How to build a high-performing landing page

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Monster Mice with special guest Craig Rhode
In this episode Craig Rhode pulls back the curtain on how he creates high performing landing pages.
  • How landing pages are different than your main website, and how to use them to sell more of your products.
  • How to get the best ROI with your Facebook ads (most business owners do this wrong and waste money)
  • Follow-up secrets that turn “Soft No’s” into sales
  • The nice way to reengage with an unsubscriber (I’m going to start doing this all the time)

Click here to download Craig’s resource guide full of information on how to create landing pages.

Listen here:

Working with clients – Jenny Thompson’s advice to copywriters

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Jenny Thompson is the Founder and CEO of SafetyPIN Technologies, a tech startup that lets you pre-screen people that you might hire online (like dog walkers, baby sitters, and housecleaners) so that you can establish mutual trust.

Before starting SafetyPIN, she had a successful career with Agora and was the President of New Market Health. She has hired and worked with countless copywriters. And in this interview she gives copywriters valuable advice on how to work with clients, get your foot in the door, establish trust, negotiate effectively and maintain positive relationships throughout your career.

Monster Mice Interview with James Newcomb

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In this episode of Monster Mice, my guest is James Newcomb.

James Newcomb is a trumpeter and specialist in entrepreneurship for musicians. He founded Trumpet Dynamics in January, 2016 as a podcast where he interviewed trumpeters of all ability levels and experiences and from all over the world. It has since evolved into a resource for trumpeters to learn and master the tools, techniques and most important, the mindset required for musicians to prosper in the modern world. Check it out at www.trumpetdynamics.com.

I’ve been working with James for a couple of months now, doing email marketing and helping out with the Facebook group and podcast. This interview is a little different in that David Wolf (he is the producer of Monster Mice) will be interviewing both me and James together.

Listen here.

 

Monster Mice Interview with Pamm Meyers

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Pamm Meyers is a branding and marketing specialist who specializes in social media.

During this interview she explains what she does as a social media marketer, gives advice on how new businesses can get up and running on social media platforms quickly, how to choose the most relevant platform for your business, and tells us all about some tools that can help you stand out online.

Her website is https://www.pammmeyerssocialmedia.com/.

Listen here:

How to promote music events.

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Douglas Detrick is a friend from Lawrence University. He and I both studied trumpet performance.

When I caught up with him recently, I was happy to see that he was still playing the trumpet and composing.
But he’s also bringing his marketing skills to the table in a big way, raising money and awareness and growing a loyal fan base for the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble as well as for his own musical projects.
During this interview, he tells you all about the marketing methods that have worked well for him and will work with other musicians.
Listen to it here.

How to weave stories through your marketing.

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Once upon a time, as snow fell softly on the roof of a little cabin in rural Arkansas, Todd E. Jones learned his most important business skill at the feet of his two grandpas… how to tell a story.

 

As a digital marketer, Todd uses his storytelling to entrepreneurs and B2B companies improve their SEO rankings, engage their customer base and make a steady stream of sales. And in this podcast, he shares his tips on how to use weave compelling stories into your marketing mix. Check him out at https://www.grafixcatmedia.com.

 

 

Mark your calendars for November 8th.

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On November 8th I will be giving a presentation on Digital Marketing at the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce “Chamber Breakfast.”

The Business Breakfast starts at 7:30 with a half hour of networking. Then the presentation will be from 8-9.

During the talk, my goal is to cut through the clutter of digital marketing and show you a plan that will build your audience, make it easy as possible to reach out to people who are interested in your products, and make sales.

There are so many things that you CAN do online, but I promise not to overwhelm you with useless information. I want you to walk out with a plan that you can implement. And when you put it into action, you’ll be able to measure your results (with sales… not just likes).

See you on November 8th. If you’re not in town, I will be recording the presentation so you will be able to see it.

Have a great day!
Mandy

P.S. Today is the last day that I will be offering five emails for $350. Call me at 505-515-7001 or reply to this email to set things up.

This month, 10% of all of my project fees will go towards a scholarship fund for up and coming female direct response copywriters.

Join Our Mailing List!

Celebrating two years of nerdiness

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Last month (just before my birthday) some of my friends had something to celebrate.

We called it our Nerd-aversary.

It was the second anniversary of the day we started our Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

No joke, we have been playing the same continuous D&D adventure with the same characters, and the same group of people.

You might be wondering how we could keep going, and not get bored.

First of all, we like playing D&D, we like each other, we get together every two weeks, and our group is constantly looking for trouble (and finding it).

Those same reasons can explain why people are eager to open and read well-written email newsletters.

1). “We like playing D&D”. Or in the case of an email newsletter, the people on your list are interested in the topic that you are writing about. You know that they are interested, because they signed up to be on the list.

2). “We like each other”. Part of the allure of an email newsletter is that your readers get to know you as a person. You become a likeable expert who personally gives information on that topic. If done right, people will look forward to hearing from you like they look forward to hearing from a friend.

3). “We get together every two weeks”. When you commit to doing something on a regular basis, it starts to become a routine that you get used to. Almost ritualistic. When you send your emails out on a regular schedule, people expect them and watch for them.

