More Leads and Customers | Small Business Marketing

What's the one "unbreakable" rule of copywriting? Here it is... Put your biggest, boldest benefit in the headline! Or stated another way... "The bigger the benefit, the more they'll buy". Why? Because the headline determines 80% of the success or failure of the ad. Well, the truth is, it's actually B.S. Or, to be diplomatic, only a "half truth". Like soooo much to do with human psychology, there's more to the picture. Because headlines such as this... "Bald headed man embarrasses Wall St pros by making $20,000 in 2 weeks - trading only 15 minutes per day." ... make people fall asleep. Or headlines like this... The amazing secret of a Lotto maniac who "cracked the code" and now makes $2,796.95 per week from home. ... bore us to tears So, in this article, I want to give you 4 situations when you must not ever write a big benefit filled headline in your ads... landing pages... brochures... TV spots... video sales letters etc., etc., Stay glued to the screen because you're about get an inside peek into psychology that only a small number of people - even highly paid copywriters - know and understand. SITUATION #1: If your product has brand name recognition and your market WANTS your product. If so, it's much more effective to put the brand in the headline and couple it with a special offer e.g. Apple iPads - 75% off. Need the headline say more? No. Why? The brand has done much of the selling for us to date. We already know and trust the company and the product. All we need is a nudge - a logical reason to act now. In this case, a big discount. SITUATION #2: When your product has brand name recognition but your market does NOT yet want the product. What you do then is butt the unique selling proposition (USP) next to the brand name. Here are examples from Gene Schwartz's seminal book, Breakthrough Advertising: Steinway - The Instrument of the Immortals Anywhere you go. Hertz is always nearby. Or one of the most famous examples in all of direct response history, David Ogilvy's Rolls Royce Ad... "At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls Royce comes from the electric clock." HERE'S A QUICK BACK STORY FROM MY TIME IN NEW YORK One time a few years ago, I was walking along Central Park with a good friend of mine and we saw a wall poster for a Robert Kiyosaki event. Normally, I'd advise against wall posters as an advertising medium... unless the product in question is a brand name. When it comes to wealth building, the brand doesn't get much stronger than Kiyosaki. Hence having his name as the main feature was a smart thing to do. I'm unable to recall the exact wording of his USP on the wall poster, but I think it was "The World's Leading Wealth Building Coach", or something like that. Another example is Tony Robbins. For many of us he is a brand name. Which is why you'll often see his name in the headline of ad - coupled with the USP "World's #1 Motivational Coach". AN IMPORTANT LESSON The easiest categories to sell stuff are the two categories I've mentioned - when your product has brand name recognition. Unfortunately, most of us in business don't sell products that are household names. So we have to dig deeper - and get more creative - to make our message stand out. Well, here's another time to never use benefit filled headlines... SITUATION #3: When you have a product that solves a problem. Example... Let's look at the acne market. As a primary motive, a teenager plagued with acne doesn't want beautiful, silky smooth skin. He wants to get rid of his acne. He wants to overcome pimple problems. He wants his acne to disappear. Notice how each of these focus on the problem rather than the gain? That's because his mind is more focused on his pain than the potential reward. That's why you must never claim a big benefit if your market is

I am sitting in the lobby of the Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf in good ole' San Francisco as I'm writing this. I flew over to attend a Ryan Deiss Internet marketing event. And while the gig was good, spending time with the fellow attendees was great. There's one guy in particular I spent a boatload of time with. A treat because back at home (he's an Aussie) we're both busy juggling our various projects... and so we're unable to chat for so many hours over so many days. Who is this guy? Well, let's call him "J". I've always known "J" is a sharp dude. But spending this much time with him allowed me to get a deeper insight into how he thinks. So... ... Given he makes a bundle of money. ... Given "J's" savvy as heck. ... And given he's an all around awesome guy, I thought I'd share some of his most dominant thinking patterns. Because, as you know, it's how one thinks that determines one's altitude in life. Onwards: Thinking pattern #1: There's more than enough for everybody One of the businesses I own is in the same industry as "J". You could say we're "competitors". But I don't see it that way (at least not in the traditional "I must take from you for me to gain sense"). And neither does he. In fact, he quite openly shared details of marketing campaigns that are working for him. "J" was open with figures... the challenges he's faced with and where he sees opportunity. Amazing, right? Especially since it's the opposite of what most people do. Rightly or wrongly, most people keep things close to their chest. Not "J". He's as giving as Santa on Christmas morning. Why? Because he knows there's more than enough money for EVERYBODY to gain. Thinking Pattern #2: It ain't the money. It's turning a project into a flourishing success During one night over drinks "J" was telling me about a business he helped get up and running. In the initial stages, he was instrumental to its success - including thinking of the name of the business. Fast forward a few years later and "J" is no longer a part of this business. So when the others involved asked how much he wanted for thinking of the brand name, "J" laughed and said "I don't want anything. Just make it a winner." (Side note: I'm not saying he did all this free. Yes, he got paid... but for other things directly related to sales of product. Strictly speaking though, he could have made a claim on the name, too. But declined to do so). This is a trait I've seen many millionaire display over the years - it ain't the money they're juiced about. It's creating something special. Something that makes them spring out of bed in the morning. Something they can feel truly satisfied about. ********************************************************* IT'S HAPPENING 3 Days in February I'm getting together with up to 10 sharp business owners (max) and their marketing teams for the Instant Sales Roundtable. On Feb 8th, 9th and 10th we'll be tweaking, refining and rewriting entire lead generation and sales systems. A FULL 3 days spend on uncovering tipping point breakthroughs. Check out this video for all the exciting details: Instant Sales Roundtable ********************************************************* Thinking Pattern #3: Passionate about marketing Not surprisingly, he's a savvy marketer. One of the best I've ever seen. This is a trait I've seen in many successful entrepreneur (and definitely in my clients) - they are sharp marketers and salespeople. I'm sure there are many reasons for this commonality, but here's the top reason as I see it: They all know that the ONLY way a business makes money is if there is a market for the product. If there's no market there's no chance - NO CHANCE - the business can flourish. And ultimately, markets are about people.

