Where have all the good writers gone?

Seems ludicrous to me.

Of course it does. 

Investing in expensive hi-tech gadgetry, online tools and sophistication, whizz bang automation...and yet, hiring people devoid of emotion, connection, and just plain human sense to get the product, the service, the business, the idea, across and sold.

It's like the entrepreneur investing in eye boggling buildings, elegant interiors, sophisticated technology, yet hiring a bubble-gum popping, couldn't-care-less nitwit at the front desk or manning the phones.

Why cut corners?

Well, you've got to make cuts and reduce costs somewhere, right? 

And yet...

Why on earth would you want to do it in the highest yielding activities a business has - the sales writing and marketing pieces that are designed to have someone who is a potential prospect for the offering, to be captivated and charmingly invited to take up the offer. Why someone would want to compromise on that specific corner cutting is more than mad. 

And that's especially ripe in today's crazy mad scenario where businesses are going out of business because amongst many things, they're not making enough compelling offers to invite, entice, encourage the marketplace to buy what they have.

A good sales writer with a switched on brain, will do that for you.

Got lots of stock piled up and you can't shift it? 

Then create a promotion. Write a sales letter or an ad. Do something that you've not been doing.

Don't just think the economy and your customers and the government are simply going to come to your rescue when you want them to.

They won't.

It doesn't work like that.

HINT: You be your own rescue source. 

If not, then hire competent writers with switched on brains, oodles of sales mojo and a dollop of creative wit in order to help you bring in the rupees, pounds, dollars or euros.   

The great Dan Kennedy refers to something called - send the bill to the herd.

By that he means if you want a monetary injection, then write a sales letter or a promotional campaign for a specific offer and let your customers buy it. 

In other words...

Let the customers pay the bill for what it is you want. 

Of course, in return you've got to provide them with something of wanted value. Something they really want. Some kind of irresistible, can't-turn-away-from', bargain.

Because if you don't provide something of higher value than its purchase cost, then you'll be seen as a desperado for money.

If you like that reputation, then there's nothing I can do about fixing that. That's down to you to do. 

But here's the crux of the matter - you can't send the bill to the herd if your writing and communications are devoid of genuine personality, entertainment, and a well crafted offer.

So again, where have all the good writers gone?             

Because honestly, all  you need is a good enough writer, a decent product or service, and a list or audience to sell what you have.

And in times of COVID, and social distancing and not going out that much to shop... with most people spending gobs of time on their phones, the internet, social media... the time to bring out your writers so they can do their money creating stuff, is actually...right in this very moment.      

As strange as it might seem, the current climate and economy is perfect for your marketing and sales writers to help you lug in the money.

http://rajahireker.com/what.pdf   

What DIFFERENCE are your ads and communications actually making?

It's easy to get sucked into the ego game if you're in the ad creation and communications profession.

What I mean by that is it's easy to come up with an arty creative angle for a product or a service, even for an idea, a concept or a thought...

And yet...whether or not the finished piece creates and makes a difference in the hearts and minds of those people the ads are targetting, that's neither here or there for most who create such things.

Why?

Because most are infatuated with having their names up in lights, their ads be up for the much heralded creativity awards, for the accolades and back patting, for the high murmurs of appreciation, high fives and well done's from those high up in the creative making organisation's ivory towers.

That's more important to them.

It's how they've been trained.

However...

That's actually NOT the same agenda if one's money and livelihood is tied to creating results and sales.

And for most entrepreneurs and business owners who aren't dazzled or caught up in chasing the false 'advertising Oscars' equivalent, their entire focus has to be in optimising the whole A to Z process in creating winning advertising campaigns and promotions.

And let me repeat --

... if your ads and marketing communications are NOT making a powerful contribution and obvious difference in the lives of those you're targeting your ads and promotional pieces to, then guess what...

--- you're not going to make many sales.

Of course, if you decide to lie, exaggerate, falsify and hype up the merits and value of your products and services... just so you can experience an initial cash flow surge, then you can be sure that you'll soon be found out.

Because that's what happens when you sell shoddy or sub standard goods and services.   

You'll get found out.

The word'll get out.

