What is advertising? Why do we advertise? A man named Albert Lasker, one of the pioneers of direct mail industry, was disturbed with these same questions and in 1904, he got the answers. Advertising is salesmanship in print.

That then means that your ads should do the same things you’d expect a salesman to accomplish. For example, the performance of very salesman is measured. You don’t send out a salesman to build the brand image of your company without a system of measuring his or her effectiveness. Neither should you do that with you TV, Radio, newspapers or any other form of advertising.

Every advertiser must first determine the sole purpose of an ad before it is even created and put on ‘air’.

And that’s not all… Every advertiser must ask himself these four crucial questions.

Will it make people crave for the product or service being advertised? — You don’t advertise to entertain. You build desire in the product. You make people feel this is a must-have product. You create desire using words, pictures, and memories that make people open their wallets.

Does it explain why this brand is different from the others and why it is the only logical choice? You’ve seen all those ads that say something like ‘the better option’ or ‘the no 1 bank in the world’, or ‘the world’ tastiest burger’. Essentially these forms of ads do not separate their products from the clutter. For an ad to make money, tell the prospects why you are the only reasonable choice. Though decisions will be made emotionally, the client will need logical reasons to allow justification of that decision.

Does it show urgency to make a decision? If there is no urgency then there is no need for a decision right now. That kills sales. Infuse urgency in you offers by way of a time limit or limited quantity available. But this must be genuine. For example reduce price by 25% for certain items for just 30 days or for the first 1000 buyers.

Does it give all the information required to make a decision? If you can’t give all the information in an ad, then just don’t do it. Simply create an ad asking people to visit your website, go to your store or read a newspaper on a specific place at a specified time — and don’t forget the reason why they must do this thing.

I have often seen TV ads that finish by saying ‘terms and conditions apply’ or ‘see press and posters for details’ this doesn’t make sense. This simply means you are asking prospects to delay their decision and therefore murdering your sales.

Speak to you soon,

Stuart

Have you booked your free consultation yet? Why not do it right now? Go to http://kungfucopywriting.com and we’ll set a time to evaluate specific ways to drive your business or advertising campiain to higher levels of profit.

Wow!

Is it 2010 already?  I see my last post was in June last year — where did all the time go?

Anyway, Here’s to a happy, healthy and wealthy 2010 – may it be your best year ever!

My, it’s difficult to keep up with all the changes. Consider what’s happened to the Internet in the last decade: Internet users were a mere 360 million in the year 2000 but grew to a whopping 1.7 billion in 2009 – a 380% growth and this growth is set to rocket because:

Despite this massive growth, world internet penetration is still only 25.6%.

Asia, with a population of 3.8 billion, only has a penetration rate of 19.4%, that makes only 737 million users. — This is not a lot when you consider China has a population of close to 1.3 billion and India of 1.1 billion…

But Asia and especially these two countries are going to become more and more prominent throughout the decade. Baidu, the largest Chinese search engine is about to launch it’s own mobile app, Google has launched a Chinese language spoken app. and Microsoft recently launched a twitteresque application in China called MSN JUKU.

This is just an indication of the importance the big players are attaching to the rise of the Asian markets.

Online Advertising Expenditure Will Rocket

Respected research firm eMarketer says 10% of all projected ad dollars in the US will go online this year.

According to ZenithOptiMedia, global online ad spending will surpass total radio ad spending … and overtake magazines ad dollars during 2010.”

More and more major businesses will aggressively go online throughout the coming months and throughout the decade…

And what the companies know about the online world is relatively little right now so they will be looking for guidance from you the copywriter and marketer. So the time to get in on the action is NOW because it won’t take them too long to learn.

What does this really mean to us as Copywriters?

This is probably our greatest opportunity because… It means web copywriting is going to rocket… the categories to go for are enormous… It could be landing pages, email campaigns, sales letters or even ads…

Your marketing skills will also become more valuable and the trend will be for more and more copywriters to offer marketing advice rather than simply writing services. Some say the traditional sales letters are slowly dying out but I feel there will be a need for MORE integration in marketing.

