Your Next Report: How to Get It Read, Believed, and Implemented

Gary North - August 01, 2014

Nora Ephron was terrific. She wrote articles and books. She wrote movie screenplays. She made a fortune. I wrote this obituary.

She knew how to communicate. She knew how to get our attention. Of all the book titles I have ever come across, hers was the best: Wallflower at the Orgy. That's a grabber!

Once you have someone's attention, then what? You must persuade him.

If you're really serious, you then call him to action.

So, it's a three-step step process.

Here is what she learned in high school about writing. I use it for teaching history.

The teacher who changed my life was my journalism teacher, whose name was Charles Simms. I always tell this story. I love it. I had already decided that I was going to be a journalist. I didn't know why exactly, except that I had seen a lot of Superman comics. Lois Lane and all of those major literary characters like that, but Mr. Simms got up the first day of class, and he went to the blackboard, and he wrote "Who, what, where, why, when, and how," which are the six things that have to be in the lead of any newspaper story. Then he did what most journalism teachers do, which is that he dictated a set of facts to us, and then we were all meant to write the lead that was supposed to have "who, what, where, why, when, and how" in it.

But the key is this: the headline.

He dictated a set of facts that went something like, "The principal of Beverly Hills High School announced today that the faculty of the high school will travel to Sacramento, Thursday, for a colloquium in new teaching methods. Speaking there will be Margaret Mead, the anthropologist, and two other people." So we all sat down at our typewriters, and we all kind of inverted that and wrote, "Margaret Mead and X and Y will address the faculty in Sacramento, Thursday, at a colloquium on new teaching methods, the principal announced today." Something like that. We were very proud of ourselves, and we gave it to Mr. Simms, and he just riffled through them and tore them into tiny bits and threw them in the trash, and he said, "The lead to this story is: There will be no school Thursday!" and it was this great epiphany moment for me.

That's the #1 benefit to the readers.

Can you boil down your points into something memorable? "No School on Thursday."

Start with the main point. Then write the report.

 

"Lead with the benefit. Follow with the proof."

Matt Drudge is the master headline writer today. He is worth a couple of hundred million dollars because of this ability.

• The T-Shaped Web Marketer - Rand's Blog
• Building a T-Shaped Web Marketing Skill Set | Distilled
• How To Become A Customer Acquisition Expert
• Professional Development for Digital Marketers: How to Up Your Game in 2014
• http://www.quora.com/Web-Marketing/What-are-the-different-roles-and-career-options-in-online-marketing-or-internet-marketing 
• Paul Jarvis
• http://okdork.com/2014/07/22/actions-techniques-to-go-from-0-to-your-first-1k-with-freelancing/

http://b2blauncher.com/#sthash.x0yYzWug.1rw2NG60.dpbs

http://internationalfreelancersacademy.com/earn-more-in-less-time/

Ed Gandia and Pete Savage founded the International Freelancers Academy: http://internationalfreelancersacademy.com/

They both have done writing programs offered through AWAI. So has Bob Bly, Steve Slaunwhite, et al.

Gary North on How to Budget Time for Your Career

I bought a book from Bob Bly this week. It is on public speaking.

Why would I do this? I know how to speak. Because I am looking for one good tip. Maybe I forgot it.

Maybe I have ignored it. Maybe I never thought of it. One good tip. Is that worth $39.95? Of course. It will cost me far more than this in the value of my time to read it.

Yesterday, he sent out a letter with no sales offer. This is unique. I want to share it with you. It will save you a lot of pain and wasted time.

He is at www.bly.com.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * When it comes to your study of marketing, are you suffering from "information overload"?

Do you find there are simply way too many marketing webinars, conferences, seminars, books, e-newsletters, articles, podcasts, blogs, e-books, videos, and audio programs for you to ever keep up with?

No wonder. As one Yale librarian pointed out, "We are drowning in information and starved for knowledge."

Buckminster Fuller observed that until 1900, human knowledge doubled approximately every century. Today, human knowledge is doubling every 13 months.

To protect yourself against this avalanche of data, here are my suggestions for coping with marketing information overload:

1-Pick one area of marketing to specialize in. This specialization could be by media or channel (e.g., e-mail marketing, social media), by product (e.g., software, vitamins), or by target market (e.g., Hispanics, single parents).

2-As you study marketing, devote 80% of your reading to your area of specialization. As a direct marketer, I devote most of my study to direct marketing including direct mail, e-mail marketing, advertising, and other direct response techniques. I am interested in SEO and social media, but to allocate my learning time properly, I can only scratch the surface of those topics, not immerse myself in them. I am forced by time limitations to leave that to others.

3-The goal is to become and maintain yourself as an up-to-date expert in your specialty, which again, in my case, is direct marketing. So I study content on direct marketing in depth. I read in the field endlessly.

4-While you don't have to be an expert on all the other marketing topics outside your specialty, you should at least be conversant in them, especially the hot trends like online video, Google+, infographics, memes, and SEO. So when clients and colleagues talk about them, you can at least keep up with the discussion. I study direct marketing content, but I only peruse other marketing content.

