The Simple Mind “Hack” That Can Earn You Millions is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes

Selling something is the only way to make moolah in the marketing game. Duh, right?

I’d like to take a couple minutes (well, maybe 3) of your time to give you a few tips – stuff that took me years to figure out, distilled to a drinkable, yet buzz-inducing brew.

Here’s how you can:

Also:

Sound good?

Let’s start then.

Writing Is The Core Skill

Marketing is a writer’s game. Even if you market by cold-calling, you still work from a script. All writing is just expression of clear thinking, ]]> The Simple Mind “Hack” That Can Earn You Millions is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes

Selling something is the only way to make moolah in the marketing game. Duh, right?

I’d like to take a couple minutes (well, maybe 3) of your time to give you a few tips – stuff that took me years to figure out, distilled to a drinkable, yet buzz-inducing brew.

Here’s how you can:

1. Adapt the mindset of the best salespeople to your own personal quirks and interests.

1. Discover how to stop wasting energy marketing what you want to sell and start selling what people want to buy. There’s a subtle, but meaningful difference.
2. Become a marketing sleuth to locate areas where you can make money with your present skills

Also:

1. The simple daily way I grow my writing skills, market my services, and blunder into good ideas – all simultaneously – and easily expand them into articles and sellable information products.

Sound good?

Let’s start then.

Writing Is The Core Skill

Marketing is a writer’s game. Even if you market by cold-calling, you still work from a script. All writing is just expression of clear thinking, and effective writing wins the dollars in marketing.

Mindset

I prefer to write mostly about the nuts-and-bolts marketing stuff I know best, but I do believe your beliefs and mindset have a lot to do with the results you get in business.

Nowhere is the quality of your mindset more apparent then when you try to sell something, like your services, in person or on the phone. If your price is cheap enough you can shuffle your feet, look at the ground and do the “awww shucks” routine” and you’ll still make sales because you’re giving away your product.

However – When you want to command market-parity prices or prices higher than the competition, salesmanship matters.

Salesmanship skill is complex. There is no simple secret to winning at sales. But be diligent about refining your game, and persistent about working the market and you’ll always win.

The correct mindset is “never quit”.

Some people think that “never quit” means you should be stubborn and always follow your own internal counsel, as if success in business is a matter of a mentoring dialog between you and yourself.

I don’t agree with this at all. Often to succeed at selling you’ll need to get real about the marketplace. That means selling what people want to buy. Finding out what people want to buy can be a trial and error process that costs you a lot of time and money, or it can be a methodical, research-oriented process.

Both methods have merit. With trial and error you may blunder into ideal opportunities where your interests and skills intersect with market demands. You can find some real sweet spots this way so always be on the lookout for good ideas.

I get a lot of ideas for good stuff to sell by browsing and commenting in online forums. The WarriorForum is my favorite for marketing info. If somebody likes something I wrote and thanks me for it I often copy and paste my own forum comment and expand it into an article or blog post. String a few articles together and you’ve got the beginning of an ebook product you can sell – and this sort of thing evolves in a gradual and fun way.

The thing about the serendipity approach I enjoy most is the thinking and writing happens naturally (it’s unforced) and often my own ideas are nicely expressed. Clear writing beats rambling volume in today’s marketplace, so when my own rambling habits go well, I hold onto those ideas and try to expand on them.

The other approach to finding profitable niches and ideas for your own products is niche research. I have to confess I don’t like the keyword research part of internet marketing at all. I find it tedious, finicky, boring – a necessary evil.

If you’re at all like I am, you’ll want a system to make the time you invest in market research as effective as possible.

That’s why I’ve put together a comprehensive course on niche market research.

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For the next 24 hours only you can get the entire 129 page course at a steep discount off the already very reasonable launch price. With this 25% discount the “Niche Sleuth” method is just $27.75. No bonuses – just the book, but it’s a dandy method you’ll use again and again to save time and find profitable niches for yourself.

–> To get the discount:

1. Just go to http://zerodollarmarketer.com/nichesleuth

2. Read the letter to make sure it’s the right product for your needs, then click on the order button.

3. Enter your email on the order page, click through and enter this coupon code on the next page: NICHE

4. Click on the “Update form” button and the price will go down from $37 to $27.75.

That’s it! You’ll get instant download of the whole 116 page course. It’s breezy reading, yet rich in detail so you’ll find it very useful. If you don’t, there’s a 60 day money-back guarantee so you’ve got nothing to lose.

