Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Meatier Marketing Copy: Insights on Copywriting That Generates Leads and Sparks Sales
    Meatier Marketing Copy: Insights on Copywriting That Generates Leads and Sparks Sales
    Meatier Marketing Copy: Insights on Copywriting That Generates Leads and Sparks Sales
    Ebook153 pages1 hour

    Meatier Marketing Copy: Insights on Copywriting That Generates Leads and Sparks Sales

    By Marcia Yudkin

    5/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Unleash the Power of Words to Sell

    It's easier to attract potential customers and persuade them to buy when you understand your audience and respect the nuances of language. Discover how to select tone, details, imagery, numbers, facts, verb tenses, punctuation, pronouns and more to create rapport and inspire an opt-in, an inquiry or a sale.

    Whether you're an aspiring copywriter, a write-it-yourself business owner or a product manager hunting for a competitive edge, you'll want to devour veteran wordsmith Marcia Yudkin's advice on strategies that sell. Vivid examples and vignettes from research studies illustrate her tips.

    Marcia Yudkin is the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity, now in its third edition, and 11 other books.

    "There are few genuine thought leaders in the field of copywriting. Marcia Yudkin is one of them. The strategies she presents in Meatier Marketing Copy are all easy to understand and implement, yet profoundly insightful. If you want to write marketing copy that sizzles and sells, this book is a must-read." - Steve Slaunwhite, Author, Start & Run a Copywriting Business, Co-Author, The Wealthy Freelancer

    "Marcia Yudkin is a genius at writing copy that gets read and makes sales. This brilliant book reveals her proven secrets, tips, tricks and more. I have 30 years experience as a copywriter and found gems in here I didn't know or had forgotten. Read Meatier Marketing Copy - It's got the beef!" - Joe Vitale, Author, Hypnotic Writing, Buying Trances, Attract Money Now and many other books

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMarcia Yudkin
    Release dateMay 25, 2012
    ISBN9781476045870
    Author

    Marcia Yudkin

    Creative marketing expert Marcia Yudkin has an unparalleled ability to find the right words for a message, an unusual angle to get folks to pay attention, and the promotional strategy that pays off handsomely for her clients.Her 16 books include 6 Steps to Free Publicity, Persuading on Paper, Web Site Marketing Makeover, Meatier Marketing Copy and Freelance Writing for Magazines & Newspapers, a Book of the Month Club selection.Marcia’s articles have appeared in hundreds of magazines, including the New York Times Magazine, TWA Ambassador, USAir Magazine and Business 2.0. For eight years running, she served as an official site reviewer for the Webby Awards and has helped judge the Inc. Magazine Small Business Web Awards.She has been featured in Success Magazine, Entrepreneur, Home Office Computing, Working Woman, Women in Business, dozens of newspapers throughout the world and four times in the Sunday Boston Globe, as well as on National Public Radio.Her clients range from grizzled entrepreneurs to nervous newly self-employed professionals, from software publishers and ecommerce startups to media companies, associations and independent educational programs.Marcia Yudkin holds three Ivy League degrees, including a Ph.D. in the humanities.

    Read more from Marcia Yudkin

    Related to Meatier Marketing Copy

    Related ebooks

    Marketing For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      More Eyes = More Sales

      Aug 13, 2019

      More Eyes = More Sales
      11 min read

    • Article

      How to Get Paid

      Apr 10, 2019

      LAST year James Wolf, a retired insurance agent making his first foray into literary fiction, sent portions of his unpublished novel, “No Good Day to Die,” to a handful of agents and publishers. In their responses the industry experts all told Wolf e

      9 min read

    • Article

      To Market, To Market!

