Friday, December 11, 2015

How a Dog Helped De Beers to Sell More Diamonds

dog and de Beers

Did you know that a dog invented branding?

Tis true.

It wasn’t devised by an ancient sect of theologians, psychologists and savvy Greek business owners of luxury spas.

Branding was invented by a dog.

Allow me to explain…

If you’ve read Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion (and if not, add it to your list to Santa), you may know this story already.

In 1904 Ivan Pavlov won a Nobel Prize.

Not for finding a cure to indigestion or for negotiating a peace settlement to end the Chile-Bolivian war, but for discovering that you could get a dog to salivate by rubbing meat paste on its nose and ringing a bell.

What Pavlov discovered was that it’s possible to implant an associative memory into the brain (a bit like Inception, I guess) that can be triggered with a recall cue.

In the dog’s case, the memory was the smell of meat paste linked to the bell, and the memory became so hardwired that just ringing the bell was enough to get the dog to salivate.

What’s this got to do with branding?

It turns out, people are as susceptible to mental cues as dogs.

It’s how advertising is supposed to work – bombard your audience with enough noise and messages and they’ll subconsciously reach for your brand on the supermarket shelf.

But mentally bullying your audience into submission, like it’s a war of attrition, isn’t the best way of selling.

Branding is at it’s most effective when the implanted memory is ‘salient’. This is a neurological term for important or relevant. When the message is salient you don’t have to repeat it so many times for it to be embedded into their chemical long-term memory (rather than short-term electric memory).

So how can you create a salient memory?

There are three keys:

Consistency – Focus on one core message.
Frequency – Contact prospects multiple times with your core message.
Anchoring – Implant a recall cue that triggers the memory of your message.

De Beers doesn’t sell diamonds

I can imagine you were nodding in sage agreement with the first two and then the mental brakes came on when you reached the third, correct?

So now you’re wondering why I’ve opened another question loop and how do you anchor a memory?’

The answer, dear Crucible reader, is to give the dog what it wants.

Pavlov’s dog salivated because it loved the smell of meat paste. You need to do the same with your audience.

Don’t sell them the drill, sell them the hole.

To give you a less rolled out example, De Beers doesn’t sell diamonds.

People could care less about the cut, clarity and Karat weight. They care about the reaction they get from giving them to the person they love.

Give your customers what they want

Do the same in your copy – offer the customer what they want.

Don’t write about ‘exceeding expectations’, ‘blue sky thinking’ or about your widget’s speed settings.

Talk about what they care about – their motivations, problems and dreams – to implant a salient memory.

Then when they actually need your client’s product or service, it will be their brand that pops to the forefront of their thinking.

It may have seemed an odd choice, but awarding Mr Pavlov a Nobel Prize is something us copywriters have a lot to be thankful for.

Disclaimer – I’d love for you to believe that I wrote this post off the top of my head, but all the information came from Dan Lok’s ‘Advertising Titans Volume 1’. As the name suggests, it’s packed with interviews with some of the biggest names in direct response copywriting, such as Joe ‘BluBlocker’ Sugarman and Bob ‘B2B’ Bly. So if, like me, you’re looking to up your direct response game next year why not buy it on Kindle, and save Santa the back strain.



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Wednesday, December 2, 2015

The 5 Step ‘Sideways Sales Letter’ Method

5 step sales letter

Yesterday when I was working from a coffee shop when I overheard a conversation between a marketing consultant and a client.

Let me tell you, it was painful listening.

The consultant was trying to convince a rightly cynical client that social media was the ‘new way’ of marketing. That nobody read emails or visited corporate websites anymore and the client needed a flow of Facebook updates, Tweets and hashtags to shift his wares. I think the consultant may even have called it ‘content marketing’.

After spitting coffee all over my laptop, I was forced to change seats. Partly because my battery was running low and I needed a wall socket. But mainly because I knew I wouldn’t be able to sit in silence much longer without sharing some poignant facts:

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Never build your farm on rented land

As I’ve mentioned multiple times at the Crucible: ‘never build your farm on rented land’. In other words, building up Fans and followers puts you at the mercy of whatever changes the owner of that platform wants to make.

When Facebook tweaked their algorithm to limit the number of times people viewed ‘promotional’ posts it made a lot of social media marketers look sheepish. And best not to mention Google+ around anyone who does marketing for Starbucks.

With, an email list you keep control over how and when you can contact subscribers for as long as they stay subscribed, enabling you to keeping selling and promoting your services whatever disruption happens in the social media world.

So we’re agreed: a large social media following is nice to have, and it can be effective when numbers run into the tens of thousands (on Twitter, anyway). But it’s dirt poor engagement rate make it a questionable sales channel compared to email’s massive (and quantifiable) ROI.

Using Email as a Sideways Sales Letter

Now, I’m not just writing to you to vent. I also wanted to share a strategy for maximizing your email marketing success. After all, it’s easy to quote studies and stats on email, but the best way to guarantee success is to have a clear strategy.

Clients often ask me to write just one email, but I always tell them that five is better. Not to inflate my fee (you cynical types), but because any salesman worth his salt will tell you that the majority of sales come after the fifth contact.

So you should also structure campaigns so that prospects are contacted multiple times, whether it’s by email, letter, postcard or biting the bullet and using for phone for something other than Whatsapp (or is it Telegram, these days?) and Words with Friends.

Anyway, let’s say we’re focusing on email and we’ve built a list after running a lead generation campaign with a lead magnet. So we’ve given away something valuable to get people registered but haven’t done anything yet to sell to them.

A smart approach would be to structure your emails so they follow the awareness scale, and take people from clueless about what you do to interested then convinced then whipping out their credit card before your stocks run dry. Jeff Walker coined this as using email like a ‘sideways sales letter’.

You could structure your emails like this:

Email 1 – Unaware – Introduce yourself, tell them what you do and what’s coming up in future emails (a.k.a. an ‘onboarding’ email).

Email 2 – Problem Aware – Rub salt in their wound by addressing the problem discussed in your lead magnet. Remind them how this problem is holding them back from the good life.

Email 3 – Solution Aware – Discuss their options for solving their problem. More importantly, mention why the existing solutions aren’t working and they need something better.

Email 4 – Product Aware – Introduce your product or service as the optimum solution that can answer all their worries and their fears. The future looks brighter with it in their life.