A combination of online, offline, social media, video etc. will become paramount. the best returns for any campaign will be through a combined approach. So any copywriter portraying preeminence in marketing web copywriting and video scripting will be in high demand.

Another thing, more and more people are getting into home businesses.

Why?

Well, after all, many have no choice: they have been laid-off and must survive. Others have suddenly found their retirement funds and pensions have been cut so are exploring different ways to make money simply to be able to retire!

This then means that you should not ignore your next door stay-at-home-mom who has a website that trains people about pet grooming… If you bothered to talk, you may realize she’s struggling with the basics of marketing or doesn’t know how to do an effective email campaign to her list. And that’s where you come in 2010.

Sales letters that are incorporating video will be on the rise in 2010

In fact, Amish Shah recently launched his ‘Magic bullet System’ using video sales letters alone. If you were watching you’d have noticed the total lack of ‘traditional’ sales copy on his site.

So, many opportunities lie in store which makes me feel positive about this decade…

Here’s to your continued success!

Stuart

KungfuCopywriter

PS

My FREE consultation slots are filling up fast. Why not reserve yours right now?

No matter what type of sales copy you write, be it a full blown sales letter or Classified Ad the process can be broken down into three distinct phases.

They are:

1. Research

2. wRiting

3. Ruthlessly Editing

I call them the ‘three “R’s” of copywriting’… And they are fundamental to the success of every piece of advertising copy you write, from a full blown sales letter, a script for a video, a PPC Ad to a classified Ad.

Many people never bother to master them though, they are either too lazy or simply can’t understand the need to invest time in all three. They often plump for the actual writing without giving credence to the other two… But once you realise how important ALL THREE are to your marketing success you will soon be using them all without a second thought.

… And when you apply them to your sales copy they will have a dramatic effect on your results and, of course, your bottom line.

In this article I’m going to focus on perhaps the most important – the research phase.

To quote world renowned copywriter Michel Fortin:

“researching your market before you put pen to paper or electron to screen is the most important component of good copywriting. Not the headline, not the offer, and not the price.”

“R” Number 1 – The Research Phase Is…

“The make or break of your sales copy” – it really is that crucial.

Research, or rather lack of it, is where most sales copy falls flat on it’s face.

Fact is, most lacklustre sales copy is so not because the writer lacks the skills to write… It’s because he didn’t invest enough time to THOROUGHLY investigate his product, market and competitors… and thorough research is what is going to make your sales copy soar leaps and bounds ahead of your competitors.

But why is thorough research so vital?

Here’s why:

• It will allow you to truly understand your customer… It will tell you who your customer is, how he thinks, what his feelings are, what his wants are, how he talks and what motivates him
• Research will allow you to talk with the honesty of an expert and someone who’s ‘been there’
• You’ll discover every little nuance about your product – how heavy it is, what it feels like as well as looks like. Whether it smells, and if so, is that good or bad? What things it can, and more importantly CANNOT do
• You’ll know all the good points AND what the bad points of your product are – Pointing out in your copy a couple of the bad or not so good points of your product will really boost your credibility and make your customers believe what you say – they will look up to you for this
• Your research will instantly tell you how your product will solve your prospects problem
• From this you’ll immediately know the best approach to your prospect’s wallet – without having to resort to trickery
• You’ll be able to educate and inform your prospect as you write. This will build up his trust in you, in his eyes you’ll become more powerful and important
• You’ll be awarded expert status so people will look to you to solve their immediate and future problems – allowing you to make more sales in the future
• The content, headlines, sub-headlines, USP and ‘angle’ will come from your research, in effect your sales letter will almost write itself

Enough said?

I cannot stress how vitally important this prelude to actually writing your sales copy is. Don’t think you know it all, make the time and do the research then the rewards will flow to you like an incoming tide.

In a later article I’ll discuss different ways to research your product.

Speak to you soon,

Stuart

I’ve been looking for a new web host for a while and heard several good things about Hostgator along with some firm recommendations so I thought I’d give them a try.