Cheers,

_Loren Woirhaye

The post author, Loren Woirhaye writes sales copy and creates marketing systems for business clients who want to slash customer acquisition costs and position their businesses For 20%-30% sales growth in the next 12-18 months. He writes regularly about marketing and life at his Entrepreneur Blog.

I Wish I Listened To My Mother More is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes

(part 1 of 5)

(If your mom is crazy or mean, you may have good reasons not to listen to her, but my mom is a cool, peace-loving person, so her advice tends to be constructive.)

When I was in college my mother reminded me to “do your reading” from time to time.  I was more interesting in having the kind of fun that didn’t involve books.  You (probably don’t) know the catch tune by the Scottish band the Proclaimers:“Come on nature, I don’t want to read a book or talk about the world Come on nature, I just want to spend some time being boy to the girl”

Well, those randy Scottish lads just wanted to get busy in the clover.  While the group is still active and probably making money, the lads are in  their late 40s now and I bet are a bit more interested in books than chasing girls.

In any case, in college I majored in English for some odd reason I’ve forgotten.  I had a lot of reading to do, and much of it was long, tedious 19th ]]> I Wish I Listened To My Mother More is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes

(part 1 of 5)

(If your mom is crazy or mean, you may have good reasons not to listen to her, but my mom is a cool, peace-loving person, so her advice tends to be constructive.)

When I was in college my mother reminded me to “do your reading” from time to time.  I was more interesting in having the kind of fun that didn’t involve books.  You (probably don’t) know the catch tune by the Scottish band the Proclaimers:

“Come on nature, I don’t want to read a book or talk about the world
Come on nature, I just want to spend some time being boy to the girl”

Well, those randy Scottish lads just wanted to get busy in the clover.  While the group is still active and probably making money, the lads are in  their late 40s now and I bet are a bit more interested in books than chasing girls.

In any case, in college I majored in English for some odd reason I’ve forgotten.  I had a lot of reading to do, and much of it was long, tedious 19th century novels.  To be fair, I did get exposed to some excellent old-fashioned literature but it was a bit much.  For years after I mostly read how-to books and very little fiction or literature.  I also became very involved in playing music – which never took the shape of any cogent career thing, so at best I can call myself a skilled hobbiest musician.

“So You Want To Get Rich, eh?”

In studying successful entrepreneurs you will find that there aren’t many of them who are making their money in one field and also functioning at a high-level in another field as a hobby.  Their efforts are undiluted.  They are often work-a-holics, addicted to their careers.  In short, it’s hard to do two careers at the same time – it splits your efforts.

This is not an easy lesson if you want to be very successful or even wealthy.  Felix Dennis, who is this crazy-rich British publisher, wrote a book called “How To Get Rich” and in it he actively discourages the reader.  See, Dennis made almost a billion dollars for himself in publishing.  He says if knew what he knows now he would have focused less on making money and more on other things.  To make amends he writes poetry and plants a lot of trees these days.  His youth is gone forever, and he has remained a bachelor married to his career and without children of his own (no, he’s not gay).  He sacrificed many of the things “regular” people get in order to get more money than he could possibly ever spend.

The post author, Loren Woirhaye writes sales copy and creates marketing systems for business clients who want to slash customer acquisition costs and position their businesses For 20%-30% sales growth in the next 12-18 months. He writes regularly about marketing and life at his Entrepreneur Blog.

Poor People Have Big TVs – Rich People Have Big Libraries is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

(part 2 of 5)

“Poor People Have Big TVs. Rich People Have Big Libraries.”

The late Jim Rohn said that often.  It sounds like a glib statement to be sure.  and it might offend you if you enjoy your TV.  That’s not the point.  These days, many rich people do have big TVs of course.  The point is that successful people continually invest in developing their minds and creative pursuits, while unsuccessful people just seek instant self-gratification, which tends to default to doing stuff like watching junk television.

A secondary point is that when you buy a TV or any other toy or new car or even a house, it won’t make you more money – in fact it will usually either decrease in value (TVs, Ipods, computers) or it will cost you money to maintain (houses, boats).

Of course with real-estate your investment may be worth more in the future,  but if you buy more than you can afford, you’re investing in a liability that sucks up your monthly cash, not an asset.  Of course you need a ]]> Poor People Have Big TVs – Rich People Have Big Libraries is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

(part 2 of 5)

“Poor People Have Big TVs. Rich People Have Big Libraries.”

