Simple Business Plan Video #3: Your Financials and Strategic Marketing Plan
comment now!Welcome to the fun, exciting world of financial planning for business! But here I’ve broken it down into three relatively simple steps that even the most mathephobic (NOTE: probably NOT a real word) among us can handle.
But to encourage you to sit through that part, I’ve followed it with a super simple 20-minute “strategic marketing plan” process that can provide you with more marketing ideas than you could even implement in a year.
The “Back to Basics” Approach
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The biggest challenge of freelancing is always getting the business to come in. Hopefully, if you’ve read “No” Proof, you have a system in place to capture warm leads and start building a relationship that will start bringing in work. An email list will be an invaluable resource for you in growing your business.
But don’t neglect a source of income that many writers too often do: your past clients. Hopefully, you keep in touch with past clients, sending them notes once a month or so to see how things are going, to congratulate them for mentions you see of them in the press or online (hint: Google Alerts!). And that’s great for keeping you “top of mind” in case the need ever arises.
But even more effective can be Read more
Simple Business Plan Video #2: Structure & Planning
1 commentThis video focuses on how to create an un-mission statement and hit the ground running. It also gets a little in-depth on the principles behind the Eliminate-Automate-Delegate process.
I look forward to hearing what you think! (Seriously…click the link and comment below…)
Simple Business Plan Video #1: Overview
4 commentsThis is the first of a series of videos I’m putting together for you on how to put together a no-MBA-required business plan to help you organize and grow your business.
NOTE: It starts out fine, but the audio ends up lagging a few second behind by the end. I’ll try to make sure that doesn’t happen in the next video.
As always, let me know what you think!
Persuasion 101 – Part II: The Anatomy of a Decision
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Okay, last time we talked about a principle tenet of copywriting: your job isn’t to make someone do something…you job is to make them WANT to do it. I also promised you I’d tell you how. So here’s a secret:
People don’t make rational decisions; they make emotional decisions and rationalize them.
That’s not meant critically…its a simple truth (and I admit I’m right in there with everyone else). For the vast majority of decisions, big and small, we decide what we want to do based on an emotional response, and then use reason to back up our case for that decision. And often, considerations based on WANT outweigh considerations based on need.
Emotional Decisions
So, when you set out to writer copy, you need to lead with something that is going to engage the prospect emotionally. It almost doesn’t matter what sort of emotion you used (but be very careful with both Humor and Anger). Politicians of all stripes used anger and mistrust to great advantage… and while I personally can’t stand political ads, there is no denying their effectiveness, even though they unapologetically
disregard or distort the actual facts.
If you can get them to identify emotionally with the result of performing the action you want them to take, then you’re about 75% of the way there.
Rationalization
Once they’ve decided they want to do what you want them to do, the rest is rationalization. Feed them the facts they need to convince themselves that are making a great decision. If you can figure out the objections that are keeping them from buying, and answer those objections convincingly, then you have your sale.
(But you won’t get to answer the objections if they don’t WANT to do what you want them to do in the first place).
Good vs. Evil
Now, an alarm may be going on inside your head. “This sounds very manipulative…almost underhanded.”
I can understand your concern…and it *could* be valid…if you’re evil. (Of course, if you’re evil, you’re probably not that concerned about it.)
This is simply a fact of human nature. People don’t make rational decisions; they make emotional decisions and rationalize them. If you’re a marketer trying to sell something and you never grasp this, your marketing is never going to reach it’s full potential. IF you’re a good business with a solid product that meets a real need, and you DON’T help your customers make the right decision in the manner they are going to make the decision anyway…well someone else will. Maybe your competitor. Maybe some shady, fly-by-night shuckster.
If you ARE evil, then sure you can use this simple truth to trick people into buying your product of service. Once. But you won’t build the kind of rabidly loyal customer base that will make for real, meaningful success in the long term. In fact, you’ll do the opposite. You’ll create a band of people whose sole common interest is in letting people know you’re not to be trusted.
Persuasion in Practice
One of the hardest parts of this process is creating thee right emotional connection.
An example of a poor, manipulative execution of this is John Hancock insurance, from a few years ago. They ran a series of commercials depicting people in painfully real circumstances. The situation between the characters is left open-ended in a “oh my god, now what are we going to do?” sort of way. And the spot closes without a voice over, just a title card with the logo, website and phone number. It’s one thing to make an emotional connection. It’s another thing altogether to scare prospects into buying insurance.
Now, for the most recent exceptional execution of this strategy is the new Reebok EasyTone commercial, which explains the benefits WHILE making an incredible emotional connection with the target audience.