Thing is though, the guys who’d recommended them can’t have had the utterly disgusting treatment meted out to them that I received from the ’support’ desk there. Let me explain…

After checking out the services offered I decided the business plan would suit me best and opted to pay monthly. I’ve never been a fan of paying for a year or more upfront because I like to experience the service offered for a month or so first.

I signed up, paid by Paypal, set up a monthly debit and was forwarded to a page informing me how to access my account – smooth sailing so far but that’s when things started to get a little rough…

I tried to log in several times but access was refused so I contacted the live ‘help person’ to find out what was cooking. After a little while of puzzlement on her behalf she stated that an email had been sent to me giving reasons why.

Strange…

Then I noticed an email from Paypal stating my payment had been refunded – “What? Why?”

The live help was no use — just repeating that an email had been sent. So I waited for the email from ’support’ to arrive and after about 10 mins there it was. When I opened it this is what greeted me:

Thank you for your order with HostGator.com!

howtowritekickbuttcopy.com

Your account has been marked for a security verification. Because of this, in order for us to host your domain, we will require payment via bank transfer or Western Union.

This was followed by a set of instructions on how to pay by those means and a severe warning to follow these instructions to the letter otherwise payment will not be accepted. Also there was a minimum payment required of $100.

“WHAT… What’s going on? Security violation? What have I done wrong?” I felt like a criminal through no fault of my own and there was no explanation in the letter. I also noticed that if you want to cancel the account later ( assuming I got one set up in the first place) Hostgator DO NOT give cash refunds if payment has been made via Western Union or Bank transfer — they will only give a credit toward their services.

That’s nice! You want to cancel your account but can only get a ‘refund’ in the way of a credit against the continued use of their services… Sounds a bit shady to me what do you think?

As you can imagine I was a little upset at the email and the instructions minus explanation so replied stating that they had made me feel like a criminal and asking what was cooking.

Their terse reply was:

Due to the number of fraudulent signups, PayPal reversals, and charge backs from accounts signed up from China, all account sign ups from China must be paid through either a bank wire or Western Union. This has nothing to do with you specifically, but it is company policy. Please let us know if you have any further questions.

So that’s it — I live in china so I must be treated like a suspicious character… AND you’ll notice the tone of the reply? nothing else in the email, no apology or anything… Oh they did address me as ‘Hi’ so I have to give them 0.5 out of 10 for trying!

By now their tone and attitude was a little upsetting and I wrote back asking whether the wanted to in fact do business with me… They still had a little chance if they humbled themselves and apologised like they should have done in the first place. If they’d addressed the first letter with a:

“Dear Stuart, Thank you for your interest in opening a host account with Hostgator. Unfortunately due to the high number of problems encountered when accepting payments from mainland China we have to ask for payment via bank transfer or Western Union rather than credit card or Paypal…” or words to that effect things would have been smoother.

I mean that’s how any sensible company that values it’s name and clients would respond isn’t it?

Sadly though not Hostgator…

In fact the next reply I received was MUCH WORSE!

But let me ask a couple of questions before I get to that.

If they know there are problems receiving payment from mainland China why do they allow the user to select Paypal and Credit card from there in the first place???? And why do they not inform buyers from China of the alternative payment options when they try to place an order? Are the deliberately trying to mislead people?

And of course where are their customer relation skills? Many people comment on how good their support is — well all I can say is they should be thankful they didn’t speak to the rocket scientist I did…

I COULDN’T BELIEVE THEIR REPLY!

Forgive the capital letters but this really takes the cake…

This is how they replied:

Hello,

This doesn’t mean that we do not want your business. What is does mean is that we are following company policy, which you agreed to when you signed up, and can not make an exception to our policy for you.

At no point have we stated that you are a criminal. However, as any investigator can tell you, when some one claims that they are not a criminal without being accused of being a criminal, that person is either a criminal or planning on doing something that they know to be questionable in nature.

I mean really!! “we never said you were a criminal but you must be if you think like that…”

Who are these guys? Which PR school did they go to?? And are they interested in business???