Full Transcription Hey! It’s Alexi Neocleous here, and I have something a bit different that I want to do for you today. I'm going to walk you through a case study that I stumbled across just the other day and within this case study there are going...

I am going to walk you through the anatomy of a multi-million dollar marketing campaign. In fact, at this time, I’m central to the evolution of no less than 4 multi-million dollar marketing campaigns. This is great timing! So sit back, relax and allow me to take you behind the scenes of what we’re doing. Because these 3 steps are applicable to every product and business. And it’s the first time I’ve revealed these steps to anybody but my high level clients. STEP 1 – LAY OF THE LAND Just as a sniper settles on an elevated perch to assess the landscape, I get a broad overview of the market before I embark on a campaign. To do so I use a number of tools: * I interview my client or product creator * I review the product intensively * I speak to high paying customers in the market niche * I analyse competitor campaigns * I buy competitor products * I study books on the subjects * I visit Amazon.com to review which titles are selling the most books * I visit forums * I assess which traffic sources gives us deepest access to our best market (this is usually in conjunction with a traffic expert). And so on. I spend hours and hours planning, researching and preparing before I start working on the copy. For some people this stage is boring. For me, I LOVE it! Because I know “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. So I plan like a maniac! STEP 2 – WRITE COPY It’s time to put my head down and the tail up. It’s time for the writing process. This is always fun if I’ve stayed true to Step 1. Nowadays, Step #2 almost always involves (but is not exclusive to): * Video sales letters * Email sequences * Email sequences for sub lists (such as people who have clicked on links… or people who buy). * Copy for landing pages * Copy for upsell pages * Banner copy * Offline pieces – direct mail, postcards and sometimes “Shock n Awe” packages. And so on… And because when I work with clients one-on-one it means I am in it for the long haul, I ALWAYS have alternate ideas ready for execution should the initial round of testing produce mediocre results. This brings me to step 3. STEP 3 – THROW SPAGHETTI AT THE WALL AND SEE WHAT STICKS This is where we test all the copy I’ve produced… and this is where we test our traffic sources (both offline and online). I advise ALL my high level clients to reserve judgement during the test phase. During this phase we’re ONLY looking for what works and what doesn’t work. We’re looking for what “sticks”. This is vital market feedback. With market feedback we’ll do more of what works and stop (or refine) what doesn’t work. This could mean… … Changing the opening of the video sales letter. … Raising (or lowering) the price of the product. … Testing new traffic sources … Tweaking banner copy And so on. Once we’ve made the initial round of changes we send more traffic to the sales copy. Then, once again, we assess what “sticks”. And also again, we stop (or refine) what’s not working and expand what is working. Can you see where I’m going with this? If not, let me be clear… We keep going through this process until we hit a converting funnel that we can roll out and make a bundle of $$$ from. AN EXAMPLE Right now, one of these campaigns is in the weight loss market. We’re nearing the initial round of the testing phase. To make it easier to test our banners – and to get the most data from the initial test – we’ve purposely crafted the opening of the video sales letter so it covers a broad range of subjects. I can’t tell you the exact wording because we haven’t tested it yet (and also it’s confidential). But I can give you an insight… Mediocre copy tries to be all things to everyone. This is the “shotgun benefit” approach that you see on most websites on the Internet.

