Guest Blogger Friday - Carlon Haas

Yep, you guessed it....It is "Guest Blogger Friday". Today's post comes from Carlon Haas. Carlon is a direct-response copywriter and marketing consultant, amature violinist and student of life. He spends most of his off time as the father of a “spirited” 2 year-old which is much more exciting than all the other stuff!!! (Kids Rule).

He also lived in South Korea for 6 years (which sounds cool) and has written over 50+ books and info-products while working at one of the top publishing companies in South Korea. On very short notice he joins us as this week's guest blogger (I only met him on Wednesday night).


Religion, Values, And Other Non-Controversial Marketing Topics
by Carlon Haas

“You can write anything about sales or marketing. Just make sure it’s around 500 words and that it doesn’t offend anybody.”

Those were Thom’s (paraphrased) instructions to me for my guest blog entry.

So, to honor Thom’s request, I thought I’d tackle a non-controversial marketing topic…

…RELIGION!

Here’s the deal: as IBM founder Tom Watson once said, every business needs a religion. Now, I’m not talking about forming some new business cult.

No, I’m talking about something different. I’m talking about a religion as in knowing what you stand for. Knowing your core values and beliefs. And then taking those values and beliefs and crafting it into a powerful marketing message.

I’ll teach you a powerful technique to start your own “religion” in a bit.

But first, I want to show you why it’s important.

Successful marketing has three components:

Message
Market
Media

Boiled down, it’s sending the right message to the right market in the right media.

The clients I deal with usually know what media they want to use (website, direct mail, brochure, etc.). About 50% have an idea of their target customer.

But where I see a lot of businesses get stumped is in the message. Many have a hard time figuring out what they want to say to their prospects.

And in their desire not to offend, many businesses end up with bland ads that get…

…NO results.

So, rather than trying to be all things to all people, if you market your values you will get the right kind of customer.

You might offend people.

But think about this…

…Judge Judy offends a lot of people, but no court show has been able to knock her out of the #1 slot for 10 years.

If you’re marketing right, you will most likely offend someone. But you won’t offend your customers.

Now. I promised to show you how to find your values?

I use a technique I learned from the legendary copywriter Gary Bencivenga. He calls it the Credo technique. Credo is Latin for “I believe.”

The Credo technique involves spelling out what you believe. You’ll be amazed at the power of this technique. Actually spelling out your beliefs and implementing them in your marketing will show your prospects where you stand. And when you stand for something, you’ll be amazed at how many like-minded people will line up to stand with you.

As an example, I thought I’d share with you my core beliefs about marketing and advertising. It guides the way I do business and how I deal with my clients.

I believe that the purpose of advertising is to sell.

I have not won a single advertising award, and I probably never will. My goal is to create ads that are neither clever nor funny, but effective.

I believe that advertising should get results that can be measured.

Unless you’re a major corporation, you don’t have an unlimited ad budget. You need to be able to measure the results of your advertising, which is why I use direct response advertising because this type of advertising has been scientifically-proven to get results for half a century.

I believe that all advertising must be done with honesty and integrity.

Advertising should be honest, and you should stand by your word. When you are honest, your prospect rewards you with their business.

I believe that giving of yourself gives you more than just clients.

I always give as much as I can to my clients. Everything I create is with their success in mind. It is an awesome responsibility, but the rewards are immeasurable. Many of my clients are my friends. And that is more important than any one-off business transaction.

Those are my beliefs about what I do. Now, what do you believe? What are your values? Find them, and you’re well on your way to creating a compelling marketing message.

Go forth and multiply thine fortune,

Carlon Haas
********************
Thanks Carlon for a great post.

Have A Great Day.

Thom Singer
www.thomsinger.com
thom@thomsinger.com