About Jodi Kaplan

The Connection Between Copywriting and Home Improvements

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Image by eye of einstein via Flickr

Ever hear of “so long and might as” project syndrome?

It’s what happens when small projects slowly (and sneakily) turn into big ones.

It all began when a family friend started remodeling his house. One thing led to another, and the project kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

Here’s what happens

For instance, the living room looks kinda grungy. So you repaint it. Then, of course, the dining room starts to look dingy in comparison. So you think, “well so long as I’m painting the living room, I might as well paint the dining room too.” Then you notice that the wooden floor in the hallway looks all scratched up. So you refinish it. And on and on and on.

This happens with copywriting and marketing projects too. So long as you’re placing an ad or writing a landing page asking people to download your ebook, you might as well ask them to sign up for your newsletter too. Oh, and maybe follow you on Twitter or Facebook.

Stop the scope creep!

Keep that up with home renovations and pretty soon you’ll be buried in paint, lumber, new plumbing, new fixtures, and large appliance boxes. You’ll swiftly turn a $200 project into a $2000 project.

Let that scope creep affect your copywriting and your marketing and you’ll confuse people. They won’t know what to do first. The danger is that they may be overwhelmed and end up doing nothing at all.

The other variation on this is when a simple project (write three blog posts) turns into three blog posts, plus a landing page, plus a newsletter, plus an email campaign. This is great if there’s additional payment to go with the additional work. Make sure you stop and make it clear to your client that adding to the project adds to the bill too.

Keep your call to action simple

The best thing to do is to focus on one thing. Ask for that thing, such as downloading that ebook, or calling for a free quote. But just that one thing, don’t add sharing buttons to your landing pages.

It’s OK to offer several ways to contact you (email, web, phone). Some people prefer to talk to someone, while others would rather just send an email and be finished with it.

Options that make your customers lives easier are fine.

Just don’t end up like the poor guy in the photo (still working one year and four months later).

Oh, and the family friend? He ended up starting a renovation business called “So Long and Mightas”

Friday Fun: A Kick in the Pants

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Image by emdot via Flickr

I realize a kick in the pants doesn’t sound like much fun. And maybe this post isn’t fun in the usual way.

However, if you’re feeling gloomy, stuck, or just a little under the weather, read this post by Jon Morrow on Problogger:

How to quit your job, move to paradise and get paid to change the world

The next time you feel down in the dumps, remember that post. Then, wiggle your toes.

What Your Clients Really Want: Why You Need a Marketing Persona

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Image by wwarby via Flickr

Have you gotten up close with your people? Not your family, or your friends, but your people — the people who read your blog, buy your services, or spread your posts around the internet.

If you’re going to successfully market your services, it’s a good idea to create marketing personas. A persona is just a fancy marketing term for mini-profiles of the people who are your ideal customers.

Who is your ideal client?

Ostriches? (hmm, ostriches, they like to put their heads in the sand and hide from problems). Or tigers? (they glare at you and they can rip your arm off if they want).

But, since you’re probably not marketing to animals (I don’t think they have credit cards, so probably a good thing), you’ll have to think about the people you want to reach. SEO whizzes? Electrical supply companies? Green tech companies?

Look at your client/prospect files. Is there a pattern? Do you have a specific niche market? Maybe you have a lot of law firms as clients. Or, you might find that many of your clients are medium-size marketing agencies. What do they have in common?

Are you offering something that nobody else is doing? If so, you could eliminate your competition.

Create a detailed profile for your marketing persona(s)

Build up as detailed a biography as possible. You may find you need more than one. You might have a persona for first-time users of your product and another for people who are more experienced.

You can even give them names (either real names or names that reflect their stage in business or life). The idea is to use those personas as a mental shortcut in your marketing. If you tell yourself you are marketing to Newbie Joe, you know exactly what that means.

What do they worry about?

Do they want to set up a blog? Does it seem like a huge obstacle to them? Are they unhappy with their web sites, but hesitate to act because they’re afraid they’ll get ripped off, or it will cost buckets of money, or take forever? Maybe they just don’t know who to call, or who to ask.

Can you help them solve that problem?

Remember the salad dressing rule. Focus your energies on people who have a problem you can fix (and how much better they will feel when you do). You could have the world’s greatest baby food formula, but trying to sell it to people without small children is a waste of time. They won’t care.