Email 5 – Most Aware – Make an offer. Remind them of the problems they face if they do nothing and what they have to look forward to if they decide to buy (the crossroads method).

Following this email structure enables you to deliver a long sales pitch in delicious fun size portions that are easier for today’s attention shy consumer to digest and respond to.

So if you ever find yourself within earshot of a social media consultant, consider politely tapping them on the shoulder and showing them this post. Hopefully, it may persuade them that they need a copywriter and digital sales warhorse, like yourself, sat alongside them the next time they pitch.



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Thursday, November 5, 2015

Sales Funnel Masterclass – Jeff Goins’ Tribe Writers Relaunch

The best copywriters are also the best marketers.

With a dash of marketing nous, there’s no reason to be scrambling for short change on freelance bidding sites or mailbombing marketing managers to get work. You can create it yourself.

After all, when you’re a machine at pumping out emails, sales page and VSLs for clients, all you need to do is switch the output tray to your own.

Allow me to explain…

Recently, I got approached to help promote the relaunch of Jeff Goins’ Tribe Writers. Normally, I’d  post a review. But instead I’m switching the lens to focus on how you can adopt Jeff’s launch strategy to grow your brand and sell your own products (and maybe even sign-up for Jeff’s free book while you’re at it).

Who’s Jeff Goins?

Jeff’s one of those overnight ten year sensations we all envy.

He built an audience of 100,000 in a mere 18 months, my guess would be as a result of his storytelling teaching style, smart outreach strategy and penning a towering pile of guest posts that lifted him above the crowd.

Jeff has endorsements from big guns including Brian Clark, Darren Rowse and Michael Hyatt. He’s also got a bestselling novel under his belt. So yes, I’m jealous.

He even appears above yours truly in this cartoonified list!

What’s Jeff’s Tribe Writers?

Jeff has achieved the metamorphosis we all aspire for – going from struggling writer to an online writing teacher, consultant and public speaker (and, dare I say it, creative writing celebrity).

In his soon to relaunch Tribe Writers program, he shows you exactly how to replicate his success. Along with modules on how to improve your writing and finding your voice, he lays out the steps for finding an audience, promoting your work, getting published and, with any luck, getting paid.

Sounds great, right?

But, as mentioned, I’m not here to pitch his course (well..maybe a little bit). But what I really want to focus on is how he’s promoting it and how you can adapt (and adopt) his strategy for yourself.

So just for you, I’m lifting the lid to reveal how his launch strategy works. Step closer and let’s take a look…

Jeff’s Product Launch Formula Dissected

To get students through his digital doors, Jeff’s not just posting about it on his blog and social media accounts. Oh, no siree. He’s got an entire affiliate network doing it for him. Better yet, he’s able to grow a massive following and generate sales without spending a dime (or penny) on advertising.

Here’s how to do it…

  1. Upload your product to Clickbank, JVZoo or another digital products site

After uploading your product to Clickbank or JVZoo, you can create a link to share with affiliates to help promote your stuff. Typically, you can expect to shell out 25-50% in commissions. But with enough affiliates, you won’t have to spend on advertising and will only lose a portion of what you gain. It’s like paying affiliates with free money.

  1. Create a launch sequence

Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula explains this in more detail. But in summary, you need to create a series of promotional assets that build excitement in your offer and get people registered for the next stage. ‘A sideways sales page’, as Jeff likes to call it. In the other Jeff’s case (Jeff Goins, that is), he’s created a free 100 page book on growing your following and put together some video tutorials:

Click here to get your free book- Every Writer Needs a Tribe

Click here to get the free video training

  1. Reach out to affiliates

You can hire an affiliate manager or do this yourself. Create a hitlist of the brightest and best bloggers with big lists and followings. Then drop them an email asking whether they’d be interested in promoting your product in exchange for some moolah.

People with uber lists may want some stats on conversions before deigning to send traffic your way. Popular bloggers are also busy people. So you want to make it as easy as possible for them to promote your offer. So create some emails, blog posts and banners which they can simply copy, paste and hit publish to start earning commissions.

  1. Keep emailing your affiliates in the runup to launching

The runup to a successful launch often starts weeks, or months, in advance. So continue nudging your affiliates to promote all the steps in the product launch sequence.

A great way of getting them to buy in is to send them leaderboards on the affiliates with the highest number of signups. This will give dawdlers that little kick once they see how much cash they could be making once you launch.

  1. Rinse and repeat

Whether you sell a course, eBook or one-to-one training, you can continually keep updating your product and relaunching it with the same formula.

Each time you’ll continue to grow your list of people who registered but weren’t quite ready, whom you can give some extra coaxing. You’ll also have a list of affiliates all signed up and ready to promote your relaunch for you.

See Jeff’s product launch machine in action

If you’d like to see  Jeff’s promotional machine in action, simply register for his free eBook or video training course. Then analyze how the email sequence coaxes and prods you towards signing up for his Tribe Writers course at the end.

Remember, you can use this entire strategy to grow your own brand and to make money from your own products. You don’t have to be reliant on clients to make money.

And if you need an affiliate to help promote your products for you, you know who to call.

Disclaimer – Being a switched on Copywriter’s Crucible reader, I know that you know that the links on this page are affiliate links. But just so we’re on the level, if you buy Jeff Goins’ Tribe Writer’s course I earn commission. Jeff’s an ethical guy though, and didn’t get 100,000 followers from doing things on the sly. So please feel assured that his course is a quality product.



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Thursday, October 15, 2015

The Ray Edwards ‘Copywriting Academy’ Review – Should You Believe the Hype?

 

Freelance copywriting is the ultimate lifestyle business. You get to set your own hours, be the boss of you and spend all day writing about interesting topics in coffee shops (well, I do anyway).

But getting started is one tough road.

When I quit the corporate world, I faced years of toil and strife before I had any confidence in my copywriting skills.

It was only then that a steady flow of clients, happy to pay a fair rate for my work, started to arrive through my digital doorway.

Suffice to say, if I could turn back the clock I’d have done things differently.

Instead of trying to piece together all the advice on writing headlines, structuring sales letters and harnessing psychology on my own, I’d have taken direction from an expert.

In the best of all possible worlds, this would have been in the format of one to one tuition from a copywriting master.

But unless you’ve got a money tree in your garden, shelling out five figures to benefit from their sage advice isn’t an option.

