• Subscribe to the Blog

  by RSS Feed
  by Email

• About Us

  Why Read this Blog?
  Our Company
  Our Newsletter
  Our Service

• Recent Posts

  • Michael Masterson’s Personal Productivity Secrets
  • Use the Problem-Agitate-Solve Formula for Killer Sales Presentations
  • Your Personal Strategy to Building Some Serious Real Estate Wealth
  • Try This 6-Step Lead Generation Strategy for a Shaky Market
  • Two Free Real Estate Strategies!
  • How to Write a Damn Good Email Subject Line
  • The Introvert: Networking Tips and Habits for a Little Understood Group
  • Social Media Does Matter: Selling Houses During Hard Times
  • The 3 Reasons Why You Don’t Convert Online Visitors to Leads
  • Get Attention: 10 Unorthodox Ideas That Really Work

• Categories

  • blogs
  • Email Marketing
  • Goodwill
  • Leadership
  • Networking
  • Persuasion
  • Real Estate Blogs
  • Real Estate Brand
  • Real Estate Copywriting
  • Real Estate Listing Tips
  • Real Estate Marketing
  • Real Estate Negotiation
  • Real Estate Prospecting Ideas
  • Real Estate Sales Tips
  • SEO
  • Social Media
  • Strategy
  • Technology
  • Time Management
  • Uncategorized
  • Web Design

• Archives

  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007

• Register

  • Log in

• Search

Sometimes being controversial can be extremely beneficial.

Take the Super Bowl, for example.

For the 2007 Super Bowl, advertisers are scrambling to spend up to 2.7 million dollars for a 30 second spot.

6 Years ago it was only one million dollars.

We, like a gazillion cash-conscious business owners, thumbed our noses at their stupidity for, yet again, falling into that inevitable pit of wasted dollars.

This year we may need to rethink snubbing our noses.

While Toshiba sinking millions into a Super Bowl commercial makes no sense, other advertisers would be wise to spend this money [if they have the pocket book, of course] because they have more than just the 30-second spot to bank on.

Super Bowl advertisers mean to entertain audiences. However, the target isn’t so much the 90 million viewers. Rather it’s the millions who will chat about the commercial after the event.

Thanks to the Internet, they’ve got the aftermath on their side, the buzz. Some good buzz And some bad.

Here’s what I mean…

And here’s how you can generate the buzz and leads that $2.7 million buys…without spending a single dime.

1. Take a Stand on an Important Issue

Last year General Motors cried “uncle” when president Robert Gebbia of the pint-sized AFSP [American Foundation of Suicide Prevention] rose a stink after he heard about a commercial where an assembly-line robot dreams of getting fired and jumping off a bridge.

[Note: the video is no longer available.]

The next day Gebbia sent a sharply worded letter to GM telling them to yank the letter. When word got out that they did, a firestorm of coverage was unleashed.

In pure numbers, the AFSP generated 39.1 million impressions in print and 13.4 million impressions on TV.

This excludes radio and Internet. Talk about power.

Gebbia’s annual budget is $9 million. Employs 31 people. And spends nothing on advertising.

In the real estate world, this translates to being involved in more than just business: take up a significant cause, and put your heart and soul into. Not to get attention, but to make a difference in your community.

And when that crucial line gets crossed, smeared or defamed, blow the whistle.

However, even if a crucial moment to take a stand never materializes, your good efforts will not go unrewarded.

2. Make Fun of Someone Popular

With their permission, of course.

More than two weeks before the 2007 Super Bowl, Nationwide ran an ad where Kevin Federline [ex-hubby to Brittny Spears] plays a fast-food worker who dreams of becoming a rap star.

Several days later the trade group National Restaurant Association sent an angry letter to Nationwide CEO. NRA complained trade members were concerned over how the industry was portrayed.

This backfired.

Federline quickly apologized. Nationwide, on the other hand, was offended, explaining the only person they were making fun of was Federline.

The public responded by agreeing with Nationwide.

Nationwide’s benefit amounted to $24 million in unpaid media exposure. 10 times more than what Nationwide paid for the ad.

The moral from NRA’s perspecitive: don’t be hypersensitive. The point for you: be creative, and toe the line. It could ruffle some feathers in your favor.

3. Flirt with Controversy

Whether Nationwide flirted with controversy is debatable. Pepsi, on the other hand, there’s no question they are borrowing controversial equity.

