Tag Archives: sales

It’s the Simplicity, Stupid

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I’m a cartoonist. This is my tenth year blogging. My work has been mentioned in big media including Wall St. Journal , Financial Times , New York Times , and The Guardian . It’s been mentioned in bestselling books like Groundswell and Tribes . And it’s been mentioned on thousands of blogs, including many of the big, A-Lister ones. That’s all well and good, I suppose. We artist types can use all the PR we can get. But looking back, it occurs to me that none of that “hot PR media action” has moved my business forward nearly as quickly or effectively as this one simple thing: My newsletter subscribers telling their friends about my newsletter, and suggesting that they sign up. No, really, that’s it. That is the money shot. When that happens, my business grows, end of story. More traditional media PR … well, that can work, sometimes. You never know. The results are always foggy at best, and it’s always a lot of voraciously time-consuming, pain-in-the-ass work to make something happen. And even then, it may not actually increase sales . I know getting mentioned in huge media outlets is sexy and all, but seriously, hear me out. I’ve been at this for a while. Traditional PR works, when it works. Most of the time though, it doesn’t. Same with traditional advertising. But my list telling their friends — that never fails. Ever. Make it easy Another thing I’ve learned the hard way is: I cannot make my subscriber list tell their friends about the newsletter, no matter how hard I try to apply my Jedi mind tricks. All I can do is make it easy for them to share . All I can do is make it as friction-free as possible. So this is what I did to achieve that: I created a simple link on the bottom of the newsletter. Hello from Hugh: Please share this link with your friends. If their friends get the link and click on it, the page has a personal message from me. Hello! One of your friends sent you the link to this page, and so here you are. Welcome! My name is Hugh. I’m a cartoonist. I have a newsletter, “ Hugh’s Daily Cartoon ,” which I send out five mornings a week. A wee chuckle in your inbox, to start your day off on the right foot (so to speak). I hope you will subscribe. That’s it. Nothing fancy. Nothing complicated. Just a short and sincere message from me. I also threw in a few cartoons, just to give them something fun to read, other than my sales pitch. A recommendation from a friend carries more weight than a hundred media recommendations. It’s the simplicity, stupid If my subscribers aren’t telling their friends, I’m doing something wrong, end of story. If I’m not making it as easy and friction-free as possible to get my list to tell their friends, I’m doing something wrong. You read Copyblogger, you’re a member of The Third Tribe , and you probably read a bunch of other savvy marketing folks. Great! They have a lot of killer stuff worth knowing about. Tons of it. But just for a minute, forget all that and let me ask you two simple questions: Is your list telling their friends about you? I mean, really telling them? Have you made it as easy and friction-free as humanly possible for your list to tell their friends? Until you can honestly say “Yes” to both questions, you have a severe marketing problem that no cutting-edge marketing theory — Copyblogger’s or anyone else’s — will ever solve. About the Author: Hugh MacLeod is a cartoonist who blogs over at gapingvoid.com. He makes his living by selling fine art prints , doing Cube Grenade commissioned art work and sending out daily cartoons on Hugh’s Daily Frickin’ Newsletter.

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10 Surefire Ways to Land More Customers

