Steven Lewis's Blog, page 17

Are you doing enough to make your clients like you?

It turns out you can’t leave popularity contests behind in the playground. Your likeability is relevant far beyond high school: it influences people’s willingness to work with you or buy from you.

Likeability is one Robert Cialdini’s (Influence) six factors of persuasion, along with authority, social proof, scarcity, reciprocity and commitment.

Given that likeability is so persuasive, shouldn’t you be thinking about it in your copywriting?

If you’re want to make your writing more persuasive, check out these copywriting tips.

The post Are you doing enough to make your clients like you? appeared first on Taleist.

Microsoft’s 5 secrets for how to write a winning awards submission

If you think judges are obliged to read your whole submission, you’re wrong. In the first round, they’re looking for reason to throw applications  away.

It’s not just that Microsoft has advised nominees to get PROFESSIONAL (their capitals, not ours) help with writing their awards submissions that leads us to admire their 2017 Microsoft Partner Network Awards guidelines.

It turns out Microsoft knows a thing or two about writing an awards submission that judges will read all the way through…

“Sometimes, the difference between a winner and just another award entry isn’t the quality of the project, but the quality of the entry itself.” —  Microsoft Partner Network (MPN)

A Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) award gives the winner a higher profile and more business opportunities. That’s not marketing spin, that’s the story according to past winners. It’s why the awards get thousands of submissions and how Microsoft comes to know so much about how to write an awards submission.

We’ve taken Microsoft’s submission-writing advice and added our own tips for writing an award-winning submission. (You can see their advice, rules and FAQs in full here.)

How to write an awards submission that judges will actually read
1. Look at it from the awards judges’ point of view

“Some judges will be reading hundreds of submissions. [So] during the first read through, the judges are looking for a reason to throw out your entry.” — Gail Mercer-MacKay, veteran MPN awards submission writer

It’s a common misconception that the awards judges will read all of your submission. This is plain wrong. They’re busy just like you, and they’re not obliged to read every word. If you don’t grab them immediately, it’s on to the next one.

“You want to make sure the judge wants to read further. If you save the best for last, he or she might never get there.” — Microsoft

2. Make it a story

No one wants to read the business case for your project. They want a story. You might not expect this kind of writing from a tech company, but here’s what Microsoft has to say about that. They want “a gallant hero”, “a villain” and a “damsel in distress”.

Your awards submission is much more likely to be read (and remembered) if you write it as a story. You don’t need heroes and villains literally, but you do need them figuratively: you do need a narrative.

Just because the awards you’re entering don’t spell it out like the MPN does, doesn’t mean their judges don’t want it. (Here’s how Microsoft puts it in the official guide to writing a 2017 Microsoft Partner Network award.)

3. Put your customers in the story

If you’re worthy of an award, your business is about helping customers. Who better to talk about how you do that than your customers, themselves?

Interviewing customers for a nomination gives you quotations you can use and colour. It will help you stand out from the nominees who could have used Excel for their entry.

4. Don’t rush it

Microsoft goes so far as to spell it out for its partners: “Plan to spend 15-20 hours on your submission.”

A lot is riding on winning a prestigious award. Marshalling the arguments, gathering the facts, interviewing the right people and bringing it together succinctly takes time.

It’s much harder to write 1,000 words that someone will read than it is to dash off 3,000 words that won’t get read beyond the first paragraph. Give yourself time to distill your entry to its strongest elements.

5. “Get PROFESSIONAL help”

Maybe we broke Microsoft’s rule #1 for how to write an awards submission and left the best to last. Those capitals—“PROFESSIONAL”—are Microsoft’s not ours, but we could hardly help but agree.

If you run a business that deserves an award for something other than the quality of your writing, you should think about getting help with your submission writing. Storytelling is an art; it takes practice.

Partnering your expertise with a writer expert in crafting compelling stories could be the winning combination you’re looking for.

Looking for an awards submission writer?

If you want to enter an award and give your nomination the best possible chance of winning, talk to us. We tell stories for a living and as journalists, we’re experts in interviewing our clients and their customers to get those stories.

