Posts Tagged ‘Gerry Robert’

Craig Engler is the general manager and senior vice president of Syfy Digital. He’d love to talk you about TV or Syfy, answer your questions and hear about what you had for lunch. You can look him up on Twitter at @syfy.

I tried using Twitter three separate times before I figured out how truly useful it can be. The first time was early on, when no one I knew was using it, and I had no idea what I was doing. I tried searching for friends and followed a few random feeds and thought, “Meh, what’s this possibly good for?”

My second jump into Twitter was after the initial big wave of hype hit. I decided I should rejoin to figure out what I missed the first time. This time around, I found that Twitter was flooded with people randomly talking about their day (and their meals — people really do love to talk about food on Twitter) and again I thought, this is definitely not for me.

The last time, and the one that clinched the deal for me, was almost by accident. I wanted to see what people were saying about the finale of our hit series, Battlestar Galactica. I was looking at Facebook and on our own Syfy message boards, and the feedback wasn’t keeping up with the pace of the show. I wanted to see instant, real-time reactions. So I wandered over to Twitter.

I have a special offer at the end of this post!

There have to be at least a gazillion rules & quotes for writing effective direct mail copy. And, unlike other forms of advertising, these rules are proven to be effective through measured response. There’s nothing new here. These rules have been around since Mr. Sears first gave a postal carrier a hernia by sending nine pound catalogs through the mail.

Here are my five favorites.

1. Sell benefits, not features.

Your reader doesn’t care how many teeth are on your machine’s gears. He only cares that your machine will grind his rocks into cement cost effectively. Show him how your machine can do that.

2. Be conversational.

One of my early mentors said it this way. “Write it like you’d say it, then go back and take out all of the cuss words”. Damned good advice, if you ask me.

3. Always include a postscript.

Research shows that the letter is the first thing the reader looks at in the package, after the outside envelope. And, a majority of people will read the PS before they read anything else. So, always include a PS. In addition, it’s best to state your proposition in the PS, just as you do at the beginning of the letter.

4. Long copy sells better than short copy.

Ah… The sweet smell of success! I Googled (one of the most popular verbs in the English language these days) “black card” and you’d think that since this is our company name, we’d rank but I tell you we’ve had a heck of time ranking on Google. Why? Because when we selected our company name, we like the prestigious conotations with Black Card and our services are not meant for everyone nor can just anyone purchase them so this was fitting for us. What we did NOT consider was the competition on Google for this key word.

152,000,000 (that’s million) is a lot of competition and with every credit card company out there having their very own “black card” you can bet we were up against some of the big boys like American Express, Visa, MasterCard and many other companies that are REALLY GOOD at branding and have DEEP POCKETS.

I forgot to mention another little competitor… you might know them as WIKIPEDIA!

But never fear, a David Vs. Goliath type of battle is always fun to watch and even better when David wins. In this case, we’re winning! I checked today and we’re now on the first page of Google for the keyword “black card” and soon enough we’ll be ranking at the top (not sure we’ll out rank WIKIPEDIA)!

Black Card Marketing Group takes on Visa, Mastercard and AMEX

How did we do it? Good question!

Technorati Tags: article marketing, black card marketing, Gerry Robert, how to marketing, lead generation, marketing, small business marketing, social media, Toronto Marketing Consultant

Los Gatos is a historic memorial park in the San Jose CA area. They started with Black Card Marketing Group’s DIFY Service just over four weeks ago and our DIFY Production team (big thanks to Corey and his guys!) have been working really hard to establish a solid foundation for Los Gatos.

Here are some preliminary results (I say preliminary because there is a lot more to come, this is just the beginning).

Search term: Center for Gentle Grief

Rank: 1st page, No. 1

Competition: >620,000

Search term: Scott Henderson Los Gatos

Rank: 1st page, No. 6

Competition: >21,000

Note: Notice it’s not the blog website ranking but rather its an article we published. That’s the power of article marketing.

Search term: Pre-need funeral los gatos

Rank: 1st page, No. 2 & No. 6

Competition: >2,500

Note: I like how the new blog website is ranking above their corporate site. The blog website is less than four weeks old!

Search term: Cemetery Property Los Gatos

Rank: 1st page, No. 5

Competition: >11,000

This is just the beginning! We are just finalizing the foundation for Los Gatos Memorial Park and Black Card Marketing Group’s DIFY Platform will continue and the effects will be amplified as we move forward.

by Gerry Robert

It’s a certain fact…business is more competitive than it’s ever been!

