Good copy is relatable to your readers, regardless of the venue

Good copy is relatable to your readers, regardless of the venue

Years ago, I had a conversation with an Internet marketer who asked me how my writing differed, depending on my audience. He was taken aback when I told him that my writing doesn't really differ much depending on my audience. My single goal is always to communicate my message as clearly and simply as possible.

"But ... but ... but ..." he protested, "what about times when it needs to be formal, times when a more specific kind of writing is called for?"
OK, there may be small degrees of difference in formality, like perhaps fewer contractions or an upleveling of vocabulary, but overall, my tone and style of writing don't change from project to project. They are almost universally upbeat and conversational.

My friend implied that I must be mistaken, insisted that was definitely a need for different kinds of writing. I pushed back. "Even legal writing is only stuffy and formal because we've come to expect that — and it keeps lawyers in business. But as long as all the required elements in a brief or legal filing are included, the way it's said is more or less irrelevant."

This, I believe, is the gist of Brian Clark's quote, and as founder of CopyBlogger, he should know!

People often seem to be terrified of writing because they think it's difficult, when in reality, every piece of writing is an act of storytelling. Yes, there is a bit of an art to selecting the words that will draw your reader to you, as opposed to sending her packing, but it's not about the formality, structure, or informality of the writing. It's about how well the words themselves resonate with the reader. No matter how much time, effort, or money you pour into your copy, it will ring hollow if the reader doesn't feel you are speaking to him in language he can understand.

Regardless of your venue — social media conversations, ad copy, your website, or your blog — spend time honing your relational writing. Take a page out of Joe Vitale's book and discover the art of hypnotic writing. If you worry less about correct and formal and more about connection, you will find your writing resonating in a way you may never have dreamed possible.

Here’s to your successful writing!

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Blogs: Still the place you should begin your social media campaign

Blogs: Still the place you should begin your social media campaign

You know social media is crucial to your marketing strategy, but if you're like many who have hesitated to jump in, you may be wondering where to begin. This very question often arises with my clients when discussing social media and other low- to no-cost marketing strategies. I've got to agree with Chris Brogan: Blogging offers, hands-down, the best ROI on your time and energy.

Before you tackle Facebook, start Tweeting, or create your LinkedIn profile, get your blog underway. There are a few keys to successful blogging:

• Quality content
• An image/graphic with every post
• Posting on a regular schedule
• Commeting on other relevant/related blogs  

But why should you start with a blog? What exactly is the power in this platform that began as an online journal tool?

Blogs allow you to do 6 important things:

1. Generate lots of relevant content that the search spiders love. The World Wide Web turned 20 this week, yet generating traffice remains perhaps the biggest challenge for new sites. Because a blog is much more dyamic than a traditional website, in that the best bloggers are adding new content at least once a week, the search engines love well-populated blogs. A blog is the perfect platform through which to add gallons of relevant new content to your site. Not only will the spiders love this content and pull you up in the rankings, but if it's relevant to their searches, your readers and prospective clients will love your content, too.
2. Work wonders in long-tail* searches. Generally speaking, smart bloggers focus their blogs around a reasonably narrow topic or niche, rather than taking a kitchen-sink, one-size-fits-all approach. When writing on such focused topics, an interesting thing tends to happen. Search results and traffic will wend their way to your blog via long-tailed queries that might never have occurred to you. Long-tail searches can generate a lot of traffic to a newer blog, with much less competition for those all-important rankings.

   
   * As explained by MarketingHub.info, "The term ‘long tail’ is used to describe the strategy of targeting less-competitive niche markets rather than the hugely competitive broad keywords. A long-tail keyword might be something like ‘Small Business Web Design,’ while the short-tail would be ‘Web Design.’"
3. Produce high-quality, link-worthy content. Although links to your site from other well-populated sites are not as crucial to successful SEO as they once were, they are still important. But the only reason anyone will link to your blog is if you create content that's worth linking to. Producing regular, high-quality blog posts will give you something to offer site owners so that they will want to link to your blog.
4. Become a credible expert. If you're new to your business or industry, one of the biggest challenges, both on- and offline, is becoming a credible expert. A blog can be a means to catapult right over that little difficulty, if you take the time to do your research and write posts that demonstrate your qualifications and expertise. A great blog post won't necessarily seal the deal for you, but it will lead prospects to you and open the door for an initial conversation. It can also demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of your subject matter so that your prospects feel a certain level of comfort in doing business with you. A high-quality blog can also give you an advantage over the others in your industry if you become the person in your industry who stands out as the expert.
5. Provide a focal point for your social media. Blogs are the organic nexis of any well-crafted social media campaign because they offer syndication tools that make it easy to link to other social media outlets such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and LinkedIn. 
6. Build rapport with your clients, prospects, readers, colleagues, vendors, and other interested folks. Once upon a time, not so long ago, when you wanted to contact a company, you scoured their packaging for their mailing address, wrote a letter, smacked a stamp on it, found a postbox, and crossed your fingers that someone who cared enough to write back would open the letter. Then came traditional websites, which allowed you to learn a lot more about the company – things like their mission statement, product descriptions, and even employment opportunities with their organizations. But there was still a disconnect between you, the consumer, and the folks running the company. Blogging has changed that. Now, companies – even large ones – use blogs to communicate directly with their customers. Take GoDaddy's Bob Parsons, for instance. He’s famous for his personal blog in which he offers commentary and advice to GoDaddy patrons. Think of your blog as your opportunity to sit down for a cup of coffee with every client or potential client. Chat with them. Be personal. Build a relationship. The fact that your readers can post feedback and comments  helps you create a conversation with them, which is the first step in building rapport.

