Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Understanding the concept of the star and the supporting cast

If you understand this concept, you won’t beat your head against a wall trying to tease out the uniqueness of your product or service.

Realize that both the star of your landing page and its supporting cast have important roles to play. There’s an old theatre line that goes, “There are no small parts, only small actors,” and in the case of selling online, it’s true.

Only one element can be the star of your story. You need to find that single remarkable benefit (it may be “hidden” in the laundry list of benefits) that you can hook your story to.

Finding the star — that remarkable unique element — will take some work, but if you leave the big chunk of your page to spotlight it, it’ll do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

A slightly flawed example of the uniqueness concept

If you ask anyone why they bought an Apple iPhone 4s, many will answer with one word …

Siri.

Siri is an app on iPhone 4S that — by speaking directly to “her” — lets you send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. Siri understands what you say (most of the time), talks back, and even “understands” the context of what you’ve asked.

So ask someone why they’re buying a 4s and they know the star — they know the uniqueness factor that’s causing them to lay down their cash for an upgrade.

Can you spot the flaw in the landing page above? Of course you can.

The iPhone customer knows that Siri is the star — the uniquely remarkable benefit — but Apple is trying to stuff the whole enchilada into one graphic.

And worse, the real star gets booted to the bottom of the page.

But hold on, there are all those other features

There’s the 8-megapixel resolution and a custom lens with a larger f/2.4 aperture.

There’s the Dual-core A5 chip. Let’s not forget Video recording in 1080p HD.

And other such features. And yes, blah, blah, blah dee blah.

They’re all playing their roles. But they are the supporting cast, not the star. Siri takes the lead role here. Siri is the reason that the 4s stands out like it does.

And so it will be with every single iPhone that Apple produces in the future:

There will be a star that will drive home the uniqueness. And there will be the supporting cast.

On your landing page, the star should always get the most lines. The most drama. The most ad time.

Nothing should eclipse the uniqueness of your product.

Once the client knows why they want to buy a product, they’re no longer comparing phones — they’re now comparing iPhones. They’re actually rejecting the iPhone 4, even though it’s half the price or even less. And they’re choosing the iPhone 4s for that one reason only.

What’s your one reason?

Every product or service has several great features and benefits.

You’ve always been afraid to choose the uniqueness of that product, because it would mean that you’d have to slaughter and sacrifice the rest.

Technically yes, the slaughter and sacrifice is needed, but only while you’re making sure the uniqueness gets the star role. Once that role has been established, you can bring back the rest of the features and benefits to play their role as supporting crew.

And that makes a good movie.

And a good sales page.

And they’ll all live happily ever after.

The End

About the Author: Sean D’Souza offers a great free report on ‘Why Headlines Fail’ when you subscribe to his Psychotactics Newsletter. Be sure to check out his blog, too.

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Ebook Author : Salvation Through Content Writing

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 03:18 PM PST

Passionate artists get serious about modern digital self-publishing for basically two prominent reasons. First of all it is a legitimate and accessible route towards financial independence, and secondly because it affords them the ability to make extra money doing what they love.

Variety

The very best thing about being an independent contractor through content writing and earning extra money is the variety of projects. Ebook authors are used to staring a 40-70 thousand word novel in the face. Most articles in content writing typically run around 250-1300. So one minute a content writer is earning extra money by descriptively typing up 400 words about a tourist destination in Chile, and the next they are tackling another boasting the magical qualities of a Sorcerer from an upcoming MMO game. Within the span of a few hours a content writer could research and compose an article about six completely different subjects.

Pay

As far as the pay is concerned, not only is there great potential, but right out the gate the extra money isn't bad if ones writing skills aren't terrible. Content writing pays a certain amount per word. From a penny all the way up to the heights of a few dollars. Some content writing sites have real-time boards available to choose from immediately, while others are a forum type situation where clients and content writers find one another.

The extra money is made quickly. For eBook authors that spend hours and hours trying to get a single sell, which typically runs from one to five dollars, they could have realistically made fifty honing their writing skills and doing what they love.

Downside

There is only one small downside, and that is the fact that for most content writing, which is commercially based writing, no credit or recognition is given to the actual content writer. However, being a content writer improves overall writing skills tremendously and there is plenty of money to be made. Some clients may ask for you personally thinking you did a wonderful job. This is the case for the typical content writer after getting some experience under their belt.

If you're an eBook author, start looking into content writing to make some extra money doing what you love. It is worth is.

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Posted: 09 Apr 2012 04:00 AM PDT

image of fish chasing a hook

Picture this scenario: it’s Friday night, and you head out to a nice restaurant after a long week of work.

While you’re relaxing over a glass of wine, the waiter comes over and informs you of the special. “We have a delicious salmon risotto tonight,” he says.

That sounds perfect, you think, so you order the dish. The waiter jots it down and heads back toward the kitchen as you continue your wine and conversation.

So far, so good, right?

But then the chef comes out and walks over to your table.

“I understand you’ve ordered the salmon risotto,” she says as you nod in affirmation. “Well, risotto is a bit tricky, and it’s important we get the salmon right, too… have you ever made it before?”

Before you can respond, the chef turns around. “Tell you what, I’ll go ahead and get the olive oil started … you wash up and meet me back in the kitchen.”

I’m guessing this experience has never happened to you, and I’m also guessing that you probably wouldn’t enjoy it if it did. After getting past the initial surprise (does the chef really want me to come back in the kitchen and help prepare the food?), you’d probably find it very odd.