Full Transcription Hi! This is Alexi Neocleous with another high leverage marketing update for you. None of us like to be hard sold. I am sure all of us, at some point, have had to face a hard seller that is pulling out every old school tactic out of the book just to close the sale. So what I want to do is start off today's video with a way to show to you how to sell without selling… How to sell without hard selling? So this way you still get the response that you're looking for out of your prospect. You don't get that little dirty feeling inside your belly after you’ve got the sale. So what am I talking about? Well it's probably the most powerful persuasive tool that exists. It is simply this... “Using the power of compelling stories” Now, stories without a doubt are the most effective tool, at least in my mind I think, for getting people to understand your message, to see your way of thinking and to, ultimately, do what you want them to do. Now, in a sales environment, there are many stories that you can tell that can help you persuade your prospect. One example is a story of how the product was invented. Another story is about how the company was founded. Another story could be about a customer or a client that you or your products have helped. There are many stories that you can tell and, using the right context at the right time, they can be extraordinarily persuasive. So if you’re not using many stories right now in your face to face interactions or in your videos where you're asking for a conversion of any sort or even in your emails or even in your telemarketing… Use more of them. And it’s very, very hard to overdo stories. So now I want to talk about one of my old beautiful loves… direct mail. I don't do anywhere near as much direct mail as I used to and I received the other week in the mail this piece. We do some direct mail. About ten years ago everything was direct mail. A lot of things are online now. But I received this piece in the mail and… I love… While other people like getting presents and chocolates and whatever, for me… like every month my wife goes to our post box and brings back a big box of mail and it’s all pieces like this. Anyway, I am getting a bit off track. This piece came in the mail and the headline said "Inside President Obama's Tax Returns" By the way, this came to me when the election was on. So,it’s very newsworthy, very timely and, I thought,“Great headline.” This entire piece focused on the secret investment that Obama's a part of that earned him $72,780 per month. So, near on 900 grand ($ 900, 000). The whole piece talks about this mysterious investment. Never reveals it. And you're thinking, "Wow! I wonder what this thing is because he's not working for it, it's low risk and he is making all this money, all this cash flow.I want to know what it is!" But then these people screwed up. They had an exact quote from the Wall Street Journal inside the sales letter about this investment. They stuffed up. Why? Because all I did was trot on over to my computer and I typed in that quote with the words Wall Street Journal and I found out what the investment was. And in one fell swoop… bang! All the mystery, all the suspense, all my interest was gone. What's the lesson here? People nowadays have more information at their fingertips than any other time imaginable. I read the statistic the other day... The average person has more information on their fingertips than what the President of the United States did 15 years ago. Think about that. The President of the United Stated didn't have as much information on his fingertips as we do now. That's incredible! Can you imagine in 5 or 10 years time what the situation will be like? So the lesson here is keep in mind whatever you do in your copy... in your messaging...

Full Transcription Hi, it's Alexi here and I wanted to show you a little planning trick that I used to work with so many clients and to work so effective with the clients. I have particular client that will probably see this video that does a lot of different things at once. And so one day, I could be working on one particular job and next I could be working on something else and the next day I could get a phone call and I could get an impromptu briefing. And then I can get an email that gives me some information. And then his business partner could send me something else and information comes from different directions. And so with this particular client, I learned a long time ago that I have to get very organize otherwise I'd lose information. And so, we've been working together in a few years now. And many times he commented on how organized I am as I able to see top things easily. Now it's true more than even before because the last year or so I started using a software called Evernote. Now if you've heard of Evernote you know what a great software it is. If you haven't heard of Evernote and if you are a freelancer, be a consultant, copywriter or whatever then this is going to be a particular value for you because I'm going to focus in drilling how I manage all the ideas that I get from clients for clients with clients. And never literally lose anything at any point what I need to do for the client. So this is the general screen for Evernote. I'm not going to take you to every single one of them. In fact, I can't even take you to the client's folder itself because that is a live active one. There are confidential stuff in there. What I've done though is set up a client example notebook for you. So, let's call the client Bob. Bob is in the health industry and anything that pertains to Bob whether or not I get an idea about Bob's campaign, whether or not Bob emails me something that I need to mention, whether or not there's a problem that occurs that I need to keep on my radar. So for example, let's say Bob emails me and said, “We'll be getting feedback from our buyers and they love the stuff on cheap foods.” Bang! That goes to Evernote as a reminder for me to do something about that on an email or whatever it may be. So it gets dump in here. So let's say I get ideas from my readings because if you go back here, I have books that I need (this quite pretty big actually) to read while I'm forever adding stuff to this list and deleting it. Let's say I'm reading a book on whatever maybe just says marketing for now. And I am reading the book and I get an idea for Bob that I know we can use in this campaign. Well what I do is just go to Bob's folder here and drop the idea right there. Bang! Bang! I type it in and if I get another idea I type it in and then slowly but surely everything is nice to get catalogue in this one folder. And let's say I am travelling about, or surfing online and I see a banner that we can swipe and use as test campaign. I'll copy that banner across and dump it into his file. So that one example that we could use here. And that keeps happening and that way I never lose anything. I'm never getting overwhelmed or overloaded if everything's centralized. Well let's say I have a chat to Bob on the phone and Bob says, "Alexi we really need to make sure that we update the order coupon and put that extra testimonial in there because we're noticing the abandonment rate on the order coupon's bit higher than what we want.” Bang! Damp it in here and add to a work lists. Again, never lose anything. The beautiful thing about Evernote is you can use it across all the devices... on my wife's Iphone, my Iphone, the Ipad's, the laptop, everything. So what that means is wherever I am, all the devices get sync. So let's say add a note to here. Let's just put that there.

