[Copyblogger] How to Succeed at Content Marketing Even if Your Content Skills Suck

How to Succeed at Content Marketing Even if Your Content Skills Suck How to Succeed at Content Marketing Even if Your Content Skills Suck Turn on your TV at 6 pm. What do you get? The news, right? Then turn it on tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after, and the week after. You can turn in on at any day and guess what? The news is still on at 6 pm. Now imagine if you tuned in on a Monday, and they had a sitcom. What if you tuned in on Tuesday and oops, it’s an adult movie with clothes flying all over the place. And then maybe on Wednesday it's the news again. Would you continue to watch that channel for news? Or would you simply go to a channel that was more reliable? Many people don’t understand that the most important thing in content marketing is reliability. I don’t care if you put out ten or twenty or seventy-three pieces of content a month. I just want to see it same bat-time, same bat-channel. So be reliable. If you’re going to write an email newsletter, the first thing you need to know is that it needs to be published on a pre-fixed schedule from now until the year 2025. If you’re going to post videos on YouTube, plan for 2025 too. It doesn’t matter if email newsletters or YouTube will change or even continue to exist in the years to come. What’s important is that you’ve created a channel, and you’re the content producer. And you jolly well better show up, or I'm leaving you for a more reliable channel. It’s not just your credibility that takes a beating; it’s also your sales. And not just your sales, but also your pipeline of new customers. And not just your pipeline of new customers, but also return customers. Your whole darned business really depends on your reliability of communication. Why? I’ll tell you why! It’s because if you don’t show up, the customer’s memory of you gets increasingly blurry. And that’s only one part of the problem. The other part is that if you don’t show up, and the customer wants to buy your product or service, they’ll buy the product or service anyway… from someone else. Remember the time you bought an iTunes album, just because you got the newsletter? Remember the time you bought something online just because you saw a video? Remember the time Oprah recommended a book, and you traipsed off to buy that very book? Of course this brings us to a very important juncture: The problem with perfection. What if you don’t really like the quality of your current content? I have news for you. You’re never going to be completely satisfied—ever! But you'll look back at your work six months from now, and the work you're doing then will be much better, even though you still think it's not good enough. You’ll look back at today’s work two years from now, and you’ll wonder how you ever got anyone to pay attention at all. If you really want to get better, you won't get better wondering about it. You'll get better only by producing content consistently. You have to put out newsletter after newsletter, video after video, to get better. Put out what you have today. It doesn’t matter how crappy it looks to your eyes… just put it out. And then improve as you go. People will put up with less than polished prose, or less than professional video or audio, but they won’t put up with fruity frequency. They’ll simply change the channel and go elsewhere. If you don't want customers and prospects to leave, you need to have a plan. So here’s your plan: Get started today by putting a schedule in place. Promise this schedule to your audience (even if you have a list of three people). Get your content out on the day/days you promised. Don't forget that reliability is everything, because quality comes from consistently doing. About the Author: Sean D’Souza offers a free report on 'Why Headlines Fail' when you subscribe to his Psychotactics Newsletter. Check out his blog, too. • Email to a friend • Related • View comments • Track comments • •

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[Copyblogger] “The Catcher in the Rye” and the Art of Phony Marketing

"The Catcher in the Rye" and the Art of Phony Marketing "The Catcher in the Rye" and the Art of Phony Marketing Authenticity. It's the new catch-word in online marketing, whether in corporate circles or among the entrepreneurs who can make the most of it. But what does it mean? Let's cut our losses and forget about the clueless corporate crowd. It's much more interesting to focus on the micro-businesses that are cropping up left and right (and intensifying due to the blessing-in-disguise layoffs this recession is fueling). Many well-intended souls are all about authenticity. After all, this means you don't have to care about that phony marketing and sales stuff… you know, like understanding human psychology and engaging human emotion. How's that working out for you? My guess is that, like me, a lot of these "anti-marketing" marketers are big fans of "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger. The story's "anti-hero," Holden Caulfield, was as authentic as they come, and he railed against all things "phony." But is Holden worth listening to when it comes to online marketing? I'd say we'd have to take a closer look at "Catcher in the Rye" author J.D. Salinger to answer that question. J.D. Salinger on Human Psychology and Emotion Make no mistake… "The Catcher in the Rye" is an authentic piece of art. It's so authentic in its examination of teenage sexuality and angst (mixed in with a healthy dose of profanity) that it made 1951 heads swim. The first teacher to get the axe for assigning the novel in class got canned in 1960 (she was later reinstated). By 1981, "The Catcher in the Rye" was both the most censored book and the second most taught book in public schools in the United States. What in the world caused this divisive uproar? Was it the authenticity of Holden Caulfield? Yes, but that's not the whole story. The rest of the story… was the story itself. I'm not saying J.D. Salinger wrote "The Catcher in the Rye" for fame and fortune. I think it's pretty clear at this point the man wanted neither. But did J.D. Salinger purposefully craft a story that would connect with the emotions and psychological hot buttons of his audience? Did he strategically tap into the hearts and minds of an entire generation, and every generation since? Yes, he did. And that's what all you "anti-marketers" need to understand. The "Great American Novel" tends to make the Great American Author filthy rich. Why do you think that is? Put Some Art into Your Marketing People who think art is sacred and marketing is dirty tend to be terrible marketers and marginal artists. People who think art is irrelevant and marketing is about tricking people into buying shit they don't need tend to be terrible marketers and worse human beings. Be authentic. Be real. But put some art into your marketing. Touch people's emotions and mess with their minds (you know… in a good way). It's what they want. About the Author: Brian Clark is Executive Editor of Copyblogger and co-founder of DIY Themes, creator of the innovative Thesis Theme for WordPress. Get more from Brian on Twitter. • Email to a friend • Related • View comments • Track comments • •