This year Pepsi will launch an ad with Justin Timberlake, who was involved in the 2004 Super Bowl “wardrobe malfunction” with Janet Jackson. [This video, too, is no longer available.]

The new Pepsi spot doesn’t allude to that incident.

It shows Timberlake escaping a series of disasters caused by a pretty girl sitting poolside sipping her Pepsi.

“Word that he’s in the ad has gotten quite a buzz, probably because of his connection to that past Super Bowl,” says Pepsi (PEP) spokeswoman Rebecca Madeira.

Allude to past controversy and you borrow the buzz around that event. Low-cost, but dense with conversation.

4. Create a Sticky, Victoria Secret-Style Event That’s Easily Mashable

After a nine-year absence, lingerie retailer Victoria Secret plans to generate some online buzz by resurfacing this coming Sunday.

Doesn’t take much to do this.

The National Organization for Women says it plans to relaunch its national Super Bowl Ad Watch that it last oversaw in 2003. I wonder why.

After the Super Bowl, thousands of men will hunt down the commercials online and share them with their buddies. Kind of like what happened with Ekday.

It’s just the nature of the Internet beast.

Furthermore, create a sticky video and people will even create mash ups of them, because this is an ever increasing format in which people are consuming online content…

That happened to the Cadbury Gorilla video. Go on YouTube and you’ll find dozens of renditions of this video.

In essence, mash ups allow viral ideas to spread by mutation rather than in a pure linear way.

This is really about letting go of control. Let me know what you think.

Jesus. Evolution. Abortion. Hot, volatile topics. Topics likely to upset even the mildest of situations.

But I’m not talking about creating a riot or a mob. Just want to get you thinking about 3 things:

1. What you love
2. What you do best
3. What makes you money

Master these fundamentals–and never waver from them–and you survive the current housing chokehold.

Narrow-mindedness and Marketing

According to Paul Eastwood, founder of Single Property Sites, Inc., “There is a relationship between a tightly-focused niche and increased sales.”

That’s not surprising.

Competing in a crowded, sluggish market makes it difficult to earn a living, let alone generate good leads. That means not only are there fewer people per agent to go around, but commissions and profits drop, too.

So what do you do?

Conventional business wisdom states that you make yourself unique. You stand out, go against the grain. You narrow your focus to a smaller, denser segment of the market, which might sound bizarre.

One way to narrow your focus is to create marketing personas. Another way is to follow the Parkinson’s law by rapidly disqualifying buyer leads.

But why would anyone in their right mind decide to “narrow” their market and work with fewer people? Good question.

The Paradox of the Narrow Market

The more successful you become with your small segment, the more exposure you gain, the more business you earn and the more money you make.

In essence, you’ve made this small segment so happy that they gush about you like a five-year-old after drinking a can of Coke.

This tight-knit group is your cult.

How to Narrow Your Market

One of the ways you could “narrow” your focus is with technology. Let me explain.

Let’s be simple for a moment and split the world in two: on one side we have those who hate technology. On the other side we have those who love technology. Do you see how I’ve just “narrowed” your playing field?

You can continue to do that.

Let’s split the technology camp into two: those who like to use technology and those who like other people to use technology.

Let’s split those who like other people who use technology: now we have those selling homes in the city versus the country.

Now those selling in the country might love technology. They might have a fit of joy–after a brief introduction, of course–if you walked into their house and said “I’m going to sell your house for more money in less time because of the powerful electronic marketing tools I use.”

That’s because you stand apart and satisfy their soft spot.

You can do the same if you narrow your market to working with the exact opposite group: people who were “relationship-oriented selling in the city and hate technology.”

Do you see what I mean?

And the cool thing is, once you narrow your focus down three or four levels, you can write it out and use it a lot like a mission statement.

As Seth Godin points out in his post needle in a haystack marketing, this works in the world of online search, too.

Do this and you’ll find yourself energetic, excited and potentially more successful–both in money and life.

Whether it’s a lending partner, your listing coordinator, a competing agent or a prospect across the couch from you, people will occasionally resist you.

And constantly butting up against these people will cost you a lot of energy.

One important thing to realize though is everyone has a weakness, a gap in the armor, a soft spot. Usually it’s an insecurity, an uncontrollable need or a closet passion. Once found, however, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to guide them down the right path.