I’ve been running a secret experiment. Only my wife - and a few of my closest colleagues – know about it. But now the test results are in… and I have very important news to share with you. It all starts with Jerry Seinfeld… Recently I was reading about how Jerry became a great comedian. According to Jerry, the secret to great comedy is writing comedy every day. Ok, so no great surprises, right? But how does one attain the discipline to do it every day – without fail? Jerry’s advice: He recommends a wall calendar with the full year on a single page. Each day that Jerry worked on his comedy he'd put a big, bright red X on the calendar. Soon enough, there was a chain of big red X’s. He found NOT breaking the chain became its own reward. He didn't have to motivate himself to do the work. He didn't need to reward himself at the end. Simply the act of doing was the reward. Hmm... I thought “that's interesting.” Then I thought, “why not experience this for myself”? So I have. And I have been doing so for nearly two weeks. Conclusion: I am blown away at how effective it is. My friend, it’s a life changer. Given all the tools and books I’ve read on productivity – and all the nifty software that’s out there to stay organised - this trumps them all. Of course, I’m not seeking to be a great comedian. I have different pursuits. Which is why my list has… 1. 30 mins of bullet writing 2. Exercise 3. Visualisation 4. Journal 5. Bodily measurements (more accurate than weighing) What I’ve Discovered * It gets my butt into the gym when I don’t want to. Example: I was running late one day... and didn't get to exercise. That was until I looked at the clock and it was 9.30pm. If I wanted the red X, I had to train. So I did. I haven’t trained that late for 20 years. Normally, I would have chalked it up to bad scheduling... and gone to bed. * I’ve noticed my mind craves the satisfaction of the red X. It really IS its own reward. * I fell sick with a cold last week. One day I felt particularly rotten. So I didn’t exercise. Which means I didn’t get to chalk up an X. But I found the desire to string together an unbroken series of X’s got me back on the horse… and as I write this I am about to hit 5 in a row with absolute ease. Turns out Seinfeld hit on something really awesome. I have pinned my calendar on the fridge. This way I get to see it many times per day. It’s a handy reminder. And it’s working a treat. Go ahead and give it a shot. See for yourself. Until next time, Alexi   To learn more about The World’s Greatest Productivity Tool,   check out this cool page...  

Last Friday I gave a talk to a group of just over 400 information hungry business owners. Then the next morning, I jumped on a plane to give another talk in Surfers Paradise to a smaller - yet equally hungry - group. Both times, one of my topics was the importance of using news to write hard hitting emails. Using news that you see on TV... in the newspaper... or in industry specific journals to sneak passed your reader's filters. I was telling people in the audience it's possible to combine ANY news story with ANY product. "You just gotta get creative," I preached. And so, while on stage, I ran through a few examples that the audience called out to me. All "without a net", as they say. I combined all sorts of weird and wonderful situations. It was fun. In fact, before too long, I felt like a party performer. One lady even asked me to connect a murder trial currently taking place in the UK with a fine bottle of wine! Anyway, in this email, I thought I'd take you through a few examples of this powerful technique in action. But instead of using news, I'm going to show you how to use interesting facts. The technique is the same. But interesting facts hand me a hidden benefit. It means this article can be timeless. I can leave it on my blog for ages so that readers in a few years time won't think it's "dated". Anyway, here we go... EXAMPLE #1: "Did you know if you folded a piece of paper in half 50 times, its thickness would be 3/4 the distance from Earth to the sun. It's true! Well, losing weight is the same. Why? Because small hinges swing big doors. And all you need to do is make just one easy "tweak" to your breakfast each morning and your life will change forever. I'm living, breathing proof. I added one little known item to my breakfast and now I'm 7 kilos lighter. I've shed 4 inches from my waist etc., Here's the story..." See what I did there? I connected an interesting fact about paper... with a secret on how to lose weight. A seemingly irrelevant connection that became relevant. EXAMPLE #2: "Did you know one gram of DNA can store 700 terabytes of data? It's true. That's like filling the hard drive space of... ... your home computer... ... your neighbour's computer... ... and everybody else's computer in a 1km radius from home! That's a lot of information to store in one tiny gram of DNA. Well, some people's brain is the same. They're gifted with a photographic memory. No matter what you tell them... or what they read... or what they hear, they recall it all. Unfortunately, the rest of us aren't as lucky. But there's good news... I've discovered a simple way you can enjoy a photographic memory. I don't mean just a good memory. I mean photographic: * Recall a full deck of cards forwards and backwards. * Remember a passage from any book - including the page number and where on the page the information is located. * Instantly recall every person's name and face at dinner parties and business meetings. And so much more... Before I tell you about this..." Can you see what I did here? How did I do it? Well, it's pretty simple... The secret is to find what your interesting fact (or news item) has in common with your product. Then list those common elements down the page. Brainstorm until you can't think of any more. Is it physically similar? Does it have the same colour? Smell? And so on... The next step after that is pick the common elements and turn it into a compelling narrative. If you've never done this before, a word of advice... Don't expect to be good at it the first time. Or even the second time. It takes a little practice. But like most things in my life, this skill is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets.

