For those of you who don’t know, I have worked with a lot of local businesses. I also used to own a localized service business. One common problem I had and all others have is trying to tell people how much better our service/product is better than the others.

I have yet to talk to a business owner who does not think badly about their competition. Usually it’s more of…  a "it’s not as good", "they are not insured", "they hire illegal immigrants"…. or whatever else they think should matter to people.

The problem is that if we start off our conversation with people warning them that everyone else sucks we create a non-conducive buying environment.

We turn them off, even if it is true. I have just witnessed a GREAT commercial showing you how to give a competitor a stick in the ribs… without looking bad in the process. Take this idea and see if you can do something like it in your ads.

Go get some

Paul

The Great Marketing Separator — Nonconformity

Today I am going to focus on those of you who have small businesses. When I was running my local service business I was afflicted with the disease of sameness…

I never focused on what made my company different, but yet I would always say ‘no other company is like mine’. The problem is we think one way and the marketplace thinks another.

This post is not about getting your message out there, this is about the truckloads of cash you may be screwing yourself out of…. because  you are a true conformist.

Rather than focus on what makes you special, let’s focus on what you are not offering or doing that will immediately separate your business from the flood…

It’s So Easy Even a Barber Can Do It

Can you think of anything more mundane than a barbershop? With all the salons taking aggressive steps to focus on men, barbershop’s faithful are far and few. Likely why most go out of business or barely make any money.

If you owned a struggling barbershop what would you do? Think about this for a minute as it is easier to think how you would treat another business than it is your own. How would you get more customers in the door?

Would you…

• Use social networking (like Twitter and Facebook)
  
• Send out direct mail
  
• Utilize television or radio
  
• Put ads in local papers and/or magazines
  

Do you know what will happen if you used all of those? Probably not much, do you know why? Because the mentality of today’s man has changed. We love to go to the salon and have our hair ‘styled’ by a hot looking stylist.

We will happily shell out $40 a trip rather than hit the ‘old man’ barbershop for half the price.

Nonconformist Entreprenuers Elevate "the barbershop" Image

I am sure most of your answers in my ‘how to save the barbershop’ question was noble. You tried and likely could not see the forest through the trees. (the trees being your focus on the advertising rather than the psychology… the true enemy here.)

Would you believe a barbershop not only can get a large client base, but charge them membership dues? Some of the top end memberships costing thousands per year!

Check out what these guys have done to a stagnate and dying business type- http://www.kennedysbarberclub.com/

Do you see how you may be missing out on something in your business? Imagine what would have happened if these guys asked people within the industry what they thought about their idea in the beginning… they would have been laughed out of there.

Instead they skipped talking to the barely surviving, narrow minded people and looked at business models outside of the industry. They now have 152 locations, and growing! I wonder how many of those typical barbershops will have a chain of 150 stores and an army of clients being auto-billed monthly.

These savvy entrepreneurs also identified that men like ‘male exclusivity’. Men will pay to be involved in a private club like this, and some will pay a lot.

If you think there is nothing you can do like this in your business, that is fine… but just because you stop moving does not mean the world does too.

go get some

Paul

Sometimes we need to pat ourselves on the back a little more…

I was listening to a seminar the other day and Dave Lakhani was speaking. He brought up something I feel we should all do more often…. celebrate.

We are always waiting for the 'big thing' to happen before we allow ourselves to enjoy what just happened.

For example, I just landed a couple of partnerships that really look good. I like the people and what they are going to promote. What did I do after locking these down? Concentrated on the next thing I need to do.

Damn sad aint it? I worked hard to put myself in a position to be offered this, yet I do not stop and enjoy the moment.

When is the moment big enough…. is it ever big enough? I get testimonials from people telling me they loved working with me and I did a great job. Did I stop to say to myself "good going Paul!"… no.

I just allow that positive energy to dissipate into nothingness

I plan on pushing myself hard this new year. The part I will push the most is acknowledging triumphs, both big and small.

That aint going to be easy, but it will be wonderful.

Have a great holiday and a prosperous new year

go get some

Paul

Will Your Ad Break This Man From His Trance? I’ll Show You How…

Without fail, most businesses who advertise screw up their message. Have you noticed that most advertising speaks at you? It is said that in an average day some of us are exposed to 3000+ advertisements.

You would think our heads would explode from all those pesky ads popping up all around us, all day.

How do you manage to stay sane? You ignore them. You have developed blinders that do not allow your mind to be distracted from meaningless messages.

In an effort to show you a perfect example, I’ll use your wife/girlfriend. Let’s say you are watching your favorite sporting event. Your team is behind and making a comeback. Suddenly your lover appears behind you telling you about something that happened at work.