Here’s what to look for:

Pay Attention to Gestures and Unconscious Signals

Everyday conversation supplies the richest mine of weakness, passion or emotion, so train yourself to listen. Start by being interested.

Also, open up to the other person. Share a secret that won’t damage you if you share it.

Finally, train your eye for details–how someone responds to their spouse, what delights a person, the hidden messages in clothes.

Once you find this soft spot, push on it.

Look for Contrasts

An overt trait often conceals its opposite. People who thump their chests, cowards; prudent minds, lavish souls; the uptight, screaming for adventure; the shy, dying for attention.

Probe beyond appearances and you will find a person’s soft spots.

Fill the Void

Insecurity and unhappiness are the two main emotional voids.

Validate the socially insecure: “This neighborhood may seem out of your league, but you belong here.”

Look for the roots of the unhappy: “Tell me if I’m wrong, but you don’t look like you are enjoying the home-selling process. If this is true, can you tell me what’s bothering you?”

The Moral?

You can win against just about anybody–no matter their power, fame or money. Just find their soft spot.

Shaun Of The Dead isn’t your typical zombie movie. In fact, the zombies don’t truly enter the story until almost a third of the way in.

But that’s beside the point.

If you have seen the movie, then you’ll remember the part where Shaun and Ed are sitting in the pub making up personal histories for the other bar patrons.

Turns out this is not just a fun way to kill time over a few pints–it can also be an important tactic in evaluating your customer base for you marketing efforts.

Creating the Perfect Personas–without the Long Nights

According to Usability.gov, personas are fictional people who represent a major user group for your site.

The idea is to invent entire back stories, personalities, quirks, and needs for all of your personas…then evaluate how each of them would likely react to your website, blog or marketing.

This is a great way to get into your client’s head. But it can be time consuming and complex. So time consuming and complex that the time-spent outweighs the benefit.

See, at the least, you should create 9 personas. You should define these personas by age, income, experience, occupation…basically, whatever psychographic you can get your hands on.

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be. Follow me.

Typical Approaches to Creating Personas

There are lots of ways to sketch out personas. Ian Lurie has a convincing but complex persona method he’s been using since 1990.

In a video at SEOmoz Lurie expands his persona thinking with a far-fetched but compelling case for the use of Persona modeling.

Web Strategist Jeremiah Owyang waxes about early adopter personas. Theoretical. Real world? Jury still out.

There’s Usability.gov persona recommendations I mentioned above. Clear cut and organized better, I think.

And finally, my scaled-down, paper-sketch approach to personas that multiplies the result with minimal work.

Magically Create 9 Personas in 30 Minutes

This way of creating personas occurred to me during a 30-minute, 29-member “brainstorm” session I was involved in with a client when trying to redesign their website.

As you can imagine, it was a chaotic event. Bordering on stupidity.

In the middle of the battle over the definition of what this client’s website should do, I stood and stated, “You have 3 people you need to cater to. Basically.”

In a nutshell, this is what I sketched out on the white board in less than 30 minutes:

Persona 1: The Fanatic

The Fanatic is someone who has been to your website and crawled every inch of the site looking for every piece of information you offer. They are likely checking back to the site every week to see if you have added anything new.

[Recommendation 1: If you are certain one of your major user groups is a Fanatic, please, pretty please, offer a news feed. They will love you for it.]

Persona 2: The Periodic

This person comes back only when they want to buy something. Once, maybe twice a year.

[At the User Experience 2007 conference I learned that average Amazon Power Reviewer visits Amazon 4 times a year. 4 whole times. That meant most of our sites are visited and engaged a lot less than we think. In fact, only 8% of adults are deep Web 2.0 users.]

Persona 3: The Newbie

The Newbie has never been to your site. Ever.

The Reaction to My Personas

This oversimplification seemed to work for my client. But I needed to take it a bit further.

[Word of caution here: The following is standard practice, and essential. So pay attention. This alone will pay divedends for your website.]

One important thing to remember about any of your marketing is this: you are probably not your target.

Yes–it helps to put yourself in your targets shoes…but you really can’t do that until you figure out who your target is.

How do you figure out who your target is? Use one of these five tools to identify your major market groups.

Learning Styles and Web Personas

Now, what I’m about to share with you I figured out by working backward from popular and usable websites.

It’s based upon learning styles: audio, visual and kinesthetics.

The Audio Learner

The audio person tends to be the person who is attracted by copy.

