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My apologies.

5/23/2014

Oh my…

Can’t believe I missed my deadline for this week’s blog post.

Wound up in quite the masquerade this week.

As a special act for forgiveness, I will be giving away a free Marketing Infoproduct in making your business… A MARKETING BUSINESS.

Hopefully you can forgive me.

Love,

LT

Otherwise...

Please enjoy THIS WEEK's Post!

What are the 4 things You NEED to start your next Marketing Campaign…?

When starting a business or any new marketing campaign.

You have to first start by creating a Unique Marketing Message.

And of that Unique Marketing Message. You have 4 things you need to do to effectively lay that foundation for success.

One, you need to create a new position or angle to present your message. It should be new and exciting, and intrigue anyone who is a prospective buyer.

Of the many angles you can take to position your company, you can with…

… a unique habit your company has to include a free benefit before service, gamifying your buying and referral process, or by having constant contests.

… over the top customer service with unforgettable customer experience

… identifying problems competition don’t address and PROMOTING you have the solution.

… the way you do business i.e. quick service, multiple offices, dedicated account executive, etc.

Two, you need to create a Marketing Purpose Statement that you revolve your entire campaign around.

Do this by isolating exactly what your company stands for, for that campaign.

This can be trust…

·         Service Providers you trust your house keys to.

Successful results…

·         100% Satisfaction Guaranteed or Double your money back!

Removes fear

·         The Spa Dentist where you can get both your hair and teeth fixed.

Three, for new businesses or a marketing campaign that needs a new logo or brand then you must turn your Marketing Purpose Statement into one.

Service Providers you can trust…

·         Logo of hands shaking and show company stepping in when a client is in trouble and needs you most.

100% Satisfaction Guaranteed or Double your money back!

·         Have a Crest of 100% Satisfaction with credo of Double Back Guaranteed. Market happy customers using your service or product

The Spa Dentist where you can get both your hair and teeth fixed.

·         Logo of Customer with Great looking hair and even better looking teeth. Show relaxed customers with no anxiety at the dentists.

Four, craft everything around that one simple message.

Build your company or marketing campaign around your Marketing Purpose Statement.

This can include…

·         Attaching visual metaphor (Working with us is easy as spreading butter on bread.)

·         Having a Mascot or image (Gerald the Gravedigger promoting the town Mortuary.)

·         Appeal to your market (Use market specific wording)

Use that appeal to differentiate your company (Core Message Tools)

· And support your Core Message to include:

Everything that deals with the business from stationary, uniforms, smells, and delivery system, etc.

With these 4 fundamentals, you can build you’re next BIG THING for marketing.

3 Comments

New Years Resolutions in July?!

5/15/2014

2 Comments

Power of the List: Habit List

Do you remember your New Year’s Resolution?

I sure don’t, I can’t even remember my New Year’s Night. Let alone that.

Have you ever wondered why you just can’t seem to stick with it?

                Besides the fact that I have better things to do?

Well the answer is simple.

                Lay it on me.

You just don’t have a Habit list that keeps track of what behaviors you’re trying to build into your life.

                Just that simple, huh?

Just what is a Habit list…?

It is a list of behaviors you would like to instill in your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly life.

                You’re very creative with the name…

And unlike New Year’s Resolutions, which are one-time half-hearted promises to yourself. The Habit List is effective in helping you transform your actions into what you want.

                Hey! How’d you know I didn't mean it…?

And with the help of a Habit List and a little dedication. Your New Year’s Resolution will BECOME your Daily Resolution.

                Fine… if I have to…

But just why do New Year Resolutions fail…?

They fail because most people don’t have the reinforcers that trigger the behavior you want… like your New Year’s Resolution.

                Duh.

To know more about how to build or replace your habits then check out my article on Habit Formation.

                Is that all?

Just how do I inculcate the Habit List into my daily life…?

Well for the habit list to be most effective in your daily life. You have to already have a planner or schedule that you can place your new habits.

Having a planner and set way to ensure you do things regularly is the easiest way to incorporate new habits into your life.

                Well I do like to write stuff down…

Simply add the habit you want to your regular schedule. Like yoga. If you want to do yoga every day, then do it immediately after you wake up. This will make it that much easier as waking up is your trigger activity and yoga will feel good after a long night of rest. This reward will motivate you to keep it up until your yoga-ing all day ere day.

                No… not yoga… maybe walking my dog. He likes walks.

The beauty of the habit list as it keeps track of each one of the behaviors you want to pick up and implant into your muscle memory. And the events on this list revolve and do not get eliminated until you know for sure that the habit you want is instituted in your routine which can take a few days to many months.

