Webcopy Tips

According to Phil Allcock, Director of Copywriting for The Marketing Compass many websites are written as if they are brochures.

However, research has shown that websites are read differently from printed material. People tend to scan them rather than read them. This means that the text has to be in easily digestible, bite-sized chunks with plenty of sub-headings and bullet points. This enables the casual visitor to see the key messages, even though they are just scanning the site.

In addition, Phil suggests that:

* Sub-heads should be eye-catching
* Webcopy should be customer-facing and written in the 'language of benefits'
* Calls to action should be woven into the text

All the best,

Nigel
www.nigeltemple.com

Founder of The Marketing Compass, the marketing mastermind group for independent professionals and small business owners.

*****Join The Marketing Compass and recieve a free marketing toolkit*****

Finding the time to do the marketing

Marketing is time intensive, isn't it? You have to think and
plan, do the writing, look after your website and send out
your marketing materials. And that's just for starters!

How do other small businesses get their marketing done?
Well, for them, marketing is a core activity, not just a
'nice to have'.

They focus on marketing and make their enterprise marketing
centric. They schedule time to do their marketing, every
week. In addition, they spend time learning professional
marketing skills (by reading, attending seminars, talking
to experts etc).

In other words - they are good at time management. They
organise their busy schedules to include key marketing
tasks. As a result, whatever is happening in the economy,
customers keep arriving at their doorstep.

All the best

Nigel
www.nigeltemple.com

Small business marketing specialist
Founder of The Marketing Compass, the
marketing mastermind group for small
business owners and independent
professionals

Build your database, one person at a time

I was talking to a member of The Marketing Compass
yesterday about their contact list.

'How many contacts should I have?" he asked me.

"As a small business owner, aim for at least 500,"
I replied. "However, a couple of thousand would be great."

"Where do I get the names?" He asked me.

"Well," I replied, "you can buy a list from a list broker.
However, the best way is to gradually build your own list."

The best list will always be your own list. Build it one
person at a time. When you meet someone at a
networking event, enter their business card details
in your database. When you exchange emails with
someone new - do the same thing.

Online social networking is a great way to meet
new (virtual) contacts. If you are communicating
regularly with someone via a social networking site -
do they also appear in your database?

The data needs to be held in one place. ACT! is a popular
sales and marketing database. Within our office, we use
Critical Mass.

Incidentally, ensure that you have registered under
the Data Protection Act (or equivalent, in your country).

At the core of your list will be your current customers.
Communicate with them regularly! And communicate
with the other people on your list at least a few times a
year - otherwise - what's the point in having them there?

All the best

Nigel
www.nigeltemple.com
Tel: 01628 773128

Founder of The Marketing Compass, the marketing mastermind
group for independent professionals and small business owners

Click here to join as a Circle Member - without charge

Your marketing strategy: Branding

(Here is an article from my next Compass Points newsletter)


The ABC of branding:

A. Customers buy from businesses they trust.
B. A brand helps to create trust.
C. Are you building your brand?


A BRAND = A PROMISE


Building a trusted brand name = a key objective.

Strong brands create communities of customers, i.e. Nike, Apple, Starbucks and Lego. You can use the same principles and apply them to your business.

Here are some things for you to think about:

1. What are your values? For example, integrity, service, helpfulness.

2. What do you want people to say about you?

3. Do you have a professionally produced logo?

4. Do you have a professionally produced website?

5. Are you communicating regularly with contacts, customers and the media?

Are you developing 'brand me'? If that's a "Yes", what words would automatically be associated with your name? (For example, 'Nigel Temple' / 'marketing').

You can build your personal brand by giving talks, posting blogs and writing articles.

Be quick to respond and be generous with feedback and advice.

Do you have up-to-date photographs of yourself? (If not, talk to John Cassidy).

Be active in social media circles, i.e. Twitter, LinkedIn, Ecademy, Facebook. (The time to build your network is now!)

Once you've established a brand name:
- You will attract more customers
- They will be happy to pay higher prices
- Your business will be worth more

All the best with your marketing!

Nigel
www.nigeltemple.com
Founder of: www.themarketingcompass.com

The Head of Social Media at Ford...

I was surprised to learn that Ford has a Head of Social Media.

His name is Scott Monty.

Here is his blog: www.scottmonty.com

Here are some interesting trends that he posted on his blog. (Note the rise of online video). Scroll down this page and take a look at the right hand column. That's quite a list of places in which Scott can be found, isn't it?

Do you let people know where they can find you, online?

Who is Head of Social Media, in your organisation?
(If you work for yourself, I guess that's you!)

I will be talking about Social Media at the Internet Marketing Workshop next week.

All the best

Nigel Temple
www.nigeltemple.com
Tel: 01628 773128

Founder of The Marketing Compass, the marketing mastermind group for small business owners. Join as a Circle member - no charge!

Copyright © Nigel Temple, marketing consultant, trainer, speaker and author

Teleseminars

Just finished delivering another Teleseminar. What a great way of communicating! We use www.nuba.com for this.

Could you offer prospective customers a teleseminar? All you have to do is to provide some useful, helpful and interesting ideas, during a half hour telephone presentation.

You could announce this via your website, newsletter, blog etc.

Incidentally, my monthly teleseminar is for Navigator and Mentor members of The Marketing Compass, my marketing mastermind group for small business owners.

All the best

Nigel

Have you discovered Twitter?

Have you registered for Twitter yet, I wonder?

If not, I suggest that you do.

Some 4.3 million people are on Twitter now.

What's all the fuss about?

If you join, you will find out!

Here is my Twitter profile.

You are welcome to follow me. I 'Tweet' about small business marketing,
customer attraction, low cost marketing, internet marketing and social media.

All the best

Nigel
www.nigeltemple.com