They’re typically your book readers, curious, a tad more patient [not by much]. The important thing to remember about them is that they’re superior way of interacting and learning on the web is through the written word.

So ample [Myth 9], concise, scannable and objective copy is essential to your website.

The Visual Learner

Your visual person will be the person who steers towards the videos. The photos. This is their preferred style of interacting and learning on the web.

Finally, you have your kinesthetics.

The Kinesthetic Learner

This is the most often neglected group. Most often neglected because the kinesthetic wants to interact by leaving comments, rating, reviewing on your website…and surprisingly enough, a lot of website owners are still resistant to letting go of the conversation and allowing comments and reviews.

The kinesthetic is your feeler, bent to emotions. It’s your people person. No matter their age, they want to see a community.

[On a side note, bringing up the needs of the kinesthetic to a web owner has been my best argument for a web site's user-generated strategy but not yet an air tight case].

Putting all of this together now, you have potentially nine different personas:

The Fanatic who could be an audio, visual or kinesthetic.

The Periodic who prefers audio, visual or kinesthetic.

Then your Newbie who leans toward audio, visual or kinesthetic.

How to Apply Your New Knowledge on Personas to Your Web Marketing

Now, if you find that your major user group to your website is a kinesthetic Fanatic, it’s essential you provide not only a new feed to new content…but the ability to leave comments as well.

If comments scare you, at the least allow someone to rate content. This is also a good low-barrier entry point to invite people to interact.

Say your other major group is the visual Newbie. That means you must have video feeds in your golden triangle.

Or perhaps you discover you cater to an audio Periodic, then copy, and links to more copy, better be in that golden triangle.

Your Turn

Sometime this week work this out for yourself and then share with me your results.

One thing you have to keep in mind: my goal is to make this easy and personal. You may want to call them something other than Newbies. Your show, champ. Just keep it easy.

Personas can be helpful–as long as the time-spent vs. benefit is in favor of the benefit and not the time. So get to working.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Machiavelli. Hobbes. Nietzsche.

These classical thinkers and their power philosophies may guide the behavior of the world’s dictators…but they are grossly inconsistent with true ethical leadership in real estate sales.

Case in point: If we judge according to a high standard of leadership, Hitler, Idi Amin, and Jim Jones were never leaders despite enormous but temporary power and materialistic success. [Neither were these naughty agents ever leaders.]

Louis B. Lundborg states this truth:

“A leader is one whom others will follow willingly and voluntarily. That rules out tyrants, bullies, autocrats and all other who use coercive power to impose their will on others.”

Or as Kenneth O. Gangel correctly observes:

“Leadership is not political powerplay. Leadership is not authoritarian attitude. Leadership is not cultic control.”

Yet we must never think that a leader is powerless…

The World’s Idea of Power Is False

Indeed, to suggest that a leader is without authority is to pose the anomaly of a leader with no followers. In fact, leadership is a special kind of authority: legitimized power–the power of ethical, inspiring influence and enablement.

This kind of authority can be awesome in its effect upon individuals and families and colleagues. It is the kind of power an excellent teacher or guide brings to bear upon the people he or she serves.

Legitimized power avoids manipulative tactics to enhance the leaders status or to accomplish the leader’s agenda. The real ultimate test of genuine leadership is the realization of enduring change that meets people’s most basic physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

There is the almost irresistible tendency to judge leadership by production statistics and materialist standards and to grant esteem and promotion to such successful people.

But if actual needs in the lives of people are not met…no meaningful leadership has taken place despite whatever production numbers were exceeded or income achieved.

Leadership Versus Management

We should distinguish between leadership and management, although sometimes the differences are pushed too far and become contrived. Of course, there is overlap, and the differences are not always crystal clear.

As is obvious, a good leader must have good management skills, and good managers usually have leadership qualities. It is difficult to imagine a good manager who is not also a good leader and vice versa.

1. Vision: A leader has greater vision than a manager. Leaders go beyond the day to day and see the whole relationship in the scope of a lifetime. Leaders envision objectives never dreamed of. And they inspire others to share those dreams.
2. Renewal: Leaders want change. They want revision of process and structure, with an eye toward changing outmoded methods, defining new goals, tapping new resources, motivating or enlisting personnel and invigorating the family, the company and it’s individuals. Managers give directions and evaluate performance. Leaders stimulate achievement and energize everyone. Leaders are more creative, innovative and transforming.
3. Orientation: Leaders are people-oriented. They think in terms of people and their needs. Managers think about getting things done. Managers tend to be more task- and program- and profit-oriented. Leaders think about doing right things to help people maximize their potentials. Managers supervise people, but leaders energize people.

