WARNING: Danger ahead. Five things you must not do in the next five minutes unless you already have all the money you need.

It doesn’t much matter what kind of marketing you’re doing, you’ll need to come up with a headline. So, let’s discuss headlines. But first, breath again. No danger is ahead. Just wanted to get your attention. Hope I did.

Some rules on headlines:
1. The purpose of a headline is to get you to read the next line. Therefore, the headline is the most important sentence in your announcement, advertisement, flyer, etc. And you can guess what the second most important sentence is. Right. The second sentence. And what is its purpose? Yes, you’re right. To get you to read the 3rd sentence and so on.
2. Never write a headline with space in mind. If you think you have cramped space you’ll start parsing your words before you start. Bad idea. The best things is to write out, without regard to space, whatever you think is the MOST important thing that will benefit your customer or compel him to read on.

Sub Point. Don’t limit your headline to a few words. One of the best selling headlines was
“ THEY LAUGHED WHEN I SAT DOWN AT THE PIANO --- BUT WHEN I STARTED TO PLAY!”

But, that’s not long enough to prove my point.

Try this one:

As you can see, I have attached a nice, crisp $1.00 bill to the top of this letter. Why have I done this?

Actually, there are two reasons:

1) This letter is very important and I needed some way to make sure it would catch your attention.

2) And secondly, I wanted to give you your first dollar that you can give a man who really needs your help. And...

This Is Going To Be The Most Important Message You Will Ever Read!

As you can see it is six sentences. It started off a letter that I put a dollar bill atop. I did this in 1981 when I was asked to do my first direct mail piece. I had seen offers that put a penny and even a nickel in a mail package so I figured, “Why not put in a dollar bill?” Everyone thought I was nuts except my immediate boss. He loved doing strange things because he understood the principle of “Zig Zag.” When everyone else is zigging, you’d better zag. He also understood that if the headline didn’t make you a little queezy or sick to your stomach when you were deciding if it was good, it was probably too ordinary and thus bad.

So, he took a chance on me. Keep in mind I knew practically nothing about direct mail except that I knew I could write and could sell. Advertising is just salesmanship in print and you’d better follow sales rules.

After telling people about Hatch I closed with, “Remember the $1 bill I gave you. Would you please write Orrin Hatch a check for $24 and include the $1 bill I gave you so you can get credit for a $25 donation...”

The check flew in and so did our original dollar bills. Some with very nice words written on them. A few wrote nasty words (nasty for Provo... something like “Oh my heck I can believe you sent me this freakin’ letter.)

Back to my ignorance. I mailed the phone book. Yep. Pulled 1000 names out of the phone book in Provo, Utah and sent a nice personal fund raising letter out for a guy running for the Senate for the first time – tall lanky lawyer named Orrin Hatch. We raised a ton of money and had no business being able to do so because it was such an unqualified list. But, I wrote a great letter and had a great headline and eye catcher that compelled them to read on.

I went on to use that headline in various forms along with a dollar bill attached in more than a couple dozen campaigns. One campaign raised $120 for every letter we sent out. It also broke a lot of silly rules people create. The letter was 18 pages long. But, it raised $120 for every letter we mailed and we mailed more than 100,000 letters. You do the math.

Like all good ideas, this one got copied. Others started taking credit for it. I didn’t care about credit, I just cared that they used it so much it began to lose its effectiveness. I had zagged and then they zagged with me so it was now so much clutter. I stopped using it.

Pick out all the little rules I’ve just given you and now go out and create your own new headline with one thing in mind – make it so compelling someone has to read the next line and so forth until they’re lined up begging you to take their money.

One last word. I am not a slave to writing long headlines. Just effective ones. I once wrote this headline advertising a one week adult education course.

We Don't Sell Fish

That was it. We had lots of space, but, that was the headline. We sold more than 5000 people a course that they had to leave their home and fly to Salt Lake City, Utah and spend a week with me and my educators as we either taught them investment strategies or came for a one week course on entrepreneurship and marketing. They paid different amounts for each course from between $2,000 and $5,000. We varied the headline from time to time, but, essentially that was the theme: We Don't Sell Fish.

