It seems everyone is rushing around trying to get caught up and capitalize on their social media presence – that’s a sound idea. You can’t turn around these days without seeing Facebook, Twitter or YouTube somewhere. No doubt, they’re hot.

Guess what’s even hotter for connecting with your customers, clients and prospects? Email. Yes, email. Email that is engaging, well written and sent consistently, is your biggest opportunity to make an impact on the people interested in what you offer. According to eMarketer.com, 7 out of 10 people would rather communicate by email than any other medium.

It’s profitable too. The DMA reports: Email’s ROI in 2009 was $43.52 for every dollar spent.

Social media has not and will not render email obsolete – certainly not from a marketing standpoint. The inbox is still the best place to get the information and correspondence you’re actually looking for.

Chris Brogan, best-selling author and President of New Marketing Labs reports that 93% of email users have opt-in relationships with a consumer brand as opposed to 15% with Facebook and 4% with Twitter. That’s compelling, and perhaps surprising, but it’s a good indication of where you need to be – right now.

Consistent, meaningful email communication lets you connect with people who like (or love) what you offer. Social media has changed our expectations – we want easy access to and information about the companies we do business with. The companies and brands that engage us effectively and communicate with us compellingly have our top-of-mind consciousness, attention and eventually, our business.

If you want to read my full report on this topic – shoot me an email – amy (at) amyposner (dot) com and I’ll send it your way.

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1. Email Newsletters are HOT Email Newsletters are a specialty of mine. Think social media...

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Things seem to move at an ever quicker clip these days. Christmas and Hanukah promotions start before Thanksgiving dinner is even digested. I like to savor the day or the moment just a little more. Oh well! I wanted to share a little more of what I learned from the brilliant Dr. Bendapudi:

I shared in the previous post Dr. Bendapudi’s idea that your brand is your promise. Whether you provide products or services for the B2B or B2C market, it’s important to understand that for your consumer, your brand is functional (or rational) and emotional. When you capture the customer’s emotion, they are truly engaged with your brand. When people are attached to or moved by your brand, it’s when they’re likely to share information and stories about what you offer with others – word of mouth is still the holy grail of marketing, if I may say so….

Think of customer and client awareness of your brand as a kind of ‘shelf space’. It’s actually ‘mind space’ which is arguably the most valuable commodity. Bendapudi points out that your brand is brought to life by your people, or if you’re a solo-preneur, by you. The experience your customers and clients have with you and your company is the bottom line to determining how they feel about you. How they feel about you is more important than you might think. Experience trumps the marketing every time. It doesn’t matter what you say, it matters what you do. Just like in every other relationship we have.

In talking about loyalty, Dr. Bendapudi employs the acronym R.E.A.L.  The letter R stands for Respond – are you doing a good job responding to customers concerns and problems? E is for empathy. Respond to customer and client concerns by listening with empathy and really hearing them. Don’t try and contradict or explain, just listen and use phrases like “I understand why you’d feel that way” or “I’m sorry you had that experience” – don’t jump in and offer explanations – and certainly never correct them or find them wrong. Finally, A is to remind you to advocate for customers and clients. Anticipate their needs and serve them.

Dr. Bendapudi used the example of taking her (then) 8 year old daughter’s soccer team to a restaurant after a game. They were cranky and hungry and she was exhausted. Her experience was not a good one. No one anticipated her needs by empathizing with her situation and getting her a table right away or even telling her how long the wait would be. She was disenchanted with the experience and never returned. What she would have preferred is what all of us would like: someone to simply say – WOW – I bet you’d like to get those girls seated and have some snacks and drinks right away – let me see what I can do.

Even if there had been a wait, she would have felt heard as a customer, hers need were anticipated, she was understood and the restaurant chain could have won her loyalty, instead of her disdain. Remember, it’s not about being right 100% of the time; it’s about taking care of what arises thoughtfully and quickly 100% of the time. We’ll allow a lot of latitude for mistakes IF they are handled well and easily resolved.

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Social media has changed the game forever. It’s made people more accessible, writing more personal and the playing field more level.

A couple of months ago, I was showing my mom some pictures I had taken and was about to upload to my website. Most were taken outdoors around my property. She really didn’t get why I didn’t want to use the ones taken in my office. In her world business still means a suit and a tie and a more buttoned-up demeanor than I prefer to portray.