(If you’re entering the 2017 Microsoft Partner Network Awards, click here for more details about how we can help with those submissions specifically.)

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The post Microsoft’s 5 secrets for how to write a winning awards submission appeared first on Taleist.

Copywriting tip: Use what other people think

As humans, we have a million decisions to make a day. The only way we can do it is to use shortcuts. You can make your copywriting more persuasive when you know what those shortcuts are and you use them to influence your readers.

A tip for using social proof in your copywriting

One of our human decision-making shortcuts is social proof. This video gives you some simple and some more subtle examples of using social proof to make your copywriting more persuasive.

 

Social proof for SEO – a link building tactic

When you’re on the hunt for social proof, Facebook shares, Twitter shares, etc. are a great source of validation. They also create links and search engines love links, which is great for search ranking. If you’re looking to build social proof, growing it through links from other sites isn’t just a copywriting tactic, it’s a brilliant SEO copywriting tactic.

Speaking of which… If you found this video helpful, please share this post on Facebook or the social medium of your choosing. You’ll also be interested in these other tips on copywriting.

More copywriting tips
This council earns thousands an hour from a simple psychological trick
How would you feel if I bought you a coffee?
A marketing tip from the Mob
A copywriting tip from a twisted head baby and a toddler
5 branding strategies you can use right now!

The post Copywriting tip: Use what other people think appeared first on Taleist.

How smart copywriters persuade you by using what other people think

As humans, we have a million decisions to make a day. The only way we can do it is to use shortcuts. You can make your copywriting more persuasive when you know what those shortcuts are and you use them to influence your readers.

One of those shortcuts is social proof. This video gives you some simple and some more subtle examples of using social proof to make your copywriting more persuasive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iCjn...

If you found this video helpful, please share this post on Facebook or the social medium of your choosing. You’ll also be interested in these other tips on copywriting.

The post How smart copywriters persuade you by using what other people think appeared first on Taleist.

Copywriting tip: demonstrate authority in your copywriting

People are more likely to step into a road if a person in a suit goes first than if a person in a T-shirt goes first. Why? The suit conveys authority.

If you want to persuade people with your copywriting, you need to make sure you’ve signalled your authority in the area. That can mean more than just claiming your years of experience or diplomas. 

How to show who’s the boss in your copywriting

 

You can see more copywriting tips here. And these are examples of we use them in our own writing.

More copywriting tips and tricks
This council earns thousands an hour from a simple psychological trick
How would you feel if I bought you a coffee?
A marketing tip from the Mob
A copywriting tip from a twisted head baby and a toddler
5 branding strategies you can use right now!

The post Copywriting tip: demonstrate authority in your copywriting appeared first on Taleist.

The importance of demonstrating authority in your copywriting

People are more likely to step into a road if a person in a suit goes first than if a person in a T-shirt goes first. Why? The suit conveys authority.

If you want to persuade people with your copywriting, you need to make sure you’ve signalled your authority in the area. That can mean more than just claiming your years of experience or diplomas. 

You can see more copywriting tips here.

The importance of demonstrating authority in your copywriting
How to write a website that gets you more clients
40,891 reasons to make a video for your business this Christmas
Every small business owner should steal this tip from The Daily Mail
​Are you missing this basic chance to promote your small business?

The post The importance of demonstrating authority in your copywriting appeared first on Taleist.

How to write a website that gets you more clients

Your website should be bringing in calls and emails from prospective clients. If it isn’t, we’ve got five tips for you in our new, free webinar, How to Write a Website That Gets You More Clients.

45 minutes packed with tips you can use immediately to turn your website into the lead-generator it should be

Our New Year’s resolution was to help our clients get even more business from their websites. That’s why we kicked off the New Year writing a new (totally free) webinar packed with proven tips for making your website more convincing. The more persuasive your website, the more business it brings in.

You can register for the webinar right now.

https://taleist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/webinarpromosm.mp4

You probably already suspect your website really ought to be bringing in more calls and emails. And you probably force the thought out of your mind because you wouldn’t know where to start to fix it.