However, thanks to the delights of the interwebs, you can do the next best thing. And that’s to study a video course put together by one of today’s most renowned copywriters. In this case, none other than Mr Ray Edwards.

Who’s Ray Edwards?

Ray Edwards is a multi-decade veteran with some major names in his roller desk. This includes self improvement guru Tony Robbins, direct response copywriter (and friend of the Crucible) Michel Fortin and product launch formula mastermind Jeff Walker.

All of these people entrusted Ray to generate million dollar for them with the power of text and smart marketing. So when Ray speaks, it’s wise to listen.

What’s The Copywriting Academy?

If you subscribe to a lot of copywriting blogs, you may know already that Ray has just launched The Copywriting Academy – a video training course in the art, the science and the literary application of salesmanship in print.

The Copywriting Academy has eight modules which guide you from the basics to advanced topics towards the end. Each module is divided into multiple steps, each with a training video, course material downloads and assignments for putting your pages of scribbled notes into practice.

Topics include:

  • Irresistible offers and 9 kinds
  • 6 essential steps to writing an offer
  • The P.A.S.T.O.R. framework
  • Sales copy templates
  • Writing headlines and subheads, with templates
  • Fascination factors and persuasion points
  • Resistance removal
  • Closing the deal
  • Inbox magic and emails that sell

The Secret Ingredient – Copywriting Templates

All of the modules on their own can train you to write winning websites and sales letters harnessing Ray’s time proven techniques.

But what really gives Ray’s course an added topping of special sauce, and sets it apart from other courses, is that you also get copywriting templates for writing headlines, leads, offers and every other element of a sales promotion.

These templates make the creation of sales letters as simple as filling in the gaps. All you need to do is choose from a selection of copy options for each element and update them with your product’s key information.

With everything done for you, you can write firecracking promotions without spending the hours of head scratching and pouring through books trying to cobble together all the elements youself. Perhaps keep this to yourself though, when it’s time to send the invoice for yet another high converting sales letter.

What I wish I could have told myself 10 years ago

When you combine all the videos, assignments and templates together, you get the complete package for fast tracking your successful evolution from novice to expert.

So if you’re just getting started as a freelance copywriter, take my advice – don’t try to teach everything to yourself. Get one-to-one tuition from a top dollar copywriter.

But if you don’t want to remortgage your house, Ray Edwards’ Copywriting Academy is the next best thing.

4 Reasons to join Ray’s Copywriting Academy

1. Gain tuition from a copywriter who’s written million dollar promotions for Jeff Walker, Michel Fortin and Tony Robbins.
2. Get fast-track templates that make crafting sales letters as simple as filling in the blanks
3. Gain a vice like grip on all the essential copywriting concepts without spending days or weeks piecing it all together yourself
4. Go from struggling newbie to earning a fulltime income in accelerated time

Disclaimer – Hands up, I’m an affiliate of Ray Edwards’ Copywriting Academy. But if you’ve spent any time in the copywriting world, you’ll know that Ray is one of the most respected names in the game today (and does a great podcast too). Membership of the Copywriting Academy also comes with a 30 day money back guarantee as standard. So if it doesn’t live up to the hype, your money will be returned, no questions asked.


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Thursday, October 8, 2015

Guest Post – 6 Secrets to Landing High-paying Clients (Without a Portfolio)

IMG_0165

Finding clients is one of the toughest challenges we face as freelancers. You can try scratching out a living on freelance bidding sites. But if you’re serious about growing your income and career, client outreach must be one of your daily tasks.

But what’s the best way of doing it, so you don’t waste hours sending unread emails or leaving endless voice messages?

In this guest post Nick Daniel, whose written for Dr. Sears, Agora Publishing and the Healthy Back Institute, shares his strategies for signing up lucrative clients who’ll pay royalties on top of your five (or maybe even six) figure fee.

Better yet, throughout his post you’ll find links to his new book, The Wealthy Health Copywriter – How to Earn $13,000 for Every Sales Letter You Write, which you can [amazingly] download for free. I’ve read it from cover to cover, and I can vouch that you’d be crazy not to get your copy. If you’ve any dreams of joining the top table of million dollar copywriters and writing for the highest paying markets, Nick’s book provides a blueprint on how to do it.

Just imagine earning $13k per sales letter! You’ll never find projects like that on a freelance bidding site. Outreach to premium grade clients is the only way to get them.

Take it away Nick..

By Nick Daniel, Author of The Wealthy Health Copywriter

Imagine…

Youve sent dozens of emails to prospective clients. A week has gone by. Your inbox hasnt budged...

Or youve cold-called twenty creative directorsand theyve all asked the same questioncan you send me a couple of examples of your work…?

Problem is, youre a rookie, and you dont have any real, market-tested examples of your work…

All you have is that sick feeling in the pit of your stomacha sense of failure and frustration

You know in your bones youre a great writer – but how do you make people sit up and notice?

Ive been there. Its the same Catch-22 mind-warp every rookie faces…

How the heck do you get clientsif you dont have any clients…?!

In my first few months of freelance copywriting, I was caught in the same nail-biting dilemma…

…until I hit on a strategy that actually workedand landed me my first big client

Today, Im working for top clients in the health industry, including Agora Publishing, Dr. Sears (Primal Force) and the Healthy Back Institute.

(You can get a free copy of Nicks book, The Wealthy Health Copywriter here)

Heres how it worked for me…

1. Get theLucky to Have MeMindset

First of, it’s about shifting from the please-choose-me mindset to the youd-be-lucky-to-have-me mindset.. 

Not only is this smarter (as Ill explain in a moment) – but as a rookie copywriter, it boosts your psychological power.

It gives you the strength to go out and grab what you deservewhats rightfully yoursinstead of waiting for the call that may never come

Its an attitude that should fill your emails, cold-calls and every other communication with prospective clients.

2. Pick a niche, and become an expert…

The second step is to pick a niche, and become really great at it.

Prospective clients are much more likely to take interest if you’re exclusive to a niche. Why? Because it means you take their business more seriously. It means youre an expert, not a generalist.

It means you love the business theyre in, and you care.

I chose the alternative health industry. Within that industry, I chose to write long-form sales letters. Nothing else. No print ads, brochures or landing pages.

I chose long-form sales letters. For alternative health companies. Period.

And I made myself an expert. I read every book, watched every documentary, interviewed every big name. I built a copywriting website and filled it with related articles about sales letters and alternative health.

