10 Surefire Ways to Add Sizzle to Your Brochures by Shannon Cherry, APR

10 Surefire Ways to Add Sizzle to Your Brochures by Shannon Cherry, APR

Businesses rely on brochures as their front line in communicating their products or services. Yet according to Shannon Cherry, APR, many find them not as successful because they underestimate the skills and resources necessary to publish attractive and effective materials.

"Most people forget a brochure is important because it represents you to the world and reflects your image," says Cherry, president of Cherry Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that helps businesses, entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations be heard.

"But the best brochures do more than impress," she says. "Effective copy and design can intrigue, inform, convince and capture customer business just as an effective salesperson does. Brochure effectiveness is linked to an audience-appropriate marketing strategy that drives the design process."

Cherry shares the following top ten list of hints can help your brochure put its best foot forward:

1.Keep headlines short. According to studies, headlines with fewer than ten words get more readership.
2.Focus your headline on your target audience. Show a picture of your target group and make sure the headline has the groups description in it. For example: If you are targeting moms, uses a headline like, "Moms Know Best."
3.Keep text lines at a comfortable length. Body copy lines should never be shorter than the font size or longer than double the font size.
4.Keep paragraphs - especially lead paragraphs - short. Perhaps even one sentence.
5.Use graphical dingbats including bullets, hyphens, and asterisks, to break up text.
6.Use captions to draw the reader in. Next to the cover, captions are the most read items in a brochure.
7.Set captions in a different style.
8.Avoid typographic overkill by using too many CAPS, italics and bolds.
9.Stick to no more than three different fonts in a brochure.
10.If you use photos with people in them, make sure their heads are at least the size of a dime.

About the author: Shannon Cherry, APR, MA helps businesses, entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations to be heard. She's a marketing communications and public relations expert with more than 15 years experience and the owner of Cherry Communications. Subscribe today for Be Heard! our free biweekly ezine and get a free special report: "Get Set For Success: Creative, Low-Cost Marketing Tips to Help You be Heard." Go to www.cherrycommunications.com.


About the Author
Shannon Cherry, APR, MA helps businesses, entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations to be heard. She's a marketing communications and public relations expert with more than 15 years experience and the owner of Cherry Communications. Subscribe today for Be Heard! our free biweekly ezine and get a free special report: "Get Set For Success: Creative, Low-Cost Marketing Tips to Help You be Heard." Go to www.cherrycommunications.com.

How To Write Little Tiny AdWords Ads That Bring Giant-Sized Profits by Karon Thackston

How To Write Little Tiny AdWords Ads That Bring Giant-Sized Profits by Karon Thackston

by Karon Thackston2004
http://www.copywritingcourse.com

It seems to be a phenomenon. You try Google AdWords Select, your ad gets disapproved by the powers that be at Google, you count your losses and give up. It doesnt have to be that way. There are two primary factors to succeeding at Google AdWords. The first is getting the right keywords. The second is writing little tiny ads. Neither is all that easy, but they can both be done.

Mark Twain said it best. If I would have had more time, I would have written you a shorter letter. The point it takes much more skill, and much more time to write short copy than long copy.

Lets go through the process together and Ill show you a few tricks of the trade that have brought me AdWords click through rates of 7.1%, 8.0% even 25%.

Step OneYou would be very wise to either use a benefit or an end result in your headline. In order to do this, youll have to be aware of the difference between features and benefits. Start by making a list. Ill use the example of an online shoe store.

Here are a few features:

huge inventory
wide selection of sizes
discounted prices
free shipping

And here are the benefits associated with those features:

hundreds of styles to choose from
hard-to-find sizes in stock
save money
free shipping (costs nothing extra)

Step TwoKnow what your customers are looking for. YOU may feel that one benefit outweighs another. However, your customer might feel differently. Be sure you understand what is important to your customer before writing your headline and your ad. You have no room to waste so it is vital that you find a so-called nail and hit it right on the head.

Step ThreeWork in your keywords. There tends to be a greater click through rate on search results that use the exact keyphrase the surfer types in. The same holds true for Googles AdWords program.

While the following have by no means been researched, well assume that some optimum keywords for our shoe store are: women's shoes and sandals. Well want to include these in our ads.

Step FourStart big and narrow it down. Begin by writing a few sentences or a paragraph about what youd like your customer to know. Perhaps:

Youll find everything youre looking for in one place! Hundreds of styles to choose from including hard-to-find sizes in stock. Youll save lots of money because our regular prices are far below that of other stores. Plus shipping is always freeregardless of the amount of your purchase. Check out our excellent selection of women's shoes and sandals.

Now, go back and take out every word that does not absolutely need to be there. You probably came up with something like this:

Everything in one place! Hundreds of styles, hard-to-find sizes. Prices far below other stores. Shipping free. Women's shoes and sandals.

Thats a LOT smaller and still gets the point across. However, it is still too long for AdWords. Your headline must be less than 25 characters (including spaces). Your copy can only be 35 characters per line. (You get two lines.) Now is the time to begin rearranging words to create an ad that will match Googles guidelines, include your keywords, and draw a crowd to your site.

Here are a couple I came up with:

100s of Styles-Low Prices
Big savings on women's shoes. Plus
free shipping! All sizes in stock.

Discount Women's Sandals
Latest styles at deep discounts.
All sizes in stock. Free Shipping!

Step FiveTest, test, test! Put them up and give them a go. See what happens. Believe me, Google will notify you quickly if your ads arent performing. Those that get lower than a .05% click through rate are immediately disapproved. You are notified that your ad has been pulled and that you need to make changes.