I’m still waiting for the reply to the email I sent in return but doubt they’ll even bother. But I can tell you this I’ll NEVER< NEVER use Hostgators services and will go out of my way to tell all of my friends and clients about their atrocious attitude…

But you know what?

I think they did me a favour… heaven knows what kind of shoddy treatment they’d have meted out in the future IF I signed up!

I hope you don’t have the same kind of treatment from your webhost. I tell you what why not reply and let me know your horror stories and if you have one a good story — eems good webhosts are few and far between these days..

Speak to you soon,

Stuart.

PS
Need a sales letter written or critiqued? Drop me a line to: copy [at] kungfucopywriter.com – I’d love to hear from you.

“We Hope You Come Back…”

Hi there,

That’s all the receptionist said as we were leaving and it surprised me.

Why?

Well, Susan picked up a couple of tickets for a free massage the other day and persuaded me to come and give it a try. Now I’ve been in China for 6 years and still haven’t had a massage yet. I know, I know, they’re supposed to be great but somehow they don’t appeal to me.

Anyway I thought “What the heck might as well give it a try.” so off we went…

The reception area was very opulent, gilded sofas and armchairs, beautiful decor and fine china on display – more like a five star hotel and definitely not what I’d expected.

The receptionist was very pleasant and once we’d changed our shoes for the slippers provided we were escorted to a sofa and asked to wait a little while. Whilst waiting we were asked if we’d like to go for a shower and offered tea, coffee etc.

I plumped for water which duly arrived with a plate of watermelon, nice touch.

However I was disappointed that the receptionist didn’t remove the previous persons dirty tissues when she took away the empty glasses. This spoiled the effect of the water melon.. I mean who wants to eat something when someone’s dirty tissue is sat there winking at you?

Kind of put me off my watermelon it did…

Soon we were told it was our turn, so leaving the watermelon talking to the dirty tissues we followed our host and were taken to the massage room.

This was an eye opener…

We entered a big darkened room with about 50 comfortable-looking reclining seats and each one had a TV monitor on it. Most of the seats were full, the customers lay back watching TV and relaxed whilst the masseuse massaged their feet.

Now this may seem fine, after all everybody looked happy lying back with their eyes glued to the screens: so maybe the management had done their research and discovered this was what their customers wanted. But for me there was just a teeny-weeny problem…

The noise!

Most of the TV sets had the volume turned up way loud… the cacophony was indescribable, umpteen different channels all blaring away in Chinese.

I was in two minds whether to get up and go but decided to bear it to see what happened. I didn’t switch my TV on though despite the intentions of numerous assistants who seemed upset I didn’t want to have a TV screen pressed inches from my face!

Anyway after about an hour the ordeal was over and I was glad to get away.

To be honest the massage wasn’t bad but the overall experience was a big minus in my book.

I asked Susan what she thought and she said she’d not go back. “The other places are much nicer as they have private rooms and no noise.” were her words.

After collecting our shoes we were escorted to the door by the receptionist – which is the norm in China – and she said “We hope you come back…” as we left.

I looked at Susan and said “Is that it? Is that the sum total of the marketing?” I couldn’t believe it.

We’d been enticed there with the promise a FREE massage which was duly delivered without any ‘fuss’ – surely they were going to try and sell a membership or something? But no, there was no upsell, not even a form to fill in to collect a telephone number or email. We were expected to remember the place and choose to come back without any further offers.

Massage centers are a dime a dozen in China and since this one had gone to the trouble and expense of printing fliers, and giving the Free massage you have expected something more.

This really begs the question – “What was the point of this marketing campaign?”

If it was solely to get more people to visit the center then they succeeded. But if it was to get more recurring customers then they failed. It’s pointless getting new people in the door then letting them walk out without at least capturing their details and, better still, marketing your services to them there and then.

Of course, that may have been what the owner intended when he planned the campaign but the staff let him down. Which means he doesn’t have any control of his business. i.e. the staff are being allowed to do as they see fit (hence the episode with the dirty tissue). If this is the case then he’d really be better off getting on top of his main problem which is his staff training and or morale.