      Oct 18, 2022

      To Market, To Market!
      4 min read

    • Article

      Lessons Learned

      Oct 10, 2022

      Everything about writing, selling, and promoting a book is hard. And sometimes, no matter the diligence and creativity you bring to the project, success eludes you. If this describes your experience, you’re not alone. Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Becoming an Authentic Brand

      Sep 11, 2020

      Becoming an Authentic Brand
      4 min read

    • Article

      Book Marketing Copy 101

      Apr 10, 2023

      Nobody can buy something they don’t know about, which means writers following all paths to publication need to know how to hook attention and convince an audience. However, drafting marketing copy is a different skill than other writing. Before we ge

      4 min read

    • Article

      CREATIVITY: It's Logical Really

      Aug 28, 2019

      CREATIVITY: It's Logical Really
      3 min read

    • Article

      Way Out

      Mar 23, 2020

      If you are reading this, you have made a choice. It is undoubtedly a wise one, but understanding how you came to it is not as easy as first appears. The context is critical and the heuristic process that was used is especially important as it outline

      2 min read

    • Article

      Marketing Yourself

      Nov 17, 2023

      Whatever stage you are at on your journey, taking a fresh look at the way you promote yourself and your work is never wasted time. As the adage goes, it’s never too late to shift your focus, launch a new collection, collaborate or reinvent. In fact,

      5 min read

    • Article

      Turn The Beat Around

      Oct 30, 2019

      Turn The Beat Around
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Experts Speak

      May 10, 2022

      The Experts Speak
      3 min read

    • Article

      Selling Nostalgia

      Oct 15, 2019

      Selling Nostalgia
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Experts Speak

      May 10, 2022

      The Experts Speak
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Meatier Marketing Copy

    5/5

    3 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Meatier Marketing Copy - Marcia Yudkin

      Introduction

      In 2006, when my little town in Western Massachusetts was about to celebrate its 225th anniversary, the Goshen library trustees unanimously agreed on the slogan to print on T-shirts celebrating the event: Goshen Rocks.

      The two-word motto illustrates four principles of copywriting that I discuss in this book:

      1. Know your audience. Visitors from afar wouldn’t realize the slogan does more than express enthusiasm. It refers to Goshen stone, a type of flat stone glinting with silvery blues that is native to our hills, valued by landscapers and quarried at two of our few in-town businesses. Although our town’s everyday points of pride are our quiet lakes and forests, residents liked the insider reference in the slogan to something known by our name. The T-shirts quickly sold out.

      2. Be concise. Shorter is snappier.

      3. Understand the nuances of language. An exclamation point after the slogan would have been all wrong. No matter how their chests swell with delight, New Englanders understate.

      4. Be positive. Goshen has no stoplights, hardly any streetlights and nothing that prevents bears from roaming freely. But defining something by what it is not or has not takes it down a notch.

      In this book, you’ll find anecdotes, explanations, tips and research findings that show how to select and arrange words so as to persuade strangers, acquaintances and enthusiasts to buy what you sell.

      Effectively putting things into words does not require an abstruse vocabulary or a studious mastery of technical how-to. It mainly requires attention to what your reader thinks and desires.

      The chapters originate in a weekly column, The Marketing Minute, that I’ve published since 1998. You can sign up for a free email subscription at www.yudkin.com/markmin.htm. I’ve added action steps and quotes to help you apply the marketing lessons in the columns and enhance their impact.

      Contents

      Introduction

      Part I: Understanding Your Reader

      The 180-Degree Turnaround

      Freshen Formulaic Writing

      We’re All in a Fog

      Readability Tips

      Feedback from Strangers is Valuable

      No One Likes Mystery Meat

      Everyone Knows This, Don’t They?

      Part II: Persuasive Writing Techniques

      Your Messages: Alive or Dead?

      How to Pep Up Dull Writing

      Sensory Writing... Mmm!

      Make Any Widget Captivating

      How Metaphors Help Sell

      Extended Metaphors Pack Punch

      Selecting a Theme

      Stories that Sell

      Sunny Side Up, Please

      Take the Customer’s Point of View

      State the Obvious

      A Way to Make Sense

      How to Sound Like Your Client

      What’s At Stake?

