If there's NO JOY OR FUN in selling what you sell, then your ads and marketing communications are going to be as dry as toast (and yes, you'll sell way less than you think)

Do you really LOVE what you sell and promote? 

I don't mean that you say you love it on the face of things, but then on the other side of it all you know that you don't have many good things to say about your products or services that has you convinced and convicted that your product or service is truly valuable, that it makes a significant and measurable difference for those that buy or invest in it.   

Are you a TRUE BELIEVER that what you have to sell, that it has the absolute benefit and wellbeing of your clients and prospects right at the centre of it? 

Whether or not that's true for you just now here's what's super important: 

- it's hard to have a fun business and it's hard to create the kind of inspiring and joyously created communications and sales writing when you're half-hearted and half convinced about what you're promoting and selling. 

And no, you can't flat out lie and hype up your products or services to be something they're not. Because guess what, you'll soon be found out. You'll soon have multiple people banging on your doors asking for their money back. 

Be alarmed or not, but there'll be a few who'll want your head and will heckle for your business to be barred and banned!

We as a collective, are sick and tired of hearing and seeing the same dry boring communications and marketing efforts, all across the board. The kind of efforts that make us indifferent and unwilling to want to find out more. 

Frankly, the problem isn't that a product or service is boring or tepid.

(Because I'm convinced that if you look hard and deep enough, you'll discover and unearth unique fresh distinctions and advantages about your products and services it'll stand you so far apart from those selling and promoting what it is you do, especially because of how you tell the story about it).

The REAL problem is the lack of ideas and the creative application in selling what you sell.

The REAL problem is refusing to bring an element of fun, joy, happiness and real entertaining excitement to your marketing, advertising and communication efforts.    

And I don't mean you hype up your products and services in such a way that it creates some kind of mass hysteria or false buying frenzy. I'm not talking about doing any of that. 

I'm talking about creating the kind of communications that people love to read and inherently love to buy from.

And if you're like the majority, we want our experiences, the service we receive, we want that to be something that knocks us down because of how incredible and exciting the whole experience was for us. 

We're silently dying for that to happen. Even if we have to wait for 3 blue moons for that to happen.

But we don't need to wait that long. 

Because in steps Walt Disney to slap us into 100% attention mode. Here's what he DID with Disney, in every which way that was possible for him to do so:

Do what you do so well that people can't help but talk about you. 

There's the MIRACLE formula right there...

And when we apply that formula to our communications and our sales messages, when we make our communications and sales efforts fun, joyous, engaging, entertaining... your customers, clients and prospects who see and read your communications can't help but talk about you. They can't help but pass around the stories about you and your products and services to plenty of others. 

No one delights in passing and referring the bland and the boring to others.     

Now's the time to fix things so that never happens to you and your business. Ever.  

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(If you'd like to see further examples of what I'm talking about (you've already see a number of them in the pages of this blog) when it comes to creating fun and joy in your sales and marketing communications, then send an email to me at the following address: raja . hireker @ gmail . com )        

     

50k to write one sales letter! How much do you invest?

Would you invest 50k to have someone write a sales letter for you and your business? 

Some Owners do. 

However, just having the money to invest 50k doesn't mean it'll be a wise investment decision for you and your business.

Why?

Because, it all depends on your business economics, the infrastructure, the back up resources, the capabilities and competencies to handle a tidal wave rush of business.  

Many don't have the size of business, nor the money, nor the economics, or everything else in place that's required to warrant the spend.

Many do however fork out decent money for what eventually turns out to be mediocre writers and strategists producing average to mediocre results. 

How does one make that judgement?

Look at the results that are produced.

Look at the business that gets banked. 

Look at the new customers that are generated. 

Look at the ROI. 

Look at the levels of joy and happiness.

So what is it that has someone charge 50k for writing a long form sales letter, and someone else charging £500 for the same work?    

There are a few components.

High level skill is first and foremost. 

You can't wing, high skill level. 

Yet that doesn't seem to be the case in the marketing and advertising fields.  

