, he'll most likely sell a ton of stuff to dreamers, hopers... the emotional NON DOERS who are magnet to hype and the promise of the 'easy-button-life', formula)          

I had to carefully think, strategise and plan when creating a series of promotions that were read and then acted on by thousands of customers who then generated (as of this writing) 6 million pounds in sales for clients of the service.

I did NOT simply skip by it and leave the writing of the promotions to guesswork, chance or the tooth fairy. I had to put myself and the promotions through a structured process and plan. I had to choose the most appropriate words, whilst putting the whole series of promotions into context.

It takes WORK. And, not some magic-push button formula that does everything for you.      

Never forget it; the ability to write a compelling and responsive sales message - NO MATTER WHAT THE MEDIA FORMAT - is the KEY ASSET in ANY BUSINESS.    

www.IReallyWantMarketingHelp.com