Sorry I totally blew it by not writing another post this week. What can I say – it was that kinda week! Anyways, here are a few marketing related articles that caught my eye this week. Enjoy!

Carline Anglade-Cole – Sizzling Hot Copy – Written By Y.O.U!
“Trigger words are extremely powerful – so powerful they can scare the heck out of your client’s legal department. Some of these words may make some clients queasy. But that’s ok…

…Not just better vision – but EAGLE EYES!
…Not fast – but BREAKNECK SPEED … or PUSH-BUTTON HEALING!
…Not depression – but BANISH THE BLUES!
…Not good for your mind – but BRAIN BOOSTING!
…Not great – but PHENOMENAL … AMAZING … and WOW!
…Not unique – but THE ONLY KNOWN CURE or … LITTLE KNOWN REMEDY …”

Sean D’Souza – You Are Not Your Consumer
“You may, for instance, like the colour of your website.Your customers may hate it.

You may personally detest long copy.

Your customer may want to read the complete details.

You may personally want whatever you want. Your customer will tell you that you should be listening and giving the customer what they want…

…the biggest mistake most business owners make, is they fall in love with their products and services. And ignore what the customer is saying to them.”

Ray Edwards – How To Annoy Your Customers
Just click the link. It’s a short post and it comes with a podcast. NICE!

Here are a few of the best copywriting and marketing articles I’ve read in the past seven days:

Sean D’Souza – Is Your Headline Good or Bad? Give it the Breath Test
“When your headline can’t be easily said aloud in a single breath, your message gets garbled.”

Roger Dooley – What Color Makes The Most Green?
“Could wearing a particular color influence the results obtained by a salesperson? If that salesperson is selling to a buyer of the opposite gender, the answer may be, ‘Yes!’…

…The magic color? Red.”

Do you think this also applies to online sales? I think so…

KISSmetrics – How do colors affect purchases?
“For retailers, shopping is the art of persuasion. Though there are many factors that influence how and what consumers buy. However, a great deal is decided by visual cues, the strongest and most persuasive being color. When marketing new products it is crucial to consider that consumers place visual appearance and color above other factors such as sound, smell and texture. To learn more about color psychology and how it influences purchases, see our latest infographic.”

Jay Steinfeld – Make Eye Contact With Customers — Even When You’re Not Face-to-Face
“What makes eye contact so powerfully effective when communicating? Think of what you might infer when someone doesn’t look you in the eye: Maybe he doesn’t care much about what you’re saying or he is afraid to face the truth. Is he hiding something?

A customer of mine last week not only reminded me how important eye contact is, but how you can make it even when you’re not face-to-face with your customer. That’ right — ‘eye contact’ is possible even when you and your customer are separated by a phone line or a computer…”

Here are a few of the best copywriting and marketing articles I’ve read in the past seven days:

Naomi Dunford – Make Them Love You. THEN Ask For Money
“Let’s say you need $20,000 and you need it 29 days from today.

The reason most people fail when given a task like this one – and when I say ‘fail’, I mean a level of fail that is so bad, they may as well have not bothered because they probably managed to LOSE money in the process – is because they try to start making money today…

…Let’s see how that’s likely to go. If you start today and you need $20,000 by 29 days from now, you need to make $689.65 every day for a month. No short falls. No internet outages. No sick days.

How likely is that?

Even for the most motivated person on earth under the best of circumstances, it’s just not going to happen. Add your innate awareness that it’s nigh on impossible and your motivation will flop. You won’t try as hard, making it more impossible.

Now let’s imagine you did it the Totally Awesome Business SuperStar™ way. What way is that, you ask?…

…Spend the first 28 days being totally, ridiculously awesome. Plan to make 100% of your money on the 29th day.”

Seth Godin – Little lies and small promises
Sorry. No excerpt. Just go and read it.

Dave Navarro – How to Write Eye-Catching Headlines that Transform Buyers into Customers
“In order to stop readers in their tracks, capture their attention through every word of your copy, and persuade them to click that ‘Add to Cart’ button without a second thought, you need to master the ‘headline reading psychology’ of your soon-to-be customers.

Once you understand why magnetic headlines pull readers in, you’ll know how to do it for your own sales pages, every time. Follow along with me for the next ninety seconds and I’ll show you exactly how you can turn a casual browser of your sales page into an avid reader, curious to drink in your copy until ultimately hitting the ‘Buy’ button.”

Brian Clark – The Three Key Elements of Irresistible Email Subject Lines
“Email is back.