This could be the main reason he is losing customers and felt urged to try and attract more. Fact is though, no matter how many prospective customers he brings in the door, if the staff don’t do their job many will leave without becoming customers…

So Let me ask you:

Who are the most important people in your business, are they the customers or the staff?

In my book it’s the staff. Treat them like diamonds and they’ll shine for the customers attracting more and more to come back. Now even if you only employ yourself you should still treat yourself like a diamond so you can shine for your customers. Get this right BEFORE embarking on your next marketing campaign otherwise you may not see the results you expect from it.

Speak to you soon,

Stuart.

Need some help with a sales letter or marketing problem? Drop me a line to copy [at} kungfucopywriter.com – I’ll be glad to help.

Last week I went to the local computer city looking for a new 24 inch monitor.

In case you’ve never visited China the computer city is a big department store inside of which is a warren of corridors. Each corridor is packed with scores of small shops, many no bigger than your average bedroom.

Here you can buy anything from computers to software to cellphones and walkie-talkies. Many of the shops sell the same things but they all seem to be busy.

Which is strange…

Because they all have something in common — poor to non-existent customer relations!

Almost every shop Susan and I went into to enquire about the choice of monitors showed a “I’m not interested – don’t bother me attitude” A couple of times you can brush it off but when it becomes the norm it really gets to you.

Take the shop I finally bought the monitor from for instance. When I told him what i wanted he picked up the phone and asked someone to send one down then CONTINUED to talk to his friends. He didn’t even have the manners or good grace to ask me to wait a moment while someone brings it down!

Now you may ask me why I bought the monitor there, certainly I was close to losing it and just walking out.

But the problem is this seems to be the norm in this part of China. I’d already spent an hour or so comparing different monitors and knew I’d waste more time if I left and came back later. Also I’d set the time to buy the monitor that day.

This ‘couldn’t care less” attitude is not reserved for the computer city either. There are many shops and restaurants I’ve walked out of in disgust at the attitude shown by the owners as well as staff. It seems the people are just downright rude.

One shop I went into the staff and owner were playing Mahjong and told me to wait a moment. But after about a minute when they didn’t show any signs of leaving their precious game to help a customer I lost it.

On the way out I told them in no uncertain words they should learn some manners and customer relations if they wanted to do any business. The reaction I got back?

Stunned incredulity. They probably thought “What’s wrong with this crazy foreigner?”

Many times I’ve said to Susan I want to move back to Nanning where the people are more friendly and care about their customers.

Interestingly the people here seem to treat everybody this way.

Last year there was the yearly ‘beautiful city’ competition in China and local government spent thousands tarting up the streets etc. Pity they didn’t have the foresight to ‘tart-up’ the shopkeepers minds though.

When the judges arrived unannounced they went to a shop near the hotel they were staying at to buy something and get the ‘feel’ of the city.

And did they certainly get it…

They were totally ignored in the shop for more than five minutes even though there were no other customers there!

Eventually they managed to attract the attention of the owner and explained who they were and what they felt about the reception they’d got. The owners answer was “So what?”

Needless to say this city didn’t fare very well in the competition, they ended up somewhere very close to the bottom.

The thing is are you giving the visitors to your website or store a similar experience? Do they get a good feeling or become confused or disgruntled?

I’m not sure about you but I’ve visited many websites and wanted to order something but couldn’t even find an order button!

I’d suggest you take a look at the whole customer experience any visitor may have. Look with fresh eyes, get a friend to ‘critique’ it for you.
Experience what a customer may — you never know there may be something that’s very off-putting but simple to fix. And when you do it could make a big difference to your bottom line.

Speak to you soon,

Stuart

PS
I’ve got a couple of slots left in my schedule for the next month. Drop me a line to “copy [at] kungfucopywriter.com” if you want me to review a website, help you with a marketing problem or write some sales copy for you. I’d be glad to help.

And let me know if you get a bad experience when you visit my sites – I love the feedback.

Hi there,

I was teaching some of my students the other day and one of the questions I asked them was “what do you do in your spare time?”