To stay alive in these uncertain times, you can’t just offer a quality product at a fair price…you have to know how to market effectively. You should demand that you get the best results from every dime you drop into marketing! Unfortunately, most businesses have no idea of how to get the most out of every marketing "dollar" that they spend.

SURE-FIRE METHOD #1: Focus on your prospect’s needs and not on yourself.

Does this seem too obvious? Look through your yellow pages. Answer this question: Are they focused on the seller or buyer?

Ninety-five percent of the ads are likely totally focused on the business and not on what the business can do for YOU, the prospect!

Take a look at the ads in the newspapers, on the TV, listen to the radio or pull up virtually any website. It’s the same type of drivel.

Your selfishness is what kills most of your marketing. From brochures to flyers, and sales letters to advertisements, your marketing message should let your prospects know that you are concerned ONLY WITH WHAT THEY WANT!

Anything about you should always come last.

Until your marketing efforts focus on the prospects’ wants, your marketing is handicapped.

SURE-FIRE METHOD #2: FIGURE OUT THE NEEDS AND WANTS OF YOUR PROSPECTS

by Gerry Robert

I was poking around on my favorite site (www.slideshare.net) because checking out slide sharing sites is my favorite pass time (seriously!) and came across this great presentation.

If you’re into social media and Twitter then this is a MUST-READ!

Technorati Tags: black card marketing group, convergence marketing, Gerry Robert, island marketing, plains marketing, social media

by Gerry Robert

Can’t
Blame
Passive
Conformity
Quit

There are certain words which should be deleted from the vocabulary of each person interested in success.  These words should never be uttered by the person who wishes to win in a big way.

The goal of every achievement-orientated person is to avoid these words like the plague.  How do you act around a plague?  You stay clear from the areas without even wanting to think about the areas.  You will avoid people who have just come from the plague-stricken area for fear that the plague will infect you.  If you are somehow exposed to a plague you take a million precautions to avoid contaminations.  You wash with special anti-septic soap, you visit a doctor, you take anti-biotic medicine as a prevention.  You do whatever you have to to make sure the plague does not take hold in your body.

Oh that we take such precautions when it comes to our success!  If only you made a similar effort to avoid the 5 Most Expensive Words which cost millions every year.

These five words used on the tongue, or practiced in anyway in one’s behavior is the surest way to sales mediocrity at best, poverty at worst.

Can’t

Sales Manager:  “I want you to increase your sales by at least 26% over the next 12 months.  What’s your response?”
Sales Person:      “It “can’t” be done!”

We are doing a 65 city tour throughout the U.S. and Canada.

The Rapid Results Marketing Workshop is a practical small business marketing workshop that teaches entrepreneurs how to quickly attract prospects, increase profits and grow like never before.

Bestselling author Gerry Robert’s goal is to help small businesses increase profits. To provide small businesses with actionable strategies that they can use to grow beyond anything they ever expected, or even hoped. He has been fortunate in his life to have worked with, and become friends with, some of the leading figures in the entrepreneurial world. He is endorsed by the who’s who in marketing.

www.RapidResultsWorkshop.com

Some Benefits,

1. Be a part of a marketing campaign aimed at 650,000+ small businesses on a 65 city tour across the U.S. and Canada.
2. Get in front of 13,000+ small business owners during a 7 hour workshop.
3. Free tickets to give away to potential clients
4. Exhibit table at workshop.
5. Category exclusivity.
6. Contact information of workshop attendees who opt-in to receive.
7. Company Logo on cover of program.
8. Banner on workshop website.
9. Banner for your website of workshop.
10. Follow-up sequence to attendees on your behalf.
11. Door prize in your name.
12. Speaker endorsement.
13. It will provide you with the best qualified leads and also a shortened buying cycle because the speakers endorsement of your product.

It goes without saying that small business owners are always looking for ways to save money. And technology is a great way to do just that.

By its very nature, technology is intended to make complicated things simple and expensive things affordable. Think about sending a bill to a customer; back in the day, it took paper, correction fluid, a stamp and a trip to the mailbox to accomplish this task. These days, it can be as quick and cheap as sending an e-mail.

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

To see the five easy ways small businesses can save money using technology go here: http://bit.ly/9qsHGZ

Technorati Tags: black card marketing, dify, do it for you, Gerry Robert, internet marketing, money, save money, small business, technology