But what do you think it costs you every time a prospective client finds your website but isn’t convinced to contact you? What’s one lost client a month worth to you? $500/month? $2,000 a month? How about five or 10 lost clients?

This webinar is going to show you how to turn that around.

It’s called How to Write a Website That Gets You More Clients.

Here’s what we cover. These are all things you can easily do yourself.

1. Make yourself more desirable
You’ll learn how to make clients want to work with you.

2. Make yourself more believable
We’ll show you how to make clients believe you can do exactly what you promise.

3. Cut out the confusion
You’ll learn how to explain yourself clearly to every potential client.

4. The fastest way to stand out from the competition

You’ve got seconds to make your case. Find out how to make it instantly.

5. A brilliant way to get people to read more on your site

Clients skim websites, but this trick will get them reading more of your content.

You can register here:

>> Register NOW

The post How to write a website that gets you more clients appeared first on Taleist.

40,891 reasons to make an iPhone video for your business this Christmas

Would you like to reach more people with some inexpensive one-off marketing that keeps growing in audience? Read this story of how an iPhone, a microphone and some know-how led to 40,891 video views and a Christmas gift that keeps on giving.

Kathryn, who works for Taleist in London, made this iPhone video in November 2014 for a client, Luxury Family Hotels, Woolley Grange Hotel.

By the end of 2014 it had maybe 1,000 views. Not bad.
Then it went quiet — Christmas was over, no one was making wreaths
Around this time last year, the video started putting on some serious numbers — about 20,000 views. It had been on YouTube for a year, people had watched it, it was ranking in the search results
At the time of writing, it’s at 40,891 and rising
It will get more views and more exposure for the hotel next year and the year after

That video must have cost a fortune. Nope, it was shot on an iPhone.

Kathryn shot this video with her iPhone and a Rode SmartLav microphone (c. $65). She edited with iMovie (software included with her Mac).

You don’t need fancy equipment to make a video that people will value because the content is what they’re looking for and it’s well-presented.

If you wanted the full corporate video experience for the video above, you’d be looking at $2,500-$5,000. But pulling off a high-end corporate video requires taking things to a level we’re not talking about here.

What we’re talking about here is taking the time to make a video that people will watch, because:

They want the information you’re giving them
You’ve put it together to a good enough standard

Tips for making a video with your iPhone

Plan. Plan. Plan. In your mind, what does the finished version look like? Now you know that, what shots will you need? Kathryn knew she wanted to film Eliza making the wreath, but also she wanted video of her hanging it up and shots of her gathering the material.
Allow lots of time. Just because a finished video will last two minutes doesn’t mean it will take you two minutes to film it. That 30-second Toyota commercial didn’t just take 30 seconds to film. Make sure your subject knows you need time. Time to think on the job, time to set up, time to shoot more than once. Nothing causes more face-palming during the editing part of the job than realising you forgot to shoot something or something was wrong with the shot you did make. And that happens more when you don’t allow yourself time.
Record more than once or on more than one phone. In this video, Kathryn recorded Eliza in a wide shot to get in the whole scene and did some close-ups of her working on the wreath. In the finished video, she can move from wide to close. Your audience doesn’t need to know they were from two different recordings.
If your subject is nervous, get them to do the narration while you’re shooting something other than their face or record the voiceover separately. Explain that their face is not on camera, so they’re not trying to concentrate on speaking clearly while worrying how they look. The style used here is a good example — Eliza isn’t talking in the wide shot of her making the wreath. We hear her as voiceover. It’s a perfect answer when someone is nervous speaking to camera.
The microphone in your camera is okay, but you could do better. In this case, Eliza wore a Rode SmartLav microphone plugged into an iPhone in her pocket. Kathryn mixed the voice track with video in the editing. (If you need audio to sync with lips, when you record audio on a separate device, clap at the start of each take. You’ll feel stupid, but you’ll thank yourself when it’s time for editing — because you’ll be able to see a spike in the sound wave in each track.
Shoot B-roll and much, much more of it than you think you might need. (“B-roll” refers to additional shots you can cut away to. In this case, shots of Eliza picking plants, close-ups of tools, establishing shots of the general location etc.) You can use B-roll to cover a multitude of sins when you’re editing. Also, having shots to cut to keeps the pace up — people get bored staring at something for too long.
Whatever you shoot, make each shot is at least 10 seconds long. You won’t need the full 10 seconds but you’ll find there’ll be some handshake or something in part of every shot, so not all of it will be useable. If you only shoot for a second, you could find you end up with nothing usable.
Unless you really, really want panning (left to right) or tilting shots (up and down), don’t move the camera. Point it at what you want to see and keep it there. Too much movement in a video will make your audience seasick. If you’re sure you’ve got enough fixed shot, try some panning and tilting so you have some choices in the edit, but you won’t need many of them.
Music will affect mood massively and also compensate for audio problems. iStock has a good music library.

