Sales & Marketing Authority, Bestselling Author & Business Motivational Speaker

Fern Britton Twitter Scam Revealed

So there I was tweeting away last night (on TWITTER!) when I spotted one of my followers chatting to  Fern Britton (Fern is a celebrity in the UK – she’s a daytime TV presenter)

“Cool” I thought. So I followed Fern and she duly followed back. It was obviously Fern’s first time on Twitter and she was making this known to the frenzy of people who started to follow her in their hundreds!

“I’m just off to put some Chilli on”

“Hubby (also a well know TV Celebrity Chef) is at some SKY awards”

It went on and my wife was all over it!

My followers were sending me tweets about how nice she was and my wife was having kittens at home because I knew “Fern”

Well guess what?

About 5 hours it was revealed to be a huge scam to see how many followers (aka suckers) would follow her.

Check out the profile here: http://twitter.com/fernbritton (I hope it’s still up and not banned!)

In terms of buzz this was awesome – it created a frenzy of activity albeit a little underhanded and fake. Ever since the FAKE FERN revealed herself her followers have been dropping like flies although as I write this she’s still got 400 since last night! Just shows how many she did have.

If a different angle was played on this it could creates some stunning PR but I feel it lends itself to another fake identity on the internet story.

Sean

http://www.seanmcpheat.com

Here’s a little known fact about article marketing. Not paying attention could mean tons of wasted hours and no results. Are you ready?

The real key to article marketing is writing a well-constructed author resource box, or author biography. The content of this box is almost more important than the article itself. The author resource box is where you have to be creative, putting just enough information to encourage readers to click through to your website.

I say the author resource box is ALMOST as important as your article because if your article is bad you won’t be able to establish yourself as an authority in the field. If that’s the case no one will want to read any of your other materials. A good article sets your author resource box up for success.

So what should you include in the author resource box?

• Your name. Don’t forget your name. It really is important and it’s often forgotten. No one wants to trust a nameless adviser.
• Add your website address. Use the actual address, not just a linked keyword phrase. Use both, if you can. If not, use the standard URL.
• As you would in your sales copy, write a very brief pitch and wrap it up with a call to action. This section should be no more than 1-3 sentences long. Enough to confirm you really are an authority on the subject you wrote about while encouraging your reader to make a purchase, visit a website, or take some other action.

There are dozens of other things you can include in the author resource box, but those are the most important. You might include additional contact information or links to a free report or ebook.

There are, of course, a few things you should NOT include:

• Don’t list the URLs for every website you are affiliated with. Include only ONE link and make sure it’s related to the article.
• Avoid listing your credentials and accomplishments. The resource box is not a resume. Build a page on your website for that type of information.
• Don’t write a long resource box. If it’s more than 20% of the size of your article it’s way too long!

Article marketing is an incredibly valuable tool, but only if used correctly. Your author resource box is the only place those reading your articles will look for additional contact information. Make sure it’s readily available!

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat

In the past we’ve discussed what copywriting is and what you should NOT do when writing a sales letter, but today I want to focus on a few things you should be including. The better your sales copywriting, the higher your chances of success.

Fill the Space on the Page

In short, never mail out a marketing letter that has blank space on the page. Use both sides and fill it with content, even if you have to add a couple of sidebars or fact boxes. The more information you give your prospects the more interested they’ll be in the services you have to offer. There’s no such thing as too much content when you’re copywriting.

Be Very Specific

Some people believe that being vague will leave their readers with a sense of mystery and somehow believe this will ellicit a response. In truth, someone who doesn’t get the information they’re looking for from your letter is more likely to go online or read someone else’s material than they are to call you for additional facts. As painful as it may seem, be as specific as possible when writing sales copy. Your willingness to share information will help you to earn the trust of your reader.

Personalise Your Letters

Write your sales copy as if you are speaking to an individual. An individual person, after all, will be reading your letter. Try to address your reader by name (very possible if you have a good mailing list and a merge feature in your word processing program). You should always include a personalised cover letter, even if you’re only sending out a brochure or catalog.

Include the Call to Action

It doesn’t matter what action you want your prospects to take as long as you encourage them to take it. This might mean calling you for more information, sending you an email, filling out a survey, or visiting your website. Create a sense of urgency or they might never take action. For example, you might want to offer a free newsletter or product to those who reply within a certain number of days. The goal of your copywriting is to ellicit a response, but your readers need guidance when it comes to knowing what response you expect.

Include a P.S. Line at the End

Did you know that the average person reads the headers, subheaders, and P.S. lines before they even begin to scan the rest of your letter? If the information in these sections interests them they’ll go back to read the rest. If not, they’ll probably throw your money away. Make sure the P.S. talks about your free trial or guarantee program. You can even include more than one P.S. line (P.S.S. and P.S.S.S) if you have to. The information here needs to be enticing enough to encourage your prospect to continue reading.

Have you been working on your next piece of sales copy? Take a few minutes to make sure you’ve taken these tips into consideration. And, please, let me know how it’s going.

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat

Let’s keep things a bit simple today. We already know that in order to succeed in sales you need to prospect for new clients. Prospecting, however, is everyone’s least favorite part of the job. We’d much prefer to have a preloaded list of interested parties so that we could instead spend all of our time making our presentations and closing the sale.

Sadly, life isn’t that simple and no one is going to hand you a list of prescreened prospects. You’ll have to find them yourself, and in order to do so you’ll have to try a few of the following methods:

Networking

I like to think of networking as building a list of contacts that will work for you over time, but in this case I mean you need to ask about and rely on the networks of your clients. If one of your clients calls or emails his friends to talk about your work, the chances of you making a sale are much higher than if you had approached that other company’s CEO on your own. In short, ask your current clients to refer you to their counterparts.

Get on the Phone

We all hate cold calling, but for some reason this often avoided sales technique is often the most effective. Pick up the phone, dial a number, make your presentation, and then repeat the process. Cold calling takes time (probably one of the reasons so many people avoid it) but it works.

Just Ask

Ask for referrals. This is not the same as networking because you aren’t asking your clients to contact their friends on your behalf, but you are asking them if they know anyone who might need your services. Don’t limit yourself. If you’re speaking to a prospect ask him if he or she might know someone who’s interested in what you have to offer – just because they aren’t ready doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate or understand the value of what you do.

There are dozens of prospecting techniques and you’ll learn about and try to implement many of them. I highly encourage experimentation, but whenever you find yourself in a rut remember one thing. These three prospecting methods are the oldest and most frequently used for a reason – they work. Whenever you hit a bump in the road, return to one of these methods and you’ll find yourself back on track.

Enjoy your weekend!

Sean

Sean McPheat