The late Jim Rohn said that often.  It sounds like a glib statement to be sure.  and it might offend you if you enjoy your TV.  That’s not the point.  These days, many rich people do have big TVs of course.  The point is that successful people continually invest in developing their minds and creative pursuits, while unsuccessful people just seek instant self-gratification, which tends to default to doing stuff like watching junk television.

A secondary point is that when you buy a TV or any other toy or new car or even a house, it won’t make you more money – in fact it will usually either decrease in value (TVs, Ipods, computers) or it will cost you money to maintain (houses, boats).

Of course with real-estate your investment may be worth more in the future,  but if you buy more than you can afford, you’re investing in a liability that sucks up your monthly cash, not an asset.  Of course you need a place to live, and having more space than you need can be a pleasant luxury – but the truth is making money as an entrepreneur almost always involves using the money you have to get leverage.  If your money is tied-up (or spent) on luxuries, it’s not liquid and you cannot use it.

I don’t personally much care what you spend your money on, but I do care about being a rational business writer so here it is: the smart play is to invest your money  in assets that are likely to either increase in value and be sellable later or assets which you can use to create more income.

Making money isn’t the only thing in life and even disciplined asset-oriented entrepreneurs  have our little indulgences. That’s okay, but if you’re splurging most of your income on things that amuse you but which are going to lose value and become obsolete, you’re headed in the direction opposite to wealth.

The post author, Loren Woirhaye writes sales copy and creates marketing systems for business clients who want to slash customer acquisition costs and position their businesses For 20%-30% sales growth in the next 12-18 months. He writes regularly about marketing and life at his Entrepreneur Blog.

Why Cash is King is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

(part 3 of 5)

“They” say “cash is king”-  presumably because when you’ve got cash you have superior negotiating power in your money-making activity.

I used to buy and sell machinery – and I always bought low because I wouldn’t even look at the machine unless I knew I could sell it for more than I paid and had cash in my pocket to buy it on the spot.

One of my weaknesses is I’m not a very aggressive price negotiator – I want the other guy to feel good about the deal too.  But if a seller ran an ad and said he wanted $600 for a machine,  I would call up a seller and say “I’ve got $500 in cash and I’ll come and pick up that machine today if you’ll sell it to me for that,”  – I never even went to look at a machine unless I knew I could take it home right then.  I was “Johnny on the spot with cash”.

When making deals, you do need to strike when the iron is hot.  In buying, you’ll get your best advantage ]]> Why Cash is King is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

(part 3 of 5)

“They” say “cash is king”-  presumably because when you’ve got cash you have superior negotiating power in your money-making activity.

I used to buy and sell machinery – and I always bought low because I wouldn’t even look at the machine unless I knew I could sell it for more than I paid and had cash in my pocket to buy it on the spot.

One of my weaknesses is I’m not a very aggressive price negotiator – I want the other guy to feel good about the deal too.  But if a seller ran an ad and said he wanted $600 for a machine,  I would call up a seller and say “I’ve got $500 in cash and I’ll come and pick up that machine today if you’ll sell it to me for that,”  – I never even went to look at a machine unless I knew I could take it home right then.  I was “Johnny on the spot with cash”.

When making deals, you do need to strike when the iron is hot.  In buying, you’ll get your best advantage by finding a motivated seller who will make a deal on the spot.  If you want the advantage in selling, to get top-dollar for what you’ve got, you need to be more patient or better at salesmanship.

Buying Is Easy, Selling Is A Bitch

Buying is easy, selling is hard.  If you want to get money, you generally have to sell something – yet because selling is a hard thing to do for most people you’ll want to find some easier ways to do it.  Truth is, most people love to buy stuff, but they despise obvious salesmanship (most people are ignorant and  consider sales sleazy and manipulative).  Thus it’s easiest for you to sell, when you conceal the art of salesmanship and focus  on making it easy for other people to buy.

The post author, Loren Woirhaye writes sales copy and creates marketing systems for business clients who want to slash customer acquisition costs and position their businesses For 20%-30% sales growth in the next 12-18 months. He writes regularly about marketing and life at his Entrepreneur Blog.

Steve Jobs No-Pressure Selling Secret – Revealed! is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

(part 4 of 5)

If you’re looking for a way to make a lot of money without the pressure of making sales calls, direct response marketing is the most low-pressure form of selling there is.   No sale will actually happen without pressure.  Direct response is so  low-pressure in fact, you have to elicit the sales pressure within your prospect, which is the selling skill that  trumps all others and all master marketers have it.