Even as little as five years ago, showing your personal side and pictures that weren’t the standard head-shot-in-a-suit wasn’t that common – it bordered on unprofessional. Not anymore. Look at the people you follow and enjoy, I’m willing to bet money that people you like best not only have great offerings, but offer something about themselves as well.

The people I enjoy the most are the ones that mix it up, business and personal in reasonable doses. I don’t want to know too much and I couldn’t tell you the exact tipping point between just enough and too much, but I know it when I see it/read it. I want to know who you are and what you stand for. I admire people who do that well and I’m working on emulating them and bringing more of that to what I do. It’s not easy for me, but I value it.

These days, working at home is (mostly) an enviable situation and being who you really are and showing it, is a plus. When I started my business 20 years ago, that was SO NOT the case. A friend actually sent me an audio of phones ringing and office background noise – so no one would know I was in my Manhattan loft and not a cubicle in an office somewhere. Times have changed….

Bottom line: we want to know who you are and what you’re about. So, yes, use your personality. Think about sticking to the mother/boss rule and say anything you wouldn’t want your mother or your boss to hear. Your prospects and clients don’t necessarily need to hear about your Saturday night (of course that depends on your clients, your Saturday nights, your business….) but they do want to know what else you’re up to – what you participate in, what your interests are – it adds dimension to your business profile – it’s a way to attract the exact right people to you.

When you have lots of people to choose from, many of us choose the person we know and trust. Showcase your personality and become that person to your prospects. It’s good business.

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Here are a few things to keep in mind if you’re going to write your own marketing pieces. First, step back from your business or service and try and see it through the eyes of your ideal patient, customer or client. What problem do they have that you solve? Write to that.

That’s the only thing your marketing should do. Illustrate their problems and challenges and provide your solutions. Remember that we all do more to avoid pain than we do to gain pleasure and good marketing taps into that psychology.

Let’s take a quick look at an example. I wrote a website for a woman who helps people buy cars – particularly for women. When I researched the topic, I learned that women do in fact pay more than men for new cars and they do fear being ripped off and rightfully so; it happens fairly often.

The site owner helps people negotiate car buys all the time, she’ll even do the entire deal for them, so all they have to do is walk in to the dealership, take the car for a spin and sign the paperwork (it’s a pretty cool service). She’s also written a guide that teaches people exactly what they need to know to negotiate like a pro.

She regularly gets great car deals for people (women and men alike) and can almost always save them money. We chose not to focus on the savings, but to make that a secondary point. Instead, we focused the copy to tap into the pain felt by her target audience. That’s their fear of getting ripped off and having to deal with a high pressure salesman who will hype them into spending too much money or making a decision they’re not ready for or. Being helped through the car buying experience and feeling confident and knowledgeable is very compelling for her audience.

Her website speaks to their fear and how she can help her clients avoid it – by educating them, thereby empowering them to get a great deal themselves, or by doing it for them. I’ll say it again, because it’s the lesson here: we did NOT focus on the money savings, but on the fear her clients experience at the car dealership.

She gets great feedback from people who are so relieved to have found her. Clients say that her eBook makes them feel empowered and confident and takes away their fear, hence solving their problem.
Spelling it out clearly gets results. For the business owner AND her clients.

Solve problems and you’ll get more business. You can visit her site at: http://carbuyingsos.com and get her Free Report about getting top dollar for your car when you’re ready to sell it: What You Must Know to Get Your Car Sold.

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I’ve talked recently about knowing the revenue per customer – let’s dig a little deeper on the profit equation. Keep in mind that anyone who buys from you once is more likely to buy from you a second time. It’s much easier to make subsequent sales than it is to make that first sale. Once they buy your product or become a client or patient, the chances of them sticking with you if you provide good value is very high and of course there are things you can do to maximize that possibility (that article comes next…)

I write a lot of marketing for dentists. Dental practices, like other professional practices, need a steady influx of new patients to keep their bottom line healthy. An average new patient is estimated to be worth $900 during their first year. A patient that stays with a dentist over their lifetime is likely to spend much more than that each year, especially if they have multiple family members seeing the same dentist, which is often the case. That patient is potentially worth thousands and more likely tens of thousands of dollars over their lifetime as a patient of that dental practice.