                Nobody has time for that!

Below is an example:

Habit list:

1.       Use phone schedule to eliminate written schedule

2.       Read 1 book a month

3.       Type an hour a day

4.       Study Chinese an hour a day

5.       Workout 4 times a week

Closing…

Therefore, I work out 5 times a week. Do yoga 3 times a week. Practice Typing 2 times a week. Practice my Chinese 2 times a week. Read 1 book a month. Write my blog once a week.

Maybe, I do have time for that. What the heck! I'll give it a shot.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

What New Year Resolutions are you going to add to your habits list?

2 Comments

Whats in a head...

5/8/2014

2 Comments

...LINE

Headlines
Have them offer
·         news
·         helpful information
·         promises of a reward

They...
1. Tells the reader: “Hey, stop a minute! This is something that you’ll want!”
2. Appeal to people’s self-interest or give news

Your headline can perform four different tasks:

1.   Get attention.

Self-Interest grabbers - headlines get attention by appealing to the reader’s self-interest

News headlines - often use words such as new, discover, introducing, announcing, now, it’s here, at last, and just arrived

TIP* - Free is the copywriters and consumers dream

Powerful words - attention-getting words include how to, why, sale, quick, easy, bargain, last chance, guarantee, results, proven, and save.

2.   Select the audience.

The Call Out – if you’re not this person then get out

3.   Deliver a complete message.

The Subliminal – 4 out of 5 people read only the headline, then ensure they remember your message by scarring it into their mind with a complete message.

4.   Draw the reader into the body copy.

The Cliffhanger – create mystery or intrigue that makes the reader want to read on

·         What are we selling that will save your life?!

You must arouse his or her curiosity with

·         Humor, or intrigue, or mystery.

·         Ask a question or make a provocative statement.

·         Promise a reward, news, or useful information.

8 types of headlines

1. Direct Headlines

·         Direct headlines state the selling proposition directly, with no wordplay, hidden meanings, or puns.

·         Example: Shirts on sale 50% off

2. Indirect Headlines

·         The indirect headline makes its point in a roundabout way. It arouses curiosity, and the questions it raises are answered in the body copy.

·         Example: There are a million ways to fail in real estate, but we found the right way to succeed

3. News Headlines

·         This news can be the introduction of a new product, an improvement of an existing product or a new application for an old product.

·         Example: “Introducing the BOLD NEW WAY TO TOAST”

4. How-to Headlines

How-to headlines offer the promise of solid information, sound advice, and solutions to problems:

Example: “How to Write Better and Faster.”

5. Question Headlines

·         To be effective, the question headline must ask a question that the reader can empathize with or would like to see answered.

·         Question headlines should always focus on the reader’s self-interest, curiosity, and needs, and not on the advertiser’s.

·         Example: “What Is Wrong With Me?”

6. Command Headlines

·         Command headlines generate sales by telling your prospects what to do.

·         Note that the first word in the command headline is a strong verb demanding action on the part of the reader.

·         Example: “Put Dynamite in your COFFEE"

7. Reason-Why Headlines

·         One easy and effective way of writing body copy is to list the sales features of your product in simple 1-2-3 fashion. If you write your ad this way, you can use a reason-why headline to introduce the list.

·         Reason-why headlines need not contain the phrase “reason why.” Other introductory phrases such as “6 ways,” “7 steps,” and “here’s how” can do just as well.

·         Example: “10 reasons you need to buy Eat THIS during the Next Four Days.”

8. Testimonial Headlines

·         In a testimonial advertisement, your customers do your selling for you.

·         The copy is written as if spoken by the customer, who is usually pictured in the ad. Quotation marks around the headline

·         When writing testimonial copy, use the customer’s own words as much as possible. Don’t polish his statements; a natural, conversational tone adds believe-ability to the testimonial.

When creating headlines make them...
1.    Urgent. Urgency gives the reader a reason to act now instead of later by incorporating a time element. This can be done by giving a general time “this year” or specific “Jan. 12 2013”.

2.    Unique. The powerful headline either says something new, or if it says something the reader has heard before, says it in a new and fresh way. Kits.”

3.    Ultra-specific. Teasers for getting the reader into reading further and ordering the product. Examples: “What never to eat on an airplane,” “Bills it’s okay to pay late,” and “Best time to file for a tax refund.”

4. Useful. The strong subject line appeals to the reader’s self-interest by offering a benefit. In the headline, “An Invitation to Ski & Save,” the benefit is saving money.

Utilize only a few of these techniques and watch your conversions SKYROCKET!

2 Comments

Epic Ending Anyone?