3) Don't worry about what people tell you is "the right way to do it." Make it work. One of my biggest errors in headline writing was when I listened to people tell me what an awful headline this was:

Come visit the country that's been trying to kill you!

I ran it one time in one newspaper. My staff objected. Thought it was too crass or offensive or something. I got hateful letters published in the Letters to the Editor for that newspaper. Like a cheap tent, I folded. Even when we got one of the highest number of trips sold to visit the Soviet Union from people reading this headline and ad and calling to buy our tours, I didn't use the headline again. Dumb. Stupid. Makes me mad right now to think I let my staff and some mentally constipated people influence me. And to think people wrote Letters to Editor and re-publicized my advertisement FOR FREE and I didn't run it again. OHHHH that hurts to remember that.

So, write a headline that gives you butterflies and weak knees and if it works... do it again and again and again until it stops working.

Ciao.

Tis worse to be irresolute than wrong

Speed.

In marketing there are a couple of other ways of looking at it. Many wait until too late to do something. They fear rushing in. They don’t know how to manage speed. Speed kills, they say.

I have a different point of view. About right now is better than exactly right later. Fear of failure gets people into the mindset that they need to keep doing market research, fiddling with figures, and carefully mapping out strategy.

In the mean time, I’m out doing, making mistakes, learning from them and eventually getting it right. That “eventually” has some advantages. Eventually you learn the skills to do it right the first time and do it right quickly.

A long time ago in 1984, I was at a reception in Washington, DC. These are dreadful affairs with everyone wanting to be seen with someone special. I was semi-enjoying a mindless Tuesday evening when Neal Blair, my partner in political grime (we were lobbyists), came up to me with Phyllis Schlafly. The Equal Rights Amendment has spent years being rejected by state legislatures and the time had run out for the amendment process. But, die-hard supporters were trying to change the rules and grant it an extended time so they could get their way. Both parties participate in such shenanigans.

Mrs. Schlafly told Neal that she needed a commercial written that could convince the 17 wavering congressmen to spike the bill once and for all. Neal magnanimously told Schlafly that I would be happy to write a commercial for her. I nearly croaked on my Sprite. I managed to say I’d give it a try. She said, “Good. We must have it Thursday morning.” Blair said, “No problem.” I could have strangled him.

So I went home that night and wrote the script; a little one minute play about two GI Janes in a fox hole leading a platoon of Marines and saying that their congressman assured them that if the ERA passed it would not mean a mandatory equal draft. Even if you didn’t agree, it was quite funny and hard to refute.

The next morning, Wednesday, I was at the sound studio. Before leaving I called the producer and read him the script (we didn’t have faxes, cell phones, scanners or computers). By the time I arrived he had assembled five actors who grabbed my script and started rehearsing. By 5 PM we were finished. The producer spent the evening squeezing everything into the 1 minute spot. The next morning, Thursday, Schlafly had her 17 cassettes, each with the ad that named that congressman by name as the person that voted to force Mom to be a Marine.

By Thursday afternoon Schlafly had walked into all 17 congressmen’s offices and played the commercial “that will air Monday here and in your district if you vote to give an unfair extension of time to the ERA.”

On Friday morning all 17 voted against the extension and it killed the ERA once and for all.
Speed matters. Getting the job done quickly is a must.

Many other successful marketers are out doing exactly the same thing. In the mean time the careful plodders are still trying to make it perfect.

They really fear failure. Afraid yet another person will find a reason to reject them. Marketing is so much about learning from the rejections and turning them into opportunities.

To those fine people and everyone else struggling to get started, understand that anything worth doing well is worth doing poorly to start. Grow into it by doing something today. Make a fool of yourself just because. Now that it is out of your system, and you didn’t get eaten by a bystander viewing you, it’s time to get on with the task of accomplishing your dreams.

Speed. Go to it. Do it now. Don’t wait another minute.

Marketing thought for the day: Only God is not in marketing. The rest of us rely upon customer satisfaction to validate our fiscal existence.