I’ve been thinking about mentors lately. Because I’m moving into teaching more and more, I’ve been reflecting on the incredible responsibility I’m taking on. And, I’ll be honest, it’s giving me the jitters. Because when others trust you to mentor them, you open them up to your “mental map”. Beliefs. Values. And so on. I know – as a mentor – I’ll hold huge influence over people. I don’t necessarily want it to be that way. But it’s the nature of mentoring. I’ve had mentors all my life. Some good mentors. Some great mentors - mentors that truly changed my life. And looking back over my life, I’ve realised on one level every mentor has been helpful. But on another level, some have been not so helpful. Let’s take copywriting as an example. It’s a subject I know well. And I know many people reading this have an interest in it. I’ve studied thousands of books on copywriting… sales… persuasion and so on. I’ve had dozens of copywriting mentors. All the big names in my industry. You name them. I’ve probably got their material. Anyway, about three years ago I was fortunate enough to be accepted into a copywriting mastermind. This mastermind is truly the pinnacle for my field. It doesn’t get any more elite than this. So it was a real honour. At the time I joined the group, I thought I was pretty hot $#$%. After all, I had scores of highly successful campaigns under my belt. I thought I’d sail through. I was wrong! Dead wrong. I struggled. Really struggled. I vividly remember the first assigned project. What a nightmare. It took 11 rewrites! I think I struggled more than anyone else in the group. It took me a while to work out why. Why I Struggled As you probably have experienced yourself, when you learn something new, you’re an empty vessel. The glass is empty. Then, via exposure to the mentor, that glass steadily gets filled with knowledge. Until it starts to reach near – but never reaching - the top. Then, if you apply the mentor’s teachings, you experience outcomes - your learnings should yield positive results. Soon those results shape your self-image. This is a double edged sword. Because once that self-image takes shape, it begins to set. For most people, it usually stays set – as solid as concrete. And they shut their mind to new experiences. To new learnings. They close their mind to the notion of doing something badly… and then using the feedback from that experience to do better next time. If this has ever happened to you, you know what I mean. But please don’t blame yourself. Or even be disappointed with yourself. Because it’s not your fault – at least not entirely. As humans we’re born with a mind that forms neurological patterns. And it takes only one emotional experience for a new pattern to form. Once it’s formed it’s so darn easy to get caught up in a loop of thoughts. Like a hamster on a wheel, round and round we go. Until it becomes habit. Know what I mean? Back to my mastermind. I discovered that I became one of those people who let their self-image set. That had formed patterns i.e. beliefs about how sales copy should be written. So I struggled and struggled. But then, once I identified my resistance, I slowly opened to the idea that I have much more to learn. I became comfortable with the notion that learning is a lifelong process. Not as an ideal. But as a living, breathing, daily practice. The Lesson So be careful whom you choose as a mentor. Your mind will fill with their “mental map of reality” through association. Whether you like it or not, you will get influenced. And that, my friend, is where the real value of a world-class mentor lies. Because with a world-class mentor you’ll understand how they think. You get insights into the questions the mentor asks to overcome challenges. The perceptions the mentor uses to filter newfound opportunities.

