The Confident Copywriter

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) defines “mobile marketing” as “the use of wireless media as an integrated content delivery and direct response vehicle within a cross-media marketing communications program.”

In layman’s terms? Your cell phone isn’t just for talking anymore.

You probably already know this, given the multiple capabilities offered by iPhone, Blackberry, Droid, etc.

But you may not know this: For mobile marketing to work best, integration with traditional and digital media is key. Integrating mobile marketing efforts with TV, radio, and online advertising enforces the sales message and drives target audience response. If the mobile message involves, for example, a 1-day coupon, integrating various other media reinforces the message.

That is precisely where you, my copywriting friend, fit in perfectly.

Allow me to explain.

The company who adds mobile marketing to its overall marketing plan has specific goals in mind, which may include:

• Increasing brand awareness
• Creating an opt-in database
• Driving event participation or attendance
• Boosting revenue
• Enhancing customer loyalty

Aren’t these goals exactly what your great copy achieves for clients?

Sure they are. Mobile marketing simply adds a new dimension.

Here’s the takeaway: The world is changing. The Internet is really changing. New technologies appear every day. If you think you don’t need to care, simply because you’re “only a copywriter” (as opposed to, say, an IT pro), you’re wrong.

Your clients sell products and services. They need words to do that. Wonderful, optimized, well-positioned words. But your clients are also keeping up with new technologies. They are implementing the latest optimization tactics. They are dabbling in social media. They are learning about mobile marketing. Why? To remain competitive.

I realize I’m suggesting one more “to do” in your crammed day, but consider this:

The most successful copywriters are also successful business owners who understand the full spectrum of marketing solutions available to clients.
Do you take time to educate yourself about new technologies, so you can hold your own in a client discussion? You don’t need to switch brains with Bill Gates. You simply need to learn the basics and become familiar.

After all, your client could call any minute, asking for “mobile-specific content.” If he does, will you be ready?

On Thursday, we introduced the concept of Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), technology poised to change the way we use keywords to optimize copy.

One way you can get moving is by starting a blog. You’ve heard this advice many times, but the truth is that the humble blog is becoming more important, not less. That should be a relief to some who have questioned whether social media is making blogging obsolete.

If you want to rank well in organic search, your site must reward the search engines with lots of valuable content. There is no faster or easier way to achieve this goal than with a blog. It’s one of the smartest ways to build content.

Once your blog is ready to go, be sure to publish at least three posts each week. Why is this important? Because each post is counted as a new page. More posts equals deeper content, and a higher page rank.

LSI is not meant to replace the all-important keyword, but to enhance it. Be sure to optimize your blog posts with keywords, as well as tagging and categorizing the post.

And never, ever forget the importance of relevant information!

Keyword-Optimized Images

Adding keyword-optimized images is another important strategy. Google does include images when indexing your website, so make sure you’ve got some keyword-optimized images. Before you do this, be sure the images you choose add relevancy to your content. A blog post about SEO accompanied by a picture of an ice cream cone probably isn’t going to be as optimized as it could be. The point of a picture is to add weight to the message.

To keyword-optimize the image, simply include one of your top keywords in your HTML code where the image is linked to the page. (In the image “alt” text. Wordpress users, use the “Title” field.)

The Ever-Popular Video

Videos are enjoying immense popularity. Unfortunately, search engine spiders are deaf. Therefore, build individual videos around one important keyword, and be sure to use that keyword in the video title. And don’t forget the importance of a transcript, the actual words used in your video. This helps the search engines recognize the keyword you’ve so carefully used. For example, when uploading a video to YouTube, choose “closed captioning” to also upload the transcript.

Nike Got It Right

Search is going through an unprecedented transition. As social media networks continue to infiltrate our lives, people rely less and less on the search engines and more and more on the opinions of ‘friends’ to make trustworthy recommendations. If you’re not on board with social media yet, time is running out. (That’s not a sneaky plea to win business. It’s the truth.)

As a child, when my Mom would nag me on some point I had heard umpteen times, I would complain, “Ma! You already told me 100 times!” To which my very wise mother would reply, “If you would just do it, I wouldn’t have to keep talking about it!”