Most men nod and say ‘really, wow’, ‘okay’, ‘sure’, ‘maybe later’… or nothing at all. Let’s say the same woman walks in behind her man and says ‘I slept with Ron at work and I am so sorry’.

What happens now, do you keep watching your team drive down the field? Hell no, that game is nothing now. Your full attention has been redirected in an instant.

Most advertisements speak at people that are transfixed on something else or many things. When you speak at them they will not listen. You are no different than the 3000+ messages they are getting hammered by. (that are also ignored)

We are all wrapped up in our little worlds. We have a sick kid, bill problems, dog is crapping on the floor, work, relationship problems, the car has a weird noise, something good is on tv…. all of these more important than your offer.

Until you prove otherwise.

Knowing your ideal prospects well can help you craft what I like to call ‘meaningful relevance‘. If you know who you are after very well it is much easier to grab their attention.

Don’t dream up shit you think should be meaningful, base your actions on an educated analysis, not what you think should be meaningful.

Instead of trying to force them to listen, go with the grain of their everyday life. Relate to them and they will at least take notice for a second. It’s up to you to keep their attention from there.

Please feel free to leave comments instead of emailing them to me. Share your opinion with everyone.

go get some

Paul

Napoleon Hill….. Loser?

It never ceases to amaze me how pathetic we are. Have you ever noticed what sells magazines and news in general- Negative human behavior. We all love to watch celebrities and the wealthy fall on their face.

Why do we find such joy in it? Because we see ourselves as failures. We have actually grown accustomed to feeling that way. We have nothing to live up to so it’s a lot harder to dissapoint.

When we see others elevate above our comfort zone, we resent them. Little by little we start to despise them. They are exposing us by doing things we do not do. They pushed a little harder and found fortune. (this does not make them great people, but it does make them successful at something)

Recently I was on a forum and there was a discussion about Napoleon Hill (author of Think and Grow Rich). The topic was that he died broke. The topic is interesting because rumors have spread that he did indeed die poor. (which he did not)

Think and Grow Rich was not a story about Napoleon Hill as he was far from wealthy when he was hired. He was sent on a mission and connected to the wealthiest people on earth to write the book.

What I found interesting is that some people found joy he may have been a failure. The funny thing is that a lot of very wealthy people attribute their fortune to the concepts of that book. Who gives a shit who lost what. How many of us ever amass anything but debt?

Most of you will never have that day in the sun in your lifetime (me included), but we can if we burn the bridges behind us. Sometimes you need to give yourself no other way but straight at your dream.

I owned a window cleaning business that I started to hate. I fell in love with direct marketing and then copywriting and one day dumped the window cleaning business. I don’t mean I sold it or made a transition. I stopped all income from it.

I knew I had a knack for writing sales copy and my dream is to make a good living doing this. What did I do? … burned the bridges.

Everyone who is successful stopped looking back. Everyday I am closer and closer to my dream. For 7 years I was in a come and now I feel alive. I am not successful in a money sense yet, but I am on my way and I am finally happy. (whatever that is)

I leave you with this excerpt from Think and Grow Rich:

“A long while ago, a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which insured his success on the battlefield. He was about to send his armies against a powerful foe, whose men outnumbered his own.

He loaded his soldiers into boats, sailed to the enemy’s country, unloaded soldiers and equipment, then gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them. Addressing the men before the first battle, he said, “You see the boats going up in smoke. That means that we cannot leave these shores unless we win! We now have no choice—we win—or we perish!”

They won.

go get some

Paul

Are Your Ads Broken Too?

Internet marketing can be a glorious business, can’t it? I realize
most are in the "start-up" phase and I also know how head
spinning that can be.

Whether you are a new or well on your way, I see a sticking point
with most…. writing the copy, headlines and offer.

Being how I hang in the underbelly of Warrior (the copywriting forum)
I see many, MANY questions about headlines and such from people
not real interested in learning copywriting.

For those of you unable or unwilling to hire an experienced copywriter,
here is something that may help-

The Mall Walk

The ‘mall walk’ for me is trying to see your product/offer as most will
see it. When you are creating your product page and squeeze pages
what do you see? Just your product, right?

You are oblivious to the fact that your offer is in a sea of millions of
offers. Because you only see what is on your screen you are thinking
that’s what everyone sees…. most see "what the hell is this?"

Not the easiest position to sell from

When you are in a shopping mall you will notice heavy competition
between the stores. They know you have only so much money to
shop with and they want it.

What gets you interested in going into the store normally?