Because like hearing it or not, there are writers and agency owners full of hype and bluster about what they say they can do. And (gasp!) they behave as they do because they want to win the business. 

Imagine David Ogilvy pulling a fast one by smooth talking his way into landing the clients he did, and then not having the marketing and advertising chops required to create the winning ad campaigns, promotions and pieces he did!

And so when the results don't show themselves because of that zealous drive to over promise and not much else? It then turns into a 'avoid being pinned down at all costs' game.   

Having an internal level of conviction and certainty 

When you observe top performers in any industry or category, you'll instantly see they've a certain (very high) level of belief and conviction in their own abilities. 

It's that certainty level in themselves is what instantly and automatically radiates outwards to everyone else they speak to. 

We buy another's certainty and conviction based on who they are and who they are being.  

It's not many who can pass the equivalent lie detector tests where their bravado and gusto turns out to be nothing but smoke and mirrors.       

Having a system

Ask any number of sales based writers and copywriters what kind of system they use to produce high converting copy and they'll tell you something along the lines of they don't have a particular structured system or, that they write by intuition and feel.

High performing sales letter writers don't leave things to chance. They almost all write to a specified system. That doesn't mean that the resulting sales letters are rigid and robotic because of  being formulated to a created structure.

What a structure or system does, is it acts like an airplane pilot's checklist. Nothing can be left out or be based on guesswork or chance. 

There's a lot of money riding on a sales letter. 

Yet most crash and burn because of the writer not having a proper proven system to follow.  

So now you know what specific question to ask any copywriter before you decide to hire them, whether you ultimately invest £500 or 50k.      

   http://rajahireker.com/whythehell.pdf

Too Chicken to Create proper ads

 

Here's the latest waste of money and space from Sainsbury's supermarket and Future Farms.

They've allowed their ad agency or in house team, to create this wasteful piece of advertising for them.

What you see above are the back to back sides of a brochure that's been posted through the letter box a few days ago, promoting and selling Future Farm's range of chicken and meats.

Let's look at the first headline, that's taken up nearly half the selling space with its large sized font - Chicken's Been Upgraded. 

 

Hmmm....

It makes you wonder, the chicken's been upgraded... from what? 

And following on from that, what does that say about Future Farms previous standards and quality of chickens, or for that matter, Sainsbury's current chicken offerings?!   

And then there's an image of the box of chicken, with a 50% off slip at the bottom of the piece.  

And that's it.

That's the advertising offering.

Now can you be any blander? Can you be less creative? Can you be any more wasteful?

How could this be done differently or better?

They could have told a story of how they've come about creating this upgraded chicken. It's a new line so that'd be helpful to know more about it. And if space was an issue, they could have continued the story via sharing a link to a website page.

There's a little Plant Based wording on the box so saying more about that, and who this upgraded chicken would be best suited to, would also zero in on the right potential customer.    

They could show pictures of various meals incorporating the new chicken range. Maybe creating a little series of ads readers can go online to view, demonstrating various life scenarios for differing sets of people and specific recipes could be suited to their lifestyles. 

Maybe also sharing a list of the best wines and desserts that compliment the offering.    

That seems to be a lot more appealing, informative and inviting than the current version. 

Let's look on the flip side of the Brochure.

You get the following headline -- Meat The Range -- with the range of product pictures shown below that.

An obvious, yet lazy effort. 

Why?

Because Tuna isn't meat. Chicken isn't referred to as meat. 

Trying to pack in everything like they've done on one measly brochure, doesn't have someone incentivised to want to try the line out. 

Much better if they made our mouths water with irresistible copy and story about one product line, say for example their sausages, and then saying something like - 

--- if you love these succulent, juicy and flavoursome sausages, you'll possibly crave our delicious line of burgers, mince, meatballs, chicken and tuna --- 

Paper is expensive compared to digital pages, that's why you want your copy, images, and story, to justify their very existence on the page.

What you also don't want to do is waste white space by either leaving too much visible white space, or sloppily patching together words and images in an enlarged way to take up the space because you've no fresh ideas to work from.   

I'd also introduce a continuity/membership type element to the business. 