Let’s suppose the patient pays the dentist just $1000 each year for 15 years, that’s 15 thousand dollars over the “lifetime” of this patient. Many patients will have years where they (and/or their families) will spend significantly more on dentistry and oral health care. If the dentist has 100 patients that are similar, that will net the practice $1.5 million dollars in 15 years or $100,000 per year.

Do you think it would make sense to spend $5000 to create a great website and $500-1000/month to keep steady traffic coming to it and new patients coming in every single month? If you understand the lifetime value of a patient, you’d be crazy NOT to! Yet, professionals and business people tend to think in terms of financial output when it comes to marketing and NOT the exchange of value.

You need to understand these numbers for your business. And you need to assess whether you’re getting the results you need, want or know are possible. If you’re not, you need to think about hiring someone who can help make that happen.

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Some business people have no idea what it costs to get a customer or what the lifetime value of that customer is. Knowing these two things helps you understand what you can spend on marketing and how much you stand to profit when people choose your business. It’s a fairly straightforward, simple equation.

First look at the price of your product or service. People often think it’s easier to sell something less expensive. Not necessarily true. Depends on your target audience and the value of your product/service.

If you’ve got something of great value and it costs $500 and I really need it or want it, I’ll buy it. If you sell something for $29 and I maybe need it and don’t have compelling enough evidence that it’ll do me any good, I may decide to spend the money at a restaurant instead.

So, the question is: how much business do you need to do to make a great profit? 200 items at $500 each month? 1000 items that cost $29?

Can great marketing help you move that many or that many more? If I could write a campaign that would sell 1000 of your $29 items, which would bring you $29,000, could you afford to pay me $5000 to create it? It’s a no-brainer when you work out the numbers. I’d trade $5000 for $29,000 all day long. Damn, I’d trade $5000 for $5500 all day long.

If you’re wondering if professional writing and marketing really gets those kind of results, the answer is YES – it absolutely can. Working with someone experienced is more likely to get your results. Why? Because a good marketing writer knows how to motivate your audience, knows how to get them to take action. Increasing the percentage of your response translates into more sales and a bigger bank account. That’s a true story, in any economy.

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Features tell, benefits sell. Let’s look at some examples. Take steak knives. Feature might be that they are as sharp three years later as they were the day you bought them. Benefit might be that they are low maintenance, no need to sharpen them. This would appeal to people who either don’t have a knife sharpener or don’t like to sharpen their knives, or like me, never find the knives are any sharper after I sharpen them myself.

Say you’re a dentist and you offer any level of sedation a patient wants. Feature: Choice of anesthesia. Benefit: removes the fear of experiencing pain and makes the patient feel in control, because they have a choice.

Another example – say you remodel homes and you use green and eco-friendly materials. Feature: recycled and environmentally friendly materials. Benefit: responsible stewardship, good for the environment, in many cases healthy for the end user.

Benefits speak loud and clear to our desire to know ‘What’s in it for me’. People will make choices and decisions if they know why they should do something. Once you grab people by their self-interest, they’re open to learning about you. I’ll use myself as an example again – perhaps you decide you like the idea of having someone experienced and easy to work with who won’t charge you an arm and a leg – you find me – you feel good because I’ve tapped into the things that are important to you – now you’re ready to learn more about me and hear what I have to offer.

Same with the remodeler. If green grabs you, you’re going to choose the remodeler who builds green. Say you aren’t already ‘green-savvy’, but you ‘lean green’ and you talk to three companies about remodeling your house. One spends the time to educate you about the value of green and why it makes sense for your house, your budget and the environment, one doesn’t build green and the other doesn’t seem to care or take any time learning what’s important to you, guess who you’re going to choose?

Creating a niche and marketing to that niche helps business owners attract the people best suited to their work and helps the client choose the provider that best fits their needs. Its win-win and it’s your job to know your message and then get it across – loud and clear.  If you want more information on exactly how to do that, sign up for my video series, found on the right side of the page at: http://amyposner.com

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The answer is yes. The best copywriter for your business is going to be the person with marketing experience. Why? Because everything your business produces should be carefully written to move your business agenda forward and tie into a plan to advance your brand, to provide clients, customers and prospects with value so when the time comes that they need what you offer, you’re who they turn to. Good marketing copywriters will accomplish that for you.