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[Copyblogger] The Thesis Theme Affiliate Program Gets Serious

The Thesis Theme Affiliate Program Gets Serious The Thesis Theme Affiliate Program Gets Serious In the short time the Thesis affiliate program has been around, we've paid out close to $100,000 in commissions to our affiliates. But in 2009, that number is going to get bigger… a lot bigger. To make that happen, we've brought Missy Ward on board as our new affiliate manager. Missy is the co-founder of the industry-standard Affiliate Summit conference and an icon in affiliate marketing circles. To say we've landed the Queen of Affiliate Marketing as the Thesis affiliate program manager is pretty spot on. And as cool as that is, it's not even the coolest part. The really cool part is Missy is donating all her compensation from managing the program to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. A long time proponent of the battle against breast cancer, Missy continues to fight the good fight through her efforts with the hot-selling Thesis Theme for WordPress. Missy is coming out of affiliate management retirement for this worthy cause. The Thesis affiliate program beat out 50 other worthy merchants, so we're definitely lucky to have her. The fact that Thesis powers her own site probably helped. We've got a lot of amazing marketing materials coming to help make our affiliates succeed at even higher levels. Snazzy videos, screencast demos, viral reports, and scores of new quality products… all coming soon. But here's what we've got for you right now: 33% commission on all sales. 60-day return cookie. Creative banners, emails, and text links that are optimized to convert. Knowledgeable and responsive affiliate management team accessible by phone, email, IM, and Twitter. Rapid monthly payments + performance incentives. Plus, earn a free pass to Affiliate Summit 2009 East this August in NYC! Make 3 sales, get a Gold Pass. Make 10 sales, get a Platinum Pass. Find out more about the Thesis affiliate program here, and let us start sharing the wealth with you and an excellent worthy cause. And remember, the best way to effectively promote Thesis is by understanding first hand how much easier it can make your own web-publishing efforts. About the Author: Brian Clark is Executive Editor of Copyblogger and co-founder of DIY Themes, creator of the innovative Thesis Theme for WordPress. Get more from Brian on Twitter. • Email to a friend • Related • View comments • Track comments • •

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[Copyblogger] How to Sell High Ticket Items in a Dwindling Economy

How to Sell High Ticket Items in a Dwindling Economy How to Sell High Ticket Items in a Dwindling Economy Sure, the words “disposable income” aren’t on anybody’s lips these days - but that doesn’t mean higher priced goods and services no longer have a market. While your competitors are undercutting each other’s prices - you can still come out on top and make more money than all of them without getting dragged into a price war. Unlike a few years ago, where the most compelling reason to own a more expensive product or service was the brand itself and the way it distinguished you, these days people are starting to shift more toward “practical luxury”. Every feature is examined, every possible comparison is made, and every benefit is played over and over again in the customer’s head. With this in mind, consider updating the focus of your copy to promote the usefulness of what you’re trying to sell. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a diamond ring or a marketing course. Everyone is looking for a good deal, so you’ll need to write in a way that plays to the customer’s initial expectations of “there’s no way I can afford that”, and then reverse them. Here’s how: Show Them How Much Money They’ll Save And that doesn’t mean putting some puffed-up value on a simple e-book or adding a copious amount of zeroes to the end of a dollar sign. Put into real, concrete numbers how much someone might spend looking for and buying all of the services or pieces needed to get something comparable to what you’re offering. The mattress and bedding industries do this beautifully with their more expensive products. They outline how much you’d really pay - not just monetarily, but in terms of poor sleep, nagging aches and pains and chiropractor’s bills. Then they highlight the benefits of their product and add a free in-home trial or a coupon on top of the offer, giving the reader more than enough serious reasons to take action. You Might Think You Can’t Afford It, But… By telling them what they expect to hear right from the start, your potential buyer will let down their guard a bit and become more receptive to your offer. This works especially well when you show them how easily they really can afford it. For example, paying in installments or taking action quickly to get a cheaper price are all sales tactics you can use to project your offer as an investment in themselves rather than a one-time purchase. Compete with the Cheaper Alternative If there’s a cheaper version of your offer out there, you can still compete with it in other ways than price alone. You also want to resist the urge to put the competing product in a negative light as this will only reflect poorly on your offer. Instead, adding a phrase like “Isn’t it worth a little extra now to avoid _____ later?” is a good way to point out the quality and assurance that your product brings versus your competition. As you can see, high-ticket items still have a place in today’s eccentric marketplace. It’s how you approach their presentation that counts. With the copy, you’ll effortlessly appeal to your customer’s bargain-hunting instincts while avoiding the cut-throat price battles that plague so many of today’s luxury e-tailers. About the Author: Sherice Jacob is a web designer, copywriter, and author of Get Niche Quick. Don’t forget to follow Sherice on Twitter. • Email to a friend • Related • View comments • Track comments • •

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