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3 mistakes most bloggers and emails make with writing

Posted byIan Brodie on May 3rd, 2015.

I'm not going to pretend I'm some kind of brilliant writer. But I've had my share of success through emails, blog posts, articles and a best selling book.

So I often get asked to give feedback on other people's writing. Here are some basic mistakes I see made time and time again:

1. Trying too hard to be clever

I can't tell you the number of times I've seen people trying to use clever puns, aliteration, cutesy phrases. Especially in the vital areas of headlines and email subject lines.

It doesn't work.

In marketing you want clarity first. If you can be clear and write something clever or funny at the same time that's great. But very few people can. Instead they write something vaguely humourous that fails to get across the key points.

Focus first on being clear. And in your headlines and subject lines make sure you get across the benefits of what you have to offer.

2. Writing that's too complex

This was my big achilles heel when I started. I'd have big long sentences with complex clauses and multiple commas.

Often the only person who could understand what I'd written was me. And if I read it a day later sometimes even I couldn't decipher what it meant.

It's a particular challenge when you have quite detailed knowledge and you see shades of grey.

You want to caveat everything. Lay out all the different situations and complexities.

But if you confuse all your readers you achieve nothing.

It takes work to simplify your writing yet still get across a complex message. But you have to put in that work.

3. Writing that doesn't go anywhere

A lot of writing just peters out.

The writer makes their main point, then kind of rambles on a bit. Then it just ends.

In almost all marketing-related writing you need a call to action. And I've seen many people fight shy of calls to action.

They don't want to be too pushy. They're hoping people will just spontaneously know what to do and do it.

But they rarely do.

If your article has given a clear reason for taking some action, then ask your readers to take that action.

If it makes sense and it's a fit for them, they will. If it isn't a fit they won't.

Don't make their decisions for them by not giving them the choice.

Of course, now I've said that all good marketing-related writing needs a call to action, I need to have one too.

Normally it would be something suggesting you join the %mctrial% trial of Momentum Club.

But what I really want you to do this week is just pick one piece of your writing. A important blog post or email for example.

Read through it and just tick off where you're trying to be too clever. Where your writing is complex. And mark a big X if you don't have a call to action.

Do this for your next half dozen pieces of writing and I promise you it will improve.

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Groundhog day

Posted byIan Brodie on April 12th, 2015.

Here's a conversation I have with someone every couple of weeks – not the same person each time of course ;)

Here's how it goes:

Fella: “Ian, what's the fastest way of attracting more clients?”

Ian: “Create something uniquely valuable and give it away to potential clients in exchange for their contact details and permission to keep in touch”.

Fella: “But isn't that a bit old fashioned, isn't everyone doing that?”

Ian: “Are you doing it?”

Fella: “Well, no, but…”

..there then follows a bunch of excuses why he (or she) just can't get round to producing a lead magnet, how it probably wouldn't work in their business, blah blah blah.

For me there's no more powerful method of establishing yourself as an expert in your field, getting your relationship with a potential client off on the right footing, and identifying who's really interested in what you have to offer.

And believe me, most of your competitors don't do this.

And those that do, don't do it all that well.

So do me a favour. No more groundhog days for me. Make sure you have a strong lead magnet in place.

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Learn from the best

Posted byIan Brodie on April 5th, 2015.

Christopher Booker says there are just 7 basic plots in fiction: overcoming the monster, rags to riches, the quest, journey and return, comedy, tragedy and rebirth.

Whether he's exactly right or wrong, its certainly true that the same “formulas” come up time and time again in successful literature.

It's the same for poetry, music and art too. There are certain patterns which are appealing to the human eye, ear and brain.

So if you want to write a bestselling novel or a number one pop song, you stand a better chance of success if it follows one of the successful formulae of previous hits.

That's not to discount creativity. And it's not to say that there aren't plenty of successes that trod a different path. Just that your safest bet is to be creative within a pattern that people find inherently appealing.

I believe it's the same with marketing too.

A friend of mine shared an idea he'd had for a sales letter with me a couple of weeks ago, asking for feedback.

I pointed out that the headline looked and sounded a lot like John Caples' classic ad from 1926, “They laughed when I sat down at the piano…but when I started to play!”

He liked that connection (the Caples letter made millions for the US School of Music) and ran with it. He wrote a brilliant sales letter in that style and it ended up being his most successful promotion ever.

Now his letter is far from a copy of the Caples original. If you read it and didn't know the inspiration you wouldn't pick up any connection.

It's very different. But it has the same kind of feel and cadence. It picks up on the same emotions – the hero doubted at the start proves his detractors wrong.

Marketing that works can be repeated again and again.

David Ogilvy's classic ad for Rolls Royce “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock” was actually based on an ad for Pierce-Arrow cars from 30 odd years earlier.

And it's been re-swiped and used by Landrover just recently too.

