One of the biggest challenges with marketing

is getting the right message across.   The biggest problem is that advertising companies and big corporations have brainwashed small business into thinking that jingles and creative pretty pieces sell.  They don’t…   Unless you’re Coke or Pepsi, have deep pockets, and are looking to win an award with your TV Ad.

For a killer marketing message

that works for your small business you will want to use plain talk and not try to be an English professor.  You want to write like people talk.

“Let’s say you’ve got $1,000,000 tied up in your little company and suddenly, for reasons unknown to you, your advertising isn’t working and your sales are going down. And everything depends on it. Your future depends on it, your family’s future depends on it. I walk into this office and sit down in this chair. Now, what do you want from me? Fine writing? Do you want masterpieces? Do you want glowing things that can be framed by copywriters? Or do you want to see the #!@%$*&#@! sales curve stop going down and start moving up?”
—Rosser Reeves


You will want to use short sentences, simple language.  Names, pronouns & words of interest work best.  The best words you can use are… YOU,  FREE, GUARANTEED.
Please don’t be cute with your message… Cute is… well cute but does it sell?   Don’t get me wrong it might, however many cute campaigns I’ve seen, haven’t gotten results…

“I’m not saying charming, witty and warm copy won’t sell. I’m just saying that I’ve seen thousands of charming, witty and warm campaigns that didn’t sell.”

- Rosser Reeves

Your message should be structured similar to a newspaper article, but of course your layout varies based on your medium, but for the most part you want to use headlines that catch attention and engage your reader.  You’ll want to be specific and quantify everything, make it factual, and emphasize words with formatting, just as you would in the spoken word.    Your paragraphs should be descriptive and it’s okay to go long here.  Long copy outsells short copy.  It’s all in the formatting and overall construction and layout of your marketing message that’ll make the longest of long copies stand out and work even for readers that prefer short copy.

Does your Marketing Message Sell?

Send me your best marketing material and I’ll critique it for FREE.  Call me at 604.435.4459 to take me up on this offer.

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