Apple computer actually uses direct response marketing methods like perceived scarcity and elitism, which is an emotional hot-button in some people.  Apple claims they cannot meet demand for their latest products, Ipads or whatever, which causes people to be desperate to be the first person they know to get one.  It’s a bit of reverse psychology really and also very well integrated with the intentional elitism embedded in all of Apple’s branding and advertising.

When you buy the pressure you feel is your own desire to get an advantage for yourself or meet some basic need.  Without pressure coming from either outside of you (your spouse pressuring you, for ]]> Steve Jobs No-Pressure Selling Secret – Revealed! is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

(part 4 of 5)

If you’re looking for a way to make a lot of money without the pressure of making sales calls, direct response marketing is the most low-pressure form of selling there is.   No sale will actually happen without pressure.  Direct response is so  low-pressure in fact, you have to elicit the sales pressure within your prospect, which is the selling skill that  trumps all others and all master marketers have it.

Apple computer actually uses direct response marketing methods like perceived scarcity and elitism, which is an emotional hot-button in some people.  Apple claims they cannot meet demand for their latest products, Ipads or whatever, which causes people to be desperate to be the first person they know to get one.  It’s a bit of reverse psychology really and also very well integrated with the intentional elitism embedded in all of Apple’s branding and advertising.

When you buy the pressure you feel is your own desire to get an advantage for yourself or meet some basic need.  Without pressure coming from either outside of you (your spouse pressuring you, for example), or inside of you (need to keep up with the Joneses, perhaps), you aren’t going to buy anything.  People who don’t feel pressure in some way aren’t inclined to take any action at all.

The brilliance of what Jobs and Apple did is create a rich psychological template customers could be part of.  Apple customers tend to identify with the brand – they may even think themselves superior to PC users because they chose Mac.  I’m saying Mac isn’t a good product, just that the marketing is brilliant because the company put an actual identity into the product that buyers could slip into like a pair of jeans.  They turned a functional tool (which is all a PC is) into a “gotta have it” fashion accessory for a large number of people.  These people willingly pay much more than they need to for the computing power they get in order to participate in the shared reality of Apple’s brand.

It’s all a bit surreal, don’t you think?

The post author, Loren Woirhaye writes sales copy and creates marketing systems for business clients who want to slash customer acquisition costs and position their businesses For 20%-30% sales growth in the next 12-18 months. He writes regularly about marketing and life at his Entrepreneur Blog.

How To Stop Selling, Yet Make More Money is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

(part 5 of 5)

Learning direct response marketing gets you out of person-to-person selling.  The only reason to do it is because it lends itself to  automation and leverage because you can reach a lot of people with one effort.   The internet is the most perfect medium for direct response marketing ever because people can pay on the spot with a few clicks.  The internet makes buying deliriously easy for consumers.

The problem is the internet has matured a  bit and now the selling environment online has become competitive. There’s no easy or straightforward path to internet riches these days  (sorry to burst your bubble), but if you educate yourself about proven direct marketing principles.

Just because the internet is the perfect medium for direct marketing doesn’t mean it’s the best. That’s because the barrier to entry with internet marketing is low so there’s a lot of competition.  With direct mail, your costs will be higher but the competition tends to be sparser.

Most of the best copywriter/marketers are also intense students of human nature and salesmanship.  We read widely because you really ]]> How To Stop Selling, Yet Make More Money is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

(part 5 of 5)

Learning direct response marketing gets you out of person-to-person selling.  The only reason to do it is because it lends itself to  automation and leverage because you can reach a lot of people with one effort.   The internet is the most perfect medium for direct response marketing ever because people can pay on the spot with a few clicks.  The internet makes buying deliriously easy for consumers.

The problem is the internet has matured a  bit and now the selling environment online has become competitive. There’s no easy or straightforward path to internet riches these days  (sorry to burst your bubble), but if you educate yourself about proven direct marketing principles.

Just because the internet is the perfect medium for direct marketing doesn’t mean it’s the best. That’s because the barrier to entry with internet marketing is low so there’s a lot of competition.  With direct mail, your costs will be higher but the competition tends to be sparser.

Most of the best copywriter/marketers are also intense students of human nature and salesmanship.  We read widely because you really cannot learn to be a great direct marketer at school – you have to teach yourself.

If you bumble into internet marketing like I did, made some money and thought “Wow!”, good for you.  What usually happens though is most people who do that have a tough time re-creating their early good fortune.  The market will go shift on you and then the money you were making isn’t there anymore.