Many people foolishly believe that they shouldn’t send their emails too often, because they might annoy their readers. (It’s no coincidence that those people don’t make a lot of money with their emails). The other day I got an email out of the blue from someone I hadn’t heard from in over seven months… and now they wanted me to buy something. It didn’t come off as very friendly.

4). “Our group is constantly looking for trouble.” My favorite part of D&D is when we battle scary monsters. But did you know your readers are battling monsters every day?

Every problem, every worry, every stress they face is like a monster that needs to be taken down. If you talk about their problems, especially the big scary ones, they will want to open your emails.

multi sided dieTake care,
Mandy

 

P.S. If you want to get serious about writing emails on a regular basis to your list, call me at 505-515-7001 or reply to this email. After I have a short conversation with my clients, I’m usually able to write 3-5 emails for them.

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How well do you understand your customers?

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Gordon Mitchell was also one of the five finalists for the NM PowerCircle Small Business Marketer of the Year award.

Gordon helps baby boomers get a steady stream of cash flow throughout their retirements with reverse mortgages.

He is very successful at what he does, and has implemented a lot of the direct response techniques that he has learned in PowerCircle.

For example, he has written a booklet that he gives away on his website. It’s called “Cashing in on the American Dream in Retirement,” and people can get it by entering their contact information on his website.

He also uses the book to get referrals at his seminars for real estate agents. Instead of simply handing out the book, he asks for people’s contact information (it’s really important to get these details if you want to sell to someone) and sends them as many copies as they want. This makes sense because the real estate agents that attend the class aren’t the ones getting a reverse mortgage. They are passing the information along to their clients who might need one.

Gordon has created a lot of strong marketing campaigns. But the underlying reason that it works is this: He understands how aware his customers are of his product.

Here’s the thing. Most people don’t understand what a reverse mortgage is, at all. And it’s even worse when they think they know what it is… because then they usually assume it’s some kind of a scam. It sounds too good to be true.

I’m always impressed that when faced with this level of ignorance and skepticism, Gordon never seems discouraged. He simply adjusts his message so that people will accept it.

He is never salesy. He focuses most of his energy on educating seniors and real estate agents on what a reverse mortgage is, and how they can use it to overcome their cash flow problems during retirement.

Rather than talk about the product right away, he enters the conversation that they are already having in their heads. It’s a very effective strategy.

Good work, Gordon!

Talk to you soon,
Mandy

P.S. Do you know what your best customers are thinking before they buy? Knowing this can help you reach out more effectively to more customers.

If you want more insight into your customers’ state of mind, I can help by interviewing them. You’ll get information you need to attract more customers, and a powerful case study or testimonial that you can use in your marketing materials.

Call me at 505-515-7001 to set this up.

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My side gig

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For years I’ve felt like I should be doing more with my trumpet.

I love to play, and join local groups when I can. I teach lessons whenever a student shows interest. But I’m in a pretty isolated area and so if I want to grow my career (playing or teaching) I’ll have to do a lot more driving.

Meanwhile I’m constantly learning as much as I can about copywriting, email marketing, and info marketing. Is it possible to bring the two worlds together?

I had to try. Here is what I did.

Step 1. I created a bait piece.

When I made my bait piece I had to figure out what part of “Trumpet playing” that I am particularly good at and what part is especially troublesome to others.

How did I narrow it down? Here’s a quick story that explains it:

It was 1999 and I was auditioning to get accepted into the trumpet performance program at Lawrence University. I played the first movement of Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in E flat.

Even though I was completely focused on the task at hand, I could sense the professor leaning forward in his chair slightly when we got to a certain point in the music. I knew what he was thinking. Would she hit the high E-flat?

A lot of trumpet players will struggle to hit that note. They’ll frack it or chicken out and take it down an octave. His face broke out in a grin when I hit it with a clear and effortless sound. I knew at that moment that I made it in.

There are a lot of good trumpet players out there. But I know that one reason that I am successful (I got into college and raked in thousands of dollars in scholarships) is that I can play the high notes. And the reason that I can do that is that I have a secret routine.

I turned that routine into my bait piece. It offers a solution to a problem that trumpet players find very annoying and helps me put my best foot forward. I was able to put the whole routine on a one-page PDF.

Step 2: I created a landing page

My bait piece topic was so specific, so it made the landing page pretty easy to write. (See it here).

I just used a “Do you have this problem? Here’s the solution” style headline.

I put my landing page together using LeadPages. LeadPages made it easy to do because they have templates set up, you can upload your bait piece and they will automatically deliver it to people, and now they added a feature where you can sell products right from the lead page.

Click here to try Lead Pages.

Step 3: I emailed the people who signed up.

When people sign up, start emailing them with useful information and offers.

With my trumpet list, one of the first emails I wrote was a welcome email asking them what they are doing and what problems they were facing. One of my subscribers sent a long and detailed email about the challenges he is facing. That email (and any other piece of correspondence from people on the list) gives me ideas on what my subscribers want to read about.

So those are the three steps. Create a bait piece, put together a landing page, and email your list.

You can use those three steps to build a following for your own business. Call me if you need help with any of those steps.

Thanks in advance!
Mandy

P.S. If you have any kind of project, call me at 505-515-7001 or reply to this email to set things up.

This month, 10% of all of my project fees will go towards a scholarship fund for up and coming female direct response copywriters.

Join Our Mailing List!

Join Our Mailing List!