And in this mad and intoxicating social media connected world, news spreads faster than wildfire.

Especially if it's of the ugly kind.

And like hearing it or not, most people love spreading misery, love dishing out the horrible gloomy experiences they've had.

They'll tell anyone who'll listen.

And yes...

Once that batten gets passed, it'll carry on getting passed... it'll not get dropped anytime soon.

So how can you fix the problem, the problem of not getting enough sales and primarily only focussing on creativity and splash, just for the sake of creaivty and splash?

Here's one answer...

Zero in on the difference making your product or services solves or fixes for your prospects, better than anyone else's offering does.

And, tell that account in a fresh, compelling and excting way.

Of course, if you're after awards and gongs rather than sales and happy customers, then it doesn't matter what you've read here because nothing will have any impact or interest for you whatsoever.

If you're not driven by awards and oscar winning speeches, and instead, want high value ads, here's a place to make an enquiry about it - raja.hireker@gmail.com 

Want your ads and marketing pieces to make you even more money?

Here's something I learned from what they do at the Microchip Technology company.

Or more accurately put...

...it's actually a systematized, working practical philosophy that's rolled out through the entire company, in all its divisions. 

And that working philosophy is rooted in the following...

All systems are perfect for producing the results they bring.

Want better performing ads and marketing pieces? 

Well, your current ads and marketing assets are going to produce exactly what they're going to produce... no more, no less.

Now if you want to make more sales, more profits, enjoy longer deeper relationships with your clients and customers (mainly through your written ads and promotions) then you're going to have to change your ads and marketing pieces somewhat. 

In other words...

The COPY you employ to help you sell what you sell... well, that has to change.

So how do you go about making those changes? And, how do you know what are the right changes to make?

Let me tell you a secret... the answer to creating winning profitable ads and communications... is by asking the RIGHT questions!

Now you might be asking... what exactly are the right questions to ask that'll lead you to more sales and more profits?

There are many.

However, let's dig into a few of them just now that'll help trigger and stimulate your thinking.

And yes, you do not have to apply each and every question to all the ads and marketing pieces you want changed to see a difference in results.

What you do need to do however is to let the questions and their resulting answers seep into your brain so you have enough of the necessary raw material to carve out a NEW ad version or a new series of ads. (David Ogilvy used the term, a 'family of ads', to describe it.)

So, let's go...

• Why are you writing your ads and promos in that specific way that you do?
• What's the BIG IDEA your ads are based on?
• Are your ads based on guesswork or, on specific research and info hunting?
• When was the last time you changed your current ad or promotional pieces?
• What's the biggest knock-on effect in your business if your ads and marketing pieces don't work out as well as you'd like?
• Are you targeting (calling out) the right prospect in your ads?
• Are your ads direct response ads? 
• Is your headline for the ad compelling and irresistible enough to pull the reader in and to have them want to carry on reading?
• Are your ads easy to read and understand?
• Are there clear instructions telling the reader what to do next?
• Are your ads emotionally compelling and curious enough to keep your reader captivated all the way through your ad? (IE, they're not boring, are they?)
• Does your ad solve a particular burning problem for your reader and is the solution clear, unique and the best value your prospect can get, anywhere?#

If you're afraid to change your ads and marketing pieces, despite the fact they need drastic altering, then this list of questions which by the way are by no means exhaustive or definite... 

...yet you can cherry-pick from them and see what clicks or connects for you.

And by all means...

...keep coming back to the above list when you want your existing ads and marketing efforts to jump-start into profitable action. 

raja.hireker @ gmail.com  

Marketing Lies We Tell Ourselves

There are a bunch of lies we tell ourselves in order to avoid reality, to look good, to keep us out of action and to gain some kind of sympathy to those who'll listen to our stories. 

And, there are some lies that we've told ourselves so consistently that it seem it's all baked into our DNA and so guess what; we amble around with that 'made up truth' about WHO we are as IF it was all cemented in stone and where we unknowingly signed a contract to its seeming permanence. 

It gets worse.

Because, those lies, when acted out in adult world of business and making a living, we use those lies to lie low, to cower, to not show up in the way we need to show up the most.

