Your Marketing: Sad Charade or Moving Parade?

Want more clients?

Here's an idea: Do more marketing that works.

And avoid the sad charade of flitting from one tactic to another.

You can do it in 5 simple steps:

1) Look through your database -- Infusionsoft, Salesforce, Excel spreadsheet, whatever -- and find the names of your last 10 clients.

2) Now, ask yourself: "What worked in my marketing? What did I say or do that caused them to buy?"

3) Write down the answer for all 10 clients. Examples: Called after I got their name by referral ... mailed them a Client Reactivation Letter ... sent them Email #3 in my series of 10 ... etc.

4) Then, ask yourself: "In my marketing today, am I doing what works?"

5) Oooops. In almost every case, you're NOT doing something today that brought new clients before. You simply forgot or got bored with it.

Example: You mailed an article to a prospect 3 months ago that caused them to call and buy ... but you haven't mailed that article since.

Let me repeat: In almost EVERY case, you've stopped doing marketing that works. Because you forgot or got bored with it.

Solution: Pick one marketing tactic that worked before but you haven't done since and do it TODAY, or at least schedule it. Then add it to your processes so you don't forget it again.

What's the moral of the story?

As advertising demi-god David Ogilvy wrote, "You aren't advertising to a standing army, you are advertising to a moving parade."

What's old to you is new to prospects who are parading past your business. If something works in your marketing, keep doing it until your prospects tell you otherwise.

When you understand this, you realize that you're probably sitting on a pile of latent revenue in your business. To tap that revenue, all you have to do today is more of the marketing that worked before.

One more thing: If you found this idea helpful, I've got a box of 11 marketing tools I'd like to ship you. You can try them free, but only if you hurry -- learn more at www.MarketingMultipliers.com

The Flexible Flyer: Advertising Staple for Any Business

Every member in my Marketing Multipliers program gets a monthly critique from me of any one piece of advertising they've created.

Because having another set of expert eyes on your marketing projects can only help you do better.

The flyer below was submitted by one member.

How would you improve it?

Here's what I suggested to him ...

The main area to improve here is this: CLARITY.

Example: the headline is a bit hard to read because it's printed on that curvy ribbon.

Dump the opening doggerel about "Halloween is past," etc. That's just clearing your throat and it gets in the way of the sales message.

If this is a sale, what are the savings? That's nowhere to be found. If the $2.70 price is less than usual, do the math and tell me how much I'm saving by ordering 200 cards.

Very important: there is no clear call to action. Do you want me to call you or visit a website? Both? That should be down below right above the deadline. Make it clear and bold it.

There's a good offer in there somewhere. With a bit of refinement and a lot more clarity, you can unlock the selling power of this flyer.

Once improved, I would use this promotion in all possible media: email, direct mail, web site, Facebook, taped in the windows of neighboring businesses ... and inserted into ALL mail and orders leaving your shop. You can even add it to the hold message on your phone ("Ask about our annual Christmas card special, going on now.")


Bottom line: A flyer, done right, is an advertising staple for any business. It's a little thing that can deliver big profits for you. That makes it a Marketing Multplier.

If you're an entrepreneur and you want to grow, there's a box of 11 Marketing Multipliers waiting for you now. You can try them Free -- click here.

My Free Delta Upgrade

I got a free upgrade today on Delta flight 2009 from Minneapolis to Denver.

Now, when you think "Delta" you don't normally think "free upgrade" in the same sentence ... or even the same day.

But I did indeed receive a free upgrade today, courtesy of the captain.

Can you guess what it was?

First, here's what the captain did after the doors closed. He walked out of the cockpit, took the microphone from the flight attendant, and said the following:

• "Hello, I'm Captain David Rausch. I don't want to bug you later so here are all the announcements now. Do I have your attention? (Us: Silence.) Do I have your attention?? (Us: "Yes, captain!") Good ...
• "First of all, thank you for joining us this evening and putting up with the TSA monkey business to get here
• "I love to fly, and I'll get you there safely because I never text and fly
• "We'll hit a few bumps over the Rockies. Nothing dangerous, just a little annoying. I'll do my best to keep it smooth
• "Finally, there are a couple military members on board so let's thank them for their service."

At that point, the whole plane broke into applause (for the military members) and smiles (for the captain).

It wasn't Tonight Show-level material, but Captain Rausch's monologue was still remarkable (at least for Delta). Simply by showing a little personality, he transformed the dull, robotic announcements that every passenger instinctively ignores into an experience. At no cost to Delta.

That's the free upgrade I received -- an experience. It made me sit down and write this out as soon as I got to my hotel room.

Here's Captain Rausch. He kindly agreed to let me snap his picture, after I first shook his hand.

Maybe pilots with personality who stand up and introduce themselves before a flight are common on Southwest, or Virgin, but this is a first for me in 30 years of flying Northwest/Delta. Bravo.

By the way, service is a little thing that can lead to big profits for your business. That makes it a Marketing Multiplier.