It was a start. It helped establish me as an expert. It helped define my niche in the eyes of prospects.

But it only really came into play when I implemented the next two steps…

3. Choose Your Prospects – Dont Let Them Choose You

Early on, I made a common rookie mistake. I spread the net too wide

Meaning, I sent hundreds of emails, and made hundreds of cold-calls, to hundreds of prospective clients.

I thought that by increasing the number of prospects, and marketing to all of them, this would somehow increase the response rate.

But I was dead wrong. As any savvy marketer will tell you – the exact opposite is true.

I quickly learned that 80% of the companies I was writing to (or cold-calling) were mis-fits. Some of them were too small, and had too few products. Others werent ready for a new freelancer.

There were a ton of reasons why we werent a good fit.

What a waste of time! Id spend a whole week finding these companies, and sending over 150 emails. And I’d get absolutely nothing back…

So what did I do? I reversed my strategy.

First, I sat down and wrote anideal client profile – a description, in fine detail, of the kind of client I would love to work with.

It looked something like this:

My ideal client is a supplement-maker relying mainly on direct mail sales letters to sell product. They should be marketing at least 20 products. They should have a slightly anti-establishment approach to the alternative health market, and their products should be backed by a panel of experts (doctors and nutritionists). They should have anywhere between 250 and 1,000 employees.

Next, I made a list of the top 10 companies who fit this exact description. And I started marketing exclusively to them.

The first time I did this, I got a 60% response rate. Compared to a 4% response rate when I sent out those 150 emails.

I share much more about these strategies in my book, The Wealthy Health Copywriter...

Whats crazy about this is that, in the last 5 years, Ive only marketed my copywriting services to 15 companies. Ten of those companies are now repeat clients. (Im still working on the other 5…).

But to get this response rate, first I had to find ways to make these prospects sit up and listen

4. Sneaky Stealth Marketing

The first step was to engage in some sneaky stealth marketing.

To do this, I found my prospects on LinkedIn or Facebook – or even got their email address by searching online. I connected with them.  And then I sent them a trickle of information – articles, industry updates, links to my website, tips about hiring freelancers…

The aim was to get them to notice me – nothing more. I wanted them to see my name, and get a sense of what I was all about. Everything I sent them was strictly related to my niche.

5. Communicate Personally with the Prospect…

But to get that 60% response rate, I needed to go further.

I needed to communicate with each prospect on a personal level. I wasnt going to simply ask for work. I was going to share something I knew about them…something they neededa problem they faced, that only I could solve.

Put simply, my marketing strategy was to communicate in a personal way with each prospective client…and offer them something they sorely needed…over and over again.

To achieve this, I found out everything I could about the company. I analyzed their marketing materials. I examined – and in some cases used – their products. I found out about personnel changes in the company. I learned about new products coming onto the market.

And then I used this information as bait.

For example, if a recent promotion hadnt done well (or looked like it needed improvement), I offered to improve it

If a new product was about to come out, I offered to write a headline and lead on spec…

If there was a new creative director, and he needed to get up and running quickly, I offered to make his life easier by sending him a new headline and lead in record time…

This is what I mean about the youd-be-lucky-to-have-me mindset. Its all about offering value to the client, and making yourself indispensable…

I made sure to mention these insights in my email messages. I made sure to follow the rules of great subject lines. I made sure to follow the rules of great sales letters, like providing an urgent call to action and a P.S.

And sure enough, out of that 60% response rate – from just 10 emails – I had two clients asking me to write a headline and lead on spec.

When I turned them in, they were both accepted. I completed both promotions, and they both beat the control.

6. All it takes is ONE.

Theres no doubt about it – getting my first big client was tough. It took all these strategies – repeated many times – to make it happen.

But heres the thing: all it takes is ONE

All it takes is one big client. If your copy does well, you can leverage that client into getting you all the work you need, for the rest of your life.

If youre working in the direct mail industry, its all about results – and using those results to persuade your next big client to hire you.

So when I did my second big marketing push – back to those same 10 prospects (actually it was 9, because by now I was already working for one of them) – I was able to say:

My latest project beat the control by 15% and generated $300,000 in the first three months…”

Bang! That was all I neededto have three more big clients asking for my services.

In other words, once youve landed your first client, things can start happening very fast...

Nick Daniel works for top clients including Dr. Sears, Agora Publishing and the Healthy Back Institute. You can get a FREE copy of his latest book, The Wealthy Health Copywriter, here: http://ift.tt/1FUDUr3

wealthy health copywriter



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Thursday, September 24, 2015

Frustrated Fiction Writer? Unleash Your Creative Talents with ‘Mash Stories’

 

Like many of us in the copywriting trade, my journey towards this profession began in creative writing classes at school. Crafting stories every week was a rare opportunity to cut loose on something I actually enjoyed.

If, like me, you still have a fiction itch to scratch, I recommend checking out Mash Stories.

They run a free to enter 500 word short story competition with the prize of having your story turned into a podcast and your brief epic shared with all the other ‘Mashers’.

The beauty of Mash Stories is that you have to include three keywords in your story, thus cutting back on the hours otherwise spent devising a story within limitless boundaries.

In the current competition, the keywords you have to include are: carpenter, taxes and vinegar. So if you can think of a clever way of welding (or mashing) them together, why not give Mash Stories a try?

Want to be a fiction writer? Start growing your audience and write 6 books first

I’ve been in Berlin this summer on a working holiday, of sorts. Along with ticking off all the history walks, I’ve been attending workshops (run by the founder of Mash Stories) on how to become a fiction writer.

What I learned was that the days of handing a manuscript to a publisher and waiting for the cash to roll in are truly over. You now have to do all the promotion yourself. This means growing your following, building an email list, managing multiple social media channels, reaching out to influencers etc.

In fact , everything on the ‘to do’ list of today’s content marketer.

So if you ever want to make the jump into fiction, start working on your content marketing skills and growing your following first.

You should also write at least six books before you even think about publishing. The first two will probably be rubbish and you need a back catalogue to upsell if you want to make any money.

Think I’ll stick to copywriting for now.



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Thursday, August 20, 2015

47 Elite Email Marketing Tips – Strategies to Earn $44 for Every $1 Spent

Forget the mobile and social media hype. Email is the sales powerhouse to focus your efforts on.