If I was the Pres or owner of Future Farms and that was the effort I received from the agency, I'd either change agencies, or scrutinise every piece of marketing and advertising promotion to look for the big and little flaws and leaks, or, as do what many, switched on savvy entrepreneurs do heading their own business - write all the copy and advertising myself. 

Why?

Because killer strategy backed up by solid effective copywriting is the highest paying activities there is in a business, or one of them.  

It's the leverage factor, the needle mover, difference maker that makes the big difference in a business when it comes to money, customers, continuity.   

And you don't want to leave that to chance on an outfit who're consistently bankrupt on the creativity front. 

 

http://simple-marketing-solutions.com/mm.pdf

Why you should look, search, HUNT for the flaws in your marketing and business building efforts...

 If there's one MIRACLE that'll ratchet up the money numbers in your business, it's this;

Finding the flaws in what you're currently doing, and finding better alternatives to it. And then, employing them.

There's no gleaming Oscar award going to be given out for that piece of obviousness.

And yet, it's the miracle cure very few engage in.

Why don't they engage in it?

Because it calls into question that what you're currently doing, is somewhat wobbly and pear shaped.

So what of it?

Well, we can't really own up to all that, can we? Should we?

Because since as far back as we can remember, we've been instructed, told, forced even, to not show our weaknesses, to not show our flaws, to become better, to improve, to excel.

And if we do show our flaws, our lostness, it tells everyone else that we're weak, not up to the mark, a dunce head.

So doing something that goes against that conditioning, well, that's not going to happen for most of us.

And yet...

Rule breaking and guillotining our past conditioning and ingrained beliefs ARE the essential nutrient habits for creating the abnormal. For creating breakthroughs.

And here, in the marketing and money creating context, abnormal is anything that's not normal for you.

If you've a baseline figure of say 2-7k a month in sales, or 15 to 25k of sales , or hundreds of thousands a month in sales of your products or services, that's your current baseline norm.

And nothing is going to move that normal needle into the upward abnormal, unless you find and fix the flaws in the process and system that's currently creating the 2-7k or 15 to 25k, or whatever your number is.

And yes, ALL systems have flaws and leaks. 

All. NO matter if you're doing 1k a month in business or 1m. All systems and processes can be bettered, refined, improved.

And when you look inside a business, there are multiple impact points in the entire marketing and communication process that can be bettered and fixed. 

Not just in the ads and promotions, but in the way you price, the way you segment your target market list, the way you follow up, the way you create higher value products and services, the frequency with which you communicate, the way you create joint venture partners, how you handle no shows, how you create your referral systems, how you split your day up into 80/20 activities, the variety of your email subject lines.

The list is beefy as it is ongoing. 

And inside each one of those elements on the list, there are better alternatives you could be using and employing to get higher and better results. Because anything can always be measured, bettered and improved.

Let's get away from the business and marketing context of things for a while and demonstrate how this truism operates in other areas.

How do you think Tiger Woods became greater than great? through the years, he asked his coaches trainers to look for the flaws n his game and to fix what he was currently doing. He incorporated the findings and guess what, even though he was at the top of the game at that time, he became the dominant tornado force he became. All because of wanting to improve and be better.

How do you think top surgeon and author Atul Gwande improved his surgical techniques? He hired his past professor to coach him on improving performance because he felt stale, lethargic, uninspired, despite being a prolific surgeon. His professor showed him several habits and techniques Gwande was utilising in the operating theatre that could be bettered and improved. As such, he became evermore skilled in his surgical techniques and out of that, his own passion, demeanour and willingness for his work, took on newfound meaning and happiness.

Let me repeat this again-- ALL systems and processes can be improved.

The moment your mind is captivated and alive with the insatiable desire for you to be a committed hunter of how to better your current campaigns, communications, promotional offers, lessening product returns...

... the moment you're open to that kind of committed inquiry and analytical investigation, that's when you'll see and experience a rise and shift in the results and profits.

And once you start the process, you'll need to be tied down because you'll feel that delight and giddiness in your bones because now your sophisticated nose is on the right kind of hunt. 