Many a life has come crumbling down because of the self created lies we force feed ourselves on a daily basis that we comfortably take with our cereal and tea and think nothing more about it.

When you can decimate, dissolve and deconstruct the following marketing lies, and replace them with the opposite, you'll see a resurgence, a renaissance, a revolutionary reinvented way of showing up in the world through your products and services.

What kind of marketing and business lies am I talking about? Well, let's get into a few of them.

Marketing lie - I don't know how to do this! (Untrue. You've not practiced or been trained in it. You've not set yourself a good enough standard. You've not fueled your desire enough to want to know how to be successful at that marketing tool or process. There are guides and resources galore in showing you how to do something.)

Marketing lie - The competition is eating us alive, we'll soon go out of business if they keep things up (Untrue. They won't have your business collapse unless you choose to sit on your brain and do nothing more than worry and moan and search for information and do nothing with it. You can create new ideas and get the help you want, if you choose to. If you choose to.)

Marketing lie - We don't have any new money to market or advertise (Untrue. You do have money - and that money is locked up inside your past and current customers. You don't need new money to create a promotion or an offer to those people. Get busy creating and implementing and you'll soon have more money coming in than you could imagine) 

Marketing lie - Customers are hard to reach (Untrue. Figure out who you like serving and helping the most through your products and services and then locate where they are via google, mailing lists, facebook, linked in. Then, create a way for them to sample what you have and then give them an exceptional experience so they go the whole hog and sign up with you and buy what you have)

Marketing lie - I can't learn new things (Untrue. You haven't chosen to want to learn it. You're not a tree. Your not a table. You're not a person who has had a brain transplant where your brain has been substituted with an aubergine. You can learn anything if you want to. Again, go to the Internet and you'll find there are guides and resources galore in showing you how to do something.)

Marketing lie - I just don't have the time to do all this (Untrue. You've not ranked what are the most important activities in your business are and who should be doing them. Marketing and sales and copywriting are the most important function you could ever engage in and your time needs to be allocated accordingly. Look to your diary because it'll show you in the clear light of day what functions you consider valuable and important and what kind of time you're allocating to it)

Marketing lie - Lowering prices will boot my business (Untrue. It'll give you a temporary 'Groupon type rush' yet you won't sustain a business based on a low price model. You'll get burnt out trying to sustain it all - physically, mentally, financially. You'll not survive on razor thin margins. You'll resent what service your providing. You won't provide the best you can in what you do. And yet, your customers will demand more and more from you based on the peanuts you've trained them to give you.)

You can continually live on a diet of marketing lies, or, you can stop making those lies real and come into a world of refreshing reality where the grass is green because it gets watered and where sales come in because there's created action and implementation taking place.

Here's the access pass - raja.hireker@gmail.com - to that new world. 

 

“That letter you did... we are seeing conversions at 7.8%..... It is like a train...I've never experienced anything like this in all my life. That letter...I'm just dumbfounded. Isaac Jon - Ganston Reed Publishing

"Raja knows more about the techniques of persuasion than nine out of ten copywriters. He has a winning style, great determination and unusual ingenuity." Drayton Bird - Author Commonsense Direct Marketing & Sales letters That Sell and Former International VP & Creative Director Ogilvy & Mather Direct.

"Raja has written all my sales letters and has had a good hand in all the email copy and strategy. His ideas are exceptional and his timeliness in creating the finished output is extremely high. Also, my consulting brainstorm sessions with him always generates high value ideas. His work has helped me bank tens of thousands of pounds and continues to do so"
S. Anwar - Provider of Educational products and services to Professionals financial, IT, energy and banking sectors.  

 

Why do Established Companies Insist in Writing Shoddy Amateurish Ads?

Anglian is a very well known Home Improvement brand.

Great quality products.

Yet, are more than amateurish with the way they write their ads and how they communicate their offerings.

Why would they put up with that?

Why would a marketing person worth their worth, put their name to this, like Andrew Knight, Marketing Manager for Anglian did, regarding this piece you see on the left?

The only reason I think he did is because he doesn't know any better, or he'd have tossed this into the bin.