For every $1 spent $44.25 is the average return. With such a massive ROI, email marketing is the best way to convert leads and increase profits. It’s no wonder, 67% of marketers say that email is key for attracting and engaging prospects, and the best path to increasing marketing ROI.

But if you want to succeed, you can’t just blast out emails and expect results. You need a strategy.

Too many businesses use email in a haphazard fashion, with no clear idea on what to write, who to and how to get people responding. Even worse, most don’t collect email addresses at all. For this reason, they are losing money every single day from not having a smart, automated way of following up on leads, engaging with previous customers and promoting the benefits of their product.

The lack of an email marketing strategy means that, according to Adestra, only an elite 25% of marketers get ‘excellent’ results from email. With the right tactics, you can join them.

The 47 email marketing strategies in this report will help you to:

  • Grow your list intelligently
  • Enhance deliverability
  • Write magnetic subject lines that draw in readers
  • Create motivating email series that inform, seduce and convince
  • Harness classic copywriting techniques to eliminate objections and trigger action
  • Best practices for selling with lead magnets, trip wires and profit maximizers
  • E-commerce tricks to increase the lifetime value of every customer

This is just for starters.

In fact, my report gives you all the parts you need to build your own email marketing powerhouse and to make bigger profits from the simple act of regularly contacting your customers.

I’ve given you the blueprint. Now use it to make money for your business.

Click on the image to download your copy:

47 Elite Email Marketing Tips



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Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Homer Simpson, Donald Trump and Marketers Rattling Cages

trump

To the uninformed, The Simpsons is a kids’ cartoon.

To those that know better, it’s been one of the best satirical programmes for decades, shining a mirthy light on what’s ridiculous or plain wrong with modern society.

In one episode Homer successfully runs for Sanitation Manager. He do so while ‘rattling cages’, bucking the trend and bringing straight talk to the cosy world of sanitation politics.

He wasn’t afraid to break some eggs or to prickle some egos. Nor was he about to apologize for doing so.

Oh, how the Simpsons’ writing team must chuckle watching Donald Trump’s megalomaniac like march in the polls.

While the wheels seem close to falling off (only to be abrasively hammered back in again), his refusal to tow the line has struck a cord with disenfranchised voters. It’s clear there are millions of people fed up of hearing political sound bites with no substance (not that I’m advocating any of his views).

What cages can you rattle?

Perhaps there is something marketers can learn from Homer and Mr Trump’s success?

With more content being posted and Tweeted about than ever before, audiences are overloaded with stuff to read. They have no time for mediocre.

If you’re not getting much traction or any bounce in the metrics, perhaps it’s time to consider what topics you can stamp your feet about and unleash some brimstone.

What topics can you take a stand on? What forth wall can you smash through, where others fear to knock?

Take a stand. Don’t just be a voice in the crowd

Like politics, people are tired of reading blog posts, articles and white papers which are just a rehash of other opinions and wishy washy in offering actionable conclusions.

Give them something to get excited about.

Take a leaf from Homer (if not Donald’s) book, and think what cages you can rattle that will get your audience’s attention and rushing to pledge their support.



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Thursday, July 23, 2015

7 Sales Funnel Mistakes that are Costing You Money

spruce it - sales funnel mistakes

Built a sales funnel for your website yet? If not, you’re missing out on leads every single day.

Let’s face facts.

Only about 2% of your visitors are likely to buy anything on the first visit (and that’s being generous). Without a sales funnel, you have no way of staying in touch with the other 98%, who may never come back.

When setup correctly, an email funnel can turn a weekly drip of 2 or 3 sales a week into a flood of 20 or 30. But get it wrong and you risk burning through your entire list from the first subject line.

So what would you prefer? To wake up to rocketing conversions or disintegrating subscriptions?

Thought so.

To help you succeed, here are 7 sales funnel mistakes to avoid:

1. No Planning

A properly structured sales funnel needs to coax, prod and pamper subscribers towards spending money. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that can derail if any message is out of sync.

This is why it pays, literally, to work out what you are going to say in each email and how each one builds on the previous one to present a compelling path to profit.

There are many ways to do this. You can follow this seven step strategy, create a weekly course or harness the power of storytelling in your emails, like autoresponder mastermind Andre Chaperon. Whatever you decide, consider how you can create a series which subscribers will eagerly await to see arriving in their inbox.

2. Doesn’t ask readers questions

If you want to keep your emails out of the junk (and gmail’s promotions) folder, your readers have to show they’re interested. A great way of achieving this is to ask them questions about what their biggest challenges are and how you can help.

Not only will this turn leads into friends, but it will improve the health of your list and its deliverability as a whole.

3. No empathy or sales psychology

You can’t hound someone into buying something they don’t want. They have to believe it is something they need and feel it in their gut before they’ll slap down the cash. This is why your emails need to build empathy and trust. You can achieve this by following time proven marketing and persuasion techniques.

Forget about ‘tripwires’ and ‘lead magnets’ for a second. The principles of writing persuasive emails are the same as those used by generations of direct response copywriters. These are techniques powerful enough to get people spending money based on a single ad they see in the newspaper. Imagine what they can do when you’re able to get your copy in front of eyeballs every week, or even daily like Ben Settle (who does a great podcast, by the way).

Re-read some of the copywriting classics to remind yourself what these techniques are.

4. Sells from the first email

Newbie marketers (and those who should know better) will typically start pushing offers from the first email. But email marketing is like dating. You need to build the relationship first. Dont pressure them too early, or you’ll just scare them away.

Use your first email to introduce yourself and to build anticipation for what’s coming up. Then ask them email you back with their biggest problem. This will create engagement and provide you with priceless insights on your market’s pains and hopes.

5. Doesn’t sell enough

You don’t want subscribers thinking this is one long freebie info ride. ‘Selling without selling’ is all well and good. But you can’t assume subscribers will naturally make the jump without a little push.

Start small with a low cost entry level product. Now while they’re feeling the the buzz from taking action follow it up with an offer for the upgrade.

6. No segmentation

Segmentation is something most marketers dont do but can have the biggest impacts on response rates. Remember, when you try to sell to everybody you sell to no one.

Segmenting your subscribers based on interest, buying history and other variables enables you to fine tune your message’s relevancy. This then keeps them engaged, subscribed and spending money for longer.