You'll find yourself delving into all kinds of little nooks and crannies when it comes to you, your business and your marketing.. and you'll come up with all kinds of ways to better and improve what you're currently doing.

It's pure blissful magic when it happens because that way of being and showing up, will not only help you in your business and in your marketing, but it'll help you in every single area of your life if you put it all to the test.

But beware...

The longer you leave things as they currently are, then that's your chosen and accepted norm, that's your current standard baseline.

So ask yourself, and let me ask you also, what are you looking to change so you can get better business and money results; and in turn, feel happier, inspired, and more certain about your future?

https://rajahireker.com/what.pdf 

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How you can get more of your customers, prospects & subscribers addicted to reading (and buying from) your emails

Ever witnessed someone who’s just addicted to something?

They’re rabid, irrational, and sometimes, beyond reasoning with, aren’t they?

Take golfers as an example; they’ll do anything, spend anything, try anything, just to lower their score or hit a drive as straight as an arrow – they’re addicted to getting every kind of tool, insight, information, resources that they can lay their hands on.

Now you can if you want, create a similar insatiable addiction so your subscribers, prospects and clients have for reading your emails.

Possible?

Well think about this for a second; email is simply a way of communicating using a medium, just like reading a book or watching your favourite tv programme, is. And have you ever been rabid about a programme or a book or magazine where you just simply have to know what the next instalment is all about?

It's just like that for email, if you set it all up right.

So let's think about this; what does your email have to contain in order to have your customers itching to receive your email communications?

The first thing is that you must know at a deep core level, are the pains, the frustrations, the problems your marketplace and your customers are experiencing.

Because, once you know this important information, you can then speak directly, sincerely and with authority, where you can tie your communications together by showing how your products and services can fix the equivalent of a poor wayward drive or a sloppy chip shot or a finely tuned mindset when the putt absolutely has to go in the hole.

If you can do that, and you can do that in language and in a voice that’s sincere, that’s authentic, that’s believable, you’ll have a following who’ll be addicted to what you have to say next. They’ll be hanging on your every word. And, just like a soap opera saga that runs and runs; your audience just has to find out what the next instalment is, what the next cure is, what the next surprise will be. What the next whacky zany story or account is going to be.

They’ll be addicted in wanting to hear from you because you’ve established your credentials, you're showing up frequently, you're not just smacking them over the head with continual blatant saleszee messages - you're now perceived as someone who is genuinely interested in what they are going through and in turn, your audience will have confidence in your products and services because as a default of the process, they’ll automatically perceive your products and services will help them fix and solve their burning issues and problems.

Can anyone in any business use this email addiction strategy?

Yes, I think so. However, this kind of good addiction cannot happen if there’s no personality or no identifiable character that an audience can identify with or feel an affinity with.

It just can’t happen without it. 

An audience needs to have a deep synchronicity with the business/business owner (and vice-versa) for there to be this rabid, insatiable addiction to the communications.

And the great thing about email is that a business’s personality and character can be built, communicated and transferred via simple, continual, plain text communications, and, where in a short space of time, the audience (customers/subscribers/prospects) will become trained, steered, addicted to receiving your email communications.

Of course, it’ll only last as long as you have something valuable to say that is addiction worthy and, that is communicated in a consistent and timely way.

And that’s the way to do it because you don’t want to communicate in a run of the mill way and be perceived as just an average or normal marketer.

Because that's what'll happen when you aren't adding any kind of value or joy to your readers through your communications. You'll be classed, bracketed, pigeon-holed as someone who's not really worthy of being passed around and referred.   

And you'll know when your creating hyper addictive email communications is when you skip a few days of sending your email communications- and you get mail saying (either openly, or saying it inwardly to themselves)...

... where is today’s email, did I miss it, did you send it yet, it’s not gone into the junk folder, can you send it again…

It takes a continual commitment and deep down desire to relate and connect. 

And believe it or not,, it’s this very discipline that'll determine how high and how profitable a business can really be -- with the simple email being at the engine room of the entire communication process.

The BIG question --

How's your email communications working for you?