Persuasion 101 – Part I: Psycholgical Inertia
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Your primary job as a copywriter is to get someone to do something. Maybe that something is to buy a product or call to speak with a sales agent—or maybe it’s just to get them to click a link. But the copywriter’s role is one of persuasion. This is the first article in a two-part series that will help you get a better grasp of persuasion.
You Can’t Make Anyone Do Anything The Don’t Already Want to Do.
This might sound a little discouraging at first…but if you stick with me, you should be feeling better than ever about being a copywriter soon.
“How,” you might be asking. “If you can’t make anyone do anything they already want to do, why bother writing the copy? And if they already WANT to do it, then the copy is unnecessary!” And you’re right.I know it seems discouraging.
But here’s the good news: the converse is also true. You can’t stop someone from doing something they truly want to do. Think about it…when was the last time you tried to talk someone out of something they truly had their heart set on? How’d it go.
Psychological Inertia
Any psychologist will tell you: in order to change, you have to really want to change. And that applies as well to changing your mind as it does to changing your behavior. This psychological inertia will thwart even the best copywriter if he’s lost his focus on one key point.
Your job isn’t to make them DO something… it is simply to make them WANT to do it.
In the next post I’ll explain exactly how to do that.
5 Ways to Break Through Your Own Limitations
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Sometimes it can seem as though you just cant go any further. You can’t break into a new niche… you can’t find that lucrative client… You want to keep growing, but can’t possibly take on any more business. Chances are, most of these roadblocks are limitations you’ve put on yourself. Here are a few ideas for breaking past them.
1. Are the limitations really there?
I love the phrase “think outside the box.” But it’s usually mis-used…as if there’s a box where we keep our same tired ideas, and inspiration is as easy as looking elsewhere. And that’s partly true.
But the phrase comes from a classic psychology test. Nine dots are arranged in three columns of three dots each. Subjects are asked to connect all nine dots with just three straight lines, without lifting the pen from the page. The only solution is to extend the line outside the matrix, but it almost never happens, because the brain “assumes” that the entire puzzle exists inside the confines of the 9 by 9 grid.
The real meaning of “outside the box” isn’t that your box contains tired old ideas. It’s that your box doesn’t even exist. What constraints are you unconsciously placing on your own growth?
2. Shift Perspectives
Borrow brilliance. You may not know what to do next. But someone, somewhere does. Just ask yourself “how would they do it?” How would Einstein solve this problem? Dr. Seuss? Elvis? A toothpick? Often the question alone is enough to springboard your mind onto entirely new trains of thought.
3. Learn a new skill
Maybe it’s not that you can’t do it. Maybe you just don’t know how yet? The internet is a wondrous place. There is a wealth of free tutorials on almost any subject. And if that’s enough, the catalog of university courses grows on an almost daily basis. Take advantage of it now.
4. Make the limitation obsolete
Sometimes, you’re right. You simply can’t do what needs to be done. Of course, you don’t really want to do what needs to be done, you want the result of having done it. So step back a bit and find a new way to achieve the same result.
5. Outsource the problem
You may not know how to do what needs to be done. But someone somewhere does. Even better than imagining how they’d do it…bring them on board and pay them to do it for you. There’s no shame in asking for help.
Are You A Writer Doing Business, Or a Business Person Who Writes?
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You know, when you’re out in the woods all alone, you have lots of time to think. It’s a great time to get introspective…even philosophical. And if you ever give minimalist camping a try for an extended time there will come a point when you realize an interesting but important distinction.
If you view yourself as a civilized person trying to survive, you’ve started out with a 50-50 chance. Maybe you’ll make it, maybe you won’t. But, if you view yourself as a survivor waiting till they get back to civilization, your odds are much better, simply because your attitude, your focus, the questions you ask yourself are completely different.
Most Freelance Writers Lack Business Savvy
The same goes for freelancing. As stereotypical as it sounds, most writers just don’t have much business sense. It’s not that they’re incapable. They just haven’t been trained—or often even exposed—to the things that make a business successful. And usually, they don’t even realize it.
They are writers trying to make a go of this business thing. And that’s why most freelance writers earn less that $5000 a year from their writing (those are the department of labor’s numbers, not mine).
But if you look at most successful freelancers, they don’t see themselves as writers in a business. They see themselves as professionals in the business of writing. So instead of looking at making money from a writer’s perspective using the tools of “business,” they look at it from a business person’s perspective using the tools of the writer.
Forget About the Words: Solve the Damn Problem
Nowhere is this as clear as in setting their rates. Writers torture themselves trying to figure out “how much they should charge” for a given project.
Now, any consultant in the world will tell you how they arrive at a price for their services: they take the hourly rate of everyone involved, estimate the number of hours to be spent, multiply those numbers, and there’s your project fee.
The same should be true of copywriters. If you have set a rate for yourself of $85 per hour, and a project is going to take 10 hours, then the project costs $850.