Use the information in the AdWords campaign section to track the results. Ive heard countless tales of those who have changed one little word and gone from a .07% CTR to a 5.0% CTR. If your ad is pulled, make simple changes to start with. Swapping out the word savings for discount or big for huge can be all it takes to catapult you to the top of the list.

When you write extremely short copy, remember to stay focused. There is not enough room to sell the customer within your copy, but there IS enough room to pique their interests. Use the limited space you have to punch up the biggest benefits or end results your customers are looking for and youll see bigger returns on your AdWords investment.


About the Author
Most buying decisions are emotional. Your ad copy should be, too! Karon is Owner and President of Marketing Words, Inc. which offers targeted copywriting, SEO copywriting & ezine article services. Visit her site at http://www.marketingwords.com today, or learn to write your own powerful copy at http://www.copywritingcourse.com

How To Get Immediate Response to Your Sales Pitch by Ray L. Edwards

How To Get Immediate Response to Your Sales Pitch by Ray L. Edwards

How To Get Immediate Response to Your Sales Pitch

Simply because your prospects are convinced that your product is
the best thing since slice bread, doesn't mean that they'll buy
right away.

In fact, most people will want to think about it for a little
while. There is that little voice in all of us that resists
being sold. We think that if we caved in to that salesman then
we aren't really strong. We feel almost like a sucker to fall
for his pitch.

This adage is a meaningful one: 'People love to buy but hate to
be sold'.

Even after we've bought that item that we must have, there is
still some mental dissonance (referred to as 'buyers remorse')
that torments us. This is one of the major reasons for refund
requests.

So you have to provide as much urgency and incentives as possible
for your prospect to make that purchase right away. Here are
seven of the most effective strategies to push them over the
decisional edge.

1. Make a Limited Offer

This is probably one of the more popular strategies to get people
to buy now. Don't let its popularity of use fool you though.
Once you can show that your offer is limited in availability then
the perceived value instantly quadruples. Limited quantity
offers work much better than limited time offers because you
don't know when the items will run out.

2. Offer Bonuses

This is another popular tool used to get buying decisions. The
bonuses should be related and complimentary to the main product.
This increases the value of your primary product and makes the
price appear much less for the value the customer gets. You
should try and avoid offering rebates or discounts if you can;
offer a bonus instead.

3. Give a deadline

If you give a deadline by which the offer will close or the price
will be raised, then this will build real urgency and increased
sales. You should make sure that the deadline is kept, or if
you extend the offer you should give a reason why you did this.
There are many websites that use a script that continually
changes the deadline. But this method can really backfire as you
can lose credibility with your customers. When customers buy
right away only to see the same price after the deadline is gone,
they feel cheated and tricked.

4. Offer a 'surprise bonus'

We've already said that bonuses are great decision helpers.
Well, the 'mystery gift' or the 'surprise bonus' also increases
sales because of the suspense element injected by this unknown.
There are many people who will buy just to find out what the
surprise gift it. This reminds me of the Cracker Jack boxes of
candied popcorn I'll buy as a child just to get the surprise gift
inside. It still works, even with adults.

5. Reward for fast responders and penalty for slow responders

As a teenager I'll attend summer youth camps that I'll have to
register for a few months in advance. All the forms came with a
deadline after which you'll have to pay a higher price. I
always tried to register early so that I'll get the lower price.
This sure defeated the procrastination bug in me.

A slight variation to this is the sales of tickets for an event
that will carry a higher price if you chose to pay at the door.
This encourages ticket sales because those who bought the ticket
are assured of a lower price.

6. Games of chance.

You've may have seen this strategy in selling magazine
subscriptions. You are pitched on subscribing for a chance to
win a Caribbean vacation or a digital camera. The only way you
can win will be to get an entrance by making the purchase. It's
a gimmick that works very well for Publisher's Clearing House.
There are many other companies that use this method as a lead
generation tool as well.

7. Make it easy to respond.

This may be the least obvious strategy of all but it's often
overlooked. Do you want your prospect to call? Then offer a
phone number in big bold type. Should they fill out a form then
make the form simple to fill out. You can even pre-fill the
options to make this a multiple choice type survey sheet. Do you
want them to click on a link and fill in their credit card
information? Then tell them so. Even though it may be obvious
to you this doesn't mean that it will be obvious to your
prospects.

If you give your potential customers too many hoops to jump
through then they'll more than likely abandon the sale. There
are many big company websites that take you through multiple
steps just to give them your money. These are the same companies
that complain of abandoned shopping carts.

So provide easy and multiple ways of ordering-phone, fax, credit
card, money order, online merchant and whatever is practical for
you.

I've read many websites where the copywriters seem to almost
apologize for asking for the order. There is zero incentive for
me to order now. It's as if they are saying, "Now that you've
read this, you can go away and think about it. Then come back
and make your order." Don't bring me to the top of the
decisional mountain and then allow me to slide right back down
the other side-a lost soul.I mean a lost sale.

After getting me excited about your product or service then sell
me (I mean let me buy) and encourage me to feel really good
about it.

Make me feel lucky that I got in on that great deal.

The best deal since the invention of slice bread!

About the Author
Ray L. Edwards is a published author, copywriter and
internet marketing consultant. He has made tens of thousands
of dollars for his copywriting clients. Being an online
market himself,he understands what it takes to sell online and
welcomes your inquiry about his master copywriting service.
http://www.webcopy-writing.com