A. Display sign with a sale or other announcement
B. A store that has stuff you know you like

Both are VITAL to get the people that will spend some dough. You
don’t care about those who just walk through. (like getting 10,000
visitors to your page and making two sales) You want the ones
most likely to buy.

If I saw a sign on a store that said 75% off and it was on fishing gear,
I would not notice or care. If I seen a sign at The Guitar Center that
said "New Gibson Les Paul – No Payments for One Year"

I AM SCREAMING IN THERE!!!!

Notice how I did not need a ‘cheap price’ to be totally captivated by
the message. I would walk past the store normally even though I
love playing guitar. I have a guitar, but not a Les Paul.

They not only got me to come in, they have just sold me a Les Paul
for retail. I can’t pass it up as now I already envisioned having
one. They dug into my skull to find a burning desire I was not thinking
about at all. I was not getting ready to buy a Les Paul, not even close.

Your ebook, software, membership site, affiliate up-sells or whatever
needs to find the right people THEN say the right thing.

Most think copywriting is a mystical art…. think of it more as a metal
detector. If you look for coins in the desert, not so good. If you go
to a busy beach…

Find out who benefits most from your offer. If you know who they
are and what arouses them, you’re almost there. You don’t even
need a long sales letter if you have the audience, attention grabber
and offer screwed down tight.

When writing your headline don’t try to be generic or hyped. Just tell
them about their "Les Paul" and then give them no way to refuse.

The Guitar Center may not sell 500 $3000 guitars that day, but they
will have sold many they never would have otherwise.

Anyway, I hope that helps you see what you’re selling a little more
clearly.

go get some

Paul

Your Ad With a Bad Headline Will Destroy Response

You have heard it time and time again, haven’t you? You always hear how important the headline is to your ad. Guess what, IT IS!

I am amazed by how many people who send me their ads (who are aware of how important the headline is) have horrible headlines.

My view of how headlines should be done has been changing recently. As I first started copywriting I clung onto attention grabbers (as that is easy). I read that headlines only need to attract the attention of the reader. I thought "easy enough"….

"Wife Beats Husband to Death With Cat"

Then I would talk about how this new Twitter software would save their lives.

There is no doubt that headline would get read by 99% of anyone who sees it.. Who could resist? Since I captivated everyone’s attention it is only natural they would buy the Twitter software….

You say you don’t think it would get people to buy the software? If you saw that headline and then read the first sentence "Find out how to get 5000 Twitter followers begging for your tweets in 7 days", you think you would stop reading?

You bet your ass you would, so would everyone else

I have begun to despise statement headlines- "23 Year Old College Flunky Makes $100.000 in 3 Weeks"… that is the status quo these days. There are a bazillion of those types of interest headlines out there right now.

I feel that the next generation (web 2.0) of users will ignore these headlines. (I also believe that long online sales copy is on it’s way out the door, but that’s for another day

With online copy, people are coerced into reading your ad. They clicked on something that caught their eye.

When people are dragged onto your sales page kicking and screaming, you don’t have but a couple seconds. Your headline and sub-heads need to be powerful, most importantly meaningful.

Let’s use the Twitter product as that is seemingly a boring product-

Do You Worry About Having a Good Christmas This Year?–Find Out How You Can Have $2000 in Time Using a Free Tool

Writing good headlines or body copy is about isolating your target market. In a down economy with many people stuggling, these people will read a little further.

As I mentioned in my last post- people do not dream about cars, piles of money or mansions… their dreams are usually negative. Most are worried about something. You need to isolate that demographic and punch them in their metaphorical nuts.

Remember, what you are selling is not for everyone, but everyone has worries (even the wealthy). Most people are in survivor mode and think backwards. They don’t care about preventing Cancer until Cancer touches their lives… NOW THEY CARE!

Hit people with question headlines that hit an emotional hot button. It could be money, health, self image, their child’s future, anything that digs into those sleepless moments.

Do not think you can reprogram the human race with your positive drival? Nobody has done it and you wont either.

Hit them where it hurts and promise them a way out of it

go get some

Paul

Are You One of The People Driving Me Nuts?

I’ll tell you what, I see nothing screwed up more than people trying to cram imagery into an ad that does not help it.

I see the "make money" websites with the exotic sports cars, the mansions and the piles of cash staring at me. Do you know what these guys think they are doing? They think they are creating a fantasy life by showing us these images.

What pops into your head when you see a mountain of cash piled in a Porsche? Smells like bullshit, don’t it. Not only that, dreams of wealth are weak. The promise of escaping a current crisis is overwhelming.

Do you stay awake at night thinking about a Mercedes or do you worry about the next car payment on your Ford Taurus?