But many writers, indoctrinated by the publishing world, fixate on a per-word rate. Well, if you’re writing for an editor, that editor is buying your words. So you can argue that that’s a fair arrangement. As a copywriter, the client isn’t buying your words. They are buying your knowledge, your expertise…your time. Not simply the time spent at your desk writing, but the time spent interviewing subjects, researching the market, uncovering real, meaningful copy points, communicating with the client. It all has value to the end result.
You’re not selling words, your selling the solution to a problem.
The 15 Minute Business Plan
It surprises me how many writers don’t have a business plan. Now, I’m not talking about a formal “take-it-to-the-bank-to-get-a-loan” business plan, though there’s no real harm in it. I’m talking about a “this is who I am, this is what I do, and this is how I’m going to make money” sort of business plan.
One day they decided “I’m going to be a freelance copywriter,” and they were in business! Without a plan, they throw idea after idea to see what sticks, but never have a clear way to gauge if their efforts are successful or not.
All you need is 15 minutes or so, and you can have a rough sketch that can serve as a map for you. And you can refine and flesh it out as you go along. Just answer the following questions as thoroughly as possible: What am I going to write? Who am I going to write it for? How am I going to get those gigs? What is my target yearly income? How much will I need, minimum, to actually survive? How much money to I have to bring in each day to reach those goals?
That should be enough to get you started.
Targets, Goals and Milestones
Once you have your plan in place, plan your route there. Define three or five or ten milestones between where you are today, and your goal…and take action each day toward your first milestone. Keep track of your efforts. Note what works and what doesn’t, and change your actions accordingly.
Quit Begging for Work. Make Friends Instead
I don’t know any successful business person in any field who got that way by begging for the sale. Yet most writers who make cold-calls dial the phone, ask if the client needs any copywriting work, hangs up, and moves onto the next call.
The most successful salesmen don’t close the deal on the first call. Or the second. Or the third. By far the majority of sales take place between the 5th and 12th calls. And that’s not because they’re wearing the prospect down…it’s because they’re taking the time to build a relationship with that prospect. There is no repetitious script of “Hi, have any work for me today?”
In fact, successful sales consists of much more listening than selling. It consists of much more of them, and a lot less of you.
Develop Your Business Muscles
These are just a few examples of areas where you need to think less like a writer and more like a business person, if you want to see real success as a freelancer.
But invest some time reading about business. Spend a couple of hours in your local library or bookstore and look through the pages of magazines like Forbes, FastCompany and Inc. check out some of the featured selections in the business aisle covering management and sales.
And read ABOUT successful business people. Build a sort of internal business pantheon, so that when faced with a novel situation, you can ask yourself what would Richard Branson, or Andrew Carnegie or Henry Ford do?
So…how about you. Are you a writer who’s in business…or a business person who writes?
I Need Your Help…
9 commentsOKay, so I took some time off, and I’ve come back to CSG with the notion of rebuilding the site from the ground up. I started with the new Free Report over there (—>) and, as I’ve mentioned, I’m looking into a complete re-design of the site.
A designer friend and I were batting a few thoughts around, and he came up with this new logo as a starting point. Before I weigh in with my thoughts, I wanted to get your opinion.
If we decide to go this route, there would be a whole new site designed around this theme…and, yes, the predominant color would be swiss-army-knife red.
So, what do you think…do you love it? Do you hate it? Does it give you flashbacks of MacGyver? Or church?
Don’t hold back! I really wanna know! Leave a comment below…
Recommended Reading: “Creating a Timeless USer Experience” (even though you’re not a designer)
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Francisco Inchauste has a great post over at Six Revisions, entitled “Creating a Timeless User Experience.” [Read it.]
In the post, Francisco argues for designing a user experience (in this case, website and computer apps) built not around the latest fad or trend, or even kick-ass new technology, but around the wants and needs of the user. This user-experience-based focus, he argues, ought to bring clarity and laser-edged focus to the concept, plan and design of the product.
So, why am I mentioning this here?
Because it’s a brilliant argument YOU can use to explain the direction of your copy to your clients. The number one fault I still see with copy—especially corporate sales and branding copy—starts and ends with The Company And Its Glorious Products. ***vomit***
The customer couldn’t care less about the company and it’s glorious products. They care about their kids, their headaches and getting food on the table. They care about a vacation that’s more fun than effort. They care about…well…what they care about, not what your client cares about.
Your copy, like an optimal web design or software interface, needs to start with their problem and end with the solution to that problem (which, hopefully, is your client’s glorious product). Anything less is wasting your client’s money.
You know THAT, of course. I’m just pointing you to this article in the hopes that it can add some oomph to your arsenal to help persuade your client of this simple (but oft-disregarded) fact.
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