4/25/2014

3 Comments

The Epic End

In recompense for discovering the six ways to be successful. Our Everyman, Joe, became successful.

He trumped each obstacle in his path in an intimidating environment from bosses, coworkers, meetings, and presentations.

He overcame his internal fear, opening his mind to teamwork, accepting others points of view. Building on each lesson to grow and become better than he was.

Starting out small by not letting the world intimidate him anymore, he changed the way he did things to get great work done easily and effectively, adapting himself to each new scenario as it came.

Adapting himself by opening his mind to others, helping him build his teamwork and eventually his leadership skills. And leveraging his growing confidence, he snuffed out his fear of public speaking.

With the downfall of his fear of public speaking, nothing stood in his way. He made great presentations, closed accounts, and quickly was given more and more responsibility.

This continued and continued for a year until he became the flagship employee for the company and was first in line for promotion. With the foundation he set a year ago, he was quickly able to achieve his goals. No longer stuck in the 3 year rut. No longer the pass-over for promotion. No longer the docile Joe who let people and things walk over him.

He was Joe. The Champion. Our Everyman.

Did you enjoy our story of Joe?

Then let me know and I will do another segment on another Everyday hero.

3 Comments

Finale anyone?

4/17/2014

1 Comment

6. Do not be intimidated.

The foremost and final hindrance that had always kept Joe down was being intimidated by others. Comprised of bosses, coworkers, friends, acquaintances, and anyone else who had the will to lay into Joe would intimidate him into not pursuing things he wanted, to let things go if they got too hard, or into doing things that were detrimental to his life.

You must still have so many questions about how and when Joe our everyman changed to take his first steps in becoming the Champion.

How did Joe flabbergast the naysayers? How did he learn to not to be intimidated, and conquer his company?

First Act: A DUD.

Joe found himself at a crossroads. He could not understand why he was intimidated by others, work, and other factors in his life. He just knew he could not help himself when it came time to make decisions, and would let others control him.

These scenes had happened multiple times in his life. From his youth, when he let his parents choose a degree for him without researching the competiveness of it and asking if that’s what he really wanted. Happened in his relationships where he would let his girlfriends decide for him on clothes and style. At work, letting bosses discourage him from trying to work for promotion and letting them pass him up each year. Letting life slight him without noticing.

It wasn't until, he looked at his life holistically did he understand what was going on.

Taking a look at himself.

His Life.

And where it was going… did he understand.

Joe's Epiphany.

Finally realizing he had been working in the same company doing the same things for the last 3 years. With average performance reviews, being passed over for promotion by management, and no real accomplishments. Letting others control him. Letting life intimidate him.

He finally understood.

He was a dud.

Second Act: Re-Ignition

How did Joe reignite? How did he come back from the rut that he allowed his life to fall into?

What Joe did was simple.

He purely accepted some simple truths.

He accepted that he had let life intimidate him.

He accepted that he let life take a hold of him and let it lead him in any way it blows.

Knowing these truths. He fought back.

He did not let others to intimidate him any longer. He built up the fortitude of his will and leveraged his position to ensure he would never be intimidated again.

He accomplished this by 1. Getting work done effectively and at a high quality, 2. Collaborating with cross-functional groups on major projects and making technical compromises, 3. Presenting to customers, company executives, and everyone else, 4. Seeing the world in others’ points of view, and
5. Being able to adapt to your environment.

Not letting life intimidate him, he took his first steps in fulfilling all other 5 lessons. Allowing him the audacity to become the champion of his company.

Interested in more stories?

Then please sign-up for the monthly newsletter that gives you more and more.
Summarizing all my content in one place.

1 Comment

What don't you know about The LIVING...

4/10/2014

1 Comment

Disclaimer:
If you don’t know, I see everything as living. The only difference between the animate and inanimate is the spectrum of experience. The inanimate experiences nothing, while animals experience reactions to stimuli and instincts, and humans experience stimuli and go one step further to interpret it. Because of this, I give you the LIVING DOCUMENT and how it can help you succeed.

THE LIVING DOCUMENT

The Living Document is a document that grows and evolves over time. With each new experience the document is updated to counterbalance new situations. Now a Living Document can grow from nothing in 3 different ways. One is to source your mind and create it out of your own experiences. This goes as far as creative writing to expert advice writing. Two, is to research and build it from your understanding of others experiences and can include citing books or Google searches. This includes research papers and other research-based texts. Third is to collaborate with others and grow dynamically from multiple sources rather than from only one. This includes peer reviewed journals, crowd-sourcing, and Google docs with multiple authors.