5 Essential Leadership Strategies

Real leaders must be distinguished from mere power wielders. Real estate leaders never use people to accomplish their own agendas, but inspire others to achieve their own goals. The test of genuine leadership is change that meets family and personal needs and enables people to feel fulfilled after the transaction is done.

The primary task of good leaders in influencing people are:

1. Leaders listen. Their decisions and actions are based on real understanding of their clients needs.
2. Leaders build cooperation. They never set out to use people to accomplish their goals and purposes. They disavow personal partisanship in favor of developing a spirit of cooperation and loyalty.
3. Leaders inspire. And then get out of the way. Good leaders infuse others with an animating, quickening and exalting spirit of enthusiasm for the task of buying and selling a home. They do this primarily through their personal optimism, authenticity, enthusiasm and example.
4. Leaders emphasize values. They focus on the fundamentals of value systems, reasons, philosophies, intrinsic truths, structures, objectives, designs, moods, emotions and environment.
5. Leaders balance priorities. There is always awareness of the person, the family and the job to be done. No one of these is sacrificed for the benefit of the other.

In fulfilling these primary tasks of leadership, the real estate agent may do a variety of other things, yet all is done under the spirit of personal value, cooperation and service.

Now it’s your turn: tell me about leaders in your life who have had a profound impact on you? Did they use any of these strategies? If not, what made them leaders in your eyes? What strategies am I missing?

Did you know that not being able to write could hold you back from working with more clients, selling more homes and even making more money?

I had a high school teacher who always said that the ability to write well is the most important skill a person can develop.

[Okay, I confess: he WAS my writing teacher.]

But he’s certainly not the only one with that opinion. As I’ve made the transition from student to salesman to writer to business owner, I’ve seen it again and again.

Not being able to write can hold you back.

In fact, no matter what you want to do in life, a solid background in writing will always get you farther, faster.

Look at it this way: If you wanted to be a news anchor, you have to start as a reporter–and for that, you need to be able to write news stories well.

If you wanted to work in radio station television promotions, you have to be able to write on-air promos well.

But how does writing help a business owner, namely a real estate agent?

A World Dominated by Writers

Long time ago a television producer once said that in a world dominated by computers, writing careers will be safe.

And he’s right.

A quick look around the re.net shows computers taking over–particularly with business blogs.

But computers still demand a human to write. They can’t write by themselves. [Trust me: Writing will never be replaced by a robot.]

“Write” as in craft a story, captivate an audience, motivate someone to do something.

Some of you might be thinking, “Writing can’t be that important. I don’t read that much. Besides, I own a business. I sell houses.”

So maybe you don’t read much. But think about this: that marketing plan you promised you’d get around to creating for 2008–she needs a writer.

The half-hour listing presentation you gave last night–exceptional presentations start with a writer.

Even your favorite “unscripted,” objection-overcoming message on why you are the agent of choice, demands a person with a smidgen of storytelling skill, which is central to–you guessed it–writing.

During the commercial breaks, did you ever notice the thirty-second news spots that usually sound like this: “It’s common, it’s deadly, and it may be in YOUR child’s breakfast. Details at six.”

Somebody wrote that, too. And how would you like to have that kind of compelling power?

Think about your iPod. Lyrics don’t write themselves. And the Internet? For goodness sakes. It’s full of written content.

Magazines, newspapers, talk shows–they all need people to write for them. And of course we can’t forget good, old books–that would be missing the forest for all of the trees.

Where Else Can Writing be Important?

What about the emails you write? Do they sound like you or a monosyllabic machine. [Yes. No. Sure. I'll get back with you.]

Okay, then, how about your business plan? Or your advertisements? Or your blog?

There’s just no avoiding it.

No matter what you want to do you’ll need to know how to write effectively. You’ll need to be able to communicate clearly, persuade successfully, and entertain brilliantly.

That’s why high school and college curricula require so many courses with a heavy concentration on writing. They push the writing issue because they know it’s important–and they know it’s a tricky thing for a lot of people to master.

So when you’re at the bookstore looking for a coffee table book, pick up something that teaches writing instead. Then, find something you’re interested in, sit down, and just write about it.