I had a small class of ladies with ages ranging from 23 to about 65 and the answers I got were enlightening.

One of the younger girls who was about 25 said sleep, some of the others said go out for supper, watch TV – pretty much what you’d expect.

But the elder lady, she must have been over 65 but looked a whole lot younger said she didn’t have any spare time, then she put all the others to shame because she started rattling off all the things she does every day.

“I have to take care of my mother…” she said, then proceeded to add… “I study Yoga, calligraphy, English, go dancing, play croquet…” on and on she went listing a whole heap of activities that would exhaust an Olympic athlete.

When she finally finished I asked her how old her mother was. Her reply was 90. So I said “you have a full-time job looking after your mother on it’s own but you still find time to do all those extra things every day… I think you’re very wise.”

I then asked the younger girl who liked sleeping all day whether she felt a little embarrassed and she replied sheepishly “yes!”

Thing is, we only have a limited time here on earth and never know how much we have. To me it makes more sense to spend that time wisely rather than wasting it away glued to the TV screen or looking at the inside of my eyelids in bed all day.

That’s why I’m always learning new things and studying the works of others. I’ve just finished a book on concentration, am busy studying some books on hypnotism I talked about a couple days ago, am impatiently waiting for Amazon to ship some other books about psychology and influence… the list goes on.

This is on top of teaching three days a week and writing sales copy for clients as well as myself, studying Tai Chi, increasing my knowledge of marketing and sales letter writing.

I’m so grateful for the information marketing business because it really has expanded my mind. When I look back at myself a few years ago and compare me then to now the change is incredible. I’ve grown so much and I love learning.

So you can imagine how I was excited to discover a set of predictions about the future of Internet Marketing the other day. To hear 72 of the top marketers give their view on where our business is headed in the next few years was mind blowing.

Now I can’t say I agree with all their ideas and hope some, like paying for email, being controlled (or should I say regulated by) by the FTC never come to pass…

But sharing their ideas was rewarding to say the least.

Why don’t you have a listen yourself my friend? You’ll find them here:

http://gainmoreonline.com/InformationMarketing

And you know what? I love learning from people like yourself. So once you’ve had a listen leave me a comment – I’d LOVE to hear YOUR views!

Speak soon,

Stuart.

Hi there,

I remember going to watch Walt Disney’s the ‘Jungle Book’ when I was younger, I went to see it twice in fact and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I can still see the characters vividly in my mind even today. There was the lovable but bumbling Baloo the bear – didn’t you just love the way he danced… “I wanna be a man, man cub… walk like you, talk like you…”

Then there was the somewhat sinister Shea Khan the tiger, I used to love his haughtiness. And of course there was Mowgli… But what about the snake, what was his name?

You know I can still picture him today but his name escaped me so I had to look it up online… it was Kaa.

But the scene I remember most was when he tried to hypnotise Mowgli… there were those big, big eyes with circles going round and round — somewhat bewitching and eminently unforgettable.

After that whenever someone spoke to me about hypnotism I got a mental picture of Kaa doing his thing.

But there’s more to hypnotism than that, take the TV for instance… it may seem innocent but scientific studies have shown that it induces a trance like state in children in 30 seconds!

30 seconds…

… Then their minds are programmed to accept whatever the networks want to feed them.

Scary!

As if that wasn’t enough look at this innocent sounding paragraph:

“I need to tell you that ACME Product has just hit the shelves. By now you’ll have
heard that there was a small delay to get it in shops, but we’re pleased to
announce that we can get it there NOW without any problems. We feel proud to
have done so at last.”

Do you see the hidden message there?

Most people don’t, but there is a very strong hypnotic, some would say subliminal message there… it commands you to buy in a subtle way…

Here it is:

“Need ACME Product , [buy] now, get it in shops, get it there NOW, feel proud to
have done so at last.”

Whew…

And that’s just one of the ‘sneaky’ tricks advertisers throw at us every day.

Fact is, you need to know them to defend yourself against them.