When people see our ads they do not see them without bias. They know we have intention of picking their pocket. Their defenses are strong and they are resistant.

Being they are already in a heightned state and their bs detector is at maximum, why give them a reason to run away? You know very well that seeing those images on a money making website/mailer make you giggle, yet everyone still does it.

Do you know why they still put them on there? Neither do they, it has become the status quo. I will not even write copy for such a project. I know I will have lost them far before they start reading. Why battle uphill?

Most think over the top images attract attention, it’s true but not always in a good way. Getting attention can be very subtle and far more effective.

Check This Out

Let’s say you have a row of 50 white coffee cups (these being ads in the marketplace). Which cup catches your eye? You will arbitrarily just focus on one or none.

Now let’s tip one cup on it’s side, which one will get your total attention? Same white cup, totally different result.

Napoleon was interesting in many ways, but he knew how to stand out and get the peoples attention. When Napoleon would speak at public gatherings he would put the tallest officers he could find on each side of him. The people’s attention was immediately drawn to him as he stood out like he was on fire.

Every image must serve a purpose. If you put a picture of a house on an ad for window cleaning you are missing the boat. That house does not mean anything to them. Are the people who own it happier or relieved because they had their windows cleaned?

See, the house is an empty image. Now a distraction. A picture of a family playing in the front yard however…. that can put them mentally into the picture.

Your ad is a sales person and it must seduce to get  sales. If you are just filling space with empty images, you will also have a lot more empty space in your bank account….

go get some

Paul

-Next we will look at headlines and how you are screwing them up

"Guess What I am Going To Do To You Next"

I know you must be thinking I am really reaching here, but hang in there.

I have studied martial arts for more than 20 years. The style I study is Bruce’s Jeet Kune Do. ("the art of fighting with out fighting")

Basically JKD is extracting the ‘best of’ from multiple styles of martial arts. (now known as MMA). As you are well aware that is what the best direct marketers do. They don’t waste time with useless brand awareness tactics or passive advertising… they have a small arsenal of proven methods.

Many of you may think that Bruce knew a lot of moves, and you would be right. He could do any high flying kick, all sorts of close range punches, he could whip you to the ground and he could even screw with your mind with his freaky noises.

He could do it all… on the big screen, but in reality he had a very small bag of tricks.

You have seen him do many fantastic things in the movies, but that was an illusion. That was hollywood magic (much like the useless tv commercials and print ads seen these days). What you saw was not real

Bruce used to get into fights quite often. Other Asians were always challenging him (including extras on Enter the Dragon!). They knew if they could beat him or even give him a good run, they would be famous.

Bruce would win most of these challenges within 20 seconds. He used no flying kicks, no speed punches and no wrestling moves. He used what I like to call an open door invitation.

He would stand back and allow the challenger to attack. Bruce turned defense into an unbeatable offense. They would come at him and he would simply stop them and have complete control.

He did this by using a few simple tools.

• Eye poke
  
• redirect
  
• and a stop hit
  

(Eye poke is obvious (and hard to defend when you are attacking). Redirect is when you come in to throw a punch or kick and Bruce would block it and enter with an assault. The last is a stop hit. Bruce was lightning fast and when someone would advance towards him he would snap out a front kick to the guys leading leg- stopping him immediately. Then with momentum, go in for the kill on the off balance foe.)

So with the arsenal of ass whooping techniques Bruce knew, he only used three. He won EVERY time just using these.

Do you see how that is with marketing? We are always trying to learn more and more and more, only to know too much. If you master just a few you could be the baddest mutha around.

Don’t always keep searching for the secret as you may already have the answer. TEST one theory, approach, style or idea at a time. It is very possible you do not need to read 20 books and go to 10 seminars to get "the great idea". Quit buying ebooks and other crap for a minute.

Also, use caution on marketing blogs. Most bloggers don’t talk about tried and true, they talk about theories. Question what their response has been using the idea they’re puking out. (really, ask them. You’ll be surprised at what they don’t know)

Everyone is an expert on the Internet, find out who is real and who is full of shit. Don’t waste your time with the wannabe’s .

Marketing is most effective when it is simple, not fancy or complicated. My most successful ad ever was mind numbingly simple. That ad made a quarter of a million dollars in sales and beat any ad that came before it.

Find out your ‘eye poke’ and master it. Next time your competition throws a punch, you will take him out fast.

go get some

Paul

P.S. if you have not got on my list yet- DO IT. I just alerted people to an awesome $2500 marketing course for nothing (it is over now). I caught wind of a $10,000 free course in December!

You will get treated with respect and you will get my ebook on 101 marketing ideas.