Highlights discussed in this podcast: Full Transcription Hi, this is Alexi Neocleous and just the other day I was flickering through the newspaper and there’s a story about a business owner who can no longer get traffic from Facebook. He went from getting 1.2 million visitors a month to zero and he basically lost his business overnight. Why? Well because he didn’t hear one of the mentor’s advices which is number one is the most dangerous number in business. When you have only one traffic source, whether you only have one copywriter, whether you only have one web developer or whatever. The number one is most dangerous number in business because if that resource falls over then, what fall back plan do you have? So the other day I was talking to a client exactly about this subject. He was thinking of bringing on a very specialized web developer to help scale his business and I said to my client, this is a great idea. This guy specializes and genius on what he does. However if you are very smart to train somebody internally to do this job as well just in case the web developer disappears or has or just can't do his job. So be very mindful of this. If your business relies on only one resource for anything at all, you want a second person or a second traffic source as a minimum that you can fall back on just in case your prime resource pulls over. So the next tip I want to give you is a 2 part formula on how to make your entire content have much more potency. How to be much more powerful when people hear it. So let me give you 2 scenarios. First scenario is this, this is a piece of content. Instead of contacting prospective clients only 2 or 3 times, I make sure that I contacted them on at least 7 times over the course of 3 months, okay. That's a pretty solemn piece of advice that actually does work. It's not all too sexy because there is a bit of work there but it's an effective tool, it's a follow up. But what if I pre-phrase that content with something like this... I am about to reveal a strategy that I used that has helped make me an extra $70000 profit just in the last 6 months. All I do is make this one simple change and in doing do has revolutionize the way we sell in our company. What is this? Well it's simple instead of following up with the client 2 or 3 times or just 2 or 3 times we follow up at least 7 times over x amount of months. Now you see the difference there? By having the proof in the beginning, the outcome of what it's done for me that content has much more meaning in depth tones, much more potency. So the two step formula is quite simple as it is. Proof is step one. Step two is the content chunk. So next time you're revealing a piece of content, make sure that you have the proof before the content chunk to give it extra white. And the final piece I want to give you today is quite cool actually because we are all facing this as marketers and business owners. I was cruising on a car and we drove by a Holden car lot. And if you're in Australia, you know the Holden's a big car company very well known and there was a sale that Holden were making or an offer which was you know, even if you are not part of the Holden team you got a star discount if you buy during this month. I thought that's an interesting one and I think that's a good one. And it occur to me you know, this guys they're stock with having to come up a new reasons to get people onto their lots every week and every month because the sales person, a car sales person need to make a sale infinitely more than what we need to buy a car. That would like us to think otherwise but you know that's not the truth. And so they constantly have to come up with new reasons to first get you into the lot but also get you to take action to create a sense of urgency. Now that's just one example that I'm using but you as a business owner, you can use literally hundreds of different ways to created urgency.

A typical situation in our home... Scene: I am sipping an espresso and writing copy. I'm working on the dining table. And I'm listening to music through my awesome headphones. Sophy is cooking in the kitchen. Naturally, the aroma is toe curling. I've just finished writing the first draft of a piece of copy. I think it's strong copy... though I am not sure. I need a second pair of eyes. So, I call out to wifey - "Babe! Can you come here for a sec? I want to get your thoughts on some copy." Sophy's customary response, "I'm busy. I'm cooking". Alexi responds, "Just one sec. Please" (but it's really more like 10 minutes). So she sighs and trots on over to sit at the dining table. That's when I make my usual request... "Ok read this line by line. Read it naturally - as you would if you saw this in a newspaper. Tell me if any sentence is tough to read. If any sentence is confusing. Or if you're working even a little bit too much to understand something." So, Sophy starts reading. She takes her time. I watch her face. If she doesn't say anything within 20 seconds or so I ask her "What part are you up to?" She tells me. Then I ask her "What are you thinking? What's your mind responding with?" I ask these questions to elicit objections. Because great copy addresses objections as they arise. But world-class copy anticipates them and lays the groundwork before objections arise. Sophy continues reading. I see her furrow her eyebrows. I pounce - "What line did you just read?" She tells me. It turns out a particular sentence wasn't as clear as it could be. So I make a note to tweak it. She keeps reading. Then she says to me, "See this sentence here. I don't believe it". I make a note of that, too. I plan to either address the objection in the very next sentence. Or, I may change the context leading up to the paragraph so the objection doesn't even arise. In any case, I'm doing needlework. I can't rush it. I must be precise. Sophy keeps reading. Line by line. Paragraph by paragraph. And at every turning point I'm looking for a reason - any reason whatsoever - that causes her to pause. My ego is not in the way. I don't have an opinion. The fact she's pausing is evidence enough that I need to make changes. But every now and then - like this morning - I hit one out of the park. She reads something and her eyes light up. So I pounce yet again! "What did you read just then?" I ask. She tells me. She tells me why she likes a sentence. How it made her feel hopeful. How she felt intrigued. I make yet another note. Given her visceral reaction to that particular sentence, I wonder if I can deploy it more effectively. Perhaps I can use it in the headline? Or the subhead? Or in the open? Get more bang from those special few dynamite words. We continue until she's finished with the ad. Once she's done, I ask her "So do you buy this?" If the response is "yes", she tells me why. What did she like about it? How can I make it better? Again, I'm looking for ammunition I can use in the copy. If it's "no", I find out why. I keep pushing and probing until she can't think of any other reasons. Then I customarily make those changes. But I don't stop there. I then send it to the client. And I get their feedback. Thankfully, this is where my client interactions are sooooooo different than most of my brethren. I tell my client... "Hey John. I need your help. The copy is coming along well though I don't know if I've got it nailed yet. Give me your opinion. Please read through it line by line. Tell me where it's weak. Where it's confusing. Where it's unbelievable. Make a note of it and then come back to me. I want you to make millions off this... but I can't do it without your help". And because I work with the best clients on the face of the Earth (me be lucky!),

