Is your copy a bit lifeless? Marketing flat? Michele PW is here with tips and tricks to get your marketing and copy back on track.
07.12.07
Posted in Advertising, Business, General at 2:18 pm EDT by Michele PW
In the marketing world, radio has earned the reputation of being the odd step-cousin. You know the one. No one knows quite what to do with him. Especially at family gatherings when everyone tries hard to avoid sitting with him. (After all, who knows WHAT he’ll start talking about.)
Much of that reputation comes from radio being tough to track. On one hand, radio does work. Businesses do notice an increase in sales when they add radio to the mix. However, radio doesn’t test well. In surveys and other tracking methods, radio tends to be the one with the dismal scores.
A good friend of mine, who’s also a marketing consultant but before that she sold radio for many years, has a theory about that. She says Read the rest of this entry »
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01.02.06
Posted in Advertising, Online Marketing at 4:11 pm EST by Michele PW
It used to be if you were a small business, you were at a distinct disadvantage with your marketing compared to the bigger companies.
No more. Small business owners will actually have an edge over bigger companies thanks to the emerging marketing model.
Yes, you heard right. Emerging marketing model. The old ways of marketing are dying. And a new regime is coming of age.
Read the rest of this entry »
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12.30.05
Posted in Advertising at 4:09 pm EST by Michele PW
This is the third article of a three-part series. I’m illustrating the marketing challenges of PrescottWeddings.com, a small business. Go here if you want to read “Part 1: Using print to drive traffic online” or “Part 2: Thinking small.”
If you don’t remember anything else about marketing, remember this: Frequency is king. Read the rest of this entry »
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12.28.05
Posted in Advertising at 4:08 pm EST by Michele PW
This is the second article of a three-part series. I’m illustrating the marketing challenges of a small business, PrescottWeddings.com. Here’s where you can find “Part 1: Using print to drive traffic online.”
Our goal was to both build the PWC brand and drive traffic to the Web site. Advertising regularly was essential. Yet it was also essential to keep our costs down. So we leveraged our monthly newspaper advertising to stretch our marketing dollar as far as we could.
How did we do that? We “thought small.”
We bought one inch by two column inch ads (a column inch in this particular publication is approximately 1.88 inches). The ads were one inch high and almost 4 inches long.
To reflect the small ad, the copy also had to be short and sweet. Like so:
www.PrescottWeddings.com. Everything you need to say “I do.”
Just the name of the business and the slogan.
We put the name in large type and made the tagline much smaller.
Did it work? Read the rest of this entry »
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12.26.05
Posted in Advertising at 4:07 pm EST by Michele PW
This is the first article of a three-part series. I decided to try something a little different and illustrate the marketing challenges of a small business. I’m using one of my clients, PrescottWeddings.com.
PWC is an online resource guide for couples planning their weddings. Along with a ton of information for brides and grooms, the site includes a resource guide where local businesses can advertise their products and services.
We launched PWC in November 2001. Like many start-up businesses, PWC didn’t have much money for marketing. Yet we had two major challenges (three counting the limited budget): Read the rest of this entry »
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12.02.05
Posted in Advertising, Business, Marketing at 4:01 pm EST by Michele PW
When most people think of marketing, they think of advertising. That’s not exactly true.
While advertising is a part of marketing, that’s all it is. A part. Marketing is much bigger than that.
A better way to think about marketing is anything you do that touches either your customers or potential customers.
Yes, I do mean anything. Whether it’s sending an invoice, handling a complaint call, running a radio ad or sending an e-mail, you’re marketing your business if you’re touching a customer or a potential customer. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Advertising, Business, General, Marketing, Public Relations at 3:58 pm EST by Michele PW
In my last column I talked about how the field of marketing is changing. Now more than ever, you need to develop a relationship with your customers.
So where should you start? With your Web site.
What? You say you don’t have a Web site? Well, if you’re serious about selling your books, products or other services, then write down “get myself a Web site” at the top of your to-do list.
Seriously. A Web site is really the foundation of your marketing strategy. Not only can you sell your books from your Web site 24/7, but it’s also where you can start building a relationship with your customers. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Advertising, Business, Marketing, Public Relations, Writing at 3:56 pm EST by Michele PW
I want to share my secret for attracting tons of traffic, leads and customers to my site.
