Why Are You Waiting for Someone Else to Inspire You?
I met Bella for the first time six years ago, while she was attending her first copywriting bootcamp (which, like ETR’s Wealth-Building Bootcamp, is now hosted every year by the Agora Learning Institute). She was an energetic, recently divorced, ambitious 36-year-old, bubbling with ideas. “This is the best conference I’ve…
READ MOREHow to Launch a Profitable New Business
If you want to be a business-building genius — or just make a ton of money this year — learn these five proven (and absolutely true in my experience) secrets of highly successful entrepreneurs. Secret No. 1. Don’t spend too much time planning. When you are entering a market, you…
READ MOREHow to Use Speed to Increase Sales
You can develop a competitive advantage — and increase your sales — simply by making speed your No. 1 customer service priority. Here are a few examples of the way businesses I know have done it: * A major bank based a marketing campaign on a promise that its customers…
READ MOREHow to Get Your Business Going Again
The economy is dragging — and it doesn’t look as if it’s going to improve any time soon . . . if ever. Though most of the businesses I know are still profitable, the margins have fallen and profits are low. Back-end sales are still healthy. But all those sales…
READ MOREThe Four Critical Success Factors for a New Business
If you spend countless hours and hundreds of pages planning your new business venture, you are wasting a lot of time. That’s mostly because you don’t know the most important secrets about the new (to you) market. What’s most critical to know about any business is invisible to newcomers. No…
READ MOREMotivate Your Prospect to Buy in Five Easy Steps
Successful marketers use this well-established, step-by-step formula for all forms of sales copy, including direct mail, e-mail, and Internet promotions: 1. Get attention. Write an effective headline or teaser. 2. Identify the problem or need. Orient your prospect and put him in a receptive mood for what is to come. 3. Position your product…
READ MOREStrategic Alliances for Your ETR Microbusiness
Have you noticed that a lot of businesses seem to be working together? For example, when a major children’s movie comes out, you can buy special cups with the characters imprinted on them at your local McDonald’s. It’s not a coincidence. Efforts like these are called “cooperative marketing promotions.” And…
READ MOREGet Over Your Fear of Venturing Out of Your Comfort Zone
You may remember Frank McKinney’s story from Message #1194 . How, having little experience with real estate and almost no money, he started small, buying, renovating, and selling foreclosures in the poor parts of town . . . and eventually became the most renowned creator of luxury oceanfront homes in…
READ MOREWhat the World’s Most Successful Marketers Do
I recently listened to a talk given by Joseph Sugarman, founder of JS&A and widely recognized as one of the greatest mail-order marketers of all time. JS&A is the company that sells those Blue Blocker sunglasses you see advertised on TV and in magazines. And, by the way, the glasses…
READ MOREThe Beauty of Barter
When you hear the word “barter,” you may conjure up images of ancient primitive societies where the only means of exchanging goods and services was through direct trade. But now, barter represents an interesting business opportunity for modern entrepreneurs. The most basic form of barter is when you make a…
READ MOREWhat You Can Learn From Kilwin’s Ice Cream Shop About Attracting Customers
The place: ETR’s hometown, beautiful Delray Beach, Florida. The time: A Saturday night in August, 8 p.m. The scene: The town’s main drag, Atlantic Avenue. Hip shops and restaurants line the street. The sounds of live music emanate from Elwood’s BBQ and the City Limits club. Mobs of tourists and…
READ MORECreate a Powerful, Memorable “Unique Selling Proposition”
‘Rosser Reeves introduced and defined the USP and its three components in his 1970 book “Reality in Advertising” . . . and the book is long out of print. I remember reading the three-point definition of a USP in Reeves’ book years ago, but when I went back to check…
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