You know that the food in the restaurant costs much more than it would in the grocery store — you’re paying a big premium for atmosphere and service. If you wanted to make salmon risotto yourself, you would have done so. You didn’t go to the restaurant to learn to make a new dish; you went to relax and have people do everything for you.

What does this scenario have to do with running a business or plotting a course toward freedom?

Your customers don’t want to make their own dinner

Instead of offering people what they really want, too many business owners have this idea that it’s better to involve customers in the behind-the-scenes … because that’s what they think customers want.
 
We’ve become experts in telling people things they don’t want to hear about, and teaching people things they don’t want to learn.

It’s all the fault of the old parable:

Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.

This might be a good idea for homeless fishermen, but it’s often a terrible idea in business.

Try a better idea

A better idea is to give people what they actually want, and the answer to that lies in understanding something very simple about who we are. Get this point right, and a lot of other things become much easier.

Most of us don’t want to learn how to fish. We work all week and go to the restaurant so that someone can take care of everything for us. We don’t need to know the details of what goes on in the kitchen; in fact, we may not even want to know the details.

Instead, we want the fish brought to us on a plate, deboned, lightly breaded, and pan-fried with a slice of lemon.

To give people what they want, first you have to define value

 
What is value, exactly? Here’s a basic definition:

Something desirable and of worth, created through exchange or effort.

Perhaps an even easier way to think about it is: value means helping people.

If you’re trying to build a business and you begin your efforts by helping people, you’re on the right track. When you get stuck, ask yourself: how can I give more value? Or more simply: How can I help my customers more?   Over the past two years, I’ve been traveling the world, interviewing “unexpected entrepreneurs” as part of the research for a book.

I learned to understand the clear value proposition that each person offered their customers. In most cases, there was a clear distinction between the actual product or service, and how it made the end-user feel.

Copywriters talk about getting to the real benefit of the product. The successful entrepreneurs I talked with had learned to market that real benefit — to “give their customers the fish.”

Jaden Hair provides recipes and stories about food from her popular website SteamyKitchen.com … but the real benefit is “spend quality time with your family.”
Megan Hunt makes custom dresses and wedding accessories from a co-working space in Omaha … but the real benefit for brides is “feel special on your big day.”
Ridlon “Sharkman” Kiphart takes clients on adventure tours to exotic destinations … and the benefit is “Live adventurously by joining us for the trip of a lifetime.”
Kelly Newsome left a high-paying job as a New York attorney to operate a private yoga practice in Washington, D.C … and the real benefit to her clients is “relax and prepare for the day through a personalized, guided practice.”

 The stories go on and on, and you might be able to tell a similar story from your own experience.   

When it comes down to it, what people really, really want is pretty simple.

We want to be happy. We want to have our lives improved, either through the addition of something positive or the subtraction of something that causes stress and hassle.   Are you doing that in your business?

Are you giving your customers what they really want?

About the Author: Chris Guillebeau’s upcoming book, The $100 Startup, launches on May 8th during the world’s first 7-continent book tour. He also writes for a small army of remarkable people at ChrisGuillebeau.com.

Variety

Pay

Downside

If you're an eBook author, start looking into content writing to make some extra money doing what you love. It is worth is.

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This week on The Lede …

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If you want to grab more useful links (than the seven we highlight here) every week, follow @copyblogger on Twitter.

44 Must Read Resources on Content Marketing
We could wrap The Lede this week with this link alone. Broken up into useful categories like “How To Spread Your Content”, “ROI of Content Marketing”, and “Content Marketing Ideas”, Mr. Work and Mr. Siu will keep you reading and learning for a good week. At least.

10 Reasons Why We Love Making [and Reading] Lists
Another great list on why we love lists. As Mr. Clark would say, “Metafabulous”. Though it continues to be despised, maligned, and reviled by those concerned more with their pseudointellectual pedigrees than with what actually works in human communication, the humble list carries on. It’s been a faithful literary workhouse for thousands of years, and will continue to be until the day we all stop reading.

How to Create a Successful Editorial Calendar
One of the most challenging aspects of any good content marketing driven business is … the content plan. If you don’t think it through, you can easily end up veering off topic, writing randomly, and confusing your audience. An good editorial calendar can go a long way toward avoiding this, and this article goes a long way toward setting one up.

The Dirty Little Secret Of Overnight Success
We are, as a culture, addicted to the myth of The Overnight Success. We all know that it’s a myth, but we persist in our belief. Let this article by Mr. Linkner sink in, and be a comforting reminder that you are not alone in your long struggle to make something great.

How To Optimize Your Twitter Marketing
Ms. Buyer offers an extremely useful article on the basics of getting it together on Twitter. Some of this will be elementary to you, some might be old hat. Either way, it’s a good mini-refreshment course on how to get found on The Little Blue Bird site.

The Upside of Being Ordinary And Obvious
I love this article. By taking the side of the audience first, Mr. Bhargava makes a good case against content that favors the tricky, the clever, and the merely amusing. The ordinary and the obvious — though not necessarily sexy — sell.

Jason Fried on Marketing Through Sharing
In my opinion, best link of the week. Watch this three times. Put it into practice. If you get this, you get content marketing. If you get content marketing, you win.

Did you miss anything on Copyblogger this week?

About the Author: Robert Bruce is Copyblogger Media’s copywriter and resident recluse.

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Tuesday, April 10, 2012