Marketing tip: Collect today 10 email addresses you don’t have. Add them to your “house list.” Do the same tomorrow. Soon, you’ll have a database of people who know you. If you can’t figure out what to do next... stay tuned.

Beginning of an Era

Today marks the beginning of an era. A rather bold claim, but, I suspect it's true.

Those who have started a business know it is difficult. It doesn't matter what kind of business it is... from music to mechanical, from computers to composing. It requires fortitude and patience.

But try starting one with a new technology. That's impossible. Welcome to the land of maze. Will it work? Who will buy it? Am I really qualified to do this? Who is kidding whom?

For more than three and half years I've been working with my partners Dick Wilson, Steve Sutherland and our master inventor, Gary Lee to create a company from an advanced technology. Gary Lee has been working on it for 15 years! The concept, in the beginning, looked wonderfully promising. Engineers lined up to praise its ingenuity, creativity, brilliance and great applications for all of mankind. BYU's mechanical engineering department lined up to help on the engineering and did a great job.

But along the way one part of the engineering worked great but ended up causing a problem for another. Fix that and another area blows up. It's like Hercules fighting the Hydra of Lerna, but I'm no Hercules.

At times we nearly wanted to give it up and go do something to actually make us some money, but, we had wonderful investors so we had to protect their investments and persevere.

Two weeks ago our engineers showed us the advanced computer drawings of the first and only Positively Displaced Infinitely Variable Transmission. Everything works like a symphony... in perfect harmony.

Simply put, it is a revolutionary transmission for cars, trucks, ships, windmills, heavy off road and agriculture equipment and practically anything else that uses an engine. With no dynamic friction like CVTs, no clutch or torque converter, fewer parts, simpler to make, it will use about 30% less fuel but have great performance.

Really great news is it will replace the very expensive controller in the electric car making electric cars become a reality. You'll be able to buy for the same price as a regular car an electric or hybrid car that will have as much power. Even better, our transmission can be made for SUVs, pick up trucks, and... get this, the big semi-trucks as well.

No clutch means no shifting. Great for long haul truckers.

We've just begun the phase of taking our transmission to the manufacturers. We call it the Universal Transmission 301.

If you'd like to read more, go to our website www.theUniversalTransmission.com

We're thrilled to be introducing a much more powerful and efficient transmission to the world. Our first press conference is scheduled for a few weeks from now and a local TV station is currently working on a special feature about our transmission.

If you know someone in the automotive or vehicle business, please pass this along to them. It is going to have a huge impact. It will make all other automatics obsolete.

Again, it has been a long time in coming but we're now ready to begin a new era. I'd better make sure I do a good job marketing it.

Stay tuned for the whole gory or glory story.

Speed matters

It seems too obvious. Too common sense. But according to Mark Twain, "Common sense is none too common." So here is evidence common sense is right: if someone contacts you for business, and you want their business, the clock is ticking rapidly.

A recent MIT study that my friend Benoy Tamang gave me, found that on the Internet if you get an inquiry and you call them within 5 minutes, you have more than 20 times the chance of landing their business than if you wait 30 minutes. Wait a day and you wasted your money.

One November a guy told me of a chance to sell real estate in Switzerland. At the same time several major real estate companies were presented the same opportunity. I'd never sold real estate and knew nothing about Swiss law but it seemed like a great opportunity.

By the end of December I'd videoed the properties, videoed myself explaining the deal, edited it, made a one hour sales video detailing the offer and benefits, and had sold more than 400 people the video for a $100 each.

By the end of January I had a list of more than 100 prospective and qualified buyers willing to pay their way to Switzerland to meet my sales team for a tour.

By the end of February I had the team in place including the Swiss property lawyer.
In March we started meeting groups in Geneva for one week buying tours.
By May we'd sold every unit.
By the end of June we'd closed on $20+ million in Swiss condo properties in the Valaise Valley.

I made the decision and got to work immediately. The major real estate firms arrived in Switzerland in May, ready to complete their "due diligence." The looks on their faces was priceless.

