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Two Questions That Matter Most

Written by: John Jantsch

Article Overview: When you consider writing marketing copy, throw out all your notions about features and benefits, riveting, detailed descriptions and techno jargon and focus on answering the only two questions that really matter - and do it before you pass go.

Two Questions That Matter Most

When you consider writing marketing copy, throw out all your notions about features and benefits, riveting, detailed descriptions and techno jargon and focus on answering the only two questions that really matter - and do it before you pass go.

1. What are your prospects and clients saying to themselves as they consider purchasing your type of product or service? What are the actual words they think in their heads? (visualize the cartoon bubble floating above) Chances are it’s not - “gee, I wish I had a new fangled Acme gizmo #156.” No, chances are, it’s more like - “gee, I wish I had more time off or why is running my own business so hard” So, you must discover their conversations and use them as your copy.

I’ve discovered over the years that my prospects are asking something along the lines of “Why is marketing a business so hard or I just don’t know anything about marketing.”

So I might start an introduction to Duct Tape Marketing by posing this question - “Have you ever said “I’m just no good at marketing” or “Have you ever wondered why marketing your small business is so hard?”

2. What would they like to say to themselves if they actually got the result they are seeking? In other words, what would success sound like to them.

I’ve discovered that what my prospects would like to say to themselves is that “marketing can be simple, almost automatic once you understand what to do.”

In this instance it’s essential that I am able to paint a picture of what their world could be like if they had the magic sauce.

These are the mysteries rolling around in the minds of your prospects, but you must find ways to discover, unlock, and communicate the answers in your marketing and sales materials or your copy will never move beyond the level of static.

Oh, and by the way, I just happen to be holding a three session teleseminar on the subject of creating these kinds of education based marketing materials - check it out here - it’s possible we will get into the very subject of this post!

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Article Tags: cartoon, conversations, detailed descriptions, duct tape marketing, education, gizmo, jargon, marketing materials, mysteries, notions, own business, prospects, sales materials, small business, teleseminar



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Re: Marketing ideas? - Questions will set you free... And make you Rich [quote="KH_Global":349pds7c]Just ask ask ask. That is it.[/quote:349pds7c]
Re: Contact Information - Another idea would be to have an email form in place to accept "ticketed" inquires (if people are afraid of spammers seeing their email address). However, I hate how some sites try to persuade you out of sending an email by bombarding you with lists of "Frequently Asked Questions & Answers" as I find they're rarely helpful.
Synergy and Other Creative Insights - Truth is that there is [u:2iwgooi1]C[/u:2iwgooi1]ollaboration - on a formal basis and [u:2iwgooi1]c[/u:2iwgooi1]ollaboration which is informal. Let's say that you have a great new product. Before it launches you get loads of buddies in the same business as you to tear it apart and let you refine it. Creative people will get others in as well. people from outside the business - or those who are in the business who might not have anything to do with it and seek their input - listening hard. These aren't focus groups, they are way beyond this - they are real outsiders and thus have very open minds, asking the dumb, the stupid questions, which are often the most valuable. Questions like these help me be a good coach too! I once worked in a business where the backshop (the store room) was always untidy. They held a team meeting and had the cook in as well (you know the one who ran the employee facility). She knew nothing about the storeroom and its processes, but boy did she ask some tricky questions of them. Sometimes, little 'c' collaboration is real good at the mocro level, without which the big 'C' collaboration would be worthless.
Re: link exchange strategy - [quote="RussellWebb":2xvcpjwz]Questions that pop into mind... Does PR ranking effect 'who' you would exchange links with? Do you really need thousands of links to rank higher in the SE's? Are one-way links better than reciprocal links?[/quote:2xvcpjwz] Hi Russell, While I know you posed these SEO questions for Samin, I thought I'd help you get the conversation started by putting in my 2 cents. 1.) I think it's all about getting "quality" and high ranking/trusted sites (that are related to the content of your site and industry) to link back to you. 2.) While it's somewhat true that the more links you have the better, I'd suggest focusing on "quality" links rather than quantity. Poor sites and ones that aren't related to your field can actually hurt your rankings. 3.) Absolutely, it's much better if someone only links to you. However, reciprocal links are still good for those who have just launched a new site and are getting started. If I'm wrong about any of these comments, please feel free to correct me.
How to protect my trade mark? - Affirmative commercial action might be, for example, to increase spending on advertising, in order to make better known his use of the mark, or it might be to attend a national trade show associated with his business for the same purpose. Maybe he's just been lazy and hasn't had any serious lack of means. None of the questions was rhetorical. But I readily can imagine that you found the questions irrelevant to the legal discussion. I do not think that they are. Questions about the fairness of outcomes seem to me to be always relevant to legal discussions, with this reservation: that usually nothing can be done about clusters of unfair outcomes from within a particular legal system (ours, or canon Law, the Sharia, continental statute law, etc.) at a particular time. They need to get addressed politically first. In this connection, a lobby-related forum might be useful. Many patent and trademark related issues get very heavily lobbied. It's not that I found your points irrelevant to the legal discussion, it's just that most of your points missed the mark. I represent the "little guy" almost exclusively, and my clients have been very able to protect their marks against infringers large and small. You should educate yourself on the way things actually work, not how you think they might work, and then come back for a real discussion. I'd gladly discuss policy issues with you.


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