      Marketing Something Unfamiliar

      Mention All Your Extras

      Benefits are Juicier Than Features

      Explicitly Ask

      Part III: The Soul of Words

      Watch Out For But

      Know the Impact of No

      Avoid This Four-Letter Word

      You vs. Me

      Be Prejudiced Against Adverbs

      What You Ask For, You Get

      No More Thoughtless Killing

      Avoid Wordy Writing

      Part IV: Convincing Strategies

      Believability Boosters

      Best Ways to Eliminate Doubts

      Imagine Objections

      From Embarrassment to Advantage

      Turn Weakness Upside Down

      Going Negative, Positively

      How to Spin Information

      Scarcity as a Motivator

      What, Ignore Complaints?

      Holmes’ 100 Percent Response Letter

      The Power of Suggestion

      Way Cool Statistics

      Numbers Don’t Tell a Story

      Breathe Life Into Abstractions

      Metaphors to the Rescue

      Guarantees Aren’t a Panacea

      Part V: Warning! Warning!

      Minimalism Doesn’t Sell

      Recognize Your Own Jargon

      Get Rid of Jargon

      Telltale Signs of Hype

      Don’t Make Us Wonder

      Lock Up Your Mission Statements

      Does Research Bolster Credibility?

      Preach Subtly

      Pitfalls of Questions to the Reader

      Keeping Old Ideas New

      When Words and Action Conflict

      Execution Matters as Much as the Copy

      Part VI: Tips for Specific Situations

      Tag Line Tactics

      The Power of Newsletter Offers

      Beefier Bios

      Perk Up Your Bio

      Simplicity for Business Plans

      Appealing to Two Audiences

      Tinkering With Article Titles

      Case Study Tips

      Add Dimension to Expertise

      Terse Temptation

      Words Can Tickle and Tantalize

      Be Personable on About Pages

      Inject Fun into Fundraising

      Short and Tweet

      Are You Genuinely Green?

      Research Sources

      About the Author

      Part I Understanding Your Reader

      The 180-Degree Turnaround

      I recently came across an interesting precept from the Meisner Technique for acting: Put all your attention on the other actor. By responding to the other actor rather than focusing on yourself, your emotion, gestures, body language and tone of voice become more convincing for the audience.

      This caught my eye because it corresponds to a shift that results in more convincing marketing writing, too. Instead of writing I, I, I... or we, we, we..., you write you, you, you...

      What happens then goes far deeper than a change in pronouns.

      Using the word you forces you to consider and speak to the perspective of the buyer. Instead of what I or we want the buyer to know, you naturally think and write to the reader’s emotions, wants, interests, needs and doubts.

      Since most people feel more comfortable talking to you rather than about I or we, the tone also becomes more genuine. When the reader encounters the you copy, rapport occurs.

      To get a message across, forget about yourself and put your attention on the reader.

      What Research Shows

      When Swedish trade union Unionen tested what we do copy against what you get copy, the latter produced a 16 percent increase in member signups.

      Freshen Formulaic Writing

      Whatever marketing message you put in front of them, your readers start off in a haze of indifference. Give them predictable combinations of words–and ideas they’ve already encountered countless times–and they remain in that haze.

      To wake up readers so they absorb and respond:

      First, clearly imagine the individual reader you want to move to action. How would she express her challenges, goals, wants and needs? Visualize that reader and write to her.

      This takes conscious effort, because when you’re eager to sell something, it’s natural to start from your way of thinking, not the buyer’s.

      BEFORE: We spent 127 hours verifying or disproving the 12 most common beliefs about malpractice coverage.

      AFTER: Are you paying too much for too little malpractice coverage? Find out the must-haves and don’t needs–and why.

      Second, be fiercely critical of your first draft and replace every familiar expression with words that do not come automatically into your mind but capture your meaning.

      BEFORE: Paying too much for too little?

      AFTER: Are all those painfully large malpractice coverage checks you write still leaving you exposed?

      Action Steps

      * Select a web page or promotional email, print it out and highlight any expression you’ve read or heard a hundred times before. (If you can’t be objective, ask a friend to do

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1