There's a box of 11 Marketing Multipliers waiting for you now. And you can try them Free -- click here.

Paper Email, Image Suicide, and a 28,400% ROI

I created Marketing Multipliers to share some of the tools I use to grow revenues for my clients and myself.

Example: The Paper Email.

It's something I print and mail to clients and prospects when I want to make absolutely, positively sure they get my email messages.

Because, even on a good day, your email stands less than a 1 in 4 chance of being delivered, opened, and read, according to MailChimp.

I don't know about you, but I think those odds suck. If a <25% open-and-read rate is standard, then even the Pony Express in 1860 could do better than email in 2015.

So I don't play the email game. And neither should you. At least, not exclusively.

Instead, if a message is really important, I not only send it by email, I also mail it and/or call the recipient.

Case in point: The Paper Email below. It's a printed version of an email, spiced up with my weird picture. I mailed it -- in an envelope, with a stamp -- to a highly targeted list of prospects last week ...

... and in response, I got this email from a new client who had been trying to reach me:

Look at the subject of the email above that he forwarded to me: Did you get this email from Friday? When I picked up the phone and called him, he told me the problem wasn't my email not reaching him, but his email not reaching me.

BUT ... because I mailed him the paper email, he was motivated to email me back. And buy.

No paper email = no sale.

And I didn't mind committing what Bill Glazer calls, "image suicide" in my Paper Email by including a goofy picture of myself. Hey, if that's what it takes to get attention, no problem. Because, as David Ogilvy said, "You can't bore people into buying."

Okay, now let's run the numbers:

• Cost: $7 to mail 10 Paper Emails to a targeted list, including postage
• Revenue: $1,994 from a mini consulting project that will deliver $10,000 to $20,000 or more to my client -- or he won't pay
• ROI from this simplest of direct mail pieces: 28,400%, or $285 for every $1 invested

Not bad. That's the power of a simple Paper Email, one of 11 Marketing Multipliers tools you can try Free -- click here to learn how.

Person-to-Person Marketing in a Box

This is a very special unboxing of a very special something -- a CARE package I got from Brian Kurtz.

Back story: I attended Brian's Titans of Marketing event in 2014 and exchanged emails with him after. He included one of my productivity tips in his blog. I mailed him a thank-you note and he emailed me back, offering to send me a thank-you gift by mail.

What I got was ... huge. Awesome. Incredible. Watch the video to see me unbox it all.

To a copywriter like me, this stuff is priceless.

Here's the thing: Brian is teaching a super valuable lesson here on the art of P2P -- person-to-person -- marketing. 

Forget B2B or B2C marketing. In the end all marketing is really P2P -- person to person.

Brian Kurtz, a person, has just delivered an outrageous and totally unexpected amount of value to me, a person. And I want the whole world to know about it. That’s why I did this impromptu video and I'm even paying to drive traffic to it. This is what raving fans do.

Key: Brian invested time and attention to assemble all the parts of this package, hand-write the note to me, and put it in the mail. He could have outsourced it to a fulfillment house, but that would have been a package from a business, not a person. And I wouldn't be making this video.

You cannot buy the kind of raving fandom that I'm showing here. You cannot outsource it, either. 

But you can make an impact on others -- and spread your influence far and wide -- simply by making a direct, valuable, personal connection to another person today.

This is simple, but not easy. Yet Brian did it. Big time.

By the way ...

... I've created a club for entrepreneurs who want to grow. Every member gets a box of marketing tools delivered by mail every month. And you can try them free. Click here.

Big Profits From A Slight Edge

Did you know?

You don't have to be 3 times better to earn 3 times more money in your business.

Just ask Kentucky Derby winner, American Pharoah.

American Pharoah: Slight edge, big winner

If he could talk, he'd tell you that he won by just a slight edge over the #2 horse. But he took home a LOT more money.

Three times more, as a matter of fact. Check it out ...

1. American Pharoah - $1,240,000 payoff

2. Firing Line - $400,000 payoff

Was American Pharoah three times faster than Firing Line? No. He was just a little bit better. He had a slight edge.

Is that fair? No.

Is that life? Yes.

All you need is just a slight edge over the other guy ... and you can take home a paycheck that’s so much bigger, it’s almost unfair.

Here's another example from the human world, my client, Joe X. (He advertises every day on national TV and his competitors steal his ideas, so his name must be kept confidential for now.)

Joe is on track to add $462,363 EXTRA to his business this year, from the same ad spend.

He did it, with my help, using the same principle of the slight edge. Take a look at the graphic below to see the "before and after" results of a test I did for him ...

How did I cause a 43% surge in his sales, almost overnight?

I made a slight change to his web site -- just the headline. That's it.

The new version took me less than 5 minutes to create ... but it was based on 20 years(!) of writing web page copy. Yes, I've been at this since 1995.

We sent more than 1,880 visitors to two versions of his web site to see which was more profitable.

And ... we got 43% more sales. That's an extra $8,891 every week my client will likely make, from the same amount of web traffic, thanks to one slight change I made for him.