The beauty of the Living Document is its ability to evolve and stay current. With each new experience you gain a new gold nugget of knowledge that lets you do it that much better the next time. Incorporating this document into your life even allows you to have a reference guide. And even instills it into your memory by creating it, and even more so if you use it to teach others. If written well enough, the document can quickly be turned into an Infoproduct or blog post that you can share with your customers or community as great content. It might even make you a buck or two in the process.

But how do you make such a document?

First you start with the different ways to collect data to incorporate into your document. One is through field work and the other through the lab.

Field work is done in external environments with little research and occurs as you accomplish day-to-day tasks. In field work, you notice common problems that occur daily such as bottlenecks in processes and flaws in systems, methods, and formulas. In field work, you take notes on what is working effectively and not effectively. These notes are taken back to the lab/office and used to update the Living Document with the new tidbits of valuable information.

Field Work

·         Before – have an outline of what you’re going to accomplish and a few of the steps involved.

o   Allows you have an idea of what needs to happen and leaves room for improvisation if necessary

·         During – take notes of what actually happens, noting what works and what doesn’t.

o   Use note-cards, laptops, or any other means to remember

·         After – Review your outline of what was supposed to happen with what actually happened and find the missteps and triumphs in-between.

o   Helps identify where issues are in the chain of your processes and systems

Lab Work is done in an internal environment and is research intensive. It is not the by-product of daily tasks, but is the daily task itself. This can involve interviews with industry experts, reading books, journals, and other periodicals, and in actuality can be considered anything that has been sourced from field work. From this, it is experimented upon to find the cause and affects with the different variables.

Lab Work

·         Before – Beforehand, organize the materials you are going to research and the format you need to put them in

o   This helps you categorize where to put useful information you want to reference and write about as you come upon it in your research

·         During – take notes on what you read, watch, and hear, summarizing parts in your own words

o   Standardize the information in your mind, mapping out the concept from start to finish to help grow your living document.

o   Research in pockets to maximize your efficiency, as staring at the same information for 4 hours straight is susceptible to the law of diminishing returns.

·         After – Edit the information to ensure only the most important information is gleaned from your research.

o   Find gaps in your knowledge and your living document to discover what you need to learn next to help evolve and adapt it further.

In the END

Thus Field work and Lab work are hopelessly intertwined to help you build your living document. Field work is amorphous and you never truly know what experiences, variables, or results you might get. The Lab work is structured and it puts variables together away from other variables to find how they work together and a part.

Utilize them together to evolve your living document to the benefit of yourself and others.

For a detailed example of THE LIVING DOCUMENT then fill out the form below:

1 Comment

Are you the Champion of your Company?

4/3/2014

3 Comments

5. Being able to adapt to your environment.

Our Everyman, Joe, sometimes had issues with management. He wasn't keen to being coached or having constructive criticism. He couldn't easily adapt himself to different managers and their management styles. Making him inflexible to rapidly changing situation requirements, and causing tension between himself and management.

How did Joe learn go with the flow? To act when needed? And take criticism as a way to grow?

Joe started small. He took a look at himself in the mirror and tried to figure out what was causing him trouble. While, he looked, he thought to all the times that he had ignored his old manager’s advice and critiques. Not letting them coach him even though they had tried. Not improving in their eyes as well as his.

He thought of the new manager they brought in and the trouble he was having with her laissez-faire style. He thought how directionless he felt.

Realizing he was very inflexible and irritable with his old manger’s coaching and lost without it under the new management. This rigidity, he realized was the cause of his problems. It was his habitual behavior and attitude toward critiques and management that was causing him to be passed over each year during promotion time.

Stepping away from the mirror with his new epiphany in mind, he brought himself to change, to change his habits that made him inflexible.

He changed his behavior and attitude through constraining his old habits by finding out what they were through an Actions Audit and replacing them with new habits through Habit Maximization. Knowing why and what caused his habits was useful in identifying if they were good for his career and goals. Once knowing them, he knew just how to diminish them with new, and more productive habits to be successful.

Now Joe took criticism in stride because it was just a new angle to see himself and grow from to perfect his skills. With new management, it was a new opportunity to learn and be coached or left to his own devices. He became able to adapt to the situations and those around him. Adapting to good new to take advantage as well as bad news to ensure he minimized his losses to come back the next day.

Interested in more... then check out the rest of Joe's Adventure.

Tell us about how you have had to adapt and overcome in your work or business.

3 Comments

4 of 6 ways to...