Write emails that are no less than seven sentences long, but sharp and focused. Make your spouse/significant other learn to write. Create reports. Record your thoughts on a hipster pda.

But the most important thing to learn from writing is this: Writing helps you hone your critical thinking skills.

It helps you organize your thoughts. Prioritize your ideas. Create a visual representation of your best arguments. And when you revise and rewrite, you can’t help but take ownership and authority over your ideas.

So even if you never blog or write a book, writing can even improve your public, social and persuasive speaking skills.

So pick up a book on writing. Teach yourself, your spouse, your kids.

Heck, see if the family dog can pick up on it, too. It’s a crucial thing to know.

It seems Vivianne did not like my straying from my roots.

I think I was feeling a little weepy on Friday. A little metaphysical. Which is okay. As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Today then, Monday January 14, I’ll get back to business, and focus on one of the four pillars of real estate success, marketing, by showing you how to generate positive press on a tight-budget with press releases.

Press releases are one of the main ways businesses, organizations and individuals share their news with the local and regional press.

In fact, a Fleischman Hilliard marketing and public relations specialist I know recently confessed [and this was not the first time that I've heard this] that they’ve often had to rely on press releases when marketing budgets were tight as a main means of generating press.

Trial, error and desperation have helped them to come up with some surefire tips for writing good press releases. I share those tips with you now.

1. Keep the press release content brief

This isn’t the place to send out an 6-page history of your business. Keep the release brief–to one page, if not, two pages at the very most–and accessible and get all the necessary information as close to the lead paragraph as possible.

It is okay to format the document to single space in the body, but only if there is plenty of white space in the header and the margins. If the page looks cramped and crammed, it won’t entice anyone to scan it over to see what it’s all about. Two space between lines then.

2. Write the press release heading

The heading on a press release should be in the upper left hand corner of the page and should include:

• Release date or, “For Immediate Release”
• Contact name, title and contact information. If possible, include two contact people and their phone, FAX and e-mail, as well as their titles and company name
• Brief preview listing of : who, what, where and when - above the headline and before the copy of the release.

3. Create a compelling headline and sub-headline

Next, give the document a good headline and sub-headline. The headline should be creative and intriguing and the sub-headline should be more factual and fill in some of the specifics.

For example, the headline might say, “Local Realtor Saves the Environment with Unusual Festival” and then the sub-headline would say “Sammy Smith’s Water Festival Shares and Spreads Convservation Agenda.”

The harried reader will get a good, tantalizing idea of what the release is about just by scanning those bolded headlines.

4. Develop intriguing body copy

The copy of a press release should read like an article.

My public relations friend said she cannot count the times she’s had her copy lifted line for line from a press release and put in the newspaper. This is fine with her since she knows she’s getting the story out in her own words. For radio, this is especially helpful. A great release will often just be read aloud on air. All the main information should be easily gleaned and accessible. Use quotes in the copy, if possible, and make sure names and particulars are spelled correctly.

5. Include the essence of who you are

After your 3 or 4 paragraph “article” copy, include a statement about you and your company. Even include a headline such as “About Sammy Smith.”

This is the place to write a brief paragraph saying how long you’ve been a real estate agent, what you do and where, how you can help people and your contact information.

6. Closing the press release properly

Include a final, separated paragraph or sentence letting the reader know who to contact for more information or quotes.

If there are photographs, images, or an interview can be set up–put this at the end and in bold or all caps: “Photographs available in jpg.” or “Sammy Smith Available for Interview.”

The important thing to remember in creating press releases that get results is to make the information as interesting and accessible as possible. Like any other type of marketing or public relations or writing, a press release must compete with dozens, if not hundreds, of other stories.

With effort and practice, you can create press releases that stand out and get noticed. If you are interested, check out these articles on copywriting for tips and advice on how to write compelling copy.

[Enjoy, and I hope this article makes sense. *wink wink, nudge nudge*]

A little girl strays from a party of sight-seers and becomes lost on a mountain, and immediately the whole mental perspective of the members of the party is changed.

Rapt admiration for the grandeur of nature gives way to acute distress for the lost child.

The group spreads out over the mountainside anxiously calling the child’s name and searching eagerly every secluded spot where the little one might chance to be hidden.

What brought about this sudden change?

The tree-clad mountain is still there towering into the clouds in breath-taking beauty…but no one notices it now.