Even after they’ve registered, you can continue segmenting by offering new lead magnets, conducting surveys or getting them to visit specific pages on your website. You can track all of these actions and use them as triggers to switch them to another email series more attuned to their interests.

7. No tracking, testing or tweaking

Email marketing is hard work. When you’re feeling mentally drained after writing a 21 part email series, it’s tempting to just hand them over and wish clients the best.

But unless clients track, split test and tweak the results they’ll never achieve the massive ROI that email offers. Track and test everything to see which emails are conversion monsters and which are duds. Smooth down the funnel’s edges and remove any friction to create a slick path that increases the order value, buying frequency and profits gained from every customer.

These are my top seven email sales funnel mistakes, but there are plenty more. What would you add to the list? Please share in the comments.

If you’re struggling to get results from your sales funnel, drop me an email and I’ll get back to you with my suggestions on subject lines, body copy and bottlenecks that are blocking conversions..



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Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Why it’s Time to Ditch the Autoresponder and Build an Email Sales Funnel Instead

email sales funnel

Don’t build your farm on rented land. That phrase continues to make marketers look sheepish who spent too much time on their Facebook page and not enough on a channel that works.

What am I talking about? Email marketing, of course. And I don’t mean just sending out a monthly newsletter or setting up an email autoresponder and thinking your work is done. Oh, no. That attitude won’t cut it in the midst of 2015.

Today’s savvy marketers are far more sophisticated. They’re using email to power ‘customer value optimization’ strategies that increase leads and the average order value of every customer. Autoresponders present just one path for leads to follow or to fall off. The new approach to email entails creating an obstacle course of ‘lead magnets’, ‘trip wires’, ‘profit maximizers’ and multiple funnels all delicately arranged to keep readers on their toes and spending money for longer.

Multiple paths to profit. Not just one

Creating email sales funnels (a.k.a. marketing automation) is a strategy used by e-commerce giants like Amazon, information businesses like the Motley Fool and the interwebs brightest digital marketers to run email campaigns that are optimized to within an inch of their life. They’re all earning handsomely from it too.

Want to join them?

If you click on the image below you can download my seven step guide to creating email sales funnels like the internet’s best players. By following this simple strategy, you’ll be able to use email to create a far more powerful path to profit than a well meaning but ultimately ineffective monthly newsletter. When setup correctly, and fed with quality fuel, email funnels act like a finely tuned sales generating machine, converting more of your visitors into leads into friends then into loyal customers.

7 Step Sales Funnel small

Switch off the autoresponder. Build engagement paths instead

If you’re a copywriter or marketer, savvy businesses will throw money at you to implement this strategy thanks to its trackable ROI. If you’re a business owner, I recommend you stop wasting your website’s traffic and setup lead magnets and tripwires to convert visitors into leads as a matter of urgency.

Whatever you decide, not implementing a sales funnel means leaving money on the table. So turn off the autoresponder and ditch the monthly newsletter. Join today’s smart marketers and build profit driving sales funnels instead.

P.S. You can find out more about building funnels in Ryan Deiss’ book ‘Invisible Selling Machine’. He explains how many emails to write for each stage, what to say and a plethora of rock solid email tactics that work.

Why it’s Time to Ditch the Autoresponder and Build an Email Sales Funnel Instead is a post from: The Copywriter's Crucible - A Melting Pot of Punchy, Persuasive Copywriting by Freelance Copywriter Matt Ambrose Join the Inbound Marketing revolution and start generating MORE leads for 61% LESS than other methods. Get your FREE 14 Step-by-step guide now:



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Thursday, June 11, 2015

7 Steps to Creating Exceptional Content

Boring work | Bored businesswoman working at her desk

Is Content Marketing a Waste of Time?

Marketers are producing more content than ever before. But too often, what’s created is dull, unfocused and fails to get much interest from buyers:

– 30 companies scored just 12.8 out of 30 for the engagement value of their contentForrester Research
– More than 60% of B2B content ends up in ‘content wasteland’
SiriusDecisions
– Only 34% of tech marketers believe their efforts are effectiveContent Marketing Institute

The gap between the elite marketers getting it right and those struggling is widening. Unless you want to keep wasting time and money on content that ends up in ‘content wasteland’ and never gets read, you need a strategy for creating content that’s exceptional.

Everything you produce must be interesting to read, actionable and so valuable that people feel compelled to read every word and then share it afterwards. This is the challenge every marketer now faces:

– 87% of marketers say “producing content that engages buyers to be a major challenge”Forrester Research

This report outline a 7 step strategy for being among the elite 34% of marketers getting ‘effective’ results from their content marketing efforts. It also provides the basis for a long-term inbound strategy for turning your website into a hub of information that attracts more visitors and generates more leads as a result.

marketing on touchscreens

1. Get to Know Your Reader

How well do you know your readers? It’s easy to assume you know what their daily problems are and want they want to know more about. But unless you ask, how do you really know?

Creating a semi-fictional impression of your reader (mine’s called Frank) is a great first step in identifying who you’re writing to and why. Also known as a ‘buyer persona’’, creating an impression of your reader will help you to keep your content focused as you’ll be able to imagine them sat across the table from you when you’re writing. This helps stay you on topic and only writing about topics that match their interests.

“The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything.” – David Ogilvy

To create your buyer persona, list details such as their job title, how many people they manage, what frustrates them, what they hope for and even lifestyle details, like their hobbies and interests outside of work.

Creating a buyer persona will require some detective work. You need to do some digging to reveal what motivates or frustrates them. The answers might surprise you. Try conducting some email surveys, run polls on LinkedIn and see what people are talking about in forums. Picking up the phone and speaking to customers directly will also give you a clearer idea of who you’re writing to and why.

Tools

SurveyMonkey if you don’t already have a contacts a list
4Q for surveying visitors to your website.

man in suit listening to a tin can phone

2. Find a Hot Topic

Step one should have given you some ideas on what to write about. Finding out what are the most read, shared and linked to articles in your industry will also help to add some hot topics to the list.

These tools will help you discover the most popular articles in your niche:

Buzzsumo – Find out what content performs best for keywords or your competitors
Topsy – Allows you to find out which industry relevant articles get the most Tweets
Content Strategy Helper – This may look like a spreadsheet, but it’s actually a powerful blog topic creation machine powered by data from Google, Reddit, YouTube and other sources to find trending topics
Moz – Use to Iidentify the most popular articles on your competitors’ sites
SEM Rush – If you’re feeling devious, you can use this to spy on what content and keywords your competitors are targeting to get some pointers for your own.