Despite repeated proclamations of its extinction, rumors of the death of email marketing have been greatly exaggerated — especially since email and social media are a powerful combination. You might not reach the average college freshman, but for slightly older types (you know, the ones with the money), email is still the way to go in many lucrative mainstream niches.

You must first, of course, get your emails read. And it all starts with the subject line.”

Here are a few of the best copywriting and marketing articles I’ve read in the past seven days:

Seth Godin – Subtlety Deconstructed
“Subtle details demonstrate power. Instead of being in an urgent hurry to yell about every feature or benefit, you demonstrate confidence by taking your time and allowing people to explore. They don’t put huge banners on the Hermes store, announcing how good the silk is and how many famous people shop there…”

Dave Navarro – One Big Mistake That Keeps Your Prices Low
“I was originally going to price the program super-low (because I wanted a lot of customers & didn’t realize how that’s a strategy doomed to backfire), and this person hesitated to join in.

I think the exact words were something like “If you’re going to price it that low, give it away for free instead. Otherwise I can’t participate because I don’t want to be part of something with such a low price point.” I was going to charge $12, because it was 12 speakers, and that was clever … see? (Yeah. That was stupid, I know.)

At first I thought the response that was snotty as hell, but I quickly realized it wasn’t. This speaker was working a high-end business, charging quite a bit per hour, and to be part of a $12 program was a huge disconnect from the price point this speaker was building at that time. It wasn’t snotty or elitist – it just made sense.

If you’re charging $250 an hour and promoting a $12 program … your clients are going to wonder what’s going wrong with your business.”

Katie Morse @ Radian6 – Why Storytelling and Engagement Go Hand in Hand
“Storytelling is the big picture stuff. It’s the fuel that drives your advertising campaigns, the content that’s included on your website or in your collateral, and the foundation of what your executives share when they talk about your organization. It’s the stuff that sucks us in, makes us want to learn more, and urges us to share with others.

Engagement is focused on the micro level. It’s the follow-up to the story that was shared, including absorbing and responding to the reactions. It’s the action of connecting with someone that was affected by your story in one way or another and the potential beginnings of a relationship with that person. Engagement can often unearth new stories, which then starts the cycle all over again.”

Gord Hotchkiss of Enquiro – How Our Brains are Wired to Read
“How do we read? How do we take the arbitrary, human-made code that is the written word and translate into thoughts and images that mean something to our brain, an organ that had it’s basic wiring designed thousands of generations before the appearance of the first written word? What is going on in your skull right now as your eyes scan the black squiggly lines that make up this column?”

Here are a few of the best copywriting and marketing articles I’ve read in the past seven days:

Sean D’Souza of Psychotactics – Why Squeeze Pages Are Stupid
“Imagine you went for a date with a person you hadn’t met before. And your date wore a paper bag on his/her head. He/She refused to show you his/her face.

That date refused to tell you anything about his/her past.

Or let you into any information at all. And yet you had to give them information. Like your first name, last name, blah, blah, blah.

How do you feel?

Well that’s exactly how the customers feel. They feel irritated, frustrated and to choose a mild word: trapped. They know they want the information, but they can’t seem to get the any information from you without filling in that stupid form.”

Dr. A.K. Pradeep of The Buying Brain – Ice Cream Inspires Neuroscience
“Show products being consumed. Show the effervescent first taste of water, the warm sip of fresh coffee. As we did for our car company client, depict people directly involved with your product or service. When consumers are in the store or shopping online, those feelings of desire will be activated in their subconscious and will help stimulate them to try and buy.”

Maria Pergolina of Marketing Profs – 5 Tips for Email Marketing Deliverability
“Marketers need to get back to basics and implement smart, tested strategies in order to increase engagement, grow a targeted list and accomplish business objectives.”

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing – Landing Pages Are Your Secret Conversion Weapon
“I guess landing pages aren’t really that secret, but not enough small business marketers use the awesome power they bring.”

John Carlton – Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, & Choosing The Right Weapon
“Many entrepreneurs and business owners are selling products and making some money…

… but MOST still haven’t figured out the “sweet spot” of their target market… where profits are easier and faster and more efficient to bring in.

Instead, they’ve settled permanently into a comfort zone… and are using the equivalent of a poorly-aimed .22 pistol as their marketing campaign.

It works “okay”… so why change?

Well, because it means you’re very likely leaving stacks of money on the table… that’s why you should change.”

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What interesting articles have you come across this week? Feel free to share them – and your thoughts on the articles above – in the comments section below.