A Lesson From “The Apprentice” That Can Make You A Master

Written by Karon Thackston


by Karon Thackston © 2004 http://www.copywritingcourse.com

I have to admit, I was curious. When I saw previews of a new show called “The Apprentice,” it made me want to at least watchrepparttar premiere to see what was going on. Immediately, I was hooked. The whole idea of candidates - from all walks of life, not just college grads fresh from their commencement ceremonies - vying for a position in one of Donald Trump’s organizations piqued my interest. What kept my interest wererepparttar 108098 real-life advertising lessons every business owner needs to be reminded of.

Take, for instance, one episode whererepparttar 108099 teams were challenged to create an ad campaign. I was, needless-to-say, onrepparttar 108100 edge of my seat forrepparttar 108101 entire show. One team immediately decided to phonerepparttar 108102 client and setup an appointment to find out aboutrepparttar 108103 product,repparttar 108104 end user, and other aspects that would make a big difference in creatingrepparttar 108105 campaign. (Smart move!)

The other team, however, said they didn’t have time to talk withrepparttar 108106 client. They were running behind schedule. Meeting withrepparttar 108107 client - in their opinion - would just waste an hour or two that could have been spent on more important tasks. (Excuse me?)

What happened? First of all, my husband came charging intorepparttar 108108 living room asking, “Do you believe that? Even *I* know you have to talk torepparttar 108109 customer first!” Yes, he had been listening to me after all.

Inrepparttar 108110 end,repparttar 108111 campaign fromrepparttar 108112 team who did speak withrepparttar 108113 client wonrepparttar 108114 challenge. Oncerepparttar 108115 losing team arrived inrepparttar 108116 boardroom,repparttar 108117 project leader, Jason (Mr. “We Don’t Have Time To Talk Withrepparttar 108118 Client”), really got it from all sides.

Donald Trump’s assistants, George and Carolyn, made a point of bringing uprepparttar 108119 fact thatrepparttar 108120 client was not contacted. Jason’s own teammates made a point of bringing up thatrepparttar 108121 client was never contacted. And Donald? To quote, Donald said, “That was a HUGE mistake… you’re fired!”

This was fairly early inrepparttar 108122 show so you would have thoughtrepparttar 108123 other contestants would have learned from Jason’s mistake. Not so. There was yet another episode where an Apprentice put what they wanted over whatrepparttar 108124 client wanted/needed.

Using Sara Crewe's Greatest Power in Your Newsletter

Written by Jessica Albon


Using Sara Crewe's Greatest Power in Your Newsletter By Jessica Albon Copyright 2004, The Write Exposure

"Of courserepparttar greatest power Sara possessed andrepparttar 108097 one which gained her even more followers than her luxuries...,repparttar 108098 power that Lavina and certain other girls were most envious of, and atrepparttar 108099 same time most fascinated by in spite of themselves, was her power of telling stories and of making everything she talked about seem like a story, whether it was or not." A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

It was a dark and stormy afternoon whenrepparttar 108100 newsletter arrived in my inbox. It wasrepparttar 108101 most recent issue from Dan, a new client, and he wantedrepparttar 108102 scoop on why his newsletter wasn't working.

You've seen newsletters like his--attractive design, polished articles, but something just seems missing.

He had allrepparttar 108103 basics covered in his newsletter--it balanced promotion with information, he had specific goals, and he published on a consistent basis. He was even starting to integrate some advanced newsletter techniques like storytelling.

And it was preciselyrepparttar 108104 storytelling that was tripping him up.

See, he'd tell stories about his clients andrepparttar 108105 problems they faced. He painted great pictures of whererepparttar 108106 client was before working with him.

But that's whererepparttar 108107 story ended.

He was consistently endingrepparttar 108108 story inrepparttar 108109 middle.

...................................... When telling a story, make sure to sharerepparttar 108110 ending ...................................... The first rule of storytelling is to start atrepparttar 108111 beginning and tell it straight through torepparttar 108112 ending. If you choose to share success stories with your readers ofrepparttar 108113 great work you've done for readers, stopping inrepparttar 108114 middle only leaves readers wondering if you were actually able to solve your client's problem--not exactlyrepparttar 108115 question you want to leave readers with.

...................................... When telling a story, think ofrepparttar 108116 fairy tales ...................................... There are certain patterns that occur in most of our popular fairy tales. For instance,repparttar 108117 number three is used a lot (e.g., three bears in Goldilocks). There's usually a magical element. Settings are larger than life--castles, haunted forests. All of these elements converge to help you weave a story that'll live on inrepparttar 108118 mind of your readers.

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