3/27/2014

2 Comments

4. Seeing the world in others’ points of view.

Joe like most people at his work did not see others’ points of view. He saw others mostly in a one dimensional way and found what he thought would be the likely cause and reason of others people’s actions, and not the real cause. He did not see in a holistic way at problems, people, and situations. Being set in the one angle without being able to see the big picture set him back at work. People considered him shortsighted, too busy trying to put out the fires rather than finding ways to keep them from starting.

What secret did the witchdoctor tell him to open his eyes? What magical elixir did Joe drink to see other people’s points of view?

It wasn’t magic that helped Joe see the whole picture. It was the way he came to look at things. Instead of just looking at situations and people in only his point of view. He looked at it, as if he was outside himself looking on everything from above. With this new perspective he could see how each piece moved to affect all the others. He saw the cause and effect, knowing how problems started, and easily able to find to the solutions to the root causes rather than just treating the symptoms like he did in the past.

He got this way by finding new ways to look at things. He drew schematics of the situation, identifying major players and forces, their relationships, and the factors at play such as the environment. He put everything in perspective through a picture, a schematic drawing, helping him organize reality and see the forest through the trees. He also asked questions and attempted to put information he gathered together to see the whole. This helped him open his view to include how others see the world, their values, and find patterns of behavior.

Once he could see in others points of view, he was able to persuade others to consider different technical points of view. Now that, he saw things clearly, he was more capable in communicating to others, finding their motivations, and convincing them of the best solutions by helping them see the whole picture. Even more, he could appreciate the perspectives of the end-user of his company’s products. Giving him the ability to talk about the things important to the customers and not what’s important to the company. Allowing to close more and more deals as time went on. Because he knew what the customer wanted, and gave it to them.

What has helped you see the world differently from movies, writings, and people?

2 Comments

All Aboard STOP 3!

3/20/2014

1 Comment

Me on the stage.

3. Presenting to customers, company executives, and everyone else.
Joe was a likable guy around the office with his own personality. He could easily make conversation with just about anyone. But when it came to public speaking, he was a wreck. He would sweat convulsively with fits of anxiety. Stumbling through presentations to bosses and coworkers alike. He just couldn't get beyond the stage fright.

"
So what did Joe do to overcome the impossible of toppling his fear of the stage to give over-the-top presentations?

Just like when he became more open to teamwork, he did things gradually to build the skills he needed to excel on the stage. He went to public speaking groups like Toastmasters where he gave speeches in a safe environment with people to uplift him, but also give him constructive critiques. He took on more consulting roles at his work, talking to customers, coworkers, and management. This helped him overcome his fear by realizing there was nothing to fear in the first place.

Eventually, Joe, our Everyman, put himself to the ultimate test. Not presenting to the CEO and executive team, but at a stand-up comedy show on an open mic night. He started out raw, but found his nerve, and he killed it. He wasn't even the funniest that night, but... he was the most accomplished.

After that, the stage and the audience had no chance against Joe.

Check out my blog next week to see how Joe became the Champion. Just remember,"No Fear".

Tell us about an experience you had with public speaking? Good or bad.

1 Comment

The Second Stop on Joe's Journey

3/13/2014

7 Comments

2. Collaborating with cross-functional groups on major projects and making technical compromises

When it came to working with others, Joe did his share, but was never happy with their work, and most of the time choose to do his own work away from others on major projects.

What did Joe do to overcome his distaste for team work and even became the go-to person that everyone went to for assistance?

He worked gradually to overcome his distaste for teams, focusing on the positives rather than the negatives. He saw to their strengths and worked around there weaknesses to see the potential beneath. In doing so, he soon became more and more open to others and their opinions. Even more, instead of trying to be right all the time and causing conflict, he compromised. This drew people to him instead of away from him. Eventually, he became the go-to-guy, people went to with problems and solutions.

And the more he worked with others, the more opportunities he had to impress his peers as well as his boss. Becoming the recommended man for the job as he went on to bigger and better projects. Allowing him to get more and more responsibility until he became the one choosing what projects he wanted to be on, and had the best opportunities for him to grow. All from collaborating with others.

Tune in NEXT WEEK and SEE how Joe gets over STAGE FRIGHT!!!

7 Comments

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My apologies.

For your Free copy of Making your Business... A MARKETING BUSINESS..

Fill below.

New Years Resolutions in July?!

Whats in a head...

Epic Ending Anyone?

Finale anyone?

What don't you know about The LIVING...

Living Document Sample

Are you the Champion of your Company?

4 of 6 ways to...

All Aboard STOP 3!

The Second Stop on Joe's Journey

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Living Document Sample

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Categories

Monthly Newsletter?

Behind LT Copywriting

For your Free copy of Making your Business... A MARKETING BUSINESS..

Fill below.