Martin Conroy's “Two Young Men” advert for the Wall Street Journal that ran from 1975 to 2003 and reputedly generated them over a billion in sales was actually based on an ad from 1919 for the Alexander Hamilton Institute.

Successful marketers – whether they're writing sales letters or emails or blog posts – take their inspiration from “swipe files” of marketing that's worked well in the past.

Marketing that works because it's based on timeless principles of human nature.

Have you got a swipe file?

If you haven't it's time to start building one.

Whenever you see an ad or an email or a web page that works to sell to you take a copy and file it. Ideally make sure the marketing piece is proven to work (Denny Hatch's “Million Dollar Mailings” is a great source for this).

Of course, you must, must, must use these for inspiration and NOT to copy verbatim.

But just reading through classic marketing before you write can have a big impact. And studying them and learning what makes them work is even better.

You might even get your best results ever like my friend.

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The truth about building trust online

Posted byIan Brodie on March 29th, 2015.

How long would you say it takes to build trust online?

Or let me put it more precisely: how long does it take before someone who doesn't know you will be ready to buy from you?

A month? 6 months? A year?

“It depends” is the only accurate answer, but it's not very helpful. So let's dive a bit deeper.

I recently ran a training course for experienced speakers, trainers, consultants and coaches on creating digital products. To get a feel for everyone's experience I asked them about the digital products they'd purchased online.

(Quick tip by the way, if you want to sell something like online products, you must have experience buying them. You need to be able to see things through your customer's eyes. It's surprising how many wannabe digital product sellers hadn't actually bought one themselves).

The products ranged from low cost kindle books, through training video series to live programs delivered by webinar.

At the lower end, because there wasn't much risk involved in the pruchase, people had a variety of reasons for buying ranging from curiosity, to having been told by friends they “must have” the product, to having a genuine need for it.

But at the higher end, $1,000 and above, there were always two big reasons.

Firstly, there was always a clear, highly desirable end-result that was easily worth the price they were paying.

And secondly, they trusted that if they bought the product, they'd get the end result.

And in particular, that meant they trusted that the person behind the product would be able to deliver the goods (ie that person had the experience and insight that meant their training course or advice or coaching would be certain to help the buyer achieve the end result they were looking for).

How long did it take to build up that trust?

A surprisingly short space of time to be honest.

In very many cases, people had shelled out $1,000+ after just “knowing” the person they were buying from for a few months.

Time wasn't the issue.

It was the experience they'd had with them in that time.

Had they repeatedly demonstrated they were real experts? Had they repeatedly demonstrated they got great results for their clients? Or that their customers got great results with their products?

Had they repeatedly demonstrated they cared about their customers? That they went the extra mile? That they were the sort of person you'd want to do business with?

That their ethics and philosophy were aligned with yours?

Time isn't the key variable. It's the number of interactions multiplied by the positive impact of those interactions during that time.

You can know someone for years, yet not really know them. Or know them enough to know you wouldn't buy from them.

So if you want to sell things online or off, you've got to make sure you're interacting with your potential clients or customers frequently, and that they feel positively about each interaction.

Not just the warm fuzzies that you're a nice person. But that you're the person they want to buy from. That you tick all the boxes I listed above (and others more specific to your clients).

Do you plan that into your communications with clients?

Honestly, few of us do systematically.

But when we do, it has a huge impact.

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Great offer + grit = success

Posted byIan Brodie on March 29th, 2015.

Got some interesting news from a friend of mine this week.

She reported that she'd “bitten the bullet” and made a bunch of cold calls to promote her services (or more accurately, to offer a free showcase of her services).

And although she hated every minute of the cold calling process, it worked.

She got a number of showcases set up.

Now cold calling isn't my thing, but I think this example demonstrates a couple of things.

Firstly the power of a strong offer.

Many people fail miserably with cold calling or other outbound marketing approaches simply because what they're offering (usually a sales meeting) just isn't that attractive to the vast majority of their potential clients.

An offer of a free showcase training session, a briefing meeting, strategy call or other session where you give something valuable to a potential client is much more attractive.

Of course, you have to be picky. There has to be a strong chance of that potential client becoming a paying client.

But if you're confident of that, then a good offer makes all the difference to get you in the door.

Secondly, it also shows that sometimes you have to suffer a bit of discomfort to get the results you want.

I'm all for “pain free marketing” as you know.

But let's not pretend that life is always a bed of roses. Sometimes we have to grit our teeth and just do what's needed when we're in a tight spot.

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Prove it!

Posted byIan Brodie on March 22nd, 2015.

I've got an important question for you in a second. Here's the background…

I was sitting in a coffee shop a couple of weeks ago having done my weekly planning and I was kind of watching the world go by.

There was a business meeting going on at a table nearby. A couple of younger folks in shirts and ties were showing what looked like some sample brochures and design work to three older businesspeople.

After they'd reviewed the artwork they shifted to a more general business chat. It made interesting listening.