“Stop Writing about Everything. So many brands create content and try to cover everything, instead of focusing on the core niche that they can position themselves as an expert around. No one cares about your special recipe… Find your niche, and then go even more niche.” – Joe Pulizzi

resume copywriting tips

3. Take a Stand

Staying on the fence is boring. People want to read strong opinions, fresh perspectives and challenges to the status quo.

So dont just add your voice to the echo chamber. Take a stand. Rattle some cages. At the minimum, aim to go further in how you tackle a topic than anyone has gone before.

You want to ‘rip, pivot and jam’. In other words, cover all the normal bases on a hot topic then find a way to tweak it to add some spice and your own unique twist.

Find additional research, or conduct your own. Get some quotes from thought leaders and find other ways to create the definitive piece of content on a topic. This will give it the best chance of becoming a ‘go to’ resource and earning lots of juicy social shares, links and traffic to your website

This tactic is also known as the ‘skyscraper technique’, devised by SEO trailblazer Brian Dean at Backlinko. What works in SEO works in content marketing too, because they’re no longer separate disciplines now that it’s quality, not quantity, that earns higher rankings.

Opening lines

4. Say it Well

The business world is plagued with bad writing. Too often it’s infested with bland marketing cliches, confusing jargon and enthusiastic use of a thesaurus.

Rather than trying to sound clever, your aim should be to communicate clearly and concisely, Let’s face facts: you’re not trying to win a creative writing prize. Reading can also be hard work. So you want your writing to be easy to understand and make sense on the first read through. If you’ve done enough research to support your points, it’s your core argument that will keep readers engaged. Leave the flowery language to the novelists.

One trick is to simply write the way you speak. This will make your content sound more human and less like, well, marketing. You could try using speech recognition software., or record yourself talking about a topic and have it transcribed. You may be surprised how many highly paid copywriters use this technique.

“The first draft of anything is shit” – Ernest Hemingway

The advantage of keeping your writing simple is that it means you don’t have to worry about being a literary genius to create great content. You just need to know how to stay focused on the reader and to write clearly and with brevity.
Clear writing tips:

– Replace long words with shorter versions
– Vary your sentence lengths
– Aim for an average of 15 words per sentence
– Keep one thought or idea to each paragraph
– Break up your paragraphs with subheads
– Limit paragraphs to three or four sentences
– Read it out loud to hear how it sounds
– Review with fresh eyes
– Only hit publish after reviewing three times
– Use bullet point lists and subheads

Find out more – 15 punchy copywriting tips

Pipe smoking writer with funny expression

Tools

Hemingway – Highlights weak passive sentences, gives you a readability score and tips on how to make your writing easier to read.
Grammarly – Alternative to Hemingway focused more on grammar.
Dragon – Voice recognition software.
Rev – Upload your audio file to get it transcribed for just $1/minute.

5. Make it Actionable

Reading your content shouldn’t be just a passive experience. You want readers to benefit from your advice. This in turn will enhance their impression of your brand, increasing the likelihood of them becoming a customer further down the road.

Create an actionable summary telling readers exactly what to do to benefit from your advice. You could also include a subtle soft sell by suggesting they get in touch if they need further help implementing what you’ve suggested.

“You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar

sales tips for coywriters and freelancers

6. Promote It

One of the key differences between the winners and losers in content marketing is whether you ‘post and hope’ or ‘post and promote’. After all, you don’t want your content to rot in ‘content wasteland’ when you’ve invested so much effort creating a definitive, status quo smashing piece of thought leadership.

Ideally, promotion should begin during the research stage. You want to first identify then connect with thought leaders in your industry with a large following. Start reading their blogs, commenting and sharing their content. You want to get on their radar as a reputable contributor worthy of their attention with advice worth sharing.

The primary reason that content goes unused is that the topic is not relevant to the buyer (29 percent). Second us that the target doesn’t even know that the content exists (25 percent) – Sirius Decisions

Once you’ve earned some respect among thoughts leaders and in online communities, when you start a discussion with a link to your article you won’t get chased out with pitchforks. If anything, people will be happy to share your content if it contains valuable advice. Getting your content shared is a gateway into other people’s networks so you can grow your exposure, following and  traffic with every piece of content you release.

Tools

Buzzstream – Use to identify people to connect with to grow your network and exposure.
SocialBro – Guides you step by step on how to grow your following and influence on Twitter.
Tweetdeck – Keep track of all your social media channels in one place.

b2b copywriting

7. Track, Tweak, Repeat

Content marketing is a marathon. Not a sprint. Hubspot estimates it takes at least six months to get results. So after your content has been released, dig into the data to track your success. Check what feedback you’ve had, both internally and online, then use it to shape the next piece of content on your list.

It’s sensible to note down key metrics before you start. This includes the size of your social media following, the number of links to your website, daily traffic and other KPIs. You can then use this as a starting point for tracking your future progress in generating more traffic, leads and sales with the power of informative, problem solving content.

business woman looking at the screen of his laptop and admires

Conclusion

Marketers are creating more content than ever before. It’s getting tougher all the time to get attention with so many articles, reports and white papers all fighting for eyeballs. The good news is that most B2B content continues to be dull and uninspiring. Use this to your advantage by taking a strategic approach to creating exceptional content that helps your customers solve problems and differentiates your brand as being helpful and in touch with what matters to its customers.

Due to the resources online, it’s estimated that two thirds of the buyer’s journey is over before they contact you. Having a content strategy in place can also enable you to engage with people during the research stage and give you the edge when they’re ready to select a vendor.

So use this seven step strategy to turn your website into a hub of information that draws prospects in and then converts them with informative content. You can then take your place among the elite 34% of marketers getting effective results from their content marketing strategy.

7 Steps to Creating Exceptional Content is a post from: The Copywriter's Crucible - A Melting Pot of Punchy, Persuasive Copywriting by Freelance Copywriter Matt Ambrose Join the Inbound Marketing revolution and start generating MORE leads for 61% LESS than other methods. Get your FREE 14 Step-by-step guide now:



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Thursday, June 4, 2015

Is Content Marketing a Waste of Time?

Content marketing. The campaign that never ends.

Never have marketers pumped out so many blogs, Slideshares, YouTube videos and reports to feed the unfulfilled appetite of buyers.