To be a steadily successful marketer you have to get it together on a bunch of different levels.  It’s not all easy and you cannot learn it all fast.  But if you keep up with your learning, you’ll gradually come to a better understanding of what’s going on with the marketplace and how to exploit opportunities that come along.

The post author, Loren Woirhaye writes sales copy and creates marketing systems for business clients who want to slash customer acquisition costs and position their businesses For 20%-30% sales growth in the next 12-18 months. He writes regularly about marketing and life at his Entrepreneur Blog.

Google Whackness: How The New Instant Auto-complete Suggestion Feature Warps Search Trends is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes

Good old Google has unleashed some new whackness into our lives with it’s new “instant auto-complete” feature. I’m not sure what it’s really  called, but whatever it is, if it sticks around the roll of search marketing optimization as a traffic source will be changed.

In brief, the auto-complete suggests key-phrases based on what you type in for your first word.  Google has had something like this before but it was vulnerable to manipulation. Phrases like “why won’t my parakeet eat my diarrhea” would pop up in Google’s older auto-complete feature—which may just be a slower version of Google’s new suggestion tool.

Aside from the parakeet thing being gross, it’s hard to believe that more than one person ever typed in that search phrase sincerely looking for an answer to such a question.   Two theories about why the phrase showed up in Google’s trends are that either somebody at Google put it there as a joke, or a bunch of people got together and conspired to search Google with that phrase or create content and links ]]> Google Whackness: How The New Instant Auto-complete Suggestion Feature Warps Search Trends is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes

Good old Google has unleashed some new whackness into our lives with it’s new “instant auto-complete” feature. I’m not sure what it’s really  called, but whatever it is, if it sticks around the roll of search marketing optimization as a traffic source will be changed.

In brief, the auto-complete suggests key-phrases based on what you type in for your first word.  Google has had something like this before but it was vulnerable to manipulation. Phrases like “why won’t my parakeet eat my diarrhea” would pop up in Google’s older auto-complete feature—which may just be a slower version of Google’s new suggestion tool.

Aside from the parakeet thing being gross, it’s hard to believe that more than one person ever typed in that search phrase sincerely looking for an answer to such a question.   Two theories about why the phrase showed up in Google’s trends are that either somebody at Google put it there as a joke, or a bunch of people got together and conspired to search Google with that phrase or create content and links containing it.  Either way, it’s not really the kind of content Google wants to be serving up in general.

Now you can check out Google’s new version of auto-complete for yourself.  I think the main difference is that it’s faster, as in almost instant. If you go to Google.com and type “why” into the search engine, you’ll get something that looks like this:

why search

Some of those results are pretty odd.  The raven one from the Mad Hatter in “The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland” by lewis Carroll.  Of course it seems like nonsense popping up in your Google search, but it is a rather famous riddle.   Furthermore, not making sense was the author’s point.

The thing about poop might seem odd, but I can imagine quite a few people wonder about why their excrement comes in funny colors sometimes.  I’m sure the answer to this question has assuaged concern in more than one child so I figure some good is being done with Google’s calling it up as a search phrase.

How This Affects Online Marketers Like You and Me

By redesigning the auto-complete feature to be instant (or at least much faster) Google is in effect steering millions of people towards the most common searches.  This in turn will make those search phrases more popular.

The concern among marketers, both SEO people and Pay-per-click people, is that this move by Google will steer much of the so-called “long tail” traffic towards the more popular terms.

This means Google is making up our minds for us.  Google is choosing what we want to search for.  Maybe this isn’t all bad because it does make some types of general searching easier for the average Google user.  For Google, the effect will be to consolidate more traffic towards a tigher grouping of key-phrases which will—when those key-phrases are monetizable with advertising—cut the long-tail Pay-per-click marketers out of the zone where profits are made and create Pay-per-click  bidding wars for the keyphrases being pushed by Google.

It’s very clever really, if Google’s motive is to increase and consolidate Pay-per-click revenue.

In addition, Google has recently gone on a rampage of banning direct response marketers from it’s Adwords Pay-per-click program.   In effect Google keeps putting up new roadblocks to  making direct sales from web-pages advertised with Adwords.  My theory is that Google wants Adwords to be more of a corporate advertising engine and get rid of us direct response marketers, as we’re viewed as troublemakers.

What do you think?