Ready? It’s writing and submitting articles online.
I can hear all the protesting already. But it’s easy for you, you’re a writer, that’s what you do, etc.
Now there is some truth to that — I am writer so writing articles does come easy for me. However, I also make my living as a writer. That means I do an awful lot of writing each and every day. Trust me — I know all about procrastination when it comes time to writing articles for myself.
But since writing articles is such a powerful method of self-promotion, I’ve taken the time to figure out a few shortcuts. This makes the process less painful so I do get them written on a regular basis. I’m sharing five to help get you started. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Advertising, Business, Marketing, Public Relations at 3:53 pm EST by Michele PW
I thought I would clear up some misconceptions about marketing in this two-part series: What Marketing Can Do For You and What Marketing Can’t Do For You. This issue is about what marketing can’t do.
While there’s no question a solid marketing program can increase your business, it can’t fix everything. Below are 5 things marketing can’t do for you: Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Advertising, Business, Marketing at 3:52 pm EST by Michele PW
I thought I would clear up some misconceptions about marketing in this two-part series: What Marketing Can Do For You and What Marketing Can’t Do For You. We’ll start with the positive.
Over the years, I’ve had dealings with some business owners who have a rather skewed perception of marketing. They think you throw a few ads out there, get a couple of press releases printed and voila! You’re a big success.
Oh, if it only were that easy. (Although if it were, I probably wouldn’t have a job.)
But there’s no getting around that to have a successful business, you need a solid marketing plan.
So what CAN marketing do for you? Increase your business – no question about it. You need to be marketing if you want to grow your business. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Advertising, Business, Copywriting, General, Marketing, Public Relations, Writing at 3:47 pm EST by Michele PW
Whatever kind of writing you do, knowing how to successfully network and meet people is critical to your success. You can leverage networking opportunities to increase readership of your books (people love to know authors and to tell people they personally know the author of the book they’re reading) get clients for a coaching or copywriting business, or line up speaking opportunities.
As writers, though, it’s sometimes difficult to drag ourselves out from behind the computer and actually interact with the human race. Here are fifteen tips to get you started. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Advertising, Business, Copywriting, General, Marketing at 3:42 pm EST by Michele PW
Here are seven tips to help get your copywriting business off the ground.
1. Put together a portfolio. Most people won’t hire you without seeing samples of your work. That said, I’ve found the longer I’ve been in business the less people look at my samples.
When I first started and had hardly any samples, well then, of course everyone wanted to see them. So my portfolio consisted of every little thing I had ever done. Now that I have more samples than I can keep track of, I only bring a handful.
As for why potential clients aren’t asking to see my samples anymore, my guess is what’s probably happened is I’ve changed. My confidence has gone up and clients probably sense that in me, thus they’re also confident I can do the job. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Advertising, Business, Copywriting, General, Marketing, Public Relations at 2:59 pm EST by Michele PW
You are a professional writer — therefore you need a professional identity or image. And if you also offer marketing consultation, that image becomes even more important (after all, you’re in the business of helping other businesses with their identity, you better have a decent one yourself).
People want to work with successful people. The image you present to the world goes a long way toward establishing that.
Although the following three tips are designed more for copywriters, all writers can benefit from taking a closer look at their professional identity. Read the rest of this entry »
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12.01.05
Posted in Advertising, Business, Copywriting, Writing at 11:00 pm EST by Michele PW
Knowing how to write, and write well, is a skill that will come in handy in all sorts of situations. And if you combine good writing skills with the persuasive selling tactics found in, say, copywriting, you’ll be that much more ahead of your competition.
Of all the different types of writing I’ve done in my life (and believe me, I’ve tried practically all of them) writing radio has made one of the bigger impacts on my writing style.
Below are three ways writing radio can help strengthen your writing style. (Oh, and these tips will also help you write better radio copy too.) Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Advertising, Business, Copywriting, Marketing, Public Relations at 10:50 pm EST by Michele PW
Want to create print ads that get results? Below are three keys to get you started.
1. Write for the eye. Print ads are visual. Therefore, craft ads with the eye in mind.
Eyes are kind of picky, though. So, here’s a checklist of what eyes like and don’t like:
A catchy headline that encourages them read more. Read the rest of this entry »
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I also write fiction. Learn more here.
