I was having a glass of wine with a friend last night – a Malbec, which by the way, was sheepy, barn-yardy and yucky.. some Malbecs just baffle me (I don’t dig it, so I opened a different bottle) – and he said something interesting.

He said, “To be honest, Phil, I don’t think anyone cares what the buildings are like. There’s no connection between the maintenance crews and the customer desire.”

This was part of a long conversation about a timeshare development that’s teetering on the brink of disaster. So I couldn’t resist and said, “Are you going to let me know when you switch back to dishonesty?”

I love this little joke and try to fit it in every once in a while, even though it’s really annoying. I wrote it about a long time ago (Eliminate Honesty from Your Copy), and it’s covered in-depth in my eBay Marketing book, which is now available on the Kindle.

The main point is this. When you’re speaking or writing – especially if you’re involved with a persuasive presentation or document – it’s best to stay away from words like “frankly,” “honestly,” and “to tell you the truth.” Consciously or subconsciously people are going to notice and wonder why honesty all of a sudden became an issue.

Instead, use facts, logic and proof to construct your pitches and explanations. You don’t need to qualify your virtue when clear, compelling information is at hand.

That other stuff sounds “salesy” and a bit cheap. You’re better than that.

And, yes, please use my joke when you’re out with friends. It’s a real show stopper.. but it might just get you a face full of Malbec, so be careful.

Are you stuck on a sentence right now?

Can’t find the right word?

Having doubts about a particular approach?

Having trouble starting a writing project? (large or small)

Stop what you’re doing. Don’t get distracted or procrastinate. Send me a quick email with the copy in question. I’ll send you some options, ideas and a high quality alternative to your existing sentence.

I’m thinking about writing and communication methods all the time.

For the past 15 years, I’ve spent every day helping companies write quality content for the web, direct response campaigns, and in print (articles, white papers, case studies, trade show scripts, special reports, data sheets, brochures… you name it).

Send me your sentence right now. If I can improve it, I’ll fix it (I’ll also tell you what’s working and what you’ve done right).  No strings attached. No charge. It’s just my little way to offer help and show companies how I work.

dunn@qualitywriter.com

.. Unless You Find a Way to Make Them Profit Your Customers

One of the hottest, latest conversation starters in marketing and sales meetings across the planet is “social media.” Ask people to join you in a meeting about social media, and you’ll find a lot of takers. This goes for internal folks and customers/prospects alike. The hype has hit that critical mass level.

But you’ll soon find out that most people don’t know what the heck they’re talking about or what the heck they want to accomplish with social media.

Everyone loves it, of course.

“I’m on Facebook!”

“Follow me on Twitter.”

“Join me on LinkedIn.”

Yet a lot of marketing and sales folks who are pumped about what this all means can’t give you a detailed outline of their social media and social networking strategies.

And by strategies I mean the following: How can I leverage social media platforms to make a difference in the lives of my customers or prospects?

Ask yourself some questions to get to the root of this strategy dilemma:

• How do people use these tools/applications?
• Why are they using them?
• What exactly can I do with things like Twitter and Facebook to start conversations with customers?
• What kinds of conversations do I want to have?
• What’s my goal when I have a conversation with someone via social media?
• Should I have a goal?
• Should I be educating?
• Should I give out free information?
• How do I structure free information to draw people closer to my organization and solutions?
• Can I schedule meetings, webinars or phone calls via social media?
• Can I close business on these platforms?
• What’s possible?

The ultimate goal of an exercise like this should drive to one general area, and that is: How does the person on the other end of these transactions and communications stand to profit from the exchange?

Are you solving a problem for them? Can you help them make more money for themselves and their company? Can you help them get a job or a promotion? Can you help them keep a job that they fear they might lose? Can you reduce their debt burden? Can you help them build out their market share? Can you help them reach more people and sell more via social media?

These are the kinds of questions you need to answer before you start jumping up and down about Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Otherwise you’re just propagating counter-productivity. Everybody knows that Facebook and Twitter are major time suckers unless you’re positioned to help someone every day. You have to actively help people get what they want out of life – whether that’s more sales, more compelling advertising, better health, a happier family life, a loving relationship, a place to live, a job.. whatever it is that’s motivating them.