The post author, Loren Woirhaye writes sales copy and creates marketing systems for business clients who want to slash customer acquisition costs and position their businesses For 20%-30% sales growth in the next 12-18 months. He writes regularly about marketing and life at his Entrepreneur Blog.

The Ultimate Formula For Creating An Instantly Memorable Business Name and How To Create The Most Effective Slogan For Powerful Advertising Results is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 7 – 12 minutes

I’m going to tell you how to do something that is not always easy.  If you do use this information however you will be building enormous wealth creating potential into your business.

To start, your business name is very important.  If you have an existing business or website, you may be restricted in how you can rename or rebrand it,  but if you are thinking of launching a new business the following is must-know information for you.

What’s In A Name?

Coming up with a name for your business can be a challenge—especially when you need to match the name-branding to a domain you can get.  If you’re promoting a website and trying to do any kind of branding you should not consider using anything other than a .COM.

The problem with domain types other than dot-coms is that, in general, people are going to go to the dot-com first.  They won’t remember that you’re the  other “Flowers To Go” —they’ll just go to your competitor’s website.  Basically, ]]> The Ultimate Formula For Creating An Instantly Memorable Business Name and How To Create The Most Effective Slogan For Powerful Advertising Results is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 7 – 12 minutes

I’m going to tell you how to do something that is not always easy.  If you do use this information however you will be building enormous wealth creating potential into your business.

To start, your business name is very important.  If you have an existing business or website, you may be restricted in how you can rename or rebrand it,  but if you are thinking of launching a new business the following is must-know information for you.

What’s In A Name?

Coming up with a name for your business can be a challenge—especially when you need to match the name-branding to a domain you can get.  If you’re promoting a website and trying to do any kind of branding you should not consider using anything other than a .COM.

The problem with domain types other than dot-coms is that, in general, people are going to go to the dot-com first.  They won’t remember that you’re the  other “Flowers To Go” —they’ll just go to your competitor’s website.  Basically, if you don’t get the dot-com you’ll be driving traffic to your competitor on your dime.

You might want to call your flower store “Flowers To Go” but if you tried to get the dot-com you’d be paying through the nose for it if it were even for sale.

Ugh.

What’s the SOLUTION then?

Well, you need to be a little creative to get an available .COM nobody else is squatting on and only willing to sell for a fortune.  You’ll have to find a way to make an available .COM memorable.

The store name doesn’t have to be identical to the URL but there should be a memorable and sense-making connection between them.  If you think in terms of how you can connect the two at the beginning you’ll be much better off in the end.

Don’t Get Cute

In terms of coming up with a name for the business, going cute is usually a dumb idea.  Lots of pet grooming businesses, nail salons, and hair studios have stupid-cute names, but  I challenge you to find any business with a cutesy name that’s really grown.  ‘Nuff said.

HOT TIP

1st Criteria: Telling What Your Business Is In The Name

A lot of business names gratify the ego of the founder/owner.  That’s fine if that person’s name on the business is an asset because he or she is already well-known,  but in most cases the public won’t know or care who you are or what your personal name is.  They only want  to know, “what’s in it for me (to pay any attention at all to you)?”

That’s right!  Not a single one of your prospects or customers gives a rat’s rump about you!  They only care what you will do for them!

This classic rule of advertising (the WIIFM rule or “what’s in it for me?”) is even more important today.  Due to copious media exposure and  sensory stimulation, people have learned to instantly seek ways  to categorize and pigeon-hole new resources.   If they can’t easily figure out where your business fits in their lives, they’ll  delete it from their memories.  Thus the  business name you choose should ideally tell what your business does.   This is not the only approach to naming a business but probably the best.   The more instantly graspable what your business does for customers from its name is the better.

Examples of of business names that tell what we need to know

• Toy’r'Us
• International Business Machines (IMB)
• Dunkin’ Donuts
• Burger King
  

The Mind-Control Trick That Makes Your Business Instantly Memorable

Madison Avenue agencies know a thing or two about mind control.  They don’t always do it well, but the most inspired and effective advertising in the world usually has mind control working in it.

Mind control in marketing is actually not voodoo and I wouldn’t even call it unethical,  it’s merely a way of making your advertising more effective and memorable.

One of the most powerful ways to brand your business is with a strapline.  A strapline is more than a slogan.  Ideally it contains a customer-benefit oriented statement specific to your brand.  When the strapline is powerfully memorable, conveys a strong benefit to the customer, and has the business name, URL, or phone number completely integrated, it functions as a powerful competitive advantage for your business.