As Andy told Red, "Get busy living, or get busy dying." So much of business success is speed to the market. The guy or gal who can get a project completed this week is rare. Most take a week to clear their throat. A month or two to get board approval to investigate.

This all leads to the. . .

Marketing gem of the day: About right now is better than exactly right later. Marines and marketers adapt and improvise on the move.

Thought for the day: "If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?" Thomas Jefferson

Raising funds

Let me give you the short lesson on fund raising. You may not be into fund raising, but, hang on because what I teach here is directly applicable to ALL businesses and marketing.

Besides, maybe some day for some group they'll lean on you to raise some "free" money. As someone once told Noah, "When it starts to rain it's too late to build the Ark."

(Picture caption -- if you know how to get it under the photo, let me know. For now... Elizabeth and I in the Forbidden City in China. A professor from Moscow State who took my class in Russia on starting businesses was using my 7-Steps to Business text book he'd translated into Chinese to teach at a university in Beijing. Small world. Same principles.)

The biggest problem with non-profits and fund raising is your heart. The heart isn't a good place to think about fund raising but is the usual starting point for 501(c)3s. Fund raising is best
done from the head because your target market will never have your heart.

Once you've arrived at this paradigm then fund raising is just like any other marketing. What's in it for the consumer? How will this benefit them? If you're needing short time money in large amounts, what will they get? People want and need recognition, pride, admiration, etc. Naming rights work. That's why we have SAFECO Field, the DELTA Center, Energy Solutions Arena, etc. None of these were negotiations with a non-profit. See... it's the same.

On a smaller scale, The Sarah Woodbury Entrepreneurhsip Lecture Series at Utah Valley University will be named after the donor's wife to honor her.

Then you ask yourself, "how can I deliver the maximum benefit to my customer for the minimum cost?" What can you do for them so that donating monthly is routine and a no-brainer?

Read in my book Marketing Singers, the chapter on how to put on a fund raising benefit concert.

To find a sponsor for the benefit concert, or a prime investor for your business so you have seed money and a guaranteed group of contributors who'll come or buy (their friends), see the Law of Concentric Circles in Marketing Singers. Start with those you know and then get them to tell you of their wealthy friends. See if they'll hold an "in home" concert as a fund raiser or in the case of your start up business, hold an exploratory meeting in their home to explain your business and let them ask questions.

Most start up foundations spend all of their donated funds on overhead and fund raising. One where 20% goes to the cause are rare. If you can show a higher use level, tout that.

Avoid "Beg-a-thons." They are pathetic exercises done by intellectually lazy people. It's as if you think someone owes you something. They don't. Make your effort at any level or for any item a full blown marketing effort and you can raised $100k in 6 months.

That's a quick start.

Marketing principle of the day: No one wants to buy a drill, they only want something that will make a hole. (No one wants your product, only what the product does for them.)

A matter of success

We’ve all heard a hundred folks bemoan their lot in life and reduce all the reasons for their woes down to bad luck. Or they diminish the accomplishments of others by declaring that their fortunes were a matter of good luck. Either way, luck was the master.

Ever was it so.

Thomas Holdman decided his love for art ought to be in creating stained glass windows. Soon after taking a university class in stained glass, he began creating windows for friends. However, a hobby was in the making unless he could actually make money from his art. So, he got out of his studio, walked down the street, knocked on doors and struggled to tell strangers how wonderful it would be to have a stained glass window in the entry way.

Struggled is the operative word, for Tom had difficulty speaking. His stuttering caused him to freeze up in front of people. Communicating face to face... forget it. Not going to happen. But, he had what too many of us don’t have: the determination to ignore discouragement and obstacles.

He rapped on doors until his knuckles were sore. He spoke so much his speech improved. One window turned into dozens. Dozens became hundreds. A solo struggle became a team effort with many employees. A craft became an art and his art became his business. In just a few years, Tom Holdman and company nailed a contract to put beautiful windows in churches and temples across the world. Other contracts have followed.

His small basement studio is now an impressive commercial building half the size of a football field.

Where was his luck? Just where Seneca said it would be way back in 25 AD: Where preparation meets opportunity.

Ever was it so.