All attention is focused upon the search for a curly-haired little girl not yet three years old and weighing less than thirty pounds.

Though so new and so small, she is precious to parents and friends than all the huge bulk of the vast and ancient mountain they had been admiring a few minutes before.

And in their judgement the whole civilized world concurs, for the little girl can love and laugh and speak and pray, and the mountain cannot.

It is the child’s quality of being that gives her worth. And it’s your client’s quality of being that give her worth.

It gives her worth over a Mercedes Benz, 35-foot yacht, snorkeling in Belize. It gives her worth even over a mortgage payment, a retirement fund or college savings.

Because she has her own mortgage to pay, her own savings to worry about. But it’s more than that. Deeper.

She’s got her host of fears, worries, anxieties. Personal failures to overcome, day-to-day battles to combat and a host of dreams she nurtures.

Just like a three year old girl. Which in some ways she still is. She just doesn’t trust nearly as many people she did before.

But there’s something more.

Hugh McLeod, in his Hughtrain Manifesto, said this:

We are here to find meaning. We are here to help other people do the same. Everything else is secondary.

Last Sunday he went on to say this:

We humans want to believe in our own species. And we want people, companies and products in our lives that make it easier to do so. That is human nature. Some people find the whole “Marketing as Religion” angle a bit squeamish. Some people much prefer the straight-talking “This is what you get, this is how much it costs” way of doing business. I don’t see anything wrong with that, if it’s working for them.

But one thing I’ve noticed over time is, the search for personal meaning is a never-ending journey. It’s something that all normal, healthy people share. And the way said meaning is found is mostly through Love. And Love is found not just in the intoxicating blur of romantic, sexual love, but in an endless myriad of ways. Most of them pretty ordinary and everyday.

That search for meaning I call the “human condition.”

Religion and philosophy have been its main sources for an answer for thousands of years. 300 years ago philosophy dominated. Mid 18th Century, psychology emerged and peaked and now advertising reigns supreme at the 21st Century.

Advertising is the “new humanism”: The discipline to quiet that inner groaning.

We don’t turn out theologians or philosophers any more. Even psychologists are having a hard time. In fact psychologists are turning into advertisers.

We say “It’s all about you. How can we crack your code?”

Because it wants to be cracked, coddled and acknowledged.

We are here to find meaning. To help other people to do the same.

Can you change your vision so you no longer see the mountain but the little girl? No longer see wealth and power, but the customer?

Recognize the deeper need you can satisfy for someone–like trust or companionship or meaning–and you will become a well liked person. And business will be easy for you.

You have potential. I believe in you.

One of the most powerful ways to generate direct marketing responses is to set out reasons why responding to your offer brings wonderful pleasure and why not responding sustains or even increases pain.

Whenever you can, set up pleasure and pain offers. You can do this even in face to face presentations.

Tell your prospects all the good things that come by working with you or buying a particular home…

And then suggest the bad things that may occur (or remain the same) by not responding.

Articulating pleasure and pain offers simply means telling people the favorable consequences of accepting your offer and the undesirable consequences of doing nothing.

Here are a couple of examples:

Why They Should Choose You as Their Agent

• Pleasure: “Sell your home for the most money, in the fastest time and simplest way because I use proven marketing methods and have a vast network.”

• Pain: “Choose a different agent and you may end up working with inexperienced, careless, even thoughtless agents that will drag the sale of your home own for ages, refuse to negotiate and market the home as minimally as possible.”

Why They Should Buy That Particular Home

• Pleasure: “End constant frustration with limited storage space, enjoy vaulted ceilings, ample sunlight and a vast, fenced in yard.”

• Pain: “Skip this opportunity now and the next buyer strolling up may beat you to the punch.”

Why It Makes Sense to Put an Offer On This Home Now

• Pleasure: “Position yourself to move into this home sooner rather than later, besides…”

• Pain: “Waiting to put an offer on this home might allow another buyer to come in and put an offer on it and then the seller may like the idea of a price war, which means the highest bidder wins.”

Pain Is Not Torture, If…

To some this may seem like manipulation. In my mind, as long as you are telling the truth and not withholding certain truth…it is not manipulation.

You are giving facts to a person to help them make a decision. Ari Galper’s got this down pat.

One thing that is extremely helpful when working with pleasure and pain offers is that you believe in yourself–and what you are doing.