This was done well by  the 1-800-flowers people.  I don’t even know if it qualifies as a proper strapline but it delivers a powerful marketing message:  that all you have to do it pick up the phone and dial this toll-free, easy to remember number and you can get flowers over the phone.  I don’t even remember the proper strapline, if there was one, but I know the number because that’s all I need to remember.  Killer.

Don’t Make This Dumb Mistake and  Subsidize Your Competitors’ Advertising—At Your Expense!

The strapline was botched by the “Say it With Flowers” people because they failed to tie the memorable phrase to their brand (FTD).  Effectively this slogan advertised the whole flower/flower delivery industry.  That would be fine if every company in the industry footed a share of the bill.

“Say it With Flowers” is a brand-advertising fail as an audible slogan because effectively they were advertising for their competition by promoting the idea of buying flowers, not the idea of buying from FTD.   Whether it works better in print I don’t know.  I do know I had to look it up to remember what company uses that slogan and I’ve heard and seen the ads hundreds of times.

How To Tell The Difference Between  Slogan and A Mnenonic Strapline That Also Meets the 1st Criteria

Here’s a bunch of straplines, some of which contain mnenonics.   Look through them and notice how many fail to embed the actual name (or URL) in the strapline.  Some of the straplines still worked due to massive ad-spend and cleverness, but imagine how much better some of them would have been if the specific name of the business was embedded in the strapline.

You’ll notice as you browse through those slogans that not many of them actually contain the brand name in the strapline itself.  By far the best way to create your strapline is to have your brand or domain name actually attached to it in an integrated way, so the strapline doesn’t sound right without your business or domain name in it.

How To Create Your  Most Powerful Strapline

One of the most powerful ways to brand your business is with a mnemonic strapline.  This is more than a slogan.  A mnemonic is usually a verbal twist, a little poem or catchy turn of phrase that makes the whole phrase more memorable.  Musical mnemonics are what make songs so memorable.   A musical mnemonic  strapline is impractical unless you have the budget to run TV and radio ads, but even without music a mnemonic makes a strapline instantly more memorable.

Remember the Roto-Rooter jingle?

“Call Roto-Rooter, that’s the name, and away go troubles down the drain.”

The jingle is annoying, but brilliant and memorable because the name of the business is locked into the jingle in such a way that it would be impossible to not remember the name  correctly.  The Roto-Rooter jingle contains multiple mnemonic devices.  First, the business name itself is an alliterative mnemonic.  That means each word starts with the same sound.   The tune itself is memorable, plus “down” and “drain” are alliterative.   The jingle also has a sneaky embedded command to “call” and at the end the jingle tells what result the customer will get: “troubles down the drain.”

Is that powerful or what?

The best strapline may contain alliteration, rhyming, or perhaps a clever mental image that locks the strapline to your business name.   The mnemonic is the device that makes the strapline memorable.  The entire strapline may not be a mnemonic device, but if it is not the name, URL, or phone number When the person remembers the strapline, they remember your business name, phone number, or URL.

Furthermore, it’s best if you can build one or more powerful memes into the strapline which function to make it more memorable and effective.  Memes are a fascinating concept and can be used powerfully in advertising and in fact many advertising writers use them without knowing it.  Using memes intentionally to lock advertising into the public mind is very advanced advertising stuff and there are not many sources which tell how to do it well, but your most useful tools are your own brain and your skill at using it to invent ideas.

Today I won’t write about memes, because it’s a deep topic I’ll write about later.  For now I’ve given you some good material to work with in naming and promoting your business.  Go put this new knowledge to work right away while it’s fresh in your mind.

Perhaps you’d like to join in a discussion by commenting below or asking questions.  Please do.

The post author, Loren Woirhaye writes sales copy and creates marketing systems for business clients who want to slash customer acquisition costs and position their businesses For 20%-30% sales growth in the next 12-18 months. He writes regularly about marketing and life at his Entrepreneur Blog.

3 Easy Ways To Get More Free Traffic and More Free Leads From Your Articles and Blog Posts is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes

In the next few minutes I’ll share with you the 3 “secret” ways I’ve used to get more traffic and leads from articles and blog posts. Using these three methods you’ll easily double, triple or even quadruple the effectiveness or your articles, sending your list-building into overdrive. At the end I’ll tell you how to get a free guide that teaches you an automated traffic method you can use to get free web traffic with push-button ease.