Takeaway: If you're not optimizing your marketing -- testing changes big and small to your headlines, email subject lines, phone scripts, sales letters, etc. -- you are absolutely, positively throwing money away.

Best part: You don't have to change the world to change your world. Just a small, slight edge can slice open huge new sales and profits.

One more thing: I just created a new Cheat Sheet that reveals 4 ways to "force" Amazon to build your business, at NO cost. Click To Download Now

36 F- Words You Can’t Say in Business

(See the key below for what each F-word really means.)

Did you know?

Your business strategy is f---¹ important!

Unfortunately, it’s easy to be distracted by f---² tactics.

That’s why you need a strategic plan of action to stay on track. Otherwise ...

You’ll Be Seriously F---³!

But let’s f---⁴ recap shall we?

A tactical business owner works to make more sales today.

If you tell him (or her, I’m not a f---⁵ sexist) that it’s twice as hard to get an appointment with a prospect as it was 5 years ago, he’ll say, “F---⁶! I’m going to work twice as hard.”

By contrast, a strategic business owner works to make more sales today and tomorrow.

If you tell him it’s twice as hard to get an appointment with a prospect, he’ll say, “F---⁷! I’m going to make selling twice as easy.” In other words ...

The Tactical Business Owner
Chases Profits By Working F---⁸ Harder.

The Strategic Business Owner
Creates Profits By Working F---⁹ Smarter.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: How can I f---¹⁰ work smarter and make selling twice as easy?

Well, you should f---¹¹ realize that only about 3% of your prospects are actively looking to make a purchase right now, according to my f---¹² research. Out of every 100 phone calls or emails you get, only about 3 of them will say, “I want to f---¹³ buy today!”

The rest of your prospects (as many as 97% of those f--¹⁴ people) are not buying today. They’re only thinking about it. They might be interested or think they have a problem ... but they’re not sure how you can f---¹⁵ help.

So, what can you say to the 97% of your market to get their f---¹⁶ attention and start a f---¹⁷ conversation that leads to a f---¹⁸ sale, even if they’re NOT ready to buy?

Try this: Offer to educate them. Because everyone wants to make things better, but only 3% want to buy today. It’s just common f---¹⁹ sense.

Want proof?

Try this thought experiment ...

You walk into a car dealer. A tactical sales rep pounces and says, “Hi! Can I help you find a f---²⁰ car? We’ve got some f---²¹ beauties this week!”

What’s your reaction?

“No, I’m just f---²² looking.” You may want to buy a car, but instincts take over and your shields go up when you think you’re being sold something.

At another car dealer, a strategic sales rep greets you and says: “Hi! Have you seen our f---²³ car guide? It shows you how to avoid the 7 mistakes most people make when buying a car. It’ll save you money even if you don’t f---²⁴ buy from us. Here’s a free copy.”

What’s your reaction to that?

“Thank you! This is f---²⁵ great.” You’re now indebted to that sales rep for giving you real value before he asked for money. You may buy today. Or not. But you’ll certainly be more open to a f---²⁶ conversation with that sales rep. Which makes a sale today more likely.

And you’ll take his f---²⁷ car guide home and either buy from him in the future or use the guide to evaluate other sales reps, who will likely pale in comparison to the guy who tried to f---²⁸ educate you. 

So ...

That’s The F---²⁹ Power Of
Strategic Educational Marketing

By playing the long game and taking time to help buyers today, you can make more sales, more easily. Today and tomorrow. F---³⁰!

This is what I help my f---³¹ clients do to earn their prospects’ trust and respect ... generate more referrals ... preempt low-priced competition ... and position themselves as f---³² experts.

Now. If you’d like to enjoy those f---³³ advantages in your business, please visit my f---34 web site.

One more thing. I follow my own advice ...

Should you call me at 612-567-6642, I won’t try to f---³⁵ sell you something, okay? 

We’ll just have a conversation about your business and how it can grow bigger, faster with strategic educational marketing like this.

Thanks for reading!

F---³⁶ you,

Kevin Donlin

Copywriter+ Marketing Optimizer

P.S. Here’s the key to all those f-words:

1. forceful   
2. fanciful   
3. Flummoxed    
4. first       
5. fiendish    
6. Fiddlesticks    
7. Fine       
8. Foolishly   
9. Facilely   
10. finally   
11. first       
12. faithful   
13. Fearlessly
14. Fickle   
15. fairly       
16. fleeting   
17. feel-good   
18. fabulous   
19. Fiscal   
20. foreign    
21. fast       
22. fitfully   
23. free       
24. finally   
25. factually   
26. Facile   
27. fantastic    
28. faithfully   
29. Fiery    
30. Finally   
31. fearless   
32. faultless    
33. favorable   
34. Friendly   
35. foolishly    
36. Favoring

One more thing: I just created a new Cheat Sheet that reveals 4 ways to "force" Amazon to build your business, at NO cost. Click To Download Now