Just last week, my wife and I saw the new Cirque du Soleil event, "Ovo". We love Cirque du Soleil. As I was watching the show, I contemplated its worldwide success. So I focused my attention on reverse engineering a few of the very cool things they did to make the show a winner. Here are few of the coolest and best points: 1. A catchy name: Cirque du Soleil always have unusual, catching names. Whether it's "OVO" or "Alegria" they usually use one word names. Why? Because one word names make it much easier for the "meme" to catch on and get passed on to other people. One word names make it easier for the information to go viral. This is the same when we write headlines that are direct, clear and hit the prospect's desire or problem. 2. Create Magic - Everything Cirque du Soleil do is magical. Really magical. Many times, while watching their shows I've found myself with my jaw open. Feeling stunned. Combining the amazing physical feats, with lighting and bright costumes all serves to create a magical experience. Magic is very important in copy, too. You want your prospect to read your copy and feel as if magic has just taken place. That in buying your product they'll enjoy a better, happier life almost instantly! 3. A Clear Vision From The Top: The founder of the company is Guy Laliberte. Guy reportedly has a net worth of $2.6 billion. A while ago, I was watching a set of DVDs on the making of Cirque du Soleil. From these DVDs I got to understand - at least to some degree - the culture of this organisation. Picture this: after months of rehearsals the cast and crew were ready to a run through for Guy. This is the first time he's seen the fruits of their efforts. Everybody is nervous. Because if Guy isn't happy, heads will roll. So Guy walks in. A cool man. A man in charge. The crew begin their performance. And for half an hour or so he's just standing there. No response. You can't get a read on him. At the end of the performance, he gives his review to the head of the production. Guy says many things but the most important from my perspective was this - one of the acts were a disappointment. And he said if he's going to attend one of the shows, he wants to be mesmerized. Stunned even. He wants it to be the most incredible thing he's ever witnessed! Anyone who has been to one of their shows know what they experience is like. Their shows ARE amazing. And so, this one man's vision has permeated through all the events and all throughout the company. So that, we as attendees and guests really feel that. The lesson: Great companies have clear from vision from the top down. I have found this too when I consult with clients. When the vision is clear at the top, it finds its way all the way through the organisation. Decisions are made effectively. The company pulses at a rapid clip. But when the founder or CEO is unclear in their vision - or has failed to accurately pass than on to everybody in the team - tough situations develop. There's low staff morale. Poor sales. And so on. 4. Bonus Tip: We've been to many of their shows. And the other night we noticed a few things that we've seen before. Thankfully, even those performances were still awesome. The lesson here is keep doing what's working! Many times I've had clients want to pull ad that's making money. Why? Because the client is bored with it! Never stop what's working. Sure, you can refine. Improve. But don't plug it. So if you have an ad or landing page that's working well, don't change it for the sake of changing it!   To know more about marketing secrets,   check out this cool page...  

I’ve always been interested in games of chance. Blackjack. Stock trading. Poker. Don’t know why. Maybe it’s about outwitting situations that so few people can outwit over the longer term. Maybe it’s the possibility of making bucket loads of...

