What Would Benjamin Franklin Do Plus 17 Ways to Ramp Up Profits
Benjamin Franklin was once asked by the Mayor of a small town for a financial donation to help them buy a bell for the Town Square.
Franklin responded positively with the money and a suggestion that instead of buying a bell for the square, they might like to invest in books for the library instead.
I suspect Franklin’s thinking was the bell would be nice but there’s far more long term value in education. Of course, I would add the right education, depending upon what you’re trying to achieve.
In a business and financial success sense, I continually remind you there’s not a 1,000 things you’ve got to get right, just a handful.
Most people of course never even figure out what the handful of things are that they need to get right. I often refer to them as “Clicks on the Dial”. Most people do not apply themselves to acquiring know-how nor apply the know-how they have acquired.
To be blunt, most people have the attention span of a gnat with the consistency of a random breeze and then argue that “this stuff” doesn’t work and spend most of their time blaming everyone else for their circumstances.
“What I now do well, I once did badly. Everything I still do badly is because I never invested enough time, energy and money in learning how to do them well.”
In other words, the skills I now use that see me quite rich and successful and a celebrity to a few… I once sucked at.
You perform every task to your level of your incompetence so I began incompetent but had a fast rise to superiority, authority and celebrity in my chosen “Clicks on the Dial”.
For the record, success in anything including your business is absolutely dependant upon mastery of a handful of critical competencies. One of which is marketing… the other is copywriting – the subject of this Rant.
Moving along to the next point on my 17 Point Checklist to getting your client’s and prospect’s attention…
This is the same checklist that I myself use before I send out any direct mailing material.
Before sending out any direct mail offer (a printed ad, an email message, etc.), you’ll want to review your effort to make sure that you have applied each of the following 17 points properly. These will significantly enhance your chances of having a successful response rate.
Remember that any marketing you do, and any money you spend on that marketing is wasted unless it grabs your prospects’ attention and gets them hammering on your door wanting to do business with you.
So before you send out anything, be sure to check the following to maximise your return on investment…
8. Use Sub-headlines for Dual Readership
What is a sub-headline? Following a main headline in a large bold print, come two or three other headlines in smaller print. These sub-headlines entice the reader down into the text of your ad.
Sub-heads also act as mini-headlines, sometimes with maxi results. You can use a sub-head above a paragraph to keep the reader moving through your copy. This is frequently done in magazine editorial copy, as well as ads.
You must also understand what is called the dual readership path. No matter how “captivating” your prose, not everybody is going to read all of the copy. So you want to provide the skimmer with enough information to make a decision.
Your subheads should tell the story in a nutshell. You should be stating the major sales points in your sub-headlines as the reader works through the copy. Anyone reading nothing but the subheads should be able to tell what the ad is about.
It’s critical that you ‘test drive’ your headlines with friends and fellow employees to see which ones get greater response. Don’t tell them you were the author or you won’t get honest feedback.
After you have determined your headline and sub-headlines, they should be leveraged and used in all of your advertising. You will learn which ones pull best in which media and should cross-test them with other media forms.
All the best,
Mal Emery
Committed to Elevating the Financial Wealth and Wellbeing of Society
Through Entrepreneurial Excellence and Guilty of Conspiracy to Create Capitalism
P.S. If you’ve missed any of my previous Rants, I have them all available for you to see on my website.
Simply go to www.rebelliousrant.com and enjoy!