If you’ve been marketing online, even for a short time, you understand the importance of keywords. Keywords direct web visitors to the products and services they want…if you’ve optimized your site properly, those visitors end up on your website.

News Flash: Traditional keyword usage is changing.

This is important news for copywriters, because we must understand how to optimize client copy to achieve the best results. Even if you are a business owner writing your own copy, it’s important.

This is important news for anyone who sells a product or service on the web too.

Here’s what’s new:

Keywords will not always be the most important part of an SEO strategy. Why? Because search engines are becoming more sophisticated, increasingly focusing, not just on the keywords themselves, but on the content surrounding the keywords.
Enter Latent Semantic Indexing, a mathematics-based indexing and retrieval method currently being tested. If you’re scratching your head on this one, you’re not alone.

KnowledgeSearch.org explains, “Latent semantic indexing adds an important step to the document indexing process. In addition to recording which keywords a document contains, the method examines the document collection as a whole, to see which other documents contain some of those same words. LSI considers documents that have many words in common to be semantically close, and ones with few words in common to be semantically distant. This simple method correlates surprisingly well with how a human being, looking at content, might classify a document collection. Although the LSI algorithm doesn’t understand anything about what the words mean, the patterns it notices can make it seem astonishingly intelligent.”

OK…in layman’s terms…if you are selling a vegetarian lifestyle guide, your top keyword might be “vegetarian lifestyle”. So you will use the regular methods to optimize your copy for this phrase. However, LSI dictates you must optimize your content for related words and phrases, such as:

• vegetarian
• no-meat diet
• eating healthy
• nutritional requirements
• benefits of eating legumes
… and so forth.

Some of these terms, such as “eating healthy” and “nutritional requirements,” are generic; not specific to “vegetarian lifestyle guide”. However, the search engines expect to find these types of terms in conjunction with a website optimized for your main keyword. These ‘outside’ keywords signal the search engines: “Relevant content found here.”

After all, this is the whole purpose of the search engine: to match the visitor’s query with the right information.

Thankfully, true latent semantic indexing is not yet being used by the search engines, so you have time to get on board. But you can bet computer wizards are working towards this goal. You might as well get ready now.

What are your thoughts on this?

Are you a “feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy”?

In other words, are you a whiner?

The quote comes from Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, who lived from 1856-1950. Apparently the human race hasn’t changed much since then. Everywhere we turn, someone is complaining about something.

In business, this is serious. The marketplace moves at a feverish pace. Today’s trend is tomorrow’s joke. Never before in the history of business has it been more important to ensure customer satisfaction.

How can you improve customer service in your business? By improving your own attitude first.

Several days ago, I was at the grocery store’s deli. Behind the counter was a dour woman who did not look up once as I rattled off my order. As she cut the meats, I mentioned how pleased I had been with my last order. The food was delicious and my guests were surprised the deli grocery store produced such good quality.

The woman immediately stopped the slicer, turned to face me, and said very deliberately, “I really appreciate that. All we ever hear are the complaints. Would you mind walking over there and telling my manager? She’s the one in the red shirt.”

Of course, I did tell the manager, and she was equally thrilled. She asked me to go to the customer service counter and fill out a satisfaction card.

As the saying goes, it all runs downhill. Apparently, before I arrived on the scene, many customers had complained; the manager was informed; and she informed the workers. Repeatedly.

After I completed the satisfaction card, the woman at the counter glanced at it briefly and exclaimed, “Oh goodie! A compliment!”

Geez.

I’ll tell you though, with all the negativity in this world, it was great to put smiles on their faces. And it probably took 15 seconds out of my day.

It is important to let a business owner know when you are less than satisfied. Just don’t forget to also let them know when they’ve done something well.

Positivity begins at home. Super-charge your business with a positive outlook, and let me know if it doesn’t change things for the better.

I’m positive you’ll find it does.

The Internet is teeming with a flood of facts, figures and news. This is why we love it, isn’t it? A few clicks and you can find out who sang that song, how to make Chicken Marabella or how to sell your house without a real estate agent. It’s a beautiful thing.

Most of the time. All of this information comes from people like you and me – people who want to share their expertise and knowledge with the world. And, sometimes, people who simply want to make money. That’s why some information is great and some…well…not so good.