And, keep your head out of the sand (it’s really hard to get it out of your hair).

How Much Email is Too Much?

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Image via Wikipedia

Are your email newsletter readers overloaded? There’s a lot of debate about email frequency…how often should I send?

How much email is too much?

Frequency is definitely important. If you email too frequently, you’ll burn out your list, and wear out your welcome.

It’s not just frequency

Frequency isn’t the only consideration though. For example, Groupon sends emails every single day, but people happily sign up (and open them), because they have a strong incentive. Each email offers a deal, and the only way to get it is to share (the discount goes “live” only if enough people sign up for it). Daily Candy has daily emails too. HARO emails three times a day!

Are the emails relevant? And are they useful?

The thing that really makes the difference – what’s in the email and why are you sending it? Is it relevant? Stuffed with marketing messages? Or full of useful content. Not every email can (or should) sell something — unless that’s what readers specifically signed up for.

Is the email urgent?

The reason Daily Candy, Groupon, and HARO can email so often is that the information is time-sensitive. Don’t respond or reply fast enough and you miss the deal or don’t get the press coverage.

Why people complain about too many emails

Is it because you’re mailing too often? Or because your content isn’t helpful enough? It’s not the newsletter that’s the problem, it’s the way you’re using it. Like using a hammer to break an egg.

How to email more often (without marketing more)

Mix in some messages that offer useful tips and how-tos, without any marketing message at all. Or, add an offer to an email about something else (an email marketing ebook to a newsletter with 10 tips for better newsletters).

Create an e-course

Put together a series of tips, and send them separately as a series of lessons. When Brian Clark (of Copyblogger) was selling real estate, he created an email relocation guide — sent as a year-long email course — by the time clients were ready to relocate, he was the first person they called. You don’t have to painstakingly send each message manually; it can be done automatically.

Offer limited time special deals

Or, offer the option to sign up for 10 days of special discounts (this could work well around holidays). The only people who get the extra emails are the people who want them. Since it’s a limited offer, it also increases the urgency.

Have you gotten complaints about your e–newsletter? What did you do?

How to Write Copy That Fascinates Your Readers

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Are your bullet points so fascinating they can keep a baby’s attention?

There’s a little-known, but fascinating copywriting trick used by top copywriters and direct marketers such as Mel Martin, Eugene Schwartz, Boardroom, and Agora.

Direct mail may be considered old-fashioned by some, but the writing techniques developed decades ago by top copywriters still work. And, they also work online.

One of these old tricks is fascinations. They’re called “fascinations” because you just can’t resist reading them.

What’s so fascinating about fascinations?

Fascinations are simply little bullet points. Bullet points by themselves are not particularly interesting, but these are different. They’re specially constructed to make you curious, to tease, and to tempt you to read more (much more).

The key to writing a successful fascination bullet is to state a fact and then add a benefit. Sounds simple, right?

It is simple.

How to write fascinating copy

First, keep your bullet points short. Just write a single line, or two at most. The goal is to make the bullets quick and easy to read. You don’t want to slow people down or confuse them. Don’t use subheadings or run-on sentences with lots of commas. Edit them ruthlessly.

The bullet points don’t even have to be complete sentences. You want your copy to be easy to read and easy to scan.

Think of them as “mini-headlines”: short, attention-grabbing, and so compelling that your visitors can’t stop themselves from reading further.

Here are a few examples to get you started:

bills it’s OK to pay late
the one thing you should never eat on an airplane
try this weird old (________) tip*
how to quit sending queries and have business come to you
the decades-old copywriting technique that still works today

*fill in the blank with the topic of your ad, such as retirement planning, IT management, etc. and yes, it’s been abused in the age of BuzzFeed, but that’s because it works.

All of these promise inside information that will make your life easier.

First they make a statement, and then they add a surprising twist the reader wasn’t expecting.

Two great practitioners of this art were Mel Martin and Bill Jayme. They’re both gone, but there are two places you can see examples of their work:

Mel Martin swipe file

Bill Jayme swipe file

Why fascinations work

They arouse your curiosity. They almost tell you something – but not quite. The only way to find out what those bills are, or the secret weird tip is to click the link, subscribe to the newsletter, or open the envelope.

What do you think about fascinations? Have you ever tried them?