A Facebook status message or a tweet is gone in the blink of an eye. A well-crafted video can be a gift that keeps on giving, showing up time and again in Google and YouTube searches.

Do you want to learn to shoot iPhone video?

iPhone videos are great for YouTube, events coverage and internal communications: times when you’re looking to shoot something quickly and get it up fast. Or when you don’t have the budget for a professional.

If you want someone to run training for you or your team, contact us.

And you might also be interested in this podcast about video production.

The post 40,891 reasons to make an iPhone video for your business this Christmas appeared first on Taleist.

40,891 reasons to make a video for your business this Christmas

Would you like to reach more people with some inexpensive one-off marketing that keeps growing in audience? Read this story of how an iPhone, a microphone and some know-how lead to 40,891 video views and a Christmas gift that keeps on giving.

Kathryn, who works for Taleist in London, made this video in November 2014 for a client, Luxury Family Hotels, Woolley Grange Hotel.

By the end of 2014 it had maybe 1,000 views. Not bad.
Then it went quiet — Christmas was over, no one was making wreaths
Around this time last year, the video started putting on some serious numbers — about 20,000 views. It had been on YouTube for a year, people had watched it, it was ranking in the search results
At the time of writing, it’s at 40,891 and rising
It will get more views and more exposure for the hotel next year and the year after

That video must have cost a fortune

Kathryn shot this video with her iPhone and a Rode SmartLav microphone (c. $65). She edited with iMovie (software included with her Mac).

You don’t need fancy equipment to make a video that people will value because the content is what they’re looking for and it’s well-presented.

If you wanted the full corporate video experience for the video above, you’d be looking at $2,500-$5,000. But pulling off a high-end corporate video requires taking things to a level we’re not talking about here.

What we’re talking about here is taking the time to make a video that people will watch, because:

They want the information you’re giving them
You’ve put it together to a good enough standard