“Information products” is a broad term for videos, newsletters, articles, blogs, e-Zines, software, reports, CDs, DVDs, and e-Books that share information. Creating an information product of your own requires very little start-up cost, and can bring a new revenue stream. You might like it so much, you’ll want to do it again and again. Big name ‘gurus’ like Bob Bly and Clayton Makepeace have done it. Unless you’ve been sleeping in a cave, you’ve heard the names Dan Kennedy and Perry Marshall. They’ve built entire empires on information products.

What makes information products so appealing?

• Work from home – even part-time
• Quick timeline from idea, to production, to market
• Zero inventories
• Follow-up sales
• No employees, payroll or storefronts necessary
• All you need is an idea, a computer and the drive to see it through.

Getting Started

First, you must decide on a topic. This can seem overwhelming if you’ve never written instructional or educational materials. Writing what you know is a good place to begin. It will also be much easier to layout the path for your project if you are already knowledgeable. In which topics do you have expertise? What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? What do you think about in your spare time? It is in these areas of your life that you will find fodder suitable for informational products.

How to Mine Your Expertise

• Make a list of your favorite hobbies, pastimes, specialized job or career knowledge, recipes, fields of interests, pets and/or life-changing events – include anything and everything you think might be a potential topic.
• Don’t pre-judge …just think!
• Identify a target niche: Going over your list, look for areas in which you can create specialized content, as it sells more and commands a higher price.
• Think about how your expertise can meet a specific need or solve a problem. Problems and needs are emotionally charged, making these arenas ripe for product demand and customer gratitude.
• Avoid fads and short-term issues. These will decrease the longevity of your material and, as a result, reduce your return on investment .
• Once you’ve found your topic, make a list of 8-10 key messages you wish to convey within the text. This will become the outline, guiding and shaping your finished product.

Every great invention began with a flash…a “lightbulb moment”…and as you complete these steps, you may suddenly realize, “Hey! I can do that!”

More on this topic in coming weeks. Your thoughts?

Last Tuesday, we talked about ways to find better clients by using value to set yourself apart from your competition.

Today, I want to address the value concept of broadening your scope. This can be done in several ways; outsourcing, joint ventures, and partnerships are just three.

Teaming up with others offers great value, including:

• Extended market reach
• Enhanced resources
• Greater credibility within a target market
• Access to new markets
• Sharing strategic decisions

Outsourcing is very common in modern business; yet some fear it. Images of stolen clients, shoddy work, less control over processes, and accidental or intentional exposure of confidential information stop business owners from choosing outsourcing.

These are valid fears. However, the amount of work you can do each day on your own is limited. While you can certainly attract better clients as a solopreneur, you cannot grow to accept more clients, beyond what you can accomplish on your own. For some, this is fine. For others, growth is about expansion. The only way to expand your business is to rely on other people. Therefore, you must find a comfortable way to do so.

Outsourcing, or contracting to outside providers, allows you to offer a more expansive range of skills and expertise.

Outsourcing can also reduce costs. I outsource frequently and have found that, with attention and perseverance, it is possible to find suitable vendors who are as detail-oriented and savvy as I. I’ve outsourced to graphic designers, web developers, blog builders, writers, etc. Because of the limited nature of outsourcing, I retain project and company control, which feels safe, but I can still say “yes” to the client, which feels good!

A joint venture is a strategic alliance- its members maintain separate businesses but team up for a common purpose, say completing a large project. I’ve created joint ventures with several firms to whom I previously outsourced. The outsourcing arrangement helped us become accustomed to one another, paving a smooth road to engaging in larger pursuits together.

In a partnership, the members work together for one company. While the partnership offers elements of outsourcing and the joint venture, a partnership is more often a legal entity, with all the ramifications you would expect. A partnership can be a great thing…when you choose your partner wisely.

Growth is exciting. It can also be painful. When your business is ready to grow and expand, the decision before you will be:

Do you want to be captain of the ship, co-captain or first mate?

Whatever you decide, teaming up with others is a great way to add value for your clients.

To survive in today’s highly competitive copywriting environment, you’ve got to stand out.

To stand out, you must do things differently from your competitors.