One of the younger guys seemed to be the more senior of the two and he took the lead in the conversation. But rather than asking his potential clients questions and finding more about them he spent the whole time talking about himself.

He talked about his business philosophy, how he only worked with people he could trust, how customer service was vital to him.

Me, me, me. Yada yada yada. 

I almost felt like shouting over “just shut the heck up for a minute and actually listen to your clients”.

It's not just him though. When under pressure we all seem to feel the need to try to justify ourselves. To tell people what nice guys we are, how great we are to work with, how high our standards are.

After observing hundreds of these conversations over the years I can promise you the people you tell this stuff to just aren't interested.

Not that they don't care whether you're nice guys and great to work with. They just don't believe what you're saying.

If you're great to work with, don't say it. Prove it. Make your marketing and your sales interactions with potential clients a real showcase for how great it would be to work with you. Make them fun. Make them a real pleasure.

If you're a real expert in your field, don't say it. Prove it. Share valuable content in your marketing that's helpful to your clients and marks you out as an authority.

So here's the question…

Take a look at your own marketing. What does it say on your website home page or your email signature or your brochures?

How often are you making claims about how great you are rather than actually proving it?

Marketing is the art of getting clients to believe they should be working with you. And belief comes from proof, not claims.

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More visible “how” = more clients

Posted byIan Brodie on March 19th, 2015.

Yesterday I shared 3 strategies for making your “how” – the experience of working with you – more visible to potential clients so they can see how different you are.

Here's another strategy that's worked really well for me. And it goes against a lot of what gets taught about becoming seen as an authority in your field.

It's to be accessible.

When I was first learning marketing (and in particular when I was researching how to become seen as an expert in your field) a lot of the advice I heard was about hiding yourself away. Being difficult to reach. Not answering your phone. Creating a mystique so you're seen as a prize to be won.

Phooey. 

I answer every email I can. I try to give my best advice and insight.

Sometimes I get very busy and I'm difficult to reach. But that's genuinely because I'm busy. Not because I'm trying to create the perception of being busy.

By being accessible I get to hear first hand what people are worried about or interested in. And they get to experience a little taste of what it would be like to work with me.

And I feel good about it too.

It's a great way of making your “how” more visible to potential clients. And it's a great way of doing more good.

Sure, at times you'll need to disconnect when you're really busy. But don't fake busyness just to look important.

Be accessible whenever you can. I promise you it's more fun and it gets results.

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How to differentiate with your “how”

Posted byIan Brodie on March 18th, 2015.

In yesterday's email I mentioned how comedy magician Michael Finney stands out from other magicians because of how he performs his magic and the personality he infuses into it, not what he does.

For service providers in businesses where it's easy to copy what you do, how you do it is often the only way you can set yourself apart.

However, there's a problem with differentiating on your “how”: it's difficult for clients to see that difference up front so they know they should hire you.

If your “what” is different – ie you do something that others don't – then that's easy for them to see in advance. If they want it, they'll hire you.

But if they get a better experience from working from you, if you can set up a better relationship with them, then that's difficult to prove in advance. Everyone says they deliver great service and build wonderful relationships.

Here are three strategies you can use to get your “better how” more visible in advance.

Firstly, you can let potential clients experience what it's like to work with you. In Michael Finney's case, he got the booking because he'd appreared at the convention a decade earlier and the organisers knew just how good he was because they'd seen him in action. He also has a variety of showcase videos available all over the web from his TV and some of his stage appearances.

As a professional service provider your work is often done behind closed doors. But you can do presentations. Capture bits of your workshops on video. Offer bite-sized versions of your services that are easy to buy and give potential clients a “test drive” of what it would be like to work with you.

How can you let clients experience what it's like to work with you – so they can feel the difference? 

Secondly, you can let others tell your potential clients about how different you are to work with. This is particularly effective in a closed community like the world of magic. The organisers of last week's event are already asking around for recommendations for next year's convention.

Referrals, introductions and testimonials are all familiar ways of getting your difference across to potential clients in a believable way. But they need to be combined with the third strategy.

Strategy three is to translate your unique “how” into the results it delivers.

New clients aren't out looking for an experience. They're out looking for better results in their business and personal life. So you need to lead with that.

Later on, they often stay or buy again because of the experience. But initially it's not tangible enough.

If you're describing how you're different you need not only to prove that difference (through testimonials for example), you need to spell out how that difference will impact their bottom line.

In Michael Finney's case, his humour and personality gives the audience the night of their lives. They're in stiches during his act.

In your case if you're claiming that you understand your client's business better than your competitors (for example) then spell out exactly how that enables you to save them more costs or grow their revenue more. Get a quote from a client saying not only that you understood them better than anyone else, but showing how that difference led to a tangible business result for them.

If your customer service is better, how does that impact the bottom line of your clients? Less wasted time? Faster results? You've got to spell it out and prove it

As a client, in many ways I don't care that you're different. I care how that difference gives me a better result. And I want you to prove it.