Or so we’re told.

The stats may suggest otherwise.

According to SiriusDecisions ‘More than 60% of B2B content ends up in ‘content wasteland‘. 

In other words, it’s never read.

This is partly because buyers have too much to read already. But also because most of it is plain dull.

A Forrester Research study of 30 companies found that their content deserved a pitiful 12.8 out of 30 for engagement (that must have made some marketers cry).

It appears this measly score is no exception based on the numbers struggling to get results.

According to the Content Marketing Institute:

  • Only 34% of tech marketers believe their efforts are effective
  • 63% say their biggest challenge is creating content that’s engaging

So if nobody is reading it and creating engaging stuff is so challenging, is content marketing a waste of time?

Maybe you’d be better off spending money on Facebook ads?

Thankfully, there’s no need to throw away money so frivolously.

It is possible to consistently create content your customers will read and respond to. Content that positions you as the ‘go to’ resource on hot topics. Better yet, content that gets buyers enthused about owning your product.

As luck would have it, I’ve created a seven step strategy that explains exactly how to it. This brief report, which you can finish in a coffee break, includes advice on finding hot topics, how to stand out in your industry and how to get people reading it. Better yet, I’ve listed tools you can use to do the ‘heavy lifting’ we’re told to dread.

I’ll publish the whole seven step strategy on this blog next week. But if you can’t wait, you can download it right now in elegantly designed eBook form.

If you find it useful, I hope you’ll consider sharing it with others. After all, nobody wants to see their work unloved and left to rust in ‘content wasteland’.

 

 

 

Is Content Marketing a Waste of Time? is a post from: The Copywriter's Crucible - A Melting Pot of Punchy, Persuasive Copywriting by Freelance Copywriter Matt Ambrose Join the Inbound Marketing revolution and start generating MORE leads for 61% LESS than other methods. Get your FREE 14 Step-by-step guide now:



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Monday, May 18, 2015

This Week Only – FREE John Carlton Mini Copywriting Course

Last week I told you about the Copyhour copywriting course I’ve been studying. Writing out classic sales letters, emails and direct response ads is a proven technique for evolving your copywriting brain. It puts you inside the minds of greats, like Joe Karbo, Gary Bencivenga and Joseph Sugarman, and to get a feeling and a heightened awareness for the thought process that structured their writing.

As you tell, I think Copyhour is great. But it’s not for everyone. The only guidance you get is through the daily emails introducing each assignment. Sometimes you need direct feedback from an expert to really raise your game.

The Simple Writing System is one of the most highly respected copywriting courses on the interwebs for those who want to learn directly from the best in the business.

Why? I’ll give you three quick reasons:

1) It’s produced by John Carlton – One time partner in crime to copy legend Gary Halbert, Carlton is a 30 year veteran and one of the most sought after direct response copywriters on the planet. He’s generated millions of dollars for the entrepreneurs, internet marketers and traditional business owners who recognise the link between quality copy and an elegant upward curve in their profit line.

2) You get direct feedback from Carlton and his stable of conversion tested copy dogs – Want a copywriter of the caliber of David Deutsch (the genius behind many controls for Boardroom and Phillips Publishing) critiquing your copy? Then this is the course for you. You’d have to pay a minimum of $500 to get one of these folks to review your copy if contacted privately. You can get it without paying a dime more when you signup for the course.

3) The testimonials are a roll call of six figure marketers – Rich Schefren, Tom Venuto and Peter Marshall are just three high profile endorsements for the course. In fact, they directly attribute part of their success in growing six figure businesses thanks to the sales psychology and copywriting skills they developed through the Simple Writing System.

Sounds too good to be true, right?

Well, maybe it is.

Why the Simple Writing System Isn’t for You

If you’re serious about taking your copywriting skills to the next level, the Simple Writing System is indeed a staircase that can get you there. But be warned, as with Copyhour, it’s not for everyone.

If any of these sound familiar you might want to give it a miss:

1) Money is an issue – The Simple Writing System isn’t cheap. If you don’t have the budget to spend on training of this level, there’s no shortage of quality copywriting books on Amazon to keep you busy. Just remember that you wont get any feedback on your work or be able to tell future clients that you studied the art of copywriting under John Carlton.

2) You’ve an eggshell ego – If you’ve watched any of Carlton’s presentation on writing copy or listened to his podcast, you’ll know that Carlton pulls no punches. If you’re copy is limp, dull and best suited for curing insomnia, Carlton will tell you so. You can expect the same ‘no nonsense’ advice from the rest of his team, who all experienced the benefit of tough love in their early careers.

3) You’re happy with your current income – If you’ve already achieved the six figure with the simple act of applying fingers to keyboard, studying the Simple Writing System might not be necessary. It’s likely you’ve already devised a system for creating winning video scripts, sales letters and lead generating emails that smash every split test they enter. Congratulations! Maybe you should give Carlton a call to offer your services as a tutor for next year’s course?

As you can see, the Simple Writing System is a serious investment, in both money and effort. The good news is that for this week only Carlton is offering a FREE introductory mini course. It’s like an appetizer if you’re not ready to devour the whole thing.

In this mini-course you’ll discover a delicacy of Carlton’s copywriting secrets, tactics and techniques honed over three decades of generating millions of dollars for clients. What’s more, you’ll get a video of his now infamous presentation at Frank Kern’s Mass Control Summit and, best of all, you’ll get the same feedback from Carlton and his team as though you’d slapped down the normal entrance fee, paid in full.

Remember, Carlton’s FREE mini-course and introduction to his Simple Writing System is only available this week only. Then you’ll have to pay the full price to get direct access to Carlton and his team of expert copywriting tutors.

So stop reading this right now! Head on over and sign up now before Carlton’s closes the doors for another year:

Get John Carlton’s FREE mini-course

Disclaimer

Yes, you guessed it, being the smart Copywriter’s Crucible reader that you are, I’m an affiliate for the Simple Writing System. Should you signup for the whole course and prefer I don’t get any commission click on this link instead.

This Week Only – FREE John Carlton Mini Copywriting Course is a post from: The Copywriter's Crucible - A Melting Pot of Punchy, Persuasive Copywriting by Freelance Copywriter Matt Ambrose Join the Inbound Marketing revolution and start generating MORE leads for 61% LESS than other methods. Get your FREE 14 Step-by-step guide now:



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