And you could even use them in you sales letters…

Imagine you’re midway through explaining your product’s benefits to the reader and you slip in an innocent paragraph with a command like “By now you will clearly understand XYZ product will help you… don’t discount the fact… etc.etc.”

You can tailor your own message and include it a couple of times throughout your sales letter.

Every time your reader sees it he gets a little mental command “Buy now, discount, need…” So later when he gets to your order button his mind is already primed to buy your product.

Sneaky? Maybe, but even if you don’t feel comfortable using copy like this you need to know what people are doing so you can protect yourself…

Fortunately there’s a great free report that details the worst of the tricks, you can get it here:

Find out more about hypnosis today

Speak to you soon,

Stuart.

PS
I’m going to be accepting a couple more copywriting clients shortly, drop me a line if you’d like my help:
copy at kungfucopywriter.com

Hi there,

I watched a movie called Johnny Q the other day, maybe you’ve seen it?

It started with a scene of a beautiful woman driving a car when she was suddenly involved in a major crash. Then the movie switched to a totally unrelated subject…

Why?

Thing is though, there was no indication of whether the woman was OK or anything…

The movie then carried on with a young couples life which revolved around their young son. Slowly as the movie progressed the viewer understood that the couple were going through a rough patch what with the husband being on short time and their car being repossessed – sounds all too familiar these days doesn’t it?

A little later their son collapsed during a baseball game and was taken to hospital where the couple were informed he needed a heart transplant and, big problem…

They’d have to put up $75000 deposit in cash otherwise their son would be left to die.

Obviously they had nowhere near that amount and their insurance plan didn’t cover the bill…

The movie carried on showing the couple’s fund raising efforts but still, the figure raised was nowhere near the amount needed…

… Yet their son was getting closer to dying at every moment.

Then with death imminent the mother gave her husband an ultimatum: “For once in your life DO something!” she demanded.

Next we were shown the extraordinary measures the husband took to save his young son… and yet there was no correlation with the first scenes of the movie — what DID this beautiful young woman have to do with the story?

I mean here we are almost 3/4 of the way through the movie yet still nothing more about her.

Now, if you’ve not seen the movie and intend to watch it you’d better skip the next part because I’ll explain her involvement…

Turns out she was killed in the crash and her heart was a suitable donor organ that could save the child. But what about the cost of the operation? Who was going to foot the bill?

Well, I don’t want to spoil the movie if you’ve not seen it yet and if you have you already know the outcome…

But, what of the marketing lessons I mentioned in my title?

I’ll tell you in a moment, first let me tell you the movie star is Denzel Washington and I think it’s not too shabby a movie, albeit a little slow to get moving.

The marketing lesson? Well the beginning scenes are a classic use of the Ziegarnik effect – unfinished business.

The viewer is left wondering what happened to the woman (the fact that she is obviously beautiful adds to the intrigue) and is almost compelled to keep watching to find out.

In my opinion many viewers would leave the movie early on if these scenes were not shown this way. As I mentioned the beginning is a little slow…

And the second lesson is do what EVER it takes to get to your dream, NOTHING should be allowed to distract you no matter how tough the going gets.

If you haven’t watched it yet I suggest you do and if you have make sure you understand the lessons — they apply to your life as well as business.

Speak to you soon,

Stuart.

PS
I’m always on the lookout for lessons from every source — they’re all around us if only we take the trouble to see them.

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Hey there,

I need your help…

I just submitted a video to a website that’s holding a huge contest where I can win an all expense paid trip to Dallas, Texas. Once there, I’ll be provided with a complete business makeover by Internet Marketing experts.

Winning this would be so incredible for me!

If you could take just two minutes and vote on my video, I would greatly appreciate it.

Here’s the video:

Now go to: http://www.marketingdoover.com/contestant/812990

Once you register as a voter or a contestant, you’ll be able to submit your vote. (One being the worst and ten being the best.)

Of course, giving me a 10 would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to do this and for helping me!

Again, the link is: http://www.marketingdoover.com/contestant/812990

I really appreciate your time!

Speak to you soon,

Stuart

PS
Don’t forget to leave a comment – I’d love to know what you think. Good or Bad!