A Professional Copywriter Can Help You Avoid These Seven Common Marketing Pitfalls

Written by Heather Robson


Small business owners often makerepparttar mistake of believing that they can get by writing their own copy for their marketing materials. Even big corporations sometimes fall into this trap believing they can be just as effective handling copy development in house.

While it’s true that you can produce passable copy this way, you often are missing out on better results—results that a copywriting professional can bring to your marketing efforts. And settling for lesser results means your business isn’t doing as well as it could, and its marketing materials are not providingrepparttar 120932 return on investment that they should.

The main concern that business owners and marketing directors alike have about hiring a professional copywriter is cost. They fear thatrepparttar 120933 cost will be prohibitive. But in most casesrepparttar 120934 copywriter’s fees are minimal compared torepparttar 120935 overall cost ofrepparttar 120936 marketing campaign. And good copy can improverepparttar 120937 success ofrepparttar 120938 campaign by up to 34%.

The reason a professional copywriter can make such a difference to a marketing campaign is not only that they know how to write persuasively…they also know what common mistakes to avoid. If you’re trying to get by using copy written by somebody whose main focus is not copywriting, your marketing materials could be suffering fron one of these common traps.

1. Me-Centered Copy It’s so easy when you’re selling a product or service to focus on that product or service. It seems like a no-brainer. Butrepparttar 120939 truth is doing so can kill your response rate. Professional copywriters know to avoid this me-centered mentality and focus onrepparttar 120940 prospect instead. This shift alone is enough to make a sharp improvement in any marketing campaign.

2. No Call to Action So many marketing pieces do a great job of gettingrepparttar 120941 prospects attention. They draw them in, convince them ofrepparttar 120942 product or service’s merit…and just whenrepparttar 120943 prospect is ready to buy, they droprepparttar 120944 ball, and forget to tellrepparttar 120945 prospect what to do next. A call to action is a simple, but often overlooked, way to build response rate…and it’s something that every copywriter worth his (or her) salt will include.

7 Ways to Improve your Creative Marketing

Written by Ja-Naé Duane


7 ways to Improve your Marketing Creatively

By Ja-Naé Duane And http://www.Ja-Nae.com

There are a many ways to be innovative with your marketing, no matter what field you’re in. In this article, I’m going to show you 7 ways on how to release your inhibitions and begin thinking more creatively. I’m also going to give you some exercises to enhance your creativity. 1) Common Problem and its solution A common problem that people have isrepparttar inability to think outside ofrepparttar 120931 box. One of my favorite websites that deals with this is www.creativethink.com. This site will give you a fresh perspective on old ideas, or even help generate new ones.

Take your marketing strategy and try to examine it objectively. Start by seeing what is working. Is anything working? If so, why does it work? If there are parts that aren’t, then why is that? Answering these questions honestly will help you beginrepparttar 120932 creative process. 2) Imagine One of my favorite exercises (which I learned in an acting class) is to imagine that you are an object. In this case, imagine you are your product (which in my case isn’t that hard, because I am my business). Visualization is a helpful tool in recognizing what needs improvement. What are your attributes? What do you need to look better? To work more efficiently? Is there something that just doesn’t feel right? Make a list of these questions and similar ones, and then answer them. By answering these questions, you will begin to identify with your product, which in turn will help you make it more marketable. 3) Idea Time Writing down ideas isrepparttar 120933 best way to get started. I recommend that you try not to focus onrepparttar 120934 end result. In this way you’ll be more open to whatever stems from your brainstorming.

This is called “free association.” Take a word that has to do with your business; it can berepparttar 120935 name of your business,repparttar 120936 market you are entering, anything, and put it atrepparttar 120937 top of a piece of paper. Then without thinking, start writingrepparttar 120938 words that pop into your mind. No matter how ridiculous they seem to you, write them down. It can be anything. There are no wrong answers to this exercise. This exercise can only be successful if you really write down everything you think of.

Once you’re done, take a look at what you’ve written. Can any of these abstract notions become part of your marketing strategy? Could they become a whole new angle?

4) Simplify People have a tendency to make things more complicated than they need to be. Look at your current marketing plan: Can it be simplified? I’m a firm believer inrepparttar 120939 saying “Keep it simple.” Narrowingrepparttar 120940 focus of your marketing strategy will often yield positive results. 5) Change Change is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Use change to your advantage and help make your marketing plan stronger. How is your demographic changing? Can you move with that change in order to continue to accommodate them? How is society changing? Are there changes that could expand your audience with just a slight tweak of your marketing angle? 6) Resources There are many places to research marketing. You just have to start thinking outsiderepparttar 120941 box. One of my favorite things to do is flip throughrepparttar 120942 phone book. There is so much to be said forrepparttar 120943 Yellow Pages. Just open uprepparttar 120944 book and start exploringrepparttar 120945 angles. Can you collaborate with any of these businesses? If so, then how? What are their marketing strategies? Who are they marketing to? Examining other successful businesses, and even fostering relationships with them will help you on your way. 7) Collaborations This brings me to my next point: Collaboration is your best friend in business. If you are a new business owner or a performer starting out, then you need to try and reach a larger audience. Why not kill two birds with one stone and collaborate with someone who already has a large following? By doing so, you can cut your work in half.

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