Bonus: can easily double your open rates, too. Easy to do. Highlights discussed in this podcast: Full Transcription Hi, it's Alexi Neocleous with another high leverage marketing update for you. One of the best ways to get your emails opened and to get more leads from email, let's say you bring to the list or whatever is to tie in to a current new cycle where your market is a part of. So this is a general example. Right now the US Presidential election is heating up. Let's just say that my target market whatever reason were very you know curiously interested in US Presidential election. Well I could do an email subject line that would say something like Obama vs. Neocleuos. Now if my timing is really good, plenty of really good open right because that's a really odd subject line, the US President up against me, you know. That's really cool. So, if you look at your emails open and get them read, look at what's happening in the general media. Now the US Presidential election is only one type of news media, there's many more. Here in Australia anything to do with sports - football, soccer, that's always a good time. You could do general type calendar events Christmas, you know Halloween’s coming up whatever maybe. Tying with a news event and you'll get a good bump on your open rights. So you'll probably see me talk about magic words. Now magic words were a gabot, you'll see now some of the world's best copywriter’s use time and time again. We'll the other night, I was at a whisky bar with my wife and one of the best mates. And we were just chatting about different things and we're relaying the story to him about how we try to get out of our mobile phone contract and reason why I'm telling this to my friend is because he's a corporate you know junky and he's a bit of an expert in getting out of contract cause he understands a lot about corporate world. And he said to me Alexi if you got out of contract, you'll simply say it's putting your life at risk is the magic word. Assuming he said it that way beautiful, I love it. So my wife's gonna call the company and try in use that one and dangle that in front of them so we can get out of contract. But I also have my copywriting hat on. I realize that magic words are very powerful depending on the context. Now in that context it's putting my life at risk or it's putting my family's life at risk. The fact that we can't contact people via mobile is one example. Another example in a context of copywriting and winning new clients so I've used for many, many years is I will keep working for free until we hit our goal. So if you're a copywriter even a business coach and struggling to get some clients come across the line try that one. You're gonna be pleasantly surprise when you find that your prospective client becomes an actual paying client. Now on that subject, that's just one of the tricks that I will be revealing at my Copywriting Intensive over many, many cool things that I worked out over 12 years of slogs and high bound battles. I'm not gonna go to a big thing about it now but below this video, there's a pdf with all the bullets and all the cool things that I'm gonna reveal on the Intensive. After you have a look at it, if you came to come and join us, just email Sophy, her email's down below as well. The other day, I ducked into my local health food store because I want to get another protein shake just as a new replacement. And I said to the guy, I said listen, I am lactose intolerant, I am this intolerant, I am a intolerant, I'm just an intolerant person right. I want something that I am able to digest easily and this guy just wouldn't listen. He keeps telling me how nice the flavour was of all these different assortments of protein shake. He keeps saying to me, dude I don't care about that. I can wave through, I could suffer through a bad tasting protein but I do not want to be running back and forth from the toilet.

Highlights discussed in this podcast: Full Transcription Hi this is Alexi with another high leverage marketing update for you. Just the other day I was reading about pilot fish. Now these are fish that feed of the parasites of sharks and because of that, the sharks don’t eat them. So they have a symbiotic relationship and why that is important is because locally one of the gyms in the area that's so much prolific is called Fitness First. Now those of you in Australia very much would know about Fitness First because it's biggest gym in the country. Now for years they're known for not being too friendly with their contract and their terms and so lost a big chunk of market share. Well anyway, the one local in my area has had literally across the road from it two gyms open up that are discount gyms and literally one minute away. And that gym open up discount gym and when I say this gyms pop up, this is a nice symbiotic relationship because first it's booming members due to their contractual practices. This discount gym's have a banners and advertising outside their centre no contract big discounts, easy terms all this... All this is averaging because if they're feeding off the traffic for Fitness First. Now, Fitness First is spending all this money to get new members and because they're bringing so many members. This other gyms just literally across the road are sucking up these members and leaving Fitness First. And just building up membership database so it's a very, very smart relationship they've set up. Now of course they downsize like for example if I ever do it and Fitness First goes out of business... that's a new discussion. So the lesson here is always looked out for competition is not necessarily a bad thing about competition because you can turn the competition into advantage. Here's another example. Just recently I was, I do some research for a weight lost client and I was looking at some discussion boards on weight lost. People that want to lose weight and have got questions and they're looking for advice and one of the thing that I do when I'm looking at discussion boards is to see rates, who got the most amount of views and the most amount of reply. Well I was shocked to see that... I think one of the biggest, if not the biggest on thread is about the product called optislim. And those of you who don't know, optislim is like a very low calorie sort of protein shake that's available in pharmacy and it's quite well known, certainly here in Australia. Well I look at that and straight away I went. Anybody that's in the weight lost industry could use that to their advantage by doing advertisements or by running a free report offer or something like that. With the headline, the case against optislim or what you don't know about optislim or even possible the dangers of optislim. You have to be careful with that one because of legal. But the point is go to Australia, should got example where you got competitor in the industry. That's being lots of marketing wherein you can actually use that to your advantage. So what about fashions? It's understanding the success mindset and cultivating it and speaking to successful people. People that do just really do cool things. The other day, I was speaking to one of my most successful client just an impromptu discussion about success. And we're talking about just... you know when you are in the zone, this things flow. And he was talking about there are times that he'll be on holiday, just relaxing and making six figure sums every week just like relaxing and saying one day to himself, is this even possible? It's just that whatever I touch really turn to gold. And I got a family member who is also quite successful in his own life. And we had many discussions around this topic and he actually calls it grooming intent, grooming intent. Now I won't get into intention, the metaphysics of intention. That's not the point here.