Myths And Misunderstandings: Part 2

As promised, this Part 2 of Myths and Misunderstandings will explain why ALL seven statements were wrong.

If you’ve not read Part 1 of this blog post I suggest you go there now and read it first.

Then return here…

Here’s that list of statements which business owners, marketers and others said.

This time, I’ll explain WHY what they said was either Myth or Misunderstanding:

1. “It’s really tough to sell this kind of seminar at the moment”

Whilst it can be difficult to fill the seats at a seminar, workshop or similar event it’s not usually down to the timing. It’s more likely that your marketing has not got its message across to the right audience, or that you’ve failed to demonstrate the value of the event, or not given people enough reason to buy a ticket.

Experience shows that if you offer people something they want really badly (or they desperately need), if people see your offer or solution as the best available, and if they believe you can deliver what you say you can, they tend to buy. There are many entrepreneurs out there filling seats and selling out with ease.

So instead of blaming the time of the year or something else, first take a look at your offering and how you’re presenting it.

Chances are, you’ll be able to improve the way you’re selling it.

2. “There’s no point me spending money on sending out a direct mail sales letter – everyone’s using the Internet”

Many people are using the Internet – entrepreneurs, marketers, prospects, clients and customers.

So what?

That also means that your potential clients and customers are receiving a lot of emails.

Sending them a letter in the post could be a great way to get more sales.

Because you’ll be doing something that relatively few businesses do (or do well).

A letter is more personal than email.

Don’t you still have a little tinge of excitement or curiosity when you hear the postman (or postwoman) drop mail through your letterbox?

Exactly. And your customers, clients and prospects probably feel just the same.

Because we’re human beings and it’s in our nature.

So, don’t say something doesn’t work when you have no proof.

Try it. Test it. Check your results. Take action.

There are businesses out there using direct mail sales letters who are getting great results.

Maybe one of your competitors is one of them?

3. “I can’t test things – I’ve only got a small mailing list”

Sure, it’s easier to test things when you have a list of 10,000 or 20,000, or 30,000 or more.  But even if you’ve only got 20 or 100 on your list it’s possible to test things.

Let me give you an example.

Let’s say you have 100 people on your mailing list. You offer a coaching or consultancy service and want to encourage people to book a no-obligation consultation call with you.

You could sent your list a series of emails. Each email would cover a specific “objection” they might have – or a specific feature or benefit of the service you offer. You could test which topic was most relevant to your list by the number of people who respond and request a call with you.

Alternatively, you could have a string of emails which cover ONE topic, each in a slightly different way. But here you test the SUBJECT LINES of your emails to see which is the strongest. You can then use the “winning” subject line when you repeat the offer to new people on your list.

Or send an email with one subject line to 50 people on your list and send the same one to the other 50, but with a different subject line. See which gets the highest open rates.

4. “I’ve just spent £4,000 on a website. There’s no point me spending another £3,000 for some copywriting”

Getting a website built is only part of the jigsaw. You also need to get people to visit your website. And when they do visit, you’ll want to ensure you have something to say that’s compelling enough for them to take the action you want them to – to contact you, to download a free report, to complete a survey, etc.

Some of that may be down to design.

The rest will be down to the words on your website.

If your words are dull and boring, or if you have no “call to action”, it doesn’t matter whether you’ve spent £400, £4,000 or £40,000 on your website.

You’ll have few enquiries, fewer sales and an online “white elephant” that’s either a cheap or an expensive waste of money.

I’m not saying you have to pay £3,000 for the copywriting but ask yourself which of these two options you want:

1. A pretty and fancy website which people visit and then leave (or maybe never even visit)?

OR…

2. A basic website with no bells or whistles that gets people signing up to your mailing list by the shed-load, gets people giving you a call, and gets people filling in that “contact us” form?

Remember also that money is relative. If you spent £3,000 and knew it would make you £10,000… or £20,000… or £100,000…

Would you really be quibbling over the investment?

5. “The landing page isn’t working. It needs changing”

This one illustrates the importance of testing and analysing your results. A company offering marketing services did some copy for a client as part of a campaign they did for the person (let’s call that person Bob).

Now, Bob ran the campaign once everything was put in place. It involved some Facebook ads to drive traffic to a landing page, with an opt-in form for people to sign up to a mailing list in return for a free e-book.

The first results from the campaign came in.

Bob was not happy. Nobody had joined his mailing list.

He rang the company and said: “The campaign’s not working. You need to change the landing page because nobody’s signing up.”

The company said to Bob “send us your stats”. Bob did.

And that’s when the cause of the problem was discovered.

It wasn’t the landing page.

Nobody was getting that far. The problem was with the “click through’s” from the Facebook ads. There were NONE!

The company helped Bob to revise the copy for his Facebook ads.

Unsurprisingly, he started to get some sign-ups.

That’s why you test. That’s why you look at your results.

That way you avoid myths and misunderstanding. Instead, you get the true picture.

6. “Short copy is better than long copy – people don’t want to read lots of words these days”

There is a relatively short word I could use to reply to the above statement but it’s a “family-friendly” blog.

Let’s just respond with the word “Rubbish!”

It’s not that people don’t want to read a lot of copy.

It’s that they don’t want to read DULL and BORING copy.

Let’s be very clear on this.

If you ask most professional copywriters what works for them they’ll say LONG copy wins every time.

This doesn’t mean you have to write long emails.

You could write a short email and send people to a long-copy landing page.

Copywriting is about sales.

A true salesman wouldn’t show somebody a product and then fail to tell the prospect EVERY way in which that product would be of benefit. A true salesman wouldn’t fail to overcome a single possible objection from the potential customer. A true salesman would cover ALL the bases.

And so it is for copywriters.

If you’re writing copy to sell something, you need to spell out all the specific benefits, explain the unique or different qualities of the product or service, pre-empt the key potential objections from a prospect, and leave no essential questions unanswered.

I once wrote a landing page for a client. It was 20 pages long.

The client said: “I never thought anyone could write 20 pages on that subject”

The reply: “That’s what you pay a professional copywriter for.”

7. “My free report needs to be word-perfect (because my peers will be watching and I don’t want them to read something poor quality)”

You may notice on some websites how you’re invited to get hold of a free copy of a report, white paper or e-book… in exchange for handing over your name and email details.

How many have you downloaded?

How many have you then gone on to read, cover to cover?

If you’re like most people… the answer to the first question is probably “quite a few” and to the second most likely, “hardly any”.

The free report is just there to do a job.

To get people to sign up.

Obviously it’s nice if the report or e-book looks good.

But it doesn’t have to be “perfect”.

If it contains content valuable to the reader that’s the main thing.

If that content is just a plain “black and white” PDF that’s fine. That’s all it needs to be.

It’s more important to have a free report to offer than to have a glossy alternative still “in production”.

You can always substitute your first effort later on with something prettier, fancier or smart-looking.

It’s only an opinion, but if your focus is more on what your peers think of you than on telling people about the uniqueness of what you offer…

Your focus is in the WRONG place.

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