So if you have a new mission, message, company, book, service, or product the world needs to know about, I encourage you to wholeheartedly embrace social media – but start with a blog.

Here’s to your successful blogging!

____________

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Are you READY to join SpongeBob at the Twitter party?

Are you READY to join SpongeBob at the Twitter party?

Who would have thought a goofy cartoon character named SpongeBob would take the lead in a new — but all too obvious — use of the machine that is Twitter? According to a Fast Company update:

This week kids' favorite SpongeBob SquarePants will be the center of a new story on a wholly new medium: Twitter. The Ice Race Cometh — A Twitter Tale is an original story, from the official SpongeBob writing team, and will consist of multiple tweets and images broadcast throughout each day from July 12th to July 15th. Fun? Sure. Novel? You bet. Silly? Quite a bit.

I absolutely LOVE this idea, and wonder about the fact that other authors have not picked up on it sooner.

Now, knowing what I do of human nature, I can hear the groans and protests already. "No way — I'm not going to GIVE AWAY my book for free..."Well, I'm going to fall back on my favorite Cher quote, from Moonstruck: "SNAP OUT OF IT!"

This Twitter series idea is phenomenal for a number of reasons:

• Twitter is approaching 300 million registered users, and has just surpassed 100 million apps designed specifically for it. So, as a social medium, it's no fad — it's here to stay.
• Get over your fear of "giving your work away." This is the way marketing is done today — if you don't want to play the game by the new rules, maybe it's time to find a J-O-B.
• Releasing this stories in a series of tweets is creating sustained interest in the @SpongeBob Twitter handle. People (who are captivated by this story) are going to follow, follow, follow!
• Following a Twitter feed is like watching TV — you can't watch all of it, ever. Yes, people can go back and read the whole story through the @SpongeBob feed, but they're going to have to wade through all the other intermittent tweets. If I really liked the story, I think I'd be inclined to purchase it, not sift through all the tweets to read it for FREE.

The goal is to attract attention to the story — and I have no doubt it's going to work!

As always, I encourage you — especially the authors in the crowd — to do some brainstorming and visualizing to determine how you can extrapolate from this SpongeBob experiment and use the idea to promote your own book, brand, or service.
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Marketing Mishaps: Asking for Referrals Before You've Earned Them

Marketing Mishaps: Asking for Referrals Before You've Earned Them

We've all heard the phrase, "People do business with people they know, like, trust, and remember." Why, then, do so many people forget this when it comes to asking for ... or demanding ... referrals?

One of the most significant things about getting referrals is asking for them. Strangely, many people are reluctant to ask their satisfied clients to refer business to them. International sales coach and trainer Connie Kadansky would refer to this as a form of Sales Call Reluctance. But sometimes it goes the other way. People ask for referrals long before they've earned them.

You've probably been to a networking event where people were doing the Businesscard Shuffle. Plunging their card under your nose the moment you step within three feet of them, mumbling as they do so something along the lines of, "Hi.MynameisSallyandI'marealestateagent.Letmeknowifyou knowanyonewhoisbuyingorsellingahouse." You've never met Sally before tonight, don't know the first thing about her, and have absollutely no reason in the world to refer her - paticularly as you already have several qualified REALTORs in your network.

This has happened to me on numerous occasions, and I always walk away from that person shaking my head as I throw their card in the trash. Lately, I've been seeing something similar on the social networking sites. People writing in their INTROS, "Hi, my name is So-and-So. I'm in Such-and-Such business. Please refer people who needs Such-and-Such business to me." No. Wrong. Missing the point, entirely.