5-Don't go insane buying tons of information products that will cost you thousands of dollars and you will likely never even read or watch. When you buy an information product, study it. Then you can go on to the next one. Yes, I know what I just told you will hurt my sales, but I put your best interests first, and mine second.

6-Do not feel obligated to read everything ever written on your topic because you are afraid that if you don't, you will miss something vital. You should "bone up" on a topic until you are at the point where you can stop reading about it and actually start doing it. And then you should do it. You will then start learning not just from study, but from experience.

7-Thomas Edison said we don't know one-millionth of one percent about anything. Even in your area of specialization, you aren't going to know everything there is to know about the subject - not even close. So quit trying.

8-If you spend an 8-hour day working in your field, here's how I would divide the time, at least at the start of your career: 5-6 hours practicing your skill or craft; 1-2 hours studying through reading (and listening to audios and watching videos); and 1-2 hours managing the administrative side of your business or activity (e.g., answering e-mails, paying bills, social media, writing on your blog).

9-Don't agonize over what to read and save vs. what to skip and trash. When in doubt, throw it out. There is always more coming your way every day to take its place.

Of course there is so much information out there that you could read and study 16 hours a day, not 2 hours a day. But if you do, you won't have a life, and besides, it is not necessary.

Study 1-2 hours a day ... practice or do your specialty 5-6 hours a day ... and you will master your craft or topic at a rate that makes you successful and profitable.

Bill Myers on How To Write an Ad "What's In It For Me?

Have you ever noticed that on the TV commercials for almost any national product, they rarely talk about the product itself? For example, when they show a commercial for a new car, they never show you the engine or the tires or the trunk or the interior.

One of the most effective ways to market any product is to provide answers to the question, 'What's in it for me?' before the question is asked.

What you will see are happy, healthy, good looking people surrounded by friends, all living the good life.
From the looks of it, these 'commercial people' don't have jobs (but always have money), don't eat right (but are never overweight), drive recklessly (but never get tickets), and rarely bathe (but have plenty of social partners).
And somehow, it is all because of the car they drive.
Of course, the TV commercial doesn't tell you that they live this dream life because they bought the right car - but subliminally, that's the message they are sending.
Basically the subliminal message answers the question, 'What's in it for me?' that most consumers ask themselves before they make a purchase.

Give them the answer before they ask the question
One of the most effective ways to market any product is to provide answers to the 'What's in it for me?' question before the question is asked. By doing this, you can provide answers to questions the consumer may not have considered possible, but certainly will consider appealing.
For example, I recently saw the following description of a book available at Amazon.com:
"In this book, you'll learn:

• How to get soda machines for FREE
• How to find the best deals on equipment purchases
• The three most profitable types of vending machines
• Four ways to boost sales
• How to find storage facilities and banks that will meet all your needs
• How to increase your business's credibility with prospective customers
• The three biggest scam warning signs
• .... (there were ten other items on this list)"

In essence, the above list answers 'What's in it for me?' several times. Starting with 'How to get soda machines for FREE'.

And maybe that's why the book Vending Business-In-A-Box shows up as number 32 on the Amazon best seller list for its category - because the description quickly tells 'What's in it for me?'

Answer the question first, then create the product
As I mentioned in two previous articles (The 5 minute guide to writing a script for your how to video, Part III and Brainstorming the perfect product) I am a firm believer in creating the marketing material for the product before you create the product.

Doing so allows you to create a 'What's in it for me?' list before you create the product.
Then you can use that list of answers as the development outline for product (ie. chapters in a book, report, DVD or video.)

Answer the 'What's in it for me?' question early and often in your marketing
One of the most effective ways to attract attention and win the hearts of paying customers is to answer the 'What's in it for me' question quickly and often within your sales message.
A good way to start your sales message is include a 'What's in it for me' answer in the headline (ie - Lose Ten Pounds This Weekend). And then follow that headline a few paragraphs later with a bullet list of at least 6 (but no more than 10) other 'What's in it for me' benefits to having the product.
Be careful not to confuse product features with customer benefits. Benefits are 'whats in it for me?', while 'features' are the technical details of the product (tire size, how much it weighs, mpg, etc.)
Initially the customer wants to know the benefits to owning the product. And only after they have been presented the benefits, should you consider covering some of the features of the product.
When providing details about the features of the product be be careful not to overwhelm the customer with too many details - as doing so might cause the customer to forget the benefits.

Examples
In addition to the description of the book, mentioned above, you can see examples of the 'what's in it for me' in almost all my product descriptions.

 For example, visit http://www.sitebank.com and notice how the 'what's in it for me' question is answered in the headline of the page, and then again in each of the four following paragraphs.
Then notice how each product description again answers the question.
Here's an example of a product description that answers the 'what's in it for me' question early and often:

Press Release-O-Matic

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Take the test
Take a look at your own product description and marketing materials. Do they pass the 'What's in it for me?' test?
Do they quickly and compellingly answer the question, 'What's in it for me?'
Are you sure?
If 'What's in it for me?' isn't being answered, you might want to change your marketing material (and perhaps even your product), so that the question is answered quickly and often - as doing so will increase sales.