Picture this common list-building scenario…

You’re putting up squeeze pages and writing articles. You’re getting some traffic, but that traffic isn’t converting to email leads very well. Sure, you’re getting an opt-in here and there, but you’re looking for the secret that will explode your opt-ins.

Right Under Your Nose…

I’ve been testing different copywriting approaches for years and isolated key elements that cause articles to succeed and get traffic. The answer to your problem is right in front of your nose. The reason you don’t see the answer is because ]]> 3 Easy Ways To Get More Free Traffic and More Free Leads From Your Articles and Blog Posts is a post from: Breakthrough Marketing with Loren Woirhaye

Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes

In the next few minutes I’ll share with you the 3 “secret” ways I’ve used to get more traffic and leads from articles and blog posts. Using these three methods you’ll easily double, triple or even quadruple the effectiveness or your articles, sending your list-building into overdrive. At the end I’ll tell you how to get a free guide that teaches you an automated traffic method you can use to get free web traffic with push-button ease.

Picture this common list-building scenario…

You’re putting up squeeze pages and writing articles. You’re getting some traffic, but that traffic isn’t converting to email leads very well. Sure, you’re getting an opt-in here and there, but you’re looking for the secret that will explode your opt-ins.

Right Under Your Nose…

I’ve been testing different copywriting approaches for years and isolated key elements that cause articles to succeed and get traffic. The answer to your problem is right in front of your nose. The reason you don’t see the answer is because there’s so much confusing information out there.

You need to get clear why people don’t opt-in or why your traffic results aren’t what you want them to be.

3 Reasons Articles Aren’t Drawing More Subscribers

1. Not enough people are searching for keywords you are using to draw traffic
2. You aren’t making a really attractive free offer to build your list
3. Your writing is confusing to readers and they lose interest

You might be aware that many people are short of time. Therefore it’s important you tell people what they are going to get and assure them that to get it won’t take much time or effort. The real thing you are competing for as a markter is not readers’s time, it’s their attention.

Three “Structural Persuasion” Secrets

Secret #1: The best way to get and retain attention in your articles is to make a promise at the start of the article. I like to quantify the time investment too. I did it at the start of this article and if you got this far, it worked on you. If it worked on you, it will work on other people too. Telling readers how long it’s going to take them to get the information they want may see a little goofy, but it works, so start doing it.

Secret #2: The easiest formula is “3 easy ways” formula. Title your article with a promise of 3 easy ways to make something they are doing better or easier. This may seem like a slow-pitch promise, like you’re writing for dummies. But guess what? It works so use it. You can mix things up and use “5 simple ways” or whatever, but always a straightforward promise to deliver your information in bite-sized chunks. The number of points you are promising your reader doesn’t matter as much as the fact that you’re promising to divide the information up into easy bullet points. People crave and respond to well-structured communication and this titling method is an easy way to start doing that.

Secret #3: The offer at the end. Article traffic is all about getting readers to click on your link at the end. To get a lot of click you need to offer a very attractive free goodie. Make an effort to imply that the goodie is an almost magical solution to all the reader’s problems. While it may not be in reality, you need to whip that reader into a feverish excitement to get him to click. If you’ve built some momentum into your article and offer at the end, many readers will just click through and opt-in to your free offer, which takes some of the pressure off your squeeze page.

When you use these 3 secrets in your articles, you’ll be writing the way real copywriters do. Copywriters know that every step of the persuasion process has to be easy-peasy for the reader. When it is, lookout! because your results will be much better.

Start looking for ways to use these 3 secrets in every article you write. They don’t always all fit with all article types. I don’t always use them myself (because I get lazy sometimes) but when I do I get clickthrough rates as high as 40% of readers checking out my offer. There are other ways to write a good article, but if you’re after opt-ins for your email list, the formula I just shared with you works great.

Now you know the basics of writing killer articles using structural persuasion principles.

You can expand what you’ve learned here.

How about a system for getting unlimited free, automated traffic to your website?

Well, I’ve got such a system and I wrote a guidebook about how it works. You can have the guidebook for free.

Your Free Traffic Guide awaits.

If you want an internet money machine, you’ll want to learn more about how to use software to get traffic. Just grab the Free Traffic Formula for free and find out how.

The post author, Loren Woirhaye writes sales copy and creates marketing systems for business clients who want to slash customer acquisition costs and position their businesses For 20%-30% sales growth in the next 12-18 months. He writes regularly about marketing and life at his Entrepreneur Blog.