Notice who created the luck? Yep, the artist. He didn’t wait to be discovered. He prepared himself artistically yet knew no one would market his art but himself, so, he did. Marketing wasn’t beneath him. It was a part of him because his success was his responsibility.

Ever was it so.

Marketing Tip of the Day: When someone inquires, don't call them back the next day. Call them in 5 minutes and you'll increase your chance of a sale by at least 20 times.

The Power of You... the word

Personally, I get bored with certain words. They’re used so much they lose their meaning. Words that once were terrific nasty words are long forgotten. The impact diminished from constant repetition.

(Picture: In 1998 I was allowed to teach one class at the Polytechnic University of Havana, Cuba on a fantasy for them... How to Start a Business. Had some fun at the fort afterward.)

But certain words ignore my boredom and are still exceptionally effective words. Certainly FREE fits in that category. By now you’d think everyone knows there is no such thing as a free lunch, but put “free” in a headline and everyone’s head turns. Rich or poor, free is good.

Another word we never tire of is “you.” No matter how often it is used, we still believe it is us they are talking about when they say “you.”

Therefore... yes, it’s painfully obvious. The word YOU is critical to your success.

Today I’ll examine one place you make a difference. Next time I’ll discuss web sites. But first, salesmanship in print and especially letters. In letters, be they advertising direct mail letters, business correspondence, emails, etc. the first words of the first sentence ought to be YOU.

A tip on writing any letter is to think about the product or purpose or goal of the letter, think about the person to whom you are writing and then start writing. Do NOT worry about the length, grammar, structure, syntax, or anything else but letting your writing flow. Make it “breathless writing.” Make it so you’re out of breath trying to keep up with the ideas so that the reader with be out of breath trying to keep up with such great thoughts.

Now that you’ve done that, look at your first paragraph. I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that your first sentence is about you, or your event or your desires. In all likelihood you’re still pawing the ground in the second and third paragraphs. Finally, in the fourth paragraph there is something about your audience and how something is going to benefit them.

Take that fourth paragraph and move it to the front. Now, begin that sentence with the word, you. “You were in my thoughts today.”
“You must have some great friends because they told me ab out you.”
“You deserve a break today...”

Follow that up with other ways this person is going to be better off after reading this than they were before getting your message. From there, let it flow so it is all about them. Who you are, what your product is, when your event is doesn’t matter except as it relates to your customer getting the benefits you just told them about.

And keep it from being an advertisement. The closer it is to what you’d say to your mother, the better chance you have of the person actually reading the letter. We’re bombarded with messages. Personal notes get through. Ads are trashed.

Here’s a quick example of a proposed email to be sent by Classical Singer to members of an organization to give them a free subscription in hopes that later they’ll sign up for a premium membership:

Dear XXXX, Welcome to the Classical Singer Community! *****organization*** and Classical Singer have joined together in efforts to reach more singers and teachers than ever before. For more than 50 years, ****org*** has been THE resource for teachers. And for more than 20 years, Classical Singer has been the singer's source for career and life. Now, working together, we are dedicated to helping teachers and singers of all ages and levels in their educational and professional pursuits. Because of your ***org*** membership, you will receive monthly issues of Classical Singer magazine for a year at no cost to you. This letter accompanies the first of 12 months of the magazine you will receive.

Who is this about? It’s about Classical Singer and what they do. Why should I read on? What’s in it for me?

Now look at the rewrite that worked like dynamite:
Dear XXXX, You deserve up-to-the-minute Audition notices. You deserve access to vital career advice from industry experts and stars. You deserve crucial health and vocal technique information. You deserve more for your Singing and Teaching. And Classical Singer magazine is dedicated to providing this and much more for you.

Who is this about...? Just you.
Some writers get the idea that many people constitute their audience and say, “Many of you...” You’ve just lost the audience’s fantasy that you’re actually addressing that person and that person alone. Never say “many of you” or words to that effect. Write to one person only.

More on this in another blog. Until next time. Enjoy the hunt for it’s more about the adventure than the destination.

Marketing tip of the day: No one cares what your product IS, they only care what it DOES for them.