There's no obvious measurement standards in place as to what constitutes a good, effective ad as this one wouldn't have made the grade.

How it did make the grade, only the Marketing department at Anglian, know. And THAT is mightily worrying if you own the company.

So what's actually wrong with it?

Plenty.

We'll go through a few of the bleeding obvious ones.

Well, how about the opening - Dear Sir/Madam?

Dear Sir / Madam!

Who talks like that? I mean, who actually talks like that?

How about... Dear Homeowner, Dear Proud Homeowner, Dear Home Improvement Buff, Dear Resident?

It seems any of those would be more endearing than dear Sir/Madam.

What's next?

The Headline - Can You Help?

That's actually not a bad headline, if they followed up more intelligently on that headline.

What they've done is they've created a message that's all to do with their benefits and their results, and not so much on the benefits to the reader or potential customer.

Look at the copy to do with that;

"... we are currently looking for further properties within this postcode area to install our stunning new range of Conservatories, Windows and Rooftrim products."  

That's the core of the help they want.

Misleading?

Possibly.

And, it's all about them and how great they are and stunning their products are.

They've missed the most basic of fundamentals - speak to the 'what's in it for them'.

And in this case, it's the what's in it for the potential reader --  (except of course, the obvious and  boringly stated money savings - "the finest products available at the fraction of the cost", message)?

The message launches into the ludicrous 'we've got the best products at the best prices angle' which really creates no distinction and no differentiation for the reader.

Anglian haven't even enquired if at all the reader is at interested in what they sell. They've just assumed and jumped right on in without ever finding out.

A more interesting way would be for the communication to send the reader to a short online survey/questionnaire to elicit pertinent answers to a number of carefully crafted questions.

Not only can this be used for immediate follow up and tailored customised conversations, but having an email address is crucial because this is where delightful fascinating stories interesting facts and customer testimonials can be sent on a regular basis, and can revolve around how a house will feel and look better, the leaving of a legacy to others in their family, how the social aspect of living will be enhanced, how valuable of an investment it is, how aesthetically pleasing it looks and feels...

Regular connection and communications that are charming, captivating and engaging will build a connection and a relationship with a potential customer like nothing else will.

And so when a person is ready to upgrade and enhance their property, who are they going to call - someone who sends a weak sloppy and amateurish flyer or brochure (no matter how successful the company appears to be), or, a company who followed up, who were respectful, who communicated regularly with fascinating and interesting facts and stories and who weren't pushy and treated everyone like they'll be customers for life... who you gonna call!            

If Anglian had to live and die based on their messaging and communications (unlike like many small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures who actually have to) then they'd have been buried ten feet under many moons ago if the piece you see is the best they've got.

If you're responsible for signing your name against the communications you send out into the marketplace, at least have the professionalism to check what exactly you're signing your name to.

And if you have little to no discriminating factors to aid and facilitate your decision making, you need to go get you some, or... go find a different profession where there's less at stake for the business or company you represent.

Go be an Anglian Marketer or Copywriter. 

Raja.Hireker@gmail.com





 

Here's How You Commit a Sustained Marketing Assault on Your Biggest Marketing Problem

"No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking."
Voltaire first said that. (Google him if you want to fact check)

I've said it and applied it, many times over. And not only for solving business and marketing problems.

So how would YOU solve your biggest marketing problem, using sustained thinking and then... acting on the solution... how would you do that?

First and foremost, you've got to accurately define the problem. Because without an accurate diagnosis, you'll be like a mad back alley Doctor, applying untested nonsense and quackery to a mis-diagnosed problem. The patient complains of a pain in the head. You carry out a kidney removal with no anaesthetic. It's not going to end good.

So, what's your biggest marketing problem?
Let's say it's not getting enough qualified leads who turn into paying customers and clients - let's have that be the problem.

So without any kind of new thinking on that problem, it'll be what it is. That same thinking will create whatever current half solution it provides to that same problem. And the half solution is not a full solution because the problem still remains as a big problem.   

So, what kind of sustained thinking is required, what kind of assault needs to be committed, and in what area?

Well, the first area we can dig into is the quality of new prospect. 