Tips for making a video with your iPhone

Plan. Plan. Plan. In your mind, what does the finished version look like? Now you know that, what shots will you need? Kathryn knew she wanted to film Eliza making the wreath, but also she wanted video of her hanging it up and shots of her gathering the material.
Allow lots of time. Just because a finished video will last two minutes doesn’t mean it will take you two minutes to film it. That 30-second Toyota commercial didn’t just take 30 seconds to film. Make sure your subject knows you need time. Time to think on the job, time to set up, time to shoot more than once. Nothing causes more face-palming during the editing part of the job than realising you forgot to shoot something or something was wrong with the shot you did make. And that happens more when you don’t allow yourself time.
Record more than once or on more than one phone. In this video, Kathryn recorded Eliza in a wide shot to get in the whole scene and did some close-ups of her working on the wreath. In the finished video, she can move from wide to close. Your audience doesn’t need to know they were from two different recordings.
If your subject is nervous, get them to do the narration while you’re shooting something other than their face or record the voiceover separately. Explain that their face is not on camera, so they’re not trying to concentrate on speaking clearly while worrying how they look. The style used here is a good example — Eliza isn’t talking in the wide shot of her making the wreath. We hear her as voiceover. It’s a perfect answer when someone is nervous speaking to camera.
The microphone in your camera is okay, but you could do better. In this case, Eliza wore a Rode SmartLav microphone plugged into an iPhone in her pocket. Kathryn mixed the voice track with video in the editing. (If you need audio to sync with lips, when you record audio on a separate device, clap at the start of each take. You’ll feel stupid, but you’ll thank yourself when it’s time for editing — because you’ll be able to see a spike in the sound wave in each track.
Shoot B-roll and much, much more of it than you think you might need. (“B-roll” refers to additional shots you can cut away to. In this case, shots of Eliza picking plants, close-ups of tools, establishing shots of the general location etc.) You can use B-roll to cover a multitude of sins when you’re editing. Also, having shots to cut to keeps the pace up — people get bored staring at something for too long.
Whatever you shoot, make each shot is at least 10 seconds long. You won’t need the full 10 seconds but you’ll find there’ll be some handshake or something in part of every shot, so not all of it will be useable. If you only shoot for a second, you could find you end up with nothing useable.
Unless you really, really want panning (left to right) or tilting shots (up and down), don’t move the camera. Point it at what you want to see and keep it there. Too much movement in a video will make your audience seasick. If you’re sure you’ve got enough fixed shot, try some panning and tilting so you have some choices in the edit, but you won’t need many of them.
Music will affect mood massively and also compensate for audio problems. iStock has a good music library.

A Facebook status message or a tweet is gone in the blink of an eye. A well-crafted video can be a gift that keeps on giving, showing up time and again in Google and YouTube searches.

Do you want to learn to shoot iPhone video?

iPhone videos are great for YouTube, events coverage and internal communications: times when you’re looking to shoot something quickly and get it up fast. Or when you don’t have the budget for a professional.

If you want someone to run training for you or your team, contact us.

The post 40,891 reasons to make a video for your business this Christmas appeared first on Taleist.

Every small business owner should steal this tip from The Daily Mail

I’m telling you this for your own good…

This caption in The Daily Mail has nothing to do with the image. It’s telling you what the story is about.

Please believe me when I tell you that I would never recommend reading The Daily Mail unless I absolutely thought you must. And today, I do think you must.

The Daily Mail is one of the newspapers best weathering these End Times for traditional media.

It’s doing that because it understands online readers better than most. (And because it appeals to the bowels of the human spirit, but that’s another matter.)

Recently I’ve found myself pointing to the paper time and again when reviewing the copywriting on client’s websites. Why? Because those clients are wasting a golden opportunity:

They’re not using their images and, more specifically, the captions to get their message across.

Click on an image on The Daily Mail and you’ll get a gallery. Scroll through and the captions make sure you’re still getting the story even though you can no longer see the article.

People skim websites, especially on their mobile phones. But their eyes are drawn to pictures and in turn to the captions that go with those pictures.

Pick any story on The Daily Mail’s website and just look at the pictures and the captions. You might have got 80% of the important bits just from reading the captions.

What about your website?

In putting your pages together, have you catered for the skimmers?

If you have pages on your site that don’t have images, there’s your first opportunity to change. Every page should have images.
Then make sure every image has a caption and the caption counts. Almost all website visitors can see what’s in the picture, so the caption shouldn’t be wasted on describing the image. You should be using the caption to reinforce important messages from the main text that visitors might be skipping over in your body copy.

Have a look at The Daily Mail. Follow their lead and you’ll be pleased with the results.

 

What happens when an experienced copywriter reviews your site?
Your website review comes with more than 20 pages of actionable tips and insights from our professional analysis of your site

Nick Dogulin of Dogulin Digital asked us to review the copy on his website. He got his review back on Tuesday and emailed within an hour to say:

WOW! incredible to say the least. So much detail, a terrific analysis and eye opening to say the least. A trillion times worth the small investment. Thank You very much!

 

Want us to show you how you could be getting more business from your website? Order your website review here.

The post Every small business owner should steal this tip from The Daily Mail appeared first on Taleist.