You probably wouldn't ask someone to marry you on the first date - so why would you enter into a face-to-face or social networking situation expecting to get a client wthout first creating a relationship? It's completely backwards thinking.

Social networking, just like face-to-face networking, is NOT about getting new clients. At least not directly. Yes, that may be an end result ... but first, there is the introduction. Then the courtship, which blossoms into a relationship. And finally ... maybe ... if the right person is in the right time and space to need you, a business transaction. But if the business transaction is your goal from the start, chances are you may not be seeing as much success as you'd like in your networking endeavors.

Just as in so many other areas of life, the 80/20 rule works well in social networking. Build and strengthen your relationships 80 percent of the time; promote your business 20 percent of the time. Enter conversations. Share links and resources. Provide quality content. Give without expectations (thanks, Joey Sampaga). And stop asking for referrals before you've earned them. Definitely ask for them - just not before you've dated for a while.

This is Day 4 in the 60-Day Content Challenge. See you tomorrow for the next post!

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Sign up today for Laura's next workshop, Want to Charge More? Start Writing! Or e-mail your  questions on referrals - or any aspect of marketing - to Laura.

Stand Out from the Crowd with a Distinct Personal Brand

Stand Out from the Crowd with a Distinct Personal Brand

Whether you are an entrepreneur, job seeker, or candidate for president of your HOA or PTA, you share one commonality: the need to differentiate yourself. In business parlance, this is often referred to as branding. People frequently confuse branding - particularly as it relates to businesses - with logos. While a logo is certainly an aspect of branding, the logo and brand recognition are only a small component of the totality of branding.

Dolly Kennedy is a walking billboard
for the Dolly Steamboat

What branding really means is your public perception. When people think of your business - or of YOU - what's the first thing that comes to mind? It's probably not a logo - but perhaps your tagline or a pesonality trait. Dolly Kennedy - of Dolly Steamboat fame - and self-defense guru Mike Hayashi are Phoenix area businesspeople who have distinct peronal brands. When Dolly walks into any networking event in the Valley clad in her formal Victorian hat, dress, and shoes and says, "Hello, everyone," she immediately receives a robust "Hellllllllloooo, Dolly!" from the crowd. And most people who know Mike will never forget his ubiquitous tagline: A woma's place is in control (accompanied by a nifty martial arts move).

Mike Hayashi, self-defense guru

Why is branding - particularly personal branding - important? Well, how badly do you want to stand out from the 2,000 other people applying for the same job or the 35,000 other REALTORs or financial advisors in your community? A personal brand is a statement about who you are, what you stand for, where your interests lie, and what makes you different.

Ways to Create/Reinforce Your Personal Brand

Résumé - If you don't have one, wrte one - even if you're an entrepreneur and never intend to apply for another job in your life. At some point, you will submit a speaker application, loan application, Who's Whoapplication, and you will nee to list your skills, previous employers, and accomplishments. A résumé is tailor-made for this sort of list.

Personal Statement - Just like the résumé, if you don't have one, write one. This is a one- or two-sentence statement that explains your personal or business vision, mission, and purpose. You must be able to explain to people in a succinct fashion who you are and what you stand for. This is NOT to be mistaken for your 30-second commercial, which everyone should also have prepared. This less about what you DO and more about WHO you are and WHY you do what you do.

Social Media - Most of us are using at least one of the big social networks, and yet the vast majority of people have not fully completed their online profiles. Yes - privacy concerns are real, so be cautious about including your full birthdate and other identifying information - but you will receive a much greater return on your social media investment by providing a full profile.

Thumbnail Picture - Consistency is key in branding, so you might want to think about using the same image across all of your social networks. Seth Godin has some great advice on the Power of a Tiny Picture.

Blog -  Turning to Mr. Godin again, Seth says: "The word blog is irrelevant. What's important is that it is now common - and soon will be expected, that every intelligent person (and quite a few unintelligent ones) will have a media platform where they share what they care about with the world." This is a loaded statement - and one that impels you to blog if you want to stand out from the field. Blog about your industry, things you want to learn, things that interest you. Whatever the topic - be yourself and represent your brand honestly.

Video - As new and popular as blogging once was, video is the new blogging. Flip cameras are inexpensie and easy to operate, so if possible, create a YouTube channel and start adding video to your personal branding portfolio.

It definitely takes some effort, but creating a believable, reputable brand is essential if you want to be noticed in today's overcrowded fields.

This is Day 3 of my participation in the 60-Day Content Challenge. See you again tomorrow!

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Sign up today for Laura's next workshop, Want to Charge More? Start Writing! Or e-mail your branding and marketing questions to Laura.