• Are they a fit based on your required client criteria (you DO have a qualifying prospect checklist, don't you?)
• What are the reasons those who come to the cusp of buying, whether that's in a consultation or purely through an online sequence, what are the reasons they don't buy? (You have asked, or you have done some fact finding, haven't you?)   
• Where can we go to get MORE of the SAME kind of prospects who behave like our current happy customers?
• Of those who we don't want to serve, what is it about them that makes them bad prospects for our business?
• Of those prospects who then DO become clients, what did they tell us was the reason they became clients? (You did ask them, didn't you?)
• Are we aiming our prospecting marketing arrows in the wrong field? (And if yes, you want to stop doing that immediately or you'll dry your business up in no time flat)    

Those are a few ideas for you to see how you commit a marketing assault on one area or problem.

Ah, but the detective work and the investigative work doesn't stop there. Not at all. 

Another area to close in on is to check all current advertising

So how shall we begin our work here?

• Is the advertising speaking directly to the problem our product or service, solves for our speciic type of client?
• Where in the copy are we talking only about us us us... and not about our prospects and clients and their problems?
• Where exactly are we advertising and is it in a place where our profile prospect hangs out, reads, meets?
• What different versions of our advertising have we tested recently and what did we discover?
• Are we sending a one-size marketing message that fits all our target market profile? (It's infinitely more profitable to create customised communications and advertising to each specific target market, if indeed we have more than one target market. 

I could go on and get into a deep dive thinking assault on all those micro areas that impact and affect leads, conversions from prospects into paying clients, cashflow.

This is what YOU should be doing if you really want to make sales happen and have clients rave about you and what you do and what you solve for them.

Of course, many business owners, entrepreneurs, Professionals of all kinds, stripes and levels, will poo poo all this and go straight into reactionary mode when the business is buckling and leaking money.

They do almost zero of this essential Sherlock Holmes detective work and that's why they're looking for the next shiny object or the next self appointed marketing guru who believes their own manufactured PR and who'll willingly pop another dose of that instant magic money madness into those owner's brains, and so... the delusional cycle continues.

If you have an existing business that's been going for a few years, I'd say you're probably sitting on 4, 5, even six figures of business inside your current way of doing things. And, it's most likely you just don't know about where and how to get it. Of course, I've given you a taste of what kind of detective work you need to undertake and then follow up on and yet, you might find that you're all over the place and not that committed or disciplined to work this all out yourself.

If that's you and if that's really the problem you're coming up against time and time again, then I suggest we have a conversation to see what we can do to fix things for you

Unless you commit a sustained thinking assault on your ads, your marketing, your business and all its moving parts, you are wasting and throwing away a huge amount of time, money and energy.

How big an amount is that for you?

I can't guess.

That's what this conversation will do -- to weigh up exactly how much you've wasted, and, how much you'll continue to waste and throw away if you don't do anything different to what you're currently doing.

Send your email with "MARKETING ASSAULT" in the subject line to raja.hireker@gmail.com and then let's see what we see.

It's 2019.

You may as well launch it in the way you want the whole of the year to go - with clarity, with action and with cutting edge help.

Problems?

Commit a sustained thinking assault on them and then solve that damn problem so it never shows up as a problem for you ever again because you'll then have the skills and the smarts to sort it all out... in double quick time.




Raja
http://rajahireker.com/who.html
07903 905 802

Why I'd bank on This 107 Year old Man for Killer Copywriting Advice to Grow Your Business

I've noticed a strange thing --

When asking business owners who they've learned from or how they've acquired their marketing and advertising knowledge, there's a universal shrug, or... the mention of a few names of people they've read about or come across, but haven't dug deep enough to understand the instruction and learning from top to bottom.

Shocking really, when it's the advertising and marketing that are the key drivers to sales and long term profits.

Said differently - most business owners and entrepreneurs have little to no clue how they structure their ads, why they've created a campaign the way they have, the principles they've based their marketing and copywriting, on... they've little to zero clue why they do the things they do from a marketing and copywriting and marketing front and cannot articulate to you how it's all been thought of and assembled.

