Hiring an Amateur Can Mean a Potential Lawsuit for Your BusinessWritten by Dina Giolitto
These days, everyone's looking to save a buck. But if you plan to cut corners by using a fledgling copywriter or marketer, expect to put money you just saved towards a really good lawyer. Because you may just find yourself in court.Lawsuits abound in today's world. Lots of people are more than willing to sue at drop of a hat. No one wants to think that they "know" anyone like this, but truth is, this planet is crawling with lawsuit-happy consumers who can make your life a living hell. You may think, "Oh, I'm just a small start-up; no one would bother trying to get money out of me!" But do you know this for a fact? Even if you're miniscule now, you want to grow your business. With any luck, one day you'll be earning more than just a comfortable living. The best way to ensure your legal protection in future is to start practicing caution today. How does this relate to your advertising, and who you hire to work for you? Every bit of written material put out by your company is a statement issued by you. If you hire someone who has little to no experience in real world, you'd better be on top of them at all times. You'd better make sure that what they're creating for your company doesn't contain any legal "loopholes" or claims you can't fulfill. Because as soon as your advertising makes a statement about anything, someone will try and hold you responsible. They might even seek legal counsel on matter. Yes, what you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. I worked for "R"Us family of stores for seven years, writing and editing everything from catalog copy to sales promotions to coupons to informative marketing mailers. Nearly everything said in our ads was supported by a legal disclaimer that prevented company from being held responsible for any "unforseen events" that might occur as an indirect result of our statements. At time, these legalities posed a great annoyance to our department, slowing down progress and hampering creativity. But today, I'm incredibly grateful for "extensive legal training" I received while working there. What are some examples of loose-lipped writing that can land you in legal hot water? What situations might you get yourself into in today's fast-paced, maximum-output world of marketers? E-books are hot right now. Everyone wants one, and they want it yesterday. But beware trouble of an untrained eye taking control of your e-book content! Last year, I worked for a small start-up company. They wanted an e-book written fast, so they hired an unpaid intern. Although e-book served its purpose well, it was riddled with statements that could get us in trouble! Why? Our e-book was for children. In it, we had included a long list of ways kids could spread holiday cheer. One entry was something to effect of, "Offer to help your neighbor carry in groceries." Innocuous as it may seem, end result of this remark could be some parent taking us to court because their child went out and tried to assist some unsavory character, and was abducted in process! Heaven forbid, but nothing's impossible. In our e-book, we took care to state "Never do anything without first asking permission from your parents" - many times, and in many ways.
| | What Do People Really Need?Written by Bill Vannot
Copyright © Bill Vannot - All Rights Reserved http://www.successful-marketing.com ==================== People need a nudge..... a Reminder....or reminders, with an "s". Most people need to be reminded more often than they need to be informed. In sales, especially advertising, we make our sales pitch, back and forth, to get a decision. We have to repeat our benefits everyday. Our job is to remind people about our offers, in a polite and effective manner. We practice and we become masterful "repeaters." We remind people about things that we sell and we touch base to fill their needs. We have to do this before someone else takes away our customers and our business. We always KEEP our offers in front of our customers. If people like what we say and do, they buy from us. Actually, we could be in reminder business. Sure, we need good reasons to re-visit people. We also need a variety of new answers if they ask for a reason for ongoing contact. Are Your Creative Selling Skills Tuned Up? Creative selling creates new reasons to email or call back. There are always different approaches. You just have to create various ways of looking at things. * Train yourself to ask this question: "What's happening in customer's life?" * Next, think about what you can possibly say or do, that will remind each customer that you have something in mind for them. Then reflect on how you can make that "something" just as important to them, as it is to you. To you, that "something," is your paycheck. Perhaps a special bonus offer would please your customer.
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