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So many people all around the world have great ideas, products and services. And yet some businesses do well, and some fail. What separates the businesses that starve from the businesses who feast? For the answer, we turn to another way people have been setting their feast table for hundreds of years: fishing. Landing a fish, just like landing a customer, requires strategy and know-how if you’re going to come home successful. Here are my top 10 ways to land the catch of the day. 1. Know what you’re after In fishing, you always use the best bait possible for the particular type of fish you’re after. So many times clients come to me and say, “I don’t have a target market”. They’re always wrong. At a minimum, you should understand: The problems your customers have Their buying habits Their potential objections to your product Where they go to find information What influences them (their heroes and idols, TV shows they watch, websites they enjoy, magazines they read, etc.) What their core demographics and psychographics are Even if your product “appeals to everyone,” typically 20% of your audience will generate 80% of your revenue. Your job is to figure out who those 20% are, so you can find the kind of bait that appeals most to those customers. Bait that works for trout won’t necessarily let you land a great white shark. 2. Know where to fish for your customers Determining the right fishing location can be the difference between a successful fishing trip and going hungry. Knowing the places where your customers hang out online gives you a much greater chance for marketing success. Figure out which sites your customers frequent and you’ll have a much better chance of reeling one in. Try seeking out: Blogs they read Forums they participate in Social networking sites and other membership groups Entertainment or other non-work related sites You don’t want to use a top water lure if the fish you want are feeding on the bottom. 3. Be aware of your competition All fishermen guard their secrets closely, but newcomers can still pick up plenty of tricks by watching what their competition does. I’m not saying it’s smart to copy your competitor exactly. “Me-too” marketing doesn’t work. But learn from them and get a feeling for the overall marketplace you’re in. Incorporate those insights into your own marketing and content strategy. By analyzing your competitors you can also figure out how you can position your brand to stand out from the crowd. 4. Use good bait When you’re hoping to catch a fish standing side by side with a row of other fishermen, you have to make sure your bait is the most appealing fish food dangling the water. Otherwise, that fish is liable to go for one of your neighbor’s hooks instead. Consumers have lots of options and offers dangling in front of them in any marketplace. You’ve got to have some pretty juicy bait to stand out from that crowd. So what makes good customer bait? Magnetic headlines Compelling images Content that’s valuable in its own right An attractive niche that makes your customer feel “this is for people like me” Easy-to-swallow landing pages 5. Setting the hook Just because a fish bites doesn’t mean you can reel it in. Many a marketer has a woeful tale about the big one that got away. Once a customer is interested and bites by clicking through to your sales page, you have to set the hook by making an offer that’s so great it’s practically unfair . 6. Forget catch and release Remember, it’s a lot easier and more profitable to re-sell an existing customer than acquire a new one. So if you land a big fish, keep it! Don’t throw it back for someone else to catch. Re-marketing , high-quality affiliate offers, and up-sells are great for keeping the customers that you currently have, instead of letting them drift back into the stream for some other savvy marketer to reel in. 7. Test the waters Fishermen often track different variables, like what time of day they went fishing or what bait they used. They measure their results over time to figure out the smartest way to get certain fish. Similarly, in marketing it’s always wise to test various aspects of your marketing campaign. Measure your results to see what works best, and track your results over time. Try different images, headlines, or layouts to see which one maximizes time spent on your site, lowers bounce rate, and produces the best ROI. 8. Don’t get discouraged Some days the fish just aren’t biting. Sometimes you are not going to be as successful as you’d like, but it’s a process. Continue to educate yourself about business and marketing, keep analyzing your competitors, keep talking to your customers and refining your message. Keep going and don’t get discouraged. Tomorrow’s the day you’ll get the big one. 9. Partner up to get a bigger catch Fishing with a buddy helps you to both cover more water and come home with a bigger catch than usual. If you’re hoping to land more customers than you’ve ever reeled in on your own, find a partner. By knowing your own skill set, you’ll be able to effectively select partners that complement your skills. This strategy can also help you get bigger customers than you could have handled on your own. 10. Enjoy the trip It’s definitely a lot more fun to catch the big one than to see it get away, but no matter what happens, remember to enjoy yourself. Entrepreneurship is a lot like fishing. Even when it’s not going as well as we’d like, it’s still a privilege to be able to spend our days doing it. About the Author: David Brim is the founder and CEO of Brand Advance , an interactive agency that provides marketing consulting, web design, and marketing staffing to emerging companies. David is also the founder of GroupTable.com, collaborative software to increase group productivity. David blogs at Filled to the Brim , and can be found on twitter @davidbrim .

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How Cornerstone Content Gets You Traffic and Subscribers

