Chapter 1 of Write to Sell
If this book is about any single thing, it’s about understanding your reader. Not your product. Not your company. Not your current special offer or promotion. Something I learned very early in my career as a writer was that the only person …
I object
If you’ve ever done any face-to-face selling, you’ll know something a lot of marketeers and business owners don’t. You have to find out not just what will make someone buy from you but what’s stopping them from saying ‘yes’. When you’re planning …
Ten openings for killer subject lines
This month, I thought I’d return to a subject that’s becoming more important with every passing day: email subject lines. Specifically, the first word. Why is this word so important? Because online readers scan their inboxes looking for diamonds among the dross. …
How to write case studies
I spend a lot of time telling you to focus on benefits in your copywriting. And it’s true, benefits make the sale. However, you can bring your benefits to life … dramatise them … with a case study. Case studies take time …
Online copy that grows your business
Ah, Spring. And a young man’s thoughts turn to … his garden. Yes, once again I find myself shopping around on the Internet for garden stuff. And because it looks like we’ll be facing a hosepipe ban this summer, I was after …
Stealth Selling
What do you do when you are selling to people with ultra-powerful hype detectors? Use stealth technology. You might have seen pictures of stealth fighters – they look like black origami planes and are light years away from the models I built …
“I kill people for a living”
At dinner a while ago, in Salisbury’s delightful Mill Gallery Café, I turned to my neighbour, James, and asked him what he did for a living. He told me something that stopped my forkful of chilli seafood linguine halfway to my mouth. …
More from the medical files
For this month’s issue, I have asked, once again, my great friend and fellow logophile, Professor Herr Doktor Andreas Maslenski, to don the Editor’s green eyeshade. Andreas has moved on from his former position as Professor of Verbal Diseases and Lexical Disabilities …
(Type) size matters
You’ve paid good money to a copywriter to craft a persuasive narrative about your product. Now you need the message packaged in a form that will interest your customers, moving them to the point of response. In the case of printed matter, …
The most important letter I’ll write this year
In my job, I get to write a lot of letters. Maybe you do, too. Over the last 20 years or so, I have, I think, developed certain skills that help me write good ones. But recently, I have been struggling with …
Presentations? No sweat
A few years ago I was staying with some very good friends of mine and their neighbour called. She was hyperventilating. “There’s a…really…really…big…SPIDER!” Down the road I went to dispatch the beast, armed only with a rolled up copy of Precision Marketing. …
Don’t just do something, sit there
Let me ask you a question. Thinking back over your last full working day, how long did you spend doing just that? Thinking. a) More than two hours? Oh, come on! b) Between five minutes and half an hour? More likely. c) …
How to write b2b copy that sells
I’ve spent a good deal of the last 20 years writing to professionals and executives. And much of my experience has focused on one area: selling. It might have been for a research report, training course, conference place, advertising opportunity, reference book, …
The customer’s not a statistic, she’s your wife
At the end of this month’s MoM I’ve got a great little story about the ultimate bit of customer service. But first, let me ask you something. How do you get your knowledge of your customers? Here are some channels many marketers …
How to write a press ad
If you’re going to write a press ad, you have one very important decision to make before you do anything else. Answer this question. What is the ad for? And PLEASE, if your answer is ‘to raise awareness,’ put your pen down …
How to look stupid in one easy lesson
Nothing marks you out as uneducated or lazy faster than spelling mistakes. You’re insulting your reader if you send them a document with a spelling error. The subtext is, “I care so little about you that I haven’t even bothered to check …
Doing the PowerPoint tango
Exec to boss: I don’t use PowerPoint because other people use it. I use PowerPoint because LOTS of other people use it. * I use it. You use it. I’ve been to a christening where the priest used it. (Truly, I have.) …
Reassuring your online customers
Last month, in my fulmination against online mythmakers, I mentioned that people often abandon an online purchase through fear. It’s true. I’ve done it. Maybe you have, too. And millions of potential online customers continue to do it, every single day. I …
Long copy, I myth you
It’s funny. Even people at the self-proclaimed ‘cutting edge’ of copywriting – the web – turn out to be as fond of myths as their Stone Age (ie print) cousins. Here’s one of my favourites… “Long copy doesn’t work on the web.” …
Parting is such sweet sorrow. (Actually, it’s just sorrow)
Magazine, journal and newsletter publishers know that existing subscribers are far more profitable than new acquisitions. That’s why they spend so much time, money and effort trying to hold onto them. Think of your customers as subscribers and you can use many …
Recent Comments