To do things differently, you must first know what they are doing.

Many businesses will be all too happy to tell you how they are different. Websites shout about their great customer service, low prices, fast shipping, and friendly staff.

These are not the things that make you different. These are things customers expect, and you better deliver if you hope to do any business at all.

To answer the question foremost in your prospect’s mind, “Why should I do business with you?”, you must know yourself, your market, your competition, and what each of these currently thinks of you. (Yes, feedback is just as important, maybe more so, than what you are putting out there.)

If you want to do better, you must make changes.

• Are you engaged in marketing yourself?
• Are you marketing yourself differently from the industry norm? (I didn’t say crazily.)
• Are new leads, comments, suggestions, conversations, questions coming your way more regularly? If not, why not?
• Do prospects have a reason to pick up the phone and call you, or open their email and write to you, or take any kind of action to contact you?
• Do clients tell me why they like my work, why they chose me over another, why they keep coming back for more? If not, begin soliciting feedback to fine tune your offer.

Imagine if your market message was something like, “We help B2B companies sell more with smart marketing strategies that bring measurable results.”

If you were a company looking for more sales, would this interest you? It would me. I would want to know how much more I could sell, what those smart strategies are, how I can get better results, how are those results measured? This simple sentence – often called a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) or Unique Value Proposition (UVP) – drives clients who are looking for your services. In essence, the reader asks, “You can? How do you do it?”

Bingo! Your phone is ringing.

When you fail to establish why the customer should do business with you instead of your competition, you are left to fight over pricing. Competing on fees alone destroys value. If this is what you are doing right now, you know exactly what I mean.

Don’t you want to find a better way? Wouldn’t you love for customers to knock on your door, instead of the other way around?

Then tell customers why they should do business with you. Determine what makes your services distinctive and say it loud and proud!

A common question I often hear is, “How can I find better clients?” Translation: “I want to make more money.”

So how does a freelance writer find better clients to earn more? Run a quick Internet search and millions of results pop up…each one claiming to have the definitive answer. This program, that piece of software, this search technique, that pricing model…the list is endless.

Some suggestions are pretty solid. Others are plain foolish. It seems some people, a smaller percentage of the pack, understand the most crucial component to finding better clients.

What is it?

Value.

That’s right. Value is what separates you from your competitors and brings “better” (read: higher quality) clients to your door.

Finding better clients is not about you; it’s about them. When you incorporate value into your offer, you automatically crush 80% of your competition. (Thanks for the lesson, Gary Vaynerchuk.)

Surely you’ve heard about the 80/20 rule (The Pareto Principle)? From fashion to industrial equipment, the 80/20 rule roughly illustrates that 80% of effects come from 20% of causes.

So, for example:

• 80% of your income comes from 20% of your customers
• 80% of your sales efforts create 20% of your leads
• 20% of your clothes are worn 80% of the time (ok, a bit backwards, but c’mon…aren’t you wearing a favorite item right now?)

Look around. There is a dearth of average writers struggling to make a living at crafting words that sell. Why are they struggling? Because people don’t pay for words. They pay for results. If you have above-average writing skills, then add value to your skills, you won’t have much competition, because you’re already doing it better, faster, more efficiently, and getting superior results for your clients.

Ergo, you’ve elevated yourself to that sacred place where higher quality clients are waiting for you.

What do I mean specifically about adding value? There are numerous ways to do so and, in coming weeks, we’ll explore many of them. Here’s a brief list to get us started:

1) Articulating why your business exists and what you really offer: A drill is just a drill…what drill buyers want is a hole.
2) Identifying your market: We hear this constantly…but have you done it yet?
3) Segmenting your market: If you did not offer your services, how would this change life for your clients?
4) Creating your offer: what makes your services distinctly “you”?
5) Using technology to the fullest: Many freelance writers are stuck in “work at home” mode. You can do so much better!

How have you added value in a way that has elevated your business?

Q: When do you want more customers?

Yesterday

Now

Tomorrow

Whenever it’s convenient for people

Hmmm…I’ll bet you didn’t choose the last option. Maybe that choice made you chuckle. It does sound funny.

In reality, it’s no joke. If we agree this choice is ridiculous, why aren’t we working harder to create marketing messages that motivate our audience and demand action?