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Blogs are great resources. They let you publish high-quality content quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively. The problem is, the default functionality of blogging software makes it easy to show what’s new — but hard to show off the depth of what you’ve done over time. Blogging excels at presenting new content, but fails at aggregating old content in a way that works for people and search engines. So what can you do? How can you help both people and search engines find your content efficiently? Create some solid cornerstone content. If you’ve read Brian Clark’s new SEO copywriting report , you know how important this type of content is to attracting links and ranking for the terms that are central to your site. If you haven’t read Brian’s report, you should to get the full picture. But for now, it’s enough to know that a page hosting cornerstone content helps readers by pulling all of your content about a specific topic together in one place. In other words, each cornerstone page is a home for related content. If you want an example before I continue, check out Landing Pages or Copywriting 101 in the “resources” sidebar to the left of this post. Cornerstone pages let you highlight your most important archived content. They also help you attract links, get subscribers, and increase traffic. Keep reading to find out how. Cornerstone pages are great targets for link-building campaigns Remember, links matter first and foremost with search rankings. But complete, in-depth content on the topics you want people to find you for is important, too. When you group similar content into a home on a single page, you’ll have a keyword dense page which will rank in search engines when you build links to it. Sticking with the Copyblogger examples, do you think they chose phrases like “landing pages” and “SEO copywriting” by accident? Absolutely not. These are two popular keyword phrases that the Copyblogger crew wanted to rank well for in Google. And sure enough, they do. I know what you’re thinking. Copyblogger is a large site. They don’t need to focus on building links to each page, because they will gain links naturally over time. (Never mind the fact that, like every blog, Copyblogger started with no links and just one subscriber — which in this case was Brian.) That’s why cornerstone pages are even more important for new bloggers. These resource-rich pages are perfect for you to link when you do guest posts on other blogs. They’ll help you rank for specific keyword phrases and help you find new readers. 2. Cornerstone pages help you get subscribers People listen to authority figures. Brian also wrote a complete report on authority : why you want it, what it will do for you, and how to get it. People also tend to bookmark, share, and reference authoritative content. Cornerstone content is authoritative because it demonstrates your knowledge around a specific topic. And if it’s genuinely useful, people won’t hesitate to go further with your content, such as subscribing to your blog or signing up for an email newsletter. Does this strategy really work? Yes. How do you think Copyblogger became one of the top blogs? Scroll through the left sidebar and you’ll see all of the Copyblogger resources. Most of these are cornerstone pages, grouping several pieces of valuable content with a call to action to subscribe to the blog. 3. Cornerstone pages are shareable Since each piece of cornerstone content helps people address a specific need, they often remember it. For example, any time someone asks me how to write a great blog headline, there’s one resource that comes to mind . . . the Headline Writing series here on Copyblogger. Even though I first read it almost three years ago, I still refer back to it every time I need some inspiration. Whenever anyone asks me how to write a headline, I send them to this resource because of how helpful and complete it is. I don’t have to send them to five different sites, just one simple URL that’s easy to share. How do you create cornerstone content? There are two ways. One, you can start from scratch and write a blog series with the main goal of turning it into cornerstone content. This is a great way to kick off a blog, or to give your blog a boost. But if you’ve been blogging for a while, there’s a faster way to benefit from this strategy . . . without doing extensive content development. Let me explain. You probably have blog categories, right? Take a look through some of your more important categories. What if you hand-picked some of those category-specific articles and grouped them onto a cornerstone page? It would be easy, right? Now what would make this content effective? First, you’d want to do some basic keyword research to make sure you’re targeting a keyword phrase that makes sense. Then you’ll want to write a snappy, informative introduction that builds desire for your content, using smart SEO copywriting to make it search engine-friendly. And finally, you fill out the page with links to content you already have on your site. It’s that simple. Now get to work. If you focus, you can get your first cornerstone page posted in 30 minutes. And of course, the next time you write a guest post, make sure you link to your new cornerstone content page using the appropriate keywords as anchor text (Brian’s new report gives an example of this). How about you? Using any terrific cornerstone content on your own blog? Let us know where to find it in the comments. About the Author: Derek recently launched the blog Social Triggers . Check it out to learn how to use human psychology to get traffic, sales, and subscribers. Also, don’t miss out on his cornerstone content page, Online Sales 101 .

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Online Consumer Packaged Goods Sales Soaring

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From eMarketer: Following some of the dismal failures of the dot-com-crazy 1990s, consumer packaged goods (CPG) e-tailers are making real inroads in e-commerce. The advent of broadband, more efficient online retailing strategies and consumers’ wider acceptance of Internet shopping are driving the resurgence. Online CPG sales now stand at $12 billion, triple what they were in 2004, according to Nielsen. By 2012, online CPG sales are expected to hit $16 billion. That would account for more than 3% of the total $475 billion in e-commerce sales projected for that year. US Consumer Packaged Goods E-Commerce Sales “Business models vary, but a successful online CPG selling model must fill one of two key consumer needs: convenience or a shopper’s desire to purchase hard-to-find products,” according to the new eMarketer report “Consumer Packaged Goods Take E-Commerce Path”. “While sticker shock is a no-no, deep discounting is rarely part of the online CPG selling model.” To learn more about which Consumer Packaged Goods categories sell better online than others order eMarketer’s report.

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Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap-Up: Week of May 3, 2010