It's depressingly funny because almost all of us honestly think that there's nothing much to writing an ad or putting together a marketing campaign or launching a product or service - that there's no science or necessary learning that's involved. That anyone can do it right off the bat because there's nothing to really know. You just, do it.

BIG mistake.(I've personally invested over tens of thousands of my own money over a 15 year period in my own direct response marketing, copywriting, consulting education from real world practitioners, and I can categorically say it's far far apart from the learning I got from my Chartered Institute of Marketing Post Graduate qualification... far far apart)  

I love the story Clayton Makepeace, one of the world's highest paid copywriters, tells of the time he fired the company he was working for because the new MBA wielding take-over owners of then profit making machine of a company, put marketing, copywriting and customers at the bottom of the list of the importance functions of the business. And what they did instead was they put themselves and their NEW PLANS and the role of meetings and restructuring the business from its current crackerjack profit status where marketing was king, where campaigns and offers were the drivers, where creating lifetime value customer relationships were driven through compelling messaging and irresistible ongoing offers... all of that got shunted to the sidelines as the new owners who hadn't an ounce of real world marketing knowledge between them, systematically drove the company that produced millions a year, deep into the dirt. They filed for bankruptcy within 90 days.

That's what happens to dumb companies who put preening, posturing and CEO importance at the top of the agenda at all times, and where marketing is relegated to the bottom of the importance file.And that's why I'd bank on getting all the marketing, advertising and copywriting wisdom you can from Ad Genius, David Ogilvy. If he was alive today, he'd be 107. And yet, if you want to get super hip at creating fantastic advertising that'll help you sell more of the products or services you have, you cannot go wrong getting deep into Ogilvy's timeless material. And when you get his books (Ogilvy on Advertising, Confessions of an Ad Man) you'll see (GASP!) there's zero winging it when it comes to creating advertising that sells.   

In fact, no matter what size your business, what you sell, who you sell it to, see what you can gain below from the way Ogilvy treats the advertising and copywriting function - he co-founded and ran an ad agency Ogilvy & Mather - and hired copywriters to help his clients grow their businesses - (Thanks to Craig Simpson for the below)Creative brilliance: Copywriters needed to come up with brilliant concepts. They need to not only catch their readers’ attention, but sell them on the product. He was a proponent of what was called the “big idea,” one brilliant idea that would be central to each ad campaign.

Research: Ogilvy did not believe in “blowing smoke.” His copy was meticulously based in fact. He did the necessary research to uncover the one amazing fact around which he could build an entire ad campaign; this often served as the basis for his “big idea.” (His Ad for Rolls Royce was based on this BIG IDEA "At 60 Miles An Hour, The Loudest Noise In This New Rolls Royce Comes From The Electric Clock" ... and it came after 3 weeks of digging into the research he was doing for Rolls. And you can see that ad in the post directly before this one)

Actual Results: Ogilvy was a strong believer in judging the quality of an ad by its success at selling something. Always test the outcome of an ad, and if it isn’t selling, make whatever changes are necessary to make it work.

Professional Discipline: Advertising executives were not to be dabblers in the creative realm. They needed to hone their craft and develop programs to train the next generation of advertisers.If you've the time, discipline and desire to ramp up your advertising and copywriting with the kind of compelling irresistible intelligence no others in your marketplace are most likely doing, let alone heard of, then don't waste a second more -- get onto Amazon, order your Ogilvy books and start devouring them with the intention of applying what you learn, to your own products and services. 

It may take you several weeks to a good few months to get a real grasp of everything but it'd be well worth your while from a profit based point of view to do that because once you have the copywriting fundamentals locked in, it'll be with you for life to use each time you want to create and send out a sales message.

Now if you can't wait for months and you want a faster, much quicker way to apply the principles Ogilvy espouses so you can start seeing results from your own advertising and marketing sooner, than later... then get in touch.

(And if you'd like, go back into this blog's archives and you can see how I've adopted and adapted Ogilvy's Rolls Royce Letter, to an ad for a Honda CRV)


http://simple-marketing-solutions.com/testimonial1.html / 07903 905 802 / raja.hireker@gmail.com