Make the connection between what you offer and what people need, and you’ll be using social media and social networking tools effectively.

If you’d like to explore these topics in more detail and create a marketing campaign that gets immediate results, please give me a call at 949-515-3510 or email me at dunn@qualitywriter.com.

P.S. I can help you start figuring out what your prospects are looking for in just a few simple steps (using Facebook and Google AdWords, btw).

My clients have been asking for white paper writing quite frequently over the past few years. I don’t know if that’s a general trend, a function of my expertise and focus, or some perfect storm related to my Google page rank and key words (aside: I need to do some testing/SEO autopsy). In any event, I’m seeing a trend. In many cases white papers have become the new brochure. I think it’s a welcome development, and I’ll tell you why.

The modern white paper – technical or otherwise – has attributes of many different types of collateral pieces. On one level, it’s a education piece. On another, it’s a brochure of sorts. And, white papers often resemble case studies, with clear development from problem/challenge/issues to solution/presentation. All these attributes are welcome, IMHO.

Education is always great. People need information presented clearly in order to make good decisions. The case study angle in particular is very interesting. First, it forces the writer and the client/company to view their solution from the eyes of the user/customer. White paper format makes the writer think about the issues and hurdles close to the user first and then transition into the solution. Oftentimes, market forces and technology trends are used in white papers, as well. Same benefit – it forces the writer to view the problem on a larger scale. Only when macro, micro and user viewpoints are considered can a true solution be presented. White papers allow you to do this.

An old-fashioned brochure, on the other hand, is the antithesis of a white paper. I should clarify that… a typical, average, traditional brochure that presents the company and it’s products is the antithesis. These old-style brochures usually “led with their chin”.. meaning they presented a “hey look at us and our product” position before ever considering the needs and challenges of the customer/user. This kind of leave-behind, corporate overview brochure is a dying breed.

A friend of mine just had one of these old-style positioning brochures produced for his company, even though I advised against it. It was a waste of time, a waste of resources and a waste of a graphic designer for layout. It started with “this is who we are” (as if anyone cares).. then “this is what we do” (even though no need or urgency was developed first).. then “we’ve been in business for XX years” (another ‘who cares’ unless it can be linked to specific customer successes).. then the brochure offered no call to action, no “what to do next” and no lead-gen potential whatsoever. It was a money hole.

The friend thought he needed it to provide “legitimacy” as a leave behind, even though he admitted that it’s the kind of piece that gets glanced at and tossed. He thought it might help his image and brand. Urk. Branding without promotion, offers and call to action is for Coca Cola or Pfizer.. it’s not for small businesses with no national advertising budget. Heck even Coke and Pfizer have offers and promotions these days. It’s rare that even the big guys shout out an egotistical “hey look ut at us.”

So.. to answer my title question, yes I think the white paper is a new form of brochure. Web sites generally function as the company brochure nowadays, however the white paper acts as an extension of the web site. It gets people to act and engage, like the leave-behind brochure used to. In the old scenario, the salesman came to the office and offered the pitch then left the brochure behind as a reminder/in-depth business card.

In the new web scene, the site is the cold call, the white paper is the voluntary demo, and the email capture is the relationship builder/reminder. You can mix up the order, but I think these are the key phases. For example, you can offer a white paper after you’ve captured an email or phone number. Or, you can produce a white paper that’s so strong it gets high rankings on Google and generates its own leads via a call to action on the final page. In any event, the white paper is the key value proposition builder and demo. It’s got lots of flexibility, too. You can go deep into challenges and issues while doing a really soft sell on your presentation (or even a no sell). On the other hand, you can go really deep into solution discussions and product features on the back-end of the white paper if it’s appropriate. There are lots of ways to slice and dice it.

What are your thoughts? Is the white paper the new brochure? Is it the new pre-sales-call? Can you close business with white papers? Please comment – your views are appreciated.