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Earlier this week, I was driving down the road with my family and we saw this chicken on the berm. Suddenly, I realized that it was about to cross the road. I had an opportunity to answer one of mankind’s biggest quandaries, like the time I planted those cameras in the forest to see what happens when a tree falls and nobody is around to hear it. “Why do you think that chicken is crossing the road?” I asked my wife, Robin. “I want to go back and see what he’s up to.” “You’re going to hit that mailbox,” Robin said. So I swerved, and in the ensuing confusion, I forgot all about the chicken. So yes, I blew our chance… but I think I know the answer. He probably dropped his iPhone on the other side, and was crossing so he could catch up on this week’s Copyblogger posts. This one is for all you metaphysical chickens out there with lost smartphones. Here’s what happened: Monday: 17 Easy Steps to Brilliant Blog Posts I like what Jill Chivers did here with this post, because sometimes we’ll see “3 keys for this” or “5 ways to do this,” but rarely do we venture above 10. (Unless it’s a “101 ways” post, but that’s as cliched as ending the price of your product in a 7 — something I would never, ever, ever do, except for last week.) So we don’t just get a chincy 5 or 6 steps to brilliant blog posts here. We’ve got SEVENTEEN steps. Seventeen juicy ways to make your posts sparkle and sizzle. And this isn’t Ivory Tower gospel either, coming from some jaded old blogger who lives in Texas and is into Mitch Hedberg and William Gibson. It’s coming from a gal who is a student of blogging, learning as she goes. Which makes it even more useful. Speaking of seventeen, remember that Winger song called “Seventeen”? It went like, Her daddy says she’s too young… but she’s old enough for me! I wonder if those guys are out of prison yet. Read the full post here . Monday, part deux: Gravity Forms Review: Powerful WordPress Forms Made Simple No joke here… Gravity Forms provides the quickest, easiest, and most powerful to collect all sorts of information on your WordPress site. You can even enable people to submit guest posts and create user-generated content for your site. But what you really need to know if that until the end of Sunday, May 9, 2010, you can use the super-secret code contained in Brian’s review and get 1) 25% off, 2) lifetime support, and 3) lifetime updates. Hurry up and read the review here before the joke’s on you for missing this deal. Tuesday: The Myth of Beautiful Website Design Aaaaaaand it’s official: With one little blog post, Pamela Wilson has totally squashed my plan to remove all substance from my business and bluff my way to billionnairehood by filling my site with lollipops and rainbows. Thanks a lot, Pamela. Ever hear the old expression “You can’t put makeup on a pig, because pigs don’t like it and doing so will make PETA put pipe bombs under your hot dog carts”? Yeah, me either. But you should probably fix your offer and improve your content before you focus on finding a web font that truly completes you. Read the full post here . Wednesday: Why You Shouldn’t Write for Other Writers First, I write about personality marketing for tailors here on Copyblogger. Then I get a call from bespoke tailor Martin Stall in Spain, who makes beautiful suits and wants my help to attract buyers. And now Hugh McLeod is on Copyblogger, writing about tailors who blog in order to sell suits. Hugh’s point is simple: Are you writing for other writers, or are you writing for the people who will buy your stuff? Because writing to impress creative directors probably isn’t going to get you any more money. It’ll just get you more enmeshed with the tailoring industry. If you want to actually sell more stuff, you definitely need to read this one. Just don’t try to become yet another blogging tailor. The market is apparently totally saturated. Read the full post here . Thursday: How to Sell Without a Sales Pitch This post by James Chartrand is a “must” for Third Tribe marketers . Remember, sales isn’t about pushing a product so much as it’s about matching a problem with a solution. Raising awareness of that problem and solution is a great way to sell without pushing, and James has tips on how to do that. And actually, the kids in the lemonade stand at the top of this post are very Third Tribe. They’re doing it right. They’re selling a solution to the problem of thirst, while relieving the inherent guilt that comes with snubbing cute little kids on a hot day. Smart marketing, boys. I just hope they don’t get complacent, because that’s the way for any Mom and Pop shop to get subverted by Big Lemonade. They should dress it up a little. Those kids could go far if they were decked out like ZZ Top and had those hot chicks from the videos leaning against the stand. I’d pay a dollar to see that. Read the full post here . Friday: Beyond Motivation: Getting to What Really Drives You I was just thinking about this concept today. I totally believe that the #1 key to success is persistence , and the truth is that you’ll persist automatically if you’re motivated enough, and if you don’t just fold under the pressure. This post by Steve Errey is all about how to find your motivation and keep it stoked. (And by the way, that’s “stoked” like how you’d “stoke” a fire — i.e. prodding it and adding wood to keep it burning. I’m not talking about how a kid outside of 7-11 might talk about being “stoked” to skate the half pipe later… which actually doesn’t make sense because said excited skaters are seldom on fire. Although that would make for a totally rad trick now that I think about it.) Anyway, Steve Errey has packed this post with ways to stay motivated, and therefore persist, and therefore succeed, and therefore end up living in Hawaii with bikini girls. Or Spandex guys. Or many, many squirrels. But never gnomes. Read the full post here . About the Author: Johnny B. Truant has a dumb blog at JohnnyBTruant.com and is one of the guys behind Question the Rules . You should also really check out his Jam Sessions with Charlie Gilkey, because they’re filled with tasty informational nuggets that will make your business better.

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Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap-Up: Week of May 3, 2010