No doubt, you’d like more work right now. Yesterday might be nice. Tomorrow is even better.

Did the title of this post…with the strange word “Chin”, make you stop what you were doing to see what it was all about?

The title uses a ‘trick’ that can help you get more business: the trick is to interrupt your customer’s train of thought, no matter what they might be doing…so the attention is on you, your company, your products and services.

As a willful small child, my mother often reprimanded me by grabbing my little chin and turning my face to hers. As I grew, the chin grabbing ceased, replaced by a stern, “Look at me when I’m talking to you!” Without fail, I always got her message, loud and clear.

What can you do to grab the virtual chins of your customers and demand attention? Perhaps more importantly, how can you help your clients grab their customers by the chin?

The web landscape is strewn with millions of marketing messages, all vying for the same eyes. Your copywriting skills can make all the difference for your clients. Or not.

Either way, pretty words are no longer enough.

When your customer thinks about hiring you, he isn’t thinking about your copywriting skills. He’s thinking about results. His sole goal is to get his phone ringing, his email dinging and his shopping cart singing. He wants first-time customers to make a purchase, come back again and tell their friends. He wants the search engine spiders to find his web site, eat it up and spit it out, right onto page one.

Think for a second: when your customer tells you, “You did a great job last time”, he’s essentially saying “I got great results and I want you to do that again.”

That’s a high, scary mountain for any copywriter to climb. No wonder so many remain at the bottom, slaving away for pennies, held back from greatness by fear of failure.

How would you react if suddenly someone yelled, Help!”, “Fire!”, or “Dial 911!” Just one or two tiny words…yet the immediacy, the urgency, is instantly conveyed.

I think we’ll agree that humans are procrastinators. Your job is not to force the customer to take action. Rather, your job is to prevent the customer from inaction. They are not the same.

A few tips:

Create an ‘act now!” perception in their customer’s mind, using the right words, at the right time

Don’t overdo it, as this will weaken the message

Take it easy with the exclamation points!

Create urgency with phrases like “don’t delay”, limited time offer”, “limited seating”, “reserve your space”, “this offer expires on…”, “while supplies last”, “one-day sale”, or be even more creative. The sky is the limit.

Few people want to be left out of a good thing. Make the customer think he just might be missing something.

Don’t forget the humble call to action phrase. People want to be told what to do. They are busy, overwhelmed, and in a rush, so make it super easy to place a phone call, fill out a form, request a demo, purchase a product, etc.

For more information, visit Marketing Experiments study, Testing the Power of Urgency on Offer Pages.

Over the last week, I’ve received numerous emails regarding the Facebook privacy issue. Some of them go more or less like this:

“I know how to fix the Facebook privacy issue. I deleted my account! So there. That will show them! My real friends and family already know how to reach me.”

Brilliant solution…NOT…and one that completely misses the boat on this topic. Here’s the point: there is no reason to contribute to the mass hysteria surrounding this privacy issue. I would venture a guess that someone who can so easily dismiss his or her account doesn’t have much going on in terms of online marketing anyway. I have thousands of Facebook followers, and deleting my account could have serious consequences to my overall marketing plan.

So what additional steps can you take? Here comes the good part.

Recently, I shared in a LinkedIn discussion with Sara Nussbacher, an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant in North Carolina, who turned me on to the coolest little tool for managing your FB privacy settings. The tool is called the Facebook Privacy Scanner, available at www.reclaimprivacy.org.

I spoke with the owner/designer, Matthew Pizzamenti, (also cofounder at www.Olark.com, a very affordable, very cool live chat tool I love and have installed here on the blog.) I was very pleased to learn the Facebook Privacy Scanner tool is free, although plans to keep it that way may change soon. Facebook Privacy Scanner is simple to use, quick, and will ensure that, even if you followed my instructions for manually privatizing your profile, you haven’t missed any crucial steps.

Sara tells me she discovered an important missed spot…”sharing info with friends”…essentially the function which alerts others that you are online and active.

I strongly suggest you take a moment to jump over to www.ReclaimPrivacy.org and follow the very easy instructions. It’s the final piece in your privacy puzzle.