If you don’t believe in yourself and don’t believe or enjoy what you are doing…then your resistance to this approach maybe a symptom to something deeper: job dissatisfaction, low-self esteem, insecurity.

I confess: I struggled early in my career with face to face sales simply because I was insecure. But that was not all…

Then I discovered I was an introvert. And that explained a lot.

Figuring out that I was an introvert [and being okay with it!] helped me to operate where I could be the most productive.

Writing is infinitely easier to me than face to face. I eat, sleep, read writing. It comes very natural. Face to face, on the other, is a vicious exercise of the will.

What that tells me is that I need to spend most of my time behind a keyboard. I’m very comfortable behind a keyboard, and salesmanship in print is very easy for me.

Still Not Comfortable with Manipulation? Think About This

Now, if telling people the truth about the pleasure and pain of certain decisions still feels below you and you are certain you are not insecure or introverted or in the wrong job altogether, then consider other issues outside of buying or selling a home.

Like drug addiction.

Would you be manipulating someone if you told them the pleasures of not doing drugs (stability in your life and freedom from worry about cash, cops or crashes)…

And then the pain of drug addiction (broken relationships, poor job performance, financial ruin)?

Consider this approach to other weighty issues, like teen pregnancy and smoking. Then move across the spectrum to subtler issues, say choosing a college, and finally buying a home.

I think you’ll see that it’s not manipulation when you are sincerely concerned for the other person and are simply putting all the cards on the table.

Even better is this: If you can remain objective during the process and even say, “You know, this may not even be the home for you. I just wanted you to know all the facts.”

On Friday I wrote about Copywriting and the Art of Persuasive Advertisings and in other articles I go into detail the help you craft successful, lead-building, client-accumulating mail, ads, emails, web sites and more.

But here are two of the common and most powerful copy ingredients for effective direct response marketing, regardless of medium.

The One Thing You Cannot Forget

It seems so obvious and basic that you can’t imagine anyone would fail to do this, but I have to say upfront because writers frequently and regretfully neglect this point: Present your offer–the thing you are selling and the terms you’re making–as soon as possible.

And after you say it once. Say it again. And again.

Copywriting is like storytelling. You create drama. And you can create drama one of two ways:

1. Demonstrate how you can achieve their desires
2. Show how you can conquer fears

But in one very important way, direct response copy is not like a story…you give away the end at the beginning. That is the offer.

Even when you have a lot to say about your offer, you bring the conclusion [your offer] into the story right away.

And then backfill with persuasive material as you move along.

How to Achieve Your Greatest Desire

This is a a rough sketch of a marketing strategy when you’re making an offer for something desirable, such as a beautiful home or knowledge about the worth of their home.

1. Show the readers the vision.

Within the headline or the opening copy, tell the reader about the benefit: living well, saving money, entertaining grandly.

2. Offer the “prize” inside.

Either within the same headline or within the first few lines of copy, introduce your offer as the means for obtaining the desired end: the infinity pool that makes you to live well, the low property taxes that allow you to save money, or the finished basement with wet bar and 50 inch plasma screen.

3. Go on the quest.

Show the reader how and why your offer, in Step 2, fulfills the desire in Step 1. And bee sure to restate the offer along the way.

Now, the flip side of desire is fear. That’s the other persuasive ingredient of successful copywriting.

Overcoming Pain and Fear

This is the formula for benefits that help you overcome things you don’t want, such as high taxes, foreclosure, drop in property values, ill health or being left behind:

1. Make the readers hurt.

Describe the pain to be avoided: the rising property taxes, the crush on their credit if they foreclosure, loss of equity of they don’t move, diseases from contaminated soil or being the only one who didn’t invest in a rising market.

2. Show readers the cure.

Introduce your offer–the market with low tax dollars [maybe a way to lure people from one state to another], short selling, healthy lifestyle in your city or system to sell their homes fast for the most money.

3. Prove it works.

This is where the rubber meets the road. Your lofty promises better be backed up. Use testimonies, statistics, reports, anecdotes, professional statements. Anything you can get your hands on that support your claims.

Without evidence, your claims will be ignored. So do your homework. It will pay dividends.

Conclusion

One more word: In each of these approaches, it’s important that you repeat the offer often.

The reason? You want people to remember it.

In the next post, I’ll describe how to write good offers, offers that articulate the favorable consequences of accepting your offer and the undesirable consequences of doing nothing.

See you then.

Next Page →