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A few of your absurdly diabolical staff and customer service reps ARE your marketing

There's a swooning gaggle of owners and copywriters who are insane.

Why?

Because whilst they're all desperately seeking the lighthouse beacon glamour headline and the flowing dancing copy to support it all...

...what goes on in their underground business bunkers goes almost un-noticed. 

Things like...

• Rude as hell, snarling customer (dis) service reps
• Poor communication timeliness from the business in solving customer related problems
• Zero empathy or sincere interest from the robotic automatons, reading as if magnetised to an insincere script.
• Little to zero follow up from the business to find out if the large purchase the customer made, was indeed a good and happy one for them.
• Consistently dolling out poor excuses for late delivery of physical products. 

Now this is extremely important: 

You can invest in the best marketing ideas and strategies in the world. 

You can pay top money for the most expensive, in-demand writers, marketing consultants and strategists out there.  

You can have the most appealing, irresistible offer backed up by a world class guarantee.

And yet...

If everything else in your business fails to keep to the benchmark standards you've set for it, then it's all a complete waste of money, time, and energy.

Doesn't mater if your ads and marketing pieces are dripping with more than a touch of Ogilvy, Hopkins, Kennedy, Halbert, Schwartz, Bencivenga.

Whatever customer sales stampede your ads, campaigns and promotional pieces might create, will get quickly uprooted, unknowingly, by your own internal saboteurs, the few absurdly diabolical staff and customer service reps who simply do not care about you, themselves, or about your customers and prospects.

Want to fix the rotten and couldn't-be-bothered, fraternity? 

Then go on an A to Z tour of your business and look at it from the perspective of your customers and prospects. 

And, do it surgically and microscopically. 

So when you do come across something that needs yanking out and replacing, then do it. 

Immediately and instantly. 

Because that's the only way to stop problems from festering and spreading.   

And that's the only way for you to really get your business to sparkle, profit and thrive.  

So please, remember, this forever more:

Everything in your business, EVERYTHING... IS your marketing. 

And so ask yourself the following question about any and all facets of your business -- every week, daily, if you like:

Here's the question --

Is THIS supporting our marketing efforts, or diminishing it?  

Do that several times each day and you'll quickly be running a business venture having little to no kinks, leaks or aberrations that'll get in the way of you making seriously good profits. 

your BIGGEST marketing asset isn't what you think it is

What is it?

Your copywriting skills

Your customer database

Your irresistible offer

Your 101 marketing strategies

Your connections and partnerships

Your ability to plan and map out campaigns, launches and promotions

Your never ending conveyor belt of BIG ideas

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Frankly, they're all valuable.

And yet there's one other that I believe trumps them all.

What is it?

The ability to get things done when you say you'll get it done.

I know, not a very schexy marketing asset.

And yet, without it kicking into action, it makes all the other assets rather lifeless.

Fact of the matter is you can have a higher set of results hand writing a 1 page sales letter and sending it out to 50 of your best prospects than you will in spending endless hours, days, weeks pontificating, delaying and procrastinating on things because of having too many choices to decipher over, too many conflicting strategies, concepts, methods, too many techno and automation options, too many differing opinions on who to aim your promotions at...

I read the masterful direct marketer Dan Kennedy once put it into startling context when he said something along the lines of - most owners and entrepreneurs take several months to get their monthly newsletter out into the marketplace.

And the NOT getting things done on time, has a dramatic and direct impact on bottom line results.

Think of it this way, what owner makes the most money - the one who can get 10 to 14 promotions out a year, or the one who can muster only 2 or 3?

Who makes the most money - the one who dibbles and dabbles half-heartedly in a few marketing tactics but never really being structured or systematic about it, or the person having a clear working set of structures and strategies and works on them with laser like accuracy and gets them out the door according to the plans and timelines?

Being a completion fiend instead of a distraction and procrastination Pro, will get you more results from your business, your marketing, your campaigns, and your promotional efforts than you'd believe.

Not only that...

Getting things done on time will have a powerful and positive impact and effect on almost all areas of your life.

Isn't that worth investigating further?

Want 18 ways showing you how you lose money in your business?