Work by a good copywriter keeps you engaged, grabs you by your self-interest – the thing that motivates us ultimately – and moves you toward a desired outcome.

Many small business owners don’t think twice about hiring certain talent – whether it’s a web designer or an attorney, an accountant or someone to create a brochure. When it comes to marketing, they often have whoever’s handy in the office write something up, get it to a graphic designer and they create a brochure or an ad – even their website or online presence.

They think more what the piece looks like than they do the message they’re conveying or the result they desire. And, while aesthetics are very important, if the message isn’t carefully crafted, you may just be wasting your money creating your marketing pieces – including your website.

For example, I had someone bring me an ad for a dental practice. The office manager put it together for the local newspaper. It was immediately apparent to me that the offer they were making wasn’t appropriate. They were targeting a company who had moved to their city and whose employees had an insurance plan they accepted.

The offer she created was based on referring other people. Come in and then if you refer someone, we’ll give you a discount next time. It was a weak offer. People are motivated by getting something now – right away. Most of us are NOT motivated by having to bring someone else into the mix in order to get a deal. After talking with them and asking some questions, I found that they could just as easily offer a discount on some basic dental services; we crafted a good motivating ad that was more meaningful to their target audience. I went on to rewrite their other materials to be much more patient-centric.

Be clear about what your target audience wants and needs and the problems and challenges they face that your business solves. Focus on these in your marketing and get better results.

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Every potential client or customer has a problem and you have a solution. Remember, all good marketing solves problems, offer solutions. I have a pain, you tell me how you can alleviate it. We do more to avoid pain than we do to gain pleasure. Use that in your marketing.

What problems does your prospect face that you solve? Before you get started writing and speaking to your target market, you need to know what they’re interested in and why they should buy from you. Previously, I’ve written about how to identify your Unique Selling Proposition or USP and you can read specific articles about that at: Defining and Refining Your Unique Selling Proposition

Now I’ll tell you how to tie that into client/customer solutions. Remember, everyone is dialed into what’s in it for them. You need to grab them right away by their self-interest. They want to know what you can do for them before they want to know how well you do it and what your credentials are.

I’ve been using a web designer as an example. Continuing with that….let’s say you’re a newly minted, freshly graduated web designer, you’re really talented and eager for business. You need to be reliable – you don’t have a track record, so your reliability will be a concern – or fear – your clients have. We’ve all had people who start the job and never seem to get it done on time.

So, tapping into their fear that they won’t get what they need when they need it and your need for clients and let’s say a willingness to work at a competitive rate – your niche could be people who value reliability and are on a tight budget. By the way – quick note here – not all people on a tight budget are hard to work with. Sometimes they’re just strapped for cash. On the other hand, any client, no matter what they’re paying you – if they’re difficult and drive you crazy in the initial consult and you get a gut feeling that they’ve got an annoying personality or are going to drive you out of your mind –you’re most likely right and it won’t get better –don’t be afraid to walk away. In fact, walking away could be the best thing you do for yourself. Trust me on this.

In the next article I’ll tell you how to craft a message that taps into what we’ve identified – potential clients that are on a timeline and a budget. By focusing and creating a niche, you’ll build a client base more quickly because people will have a reason to choose you. It works. If you like this article, it’s part of a series of free articles and videos teaching you how to write great copy, improve your marketing and get more business. Visit http://copywriteramyposner.com

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Know Where You're Going

So tell them. In plain language. Say things directly. For example: Go to my website and sign up for my free report and get insider information only available to people on my list. Or: Decide to remodel your house by the end on the year and save 50% on all the carpet or tiles you buy. Or stop in today and tell us you read this on our website and we’ll give you a complementary set of Xrays when you become a new patient of our dental practice.

Offering something of value gets people to take action. People want to act and when they are motivated by an offer, they act more quickly, more decisively and that can only be good for you.

Conventional marketing wisdom tells us that people often have to see, hear or read about something 7 to 9 times before they take action. Help them along by making it worth their while to take immediate action. Offer something compelling if you prefer they do something right then. Not everything you write will be to get someone to take action. Just make sure when you have a desired outcome, you state in clearly in terms that spell out the benefits to your prospect.

Remember, we’re all dialed into our own self interest. Grab me by mine, tell me what you’ll do for me and how you’ll do it  along with your compelling USP and you just might get me as your next customer!

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